Mistika is a flexible high-end post production system capable of SD, HD, 2K, 4K, 5k and stereoscopic 3D with real-time ARRI, RED, SI-2K and other native data workflows. It seamlessly integrates timeline-based editing, conforming, infinite-layer compositing, colour grading and image restoration all in one complete solution, with various toolsets working together in the timeline.
“Mistika is a truly unique system – SGO’s optical flow-based 3D toolset is years ahead of its time and continues to be more advanced than any other product in the industry today.”
Phil Oatley, Head of Technology, Park Road Post Production.
Advanced Real-time SD, HD, 2K, 4K, 5K & Stereoscopic 3D Tools
Real-time multi-resolution interactive creativity with non-destructive workflows. Unlimited layering, templating, multi-resolution mastering, resolution independent system designed to enable ultimate creativity. Tools include Editing, VFX, Colour Correction, Paint, Keying and much more.
Open Format File System, Storage and Workflows
Open storage infrastructure for easy integration to existing workflows and equipment without the need for file conversion. Work directly with all image formats, including RED r3d, ARRI RAW, WEISSCAM RAW, ProRes, CineForm, AVC Intra and many others.
Mistika highlights:
- Multilayer 5K/4K/2K/HD/SD editing in real-time
- Direct conform from tape and tapeless cameras, data files, r3d, and so forth
- Intuitive multi-layer editing for image and audio
- Advanced image restoration grain & noise management, including Motion Estimation techniques
- Interactive Paint tools
- Advanced colour correction up to 4K in real-time
- Real-time compositing in true stereo 3D space, with stereo 3D camera views
- Advanced effects, including multilayer keying, filters, key-framing, warp, text, lights, tree display, etc.
- Optical Flow processing
- Multi-mastering to all formats
- Advanced Stereoscopic tools
- and much, much more….
Significantly, Mistika performs all of these functions without the use of any proprietary hardware file formats, storage systems, or processes, resulting in a truly open, versatile and flexible system. Mistika is based on off-shelf hardware, utilising standard HP workstations, Nvidia graphics cards and SAN solutions. For on-set work Mistika can also run on HP Laptops, providing scene-to-screen workflows.
Stereoscopic 3D Workflow
Mistika has arguably the most advanced and developed Stereo 3D post production toolset in the market. BSkyB has placed it at the core of their workflow for their 3D channel. Post Facility companies such as The Framestore, On Sight, BTV Post, Park Road Post, amongst many others world-wide, base their stereoscopic 3D strategy on it. Mistika’s advanced features include optical recognition between left and right cameras to aid the rapid correction of inherent stereo problems, such as camera pairs that are not exactly aligned.
“Mistika provided the bulk of the post production work. At the outset, it aligned and prepared all the rushes for offline, meaning that the FCP editor did not have to concern himself with RAW camera files or unprepared stereo images that are hard to watch. Mistika’s “Equalize” function meant that syncing and aligning some four hours of rushes took less than an hour.”
David Cox, Stereographer and Post Production Supervisor, Sharp Cookies.
Mistika also allows its very strong colour grading functions to be applied to both image streams at the same time, or to just the left or right as need be. Compositing can also be carried out in 3D. Mistika’s real-time stereo tools including colour grading, convergence adjustments and camera error correction, as well as some very advanced features such as retrospective adjustment of the camera’s interocular distance have left the market stunned by its remarkable ability.
“It would have been impossible to correct that amount of material in such a short space of time, to Sky’s exacting standards, on any other system. Mistika remains without a doubt, the fastest and most productive finishing and workflow system around.”
Francisco Ramos, Lead Stereosgrapher, The Royal Wedding in 3D, BSkyB.
RAW file camera based projects
Mistika can decompress and grade images from RAW camera files, sucj as RED, ARRI, Phantom, CineForm, amongst many others, in real-time without any importing or cross conversion processes. By working directly from the RAW files, Mistika retains access to RAW meta-data, such as exposure, white balance and gamma curve settings, whilst also benefiting from more efficient usage of image storage space. Many other products that claim to support RAW files, do so by first converting the files to their own convenient format, which takes up time for cross conversion, uses more disk space to hold larger files and loses access to the underlying meta-data. One of the strongest features of Mistika is its colour correction functions which can compete with any stand-alone grading system. Combining this grading power with direct and real-time access to RAW files creates an extremely capable and efficient RAW file-based workflow.
“We had extremely difficult challenges to overcome leading up to the beginning of The Hobbit principal photography…we decided to go down a path of using Mistika as the hub for our new digital rushes workflow. There was no other system that could deal with turning around stereoscopic RED EPIC high frame rate material in the time-frame, and with the quality that we needed.”
David Hollingsworth – Head of Picture, Park Road Post, Wellington, New Zealand
How fast is fast?
- Full colour grading of 4K DPX files without rendering
- Real-time motion estimated slow motion at up to 2K resolution
- Real-time, full resolution Stereoscopic 3D colour grading, convergence, and effects at up to 2K per channel
- Many additional real-time functions, including advanced 2D & 3D RED camera workflows
The Open Architecture and Open Storage approach of Mistika also enables any third-party systems to have direct access to the system’s storage and files, providing for a truly ‘open’ workflow. Internally, Mistika also uses Open Formats at the highest Bit-depth Quality, with true 16 bit floating point per channel processes, HDR support, 8K+ resolution support, with optical quality processing based on Fourier mathematics. Native File Format support includes many industry standards, from DPX to DNxHD, from TIFF and TGA, to EXR and HDR, from RED r3d to Weinberger, and many, many more.
Truly open system
Unlike many of its competitors, Mistika employs an open storage policy. Mistika can provide storage for any other product that allows connection to generic file systems. This allows Mistika to be easily integrated into an existing facility, because files of many different formats can be easily exchanged. With Mistika, it is also possible to develop custom scripts to aid integration and automate common functions.
Technical features:
- 16 bit per channel floating point processes
- Support for Linux 32bit and 64bit systems
- Native support for many image file formats
- 3D LUT support
- HDR image support
- Motion Estimation based processing
- Real-time non-destructive processes for most effects
- Ability to background process any effect or process that can’t be performed real-time
The speed and power that this standard hardware provides under the control of Mistika is outstanding. Mistika’s capabilities include real-time, non-destructive operations without the need for rendering, at 2K and 4K resolutions, with multiple layers and multiple creative effects. Mistika can do this because it has been programmed to maximise multiple CPU and multiple thread processing, combined with maximum GPU acceleration. No other post-production system comes close, and the result is unrivalled speed with many effects working in real-time requiring no processing or rendering whatsoever.
