Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Assimilate SCRATCH VR Suite v8.6 Released


SCRATCH VR Suite adds support for multi-cam stitching from 360-degree rigs, ambisonic audio, HDR and more in a major update.

Assimilate has just released the update in anticipation of NAB and it is currently available for download. Assimilate calls its SCRATCH VR Suite the only professional, end-to-end workflow for VR/360 content currently on the market.

Improved Stitching

SCRATCH VR now supports 360-degree stitching and the ability to load shots from multiple cameras, wrap them into a stitch node and combine them into an equirectangular image. They have also added support for various camera stitch templates, including AutoPano, Hugin, PTGui and PTStitch scripts. Users can also now create their own custom templates within SCRATCH VR.   An improved workflow allows you to either render the equirectangular template or continue to edit, grade and composite on top of the stitched nodes and then do a final render.


Ambisonic Audio Support (all images courtesy of Assimilate)

Ambisonic Audio

SCRATCH VR can now load, set and playback ambisonic audio files and publish video with 360-degree sound directly to YouTube 360 or Facebook. It now automatically recognizes ambisonic audio embedded in an h.264 file or you can load a separate .amb audio file and link it in the timeline.


SCRATCH VR now supports PQ and HLG HDR standards

HDR Support

There has been a major upgrade in HDR support. Scratch VR now supports PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), both recognized standards. Scratch's scopes also automatically switch to HDR and use a nit-scale. For output, users can now also define HDR mastering metadata for monitoring and publication.

Other key new features:
  • Support for new formats: 10-bit h.264, .mp4 or .mov output
  • A new high-speed DNxHR MXF encoder
  • Support for ACES 1.0.3
  • Simplified DIT report generation
  • Enhanced Cinema DNG support
  • Improved playback within the application
  • Re-designed UI
  • Support for all major headsets and updates to support others as they are released




Scratch VR Suite 8.6 is now available for download as either a free trial version or $1,995 for the full version.