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Discreet, a division of Autodesk, announced today that lustre 2 is now shipping worldwide. lustre 2 is the next version of Discreet's award-winning* real-time color grading system for digital media and digital intermediate workflows. The lustre system has been used in blockbuster feature films such as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, X2: X-Men United, and Austin Powers in Goldmember. Digital intermediates (DI) is a process that converts film to high resolution digital files and then back to film to provide greater control over color manipulation and visual effects. It is estimated that 40 movies were digitally color graded in 2003 -- twice as many as in 2002. This year, the volume of digitally graded films is expected to grow aggressively, in part due to the number of Discreet lustre systems that have been purchased by film studios and post-production facilities. Clients that have purchased Discreet's lustre system include: Sony Pictures Imageworks and Pixar Animation Studios in California, Technicolor Creative Services Hollywood, Hybride Technologies in Quebec, Fotofilm Madrid, Ultimate Video in Holland, Laboratoires Eclair and Sylicone in France, Prime Focus in Mumbai, and Studio Mirage in the Czech Republic. Said Pierre Raymond, President and Head of Operations at Hybride, "We will be building a digital workflow using Discreet's lustre system as the main colour correction system dedicated for film. We strongly believe it is the most appropriate colour grading system ever designed to fit our facility workflow. More and more of our clients are recognizing the improvements Discreet's lustre brings to original film. Hybride recently completed the postproduction work for Different Loyalty, a feature film starring Sharon Stone, using Discreet's lustre system in final colour correction of all generated matte paintings." "lustre 2 allows colourists and film makers to more closely match their film output with their creative vision," explained Martin Vann, Discreet's vice-president of worldwide sales and marketing. "A film's colouring can create the right mood for the audience, enhance the story, and draw attention to details that might otherwise go unnoticed. As the popularity of digital colour grading expands through tools like Discreet's lustre, audiences will have an even more engaging viewing experience." Developed with partner Colorfront, Discreet's lustre 2 system offers film studios and post-production facilities greater scalability and video functionality in order to meet their diverse DI pipeline requirements and budgets. Detailed information on lustre 2, including a complete list of its many new features and range of scalable options, can be found at www.discreet.com/lustre. *Discreet's lustre system received the NAB Pick Hit Award for 2003 from Millimeter Magazine and Digital Cinema Magazine's "Premiere Product Award" NAB 2003 in the category of "Real Time 2K Color Grading.