Avid Technology’s announcement that it has signed a R3D Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) licence agreement with Red Digital Cinema Camera Company is the latest indicator of the swift rise of the hot new Red One camera in the marketplace.

‘We’ve had customers working with the Red camera since… [it] started shipping,’ says Avid spokesperson Michael Philips. But Red’s codec wasn’t open to customers apart from Apple and their system Final Cut Pro until now, so Avid had to create interim solutions for editors working with material shot by the camera.

By purchasing a licence for the Red SDK, Avid will now have the toolset necessary to ‘create more fluid Red/Avid workflows,’ says Philips.

When asked to comment on their new relationship with Avid, ‘Red Ted’ Schilowitz, the acknowledged ‘leader of the [camera] rebellion,’ stated, with some amusement, ‘It’s all part and parcel of what’s happening. The success of the camera is so pervasive it even surprises us. We have people working on all kinds of platforms with us: Avid, Adobe, Final Cut Pro and others.

‘In addition [to editing platforms], you will start to see many companies on the very high end of DI finishing integrating Red natively now – companies like Quantel, da Vinci, Autodesk, Digital Vision and eyeon.’

Red decided to go with Apple initially, according to Schilowitz, ‘because of the nature of our camera and where we thought the market was going. There was no ‘one system versus the other kind’ of thinking.’

He’s quick to offer another reason: ‘We didn’t want to be overwhelmed [with customers and different systems]. But we were anyway!’

Within the next year, Schilowitz expects that Red will have ‘a very robust native level support for any predominant editorial tool that is working in the marketplace and a more advanced, logical workflow.’

Looking ahead, Philips and Avid expect to see ‘Red file formats expand to higher resolutions; support of this format will be seen across the Avid product line, as well, to meet the market’s needs. Publishing is also something that Red is pursuing as a camera, so you will also see a flavor of Red used for distribution – Avid will look to that format as an additional mastering format in addition to what is being requested today.’