At NAB2017, FilmLight will preview their latest product, Baselight STUDENT, a software-only macOS application that answers the call from a growing number of facilities for trained Baselight colourists and assistants.

Baselight STUDENT is intended as the perfect learning tool, either for those wanting to train to become a professional colourist, to work on short personal projects, or for experienced practitioners moving up to Baselight from other grading solutions. While the new application is free, interested parties must register and be eligible to become a part of the Baselight Learning Programme to obtain a licence.

“We’ve had growing requests from freelance colourists and creative artists for this product,” explained FilmLight founder and CEO, Steve Chapman. “But we don’t just want to hand out a free piece of software and walk away. We want to work with training institutions and the creatives to make sure that they have the right resources and support to achieve their goals.”

Baselight STUDENT is a fully functional version of FilmLight’s Baselight colour grading software – with GPU rendering – that runs on any supported Mac platform. This includes support for an optional control surface, like FilmLight’s Slate panel, and even SDI monitoring for a full grading suite experience.

The principle limitation is that the application is restricted to render out only h.264 movies or JPEG images. With no watermarking, this means that Baselight STUDENT can be used to create academic-year projects within the limitation of the delivery formats. Along with conform capability, colour space handling, format editing and the ability to render both image sequences and movie files, this also makes the application the ideal tool to learn how to start a career as a professional colourist assistant.

FilmLight will initially talk to participants to assess their individual needs and then provide them with a free licence for the appropriate length of time, along with practice material they can use to get up to speed. FilmLight will also develop regular video tutorials and live best-practice webinars for members of the Baselight Learning Programme.

“We’ve reached pretty far with our team of in-house trainers but it just isn’t physically possible for everyone to access face-to-face training with FilmLight product specialists,” added Chapman. “With the growing popularity of the BLG metadata workflow, and the forthcoming release 5.0 across our product line, this grading software provides a unique opportunity for everyone to get a handle on Baselight’s advanced colour tools as used by top-notch artists everywhere.”

FilmLight will demonstrate Baselight STUDENT at NAB2017 on booth #SL3828 (24-27 April, Las Vegas Convention Center). Interested parties can register for updates at http://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/baselightstudent.