Assimilate launches online store for tools in Scratch workflow
By Randi Altman
October 25, 2011

Assimilate launches online store for tools in Scratch workflow

SANTA CLARA, CA — Assimilate (www.assimilateinc.com) has opened an online store, selling its own Scratch Lab workflow tool for production and VFX dailies, as well as products that can be used alongside Assimilate offerings — this includes hardware and software.

According to Assimilate’s Steve Bannerman, “The way people work and where they work has changed. We are seeing business coming from little corners all over the world, and these people need to buy as differently as they work, and they need a way to buy Assimilate’s products if they aren’t near a reseller of if it’s the middle of the night.”

The store (http://store.assimilateinc.com) is offering product in four categories: Assimilate Software, Third-Party Software, Third-Party Hardware and Assimilate Logo Merchandise. Bannerman points out that you can now put both downloadable software and physical goods in the same shopping cart, a rare ability for an online marketplace, making the buying experience more streamlined.

While the list is expected to grow, products on the store at launch include offerings from 3ality Digital, GenArts, Re:Vision Effects, 4K Co. Ltd, HS-Art, Calibrated Software and Tangent Devices.




What about the resellers who already sell Assimilate products? Bannerman insists they aren’t trying to compete with them. “It’s a different philosophy and it’s actually designed to augment the channel. We have created coupon codes for all of our resellers and we give margins to resellers as well as leads. If you have that reseller relationship, they can give you that code and they get credit for that sale.”

He also points out that they are not selling the higher priced Scratch 6 on their site. For that system users need to go to their local resellers. But that doesn’t mean that Scratch Lab will be the only Assimilate product to be sold on the site. “We expect the Scratch category to grow,” says Bannerman, citing the script they’ve written called From Scratch to Nuke. “Inside of Scratch you have a button that launches Nuke, takes the project into Nuke and formats it for that system. You can do your compositing, then send it back to Scratch.” That product will be up on the Assimilate Store early next.

As the site develops, you’ll notice that not just product is offered, but information as well in the form of demos, trial versions and tutorials. “We are trying to build a community; you don’t go to the store just to buy, you go there to buy and learn,” says Bannerman.

He concludes, “We’ve launched this store to not only house our products, but to become an ecosystem for all products that extend the capabilities of Scratch. There is also a synergy between the Assimilate site and the Assimilate store — we wanted to give it its own identity but coupled with what we do on the Assimilate site.”