Flame 2018 Userguide
Flame 2018 Userguide
User Guide
2017-02-23
Autodesk Legal Notice
© 2017 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that can be viewed online at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. This license content, applicable as of 16 December 2014 to this software
product, is reproduced here for offline users:
CREATIVE COMMONS CORPORATION IS NOT A LAW FIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES. DISTRIBUTION
OF THIS LICENSE DOES NOT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. CREATIVE COMMONS PROVIDES THIS
INFORMATION ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS. CREATIVE COMMONS MAKES NO WARRANTIES REGARDING THE INFORMATION
PROVIDED, AND DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ITS USE.
License
THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC LICENSE
("CCPL" OR "LICENSE"). THE WORK IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF
THE WORK OTHER THAN AS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE OR COPYRIGHT LAW IS PROHIBITED.
BY EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS
OF THIS LICENSE. TO THE EXTENT THIS LICENSE MAY BE CONSIDERED TO BE A CONTRACT, THE LICENSOR GRANTS
YOU THE RIGHTS CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
1. Definitions
a. "Adaptation" means a work based upon the Work, or upon the Work and other pre-existing works, such as a translation,
adaptation, derivative work, arrangement of music or other alterations of a literary or artistic work, or phonogram or
performance and includes cinematographic adaptations or any other form in which the Work may be recast, transformed,
or adapted including in any form recognizably derived from the original, except that a work that constitutes a Collection
will not be considered an Adaptation for the purpose of this License. For the avoidance of doubt, where the Work is a
musical work, performance or phonogram, the synchronization of the Work in timed-relation with a moving image
("synching") will be considered an Adaptation for the purpose of this License.
b. "Collection" means a collection of literary or artistic works, such as encyclopedias and anthologies, or performances,
phonograms or broadcasts, or other works or subject matter other than works listed in Section 1(g) below, which, by
reason of the selection and arrangement of their contents, constitute intellectual creations, in which the Work is included
in its entirety in unmodified form along with one or more other contributions, each constituting separate and independent
works in themselves, which together are assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a Collection will not
be considered an Adaptation (as defined above) for the purposes of this License.
c. "Distribute" means to make available to the public the original and copies of the Work or Adaptation, as appropriate,
through sale or other transfer of ownership.
d. "License Elements" means the following high-level license attributes as selected by Licensor and indicated in the title
of this License: Attribution, Noncommercial, ShareAlike.
e. "Licensor" means the individual, individuals, entity or entities that offer(s) the Work under the terms of this License.
i
f. "Original Author" means, in the case of a literary or artistic work, the individual, individuals, entity or entities who
created the Work or if no individual or entity can be identified, the publisher; and in addition (i) in the case of a performance
the actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in, interpret or otherwise
perform literary or artistic works or expressions of folklore; (ii) in the case of a phonogram the producer being the person
or legal entity who first fixes the sounds of a performance or other sounds; and, (iii) in the case of broadcasts, the
organization that transmits the broadcast.
g. "Work" means the literary and/or artistic work offered under the terms of this License including without limitation
any production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression including
digital form, such as a book, pamphlet and other writing; a lecture, address, sermon or other work of the same nature; a
dramatic or dramatico-musical work; a choreographic work or entertainment in dumb show; a musical composition with
or without words; a cinematographic work to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to
cinematography; a work of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving or lithography; a photographic work to
which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to photography; a work of applied art; an illustration, map,
plan, sketch or three-dimensional work relative to geography, topography, architecture or science; a performance; a
broadcast; a phonogram; a compilation of data to the extent it is protected as a copyrightable work; or a work performed
by a variety or circus performer to the extent it is not otherwise considered a literary or artistic work.
h. "You" means an individual or entity exercising rights under this License who has not previously violated the terms of
this License with respect to the Work, or who has received express permission from the Licensor to exercise rights under
this License despite a previous violation.
i. "Publicly Perform" means to perform public recitations of the Work and to communicate to the public those public
recitations, by any means or process, including by wire or wireless means or public digital performances; to make available
to the public Works in such a way that members of the public may access these Works from a place and at a place
individually chosen by them; to perform the Work to the public by any means or process and the communication to the
public of the performances of the Work, including by public digital performance; to broadcast and rebroadcast the Work
by any means including signs, sounds or images.
j. "Reproduce" means to make copies of the Work by any means including without limitation by sound or visual
recordings and the right of fixation and reproducing fixations of the Work, including storage of a protected performance
or phonogram in digital form or other electronic medium.
2. Fair Dealing Rights. Nothing in this License is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any uses free from copyright or
rights arising from limitations or exceptions that are provided for in connection with the copyright protection under
copyright law or other applicable laws.
3. License Grant. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free,
non-exclusive, perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright) license to exercise the rights in the Work as stated
below:
■ a. to Reproduce the Work, to incorporate the Work into one or more Collections, and to Reproduce the Work as
incorporated in the Collections;
■ b. to create and Reproduce Adaptations provided that any such Adaptation, including any translation in any medium,
takes reasonable steps to clearly label, demarcate or otherwise identify that changes were made to the original Work.
For example, a translation could be marked "The original work was translated from English to Spanish," or a modification
could indicate "The original work has been modified.";
■ c. to Distribute and Publicly Perform the Work including as incorporated in Collections; and,
■ d. to Distribute and Publicly Perform Adaptations.
The above rights may be exercised in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter devised. The above rights
include the right to make such modifications as are technically necessary to exercise the rights in other media and formats.
Subject to Section 8(f), all rights not expressly granted by Licensor are hereby reserved, including but not limited to the
rights described in Section 4(e).
4. Restrictions. The license granted in Section 3 above is expressly made subject to and limited by the following
restrictions:
■ a. You may Distribute or Publicly Perform the Work only under the terms of this License. You must include a copy of,
or the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for, this License with every copy of the Work You Distribute or Publicly
■ f. Except as otherwise agreed in writing by the Licensor or as may be otherwise permitted by applicable law, if You
Reproduce, Distribute or Publicly Perform the Work either by itself or as part of any Adaptations or Collections, You
must not distort, mutilate, modify or take other derogatory action in relation to the Work which would be prejudicial
to the Original Author's honor or reputation. Licensor agrees that in those jurisdictions (e.g. Japan), in which any
exercise of the right granted in Section 3(b) of this License (the right to make Adaptations) would be deemed to be a
distortion, mutilation, modification or other derogatory action prejudicial to the Original Author's honor and reputation,
the Licensor will waive or not assert, as appropriate, this Section, to the fullest extent permitted by the applicable
national law, to enable You to reasonably exercise Your right under Section 3(b) of this License (right to make
Adaptations) but not otherwise.
8. Miscellaneous
■ a. Each time You Distribute or Publicly Perform the Work or a Collection, the Licensor offers to the recipient a license
to the Work on the same terms and conditions as the license granted to You under this License.
■ b. Each time You Distribute or Publicly Perform an Adaptation, Licensor offers to the recipient a license to the original
Work on the same terms and conditions as the license granted to You under this License.
■ c. If any provision of this License is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, it shall not affect the validity or
enforceability of the remainder of the terms of this License, and without further action by the parties to this agreement,
such provision shall be reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make such provision valid and enforceable.
■ d. No term or provision of this License shall be deemed waived and no breach consented to unless such waiver or
consent shall be in writing and signed by the party to be charged with such waiver or consent.
■ e. This License constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the Work licensed here. There are
no understandings, agreements or representations with respect to the Work not specified here. Licensor shall not be
These conditions can be modified only by explicit permission of Autodesk, Inc. Send requests for modifications outside
of these license terms to [email protected].
Can I get special permission to do something different with the learning content?
Unless otherwise stated, our Creative Commons conditions can be modified only by explicit permission of Autodesk, Inc.
If you have any questions or requests for modifications outside of these license terms, email us at creativecom-
[email protected].
How do I attribute Autodesk learning content?
You must explicitly credit Autodesk, Inc., as the original source of the materials. This is a standard requirement of the
Attribution (BY) term in all Creative Commons licenses. In some cases, such as for the Autodesk video learning content,
we specify exactly how we would like to be attributed.
This is usually described on the video's end-plate. For the most part providing the title of the work, the URL where the
work is hosted, and a credit to Autodesk, Inc., is quite acceptable. Also, remember to keep intact any copyright notice
associated with the work. This may sound like a lot of information, but there is flexibility in the way you present it.
Here are some examples:
"This document contains content adapted from the Autodesk® Maya® Help, available under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license. Copyright © Autodesk, Inc."
"This is a Finnish translation of a video created by the Autodesk Maya Learning Channel @ www.youtube.com/mayahowtos.
Copyright © Autodesk, Inc."
"Special thanks to the Autodesk® 3ds Max® Learning Channel @ www.youtube.com/3dsmaxhowtos. Copyright © Autodesk,
Inc."
Do I follow YouTube's standard license or Autodesk's Creative Commons license?
The videos of the Autodesk Learning Channels on YouTube are uploaded under YouTube's standard license policy.
Nonetheless, these videos are released by Autodesk as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative
Works (CC BY-NC-ND) and are marked as such.
You are free to use our video learning content according to the Creative Commons license under which they are released.
Where can I easily download Autodesk learning videos?
Chapter 13 Creating New Sources Using Tools from the Tools Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
ix
Chapter 14 Procedural Compositing with Batch and Batch FX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
x | Contents
Flame Feature Differences by OS
1
Due to software and hardware differences, the following Flame features are not available on Mac systems:
■ GPU debayering
■ Background Reactor
■ Real-time deliverables
■ VTR archiving
■ DNxHD Compressed Intermediates
There are also some differences to note when working with certain effects on a Mac system:
■ Hardware anti-aliasing (HWAA) is limited to 8x.
■ You can add one Image-based lighting (IBL) map per Action object.
■ When using the PBS Shader in Action on a Mac system, you are limited to Base Color, Roughness, Metallic, AO, and
Opacity shader types.
■ You are limited to 16 textures per Action object; therefore in large Action scenes, you may notice that some features
are not available (shadow casting, for example).
Some preferences or settings are available only on Linux or Mac systems. These are noted where they occur within this
User Guide.
Consult the online System Requirements for up-to-date information on supported configurations and components.
1
2
Flame Interface Overview
2
The Workspace is where you accomplish all of your project tasks. The Workspace consists of three panels:
■ The Media panel
■ The Viewing panel
■ The Editing panel
Each panel has its own menu bar, where commands related to the panel can be performed.
At the bottom of the user interface is a series of tabs, which each give quick access to different views. Regardless of the
current view, the working environment remains the same.
It is possible to hide the Editing panel area in the Conform, Timeline, and Tools tabs by performing a Ctrl+Swipe at the
bottom of the screen. By doing so, you end up with a full height version of the Viewing panel (Player, Source-Sequence,
Triptych, Freeform, Desktop Reels, or Conform list). Viewing panel areas other than the Conform list can also be displayed
in a full screen manner if the Media panel is hidden.
3
NOTE To display the traditional Mac OS menu bar, use the Setup utility, found in the Flame folder. In the Flame Setup utility,
under the General tab, set Menu Bar to yes. Any changes will take effect the next time Flame is started.
Section: Description:
For a more detailed description of the Media panel, see Using the Media Panel (page 42).
The Media panel displays icons next to the media so you can assess its contents at a glance.
Icon: Media:
No Icon Clip
Sequence
Effects Clip
Selected Clip
Selected Sequence
Clips on the Desktop or the Viewing panel are displayed with a coloured border based on the type of selection
and the media type.
Border: Selection:
Primary/secondary selection. A yellow border is displayed on the primary selection and a grey border
on the secondary selection(s). The last selected clip becomes the primary selection.
Active source. A green border is displayed on the currently open source when an active sequence
is selected.
Last rendered clip. A blue border is displayed on the last rendered clip.
Ganged clips. The clip information displayed on the thumbnails of ganged clips turns green when
selected. Otherwise, the clip information on ganged clips is yellow.
NOTE When the selection is made from the Media panel, the yellow border appears in the Media panel selection
and the clip on the Desktop or the Viewing panel is bordered in grey, regardless of the media type.
Element: State:
An explicitly selected video segment. If no timeline segment is explicitly selected, the segment closest
to the timeline positioner's focus point is implicitly selected (and outlined with a white border).
An audio segment.
A container.
A segment shared across multiple timelines, due to the creation of Shots Sequence.
Clips provide you with a granular status of their media cache. There are four cache statuses, available from
any list view from the Cached column, or from the icon on the actual clip or segment.
Uncached Not one frame of the clip is cached, and no caching operation
has been requested for this clip.
Pending Backburner has been asked to cache the clip's media, but has
not started the caching process yet.
Cached Every single frame of the clip is now cached. All of them.
The Colour Picker appears as a floating window when you click a colour pot in the application. Using the
Colour Picker, you can set the colour pot to the colour of your choice or you can pick colours by:
■ Setting colour model channel values;
■ Sampling pixels in a clip;
■ Sampling a pixel’s colour inside a Viewport (Player or Tools) to get its RGB values;
■ Selecting a colour from the Palette widget;
■ Selecting a colour from the Spectrum widget;
■ Mixing colours in the Canvas widget.
b The Palette Widget: Enables you to quickly select a default colour. Towards the middle of the palette,
between the bold separators, you can select pure colours.
d The Canvas Widget: Enables you to mix and create custom colours.
e Colour Values: Displays the current value of the channel sliders. These can be either numeric or percentage
values.
f Colour Management button: Enable viewport colour management on the colour swatches, based on
the tagged colour space associated with the colour being picked.
g Colour Model box: Toggle to select between the RGB or YUV colour model.
h Mode box: Use to select how the numeric values represent each channel. Options are:
■ Colour: Use a range based on bit depth (0-255 for 8-bit, 0-1023 for 10-bit, 0-4095 for 12-bit). Only
available with Bit Depth set at 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit.
■ Colour %: Use a percentage value, relative to the entire range of the selected bit depth, ranging from
0-100%. Only available with Bit Depth set at 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit.
■ Range: Use the full range of colours in a 16-bit floating point colour space, entered as a floating-point
number. The brackets enclose the 0-1 range. Only available with Bit Depth set at 16fp.
■ [0-1]: Display the 0-1 range inside the full 16-bit floating point range, where 0 and 1 are enclosed by
brackets. You can still use values outside the 0-1 range. Only available with Bit Depth set at 16fp.
i Bit Depth box: Use to select the media bit depth. Options are:
■ 8-bit
■ 10-bit
■ 12-bit
■ 16-bit fp
j RGB / YUV Channel sliders: Use to modify the values of the Red, Green and Blue channels or the YUV
channels, as set by the Colour Model box.
k HLS Channel sliders: Use to modify the values of the Hue, Luma and Saturation channels.
l Custom Colour patches: 12 custom colours can be stored using the "Add" button.
m
■ Pick button: Click to sample the colour of the pixel under the cursor.
■ Average button:
■ Click and drag to draw a box and sample the average colour of the pixels within that box.
■ Add button: Click to save a sampled colour to one of the 12 Custom Colour Patches.
The Colour Sampler enables you to sample colours with precision, while displaying the pixel coordinates,
associated to the selected pixel, in realtime, whether the image is static or changes from frame to frame.
Sampling colours with the Colour Sampler automatically adds the selected colours to the Colour Picker’s
custom colour pots. Hence, the Colour Sampler enables you to sample colours precisely and efficiently and
easily build a palette of custom colours, in the Colour Picker.
The Colour Sampler can be opened using a button located next to the zoom controls in a Player / Viewport
or via a keyboard shortcut: Alt + Space + C (in all profiles). It is available in all Players / Viewports throughout
the application, including the modules with Multiview support.
NOTE The Colour Sampler button is deactivated when a non-image view is selected.
The Colour Sampler includes a widget: A red square that turns yellow when placed over a red pixel. The
widget is used to determine the pixel you want to sample.
Once the Colour Sampler window is displayed, it remains open until you close it. This makes it possible to
change the view or the clip, and to scrub the media and see the same pixel (x/y) coordinates update. This
can be useful for colour integrity checks.
Use the Add button to add the current colour to the Colours Sampler colour pots, as well as the Colour Picker
custom colour pots.
NOTE The sampled colour is always that of the Working Colour Space, regardless of whether or not the “Show
Display CS Info” option is enabled.
Resource Management
A Resource Manager utility is available from the Flame menu. The Resource manager indicates the amount
of RAM and VRAM that are Available, Used by the system, Used by the software, and Free. It also lists the
RAM and VRAM clients, and details their memory consumption.
Two tokens located in the init.cfg file enable you to define the percentage of Memory and Graphics Memory
to reserve for the application. These tokens deprecate both the MemoryApplication token and the -M startup
switch. They are:
■ MemoryConsumptionTarget
■ GraphicsMemoryConsumptionTarget
See the init.cfg file for additional details, but in most cases, you do not need to worry about these. If you
are using Connected Colour workflow, see Memory Settings for Connected Colour Workflow below.
NOTE The recommended ratio for system-memory (RAM) to graphics card memory (VRAM) is 3-1. If you are
using Shot Reactor, add up the values of both graphics cards before calculating the right ratio.
Area Support 32-bit float 32-bit float Pro- 32-bit float Output Comment
Input cessing
Media Caching & Ren- Yes Yes Yes RAW and OpenEXR
dering media can be gener-
ated based on the
Stone & Wire cfg file.
Batch Nodes Support 32-bit float 32-bit float Pro- 32-bit float Output Comment
Input cessing
For each person working on your system, you can also create a user.
A user is a profile that maintains the following preferences:
■ User interface settings
■ Pen and tablet preferences
■ Keyboard shortcuts
19
7 Set the Cache and Renders settings.
8 Set the Proxy Settings.
9 Set the Lustre Settings.
10 When you are satisfied with project settings, click Create. Projects have an autosave feature. The project
is automatically saved at the interval set in the preferences. You can manually save your project with
the Alt+S keyboard shortcut or by selecting Save Project from the Flame (or Flare) menu.
To edit a project:
2 Click Edit.
3 In the Edit Project dialog , modify the settings.
4 Click Done. The modifications are applied to your project.
To delete a project:
2 Click Edit.
3 The Edit Project dialog click Project Edit and select Delete Project.
4 Click Delete and then Confirm. When you delete a project, all its associated clips and setups are deleted
with the project.
You cannot open a project created in a previous version of Flame without first converting it.
1 From the Startup screen, in the Project section, set the Versions filter to All Versions.
2 Select the project to convert from the Project box. The version of Flame used to create it appears in
brackets.
3 Click Start.
4 In the dialogue box that appears, click Convert to proceed with the conversion.
The conversion creates a copy of the project and converts this copy to the new version of the application,
duplicating the setups. The original project remains untouched and accessible to the application that
created it.
If you cannot convert a project because of its age, use either of the following methods to open and access
the contents of the project.
■ Create an archive in the old version of Flame and restore the archive in the newer version.
■ Open MediaHub ➤ Browse for Projects and browse to project to restore. You can then import those
files in the new Flame.
The Flame Family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
1 From the Setup Directory box, select the project with the shared setups.
Any setups already saved to the existing project are made available to the new project.
1 If you want proxy generation to be the default option in your project, enable the Generate Proxies as
Default button.
NOTE You can generate proxies on demand for any media in your project at any time, even if this button
is not enabled. This simply makes it the default option at project creation.
NOTE Proxies maintain the same aspect ratio as their full-resolution sources.
3 Set the minimal width criteria for generating proxies by entering a value in the Conditional Proxy
Width field. For example, enter 1280 to generate proxies only for clips with a width of 1280 pixels or
greater.
4 From the Proxy Quality box, set the viewing quality of the proxy image.
Proxy quality affects rendering and proxy generation times. While lower qualities are faster to calculate,
all proxies require the same amount of disk space for purposes of storage.
Select: To specify:
Lanczos Excellent quality, recommended for upscaling and downscaling. Slower to calculate.
Shannon Excellent quality, sharper than Lanczos in small details. Recommended for upscaling
and downscaling. Slower to calculate.
Bicubic High quality, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscaling and downscaling.
Mitchell High quality, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscaling and downscaling.
Draft Lowest possible quality, used when proxies are generated automatically following video
I/O.
NOTE Once the Proxy options are set for a new project, they cannot be changed.
Proxies can be enabled and disabled for individual clips, regardless of whether default proxy generation was
enabled at project creation.
The Proxy Quality workflow allows you to reduce the amount of data being calculated in complex setups,
without the need to have proxies stored on disk, by simply changing the quality.
However, as overall interactivity and performance is defined by the slowest link in the chain, if reading the
source media is what is causing the performance loss for large setups, users can now optionally generate
proxies on disk.
Under the Proxy Settings tab, aside from the proxy size, quality setting and conditional setting, you can also
enable the Generate Proxies By Default button. Because all projects are proxy-capable, what this button does
is enable a sub-set of preferences, in relevant parts of the application, causing proxies to be generated on
disc, by default. This includes importing media from the MediaHub and rendering media from Batch or
Batch FX, the Timeline, the Modules, etc.
Import Options
When you import media from the MediaHub, you have a Generate Proxies button. If you enabled the
Generate Proxies By Default option when creating your project, the button will also be enabled by default
in the MediaHub and proxy media will be generated on import. You are free to disable and re-enable it, at
any point, to change the proxy generation behavior for specific media.
Rendering Options
Since proxy media is optional, there are preferences to define whether or not to write proxy media during
rendering. These preferences affect the Timeline, Batch or Batch FX, Generators and the Modules.
In the General tab of the Preferences, under Default Rendering Options, there is now a Proxy Rendering
drop-down menu, from which you can select one of three options:
■ Full Resolution and Proxy: The application renders at both full resolution and proxy resolution.
■ Full Resolution: The application renders only at full resolution.
■ Proxy: This sets the Timeline Rendering options to “Proxy Only”.
NOTE The Proxy option only applies to the Timeline. When selected, Batch or Batch FX, Generators and the
Modules are set to “Full Resolution and Proxy”, as they do not support Proxy Only rendering. They instead
have an “Include Proxies” option in the drop-down of their respective Rendering button, which is enabled or
disabled, based on this preference setting.
On demand proxy generation is achieved through the contextual menu, under the Media header, which
gives you two self-explanatory options, relative to proxy generation:
■ Generate Proxies
■ Flush Proxies
You can do this at any point, regardless of whether or not you enabled proxy generation by default when
you created your project.
This can be done to an individual clip, to a Reel or a Library.
Visual Indication
In order to get a quick snapshot of which clips have proxy media, as well as their current status, you can:
■ Enable List View in the Media Panel and look in the Proxy Resolution column, which will display a
hyphen if no proxies exist on disc for that media, the resolution of the proxies if they exist on disc and
“pending…” if proxies are in the midst of being generated.
■ Alt + Click a clip in the Media Panel.
This setting is used whenever the application writes to its managed storage:
■ When caching media. On demand (contextual menu ➤ Media) or on import (MediaHub ➤ General
➤ Clip Options).
■ When rendering a Timeline FX, a clip using a Tools module, or when using a Render node in Batch or
Batch FX.
■ When creating virtual media such as coloured frames.
■ When creating proxies. On demand (contextual menu ➤ Media) or on import (MediaHub ➤ General
➤ Clip Options).
Preferred formats are all available in RAW and non-RAW flavours. The difference between the two flavours
is the presence or absence of OpenEXR as an alternate format: RAW flavours have only DPX and RAW,
non-RAW ones have DPX, OpenEXR, and RAW. As a rule of thumb, use the RAW flavours, unless you are
planning on exporting material as OpenEXR using linked publish, in which case you should the but the
non-RAW flavours.
NOTE Preferred formats are all available in RAW and non-RAW flavours. The difference between the two flavours
is the presence or absence of OpenEXR as an alternate format: RAW flavours have only DPX and RAW, non-RAW
ones have DPX, OpenEXR, and RAW. As a rule of thumb, use the RAW flavours, unless you are planning on exporting
material as OpenEXR using linked publish, in which case you should the but the non-RAW flavours.
Notes regarding the use of DNxHD and DNxHR as an intermediate format (Linux only):
■ Anything cached at HD resolution (1920x1080 or 1280x720), DNxHD is used. Everything else uses
DNxHR.
■ If you plan on using interlaced material in your project, avoid the DNxHD 36 and DNxHD 440
intermediates, or DNxHR. They do not support interlaced material, and any interlaced frame will be
Maximum Width Displays the maximum width of a frame for it to use the Preferred Format. A frame
wider than this is written using one of the Alternate Formats. None indicates that
the preferred format is always used, unless the bit depth do not match the Depths
field.
See also the above note regarding DNxHD/DNxHR.
Maximum Height Displays the maximum height of a frame for it to use the Preferred Format. Any
frame bigger than this is written using one of the Alternate Formats. None indicates
that the preferred format is always used, unless the bit depth do not match the
Depths field.
See also the above note regarding DNxHD/DNxHR.
Depths Displays the bit depth required for a frame to use the Preferred Format. Frames with
a bit depth that is either higher or lower than the ones listed are written using one
of the Alternate Formats.
Alternate Formats Displays the fallback formats used to cache or render frames that do not match the
defined Bit Depth.
The application follows a specific fallback strategy, based on the bit depth of the
frame and the displayed formats:
■ DPX, OpenEXR, RAW: DPX for 8-, 10-, and 12-bit frames. OpenEXR for 16-bit
floating point frames, RAW for 12-bit packed ones.
■ DPX, RAW: DPX for 8-, 10-, and 12-bit frames. RAW for 12-bit packed, 16-bit
floating point, and higher.
NOTE When importing a project from a previous version of the application using the Copy & Open option, the
Setup folder of the copied project is renamed <setup folder>_<application version>. If the setup folder of the
original project is in a custom location (local or remote file system), the new setup folder is renamed but remains
in the original (custom) location.
NOTE You can create or open a project on a remote workstation using the Host Computer drop-down list.
To create a user:
5 Set Directory to the location where the user preference files are stored. This can be local, or on the
Remote Host selected from the Startup screen.
6 Enable Lustre User to create a matching user in Lustre.
7 Set the Creation Mode, either creating a new set of preferences, or copying them from another user.
8 Click Create to create the user.
Back on the Startup screen, the new
To edit a user:
To delete a user:
Should you change your mind about using Shotgun after having selected an option from the Shotgun dialog
window, you can do so using the Flame Setup Utility. Selecting "Enable Shotgun on this Workstation" or
"Don't Enable Shotgun" in the dialog window actually sets a Shotgun Plugin token to "Enabled" or "Disabled"
in the Flame Setup application. You can manually change the setting to "Enabled" if you want to enable the
feature, "Disabled" if you want to disable it or "Prompt" if you want the original dialog window to appear at
the next software launch.
If you choose not to use Shotgun for review, then nothing new is displayed in the application and you can
get on with your work, as usual.
If you do choose to use Shotgun for review, then the following functions are enabled in the software:
The Shotgun Login window appears at software launch, where you can log onto your Shotgun site directly
from Flame.
Selecting this option launches the Shotgun Review window, into which you can add a comment. Clicking
Submit uploads the current clip and the comment to the Shotgun Project.
Helpful Links
Creative finishing projects are often complex endeavors. Multiple artists may perform many different tasks before sharing
the results with other users for further development. In such heavily-collaborative environments, it is critical to keep these
operations carefully separated in order to avoid the accidental overwriting of hours of creative effort.
Each user is assigned their own Workspace upon opening a project. In the Workspace, they can undertake any and all
creative activities without the possibility of altering anyone else's work.
For complete information on all Flame components and their hierarchy, see About the Structure of Projects (page 40).
A standard practice is to first create an organized series of folders in the libraries and then import the required project
footage directly into them. Clips are then copied to the Desktop as needed.
Clips can also be directly imported to any reel in the Desktop, with the exception of a reel on a saved Batch group iteration.
NOTE When importing a 3DS, FBX, PSD or Particles file, the application automatically creates a new schematic reel within the
current Batch Group, placing all imported textures in the dedicated reel.
Through the Media panel, clips and even entire reels are easily moved by simply dragging and dropping them to a new
location. Clips and reels can equally be cut, copy or pasted by right-clicking the target and selecting the desired operation.
NOTE Because libraries are used as storage for raw sources and finished material, dragging a clip or reel from a library to a
Desktop location will copy the target rather than move it, in order to avoid any inadvertent loss of work.
39
Editing Clips in a Library
To protect raw and finished material from accidental alteration, all editing functions for clips in libraries are turned off
by default. Should it become necessary to edit a clip directly in a library, disable Preferences ➤ General tab ➤ Protect
from Editing.
Once this option disabled, the following operations can be freely performed on clips in all libraries:
■ Editing of a source clip (Trim, Slip, Cut, etc.)
■ Timeline FX operations (Add, Delete, Modify, etc.)
■ Batch FX operations.
■ Opening a clip as a sequence.
You can, however, copy a segment out of a sequence in the following situations:
■ The clip is located in a Library and Protect From Editing is enabled.
■ The clip is locked.
■ The clip is located in a Shared Library and you do not have the exclusive write access.
Project The entire creative finishing project containing all Workspaces and shared libraries.
Workspace A new Workspace is automatically generated upon creating a new project. If the project is
already created and in use and another artist connects to that project from another system, another Workspace
will be generated to avoid conflicting saves and operations. Workspaces can never be explicitly created by
a user, but existing Workspaces can be selected between at the start-up screen. The Workspace itself is divided
into two components: the Desktop and the Libraries folder. The Desktop and Libraries folder is specific to
the Workspace. To make material available to another Workspace, use the Shared Libraries folder described
below.
Shared Libraries The Shared Libraries folder is common to all Workspaces in the project. All files in a shared
library can be viewed and accessed by all other users in the same project. Though a shared library can be
written to and read from, clips cannot be edited there: all clips must be first moved to the Desktop or a local
library in order to perform any editing operations. A shared library can contain clips, sequences, folders,
reels, Batch groups and iterations, and even complete saved Desktops. The Lustre library is special shared
library for colour-grading operations and is only available if Create Lustre Project was enabled in the Lustre
settings during the creation of the project.
A Desktop can contain multiple Batch Groups and Reel Groups. In each workspace, there can be only one
Desktop open at a time. A Desktop can be saved to a library and later restored, or copied to a shared library
to be shared across Workspaces.
Libraries The storage area of the Workspace containing the Default library and any other individual
user-created libraries. Each library can contain any combination of the following:
■ Clips
■ Folders
■ Reels
■ Batch groups
■ Batch iterations
■ Saved Desktops
The Media panel is available for display at all times unless viewing a clip in Full Screen mode. The panel can
be displayed on the left or right of the screen depending on the setting in General Preferences (page 1878).
The Media panel can be set to display clips in one of two modes using the View Mode box:
List View The List view provides detailed information about each clip in the Media panel, including file
location and creation date. Widen the Media panel to show more information or extend to full-width by
pressing Shift + ~.
Tiles View The Tiles view makes it easier to visually identify clips when working in Batch, identifying clips
in Conform, or loading the right clip from a library to a reel. The thumbnails can be resized using the Size
field. Clips can be freely dragged and sorted in Tiles view.
Tips:
Tab Navigation
The top of the Media panel displays a number of tabs. Click a tab to focus on a specific area of interest in
the Media panel.
Desktop Displays each instance of Batch, along with their schematic reels, shelves, and iterations.
Batch Displays only the currently-active Batch, along with its schematic reels, Batch shelf, and iterations.
Conform Only available while working in Conform, replacing the Batch tab described above. Displays only
media available for the conform, filtered by match criteria.
BFX Only available while working in Batch FX, replacing the Batch tab described above. Displays only media
used in Batch FX.
Use Dual Panel View to manage clips, folders, reels, libraries. Dual Panel View allows the display of different
areas of the same Workspace, making it easy to move material around.
Drag and drop clips from libraries into different areas of the Media panel to perform operations on working
copies while leaving the originals intact:
■ Drag clips to reels and edit directly in the Viewing panel using a mouse or tablet. For more information,
see Gestural Editing on the Desktop (page 451).
■ Drag clips to the schematic reels in Batch groups to apply procedural effects. For more information, see
Procedural Compositing with Batch and ConnectFX (page 489).
■ Drag clips to shared libraries to make them available to other applications and workstations on the
network.
Whether in Tiles or List view, use the Tree: (name and creation date) and Clip: (many clip sorting criteria)
sorting options at the top of the Media panel to sort the complete hierarchy. Right-click either option to
select sorting criteria.
You can also apply a localised sort to any object of the Media panel using the Localised Sort option in the
right-click contextual menu.
■ The Media panel sorting options available at the top of the Media panel applies to all entries that are
not under a localised sort.
■ In the Media panel, an icon appears next to the container to indicate that a localised sort is being applied.
You can click on the icon to cycle through Ascending, Descending, or Not Sorted. Alt-click the icon to
clear the localised sort.
Assign custom colours to Batches, reels, folders and libraries to further organize material and enhance
workflow in the Media panel. To do this, right-click a target, select Colour, and choose from the provided
options.
To perform a simple name search, enter text in the field at the bottom of the Media panel and press Enter.
A Name Search Results area appears near the bottom of the Media panel to display the search results.
If you need a more advanced Media panel search, click the magnifying glass icon to open the Find in Media
Panel window.
■ The contents of a Batch Group's Iterations folders are searched even if they are hidden in the Media
panel.
If you add a clip or container to a location where another identically named item already exists, you are
presented with options to either cancel, add, rename, or replace. You can also choose to apply your selection
to all the selected items at once.
Select: To:
Add Add the entry without changing its name. You end up with more than one entry with the same
name.
TIP There is a Duplicate Name Check preference in Preferences ➤ General ➤ Media Panel where you can
decide if you want to get this message for clip, containers, both, or neither. By default, it is set to both.
■ Dragging a clip from a library to Batch Group entry within the Media panel creates a new reel with the
clip name.
■ Drag a library or a library folder to a reel to copy all of its contents onto the reel.
■ Drag a reel from the Desktop area to a library to make a copy.
■ After deleting an element from the Media Panel, the current Source clip is no longer selected. Instead, a
sibling of the deleted element is selected. In the case where there is no sibling left, the parent container
is selected.
If the Desktop is saved to a library containing a Desktop with the same name, the Saving to library dialog
box appears:
■ Click Add to create another Desktop save using the same name.
■ Click Replace to overwrite the previously saved Desktop with the current Desktop.
■ Click Rename to save the current Desktop with a new name.
Restoring a Desktop
Desktops can be saved as works-in-progress to be restored later or as backups of finished compositions. All
clips, reels, and sequences are available as well as any Batch groups and iterations. Saved Desktops are
designed for sharing through a Shared Libraries folder or the MediaHub as a single package containing all
elements required to rebuild a shot, a sequence, or a work iteration.
The contents of a saved Desktop in a library are easily accessed. For example:
■ Drag and drop a Batch group or iteration from a saved Desktop to Batch schematic to open it.
■ Edit and add clips to the reels of a saved Desktop.
■ Drag and drop a saved Desktop to a folder in Shared Libraries to make it accessible to other workstations.
NOTE When opening a Batch group created on a Flame in Flame Assist BFX, any nodes unavailable in Flame Assist
are greyed out. The nodes will still be processed, however their settings cannot be edited.
Media to be used in creative finishing and editing operations on the Desktop is organized into reels for easy
access. Individuals reels may be copied, moved, and deleted as well as have their visibility turned on and
off. Only a single group of reels can be displayed in Desktop Reels view at any one time.
Viewing Reels
The contents of reels are best displayed using Desktop Reels view in the Viewing panel. To enable Desktop
Reels view, do one of the following:
■ From the View Mode box, select Desktop Reels.
■ On the Desktop, double-click a Batch group or Reel group. If the desired reels are in a Batch group, that
specific group must be active.
The reels are displayed in the Viewing panel.
NOTE The maximum number of reels that can be displayed in the Viewing panel depends upon screen size and
resolution.
The currently-displayed group of reels can be quickly switched from directly in the Viewing panel. To do
this:
■ Click the eye icon displayed on the right side of the transport menu for the reel located at the bottom
of the Viewing panel, or immediately above any pinned reels (for more information on pinning reels,
see the following section).
■ Select the desired Batch or Reel group from the drop-down menu.
1 Click and hold the Move button at the far right of the transport menu for the reel to be moved.
2 Drag and drop the reel to its new position on the Desktop.
Pinning Reels
Reels from any type of group can be pinned to the bottom of the Viewing panel. A pinned reel remains in
place even if the current Batch group or Reel group is changed. This can be useful, for example, for keeping
a particular reel in view while browsing through other reels for material to assemble. All pinned reels have
a small white pin icon displayed to their right.
NOTE Reels from the currently-selected group cannot be pinned. To pin these reels, first select another group.
To pin a reel:
■ In the Media panel, make sure the reel to be pinned is shown and not part of an already-selected group.
■ Click the grayed-out pin icon to the right of the reel name and content details.
The reel is pinned to the bottom of the Viewing panel. If there are other pinned reels showing, the reel will
be pinned above.
When pinned, a reel displays a drop-down menu marked by the pin icon. Use this menu to swap the pinned
reel for another within the same group.
Renaming Reels
Reels can be renamed for better organization. To rename a reel, do one of the following:
■ In the Media panel, right-click the reel and select Rename.
■ In the Desktop Reels view, select the name of the reel, the enter a new one.
■ With the cursor over the item to rename, press N.
NOTE Reel names do not have to be unique: multiple reels can use the same name.
Adding Reels
New reels can be added directly in the Viewing panel while in Desktop view.
■ Ctrl-click the reel icon to add a reel immediately above the selected reel.
NOTE Adding more reels than the screen can display will automatically turn off the visibility of surplus reels.
NOTE
■ You can still load clips when the Media Panel is hidden.
■ The new Modal window has its own set of display settings (Tiles / List, Tiles Size, Expand / Collapse,
Scrollbar, Filtering tab).
NOTE Adding more reels than the screen can display will automatically turn off the visibility of surplus reels.
Reels can be cleared and deleted directly in the Viewing panel when in Desktop Reels view. Individual clips
can also be deleted.
TIP Both clips and reels can also be deleted by dragging them to the bottom of the screen.
When in a library, a reel behaves like a folder, but can only contain clips. A Reel group in a library is like a
Reel group on the Desktop, and contains multiple reels.
1 Drag and drop the reel or reel group to the desired location on the Desktop. If a reel group, only the
reels themselves are copied.
2 Drag and drop the reel on top of another reel to add the contents of the dropped reel.
NOTE In all cases, the original reel or reel group remains in its original location in the library.
Reel Groups
NOTE By default, every new Reel group has a Sequences reel. To have Sequences reel only appear on demand,
disable the preference Create Sequences Reel , found in Preferences ➤ User Interface ➤ Desktop.
■ Create additional Sequences reel within a Reel group using the option New ➤ Sequences Reel from
the contextual menu.
■ It is possible to work with multiple Reel groups. In this case, you can define the active Reel group by
clicking the Reel group's icon, or use Set As Current Reel Group in the Reel group Contextual Menu. The
current Reel group icon is yellow.
NOTE A newly created Reel group is automatically set as the Current Reel group.
■ Use the Active Sequence Reel button to navigate between the reels of the currently active Reel group; it
only displays reels with opened sequences within that Reel group. When you select reel, the timeline
displays every opened sequence within that reel.
The Other Sequences option displays all the open sequences that are not in a Reel group.
NOTE Reel group can be copied in a Shared Library but cannot be used for any conform operation from this
location.
■ When you import a sequence with the option Save Sources Separately enabled, the sources imported are
stored in a new reel, the Source Reel. The sequence is always imported in the Sequences Reel.
■ Whenever a new Sequences reel is created, it is added as the last reel of the selected Reel group.
■ In Conform view, if you enable the Save Sources option in the Conform tab, or the Save Sources Separately
option in the Import options, the sources are saved in a Sources reel within the Reel group.
You can scrub a clip or sequence by using the transport section under the reel or by dragging left or right
on the lower third of a frame.
When scrubbing a clip, the selected clip outline disappears, giving you a cleaner interface. All clip information
is hidden, except for the Current Frame / Timecode / Keycode and the File Format icon. This also applies to
clips in the Media Panel (Tiles), the Freeform view and the MediaHub (Tiles and Preview Panel).
Scrubbing a Reel
Click: To:
Load the clip currently above the playback controls into the
Player for full-resolution playback.
NOTE The closer you are to the edges of the screen, the faster the scrubbing speed. The closer you are to the
centre of the screen, the slower the scrubbing speed.
In storyboard view, each segment within your sequence is represented as a frame. Any transitions or cuts
between segments are represented as dotted green lines and full yellow lines respectively.
■ To toggle between collapsed view and frames view, press C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
■ To toggle between collapsed view and storyboard view, press Space + C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
1 Position the cursor over a grey area between clips or sequences on a reel.
2 Do one of the following:
■ To toggle between collapsed view and frames view, press C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
■ To toggle between collapsed view and storyboard view, press Space + C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
■ To toggle between collapsed view and frames view, press C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
■ To toggle between collapsed view and storyboard view, press Space + C repeatedly to cycle the two views.
1 Select the clip you want to locate from the Desktop section of the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Find in Reels.
To sync reels:
TIP Double-clicking a thumbnail in the Media panel displays the clip in the Player.
Generating Clips
The following generic video and audio clips can be generated on a reel:
■ Colour Source
■ Colour Bars
■ Noise
■ Gradient
■ Audio Tone
To generate a clip:
1 From the Media panel or Viewing panel, right-click a reel and select New.
2 Select the type of clip to generate.
3 Set the options in the dialog box that appears.
4 Click Create.
Once created, a clip is displayed as a source in the timeline, the Media panel and the Viewing panel.
Clip information for multiple clips is also be displayed in a table in the Media panel for more thorough
perusal. To view the complete table:
NOTE When opening a source as a sequence, the sequence is created using the original media. When a
source is added to an existing sequence, a copy is added, leaving the original source intact.
1 Select reels, folders or libraries in the Viewing panel or the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Open All as Sequences.
All the clips and sequences within the reel, folder or library are opened as individual sequences.
TIP This can also be achieved by dragging the reel, folder or library to the timeline.
Managing Sequences | 57
TIP This can also be achieved with the Meta + C keyboard shortcut.
TIP This can also be achieved by dragging the sequence handle to the left of the left-most tab in the timeline
and dropping it on a reel on the Desktop or in a library. A prompt asks whether to move or copy the sequences
to the new location.
TIP This can also be achieved by dragging the sequence handle to the left of the left-most tab in the timeline
and dropping it on a reel on the Desktop or in a library. A prompt asks whether to move or copy the sequences
to the new location.
Freeform view features a number of display options. To arrange the thumbnails, do one of the following:
Arrange ➤ Clean Up All Tile the thumbnails across the Viewing panel.
Arrange ➤ Fit All Tile the thumbnails across the Viewing panel at the highest possible resolution
while fitting all the thumbnails within the Viewing panel.
You can gang clips and sequences together in the Viewing panel so that when you jog one, they are all
jogged. This is useful for multicam setups. When you play a clip that is part of a gang, the current frame of
all other ganged clips is updated once playback has stopped.
TIP Each clip or sequence can have its own timecode offset, but if you are working with a multicam setup,
make sure all positioners are parked at the same location.
3 Hold the Ctrl key and select the clips or sequences you want to gang.
4 While the cursor is over one of the clips to be ganged, from the contextual menu, select Gang.
All selected clips are ganged and the clip information turns green.
NOTE The clip information of ganged clips turns yellow when a non-ganged clip is selected.
1 Select the clip(s) or sequence(s) you want to remove from the group.
2 From the contextual menu, select Gang ➤ Ungang.
All selected clips or sequences are unganged.
■ Undo box: Click to undo the last operation. Alternatively, click the white arrow to list the last 10
operations performed. Selecting an operation from the list undoes all operations performed after the
selected operation (including the selected operation).
■ Redo box: Click to redo the last operation. Alternatively, click the white arrow to list the last 10 undone
operations. Selecting one reapplies all undone operations performed before the selected operation.
The MediaHub, Conform, Timeline, Batch, and Tools tabs all share the same undo/redo stack, and are
automatically switched according to the context of the last undo/redo operation. Commands such as Replace
Desktop, Clear Batch, and Clear Desktop may also be undone.
The Undo levels may be set anywhere between 2 and 100 under the General tab in the Preferences. The
default is 50.
NOTE While in Batch FX, all undo levels are accessible. Upon exiting Batch FX and returning to the timeline, all
operations performed in Batch FX are considered one undo level. This means that even if seven operations were
performed in Batch FX, the undo affects all Batch FX operations at once.
To import media directly from the Desktop (Linux desktop or Finder on Mac OS X):
NOTE In .mov files where both audio and video tracks are present, it can happen that one track is shorter than
the other one. To preserve the integrity of the source, if the audio track is shorter than the video one, silence is
added to fill the gap. If the video track is shorter, No Media slates are added instead.
You can access format and import settings of an imported clip directly on the timeline. In the Editing panel,
these options are represented in the Timeline FX pipeline, prior to the application of any Timeline FX. These
options can be edited for the selected clip, and copied and pasted to other segments that use the same clip
format.
61
3 In the Timeline FX pipeline, do one of the following:
NOTE Format and import options are accessible in the same editor. You can open the editor once, then
switch between menus in the editor to edit different option types.
■ Select the Format Options button in the Timeline FX pipeline, and click Editor in the quick menu.
The Basic menu opens. Format options will be saved to this menu.
■ Select the Pre-Processing button in the Timeline FX pipeline, and click Editor in the quick menu.
The Resize menu opens. Import options will be saved to this menu and the RGB LUT menu.
4 Edit the settings as required, and then click Exit to return to the Timeline.
NOTE Technically, the index files are created with the suffix .index in the folder being browsed and can be
removed if needed: this will only impact AVCHD browsing performances in that folder, not reading nor writing
performances. If that folder is write-protected, Flame creates the index files in the local /var/tmp/.
Flame optimizes the decoding of Long GOP (Group Of Pictures) codecs to facilitate playback, jogging and
shuttling of clips the following codecs:
■ Sony XDCAM
The required optimizations are only available when importing from the Local Devices list from the MediaHub.
Importing media from the Autodesk Network list of volumes can result in sub-par Long GOP decoding
performances.
NOTE Lustre does not have access to this kind of Long GOP-read optimization.
Some media file formats have provisions on how to determine the tape name. For those that do not, MediaHub
derives the Tape name from the file name. Here are the various formats rules. You can override these rules
by specifying your own method in MediaHub, Format Specific Options ➤ Metadata ➤ Tape Name
box.
Audio Files:
■ Wave, AIFF, MP3, etc.: Uses the filename.
File Sequence:
■ DPX: Uses the information stored in the file header (the Input Device data is used); falls back to filename
if the header contains no tape name.
■ OpenEXR: Uses the name of the directory where the OpenEXR is stored.
■ ARRIRAW: Uses the information stored in the file header; falls back to filename if the header contains
no tape name.
■ Image Sequence (TIFF, TGA, JPEG, HDR, PNG, etc.): Uses the Tape Name entered in Format Specific
Options ➤ Metadata ➤ Tape Name field.
■ PSD: Uses the filename.
Movie Files:
■ MTS (AVCHD): Uses the filename.
■ REDCode (R3D): Uses the information stored in the file header.
■ Canon (MXF): Uses the filename.
■ Panasonic (MXF): Uses the name of the essence.
■ Sony XDCAM EX (MP4): Uses the name of the essence.
In case of spanned clips, set Format Specific Options ➤ Metadata ➤ Tape Name box to Tape
Name from File Name. Leaving it to the default setting of Tape Name from Essence will actually use the
name of the span segment for tape name.
■ Sony RAW/SStP/XAVC (MXF): Uses the name of the essence.
The tape name is derived from the MXF Source Package that is presented as <TAPE>; falls back to the
filename if empty.
■ MP4/MXF/QuickTime: Uses information stored in the file heade; falls back to filename if the header
contains no tape name.
NOTE Multi-Channel clips from Flame are not seen as multi-channel in Lustre: only the primary RGB channel is
available through Wiretap. Use the Matte Container for any Flame to Lustre workflow involving Multi-Channel
clips.
Double-click the Multi icon to expand the channels that make up the clip. You can then decide to import
the individual channels. A channel can be an audio track, an alpha channel, an alternate matte channels,
or any sort of CGI render pass.
The MediaHub offers the following options to import multi-channel clips in the Multi Channel Processing
box:
Matte Container (Full): This option lets you create a Matte Container out of a multi-channel file. This Matte
Container includes every available channel, instead of only the Alpha Channel (or Matte) channel. This
option is useful when importing content generated by 3D rendered or Desktop Compositing applications
which contains RGBA matte or alpha. Use this option to conform in Flame material that will then be used
in Lustre for Color Grading. In this case, the sequence provided to Lustre will contains all alternative channels
so colorist can use these channels for secondary color correction.
Multi-Channel Clip: This option imports a multi-channel file (such as OpenEXR) as a multi-channel clip.
This one clip contains every available channel from the file. This is the option to access the different channels
in Batch or Batch FX. Overall, a multi-channel behaves like any other with a few exceptions related to
TimelineFX and Tools. These limitations are also described below.
Where you are in the Flame defines what you can do with a multi-channel clip. As in MediaHub, the Multi
icon identifies multi-channel clips, although you cannot expand the channels.
In Conform Multi-Channel clips, even when containing more than just the classic RGBA channels, are seen
in Flame as source clips that you can use for Conform. Make sure that the clips to be used as sources are
imported with the Multi-Channel Processing box set to Multi-Channel Clip.
In the Timeline: With Timeline FX When you work with Multi-Channel clips in Timeline, only the main
RGB and Alpha channels are available to the Timeline FX. Other channels are not accessible.
In the Timeline: With Batch FX If you add a Batch FX using Add Adjustment Segment option, you lose
access to the channels of a multi-channel clip: the clip is converted to a back clip. If you add a Batch FX
using any other option (including without any option selected), the multiple channels of that clip are
available in Batch FX. But adding a TimelineFX on a multi-channel clip from the Timeline tab within BFX
hides the alternate channels. Use Batch FX nodes to add effects if you want to have access to every channel.
In Tools Using a multi-channel clip in most Tools produces single channel clips in which neither the alpha
nor the other channels are available in the Tools' results), with the exceptions of the following:
■ Stereo 3D clip
■ Create Matte Container
■ Audio Mixdown
■ Convert Rate
■ Consolidate
■ Change Keycode
■ Change Timecode
■ Copy/Duplicate
■ Move/Delete
■ Reformat
NOTE In versions prior to 2017 Extension 1, you would import multi-channel clips in Batch or Batch FX using the
Read File node. This node is now retired, but remains available for compatible with old setups.
NOTE The Import node is one method to add media to Batch or Batch FX. Using the Desk and Media Panel nodes,
as well as dragging a clip from the Media Panel are different methods to add a clip to the process tree. And all
these methods result in the same clip node.
The different rendering softwares available on today's market do not use standardized names to name the
channels that they output. Even if they did, facilities often have in place media management systems that
rename channels to fit internal standards.
CG renderers deliver render passes named according to their naming convention. But for maximum flexibility,
renderers also allow renaming the passes to whatever is required by the user.
In Flame, colour management of render passes is resolved using the names of these render passes. Flame
recognizes the default naming convention for the following renders:
■ Arnold
■ Mental Ray
■ V Ray
■ RenderMan
But if you receive multi-channel files with customized render pass names, you can edit a configuration file
that allows Flame to translate these names into standardized ones. This translation ensures the renders are
properly colour managed.
The translation file is named channelrules.cfg, and is found at /opt/Autodesk/cfg/channelrules.cfg. In
it you can specify equivalents for the following channels.
■ 3D Motion
■ AO
■ Beauty
■ Matte
■ Motion
■ Normals
■ Position
■ Roughness
■ Shadows
■ UV
■ Z-Depth
TIP In a collaborative environment, it is a good idea to share the channelrules.cfg file with other workstations.
Consider creating a symbolic link (alias) to the file stored in a shared location.
Open Clip's versioning capability can be leverage to ease revision and content update. See the Open Clip
samples and specifications for additional details.
Using WiretapCentral
About WiretapCentral
WiretapCentral is a flash-based application for remotely browsing, reading, and writing media using a
standard web browser. WiretapCentral is installed by default on Autodesk workstations.
Main Interface
Use these areas to navigate to media, and to select and apply actions to clips.
Click: To:
Selection Perform any of the following options on clips: Refresh All, Refresh Selected,
Expand Children, and Select All.
Layout Change the interface layout. The options are Normal, Extended, and Full
Screen.
View Change the current view. The options are Thumbnails, List, and Player.
Tools Open Backburner monitor, create new reels, libraries, and directories, as well
as delete selected items.
Export Export selected media or the entire list, or view packages or presets.
Player
Use the player to view clips and play them back with more options. The player shows all clips at a width of
720 pixels, normally at 100% JPEG quality. In addition, the player offers controls for stepping through the
action, looping, and playing backward.
Double-clicking a clip opens the player. WiretapCentral automatically generates and downloads the
high-resolution version from the clip before streaming a playable version. For long clips, this may take a
few seconds depending on the network interface and processing power of the WiretapCentral server. If the
clip has an NTSC or PAL proxy on the volume, the process is often close to real-time. As with thumbnails,
the clip begins playing as soon as it begins downloading.
Clips can also be panned and zoomed in WiretapCentral even while playing.
Export
After selecting media and choosing Export from the Menu bar, use the Export dialog to specify input and
output settings. Settings may be saved as presets and reloaded using the Presets button.
If any media has not been rendered or cannot play back in realtime, black frames and empty audio will be
generated. When Wiretap Central detects this before starting an export, a warning will appear, asking the
user to cancel or continue.
In addition, if any source or rendered clips are moved, modified or altered, the export will fail.
To export an RGBA movie file or file sequence, create a Matte Container prior to exporting.
■ Use the Create Matte Container option in the MediaHub. The resulting clip will be a Matte Container
and the Comp effect will be disabled.
■ Use the Create Matte Container Tools and select the Contain or the Contain & Add Comp option.
■ Use the Add Matte option in the Timeline FX ribbon to create a Matte Container.
To be able to export an RGBA media file, make sure the Comp effect is muted before exporting.
Tips
■ Muted tracks are not exported.
■ You do not have to render your whole sequence before exporting it: Flame automatically renders only
the media required for the export.
■ Minimize the space taken on your storage by using Export in Foreground.
For File Sequence and Movie, foreground export lets you export media without requiring you to re-render.
This options make so Flame does not need to allocate frames on the framestore because content is
streamed directly to the exported file, reducing the time to export.
For Sequence Publish exports, when the media needs to be packaged, Flame renders before exporting for
the segments that require to be pre-rendered. For example, using the Flattened tracks option with Timeline
FX requires rendering prior exporting, as do segments with a BFX or Resize.
■ Use Ctrl-click to select multiple clips for export in one operation.
■ Select a folder, a reel, or a library from the Media panel to export all of its contents. If that folder contains
a folder structure, that structure also gets exported.
■ When exporting with Export Between Marks, you can have pre-roll and post-roll black by setting
the in and out marks to include some empty track. Each frame of included empty track creates a frame
of black on the export.
■ When exporting a single frame as a file sequence, consider setting the Frame Padding field to zero to
export that frame without any file numbering. And if you export a multi-frame clip as a file sequence by
mistake without Frame padding, Flame detects this and automatically assigns a frame padding of 8 digits
to correctly export the clip.
■ Apple Final Cut Pro X XML Export
When you open the XML in FCP X, the media will automatically relink if exported to a file location
available on the FCP X workstation. You might have to use the FCP X Relink tool to link the XML
sequence back to the QuickTime if the media file path is different.
■ In ProRes exports, Flame corrects the aspect ratio to match the Apple-defined standard. For PAL 16x9,
the standard pixel aspect ratio is 118:81. For a frame of 720x576 this gives a an aspect ratio of ~1.82 =
(720 / 576) x (118 / 81).
■ MXF DVPro: a PAL export is always F2; a NTSC export is always F1. Fields are translated if required.
■ When exporting, use Add Token to build a dynamic file name. Here are some of the available tokens.
Event Number <event number> A number usually defined in a EDL, but that can be manually set in
Conform.
Project <project> The name of the project, as displayed in Flame ➤ Project and User
Settings.
Project Nickname <project nickname> The name of the project, as displayed in Flame ➤ Project and User
Settings ➤ Project Edit.
Segment Index <segment> A sequential index (from 1) indicating the relative position of each seg-
ment on the timeline; gaps are not indexed unless they have a Timeline
FX applied.
User <user> The user name, as displayed in Flame ➤ Project and User Settings.
User Nickname <user nickname> The user name, as displayed in Flame ➤ Project and User Settings
➤ User Edit.
Version ID <version> Number of the current version, as defined in the Clip Options tab.
Version Name <version name> Version Name from the Clip Options tab.
Workstation <workstation> The name of the workstation, as displayed in the Host Computer field
in Flame ➤ Project and User Settings.
NOTE When exporting an Open Clip with Clip Version enabled, make sure the frame rate remains the same
between versions: having differing frame rates within one Open Clip is not supported by the format.
MXF XDCAM 422 exported by Flame are encoded based on Sony's XDCAM format, and all start with a full
Group of Pictures (GOP). Some broadcasters use a different flavour of XDCAM 422, where the media start
with a short GOP (starting on an I-frame). You can meet these encoding requirements by setting an
environment variable. You can configure either or both Background and Foreground exports to use this
alternate encoding.
1 Close Flame.
2 In a shell, type: cd /opt/Autodesk/<application>
3 With a text editor, edit the file .cshrc
4 Add the following ligne to the .chsrc:
setenv DL_MXF_MPEG2_I_FRAME_FIRST 1
For Background Export, you need to configure the Backburner Server process.
■ On Mac OS:
■ Open the file /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.autodesk.backburner_server.plist
■ Add the following lines following the first <dict> line:
<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
<key>DL_MXF_MPEG2_I_FRAME_FIRST</key>
<string>1</string>
</dict>
■ On Linux:
■ Open the file /etc/init.d/backburner_server
■ Add the following line after the initial comments:
export DL_MXF_MPEG2_I_FRAME_FIRST=1
NOTE Because of the limitations of the format used for the EDL (CMX3600), the published sequence is
flattened to 1 video track and 8 audio tracks.
5 Click Export.
Flame prepares the export job. Once that preparation is done, Flame performs the export in the
background. You are free to use the application as the export happens.
The standard EDL published by Flame uses the CMX3600-DLEDL format, using DLEDL extensions if required.
But if you require a format other than CMX3600, or need to change how events are combined, use the EDL
editor, customizing the EDL as required.
■ Animated timewarps are converted into constant timewarps when written to an EDL.
The Source In and Source Out written to the outgoing EDL match the span of the media used in the
original animated timewarp. The constant timewarp speed in the outgoing EDL is calculated so that the
media fits the segment's duration.
■ When you export a sequence as an EDL, tape names with illegal characters are written to the EDL using
the Tape Name Extension.
The Tape Name Extension stores both the original name and a sanitized version, allowing third party
applications to import and correctly conform the EDL, displaying the sanitized name. And when
re-importing in an Autodesk application, the EDL displays the original tape names.
To publish an EDL with long tape names without relying on DLEDL extensions:
NOTE Tape names are still sanitized according to the rules listed above.
Save Generated EDL button Opens a file browser for you to select a location where to save the EDL.
Specify a file name and path for the saved EDL in the file browser that appears. The filename cannot contain
any of the following characters: ` # ~ @ $ % ^ & * ( ) [ ] { } < > \ | / ! ? , ; : ' "
EDL Event Combination box Indicates how events with the same source timecodes, record timecodes, and
tape ID are combined when the EDL is generated.
Select: To use:
Combine All Events A single entry for all video and audio events.
Combine Audio Events One entry for audio events and a separate entry for video events.
Never Combine Events A separate entry for each video and audio event.
■ CMX 340
■ CMX 3600
■ CMX OMNI
■ GVG 4
■ GVG 4 Plus (GVG v4.1 or higher)
■ SONY 900
■ SONY 910
■ SONY 5000
■ SONY 9000
■ SONY 9000 Plus (v2.21or higher)
■ SONY 9100
Clip Name Comments button Enable to allow clip name comments to be included in the generated EDL.
2:3 Insertion Mode button Enable to convert the frame rate of a 24p clip from 23.97 fps to 29.97 fps, and
maintain 2:3 pulldown information for all in and out points (including cuts, wipes, dissolves, and timewarps).
2:3 pulldown data is important when master tapes are sent out for hardware-based tape-to-tape colour
correction.
Frame Code Mode box Select the drop frame mode for the output material: DF (drop frame) or NDF (non-drop
frame).
The EDL file will include explicit notification of hybrid splices as punctuation marks in the record in and
out data.
A: Indicates a:
period (.) Regular splice record-in point for 29.97 fps non-drop frame timecode tapes.
comma (,) Regular splice record-in point for 29.97 fps drop frame timecode tapes.
colon (:) Hybrid splice record-in point for 29.97 fps non-drop frame timecode tapes.
semi-colon (;) Hybrid splice record-in point for 29.97 fps drop frame timecode tapes.
This button is enabled by default when a 24p template is selected at project creation.
Use Delayed Dissolves button Enable to include delayed dissolves in the generated EDL.
Default Tape field Enter a tape name if you want to override the default tape ID when saving an EDL.
Source clips are assigned tape IDs when loaded using the Clip VTR Input or through the Conform tab. For
example, an edit that uses a clip created with the Colour Corrector does not have a tape ID. When the EDL
is generated, the clip is given the tape ID in the Default Tape field.
Audio Patch Comments button Enable to allow clip audio patching comments to be included in the
generated EDL.
Use Tape Name Extension button Enable to support long tape names (more than 8 characters) through
the use of DLEDL extensions. This option and Use Long Tape Name are mutually exclusive.
This adds a list to the end of the EDL that shows the relationship between a abbreviated tape name (8
characters, maximum) used in the EDL and the actual tape name (52 characters, maximum).
Use Long Tape Name button Enable to support long tape names (more than 8 characters) in-place, without
truncation or DLEDL-style name extensions. This option and Use Tape Name Extension are mutually
exclusive.
The exported AAF file can be imported into the following applications:
■ Avid Media Composer (version 8 and newer)
■ Avid ProTools (version 12.2 and newer)
From the Sequence Options tab, you can export an AAF file that references the original media files or generate
an XML file that will reference new media files.
NOTE This process is especially fast, since no media need to be rendered or written to disk.
AAF Presets
You can use one of the following Sequence Publish presets to export an AAF for a specific purpose.
AAF for Avid Media Composer (Sequence only) Export an AAF file referencing the original media files.
The exported sequence shows all video and audio tracks. No media files are generated. See the Limitations
section to ensure that the exported sequence is compatible with this preset.
AAF for Avid Media Composer (DNxHD 36 and 16-bit WAVE) This preset generates a multi-tracks video
and audio AAF file along with 8-bit 1080p QuickTime (DNxHD36/45) referencing the media with effects.
16-bit audio WAVE files are also generated.
AAF for Avid Media Composer (DNxHD 175X and 24-bit WAVE) This preset generates a video and audio
multi-tracks AAF file along with 10-bit 1080p QuickTime (DNxHD175X/185X/220X) referencing the media
with effects. 24-bit audio WAVE files are also generated.
AAF for DaVinci Resolve DNxHD 175X and 24-bit WAVE) This preset generates a video and audio
multi-tracks AAF file with 10-bit 1080p QuickTime (DNxHD175X/185X/220X) referencing the media with
effects. 24-bit audio WAVE files are also generated. Audio tracks are flattened.
AAF for DaVinci Resolve for Source Grading (DNxHD 175X and 24-bit WAVE) This preset generates a
video and audio multi-tracks AAF file with 10-bit 1080p QuickTime (DNxHD175X/185X/220X) using the
original media. 24-bit audio WAVE files are also generated, but the audio tracks are flattened.
AAF for DaVinci Resolve for Source Grading (Sequence only) This preset generates a multi-track AAF file
referencing the source media files. No media files are generated.
AAF for Avid Pro Tools (Audio only 24-bit WAVE) Creates an AAF with source audio files with crossfades.
AAF for Avid Pro Tools (AV DNxHD 36 1080p 24-bit WAVE) Creates an AAF file with a committed
QuickTime file and source audio files with crossfades.
Limitations
The following guidelines will help you create AAF that should conform properly in third party applications.
■ Not all third-party application support all media formats and codecs that can be used in Flame. You
should verify that the media files referenced by the sequence can be read by the third party application.
AAF published from Flame and imported in Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer, Avid ProTools, or
DaVinci Resolve should relink automatically to the media exported alongside. If the relink does not
automatically happen, follow the procedures below. These procedures do not pretend to be exhaustive: for
anything more involved, refer to that application's documentation.
NOTE If the source media of the sequence is compatible with the Import Media option, it is possible to use
the Batch Import workflow. See Avid Media Composer documentation for details.
1 Import the AAF sequence from the File / Import AAF, EDL, XML... menu.
2 Select the option Automatically set project settings.
3 Select the option Automatically import source clips into media pool.
4 Define the timeline resolution if it is different from the project settings. Click OK.
■ If the media files locations are available, Resolve automatically imports the media and links the
sequence.
■ If the media files locations are unavailable, Resolve asks you to navigate to the media location.
1 Create a new session, and select the various options as needed. This includes defining the audio format,
the bit depth, etc.
2 Import the AAF sequence using File / Import / Session Data.
3 Select the AAF and click Open.
4 Disable Import Clip Gain and Import Volume Automation.
5 Select Import - Replace existing playlist. This allows the media to automatically import and relink.
6 Click OK.
DaVinci Resolve:
■ Avoid publishing a sequence that has audio crossfades and fades transitions. DaVinci Resolve will report
errors and will remove the audio transitions.
From the Sequence Options tab, you can export an AAF file that references the original media files or generate
an XML file that will reference new media files.
NOTE This process is especially fast, since no media need to be rendered or written to disk.
You can use one of the following sets of Sequence Publish presets to export an FCP X XML for a specific
purpose.
XML for Apple Final Cut Pro X (Flatten) Use these Export Presets to publish clips or sequences as a final
asset to be used in a third party application that supports FCP X XML. Media with FX is used to generate
media files.
XML for Apple Final Cut Pro X (Flatten With Transitions) Use these Export Presets to publish your
sequence when you want editors, colorists, or visual effects artists to work on a simplified sequence version
that allows to them to see shot boundaries. Media with FX is used to generate media files.
XML for Apple Final Cut Pro X (All Tracks) Use these Export Presets to publish your sequence when you
want editors, colorists, or visual effects artists to work on a simplified multi tracks sequence version that
allows them to see shot boundaries. The original media is used to generate media files for segments that
have Timeline FX. Segments made from Tools, Batch, Container, Matte Container or Batch or Batch FX use
media with FX.
NOTE The All Tracks Publish options uses the top most video tracks to generate content and not the current track
focus. If the sequence you want to use for XML Export contains material on video track you do not want to export,
remove these extra video tracks prior to exporting.
XML for DaVinci Resolve (ProRes 422 and 24-bit WAVE) This preset generates a video and audio multi-tracks
FCP X XML file with 10-bit QuickTime ProRes 422 referencing the media with effects. 24-bit audio WAVE
files are also generated. Audio tracks are flattened.
XML for DaVinci Resolve for Source Grading (ProRes 422 and 24-bit WAVE) This preset generates a video
and audio multi-tracks FCP X XML file with 10-bit QuickTime ProRes 422 using the original media. 24-bit
audio WAVE files are also generated, but the audio tracks are flattened.
XML for DaVinci Resolve for Source Grading (Sequence-only) This preset generates a video-only multi-track
FCP X XML file referencing the source media files. No media files are generated.
Limitations
Publishing Shots
Publishing a Shot
Before distributing shots to others, verify that the structure of the sequence, name the shots, and then
distribute them.
To create a shot:
TIP The Conform tab provides your with a great overview of your timeline, including assigned shot names.
When you open a shot published sequence, the versioned shot appears on a different Version layer of the
sequence. The bottom Version contains the original sequence.
The versioned shot actually contains all of the media of the shot and effects, keeping the timing from the
original sequence.
Promote to Batch FX
■ Ingests the shot directly in the current timeline. This removes the connection to the job tree, as well as
its versions.
1 Right-click the published sequence and select Source Versions ➤ Update Source. _publish identifies
a published sequence.
This reloads the associated Open Clip, making sure the latest versions are available for viewing. An
updated segment is highlighted in white to indicate that is contains new versions.
2 Open the published sequence.
The original sequence is displayed on the bottom Version of the timeline. A new Version contains the
track with the published shots and referenced media.
3 On the Timeline, locate the shot segment on one of the Published shots tracks.
4 On the Timeline FX ribbon, select a version from the Clip Versions box. Click Pre-Processing if at first
you don't see it.
You can now playback the new version, open it in Batch, promote it to BFX, output it, or simply revert
back to a previous version.
NOTE You can perform these operations on a segment, a sequence, multi-selected sequences, and even a reel,
Reels Group, a library, multiple libraries to updated all sequences within.
You can make it so a segment's name, shot identifier, or comment uses dynamic tokens.
TIP Enable the Dynamic button to have a name that automatically updates its tokens.
You can edit multiple segments in a single operation by first selecting them and then selecting, from the
contextual menu, Rename, Comment, or Rename Shot. And what information you type in the dialog box
overwrites whatever was already present in those segments.
To add information to multiple segments' shot name, comment, or segment name without overwriting
what is already there:
4 Click the required button to close the window. Now each segment contains the old information (thanks
to the placeholder) and the new information that was added.
Example:
1 Two segments need to be renamed to display their width and height: Segment_1 and Segment_2.
2 Select both segments, and from the contextual menu, select Rename.
In the Rename dialog box, because this is the first time these segments are renamed, both Preview and
Pattern fields are empty.
3 In the Pattern field, add the segments' name placeholder. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>
4 Add the width token, with a colon and space. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>: <width>
5 Add the height token, with an x and a space. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>: <width> x
<height>
6 Click Rename.
7 The two segments are now named:
■ Segment_1: 1920 x 1080
■ Segment_2: 1920 x 1080
A Custom Index token is available in the Rename, Rename Shot, and Comment Tokens list. Its tokenized
name is <index>.
You can define the following three attributes of this token:
■ Padding: Represented with # signs like in other tokens.
■ Start Point: Represented with the @ sign and a numeric value.
■ Increment: Represented with the + sign and a numeric value.
For example, using sh<index####@10+10> on three selected segments will return sh0010, sh0020, sh0030.
The Custom Index is baked-in once applied, which means that subsequent instances of the same segment
will not show the <index> token in the Pattern field, but the resolved token previously applied. The index
is version-based and the order is based on the Record Time.
Batch setups created with the Shot Publish workflow possess some interesting features that help minimize
record keeping.
■ The Write File node is already configured to use the correct render paths and the correct Format and
Settings options.
■ The version number automatically increases every time you render.
■ The Batch timing view provides you with the required layer information.
Note that there is a limited amount of presets for Shot Publish. These presets are provided mainly as examples
of naming patterns, examples you can customize to your specific needs. But as you customize those settings,
make sure you enable:
■ Copy Exported Clip in Media Library: This option creates in your Flame the special _publish sequence
with the Version that contains all the individual shots.
But you can always edit the different patterns naming patterns to fit your facilities requirements.
You can integrate Flame in third-party asset management workflows, but it does require some additional
work.
This additional work consists of configuring Nuke (or any third-party application) to update the Open Clip
XML file. The Open Clip XML file stores version, media, and shot structure information. To leverage that
information, the third-party app must be able to decode (and encode) Open Clip XML. You can find
information about its format here.
You can integrate this info to a script in the Write node in Nuke, or to a post-render script in Maya. Rendering
in such an application automatically runs the script to wrap the footage in the Open Clip XML format and
automates this process. If any new renders are output from these applications, they automatically update
in the Open Clip XML file.
If you additional monitoring or automation needs, you can use available Python hooks to integrate Flame
into a shot management system.
And from the Flame, the process is identical to working with a Flare.
The Suggested Clip Resolution guides you in the selection of a target resolution for the output. Using a
different resolution can have unexpected results.
Export Type box Select the type of export to use with the selected files.
Preset Selection box Select the export preset to apply to the exported files. Autodesk presets are built-in
presets that you can still modify using the Advanced Options. An asterisk indicates that the preset's advanced
options were modified.
Exported File Name field Displays the name given to the exported file, as defined in the Advanced Options.
Editable when exporting a single clip.
Advanced Options button Enable to display the advanced options to customize existing presets, or create
new ones.
Use Top Video Track button Enable to export the top video track of the current version. When disabled,
exports the track currently set as the primary video track.
Export Between Marks button When enabled, sequences are exported between the In and Out marks: the
marked frames are not exported. Disable to export the whole sequence, without considering the marks.
If there is only an Out mark, only frames from start to Out are exported. If there is only an In mark, only
frames from In to end are exported. In both cases, the In and Out frames are not exported.
Sequence Format box Select the format of the sequence. Media Only exports the segments of the sequence
as individual clips, but does not export the sequence itself.
Include Video button Enable to include in the published sequence the video tracks information. Required
to export the video media.
Include Audio button Enable to include in the published sequence the audio tracks information. Required
to export the audio media.
Sequence Filename field Displays the sequence filename based on the Pattern field. Each type of exported
file has its own filename defined in the relevant tabs. Non-editable.
Sequence Filename Pattern field Displays how to name the exported media files. Build a dynamic naming
scheme using Add Token, or characters normally allowed in a file name. Create folder structure using / .
Add '#' to numerical tokens to define padding. The file extension is automatically appended. Editable.
Add Token box Inserts a token in the Pattern field to build a dynamic filename.
Export Video button Enable to export the segments of the sequence as files of the type specified in Video
Format.
Video Format box Select the type of video file to create. For movie, select the wrapper and codec in the
Movie Options tab. For file sequence, select the file type in the Video Options tab.
Media Source box Select Use Original Media to export the original source referred by the exported sequence,
without any modifications. Select Use Media with FX to export the rendered media.
Video Tracks and Transitions box Select Keep All Tracks to export a clip for each segment of the sequence.
Select Flatten Tracks to export commit every transition and flatten the sequence. Select Flatten with Transitions
to flatten the sequence and commit every transition except dissolves, creating a single clip.
Include Video Handles button Enable to add head and tail frames to the exported video segments.
Video Handles field Displays the amount of head and tail frames. Editable.
Export Audio button Enable to export the audio tracks of the sequence.
Audio Source Selection box Select Use Original Media to export the original source referred by the exported
sequence, without any modifications. Select Use Media with FX to export the rendered media.
Audio Track State box Select Flatten Tracks to commit all transitions and create one audio clip per track.
Select Flatten Tracks with Transitions to create an audio clip per track but keep live transitions. Select Keep
All Tracks to export one audio clip per audio segment.
Include Audio Handles button Enable to add head and tail frames the exported audio segments. Audio
segments with Timeline FX applied are exported with 0 handles.
Audio Handles field Displays the amount of head and tail frames. Editable.
Movie Format box Select the container for the exported media.
Compression box Select the codec to apply to the exported movie file. The available codecs depend on the
selected Movie Format.
Codec Profile box Select a pre-defined video compression codec profile when exporting QuickTime files
using the H.264 or MPEG-4 codecs.
Filename field Displays the result of the pattern displayed in the Filename Pattern field. Non-editable.
Filename Pattern field Displays how to name the exported media files. Build a dynamic naming scheme
using Add Token and characters normally allowed in a file name. Create folder structure using / . The file
extension is automatically appended. Add '#' to numerical tokens to define padding. Editable.
Add Token box Inserts a token in the Pattern field to build a dynamic filename.
Include Audio button Enable to include audio tracks within the exported file. Available only if Export
Type set to Movie.
LUT Activation button Enable to apply the LUT or colour transform displayed in the Applied LUT field to
the clip.
Format box When Importing: Select Colour Transform unless you're applying a legacy format 1D or 3D
LUT. When Exporting: View Transform applies viewport colour management to the export; Input Transform
applies import colour management (or its inverse) to the export; Colour Transform is for CTF and most
other formats except a legacy 1D or 3D LUT; Tag Only overrides the colour space written to an OpenClip
XML file.
Applied LUT field Displays the type of colour management applied to the clip, either imported using Import,
or edited using Edit.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable to include the YUV headroom in the exported media files, creating
a full-range clip. Disable to convert your clip into a legal range/valid colour clip, with values between
Reference Black and Reference White. Leave disabled when the deliverable is broadcast, and enabled when
you want to provide wider range for post-production processes like grading and visual effects work.
Automatically disabled when exporting using a QuickTime RGB codecs.
YUV Encoding box Select the clip's YCbCr colour encoding matrix. The application uses this to translate
native RGB values into YUV ones. The Auto setting selects the colour encoder based on the resolution of
the clip: Rec. 601 for clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else.
Flame works in an RGB colour space: it needs to translate RGB information back into YUV. This setting
ensures that the right encoder is used for this. Specifying the wrong option will result in colour problems
upon decoding. Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this
is rarely the case at the moment: UHD clips still use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you need
the new standard.
Video Format field Select the format for the exported media.
Compression box Select the image compression to apply to the exported file sequence. The available
compressions depend on the selected Video Format.
Link Original Media button Enable to hard link the published files to the original files if both the original
and exported files are located on the same filesystem. If not, the application creates soft links back to the
originals. Available for file sequences only.
This option saves disk space on export as files that remain unchanged by the export are not duplicated.
Unchanged in this context means they were not rendered not resized in anyway. For example, a file sequence
of 20 dpx are imported in Flame. Of those 20, 12 are modified in some fashion. With Link Original Media
enabled, of the sequence of 20 dpx, only the modified 12 are actually created at export; the other 8 dpx are
just linked to from the export folder.
This option can be used even when the colour space of the timeline is different from that of the frames, for
example, when promoting 16-bit integer DPX files to a floating-point timeline (see Converting Images
Between 12i or 16i and 16f Encodings (page 1745)). Any frames that have a colour transform assigned in the
import settings, as well as the corresponding inverse colour transform assigned in the export settings, will
be linked if those frames are otherwise unchanged. If you are creating your own .ctf files, note that the
inverseOf attribute of the export transform must be properly set (see ProcessList (page 1754)). Any frames that
do not have the inverse colour transforms applied on export are processed as usual.
NOTE You can have Flame copy files instead of creating symbolic links across filesystems: in the stone+wire.cfg
configuration file, set the SymlinkAcrossFilesystems keyword to FALSE, in the StandardFSMediaOptions section.
DPX Transfer Characteristics box Select an option to identify the attributes associated with a particular
film or video format, such as resolution, frame rate, or colour space. Available when Video Format is set to
DPX.
When exporting DPX files, you can choose a DPX Transfer Characteristic. A DPX Transfer Characteristic is
information that is stored in the DPX image file header. It identifies the attributes associated with a particular
film or video format, such as resolution, frame rate.
Setting a Transfer Characteristic in no way changes the image information stored in the DPX file. The Transfer
Characteristic simply indicates the attributes of the DPX file read by another device or application. Some
devices or applications may take advantage of this information to improve workflow. For example, selecting
Select: For:
Z depth homogeneous, Z Images that you want to identify as one of these types. Although the SMPTE 274M standard
depth linear, PAL, NTSC, defines these DPX Transfer Characteristics, it does not provide usage specifications for them.
CCIR 601 (525), CCIR 601 As a result, these Transfer Characteristics are not generally used in the industry.
(625), CCIR 709-4, SMPTE
274M
Linear Video images which have built-in gamma correction. This refers to images having a true linear
quantization scheme (such as CG-originated material).
Printing Density Negative film scans which use the SMPTE Printing Density settings. SMPTE Printing Densities
use status M density measurements with a higher gain in the red component.
Academy Density Exchange Images at 10- and 16-bit film density encoding, in which colour information is encoded using
(ADX) a logarithmic scale. Usually used in the context of an Image Interchange Format workflow.
DPX Colorimetric Specification box Select an option to identify the colorimetric specifications used to
encode the DPX files. Available when Video Format is set to DPX.
Setting a Colorimetric Specification in no way changes the image information stored in the DPX file. The
Colorimetric Specification simply indicates the attributes of the DPX file read by another device or application.
Some devices or applications may take advantage of this information to improve workflow. For example,
selecting Academy Density Exchange (ADX) can allow a film recorder to adjust its parameters to print
film-originated DPX files with the correct densities.
JPEG Quality field Specifies the degree of quality versus compression. A value of 0 gives the lowest quality
(and highest compression), while a value of 100 gives the best quality (but applies no compression). Available
when File Format is set to JPEG.
LUT Activation button Enable to apply the LUT or colour transform displayed in the Applied LUT field to
the clip.
Format box Select View Transform to apply viewport colour management to the export. Select Input
Transform to apply import colour management (or its inverse) to the export. Select Colour Transform for
CTF and most other formats except a legacy 1D or 3D LUT. Select Tag Only if you want to override the
colour space written to an OpenClip XML file.
Applied LUT field Displays the type of colour management applied to the clip, either imported using Import,
or edited using Edit.
Colour Management Access button Click to open the Colour Management editor.
Filename field Displays the result of the pattern displayed in the Filename Pattern field. Non-editable.
Filename Pattern field Displays how to name the exported media files. Build a dynamic naming scheme
using Add Token and characters normally allowed in a file name. Create folder structure using / . The file
Add Token box Inserts a token in the Pattern field to build a dynamic filename.
Frame Padding field Define the padding of the frame identifiers appended to each file of an image sequence.
Only used with image sequences.
For example, a frame pad of 6 indicates that each frames's file name has its frame identifier padded with a
number of zeroes required to make it a 6-digit number: frame 1 is written as 000001, frame 22 as 000022,
frame 55555 as 055555, and so on.
Use Timecode button Enable to offset the numbering of the file sequence by the start timecode, as a frame
count. The start timecode must be positive or the export will fail.
Start Frame field Enter the start number to be used in the exported sequence of numbered image files.
Disabled when Use Clip TC Names is enabled.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the exported clip.
Select: To:
Centre/Crop Fit the source image, centred, over the destination frame. If the source is larger than the
destination, it is cropped. If the source is smaller than the destination, it is surrounded by a
black border.
Crop Edges Fit one edge of the source into the destination frame without stretching or squashing the
frame. Excess parts of the source frame after resizing are cropped. If the source—after the
one edge is resized—is wider than the destination, its overhanging left and right edges are
cropped. If the source is taller than the destination, the upper and lower edges are cropped.
Fill Fit the source, width, and height, into the destination frame. If the source and destination
frames do not have the same aspect ratio, the image can become distorted.
Letterbox Fit the source to the destination frame without squashing or stretching it, and without cropping
the source. If the source is wider than the destination, black bars fill the top and bottom of
the destination frame. If the source is narrower than the destination, black bars fill the right
and left sides of the frame. In all cases, the entire source frame is contained within the destin-
ation frame.
Resize Filter box Select the filter option to determine the quality of the interpolated resize result. The Resize
Filter box is active only if Fit Method is set to Crop Edges, Fill, or Letterbox.
Select: To get:
Bicubic Very good results for resizing soft-looking images. Use to sharpen the image.
Quadratic Good results for resizing simple images with straight edges. Similar to Gaussian but with more
blurring. Use to soften the image.
Gaussian Excellent results when resizing a clip with no patterns and numerous straight edges to a lower
resolution. Useful for softening some detail.
Shannon Excellent results when resizing a clip to a lower resolution. Very similar to Lanczos, but results
are a little softer.
Lanczos Best results when resizing a clip containing a variety of patterns and elements to a lower res-
olution. It is the most complex with the longest processing time.
Frame Width field Displays the frame width of the selected clip. By clicking it you activate the field, allowing
you to enter the frame width value that you want to use on export.
Frame Height field Displays the frame height of the selected clip. By clicking it you activate the field,
allowing you to enter the frame height value that you want to use on export.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio defined by Aspect Ratio Presets. Editable.
Bit Depth box Select a bit depth to be used on export. Some file formats support multiple bit depths. Bit
Depth is active only when Resize is enabled.
Scan Mode box Select an option to set the order in which the fields of interlaced material are scanned.
For interlaced material, you can specify whether the resize needs to be done from both fields or just from
one of the two. In the latter case, the result is a progressive clip made from the same two fields.
Select: To resize:
Note that in the case of IMX exports, the Scan Mode box is ignored: NTSC clips are always exported as F2
dominant, while PAL clips are always exported as F1 dominant.
Audio Format box Select the audio format of the exported audio tracks. If Export Type is Movie, the audio
is embedded within the video file. Any other Export Type outputs a separate audio file.
Audio Bit Depth box Select the bit depth of the exported audio file.
Audio Compression field Select the compression for the exported audio file. The available options depends
on the Audio Format.
Audio Mixdown box Select a mixdown to apply to the audio tracks, if any are included with the source
clip.
No Mixdown Nothing
Mixdown To 4 tracks To four tracks. The output strips are assigned sequentially in fours to the mixed-down channels
(where M1 goes to 1, M2 to 2, M3 to 3, M4 to 4, M5 to 1, and so on).
Mixdown To Stereo To one stereo track. The output strips are assigned sequentially in twos to the mixed-down
channels (where M1 goes to 1, M2 to 2, M3 to 1, M4 to 2, and so on).
Filename field Displays the result of the pattern displayed in the Filename Pattern field. Non-editable.
Filename Pattern field Displays how to name the exported media files. Build a dynamic naming scheme
using Add Token and characters normally allowed in a file name. Create folder structure using / . The file
extension is automatically appended. Add '#' to numerical tokens to define padding. Editable.
Add Token box Inserts a token in the Pattern field to build a dynamic filename.
Copy Exported Clip in Media Library button Enable to automatically create a copy of the exported clip
in the Media panel, linked to the exported media files. Available when performing a Sequence Publish with
a File Sequence, with no resize or bit depth change. This is similar to importing back the exported media
with Cache Source Media disabled.
Create Clip Data button Enable to create a .clip file for the exported sequence. A .clip contains extended
metadata about the exported sequence, and enables versioning. The name of the .clip appears in the Filename
field.
Clip Versions button Enable to version the exported sequence. This allows you to track revisions to the
sequence.
Clip Filename field Name of the .clip created for the sequence. It displays the result from the Pattern field
below.
Clip Filename Pattern field The pattern used to name the .clip created for the sequence. Use the Add Token
box to use pre-defined tokens to build the name.
Create Shot Setup button Enable to export a batch setup and a .clip file for every segment with a shot name
in the exported sequence. Only segments with non-empty Shot Name generate an associated .batch and
.clip. For Shot Publish exports.
Shot Setup Filename field Example of the names given to the shot setup created each segment with a shot
name. It displays the result from the Pattern field below.
Shot Setup Pattern field The pattern used to name each shot setup file. Use the Add Token box to use
pre-defined tokens to build the name.
Shot .Clip Pattern field The pattern used to name each shot .clip file. Use the Add Token box to use
pre-defined tokens to build the name.
Output Path field Example of an output path and name used by the Write File node of a generated Batch
setup. Displays the result of the Pattern field below.
Output Path Pattern field The pattern used to create the Output Path to ensure that the Write File node
of each generated Batch setup uses a different path and name. Use the Add Token box to use pre-defined
tokens to build the path.
Create Batch button Enable to create a Batch Group for each shot, back in the application at the location
set in the Batch Group Path field.
Batch Group Path field Location in the Desktop where the Batch Group is created. Enabled by Create Batch.
Create Clip Nodes button Enable to create in the Batch Group reels matching clip nodes.
Flame automatically interprets 16-bit integer media as 12-bit. This means that whenever you look at 16-bit
integer media through MediaHub or the import panel, the Bit Depth column displays 12-bit. But if you look
at the Preview Panel's Metadata tab, the media's bit depth is listed as 16.
When you import 16-bit integer media, Flame converts it to 12-bit media. This process is perceptually
negligible, as only the 4-least significant digits are discarded. But you can promote 16i media to 16f in order
to maximize the precision available for compositing, by applying a colour transform. See Converting Images
Between 12i or 16i and 16f Encodings (page 1745).
Also, if you use the Link Original Media video option during your export, image files that were not edited
are not affected by this conversion.
Action-only Formats
3ds Max .3ds yes (page 692) yes (page 845) (camera
data only)
■ Supported formats:
■ ALE (Avid Log Exchange) —import only
■ CMX 340
■ CMX 3600 —recommended format for import; default for export
■ CMX OMNI (ASCII version)
■ EDM (edit) —import only
■ GVG 4 and GVG 4 Plus (v4.1 or higher)
■ SONY 900 / 910 / 5000 / 9000 / 9100
■ SONY 9000 Plus (v2.21 or higher)
CMX 3600 is the default export format. To use another one, you must generate a customized
EDL.
Image Sequence
NOTE Media is presented as a clip, never as a sequence of RAW images. Supports the features from
version 5.3.0.9 of the ARRIRAW SDK. Supports all ALEXA cameras, including ALEXA Monochrome, ALEXA
Open Gate, AMIRA, as well as the 3.2K format from the ALEXA SXT.
DPX .dpx yes (page 182) yes 8, 10, 12, 16i bits and ADX encoding.
NOTE 8, 10, 12, and 16i bits support alpha, including 12-bit DPX (packed) from CODEX recorders.
Export supports 12-bit packed compression format, but only as RGB without alpha.
NOTE Monochromatic DPX files from the following film scanners have been validated:
■ FilmLight Northlight (10 & 16-bit)
■ DigitalFilmTechnology SCANITY™ (10 & 16-bit)
■ Imagica (8, 10 & 16-bit)
■ Laser Graphics (8, 10 & 16-bit)
Lustre supports single channel DPX files only when imported through Wiretap Gateway.
OpenEXR 2.2 .exr yes (page 198) yes 8, 10, 12u, 12, 16fp, 32fp, 32i* bits
RGB, RGBA, and multi-channel
NOTE You can access RGB and RGBA channels from a multi-part file; each part appears as a track of a
multi-track clip in the MediaHub file browser.
Deep pixel channels are not supported and are not displayed.
*32-bit int channels are converted to 32-bit fp, making it possible to use passes such as ObjectID.
You can access non-RGBA channels located at the root of the channels hierarchy.
Flame reads frame rate and timecode information from the header of an OpenEXR file, when one
of the following frame rates is used: 23.97 / 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30. It also supports writing that same
information on export.
NOTE Supports both flattened and layered files. Rasterize any layer with shapes before saving the file
to make sure those elements are available in Flame.
QuickTime
NOTE Supports alpha both RGB and RGBA import and export.
Although the specifications allow the DV format to be field 1 or 2, the industry standard is "bottom
first". Thus, before exporting to Flame, ensure that the clip is Field 2. Reformat, if necessary.
NOTE Includes support for the following varieties: 36, 60, 75, 80, 85, 90, 90x, 100, 110, 110x, 115,
145, 175, 175x, 185, 185x, 220, 220x, 444 (sometimes known as 350x).
NOTE Supports the DNxHR family: 444, HQX, HQ, SQ, and LB. Supports import of Avid-created DNxHR
files that are 10- or 12-bit.
NOTE Includes support for IMX 30, 40, and 50. When exporting, the Scan Mode box is ignored: NTSC
clips are always exported as F2 dominant, while PAL clips are always exported as F1 dominant.
NOTE Includes support for ProRes files from Sony F5 and F55 cameras.
NOTE Includes support for ProRes files from Sony F5 and F55 cameras.
NOTE Includes support for ProRes files from Sony F5 and F55 cameras.
The Supported QuickTime Audio (page 108) table lists the audio codecs supported in QuickTime files.
IMPORTANT Movie files that contain multiple compressions are not supported and may display as checkerboard
when scrubbed in MediaHub. Such movie files can be created when exporting a sequence made of different
DNxHD / DNxHR media from Avid Media Composer, using the Same as Source export option.
NOTE Panasonic P2. Import includes support for 1080/60p. Import supports OP-Atom format.
NOTE AVC-Intra LT is encoded half-height to reduce data rate. Enable, in Format Specific Options for
Panasonic, the option Image ➤ Scale to Full Resolution to import the media at its full resolution.
NOTE Supports the VariCam 35 and HS, both 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 flavours.
NOTE Supports the VariCam 35 and HS, both 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 flavours.
NOTE Supports .mxf files created by the ALEXA Mini. Uses the ARRIRAW import settings. Also supports
the Input Container mode, allowing you to select the media area to decode. Defaults to the file setting,
but you can override from the Input Container Mode menu in the Resolution menu.
■ Note:
■ Supports both intra and Long GOP flavours
■ Supports spanned clips.
NOTE
■ Includes support for the following varieties: 36, 60, 75, 80, 85, 90, 90x, 100, 110, 110x, 115, 145,
175, 175x, 185, 185x, 220, 220x, 444 (sometimes known as 350x).
■ Supports DNxHD in .mxf files from ARRI ALEXA cameras.
■ Supports OP-1a media files from Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve (DNxHD 100 and 444).
■ Supports DNxHD 220x and 145 from Sony PMW-F5 and F55.
■ In MXF Op-Atom files generated by Avid Media Composer, audio tracks appear in the MediaHub
as a single audio channel file (A1). But once imported, the tracks display the original channels.
NOTE
■ Supports the DNxHR family: 444, HQX, HQ, SQ, and LB.
■ Supports import of Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve DNxHR files, but only if they are OP-1a (OP-
Atom files from DaVinci Resolve are not supported).
■ Supports import of Avid-created DNxHR files that are 10- or 12-bit, using OP-1a or OP-Atom.
NOTE Panasonic P2
NOTE Panasonic P2
NOTE Flame uses Sony's SDK to decode SonyRAW files. It includes support for Sony F65, F55, and F5
camera outputs. Supports ISO / Exposure Index information. Supports the SonyRAW X-OCN codec
generated by the Sony AXS-R7 recorder.
NOTE Sony's implementation of MPEG-4 Simple Studio Profile, part of the SRMASTER format.
■ Supported Sony SStP formats:
■ SR-Lite (10-bit / YUV 422 / 220 Mbps)
■ SR-SQ (10-bit / YUV 422 / 440 Mbps)
■ SR-SQ (10-bit / YUV 444 / 440 Mbps)
■ SR-HQ (10-bit or 12-bit RGB 444 / 880 Mbps)
These formats are supported in 1280x720 (50p, 59.94p), 1920x1080 (23.97p, 24p, 25p, 25i, 29.97p,
29,97i, 50p, 59,94p), 2048x1080 (23,97/24/25PsF) with up to 16 tracks of PCM audio.
NOTE Includes support for Sony F55 and F5 camera, recorded in HD and 4K. Includes support for Long
GOP files (Sony XAVC-Long format), as recorded by cameras such as the PXW-Z100.
NOTE MPEG-2 Long GOP. Import supports 4:2:0 and 4:2:2. Export is 4:2:2.
MP4
NOTE MPEG-2 Long GOP. Includes supports for High Frame Rate (HFR) media—50p, 59.94p, 60p.—
Only linear PCM audio is supported. Some cameras can record AC-3 audio, but this format is not sup-
ported: Flame can still access the video portion of the media.
Flame uses RED SDK 6.2.2, including support for the RED HELIUM sensor, REDWideGamutRGB color
space, and for the RED Weapon (8K) and RED Raven (4K) cameras.
NOTE Includes support for RF64 files (BWF-compatible format that supports files larger than 4 GB).
NOTE Audio tracks are imported as regular audio tracks, without mapping the channels to spatial loca-
tions.
NOTE Files of any sample rate can be imported, but they are all resampled to 48 kHz.
IMPORTANT Codecs marked with an asterisk (*) are not available in the Trial and Educational versions of the
application. You can neither import nor export files encoded with these codecs.
MS ADPCM yes no
It is also possible to export content with the Link To Original Media option, to avoid duplicating media files
on the destination file system. Compressed Intermediates with Pixspan compression is not supported.
Files encoded with Pixspan compression have a double extension: the original extension, plus “.pxz” (ex.
dpx.pxz).
The Pixspan plugin is included with the application and supports decoding, out of the box. If you want to
use Pixspan for encoding as well, you will have to properly license the plugin.
Files exported through Pixspan generate thumbnails when encoded using Autodesk products. These
thumbnails can be seen under the Mac OS X Finder, making media browsing easier. This requires a Mac OS
X QuickTime component available from Pixspan.
For more information on Pixspan, visit: http://pixspan.com.
MediaReactor Support
Drastic Technology MediaReactor is an import plugin for Wiretap Gateway, that allows the ingest of multiple
file formats not currently supported by Autodesk products. Among others, the following formats are available:
■ Vision Research Phantom CineRAW (.cine)
■ Cinema DNG (AJA CION, Blackmagic cameras, etc) (.dng)
■ Canon C500 RAW (.rmf)
■ Panasonic Varicam RAW (.vraw)
■ Jpeg2000 (MXF)
MediaReactor supports many more file formats than those listed above; including Cineform DPX, Flash
Video, HDV, Matroska (MKV), Mpeg 1/2/4, Avid DV25, DV50, HDV, Uncompressed (MXF), Windows Media,
WebM and many more. However, only the formats listed above have been validated and are officially
supported.
NOTE After installing the MediaReactor plugin, you must restart the Wiretap Gateway, Stone&Wire and Flame.
Linux installation
Installation on Linux
1 Exit Flame.
2 Download the file to the Linux workstation. /usr/tmp is a good spot.
3 Open a shell.
4 Change directory to /usr/tmp. Type: cd /usr/tmp 5. Unzip the file.Type: unzip
SetupMRWS_Linux-x86_64_2016_Beta.zip and wait for the process to finish.
5 You now need to find the unzipped file. Type: ls SetupMRWS_Linux. Look for the file that does not
end with .zip. Note that name. In the following steps, we will use SetupMRWS_Linux-x86_64_5_0_154
as an example: you will need to change the name to reflect your situation.
6 Change the file permissions. Type: chmod 777 SetupMRWS_Linux-x86_64_5_0_154.
7 Launch the installer. Type: ./SetupMRWS_Linux-x86_64_5_0_154 8. Follow the on-screen
instructions.
8 Close the shell once the installation is complete.
Once the MediaReactor component is installed, you need to restart Wiretap Gateway, Wiretap Server, and
Stone & Wire.
NOTE For Lustre, only the Wiretap Gateway needs to be restarted. From the Editing / Browse menu, click
Restart WTG.
Once all three services are green, you are good to go and relaunch Flame.
Uninstallation on Linux
1 Exit Flame.
2 Open a shell.
3 Change directory the MediaReactor install directory. Type: cd /opt/mediareactor
4 Launch the uninstaller. Type: ./uninstall
5 Once MediaReactor is uninstalled, you must restart both Wiretap Gateway, Wiretap Server, and
Stone+Wire. See the instructions above.
6 Relaunch Flame.
Mac Installation
1 Exit Flame.
2 Download the MediaReactor setup file, and unzip it.
1 Exit Flame.
2 In the Finder, open Applications / MediaReactor.
3 Launch "uninstall".
4 Once the uninstall is done, you must Restart Wiretap Gateway, Wiretap Server, and Stone+Wire using
the Service Monitor. It is found in Applications / Autodesk / [application] / Utilities.
5 Restart Flame.
NOTE You can install a new MediaReactor over an older version: you do not need to uninstall the older version
beforehand.
NOTE The bit rate is defined by the selected codec and cannot be changed by users.
■ XDCAM EX 1080i / 1080p / 720p: 35 Mbps
■ XDCAM EX 1080 (Thin Raster): 25 Mbps
Flame and Lustre support 4K Preview timings and UltraHD 4K footage (UHDTV).On systems with an AJA
Kona 3G card or an AJA Kona 4G card, the following timings are supported:
These timings can be selected at project creation and from the Preferences / Broadcast Monitor menu, if
connected to a broadcast monitor.
■ The following timings are available when using Blackmagic Design SDI I/O and Preview cards on Mac
OS X. Availability based on hardware capabilities. See Blackmagic Design's website for more details:
■ Support for Single Link 4:4:4 RGB 3G for all HD timings;
■ Support for 2K DCI (2048x1080) 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 & 30;
■ Support for UHD (3840x2160) 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 & 30;
■ Support for 4k (4096x2160) 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 & 30;
■ Support for HFR timings for AJA IoXT 4K on OS X - UHDTV/4K 50p, 59,94 and 60p.
NOTE In Lustre, the new ADA 5 SW Sharpening controls are located in Image / Transcode / Format menu. As
always, you can copy these settings using the Selector.
■ For RED, Colour Science must be set to version 3.x. This is the default setting.
With GPU decoding, the concept of Wiretap Gateway local decoding slaves is being slowly phased out.
The slaves mechanism had a significant impact on performances for R3D CPU Decoding. No slaves will be
used by default for R3D decoding when a GPU decoding capable system is detected (Q6000 and above)
unless NumLocalSlaves is explicitly set to a non zero value (it is commented out by default). See the comments
in the [Slaves] section of the file /opt/Autodesk/wiretapgateway/cfg/wiretapgateway.cfg.
Keep in mind that, as mentionned in the wiretapgateway.cfg file, R3D files using Color Science 2.x or HDRx
cannot be GPU-decoded, in which case you will need to configure NumLocalSlaves.
1 Open Conform.
2 Click in the Media Panel the destination for the imported sequence.
3 Right-click the Events list, and select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL...
4 Review the EDL Import Options.
An EDL has neither frame rate nor resolution. Unless you specify something in the EDL Options, Flame
assigns to the EDL the project's resolution and frame rate.
5 In the Media Import window, locate the sequence to import using the file browser, and click Import.
An EDL has no concept of track. To get around this limitation, one can export an EDL per track, and have
Flame combine these related EDL into a single sequence. This process is called EDL multi-assemble.
You can select multiple sequences to import, using Shift-click and Ctrl-click.
If a source is used multiple times in a sequence, or across multiple sequences, and Save Sources Separately
is enabled, only one instance of the source is imported. And the sources are saved in a Sources folder.
If you plan on perform a Connected conform, you must import your sequences into a Reel group. Make sure
to drag and drop the sequences on top of a Reel group, or to import from Conform. When you import your
sequences through Conform, they are always added to the Sequences reel of the default Reel group, making
sure you will be able to use the Sources and Shots sequences required for the Connected conform workflow.
Collectively, all these formats are known as File Interchange® Formats, but they are still commonly referred
to as EDLs.
NOTE It is recommended that you use EDLs in the CMX 3600 format.
DLEDL Structure
The following table lists the DLEDL flags used in creating an EDL file. It describes the comments used in
creating DLEDLs and provides examples of basic EDLs that you can use in your projects.
Note that the order of flags always remains the same:
■ Clip name (EDL comment)
■ Start TC
■ File path
■ Video file name
■ Audio 1 file name
■ Audio 2 file name
■ Audio 3 file name
■ Audio 4 file name
DLEDL: START TC: 10;00;00;00 The start timecode of the clip that will be created from the
media files imported into Flame. This timecode can be differ-
ent from the source start timecode of the EDL event. Both
drop-frame (00:00:00:00) and non-drop-frame (00;00;00;00)
timecodes are supported.
DLEDL: PATH /CXFS1/PRODUCTION1/SHOW5 The location of the files on the filesystem. All the files for an
event must be in the same directory.
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: INTRO .(010@240).dpx or DLEDL: Name of the video file sequence to load. Numbers in paren-
EDIT:0 FILENAME: (009@100).dpx thesis refer to frames in the sequence. In this example, the
following files are referenced:
INTRO.010.dpx, INTRO.011.dpx, ...,
INTRO.240.dpx or
009.dpx, 010.dpx, ..., 100.dpx
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHAN- Audio file name to import. The audio files can contain one
NEL_1.AIF file per track (_1), one file per stereo pair (_12), or one file
DLEDL: REEL: 12345678 123456781234556 The CMX EDL format limits the length of the tape name to
eight characters. Some editing systems do not impose a tape
name length limit. If the tape name exceeds eight characters,
Flame generates a short name to be used in the EDL and
stores the original name in the Source Table list at the end
of the EDL file (one Source Table per EDL).
NOTE File names, tape names, and clip names cannot contain spaces or special characters. For example, TAPE 1
should be set to TAPE_1 (no space) and CLIP$,12/2 to CLIP_12_2 (no special characters).
The following examples are given to facilitate the creation of edit decision lists for the automatic import of
multiple media files into a project. You can simply copy and paste the suitable example into a text editor,
modify it accordingly, save the file with an .edl extension, and import the resulting file into your application.
Video-only EDL
TITLE: SIMPLE EDL WITH VIDEO AND 2 AUDIO TRACKS (1 TRACK PER FILE)
FCM: DROP FRAME
001 TAPENAME AA/V C 10:00:00:00 10:00:05:00 00:00:30:00 00:00:35:00
* FROM CLIP NAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF
DLEDL: START TC: 10;00;00;00
DLEDL: PATH: /CXFS1/PRODUCTION1/SHOW5
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: INTRO.(010@240).dpx
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_1.AIF
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_1.AIF
DLEDL: REEL:TAPENAME TAPENAMEVERYLONG
TITLE: SIMPLE EDL WITH VIDEO AND 2 AUDIO TRACKS (2 TRACKS PER FILE)
FCM: DROP FRAME
001 TAPENAME AA/V C 10:00:00:00 10:00:05:00 00:00:30:00 00:00:35:00
* FROM CLIP NAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF
DLEDL: START TC: 10;00;00;00
DLEDL: PATH: /CXFS1/PRODUCTION1/SHOW5
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: INTRO.(010@240).dpx
TITLE: SIMPLE EDL WITH VIDEO AND 4 AUDIO TRACKS (1 TRACK PER FILE)
FCM: DROP FRAME
001 TAPENAME AA/V C 10:00:00:00 10:00:05:00 00:00:30:00 00:00:35:00
* FROM CLIP NAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF
DLEDL: START TC: 10;00;00;00
DLEDL: PATH: /CXFS1/PRODUCTION1/SHOW5
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: INTRO.(010@240).dpx
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_1.AIF
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_2.AIF
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_3.AIF
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF_CHANNEL_4.AIF
AUD 3 4
DLEDL: REEL:TAPENAME TAPENAMEVERYLONG
TITLE: SIMPLE EDL WITH VIDEO AND 4 AUDIO TRACKS (2 TRACKS PER FILE)
FCM: DROP FRAME
001 TAPENAME AA/V C 10:00:00:00 10:00:05:00 00:00:30:00 00:00:35:00
* FROM CLIP NAME: TONE-8TRK-44KHZ.AIFF
DLEDL: START TC: 10;00;00;00
DLEDL: PATH: /CXFS1/PRODUCTION1/SHOW5
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: INTRO.(010@240).dpx
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE_12.AIF
DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: TONE_34.AIF
AUD 3 4
DLEDL: REEL:TAPENAME TAPENAMEVERYLONG
NOTE By default, the sequence is imported at the resolution of the AAF, not the project's. You can set a
resolution with the Sequence Resolution box.
1 Open Conform.
2 Click in the Media Panel the destination for the imported sequence.
3 Right-click the Events list, and select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL...
4 Set the AAF & XML Import Options.
5 In the Media Import window, locate the sequence to import using the file browser, and click Import.
You can select multiple sequences to import, using Shift-click and Ctrl-click.
If a source is used multiple times in a sequence, or across multiple sequences, and Save Sources Separately
is enabled, only one instance of the source is imported. And the sources are saved in a Sources reel.
If you plan on perform a Connected conform, you must import your sequences in a Reel group. Make sure
to drag and drop the sequences on top of a Reel group, or to import from Conform. In Conform, imported
sequences are always added to the Sequences reel of the current Reel group, ensuring that you can use the
Sources and Shots sequences required for the Connected conform workflow.
Miscellaneous Components
■ Subclips are no longer created inside a Container but rather appear as a segment in the timeline.
■ Markers located on a gap are now translated.
■ Effects on Filler are now converted into GapFX.
■ When you import multiple AAF files, and one of those files cannot be imported, Flame now warns you
and allows skipping the incompatible AAF.
■ On a Mac: Create the AAF project on the workstation running Flame. And when exporting the AAF, save
the AAF to the root of the media used in that timeline: the media should either be with the AAF, or
within a folder alongside the AAF.
■ On a Linux workstation: Save the AAF to the root of the media used in that timeline: the media should
either be with the AAF, or within a folder alongside the AAF. Then you can move that folder to the Linux
workstation to conform in Flame.
In Flame, when you conform an AAF using RED .r3d media files, you can also apply the RED Source Settings
defined in Avid Media Composer. Source Settings are the color settings edited in either Media Composer.
1 From the Conform tab contextual menu, select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL...
2 In the Media Import window, enable AAF & XML Import Options ➤ Keep Source Settings.
This setting can also be set in the MediaHub.
3 Locate and Import the AAF with RED Color Settings.
4 Once the AAF is imported, link the segments back to their R3D sources by Conforming an Avid AAF
(page 278).
The RED sources are displayed using the color settings defined in Avid Media Composer.
Debayering resolution is not part of the information contained in the AAF Source Settings. You must therefore
specify the debayering settings before locating the R3D files, or the media's resolution will not match that
of the sequence. You should do this from the MediaHub before importing the AAF, or from the Media Import
window as you locate the AAF.
Matching the resolution of an AAF to the fully debayered resolution of R3D files:
1 In the Media Import window, locate and select one of the R3D files.
2 In the Format Specific Options tab, enable Show All Formats.
3 Select File Format ➤ R3D from the box.
4 Select Options Category ➤ Debayering.
5 Set the Debayering Mode box to Full.
6 Open the AAF & XML Import Options tab.
7 Select Select Resolution from the Sequence Resolution box.
8 With the R3D file still selected, click Copy from Selected Clip.
The resolution information is copied from the R3D file. Any AAF (or XML for that matter) will be
imported to that resolution.
TIP Often times the AAF will be have been created at an HD resolution in Avid Media Composer. But by working
at full debayering resolution on Linux workstation, you can benefit from the faster GPU debayering. Override the
AAF resolution with the Sequence Resolution in the AAF & XML Import Options; use Copy from Selected Clip on
one of the R3D files to match resolution. Make sure to also set the R3D debayering to Full.
1 From the Conform tab contextual menu, select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL...
2 In the Format Specific Options tab, enable Show All Formats.
3 Select File Format ➤ R3D from the box.
4 Select Options Category ➤ Debayering .
5 Set the Debayering Mode box to the desired debayering resolution.
6 In the Media Import window, enable AAF & XML Import Options ➤ Keep Source Settings.
This setting can also be set in the MediaHub.
NOTE Format Options you set from the Timeline in Flame are overwritten when you relink the media to the AAF:
the media is imported using the MediaHub settings.
The options Search and Import Files and Link to Media Files are performed sequentially:
1 If Link to Media Files is enabled, Flame locates the media files based file paths and names found in the
AAF.
2 For the media that cannot be found, and if Search and Import Files is enabled, Flame tries to locate
the media files in the location defined by the Directory Up field, trying to match media to segments
based on the defined Match Criteria.
When conforming unsupported intermediates, use the Preferred Media ➤ Original Sources option
from the Media Import window to link to the original media files. Or from Media Composer, transcode the
sources to a supported format.
Sequences made using a unsupported frame rate, such as 48 fps, cannot be conformed in Flame.
NOTE In MXF Op-Atom files generated by Avid Media Composer, audio tracks appear in the MediaHub as a single
audio channel file (A1). But once imported, the tracks display the original channels.
Path Translation allows you to fix problems with media that was relocated after it was imported in Flame.
You can edit the Source and Destination paths of the /opt/Autodesk/cfg/pathTranslation.cfg file directly
from Preferences > Storage > Media Location Path Translation.
From there, you can Create, Duplicate, or Delete a rule using the buttons at the bottom of the table. When
you create a new rule, it is set to /SourcePath and /DestinationPath by default, so it has no effect on the
media. This path can be modified using the following methods:
■ Click on the Source or Destination path cells of the selected rule to edit the path directly within the
table.
■ Select either Browse Source or Browse Destination to manually select a path for the selected rule using
the MediaHub Browser
The refresh button can be used to manually refresh the list. This can be useful in the event that the
pathTranslation.cfg has been modified using a text editor outside of Flame while Flame is running.
NOTE The environment variable DL_LOCK_PATH_TRANSLATION_TABLE can be used to set the table (empty by
default) within Flame to be read-only. A message is displayed below the table when it cannot be edited in Flame
because either the file permissions were modified or the environment variable is set. These settings are not Project
or User-based. They are System based.
You ca also set up the path translation in a configuration file, where you define pairs of paths.
<PathTranslationTable>
<PathTranslation src="/Volumes/SAN" dst="/ProductionSAN" />
</PathTranslationTable>
When you import an AAF in Flame, one of three things can happen to each effect and transition found in
the sequence.
A pink segment marker in the imported AAF timeline indicates an effect or a transition that could not be
translated into an equivalent Flame effect or transition.
■ In MediaHub, enable AAF & XML Import Options ➤ Mark Unknown Effects.
Video Transitions
AVX Plugin
Illusion FX Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original effect name
AVX Plugins Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original effect name
Blend
3D Warp Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Picture-in-picture Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Superimpose Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Box Wipe
Bottom Left to Top Right Converted to SMPTE 006 Softness not supported
Bottom Right to top Left Converted to SMPTE 005 Softness not supported
Top Left to Bottom Right Converted to SMPTE 003 Softness not supported
Top Right to Bottom Left Converted to SMPTE 004 Softness not supported
Dissolve
Fade to/from Color Converted to Fade (Additive Color data and Keyframe animation
type)
Dip to Color Converted to Dissolve (Addit- Color data (no Keyframe animation)
ive type)
Peel Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Edge Wipe
Keyer
AniMatte Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
RGB Keyer Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
SpectraMatte Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Matrix Wipes
Plasma Wipes
S3D
Sawtooth Wipe
Shape Wipe
Horizontal bands Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Horizontal blinds Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Vertical blinds Converted to Dissolve Segment mark with the original transition name
Video Effects
AVX Plugin
Illusion FX Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
AVX Plugins Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Blend
3D Warp Translated to Action Position, Scaling, Rotation, Skew, Shadow, Defocus, Transpar-
ency, Crop, Softness with animation (animation curve might
different from Avid products)
Picture-in-picture Translated to 2D Transform Position, Scaling Transparency, Crop, Softness with animation
if no Crop or Softness (animation curve might different from Avid products)
Translated to Action if Crop
or Softness
Superimpose Translated to Comp Transparency with animation (animation curve might different
from Avid products)
1.66 mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position,Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box used)
1.85 mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position,Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box used)
16:9 mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position,Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box used)
Anamorphic mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position,Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box used)
Blowup Translated to Resize if no Position, Scaling, Crop with animation and Background Color
Crop (animation curve might different from Avid products)
Translated to Action if Crop
Mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position,Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box if horizontal or vertical used)
crop
Translated to Action if hori-
zontal and vertical crop
Conceal Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
L-Conceal Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Peel Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Push Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Spin Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Squeeze Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Generator
SubCap Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Timecode Burn-in Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Avid Pan and Zoom Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Blur effect Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Colour Correction Not supported Replaced with a default Colour Warper effect
Segment mark with the original effect name
Colour Effect Not supported Replaced with a default Colour Correction effect
Segment mark with the original effect name
Colour LUT Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Field Swap Not suppported Segment marl with the original effect name
Mask Translated to Burn-in Letter- Position, Scaling, Colour (no animation, first colour value is
box if horizontal or vertical used)
crop
Translated to Action if hori-
zontal and vertical crop
Mosaic Effect Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Paint Effect Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Region Stabilize Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Resize Translated to Resize if no Position, Scaling, Background Color, Crop with animation
Crop Translated to Action
Transform if Crop
Safe Color Limiter Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Scratch removal Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Spot Color Effect Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Stabilize Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Reformat
14:9 Letterbox Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
16:9 Letterbox Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
4:3 Sidebar Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Pan and Scan Not supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Titles
Title Tool Converted to Text Only text string and color are supported (Discreet font, size
50 center location)
Crawl and Roll Text effects are not supported.
Marquee Text Converted to Text Only text string and color are supported (Discreet font, size
50 center location
Key
Matte key Translated to 2D Transform Position, Invert Key, Scaling, Opacity (Comp effect is used for
if there is no crop Transparency)
Translated to Action if there Position, Invert Key, Scaling, Cropping and Transparency
is crop
NOTE Make sure to enable the Create Matte Container in
MediaHub prior importing the AAF file so RGBA media files
can be imported as Matte Containers
S3D
Flame can import Media Composer stereoscopic timelines; an Avid Stereo3D timeline is imported as a
stereoscopic timeline with Left and Right tracks, with the following limits.
S3D Floating Window Effect Not Supported Replaced with a default Stereo Toolbox effect
S3D Spatial Alignment Effect Not Supported Replaced with a default Stereo Toolbox effect
S3D Vergence Effect Not Supported Replaced with a default Stereo Toolbox effect
Timewarp
To make sure the conform is accurate with the creative editorial decisions from the Avid editor, the conformed
timewarp speed value seen in Flame timewarp editor can be different from the one seen in the Avid
application. But the actual Timewarp effect will be visually similar to the expected result, and be frame and
keyframe accurate.
Speed Bump Translated to TW FX, with Animation curve might different from Avid products
keyframes.
Timewarp Ramp Translated to TW FX, with Animation curve might different from Avid products
keyframes.
Box Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Edge Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Matrix Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Plasma Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Sawtooth Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Shape Wipes Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
Audio
Transitions
Effects
Audio Filters Not Supported Segment mark with the original effect name
NOTE By default, the sequence is imported at the resolution specified in the FCP XML, not the project's.
You can set a resolution with the Sequence Resolution box.
1 Open Conform.
2 Select in the Media Panel where to put the imported sequence.
3 Right-click the Events list, and select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL...
4 Set the AAF & XML Import Options.
5 In the Media Import window, locate the sequence to import using the file browser, and click Import.
You can select multiple sequences to import, using Shift-click and Ctrl-click.
If a source is used multiple times in a sequence, or across multiple sequences, and Save Sources Separately
is enabled, only one instance of the source is imported. And the sources are saved in a sources folder.
If you plan on perform a Connected conform, you must import your sequences into a Reel group. Make sure
to drag and drop the sequences on top of a Reel group, or to import from Conform. When you import your
sequences through Conform, they are always added to the Sequences reel of the default Reel group, making
sure you will be able to use the Sources and Shots sequences required for the Connected conform workflow.
NOTE Bit depth and scan mode are media properties and not sequence properties: set these options in the
Resolution options if you plan on using them as conform criteria.
The options Search and Import Files and Link to Media Files are performed sequentially:
1 If Link to Media Files is enabled, Flame locates the media files based file paths and names found in the
FCP XML.
2 For the media that cannot be found, and if Search and Import Files is enabled, Flame tries to locate
the media files in the location defined by the Directory Up field, trying to match media to segments
based on the defined Match Criteria.
Flame allows you to import multi-track compositions from Apple Final Cut Pro (FCP) or from Adobe Premiere.
The following tables describe the data that is output from FCP and input into Flame. Sequences from Adobe
Premiere should behave the same.
General Data
Name Name
Duration Duration
Editorial Data
FCP Source media data and Record side data maps to Autodesk clip data.
Effect Data
FCP transitions map to Flame transitions, while FCP Filter effects and FX Script data map to Flame Timeline
FX.
Transitions Transitions
Animation Interpolation
Corner Linear
Smooth Hermite
Motion
The following table describes how motion from FCP is mapped to Flame Action Timeline FX parameters.
To make sure the conform is accurate with the creative editorial decisions from Final Cut Pro 7, the conformed
timewarp speed value seen in Flame Time Warp editor can be slightly different from the one seen in FCP7.
But the actual Time Warp Timeline FX will be visually similar to the expected result, and be frame and
keyframe accurate. There are exceptions:
■ Frame blending used with this effect is not translated.
■ Negative constant timewarp speeds are not applied to the audio tracks of the segment being timewarped.
■ Variable time warps are not applied to the audio tracks of the segment being timewarped.
Video Transitions
The names of FCP transitions are preserved in Flame and are visible in the timeline.
Dissolve
Iris
Map
Page Peel
QuickTime
Matrix Wipe Not supported; replaced by SPMTE 001 with a comment indicating the type
of FCP Matrix Wipe that had been at this mark
Slide
Wipe
Jaws Wipe SMPTE 073 (partially supported, FCP's is smaller than Flame's)
■ Left = SMPTE 62
■ Up = SMPTE 63
Video Filters
Blur
Border
Channel
Colour Correction
Distort
Image Control
Desaturate CC
Key
Matte
Perspective
QuickTime
Sharpen
Stylize
Video
Blink Action
Video Generators
The following tables describe generated effects that are translated into equivalent effects in Flame.
Once imported into Flame, effects created with the FCP video generator use the project's default resolution,
regardless of their original resolution in FCP. This matches the behaviour of FCP: XML files with these effects
that are reimported into FCP projects with different resolutions similarly inherit the project's resolution.
Video Generator
Bars and Tone HD108060i Colour Source SMPTE Bars (partially supported)
Bars and Tone HD720p60 Colour Source SMPTE Bars (partially supported)
Bars and Tone (NTSC) Colour Source SMPTE Bars (partially supported)
Bars and Tone (PAL) Colour Source SMPTE Bars (partially supported)
Matte
Others
Shapes
Text
Audio
Some FCP audio elements are mapped to Flame equivalents. Audio keyframes are not supported.
Audio Controls
Apple
Composite Modes
Some FCP composite modes are mapped to Flame Action surface blend modes.
Supported Data
Flame supports Final Cut Pro X XML exports, including ones referencing directly R3D, MXF, and ARRI Alexa
ProRes files.
NOTE Compounded (nested) clips are not supported. As a workaround, remove any compound clip before
exporting the sequence from FCP.
Flame includes minimal support for XML 1.6. In most cases, the sequence conforms without issue.
But because of how movie files (audio + video) are referenced in XML 1.6, only the video portion is displayed
in conformed sequences.
It is also possible to simply export the sequence using version 1.5 of the XML, in which case the sequence
will conform as expected in Flame products.
The following effects are supported when conforming XML sequence from FCP X.
Retime Effects
NOTE To make sure the conform is accurate with the creative editorial decisions from Final Cut Pro X, the conformed
timewarp speed value seen in Flame timewarp editor can be slightly different from the one seen in FCPX. But the
actual Timewarp effect will be visually similar to the expected result, and be frame and keyframe accurate.
Title Effects
All text effects are translated to a Text Timeline FX for the text itself, and a Comp Timeline FX for the
compositing:
■ Text Timeline FX:
■ RGBA mode
Audio
Only audio fades are supported. Audio keyframes are not supported.
Flame correctly imports FCP X XML using multi-track audio.
Transitions
In cases where the video and audio are imported and treated as a single entity in the Final Cut Pro X sequence,
applying a video transition affects both video and audio and is translated in Flame as follows:
■ Dissolve transition: Flame applies a dissolve to video and audio.
■ Wipe transition: Flame applies a matching wipe to video, and a dissolve transition to audio.
■ DVE transition: Flame applies a dissolve to video and audio.
Lights Dissolve
Movements Dissolve
Objects Dissolve
Replicator/Clones Dissolve
Stylized Dissolve
Center Supported
Circle Supported
Clock Supported
Letter X Supported
Wipe Supported
NOTE The following only applies when using Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8 (or later).
With Final Cut Pro, you can work directly with R3D files, created by RED cameras, instead of using the
QuickTime files. This means that when you import a FCP X XML sequence in Flame, you can relink the
sequence to the R3D files, providing you with the best image quality.
Another benefit of using the R3D files is the RAW parameters set in Final Cut Pro X are saved by FCP as an
RMD file. This file can be read by Flame on import.
To read FCP X Color settings for R3D files, you have to select an RMD option from MediaHub ➤ Browse
for Files ➤ Format Specific Options ➤ Colour Settings box for R3D files.
MediaHub Browser
General Tab
Cache Source Media button Enable to create a managed copy of the media in the application storage; this
copy is a transcoded version of the original media, using the Cached Media Compression Format as the
transcode target. Disable to link to the media of the imported clip, without transcoding or copying the
media.
Enabling Cache Source Media ensures that the application is the sole owner of the media, preventing the
media from being modified by an external source. With Cache Source Media disabled, the application decodes
the clip on-the-fly and there is no transcoding.
You can always change your mind after importing a clip: right-click the clip and select Media ➤ Cache
Source Media to transcode the media and copy it to your local storage. Right-click and select Media ➤
Flush Source Media Cache to get rid of the transcoded copy and refer back to the original media.
Generate Proxies button Enable to generate proxy media for imported clips.
Clip Options for Versions box Applies only to multi-versions clips. Sets if Generate Proxies and Cache
Source Media settings apply to the current version or to all versions of a multi-version Open Clip.
Multi-Channel Processing box Sets how multi-channel clips are processed on import. Multi-Channel Clip
creates a single multi-channel clip. Matte Container (Full) creates a matte container containing every channel.
Other options create one clip or matte container per channel, with alpha channel included or discarded
depending on the selected option.
Cached Media Compression Format field Displays the compression format applied to clips imported with
Cache Source Media enabled. Defined for the project, in the Cache and Renders tab of the Project dialogue
box.
You access your project's settings in Flame ➤ Project and User Settings.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Select: To fit:
Centre/Crop The source image, centred, over the destination resolution frame. If the source is larger
than the destination, it is cropped. If the source is smaller than the destination, it is surroun-
ded by a black border.
Crop Edges One edge of the source into the destination resolution frame without stretching or
squashing the frame. Excess parts of the source frame after resizing are cropped.
If the source—after the one edge is resized—is wider than the destination, its overhanging
left and right edges are cropped. If the source is taller than the destination, the upper and
lower edges are cropped.
Fill The source, width, and height, into the destination resolution frame. This process, if the
source and destination resolutions do not have the same aspect ratio, can distort the image.
Letterbox The source to the destination resolution frame without squashing or stretching it, and
without cropping the source.
If the source is wider than the destination, black bars fill the top and bottom of the destin-
ation frame. If the source is narrower than the destination, black bars fill the right and left
sides of the frame. In all cases, the entire source frame is fit into the destination frame.
Resize Filter box Select the resize filter to apply to the clip; all but the Impulse filter are rendered using the
GPU. This box does not appear if you select the Centre/Crop fit.
Select: For:
Lanczos Excellent and sharp results. Recommended for upscale and downscale. Expensive to com-
pute.
Shannon Excellent and sharp results. Results are sharper than Lanczos in small details. Recommended
for upscale and downscale. Expensive to compute.
Bicubic High-quality results, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscale and downscale.
Mitchell High-quality results, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscale and downscale.
Triangle Low quality results that are fast to compute. Use for downscale.
Impulse Very low quality results that are fast to compute. Use for downscale.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Still Duration field Specify a duration for stills, repeating the last frame as required. The result is the same
as if you had trimmed out the stills in the Timeline to the specified duration.
Pixel Ratio box Use From Source to import using the information specified by the file. Use Square Pixels
to ignore the file specification and use the Width x Height ratio, when file metadata is not set correctly.
Colour Management Mode box Invert the colour transform to convert from the original destination back
to the original source colour space. In Custom mode, you may also invert individual component transforms
by clicking in the invert column to toggle it.
Invert button Select the type of colour management to apply: Tag Only (tag the media with a colour space
but do not process the pixels); Auto Convert (convert from an input colour space to a working space); View
Transform (apply or invert a viewing transform as part of the import); or Use LUT (manually apply a LUT
or Colour Transform and then tag the result).
Format box When Importing: Select Colour Transform unless you're applying a legacy format 1D or 3D
LUT. When Exporting: View Transform applies viewport colour management to the export; Input Transform
applies import colour management (or its inverse) to the export; Colour Transform is for CTF and most
other formats except a legacy 1D or 3D LUT; Tag Only overrides the colour space written to an OpenClip
XML file. .
Applied LUT field Displays the type of conversion LUT applied to the clip, either imported using Import,
or edited using Edit.
Import button Open the file browser to select a LUT for import.
Show All Formats button Disable to display only the format of the file selected in the MediaHub browser.
Enable to view or edit import options for any of the available file formats.
File Format box With Show All Formats disabled, File Format displays the format of the file selected in the
browser; if more than one file is selected, File Format displays the formats of the selected files. With Show
All Formats enabled, select the file format to view or edit its import options.
Media Options
Link to Files button Enable to create a sequence with segments that link to the original media. Disable to
import an unlinked sequence. If Search and Import Files is also enabled, the application first tries to relink
to the media using the file paths, and then searches for what could not be relinked using only the file paths.
Preferred Media button Select which one of either offline intermediates or original sources to import when
both are found by the application. Only used when importing AAF sequences.
Consolidate on Import button Enable to limit the handles to the amount specified in Maximum Handles.
Disabled if Search and Import Files is enabled but the Match Criteria is not Tape-Source Timecode.
Save Sources Separately button Enable to import each source referred by the sequence, and to save them
in a Sources folder.
Search and Import Files button Enable to search and import the media listed in the sequence, using the
selected Match Criteria options but not the file paths the sequence might contain. The media found is
imported as segments of the sequence. If Link to Media Files is also enabled, the application first tries to
relink to the media using the paths, and then searches for what could not be located.
Directories Up field Use to expand the search to parent directories. The application searches for media to
match by going down any folder structure, starting with the directory from where the sequence file is
imported.
NOTE When setting the Directories Up field, keep in mind that the application navigates through the whole
directory structure. This means that the higher up you go in the folder structure, the longer the conform takes.
Match Criteria box Opens the list of criteria used to identify the sources of the imported sequences.
The Match Criteria window enables you to manually select the criteria to use to match segments. It has two
modes: Active and Strict.
■ Active: Enables the Match Cirteria. When Strict is not selected along with Active, the Advanced column
determines the number of characters in the criteria that are required for a Match. You can modify the
Source Timecode, Handles, Resolution, Bit Depth, Frame Rate, UMID, and File Type default to Strict mode
when activated.
The Match Criteria window can remain open while tending to other parts of the Conform tab. This allows
you to modify the Match Criteria and see the update live in the Conform list. Match Criteria are saved when
the Close button is pressed and the Match Criteria that were selected when the dialog window was opened
are restored when the Cancel button is pressed.
You can save the selected Match Criteria as a preset, by simply clicking the Add Preset button. You can delete
presets using the drop-down arrow, to the right of the button.
Name The name of the clip referenced by the sequence.
Source Timecode The source timecode specified in the sequence as a match criteria. Enables Consolidate
on Import.
UMID The starting SMPTE UMID in the sequence as a match criteria. This is only used with MXF files and
is ignored in all other cases.
Resolution The resolution specified in the sequence as a match criteria. If this option is disabled, the Flame
applies a Resize FX to the media found to make it match the resolution specified in the imported sequence,
if required.
Frame Rate The frame rate specified in the sequence. Disable to disregard the frame rate; try slipping the
clip and using a timewarp in the timeline after loading the timeline to correct any frame rate discrepancy.
Be careful when using the Use Frame Rate search option with FCP XML files, especially if the FCP sequence
is using multiple frame rates. With Use Frame Rate enabled, Flame uses the frame rate of the sequence's edits
as a match criteria to relink to the correct sources: if the frame rate of the considered source is 24 fps while
the edit is at 30 fps, that source is not a potential candidate. Whether or not Flame relinks the considered
source to the edit has nothing to do with the frame rate of the sequence.
But, if you are importing an FCP sequence, Flame timewarps the edits so that they match the frame rate of
the imported sequence. For example, an FCP sequence @60fps contains edits @50fps: Flame timewarps the
edits to 60 fps as it imports the sequence. Whether or not edits are relinked to their sources has nothing to
do with this: if Use Frame Rate is enabled, Flame only relinks the above edits if the sources are matching
the edits' original frame rate, in this case 50fps.
Media Options
Link to Files button Enable to create a sequence with segments that link to the original media. Disable to
import an unlinked sequence. Only applies to DLEDL.
Consolidate on Import button Enable to limit the handles to the amount specified in Maximum Handles.
Only applies to DLEDL.
Maximum Handles field Displays the maximum number of handles (head and tail) allowed for each event
in the sequence. If the sequence also sets the amount of handles, the application imports the sources using
the lowest number of handles set between Maximum Handles and the sequence. Editable. Only applies to
DLEDL.
EDL Options
EDL Frame Rate box Select the frame rate applied to the imported EDL. Defaults to the project's.
EDL Conversion button Enable to convert the EDL to another frame rate using the settings defined by the
Conversion box.
Conversion box Select the option that corresponds to the type of conversion that you want to apply to
the EDL. The conversion scripts that appear in this list depend on the frame rate of the EDL you are loading.
Fix Timewarp Match Frames Errors button Enable to fix match frame errors. When you import an EDL
that contains dissolves or timewarps, a match frame error may occur. This can cause an unwanted cut at
the point where the timewarp begins in your EDL. Match frame errors occur when the in point of the second
edit in a dissolve is not the same timecode as the out point of the previous shot.
Pulldown Removal button Enable to remove 2:3 pulldown when loading the EDL. The resulting sequence
is @ 23.976 or 24 fps, depending on the setting of the Pulldown Original FCM box.
Pulldown Original FCM box Select the Frame Code Mode that matches the EDL that you are loading. If
you are loading multiple EDLs, the same mode is used for all of them.
Multi-Assemble button Enable to assemble into one sequence multi-selected EDLs. In the imported sequence,
each EDL will appear on a different video track, based on the selection order.
If you drag-and-drop a folder with multiple EDL, it creates either a single video track sequence or a single
sequence with multiple video tracks, based on the Multi-Assemble option. With Multi-Assemble enabled,
the alphabetical order defines the video track assigned to each EDL.
EDL Detection Mode button Select Automatic Detection to let the application multiple EDL into a single
sequence. Select Selection Order to construct a the sequence based on the selection order. Select Custom
Grouping to build the sequence through an EDL assembly window.
Varicam button Enable if the EDL is links to material with a Varicam. You must also select a frame rate
from the Varicam Frame Rate box.
Jobs
The Jobs tab displays ongoing and completed background processes. Use the Jobs tab to monitor the import
and export processes.
Actions box Select from the list an action to perform on the selected job.
When aborting the processing of a file sequence, frames already processed are retained. For example, if the
Status column reads 20 of 44 when you click Abort, 20 of the 44 frames of the clip remain. Aborting a
streaming file cancels the whole process, there is no partial processing.
NOTE Whenever you change an import option, the new setting is saved to the project structure. This means that
archiving a project archives the import options. Or this ensures that when transferring a project to another
workstation, it is possible to import new media in the transferred project using the same import options settings.
From the General tab of the MediaHub, you can manually apply a LUT or Colour Transform or automatically
convert different media types to an appropriate working space on import.
All imported media is also tagged with a colour space identifier. See also: Tagging Clips with a Colour Space
(page 1694)
Start by selecting the appropriate option from the Colour Management mode box. Available modes are:
■ Auto Convert: Auto Convert mode will convert media in various input spaces to a common working
space and tag them.
■ Use LUT: Use the Colour Management tools to manually import or create a LUT or colour transform to
apply. Then tag the result with a colour space.
■ Tag Only: Tags the media with a colour space but does not modify the pixels.
The Input Colour Space and Colour Space are also shown in the MediaHub Preview panel Clip Info.
You may also search for a colour space using the Media Panel search feature.
Many of the colour spaces use a "Gamma / Gamut" naming convention, for example, "gamma 2.4 / Rec.709".
The "Gamma" describes the relationship between the encoded values and linear values. The "Gamut" specifies
the colour primaries used.
■ The term "Gamma" is used very loosely since many of the colour spaces use a logarithmic function rather
than a power law.
■ The Broadcast category contains the conventional video colour spaces. For the Gamma (EOTF), all the
SDR options use ITU-R BT.1886 (essentially a 2.4 gamma).
■ The Rec.2100 options are for HDR monitors.
■ The Display category has the other video-like colour spaces.
■ sRGB, AdobeRGB, and ProPhotoRGB are often used for tagging images from Photoshop, etc.
■ DCDM is the space used for digital cinema distribution masters: X'Y'Z' (which is related to CIE-XYZ but
with a gamma 2.6 non-linear encoding).
■ DCI-P3 is the gamut for the SMPTE Reference Projector and is widely used in grading theaters.
■ The Eizo and HP options are for high-end monitors in their Native mode.
■ The ST-2084 (PQ) options are for HDR monitors.
■ These colour spaces are all in the Video family.
Camera options
■ Includes ARRI, Canon, Panasonic, RED, Sony, VisionResearch, and generic ITU OETFs.
■ Mostly uses Gamma / Gamut naming
■ The "(safeBlack)" option applies a slight toe in the response curve to avoid negative values.
■ These options are in the Log or Scene-linear families.
Log options
■ ACEScc and ACEScct logarithmic working spaces for colour correction. ACEScct has a slight toe in the
shadows to make for easier grading.
■ ADX10 is useful for typical Cineon-style film scans. ADX16 is a wider range encoding capable of handling
more recent film stocks.
■ Lots of Gamma / Gamut colour spaces useful when not wanting to correct for Gamut.
■ Two standard Log-to-Lin curves provided: Cineon is the classic 95/685/0.6 curve (be careful since values
below 95 become negative); JZP is the Josh Pines (aka "pivoted") curve which is similar except 445 maps
to 0.18 and all log values map to positive linear values.
■ These options are in the Log family.
Scene-linear options
■ All are scene-linear colour spaces, the only difference is the Gamut (primaries).
■ ACEScg is a recommended space for CGI and compositing with a gamut that is wide, but not too wide.
■ These options are in the Scene-linear family.
Data options
■ The options in the Data category are to tag Mattes, Normals, Z-Depth, AOVs, etc.
■ This can be useful to assign a viewing transform appropriate for the type of data (e.g. since Normals are
half negative, it can shift everything up; for Z-Depth it could compress the range logarithmically).
■ Keyer outputs are tagged as Matte.
■ Action outputs use many of the other Data options.
■ These options are in the Data family.
Two Viewing Transform options deserve special discussion: "Video (colorimetric)" and "Linear
(gamma-corrected)". The goal of these two transforms is to take advantage of the Graphics Monitor and
Broadcast Monitor colour space settings to simply present an accurate 1:1 display of the source colours on
the given hardware. These transforms essentially represent an identity View Transform that does no "picture
rendering" for display. They are very similar except the former expects as input a colour space in the Video
family and the latter expects as input a colour space in the Scene-linear or Log families.
Here are some more notes on the View Transforms options:
■ View Transforms convert from a scene-linear colour space to a video colour space. Using the terminology
from ITU-R BT.2100, this is an OOTF (Opto-Optical Transfer Function).
■ The ACES Output options essentially calculate a custom RRT+ODT for the given display. The choices are
for the dynamic range, viewing conditions, and desired white point options supported in the ACES 1.0
system.
■ The Cameras category has renderings for common digital cinema cameras.
■ The Diagnostic category has options for camera-style exposure metering, flagging out-of-range values,
etc.
■ The Legacy category has traditional simple Gamma curves that do not apply any correction for Gamut.
■ The Rec.2100 and Rec.709 options are various OOTFs from the standards.
Miscellaneous options
■ "From File or Rules" first tries looking at the file header, then applying the Input Rules
■ "From Project" uses the default project Working Space
■ "From Source" uses the incoming colour space
■ "Raw" never applies any conversion. Essentially the source values are just retagged as whatever the
Working Space is set to.
■ "Unknown" is used for Archive restores and Wire transfers from older projects. It essentially means "not
tagged yet".
■ "+Add New" allows you to create a User-defined Colour Space.
Metadata Settings
Clip Name box Select how the clip is named when imported.
Options are:
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if the Clip Name box is set to
Enter Clip Name.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as the tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if the Tape
Name is set to Enter Tape Name.
Orientation box Flip (vertical) or flop (horizontal) the media when importing the clip. Camera uses the
orientation defined on the camera during the shoot. Select Disable Flip to use the true orientation of the
image, as it was shot.
Timecode box Select which timecode to use, as ARRIRAW clips can have multiple timecodes. If the selected
timecode is not available for the selected clip, the clip displays timecode 00:00:00.
Clip Code Internally generated timecode frame count increasing with each new take.
Edge Code Internally generated timecode frame count increasing with each new media.
Record Run Internally generated record run timecode starting at a value defined by the user.
Free Run Internally generated free run timecode starting at a time defined by the user.
Time of Day Internally generated free run timecode starting at time of day.
IMPORTANT The timecode of some ARRIRAW files was not correctly read in versions prior to Flame 2013 20th
Anniversary Edition Extension 2 SP3 or Smoke 2013 Extension 1. Loading that material today shows the same
visual results but with the source timecode is automatically updated. This ensures that both the ProRes and the
ARRIRAW files have the same timecode, making it easier to offline in ProRes and relink to the ARRIRAW files.
Resolution Settings
Resolution box Select the resolution of the imported clip. These are debayering resolutions, not resize
operations.
Options are:
■ SD
■ HD
■ 2K
■ UHD
■ 4K
Debayer from 2868px button Enable to match ProRes files. Applies only to 2K and Native 2.8K in processing
version 4.
Input Container Mode box Sets the media area to decode. Defaults to the file setting. Only relevant for
ARRIRAW .mxf files recorded with an ALEXA Mini.
Aspect Ratio box Set the frame aspect ratio used when importing clips, or select Ratio from File Header to
read the ratio from each clip.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the frame aspect ratio (Width:Height) to use when importing clips. Enabled when
the Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio.
Cropping Aspect box Select the frame aspect ratio used for cropping imported clips as part of the debayering
process.
Anamorphotic Variant Toggle to enable a different cropping offered by the debayering engine.
Debayering Settings
NOTE Some combinations of options are not supported by the ARRIRAW SDK. If you create such a combination,
the Preview displays an error message.
Debayering Mode box Select the ARRI debayer algorithm to use when importing files. HW (hardware) and
SW (software) refer to the method ARRI cameras use when decoding RAW media. Note that there is no
hardware debayering in Flame for ARRIRAW clips. All debayering is done in software for ARRIRAW material.
ADA stands for ARRI Debayer Algorithm.
Option: Description:
ADA-1 HW Reproduces the hardware optimised debayering that is realised in cameras. Named Camera
in previous versions. Included for legacy.
ADA-2 SW A more efficient debayering algorithm than ADA-1. Named AMC-1 in previous versions. In-
cluded for legacy.
ADA-3 HW Visually matches the hardware optimised debayering realised in-camera with ARRI SUP 7.0:
more complex debayering than ADA-1, with extended edge and color handling.
ADA-3 SW Enhanced software debayering provided by the ARRI SDK, based on ADA-3 HW. Should deliver
more image detail than ADA-3 HW.
ADA-5 HW Improved image quality, sharper images, more details, less noise in red and blue channels,
less aliasing and has a new regulation of parameters. Especially useful for VFX work when
keying blue or green screens. Default setting.
Proxy A low quality debayering mode designed for performance over quality.
ADA-5 SW Green field Set the sharpness of the ADA-5 SW Green channel. Only available when the
Debayering Mode box is set to ADA-5 SW.
ADA-5 SW Blue field Set the sharpness of the ADA-5 SW Blue channel. Only available when the Debayering
Mode box is set to ADA-5 SW.
Colour Settings
NOTE When the MediaHub General colour management settings are in Auto Convert mode and the Input Colour
Space is set to "From File or Rules", the Format Specific Colour Settings are ignored. The media will be decoded
into ACES colour space and then convverted to the selected Working Space. Otherwise, make sure to set the
tagging in General colour management settings to correspond to your colour settings below.
NOTE Some combinations of Source Camera (under Processing) and Colour Space are not supported.
Colour Settings box Select what colour information Flame uses when importing ARRIRAW clips.
User The options you set in the Colour, Processing, and Image menus.
Camera The look created on the ARRI camera and stored in the ARRIRAW file.
This option disables the Processing and Image menus, as well as the Colour Rendering box.
Save as User Settings button Enable to make the Camera colour settings editable in the timeline FX Format
Options.
Save as User Settings is implicitly enabled when Colour Settings is set to User.
Look Selection box Select from where Flame reads the Look information, when available.
ALEXA allows for a look creation workflow. In this workflow, a look is created in the ARRI Look Creator
application and is either embedded in the source files during the shoot, or saved to a look file. And Flame
can read and use this look information.
When working with ARRI Look information, you must set the Colour Space to one of the Video combinations
or Flame will display a checkerboard instead of ARRI media. This is due to the fact that ARRI Look Creator
only works Video encoding.
NOTE When used, the Look file must be placed in the folder containing the source material and named look.xml.
Select: To:
From File Header Apply Look information contained in the ARRIRAW file header.
From Look File Apply Look information contained in an XML Look file located in the same folder as the media
to import.
Header or Look File Apply Look information from the header of the media to import. If none is present, use the
information from an XML Look file located in the same folder as the file to import.
Look File or Header Apply Look information from an XML Look file located in the same folder as the file to import.
If none is present, use the information from the header of the file to import.
Apply Look LUT button Enable to use the LUT stored within the Look information read by Flame from
the location determined by the Look Selection box.
Colour Space box Select one of the colour space and encoding combinations to apply to ARRIRAW clips.
When working with ARRI Look information, you must set the Colour Space to one of the Video combinations
or Flame will display a checkerboard instead of ARRI media. This is due to the fact that ARRI Look Creator
only works Video encoding.
Processing Settings
Processing Version box Select the version of the ARRI colour science used to process the file, or use From
File Header to have Flame read the version of the colour science from the header of the imported file.
Use From File Header unless you are trying to recreate a look based on a specific colour science.
Source Camera box Select the camera that created the file, or have Flame read from the file header the
camera used. Leave at Camera from File Header unless you are troubleshooting a file.
Image Settings
Exposure box Select how exposure is set. Choose Exposure From File to use the camera settings.
ISO field Select the ISO rating that is applied to the imported clips. Supported ALEXA values: 50 to 3200.
Supported D-21 values: 50 to 500. Enabled when Exposure is Set ISO.
White Balance box Select how the white balance is defined. Select White Balance From File to use the
camera settings burned in the clip.
NOTE To determine if white balance information is already present in a clip, look at White bal burnt in in the
Metadata tab of the Previewer. If it displays true, there is white balance camera settings present in the clip and
you can use the White Balance from File.
Kelvin field Set the perceptual colour temperature of the imported file. In Kelvin. Possible ALEXA values:
2000 to 11000. Possible D-21 values: 3200 to 7000. Available if White Balance is set to Set Temperature.
Green/Magenta Tint field Set the green/magenta tint balance: positive value for green tint, negative value
for magenta tint. Available if White Balance is set to Set Temperature.
RGB Gain fields Set the RGB gains of the imported clip. Only available if White Balance is set to Set RGB
White Balance.
The actual resolution of an ARRIRAW file is determined by the sensor mode used at the time of the shoot.
Most ALEXA cameras can use different sensor modes, but since ALEXA sensors are mostly identical
resolution-wise, ARRIRAW files always end up with one of the following resolution.
16:9 HD 2880x1620
16:9 2K 2868x1612
4:3 2880x2160
Now, ARRIRAW files being RAW files, one cannot just import the files in Flame. They need to be processed
by ARRI's algorithms. This process, called debayering, allows you to re-interpret the file. This can be done
using ARRI's ARRIRAW Converter 3.0 (ARC), or directly in Flame. Flame uses the algorithms provided by ARRI
to debayer ARRIRAW files, with debayering options named similar to the ones found in ARC. This ensures
that in Flame you see ARRIRAW media as it was intended to be seen.
But the number of available options can make it hard to get the right resolution. Use the tables in the
following sections to get the resolution you need. But before proceeding, make sure to reset the following
options.
This ensures that Flame displays a resolution that matches the sensor mode used and makes it easier to find
the right information in the tables below.
NOTE The following information is correct for ALEXA footage. For D20/D21, some of these resolutions might not
be available, in which case an error message is displayed in the Previewer's Clip Info tab.
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
The following resolutions and settings are essentially used when conforming ARRIRAW media to a sequence
layed down using ALEXA ProRes 2K media.
■ Aspect Ratio of 1.78:1
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
NOTE *When matching to ProRes 2048 x 1152, enable Debayer from 2868px.
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution box Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping Aspect
tion 2868px
Target Resolu- Resolution Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping ARRI ARC Resolution
tion box 2868px Aspect Name
Target Resolu- Resolution Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping ARRI ARC Resolution
tion box 2868px Aspect Name
Target Resolu- Resolution Debayer from Aspect Ratio Cropping ARRI ARC Resolution
tion box 2868px Aspect Name
3840 x 1608 UHD Disabled From 2.0 anamorphot- 2.39 with UHD-1
ic Anamorphotic
Variant en-
abled
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Sampling Rate box Project assigns to the audio clip a sampling rate equivalent to the project's timing. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate with the Frame Rate box.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Include YUV Headroom should also be enabled when importing from grading systems content that has not
been legalized. Disable this setting when importing content with legal video levels, like masters or final
grade media.
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Essence Use the tape name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from XML Use the clip name listed in the XML file accompanying the file.
Clip Name from Essence Use the clip name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Browsing Settings
Essence Mode button Enable to browse the directory structure of Canon clips. This allows you to import
specific video and audio media contained within a Canon clip.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Select an option to specify how the timecode information is set when importing clips.
Select: To:
Timecode from Header Set the source timecode of the imported clip based on the timecode information in
the image file header.
Timecode from File Name Use a numerical file name (for instance, 100000.xyz) and translate it into timecode for
the resulting clip (based on the selected frame rate ). This is useful when working with
files that do not have embedded timecode.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
A DPX file can specify its frame rate in its file header, using either the TV or Movie rate fields. This is where
the frame rate information is read when you set the Rate box to Auto Rate. If both fields are defined, Flame
uses the Movie rate.
For 29.97 fps DPX files, Flame also reads the drop frame mode from the DPX file header if you enable Auto
Rate and if that information is defined.
Also note that DPX SMPTE timecode does not support 50 fps or 60 fps timecodes, which means that the file
header timecode is not accurate or reliable for these rates. Set Flame to read the timecode from the file name
instead of the file header: set the Timecode Selection box to Timecode from File Name.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Sequence Detection box Select how Flame displays image sequences. Sequence builds and displays a clip
out of multiple files, using their numerical suffix to rebuild the sequence. Frames displays each file
independently and disables the Tape Name box from the Metadata menu.
An image sequence consists of image files, such as .psd, named identically except for a numeric suffix.
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_001.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_002.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_003.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_004.psd
Keycode Settings
NOTE The keycode supplied here is only used for information purporses. In case of a discrepancy between the
information supplied in the Metadata menu and the Keycode menu, the former is used to determine the timecode
and frame rate used.
Select: To:
File Header Keycode Use the keycode information embedded in the image file header.
Keycode FCM box Select the frame code mode of the tape. Select File FCM to read the frame code mode
from the file.
About Keycode
Keycode (also known as edge code) tracks frames of film from source reels through the post-production
pipeline using code. Keycode is a variation of timecode designed to uniquely identify frames in filmstock.
Keycode is a valuable tool for any project that originates on film, evolves through digital post production,
and eventually references the original film material for final image capture. Keycode is printed on film in
both a human-readable and machine-readable form. It indicates the manufacturer and film emulsion, a
unique identification for each reel, as well as the footage and frame number.
Keycode appears in a varying number of increments along the film strip depending on the film gauge. For
example, on 35 mm film, keycode appears every foot, which translates to every 16 frames of film.
Keycode Syntax
In 35mm / 3 perf keycode, a reference foot value is also set. The value can be 1, 2, or 3 between parenthesis:
KQ123456 1234+00(1)
Kodak
Fuji
Eastman
■ 5242/7242 Vision Color ■ 5219/7219 Vision3 500T ■ 7266 TRI-X ■ 5203/7203 VISION3 50D
l ■ 5299/7299 Vision2 HD ■ 7265 PLUS-X ■ 5223/7223 Vision3 640T
■ 5205/7205 Vision2 250D ■ 5218/7218 Vision2 500T ■ 5229/7229 Vision2 Exp ■ 5227/7227 Vision3 500T
■ 5212/7212 Vision2 100T ■ 5260 Vision2 500T 500T ■ 5230/7230 500T
■ 5217/7217 Vision2 200T ■ 5284/7284 Vision Exp ■ 5285/7285 Ektachrome ■ 5273/7273/2273/3273
■ 5201/7201 Vision2 50D 500T 100D Internegative
■ 5263/7263 Vision 500T
Agfa
The following film gauges are supported in keycode for Autodesk Visual Effects and Finishing applications:
■ 16 mm and Super 16 mm / 1 perf
■ 35mm / 8 perf
■ 35mm / 3 perf
■ 35mm / 4 perf
■ 65mm / 5 perf
The increment offset of a particular frame from the keycode dot (which indicates the zero offset point on
the film) can be recorded in one of two modes: frame offset and perforation offset. In general, film scanners
can write keycode in either of these two modes.
For 35 mm / 3 perf and 35 mm / 4 perf film, both frame and perforation offset keycode are supported when
importing files. For all other gauges, only frame offset mode is supported. In these latter cases, set the telecine
to use frame offset keycode when you are scanning.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple files
for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field below to
configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can be determined.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file name, when present. Not editable.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Sequence Detection box Select how Flame displays image sequences. Sequence builds and displays a clip
out of multiple files, using their numerical suffix to rebuild the sequence. Frames displays each file
independently and disables the Tape Name box from the Metadata menu.
An image sequence consists of image files, such as .psd, named identically except for a numeric suffix.
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_001.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_002.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_003.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_004.psd
Image Settings
Exposure Adjustement field Set the exposure of the HDR file, in units of f-stop.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple files
for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field below to
configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can be determined.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Select an option to specify how the timecode information is set when importing clips.
Select: To:
Timecode from Header Set the source timecode of the imported clip based on the timecode information in
the image file header.
Timecode from File Name Use a numerical file name (for instance, 100000.xyz) and translate it into timecode for
the resulting clip (based on the selected frame rate ). This is useful when working with
files that do not have embedded timecode.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Sequence Detection box Select how Flame displays image sequences. Sequence builds and displays a clip
out of multiple files, using their numerical suffix to rebuild the sequence. Frames displays each file
independently and disables the Tape Name box from the Metadata menu.
An image sequence consists of image files, such as .psd, named identically except for a numeric suffix.
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_001.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_002.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_003.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_004.psd
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Essence Use the tape name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from Header Read the clip name from the header of the imported file.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from Header Read the clip name from the header of the imported file.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Include YUV Headroom should also be enabled when importing from grading systems content that has not
been legalized. Disable this setting when importing content with legal video levels, like masters or final
grade media.
Scale to Full HD button Enable to have media with a 1280x1080 or 1440x1080 resolution display at a
standard 1920x1080 resolution. Disable to display the media at its native (1280x1080 or 1440x1080)
resolution.
Metadata
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Align to Zero button Enable to ignore the timecodes defined in the different versions of the Open Clip
file, and align every track (and their versions) to timecode 00:00:00:00.
The media is any supported media files, from DPX sequences to RED files, including multi-channel OpenEXR
renders. The other component, the .clip file, is written in the XML format; you can open a .clip in any word
processor (kedit, notepad, TextEdit) and decipher its content.
In essence, the .clip file contains all the metadata and references to media that are required to define a source
and its versions. The .clip file does nothing by itself, but is essential to recreate the sources, similar to how
a wrapper works, whereas a source is similar to the essence of a P2 clip.
One of the strengths of the open .clip is that anyone can create .clip files. With one, you can manage media
outside of the Flame application.
Using an Open Clip file, you can define many aspects of a clip, including:
■ Source information
■ Versioning
■ Multiple channels of media
■ Paths to media
Data exchange Data exchange requirements with a facility's shot management system. In such a case, the
.clip is a file created by a third party system, allowing something else to define a source using instructions
contained within the file. In this case, the clip can contain a list of render passes for you to composite in
Flame through the Read File node.
The MediaHub displays the latest available version of multi-version clip. But you can use the Preview Panel
for additional information: the Versions tab displays all the versions contained in the Open Clip, as well as
the location of the Batch Setup, when one is available.
While there are no Import Options specific to the Open Clip, the media referenced in the different versions
is imported using the import options specified by the Format Specific Options.
Using the MediaHub's General ➤ Clip Options for Versions box, you decide when media cache and
proxies are generated automatically on import: only for the version displayed in the MediaHub, or for every
version of a multi-versions clip.
Shared Libraries
Multi-versions clips cannot change version when located in a Shared Library since there are no Media Options
available in a Shared Library. Move the multi-version out of the Shared Library to switch between versions.
You can perform Select Latest Version, Select Current Version, and Update Source on a segment, a sequence,
multi-selected sequences, and even a reel, Reels Group, a library, multiple libraries to updated all clips and
sequences within.
NOTE Switching away from a version discards any frames rendered for that version.
The following shortcuts can be used on Timeline segments, Media Library, as well as in Freeform and Reels
views. They are unassigned by default, so you need to enable them in the Flame menu ➤ Keyboard Shortcut
editor.
■ Select Current Version (can be used on multi-selection)
■ Select Latest Version (can be used on multi-selection)
■ Select Next Version (single selection only)
■ Select Previous Version (single selection only)
When you are working with a multi-version clip, and that clip is updated by an external application, any
segment referencing this clip is outlined in white. This outline is there indicate that a new version is available
for this segment. It appears in the following cases:
From the timeline, you can create a new version of a multi-version segment with the New Version button.
To be able to create a new version from the Timeline, the currently selected version in the timeline must
have been created in Batch, with the Write File node's Include Setup enabled.
NOTE The New Version button is only displayed if a Batch setup is available.
Create New Version Provides access to the open setup in a fashion similar to History. Like History, exiting
automatically triggers a new render, however in this case it will create all of the required media and metadata
in the appropriate paths in the job tree, and appends a version to the timeline segment.
Open as Batch Group Load the currently selected version in Batch. This will include the Write File node
needed to append versions to the clip, the job tree, and the segments in the timelines where it is used. This
method is not available in Flame Assist due to the lack of Batch environment.
Promote to Batch FX Ingests the shot directly in the current timeline, and converts any included setup into
a BFX, discarding the source clip and other versions. In most cases, you cannot demote from a BFX.
Matte Containers
If the multi-version clip is in a container (or a Matte container), you can switch between versions from the
Timeline using the contextual menu. But if the contextual menu shows Out of Sync, the components of the
container are actually different clips: you have to enter the Container, and then update the select the desired
versions.
If you unlink a multi-version clip and relink it at a later time, as long as you use an Open Clip, it will relink
to the original version.
it is possible to conform sequences using Open Clips, either already imported in the Media Library or from
a file system location.
If you use Conform view to define the media location, in this case no Open Clip is used but the actual
referenced media files so the resulting clips will be a single version. This is a limitation since Conform view
does not relink to Open Clips. Use Set Search Location instead.
Hard Commit
Hard committing multi-version clips preserves all available versions, but keeps the link to handles that are
located outside the range of the timeline segment at the moment on the Hard Commit.
Pre-Processing Options
LUT and Resize options set in the Pre-Processing menu apply to all versions of a multi-version Open Clip.
■ If proxies exist before entering the Pre-Processing editor, and you change the current version from within,
new proxies are generated on exiting the editor. The same is true for existing media cache.
■ The Player in the Pre-Processing editor is not aware of changing timecodes or durations between versions:
this means that switching between version with different start timecodes or durations start might result
in out the Player going out of sync. Exiting the editor fixes this.
From the contextual menu, you can manage proxies and source media cache for the current version, or for
all versions:
■ Media ➤ Cache Source Media(Current)
You can also flush that source or those proxies, either for all versions, only the current version, or all but
the current version:
■ Media ➤ Flush Source Media Cache (Current)
NOTE If proxies existed before entering in the Pre-Processing editor on the Timeline, and the version changes
from within the editor, new proxies are generated on exiting the editor. The same is true for existing media cache.
If your project, or the clips you are archiving, contains multi-version clips, use the Cache Versions box to
manage what is cached. This setting can impact the size of the archive.
Note that in both cases, the actual clips are archived: the Cache Versions box only manages the media, not
the clips.
The No Media slate is displayed whenever a segment has more assigned frames then there is available media.
This prevents the structure of a timeline from changing when changing versions.
■ Open Clip files: In a multi-version Open Clip, every version is timecode aligned. This means that there
are cases where at a given timecode there is no media to display. In this case, the No Media slate is
displayed.
■ .mov files: When both audio and video tracks are present, it can happen that one track is shorter than
the other one. To preserve the integrity of the source, if the audio track is shorter than the video one,
silence is added to fill the gap. If the video track is shorter, No Media slates are added instead.
Tools Tab The tools available in the Tools tab all share a No Media setting. The No Media Handling box,
available in any tools Setup menu, sets the behavior whenever a No Media slate is encountered: render a No
Media slate, or render a black frame.
Batch Read File and Clip Nodes Read File and Clip nodes allow you to control Head, Tail, and Gap media.
This includes repeating frames, using black, or simply outputting no media at all. In this case, due to the
requirements of the Batch pipeline, instead of a No Media slate, nothing is sent through the Batch pipeline.
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple files
for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field below to
configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Select an option to specify how the timecode information is set when importing clips.
Select: To:
Timecode from Header Set the source timecode of the imported clip based on the timecode information in
the image file header.
Timecode from File Name Use a numerical file name (for instance, 100000.xyz) and translate it into timecode for
the resulting clip (based on the selected frame rate ). This is useful when working with
files that do not have embedded timecode.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Filename Use the filename of the container for all the imported channels.
Channel Use the channel name as the clip name. Default setting.
Channel + Filename Combine the channel name and the filename of the container to form the clip
name.
Filename + Channel Combine the filename of the container and the channel name to form the clip
name.
Use the Pixel Space Window box to import an OpenEXR using either the Data window or the Display window.
The OpenEXR display window is similar to a viewport, whereas the Data window is similar to a region of
interest. This concept is often used in 3D, where the rendered object might not occupy the full space of the
displayed frame. Or the data window can be bigger than the Display window, similar to an overscan, to
provide edge-accurate blurring.
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Essence Use the tape name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from XML Use the clip name listed in the XML file accompanying the file.
Clip Name from Essence Use the clip name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Scale to Full HD button Enable to have media with a 1280x1080 or 1440x1080 resolution display at a
standard 1920x1080 resolution. Disable to display the media at its native (1280x1080 or 1440x1080)
resolution.
Browsing Settings
Essence Mode button Enable to browse the directory structure of P2 clips. This option allows you to import
specific audio or video media contained within a P2 clip.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple files
for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field below to
configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can be determined.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Filename Use the filename of the container for all the imported channels.
Channel Use the channel name as the clip name. Default setting.
Channel + Filename Combine the channel name and the filename of the container to form the clip
name.
Filename + Channel Combine the filename of the container and the channel name to form the clip
name.
Sequence Detection box Select how Flame displays image sequences. Sequence builds and displays a clip
out of multiple files, using their numerical suffix to rebuild the sequence. Frames displays each file
independently and disables the Tape Name box from the Metadata menu.
An image sequence consists of image files, such as .psd, named identically except for a numeric suffix.
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_001.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_002.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_003.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_004.psd
Layers Settings
Resolution box Select how Flame sets the resolution of .psd clips.
Select: To:
Background Import the layers using the same resolution as the background layer.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple files
for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field below to
configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can be determined.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file name, when present. Not editable.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Sequence Detection box Select how Flame displays image sequences. Sequence builds and displays a clip
out of multiple files, using their numerical suffix to rebuild the sequence. Frames displays each file
independently and disables the Tape Name box from the Metadata menu.
An image sequence consists of image files, such as .psd, named identically except for a numeric suffix.
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_001.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_002.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_003.psd
■ myPhotoshopFile_version_004.psd
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from Header Read the clip name from the header of the imported file.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Include YUV Headroom should also be enabled when importing from grading systems content that has not
been legalized. Disable this setting when importing content with legal video levels, like masters or final
grade media.
■ The following toggles, located in the Image menu, set the behavior of associated fields:
■ Image Settings From File: Enable to use information from the imported R3D file to set the options
displayed in the the Image menu. Disable to use the MediaHub values.
■ Advanced Settings From File: Enable to use information from the imported R3D file to set the options
displayed in the the Advanced Colour menu. Disable to use the MediaHub values.
■ The 'Save As User Settings' option is now enabled by default and allows you to use the camera settings
as a starting point in the Pre Processing Options.
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Orientation box Flip (vertical) or flop (horizontal) the media when importing the clip. Camera uses the
orientation defined on the camera during the shoot. Disable Flip to use the true orientation of the image,
as it was shot.
Timecode box Select which timecode to use as RED camera records both edge code (run record) and
time-of-day (free run) timecodes during a shoot. Or Use Primary to use the timecode defined at the time of
the shoot.
Debayering box Select the resolution of the imported clip. Premium and Good refer to quality of the debayer,
especially the anti-aliasing performance. Full is always Premium quality, while Quarter, Eighth and Sixteenth
are always Good.
NOTE The debayering setting is the most resource-intensive setting. Try using the level of debayering the most
appropriate for your work.
Bit Depth box Set the bit depth of the imported image. This setting is bypassed and implicitly set to 16 bits
Floating Point when importing an HDRx clip as High Dynamic Range media, when using a Gamma Curve
set to Scene Linear (16-bit fp), or when using the ACES colour space setting.
Detail box Select the level of detail extraction required. This is not a sharpen setting. Only processed when
importing clips with Debayering set to Full.
This setting is ignored when the clip is imported through a RED Rocket.
Denoise box Select the level of noise reduction applied. Only processed when importing clips with Debayering
set to Full.
This setting is ignored when the clip is imported using a RED Rocket.
Dragon Enhanced Black Enable to remove red noise in low light contents. Only available for DRAGON
footage and if Debayer Mode is set to Full or Half Premium.
This setting is ignored when the clip is imported on a workstation with a RED Rocket.
OLPF Compensation box Select the level of Optical Low Pass Filter (OLPF) to compensate for the optical
anti-aliasing filter. Only processed when importing clips with Debayering set to Half Premium or Full.
OLPF is a type of sharpening used to compensate for the optical anti-aliasing filter, which can induce softening
of the image during recording.
This setting is ignored when the clip is imported through a RED Rocket.
Colour Settings
NOTE When the MediaHub General colour management settings are in Auto Convert mode and the Input Colour
Space is set to "From File or Rules", the Format Specific Colour Settings are ignored. The media will be decoded
into ACES colour space and then convverted to the selected Working Space. Otherwise, make sure to set the
tagging in General colour management settings to correspond to your colour settings below.
Colour Settings box Select how Flame uses the colour information stored within an R3D file.
Select: To have:
User Flame import RED clips using the options you set in the Image, Gain, and Curve
menus.
Camera Flame import RED clips using the look created on the RED camera and stored
in the RED clip.
Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RMD/Camera Flame import RED clips using the RMD look created in REDCINE-X, or fall back
on the camera settings if there is no RMD settings.
Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RSX Only Flame import RED clips using the RSX look created in RED Alert!. The RSX file of
a clip must reside in the same directory as the R3D file of that clip. Disables the
Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
With this option selected, only clips with an RSX profile can be imported. Clips
without an RSX profile appear to be missing media.
RSX or RMD/Camera Flame import RED clips using the RSX look. If a clip has no RSX file, Flame imports
it using the RMD look created in REDCINE-X, or fall back on the camera settings
if there is no RMD settings.
Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RSX or User Flame imports RED clips using the RSX look. If a clip has no RSX file, Flame im-
ports it using the options you set in the Image, Gain, and Curve menus.
Enables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
Save as User Settings button Enable to make the Camera colour settings editable in the timeline FX Format
Options. Save as User Settings is implicitly enabled when the Colour Settings box is set to User, or RSX or
User.
Colour Science box Set the version of the RED decoder to use. Using the version 3 of the decoder gives you
access to the FLUT and the Shadow options in the Image menu, as well as version 3-only colour spaces and
gamma curves.
Disabled when Colour Space is set to ACES.
NOTE As a rule, always set Colour Science to Codec 3.x, unless you are working with a footage shot using a RED
camera with firmware 30, and that file was imported in Flame prior to version 2011.
Colour Space box Select the colour space of the imported clips.
ACES requires specific menu settings for R3D media to decode properly. If you select the ACES option, Flame
disables the Gamma Curve and the Colour Science boxes, as well as the Advanced Colour and Curve menu
options; it sets implicitly the Bit Depth (Debayering menu) to 16-bit fp. It also disables the Brightness,
Contrast, DRX and Shadow sliders in the Image menu.
Gamma Curve box Set the value of the output gamma curve that is applied to the imported clips. Selecting
Scene Linear (16bit fp) implicitly sets the Bit Depth to 16-bit floating point. If you set HDRx Settings to High
Dynamic Range, HDRx clips are imported as Scene Linear, ignoring the Gamma Curve setting. If set to Linear,
the ISO, Exposure, Brightness and FLUT controls, in the Image menu, are disabled.
Disabled when Colour Space is set to ACES.
HDRx Settings box Select which track of a RED HDRx file to import, or how to merge the two tracks together.
A RED HDRx media file is made of two tracks, track A (the main exposure) and track X (the highlight
protection exposure). Use HDRx Settings to set how you want to use those two tracks.
Select: To have:
Blend Exposures A single clip resulting from blending together the Primary and Highlight tracks.
Blend Exposures behaves similarly to the option of the same name found in
REDCINE-X by RED.
Use the Blend field to set the blend value to use.
Magic Motion A single clip resulting from the merge of the Primary and Highlight tracks using
an algorithm provided and developed by RED. This algorithm tries to match
and blend together the motion blurs of the two tracks.
High Dynamic Range A single clip resulting from the merge of the Primary and Highlight tracks using
an HDR merging algorithm developed by Autodesk. It converts the two exposures
into a single 16-bit float image.
Importing an HDRx clip as High Dynamic Range forces the Bit Depth of the im-
ported clip to 16-bit floating point, and the Gamma Curve to Scene Linear.
Use the Blend, Highlight Threshold, and Exposure Offset fields to refine the
blend.
RMD A clip using blending options read from the RMD file. If there is no RMD file,
the Flame loads the main exposure (A track).
Blend field Set how to blend the two exposures of a RED HDRx clip.
With HDRx Settings set to Blend Exposures, this field behaves like the blend in REDCINE-X; the blend also
attenuates the artifacts created by the scene operation, which is a blend of the two exposures: -1 shows only
the Highlight (X frame), 1 only the Primary (A Frame), and 0 a 50-50 mix.
With HDRx Settings set to High Dynamic Range, Blend also attenuates the artifacts created by scene motions;
set to 1 unless you are troubleshooting motion artifacts.
Highlight Threshold field Set the threshold when pixels from the Highlight exposure are used instead of
the over-exposed pixels from the Primary exposure. Only available when HDRx Settings box is set to High
Dynamic Range. Set Highlight Threshold last because import options such as ISO or FLUT lighten or darken
the image. Too high and you get clipping (often including a magenta-coloured cast), too low and the midtones
and shadows have noise leaking in from the Highlight track.
Exposure Offset field Set how much greater the Primary exposure was when compared to the Highlight
exposure, in units of stops. Only available when HDRx Settings box is set to High Dynamic Range. The
Exposure Offset should be set to match the setting on the camera for how many stops separate the Primary
and Highlight tracks. This is typically 2 or 3 stops.
Offset From File button Enable to use the Exposure Offset read from the R3D file. Enabled when HDRx
Settings is set to High Dynamic Range.
Image Settings
Options from the Gamma Curve box and from the Colour Space box might disable some of the fields below.
Image Settings from File Enable to read the Image settings from the r3d file header. Disables all of the
Image settings fields.
Advanced Settings from File Enable to read the Advanced Colour settings and the Curve settings from the
r3d file header. Disables Advanced Colour settings and Curve settings.
ISO Select the value of the linear gain operation. Disabled if Gamma Curve is set to Linear.
Brightness Set the brightness value. Disabled if Colour Space is set to ACES, or if Gamma Curve is set to
Linear.
Contrast Set the contrast value. Disabled if Colour Space is set to ACES.
DRX Set the Dynamic Range Extension, which sets how much pixel data is copied from non-saturated
channels into saturated channels. Disabled if Colour Space is set to ACES.
Shadow Set the Shadow level. Disabled if Colour Space is set to ACES.
FLUT Set the FLUT to refine of the ISO level. As FLUT units are in stops, a +1 FLUT value is the same as
doubling the ISO. Disabled if Gamma Curve is set to Linear.
Use the Advanced Colour menu to set the RGB Lift, Gamma, and Gain of RED clips.
Use the Legacy Gain options if you import clips shot with a RED codec that uses a pre-3.0 Colour Science.
NOTE We recommend that you do not change the default settings unless you have prior experience with colour
management.
Use this menu to set the RGB and Luma curves for RED clips.
NOTE We recommend that you do not change the default settings unless you have prior experience with colour
management.
Material at 1080i sometimes uses a thin raster frame format. It uses a frame size of 1440x1080or 1280x1080.
When importing, enable Scale to Full HD in Format Specific Options ➤ Image to scale the material to
the full 1920x1080 frames. Disable Scale to Full HD to import the clip using the thin raster frame format.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Essence Use the tape name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from XML Use the clip name listed in the XML file accompanying the file.
Clip Name from Essence Use the clip name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
YUV Decoding box Select the YUV colour space used by the clip to import. Because Flame works in the
RGB colour space, it needs to translate YUV information into RGB. This setting ensures that the right decoder
is used for this. The Auto setting selects the colour decoder based on the resolution of the clip: Rec. 601 for
clips with a resolution lower than 720 lines, Rec. 709 for everything else. Specifying the wrong colour space
results in colours that are off.
Per Recommendation BT. 2020, UHD media should use the Rec. 2020 colour space. But this is rarely the case
at the moment: UHD clips use Rec. 709. The Rec. 2020 option is there is case you come upon a correctly
encoded UHD clip.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Include YUV Headroom should also be enabled when importing from grading systems content that has not
been legalized. Disable this setting when importing content with legal video levels, like masters or final
grade media.
Scale to Full HD button Enable to have media with a 1280x1080 or 1440x1080 resolution display at a
standard 1920x1080 resolution. Disable to display the media at its native (1280x1080 or 1440x1080)
resolution.
Browsing Settings
Essence Mode button Enable to browse the directory structure of a Sony clip (XDCAM, XDCAM HD, and
XAVC). This allows you to import specific video and audio media contained within that clip.
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Orientation box Flip (vertical) or flop (horizontal) the media when importing the clip. Camera uses the
orientation defined on the camera during the shoot. Disable Flip to use the true orientation of the image,
as it was shot.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Resolution Settings
Debayering box Select the resolution at which the media is imported. Higher resolutions require more
processing and impact real-time playback. Other resolutions offer better performance at the cost of lower
image resolution.
You cannot use a debayering setting higher than native resolution of the camera. Using a higher setting
prevents the media from being displayed, with an error message in the Preview panel (Cannot initiliaze codec).
Try lowering the debayering setting until the media debayers correctly.
QFHD (Quad-Full High Definition) is Sony's term for 3480x2160 UHD resolution, often times referred to as
4K HDTV, or 4K UHD. UHDTV (Ultra High Definition Television) is the 7680x4320 resolution, or 8K UHD.
0.25K 256x135
0.5K 512x270
1K 1024x540
HD (1920x1080) 1920x1080
2K 2048x1080
4K 4096x2160
6K 6144x3240
8K 8192x4320
Quality box Select one of two qualities for the decoding of SonyRAW footage. While debayering resolution
result in lower resolution clips, Quality affects the quality of the fully debayered pixels. Depending on your
system configuration, Standard provides better decoding performance at the cost of lower image quality
compared to High quality. The actual image degradation depends on the footage being decoded, but because
of the Bayer pattern, expect to see differences in the red and blue channels.
The Quality box is only available to the following Debayering settings: HD, 2K, and 4K.
Colour Settings
NOTE When the MediaHub General colour management settings are in Auto Convert mode and the Input Colour
Space is set to "From File or Rules", the Format Specific Colour Settings are ignored. The media will be decoded
into ACES colour space and then convverted to the selected Working Space. Otherwise, make sure to set the
tagging in General colour management settings to correspond to your colour settings below.
Colour Encoding box Select the colour space of SonyRAW media. Select Raw to disable this transformation
and work with the raw media. All other settings implicitly convert the 16-bit RAW media to 16-bit half-float.
If you select the Raw option, you can always apply a colour transform later from the General tab, using one
of the SonyRAW colour transforms available incamera/Sony.
The list displays the newer options on top (ACES), legacy ones at the bottom (starting with ACES(tungsten)).
These legacy options are included to provide compatibility with previously imported media. See Choosing
a Working Color Space (page 1734) and Applying Colour Management to Clips (page 1698).
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Header Read the tape name from the header of the imported file.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Although available for all types of files, the Level field is intended for directory structures output by film
scanners. A typical image file directory structure looks like this: ./<tape>/<resolution>/clip.######. In this case,
selecting Levels Up 2 in the Level field identifies the directory that corresponds to the tape name (./<tape>).
Enabled if Tape Name is set to Tape From Directory.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Support for Sony XDCAM EX media includes support for clips recorded as multiple segments on single SxS
card (split clips) or multiple cards (span clips). Flame imports a serie of split & span segments as a single clip.
NOTE Clips spanning two card only become available in Flame when browsing the card that contains the last
segment.
To ensure that Flame is able to see the clips organisation, copy the full folder structure from the SxS cards
to a single folder on your local storage.
For example, with two SxS cards (named Card1 and Card2), you would recreate the following structure:
■ storage
■ folder
■ Card1
■ Card2
IMPORTANT Do not modify the file structure inside the cards folders. For example, copying only the media files
(.mp4) instead of the whole card structure will prevent Flame from recreating the correct clip structure.
AAF Conform
You can conform AAF files referencing XDCAM EX content in Flame. Make sure to import the XDCAM EX
clips in Avid products through AMA (the Avid Media Architecture). If you prefer to work with transcoded
media in Avid products, but still want to conform with the original media fils, enable in Flame the Use
Original Media option when importing the AAF file. That way the conform uses the original media, instead
of the transcoded MXF generated by the Avid products.
Metadata Settings
Select: To:
Enter Tape Name Activate the Tape Name field where you enter the tape name. When selecting multiple
files for import, this tape name is used for all imported files.
Tape Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the tape name.
Tape Name from Directory Determine the tape name from the detected directory structure. Use the Level field
below to configure the relative path to the directory from which the tape name can
be determined.
Tape Name from Essence Use the tape name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Level field Set from which directory the tape name is taken, relative to the location of the clip in the directory
structure.
Tape Name field Enter the name to use as tape name when importing the clip. Enabled if Tape Name is set
to Enter Tape Name.
Timecode box Timecode is read from the file header, when present. Not editable.
Rate box Select Auto to use the frame rate specified by the clip; with no rate specified, the application
assigns a rate from the Default Resolutions table, or the project's rate if there is no match in the table. Use
Select Rate to set the frame rate using the Frame Rate box.
The Default Resolutions table uses a frame's height and width to assign it an aspect ratio, a scan mode, and
a frame rate. You can find the Default Resolutions table in MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Default
Resolutions. It is also used when restoring legacy archives.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported clip. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Drop Frame button Enable to have use a drop frame mode. Disable to use non-drop frame mode. Only
applies to clips running at 29.97 and 59.94 frame rates. Enabled if the Rate box is set to Select Rate.
Clip Settings
Select: To:
Enter Clip Name Activate the Clip Name field so that you can manually enter the clip name. When se-
lecting multiple files for import, this name is used for all imported files.
Clip Name from File Name Use the name of the imported file as the clip name.
Clip Name from Essence Use the clip name inferred from the directory structure of the clip.
Clip Name field Enter the name to use when importing the clip. Enabled if Name is set to Enter Clip Name.
Image Settings
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio assigned to imported clips. Enter Pixel and Enter Aspect affect pixel
and frame a pixel and frame aspect ratios respectively. You might need to change the aspect ratio as many
applications erroneously write to exported files a pixel aspect ratio of 1 (a square pixel), even for formats
that have non-square pixels (NTSC, PAL).
Viewing the clip in the Player with the specified aspect ratio requires you to enable, in the Player, Options
➤ Show Viewing Settings ➤ Use Ratio. The Previewer in the MediaHub always displays clips using the
specified aspect ratio.
Note that the application internally uses a frame ratio, not a pixel ratio. To specify a pixel ratio, you must
select Enter Pixel Aspect Ratio; Aspect Ratio from Resolution and Aspect Ratio from Header are interpreted
as frame ratios.
Aspect Ratio field Enter the aspect ratio of the imported frames, as a Width:Height ratio. Enabled when the
Aspect Ratio box is set to Enter Aspect Ratio or Square Pixels.
Include YUV Headroom button Enable Include YUV Headroom when importing content that has Full
Range video levels. Content with Full Range includes original media from cameras, such as:
■ Sony S-Log
■ ARRI Log-C
■ Canon Log
■ Panasonic Varicam Log
Include YUV Headroom should also be enabled when importing from grading systems content that has not
been legalized. Disable this setting when importing content with legal video levels, like masters or final
grade media.
Browsing Settings
Essence Mode button Enable to browse the directory structure of XDCAM EX clips. This allows you to
import specific video and audio media contained within an XDCAM EX clip.
When you capture video or import film frames that use rectangular pixels into Flame, the pixels become
square because computer graphics work only with square pixels. This is why the NTSC and PAL frames appear
as though they are different size—displayed with square pixels, they are.
You can set the Player to display clips originating from rectangular pixel formats using View Settings ➤
Use Ratio to simulate the use of rectangular pixels. This provides a display that corresponds with the delivery
format.
Using the aspect ratio display affects system performance, so if you are using the aspect ratio filter in the
Player and notice a performance slowdown, you can disable the option and return to square-pixel display.
NOTE Many HD video formats such as 1920x1080 and 1280x720 use square pixels, so enabling this option has
no effect.
Interlaced video formats capture each frame of a moving picture as two separate images known as fields.
One field consists of the first active and subsequent odd horizontal lines in the frame, while the other field
consists of the second and subsequent even lines. During the recording process, the two fields are captured
consecutively at slightly different moments. The field recorded first is called the dominant field. For example,
when recording NTSC using Field 1 as the dominant field, Field 2 is recorded a 1/60th of a second after Field
1. When the interlaced video is played, the two fields of each frame are then displayed with a temporal
offset, causing the human eye to perceive a smooth, continuous moving image.
Because of this time difference however, interlaced video can sometimes display jagged horizontal edges,
particularly when showing subjects in fast motion. In addition, not all such video formats interlace frames
in the same way. When different interlaced formats are mixed, the field dominance of the clips must be
changed to avoid visual artifacts and jitter. In Flame, use the video field management tools to do so.
By default when editing or compositing clips that have conflicting scan formats, Flame displays warning
messages and requires confirmation of potentially problematic operations. These warnings can be disabled
if desired by enabling Ignore Scan Format in the Clip Select section of the General Preferences (page 1878).
Most interlaced video formats are Field 1 dominant, with a few exceptions. This means that for a given
frame, Field 1 is recorded earlier in time, and therefore should be displayed first during broadcast. Field 2 is
recorded after Field 1 and is displayed second.
Interlaced video formats may also differ in the first active line. The first active line is the uppermost line in
the frame. In some interlaced video formats, this uppermost line belongs to Field 1, while in others it belongs
to Field 2.
Format: First active line be- Displayed in Flame as: Displayed in Avid Displayed in FCP Other applications:
longs to: as: as:
All clips in Flame have a metadata tag showing their scan mode: F1 indicates that the clip conforms to the
same dominant field requirement in the current project settings. F2 shows a mismatch, while P meanwhile
indicates a progressive scanned, non-interlaced clip. This tag is assigned when the material is first imported.
If the tag scan mode appears incorrectly for any reason, it can be changed to match the actual scan mode
of the clip. This is different from other softwares that expose the actual spatiality of a clip's fields.
IMPORTANT Do not confuse Field 1 or Field 2 with the F1 and F2 scan mode tags. The actual dominant field of
a clip showing F1 or F2 in its scan mode metadata may be either the upper or lower depending on the clip's video
format.
In projects containing mixed-resolution clips, interlaced video formats may still be combined despite having
different dominant fields. The differences between the two formats must be addressed however to avoid
outputting a result that displays one of the interlaced video formats improperly and introduces undesirable
visuals. Use the procedure below to correct such interlacing issues.
When working in a project that uses clips of various interlaced video formats, the field dominance of clips
that do not correspond with the project settings should be reversed. For example, if a Field 1 dominant PAL
clip is to be included in an NTSC project that is Field 2 dominant, simply reverse the field dominance of the
PAL clip.
Mismatched clips show F2 in their metadata.
When reversing the dominance of a clip, the first and last fields of the clip are dropped to account for the
offsetting required to reverse the field dominance. The resulting clip becomes a frame shorter. It is therefore
a good practice to always capture enough head and tail frames so that the fields dropped on both ends do
not adversely affect the visible frames.
Both the media and the scan mode metadata tag are changed by this process.
Deinterlacing and interlacing operations are used primarily to aid in the rotoscoping of field-based material,
or in the application of filters to field-based material. Deinterlacing and interlacing are not necessary for
processes that support field-based rendering.
Because there is a line-based difference in time per frame of interlaced video, artifacts may be introduced
when field-based frames are painted or filtered. For example, if a blur is applied over fields, colour information
from the pixels on Field 1 will be smudged into the pixels on Field 2.
Deinterlacing clips prior to applying any paint or filtering operations always provides better results. Once
the effects have been added, the clip can be interlaced again, if required.
To deinterlace and interlace clips, see the sections below. Clips can also be deinterlaced and interlaced using
Batch and Batch FX. For more information, see Deinterlace (page 1468) and Interlace (page 1514) in the Effects
and Tools Reference (page 1371) chapter.
Deinterlacing Clips
Deinterlace clips to separate each field to its own frame. The result clip is twice as long as the original.
To deinterlace clips:
Interlacing Clips
Interlace clips to combine de-interlaced fields into interlaced frames. The resulting clip is half as long as the
original.
To interlace clips:
Merging Fields
Merging fields blends pixels in neighbouring field lines to reduce artifacts caused by motion jitter. Merge
fields when there is interlaced material to be output to a progressive scan format.
To merge fields:
Value Result
100% The average pixel value is replicated to both fields in an F1/F2 merge-pair, resulting in
total field merging.
50% Pixels on each line in an F1/F2 merge-pair are replaced by pixels defined by 50% of
their original value and 50% of the blend, or field merge result.
The project scan mode dictates how interlaced video formats are captured from tape, sent to the broadcast
monitor in-session, and output to tape. The project scan mode also determines field-based processing.
You can change the scan mode of your project by selecting an alternative scan mode option. Do this, for
example, to view a PAL clip in an NTSC project properly before reversing its field dominance. Generally,
changing the scan mode of a project is a temporary measure performed only to allow for the monitoring of
clips whose format does not match the scan mode of the current project.
See To edit a project (page 20).
When material is brought into Flame, it is assigned a particular scan mode that becomes part of the clip
metadata.
You can correct this problem using the Dominance option part of the Reformat tool, accessible from the
right-click menu. This option changes the scan mode metadata tag for a clip without changing the actual
scan mode of the media.
When importing media files and using the Cache Source Media, Flame bakes in import options like resize,
LUT, and format specific options like R3D settings. Of course, you always have access to the import settings,
and edit it if need be. Open the Pre-Processing editor from the Timeline FX ribbon.
But Lustre does not have access to the import history for clips imported in Flame with an enabled Cache
Source Media option. This means that if you import in Lustre a Flame-created sequence that uses such clips,
you do not have access to their import history. Flushing the media cache prior to importing the clip in
Lustre restores access to import history.
The Flame Family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
NOTE Shared libraries are part of the project's structure: clips stored within are included when you archive a
project.
Placing media in a shared library automatically grants read access to any workstation connected to the
project. The remote operator can then access the media and start working immediately after connecting to
the project. Once finished, the remote operator needs to save the resulting media back to the shared library.
To do this he must acquire exclusive access.
Write access locks the folder so that only the user having acquired write access can modify the folder contents
(i.e. write to the folder). Read access is still available to other remote workstations connected to the project.
Once the media is saved, the user can disable write access, enabling other remote workstations to obtain
exclusive access and modify the contents.
1 Select the shared library you want to acquire exclusive access to in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Acquire Exclusive Access.
NOTE By default, after 600 seconds of inactivity, your exclusive access will be released. You can customize this
setting in the user preferences (in the General tab).
1 Select the shared library you want to acquire exclusive access to in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Release Exclusive Access.
You can lock the top level of the Shared Libraries to prevent anyone but you from creating or deleting any
shared library.
The Shared Libraries also display the Lock icon in the following circumstances:
■ When moving a Shared Library
■ When deleting a Shared Library
This locks prevents other users on the network from editing the hierarchy of the Shared Libraries. The user
that moved or deleted the shared library can remove the lock by saving the project (Ctrl+S). Users can still
modify the contents of each Shared Library, just not rearrange the order in which they appear in the Shared
Libraries area of the Media Panel.
The Flame Family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
Open / Close
You can open and close shared libraries. Closing shared libraries turns off access to the media within the
shared libraries as well as freeing up your system memory.
1 Select the top level shared library you want to open or close in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Open Library or Close Library.
To transfer material between your project and one located on another workstation:
NOTE Proxies are only transferred when both projects have identical proxy settings, as defined in the Projects
settings window.
The Flame Family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
You can still copy items from a Read Only workspace. If you absolutely need to write to the workspace, you
will need to locate the user and ask him to switch to another project.
Owned by...
The workspace you are trying to write to is owned by another Flame, Smoke, or Flare. Enable Administrator
mode to write to the workspace.
When transferring media from a remote project, you can get the following message: "Unmanaged media
contained in selection. Cache media on Wire?"
This means that the clip you are importing from the remote project has no media cached. Answer Yes to
cache the media during the transfer of the clip. Answer No to only keep a reference to the media.
In fact, answering Yes is identical to importing media with the Cache Source Media enabled, and answering
No is identical to importing media without Cache Source Media.
No route to host
The workstation you are trying to connect to is not available because it is shutdown, or no longer connected
to the network.
Publishing Shots
Publishing a Shot
Before distributing shots to others, verify that the structure of the sequence, name the shots, and then
distribute them.
To create a shot:
2 Identify segments that are part of the shot by assigning them an identical shot name. For Flame, a shot
is a group of segments that have the same Shot Name.
TIP The Conform tab provides your with a great overview of your timeline, including assigned shot names.
When you open a shot published sequence, the versioned shot appears on a different Version layer of the
sequence. The bottom Version contains the original sequence.
The versioned shot actually contains all of the media of the shot and effects, keeping the timing from the
original sequence.
Promote to Batch FX
■ Ingests the shot directly in the current timeline. This removes the connection to the job tree, as well as
its versions.
1 Right-click the published sequence and select Source Versions ➤ Update Source. _publish identifies
a published sequence.
This reloads the associated Open Clip, making sure the latest versions are available for viewing. An
updated segment is highlighted in white to indicate that is contains new versions.
2 Open the published sequence.
The original sequence is displayed on the bottom Version of the timeline. A new Version contains the
track with the published shots and referenced media.
3 On the Timeline, locate the shot segment on one of the Published shots tracks.
4 On the Timeline FX ribbon, select a version from the Clip Versions box. Click Pre-Processing if at first
you don't see it.
You can now playback the new version, open it in Batch, promote it to BFX, output it, or simply revert
back to a previous version.
You can make it so a segment's name, shot identifier, or comment uses dynamic tokens.
TIP Enable the Dynamic button to have a name that automatically updates its tokens.
You can edit multiple segments in a single operation by first selecting them and then selecting, from the
contextual menu, Rename, Comment, or Rename Shot. And what information you type in the dialog box
overwrites whatever was already present in those segments.
To add information to multiple segments' shot name, comment, or segment name without overwriting
what is already there:
4 Click the required button to close the window. Now each segment contains the old information (thanks
to the placeholder) and the new information that was added.
1 Two segments need to be renamed to display their width and height: Segment_1 and Segment_2.
2 Select both segments, and from the contextual menu, select Rename.
In the Rename dialog box, because this is the first time these segments are renamed, both Preview and
Pattern fields are empty.
3 In the Pattern field, add the segments' name placeholder. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>
4 Add the width token, with a colon and space. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>: <width>
5 Add the height token, with an x and a space. The Pattern field is now:<segment name>: <width> x
<height>
6 Click Rename.
7 The two segments are now named:
■ Segment_1: 1920 x 1080
■ Segment_2: 1920 x 1080
A Custom Index token is available in the Rename, Rename Shot, and Comment Tokens list. Its tokenized
name is <index>.
You can define the following three attributes of this token:
■ Padding: Represented with # signs like in other tokens.
■ Start Point: Represented with the @ sign and a numeric value.
■ Increment: Represented with the + sign and a numeric value.
For example, using sh<index####@10+10> on three selected segments will return sh0010, sh0020, sh0030.
The Custom Index is baked-in once applied, which means that subsequent instances of the same segment
will not show the <index> token in the Pattern field, but the resolved token previously applied. The index
is version-based and the order is based on the Record Time.
Batch setups created with the Shot Publish workflow possess some interesting features that help minimize
record keeping.
■ The Write File node is already configured to use the correct render paths and the correct Format and
Settings options.
■ The version number automatically increases every time you render.
■ The Batch timing view provides you with the required layer information.
Note that there is a limited amount of presets for Shot Publish. These presets are provided mainly as examples
of naming patterns, examples you can customize to your specific needs. But as you customize those settings,
make sure you enable:
■ Copy Exported Clip in Media Library: This option creates in your Flame the special _publish sequence
with the Version that contains all the individual shots.
■ Create Clip Data: This option is the Shot Publish workflow by creating the Open Clip XML files, essential
to this feature.
■ Clip Versions: This option is required if you want to track the different versions for each shot.
But you can always edit the different patterns naming patterns to fit your facilities requirements.
You can integrate Flame in third-party asset management workflows, but it does require some additional
work.
This additional work consists of configuring Nuke (or any third-party application) to update the Open Clip
XML file. The Open Clip XML file stores version, media, and shot structure information. To leverage that
information, the third-party app must be able to decode (and encode) Open Clip XML. You can find
information about its format here.
You can integrate this info to a script in the Write node in Nuke, or to a post-render script in Maya. Rendering
in such an application automatically runs the script to wrap the footage in the Open Clip XML format and
automates this process. If any new renders are output from these applications, they automatically update
in the Open Clip XML file.
If you additional monitoring or automation needs, you can use available Python hooks to integrate Flame
into a shot management system.
And from the Flame, the process is identical to working with a Flare.
The procedure below adds subtitles from an imported xml file to an opened sequence.
1 From the MediaHub tab, import the subtitle file to the Media Library. There are no Specific Import
Options to set.
The subtitle XML file is imported as a single-track clip, where the subtitles are editable Text Timeline
FX applied to Gap effects.
NOTE The subtitle clip is renamed to the name defined by the <name> element in the file. It also takes the
timing and resolution defined for the project.
2 From the Timeline tab, right-click the sequence that requires subtitles and select Open or Open as
a Sequence.
3 Add a track to the opened sequence.
4 Drag and drop the subtitle clip to the new top track.
Each text element appears as a editable Text Timeline FX, at the timecode and length specified in the
xml file.
A text setup file can be referenced from the subtitle XML file. The text setup file overrides the font style and
position parameters indicated in the current <title> element.
Using a text setup file allows you to apply your preferred text setup to the subtitles in the file, or even have
a different text setup for each subtitle.
4 Choose the directory into which you want to save the file.
5 Type a name for the file and press Enter or click the Save button.
The file is saved and you return to the Text tool.
TIP Consider using a text editor with syntax coloring for XML elements. It makes for easier navigation of
files.
2 Within each <title> element, indicate the path to the text setup file in the <setup> element.
The parameters in the text setup file override the following text parameters within the <title> element
of the subtitle: font, size, font colour, vertical, and horizontal.
Once you import the subtitle file in Flame, you can see the impact of the text setups on the imported subtitles.
Changes to the text setup do not propagate to an imported subtitle file: if you modify the saved text setup
after importing a subtitle file, you need to re-import that same file to update the subtitles referencing that
setup.
Search for subtitles that are not properly linked to a setup file:
<name></name>
Description An element that defines the name of the Subtitle XML file. This name appears as the name
of the clip created when importing the subtitle XML file.
Attributes none
<rate></rate>
Description A format element that describes the frame rate of the Subtitle XML clip that appears in
Flame after importing the Subtitle XML file.
The frame rate must be that of the target sequence or the subtitles might slip timecode.
Attributes none
<resolution></resolution>
Description A unique element that wraps around all of the attributes determining the format of the
clip when importing a Subtitle XML file. This clip can then be resized within Flame like any
other clip, if necessary.
If any of these values differ from the target sequence, Flame will apply Resize Timeline FX
to the subtitles.
Mandatory children <width></width> The width of the imported Subtitle XML clip. An integer.
<timecode></timecode>
Description An element that defines the timecode in and out points during which the subtitles occur.
All the titles in the Subtitle XML file will occur during the timecode indicated here, with
each title also having its own start and end point indicated within the title elements.
Sample <timecode>
<start>01:00:00;00</start>
<end>01:00:08;00</end>
</timecode>
<video></video>
Description The <video> element wraps around all of the <title> elements, which in turn contain the
text and attributes of individual subtitles.
Mandatory children <title></title> The <title> element wraps around each subtitle, with its asso-
ciated start and end time, text, and font style and position parameters.
Sample <video>
<title>
<start>01:00:01;00</start>
<end>01:00:02;00</end>
<text>This is a subtitle string</text>
<font>Garamond</font>
<size>20</size>
<fontcolor>
<alpha>255</alpha>
<red>255</red>
<green>255</green>
<blue>255</blue>
</fontcolor>
<vertical>0</vertical>
<horizontal>0</horizontal>
<setup>/opt/Autodesk/project/test/text/paz.ttg</setup>
</title>
</video>
Each <title></title> element defines a single subtitle which will appear as a Text Timeline FX applied to a
gap once imported into Flame, and added to a sequence.
The font style, colour, size, and position parameters are overridden if a valid text setup file is referenced
within the <title> element.
<start></start>
Attributes none
Sample <start>01:00:01;00</start>
<end></end>
Attributes none
Sample <end>01:00:02;00</end>
<text></text>
Attributes none
<font></font>
Description The font of the current subtitle. This value is overridden if a text setup file is referenced in
the <setup> element.
Attributes none
Sample <font>Garamond</font>
<size></size>
Description The font size of the current subtitle. This value is overridden if a text setup file is referenced
in the <setup> element.
Sample <size>20</size>
<fontcolor></fontcolor>
Description This element wraps around the font colour elements (<alpha>, <red>, <blue>, <green>)
of the current subtitle. These values are overridden if a valid text setup file is referenced in
the <setup> element.
Mandatory children <alpha></alpha> The <alpha> colour component of the font of the current
subtitle.
<red></red> The <red> colour component of the font of the current subtitle.
Sample <fontcolor>
<alpha>255</alpha>
<red>255</red>
<green>255</green>
<blue>255</blue>
</fontcolor>
<vertical></vertical>
Description The vertical text position of the current subtitle. This value is overridden if a text setup file
is referenced in the <setup> element.
Attributes none
Sample <vertical>0</vertical>
<horizontal></horizontal>
Description The horizontal text position of the current subtitle. This value is overridden if a text setup
file is referenced in the <setup> element.
Attributes none
Sample <horizontal>0</horizontal>
Description The <setup> element can point to a text setup file from which font style and position
parameters will be used. The parameters from the text setup file override the formatting
elements of the current <title> element.
Leave empty when not using a text setup file.
Attributes none
Sample <setup>/opt/Autodesk/project/test/text/paz.ttg</setup>
You can use flame_export to export content from an opened project by using the -f switch (foreground
export). This exports the contents in the foreground.
Exporting from a currently opened project does come with some limitations:
■ Do not delete the clip being exported by flame_export before the process finishes, or the export will fail.
■ flame_export with the foreground option does not create a Backburner-managed task, and so cannot be
managed by the Backburner queue.
■ Effects and transitions must be rendered prior to being exported by flame_export. If not rendered, these
effects and transitions appear as black frames in the exported media files.
■ The option Copy Exported Clip in Media Library used in a Sequence Publish export preset is not
supported by flame_export. The export will succeed but without creating clips referencing the exported
media.
NOTE You can only use flame_export to export sequences from projects created in a Flame that is of the same
release version. You cannot use flame_export to export sequences from projects created in a previous version. So
flame_export installed with Flame 2017 can export from a project created in version 2017, but not 2016.
Conform Overview
Use Conform to troubleshoot imported timelines and to link segments to sources.
Events List Displays the events that make up the sequence displayed in the Timeline area. Selecting an event
in the list also selects it in the Timeline. You can sort the list using by clicking the column headers. Linked
events are usually displayed, but if you are only interested in unlinked events, you can hide the linked events
from the Display Options box. If the Events list displays the message All Sources Linked, the selected sequence
is already conformed.
The data displayed in the Event list is one of the following colours:
Red This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain no source that matches
this criteria.
Yellow This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain more than one source
that matches this criteria.
White This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain only once source that
matches this criteria.
NOTE Lock a track and select Filter Locked Tracks to exclude that track's segments from the Events list.
Sources list The Sources list displays all the information about the sources found when using Set Search
Location or Set as Conform Search Location, from the contextual menu. From all the potential sources,
Flame uses the criteria you set using the Match Criteria box to filter in potential matches. From there, you
can select the right source and link it to the selected event.
Disable Display Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches to show all the sources. If you select an event with
no matches, it shows the full list, in order to allow for force linking.
In the Media Panel, click the Conform tab to display only the Sources list.
NOTE If you have a Sources Reel in your current Reel group and you have not set a Conform Search Location, the
Sources Reel of the current Reel group is used as the default search location.
Compare Mode
The Compare button toggles between the currently selected single view mode (Primary Version, Secondary
Version, Stereo) and the currently selected dual view mode (Blend, Difference, Vertical Split, Horizontal
Split, Angle Split, Side by Side).
You can edit the Compare mode, using the "Edit Compare Modes" dialog window accessible from the
Conform Player Options drop-down menu. The comparison is always made between the content of the
current sequence Secondary track and either the current source Primary Track (if the currently selected
sequence segment is unlinked) or the current sequence Primary Track (if the currently selected sequence
segment is linked).
Timeline The Timeline displays an open sequence, with controls similar to the ones found in the Timeline
tab. Unlinked segments are boxed in red.
Whenever you import an AAF, XML, or EDL, you can encounter conforming issues. Most of these issues are
problems that can be resolved by editing the contents of the sequence: a file path (files were moved), a file
type (different transcoding), a tape name, or even a source timecode.
You can edit any of the following columns, unless the track containing the segment is locked. You edit most
of these fields directly in the events list, unless otherwise noted. And modifications to the timeline updates
the Events list, so slipping a segment updates its Handles in the Events list.
Event # Only EDLs specify a Event number value, for reference. Or you can set manually an Event number,
if needed, as this data can be used as a number for Publish.
Media Displays the segment's track. You can only edit the audio tracks, for audio patching, using either the
calculator (click the field), or by click-drag.
Source In and Source Out You can edit these fields using either the calculator (click the field), or by
click-drag.
■ If the selected segment is unlinked, you can edit Source In and Source Out without affecting the head
& tail. Use his to fix source timecode issues in AAF and XML sequences.
■ If the selected segment is linked, the modifications are interactive and similar to a slip: heads & tails are
updated based on the linked media. In this case, you cannot change the timecode outside of the media
boundaries.
Shot Name Used in the Shot Publish workflow, this links segments with the same Shot Name together to
form a Shot.
Comment The contents can come from a variety of sources, but in an EDL conform this field contains
additional conform instructions.
File Name The file name, without the extension. When you import a sequence, a file's name is broken in
two: the name in the File Name column, the extension in the File Type. To edit the extension, you edit the
File Type column.
File Type The file extension, to edit if the referenced files were actually transcoded to a different format.
You can edit each field one at the time. But sometimes you need to update multiple file paths (because the
files are not where the XML says they are), change the start timecode of a multiple sources.
1 Shift-click or Ctrl-click segments to select the ones that need their file location to be updated.
1 Shift-click or Ctrl-click segments to select the ones that need Source In to be updated.
TIP Clip the top-left Conform tab for the Media Panel to display only the sources.
It is also possible to automatically link events with a single match clip (green checkmark) after the Search
Location is set or modified, by enabling the Auto Link Matches option. The Auto Link Matches option is
available from the Options menu.
Notes
■ It is possible to conform AAF & FCP XML that contain content of varying frame rates. The video of
content that is at a different frame rate than the sequence will have a Timewarp effect applied to it, in
order to adapt it to the appropriate frame rate. Audio media is reformatted to ensure video and audio
synchronization.
■ Flame only loads files it can use in a conform, so do not worry about non-media files being loaded to
the Conform Media folder.
■ Use the options found in the General and Format Specific Options tabs of the Set Directory window to
modify the characteristics of the source files found: edit their resolution, bit depth, debayering settings,
etc. Keep in mind that this will either facilitate or hamper the linking, depending on the settings and
match criteria you set during the conform.
■ When you load sources using the Set Search Location button, Flame does not import the media files at
that time: it creates only a list of references to the clips. This means that Flame does not cache source
media loaded to the Conform Media folder. To cache the source media once relinked, right-click the
segment and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media.
1 In the Events list, select the unlinked segment that you need to relink.
2 Click one of File Location, File Name, or File Type to select it.
3 Press Enter.
Flame scans the File Location for files matching the File Name and File Type fields, and displays the
result of the scan in the Conform folder.
4 Click Link to Media File to relink the segment to the file.
Available Options
Limit Handles Enable Limit Handles when using Link to Media Files to limit the number of relinked handles,
performing a consolidate on relinking. And if you ever need to access more than the consolidated handles,
unlink the segment, disable Limit Handles, and click Link to Media Files: the full media is now relinked to
the segment.
Save Sources Enable Save Sources to save a copy of the source in the Sources reel. The source saved is what
is relinked to the segment and thus respects the Limit Handles setting.
TIP When you import a sequence (AAF, FCP, XML), consolidate the handles on import, and enable Cache Source
Media to improve performance. When you need the original full-resolution media, or the media with the discarded
handles, unlink the sequence, and then relink using the previous procedure. Every segment is now restored to the
full-resolution, not cached, original media.
You can relink content to multi-channel clips (OpenEXR or Photoshop .psd) using Conform. The next
procedure is useful if your sequence contains segments using for source a layer of a multi-channel clip. It is
still applicable, but less useful, for alphas; in this case you should look into Conforming with Matte Containers.
TIP Alt-click the clip or the segment to display the path to its media.
If the media of the unlinked OpenEXR or .psd is at the location specified by the clip:
NOTE You no longer have to use both File Name and Name as in previous releases to find the media. You
can still use Name for advanced matching but it is no longer required for standard filename Conform.
You can promote a segment to an RGBA matte container when conforming. It allows you to keep comp
information in your conformed sequence.
■ Set, in the MediaHub, General ➤ Clip Options ➤ Alpha Channel Processing box to Matte
Container with Comp: every segment referencing an RGBA media file is promoted to a matte container
with one RGB track and one alpha track.
■ Select only the File Name match criteria in the Conform tab, or Flame cannot conform the RGBA content.
NOTE
■ When importing an FCP XML sequence, all content created from Photoshop .psd layers is conformed as
a matte container.
■ The contents in Final Cut Pro should have been imported and the segment needs to use the layer name
for clip name. If the clip name is derived from the PSD media file, the match is done using the flat PSD
layer.
To relink a segment to RGBA material and promoting that segment to a matte container:
NOTE If a segment is already a matte container, using the Create Matte Container effectively create a matte
container within that original matte container. Select the Include Alpha Clip and Flame automatically assigns the
correct channel to each of the matte container tracks.
Path Translation allows you to fix problems with media that was relocated after it was imported in Flame.
You can edit the Source and Destination paths of the /opt/Autodesk/cfg/pathTranslation.cfg file directly
from Preferences > Storage > Media Location Path Translation.
From there, you can Create, Duplicate, or Delete a rule using the buttons at the bottom of the table. When
you create a new rule, it is set to /SourcePath and /DestinationPath by default, so it has no effect on the
media. This path can be modified using the following methods:
■ Click on the Source or Destination path cells of the selected rule to edit the path directly within the
table.
■ Select either Browse Source or Browse Destination to manually select a path for the selected rule using
the MediaHub Browser
The refresh button can be used to manually refresh the list. This can be useful in the event that the
pathTranslation.cfg has been modified using a text editor outside of Flame while Flame is running.
NOTE The environment variable DL_LOCK_PATH_TRANSLATION_TABLE can be used to set the table (empty by
default) within Flame to be read-only. A message is displayed below the table when it cannot be edited in Flame
because either the file permissions were modified or the environment variable is set. These settings are not Project
or User-based. They are System based.
You ca also set up the path translation in a configuration file, where you define pairs of paths.
<PathTranslationTable>
<PathTranslation src="/Volumes/SAN" dst="/ProductionSAN" />
</PathTranslationTable>
Conforming an EDL
A DLEDL, such as one produced by the Flame when exporting a Sequence as an EDL, does contain the paths
to the media. If after having imported a DLEDL some segments are still not linked to their media, use the
Conform tab to relink both segments and media.
A regular EDL does not contain the paths to its media. This means that in most cases you will need to perform
the following conform operations.
1 Display the EDL to conform in the Conform tab. Do one of the following:
■ If you imported the EDL using the MediaHub: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the EDL and
select Open as a Sequence.
NOTE An EDL dragged from the MediaHub and dropped in the Media Panel is automatically opened as
a sequence, under the following conditions:
■ It is dropped in the Desktop section of the Media Panel.
■ It is dropped in the Default Library and Protect From Editing is disabled in the Preferences.
■ If you have not already imported the EDL: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the Event list and
select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL.
From the window that appears, locate and select the EDL to conform, and then click Load.
NOTE By default, the Conform Media list displays only the sources matching the currently selected event.
Disable Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches to view all the possible sources.
3 With Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches selected, click a event from the event list. The sources
matching that event are displayed in the Potential Matches list.
NOTE You can also select a segment directly in the timeline. Both the timeline and the event list update to
reflect the current selection.
Match Select Link Sources from the Linking combo box. Link Matched Sources links all events with
the Match status to their unique sources. Match indicates that Flame found only one source from the
Sources list that fit the selected Match Criteria.
No Match Found Either add more sources to the Media folder or modify the criteria selected in the
Match Criteria drop-down box. Not Found indicates that either the criteria are too restrictive for Flame
to find a match in the available sources, or that the source is simply not there. The event list displays
in red any criteria that cannot be matched.
Unlinked Add sources to the Media folder. Unlinked indicates that the event is not linked to any
source. It appears only when no sources are available in the Media folder, and the Conform section of
the Media panel displays 0 clip total.
Linked Nothing to do: the event is already linked to source. Linked events appear in the Events list
only if Options ➤ Hide Linked is not enabled.
5 Once there all the events are linked to sources, you are done with the conform. You can leave the
Conform tab.
IMPORTANT No matter the selected criteria, a source cannot be linked to an event if it is not long enough to
cover the whole event.
Available Options
Limit Handles To limit the amount of relinked handles and perform the equivalent of a consolidate on
link, enable Limit Handles when linking to the sources. When you need to access more than the consolidated
media:
Save Sources To save a copy of the source in the Sources reel, enable Save Sources. The source saved is what
is relinked to the segment, including the Limit Handles setting.
Caching Sources Flame does not automatically cache the relinked source media. To cache the source media:
right-click the target and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media. You can target a segment on the timeline
to cache only that segment, or the sequence itself to cache every segment in the sequence.
Filtering Out Tracks Filter out tracks from the Conform list by locking them on the timeline and selecting
Filter Locked Tracks from the Options menu. This removes the segments of the locked track from the Conform
Events list, and excludes matching sources from the Media Panel's Conform area.
File Extension field Displays the file extension for the associated file type. Editable.
EDL Frame Rate box Displays the frame rate of the current EDL. Editable.
EDL Conversion button Enable to convert the EDL to another frame rate.
Conversion Option box Select the option that corresponds to the type of conversion that you want to apply
to the EDL. The conversion scripts that appear in this list depend on the frame rate of the EDL you are
loading.
Fix TW Match Frames button Enable to fix match frame errors. When you import an EDL that contains
dissolves or timewarps, a match frame error may occur. This can cause an unwanted cut at the point where
the timewarp begins in your EDL. Match frame errors occur when the in point of the second edit in a dissolve
is not the same timecode as the out point of the previous shot. This feature is enabled by default.
Frame Code Mode box Select the option that corresponds to the EDLs you are loading. If you are loading
multiple EDLs, the same Frame Code Mode is used for all of them.
2:3 Removal Mode button Enable to remove pulldown when loading the EDL.
Varicam button Enable if the EDL is used to capture material shot with Varicam.
Editing an EDL
EDLs:editingediting:EDLsOnce you import an EDL, you can edit any value except the event number. This
includes:
■ The tape name for single or multiple events
■ The audio patching information
■ The transition duration and speed value of dissolves
■ A cut to a dissolve or wipe
■ The source and record timecodes of events
These tasks are described in the following sections. You can open multiple EDLs and copy and paste events
between them. You can also use Auto Edit mode to quickly make changes to the entries you specify.
EDL List
Tracks The track for the edit (shown as a combination of: V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
Transition The type of transition between the clips: C for cuts, D <duration> for dissolves, and W <wipe
code> <duration> for SMPTE wipes.
Source Out The ending timecode of the element in the source clip. (Ctrl-click the heading to view Source
duration.)
Keycode Out The ending keycode of the element in the source clip.
Speed The speed at which the source clip is timewarped in the edit. The value is preceded by a negative sign
if the effect is a reverse. The column is blank if the speed value is 100% (no timewarp).
Record Out The ending timecode of the element in the result clip. (Ctrl-click the heading to view Record
duration.)
Operations Group
The Operations group contains the commands that allow you to import an EDL.
Load button Opens the Load EDL menu where you set options for loading EDLs.
Save button Opens the Save EDL menu where you set options for saving EDLs.
Capture button Opens the Auto-Capture menu where you capture media from a VTR using an EDL.
Close box Select Close to close the currently displayed EDL file, or Close All to close all EDL files.
Assemble box Select Assemble to combine the captured or imported material into a clip. Select M-Assemble
to combine multiple EDLs into a multitrack clip.
EDLs:assembly optionsThe Assembly Options menu contains options that you can set that affect EDL
assembly.
(a) Dissolve Curves box (b) Dissolve Type box (c) Transitions Alignment box (d) Timewarp Mix field (e) Transition
Render Option box (f) Timewarp Render Option box (g) Increment field
Dissolve Curves box Select the type of interpolation to use for all dissolves.
Select: To:
Dissolve Type box Select a rendering option for dissolves during EDL assembly.
Select: To:
Transitions Alignment box Select an option for the placement of transitions in assembled EDLs.
Select: To:
Select: To:
Interlaced Transitions Override the Preferences settings and render transitions in Interlaced mode.
Progressive Transitions Override the Preferences settings and render transitions in Progressive mode.
Timewarp Render Option box Select an option for the rendering mode for timewarps in assembled EDL.
Select: To:
Timewarp Mix field Enter the mix value for assembled timewarps. You can enter any value from 0.00 to
1000.00.
Auto Render Assembly button Enable to render transitions and timewarps when you assemble the final
clip.
Sync Elements Assembly button Enable to automatically create Edit Sync groups for video and audio tracks
that share the same timecode.
Create Unlinked Media button Enable to assemble an EDL, even if you do not have all the sources and,
later, use the Recapture/Relink media feature to bring the missing media into your work-in-progress timeline
clip.
When you disable this option, you get virtual sources with no indication of source timecode and tape name
for the events when no recapture media exists for an event.
Increment Name button Enable to increment the assembled clip name (when assembling the same clip
multiple times).
Increment field Enter a number by which the name is incremented. Active only when the Increment Name
button is enabled.
(a) Frame Depth box (b) Aspect Ratio Presets box (c) Frame Width field (d) Resolution Presets box (e) Fit Method box
(f) Frame Height field (g) Aspect Ratio field (h) Scan Mode box
Override Project Resolution button Enable to assemble pre-captured material of a different resolution than
your project's default resolution. Additional controls become active that you use to specify the resolution
options for assembly.
NOTE If an EDL refers to a clip that has the same tape name and timecode but is of a different resolution than
the default resolution or that of the first matched event, the clip will not be marked as captured. For example, if
you are assembling an NTSC EDL and the EDL refers to a captured HD clip with the same tape name and timecode,
the HD clip will not be marked as captured.
Resolution Presets box Select one of many standard resolutions, as well as a Custom option that you can
use to specify non-standard resolutions.
Auto Soft Resize button Enable to apply a soft resize when assembling any clip that was captured at a
resolution that differs from the native project resolution. Options become active that allow you to specify
how the soft resize should be applied.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the imported clip.
Select: To:
Centre/Crop Fit the source image, centred, over the destination frame. If the source is larger than the
destination, it is cropped. If the source is smaller than the destination, it is surrounded by
a black border.
Crop Edges Fit one edge of the source into the destination frame without stretching or squashing the
frame. Excess parts of the source frame after resizing are cropped. If the source—after the
one edge is resized—is wider than the destination, its overhanging left and right edges
are cropped. If the source is taller than the destination, the upper and lower edges are
cropped.
Fill Fit the source, width and height, into the destination frame. If the source and destination
frames do not have the same aspect ratio, the image can become distorted.
Letterbox Fit the source to the destination frame without squashing or stretching it, and without
cropping the source. If the source is wider than the destination, black bars fill the top and
bottom of the destination frame. If the source is narrower than the destination, black bars
fill the right and left sides of the frame. In all cases, the entire source frame is contained
within the destination frame.
Frame Width field Displays the frame width of the selected resolution preset. If Resolution Presets is set to
Custom then this field is active, allowing you to enter the frame width value that you want to use.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Frame Depth box Select from one of five frame depth options: 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 12-bit u, or 16-bit fp.
Frame Height field Displays the frame height of the selected resolution preset. If Resolution Presets is set
to Custom then this field is active, allowing you to enter the frame height value that you want to use.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio of the imported clip. When Aspect Ratio Presets is set to Custom,
this field becomes active so that you can enter a custom frame aspect ratio.
Select: To:
Preferences Menu
EDLs:preferences, importingUse the options in the Preferences menu to specify your EDL preferences.
Beep on Assembly Complete button Enable to hear an audible tone when the EDL is assembled.
Allow Zero-Length Transitions button Enable to allow zero-length wipes and dissolves. If this option is
disabled and you change a transition duration to zero, the transition automatically becomes a cut.
Keep Cursor In View Area button Enable to keep the cursor from leaving the window when you scroll an
EDL. When you scroll an EDL, the cursor will stop at the first or last event on the EDL page.
Compare Tape Names Search button Disable to ignore tape names during assembly.
Clip Name Comments Capture button If your events contain clip names in their comments, enable this
option to use those names during capture. If this option is disabled, the event number is used as the captured
shot's name.
Use Hotkey For Add Selection button Use to change the functionality of selecting events. When this option
is disabled, you add to your selection range by clicking the events. When this option is enabled, you must
hold the Ctrl key or the pen button while clicking events to add them to your selection range.
Auto Disable Slip Tape button By default, the Slip Tape option remains enabled after you slip sources.
Enable this option to disable the Slip Tape option automatically after you slip sources.
Clip Name Comments Assembly button If your events contain clip names in their comments, enable this
option to use those names during assembly. If this option is disabled, the EDL title is used as the assembled
clip's name.
Keep System Comments button Use the Keep System Comments option to protect system comments.
When enabled, you can only delete user comments.
Import Background Proxies button Enable to allow proxies to be generated in the background.
Include VTR Preroll button Enable to capture the events in one pass and store them as individual clips in
the clip library. By default, if events in an EDL are separated by a shorter duration than the VTR preroll and
more than 10 frames, they are captured in a single pass.
Capture Proxy Only button Use this option in HD projects to auto-capture proxies only when conforming
an EDL. This option does not appear in SD projects.
Max TW Capture Handles field You can set the maximum number of handles to be captured for source
clips that are part of timewarped events. On timewarped events, the capture handles value is equal to the
capture handles value multiplied by the speed of the timewarp. For example, for an EDL event with an
increased speed of 500% (in NTSC), if the capture handles are set to 30 frames, 150 frames are captured as
handles (30 frames multiplied by 5).
To reduce the size of clip libraries, you should disable this feature. However, if you need to reference back
to individual shots, they may be easier to find if you enable the option and generate a clip for every event.
Auto Save After Each Tape button When this option is enabled, the system performs an AutoSave between
each tape when auto-capturing.
EDLs:search eventsUse the Search Events menu to search entries for text or timecode in an EDL. When you
search the EDL, you need to specify the item you want to search, the filter type you want to use, and the
criteria for which you want to search.
Unselect Matches button Remove the highlight from all items that match the search criteria.
Select Item box Select the option that you want to search for.
Select: To highlight:
Search Item box Specify the item that you want to search for in the EDL.
Track A track.
Previous button Move the cursor to the previous item that matches the search criteria.
Filter Type box Specify the filter type. The filter type will differ depending on the item you are searching.
For numerical searches, select one of the following options from the Filter Type box.
Select: To find:
Is Not Equal to All event numbers that do not match your search criteria.
Is Less Than All event numbers that are less than your search criteria.
Is Greater Than All event numbers that are greater than your search criteria.
For alphabetical searches, select one of the following options from the Filter Type box.
Select: To search:
Does Not Match For all tapes that do not match your search criteria.
Does Not Contain For all tapes that do not contain your search criteria.
Is Less Than For all tapes lexicographically less than your search criteria.
Is Greater Than For all tapes lexicographically greater than your search criteria.
Alphabetical searches are performed on Tape and Comment items by default. To perform a numeric search
on these items, enable Treat As Numeric. To match results by case, enable Case Sensitive.
Search Criteria field Enter the search criteria.
Use the options in the Renumber Events menu to specify the value by which events are renumbered.
Use the 2:3 Pulldown Options menu to set the parameters for 2:3 pulldown insertion upon import.
(a) Reference Frame field (b) Reference Frame Type box (c) Default Reference Frame box (d) Mix field
Reference Frame field Enter the timecode for the reference frame. This is only required for clips stored as
files, and not for material on tapes.
Reference Frame Type box Set the reference frame type: AA or BB, corresponding to the timecode value
entered in the Reference Frame field.
Auto-Fill Black Frames button Enable to fill black frames with the last frame of the outgoing event. By
default, gaps occuring between EDL events are filled with black frames.
Show Black Frames button Enable to highlight the places in the currently loaded EDLs where gaps of black
frames occur.
Timewarp Fit button Enable to automatically apply a timewarp to material on tapes referenced by EDLs
where 2:3 pulldown removal was disabled (for example, when a tape contains native 30 fps interlaced video
material), so that it can be easily integrated with 24 fps material.
Mix field Enter the number of frames to ensure that match frames on timewarped elements are maintained.
This field is active when Timewarp Fit is enabled.
EDLs:editing eventsUse the commands in the Events group to cut or copy single or multiple events and
paste them to a new location in any open EDL. You can also use special paste functions and selection tools
for events.
Cut Event button Cuts the selected event. May be used with Paste Event button.
Copy Event button Copies the selected event. May be used with Paste Event button.
Paste: Fix Record button Enable to change Record In of the first pasted event to start at Record Out of the
previous event. All pasted events are then rippled by the same amount.
Paste: Renumber button Enable to automatically renumber all events according to the Next Event value
in the Renumber Events menu. If this option is disabled, the pasted events retain their original event numbers.
Auto-Paste button Enable to quickly cut events from multiple EDLs and automatically paste them to a single
EDL. For a selected EDL, when clicking the Paste button, any events that are cut or copied are automatically
pasted to the first EDL.
Comments Group
EDLs:editing commentsYou can add or delete comments from events using the commands in the Comments
group of the EDL menu. Comments can contain up to 256 alphanumeric characters. You can also toggle
comments on or off.
EDL comments become part of the source clip when assembling the EDL. Multiple comment lines are merged
into one timeline comment line.
Insert Comment button Add a comment to the event selected in the EDL work area. You can add multiple
comments to an event. To edit a comment, double-click it and enter the new comment.
Delete Comment button Delete a comment selected in the EDL work area.
Hide button When enabled, will hide all comments in the EDL work area.
Titles Group
EDLs:editing titlesYou can add or delete a title from an EDL using commands in the Titles group of the
Import EDL menu.
Insert Title button Enter a new title in the Titles area of the EDL work area. You can add multiple titles. To
edit a title, double-click it and enter the new title.
Capture Group
EDLs:marking events for captureYou can mark events for capture or select only the uncaptured ones for
recapture.
Mark button Click to mark the selected events for recapture with an “X”. This allows you to keep track of
events that you want to recapture. Events that have already been captured are marked with a lower case x.
Therefore, when you mark a captured event for recapture, a lower and upper case x appear (x X) to the right
of the event number.
Select Uncaptured button Click to select all uncaptured events in the EDL. The next time you click
Auto-Capture, only the selected events are captured.
Update Capture Marks button Click to update the list of captured events.
Transitions Group
EDLs:editing transitionsUse the commands in the Transitions group to change any transition to a cut,
dissolve, or standard SMPTE wipe.
Dissolve button Changes the transition type to a dissolve for the selected transition, or range of transitions.
Wipe button Changes the transition type to a wipe for the selected transition, or range of transitions. The
wipe type is set to SMPTE 001.
Choose button Opens the Choose Wipe menu from which you can select from a variety of standard SMPTE
wipe types.
EDL Group
EDLs:other optionsYou can use any of these options in the EDL group when using EDLs to capture media.
(a) Sort box (b) Show Timecode box (c) Sort Mode box
BRoll Detect button Enable to detect BRolls. BRolls appear as the original tape. You are not prompted for
the tape containing the BRoll when you capture the clips. When disabled, BRolls are indicated with a “B”
following the tape name in the Tape entry.
Select: To:
Sort box Click Sort to sort the current EDL, or click Sort All to sort all the EDLs. EDLs are sorted according
to the sort order specified in the Sort Mode box. You can change the way an EDL is sorted.
Auto-Edit button Enable to quickly modify only the entries in the selected columns of the EDL. Click the
column headers of the columns that you want to auto-edit. Starting with the first entry that you edit, press
Enter to move automatically to the next entry. If no further entries exist, a new event is added.
A Mode By Record In timecode. If you want to view the EDL in the order of the final assembly,
sort the EDL in A Mode.
C Mode By tape number and Source In timecode. If you want to view the EDL in the order the
clips are captured, sort the EDL in C Mode. EDLs are always captured in C Mode, regard-
less of the sort mode you selected.
S Mode By Source In timecode, regardless of tape number. This sort mode is useful for multi-
camera real-time EDLs.
by Tracks By tracks. In this sort mode, video tracks are placed at the bottom of the list, and the
highest audio track is placed at the top of the list.
Editing Group
EDLs:editing optionsWhen you modify an entry in an EDL, several options control how other entries are
affected. Make sure these options are either enabled or disabled, depending on how you want to edit the
EDL.
Slip Tape button Enable to slip all source clips on the tape, or all record clips in the EDL list. All the in and
out points of all source or record clips change without affecting their duration.
Lock Speed button Enable to edit the timecode without changing the speed value for the event.
Slip button Enable to slip a source or record clip in a single event. The in and out points of the selected clip
change without affecting its duration.
Ripple Rec button Enable to move all Record entries, following an edited or pasted Record Out entry, forward
or backward accordingly. This is useful when you want to edit the Record Out of an event without overwriting
or creating a gap between the following shots.
Affect Tape button Enable to affect every relevant entry on the same tape when you modify a single entry.
EDLs:display optionsThe Display group contains options for modifying the display of events in the EDL list.
(a) Show TC/KC box (b) Speed box (c) EDL Display box
Show TC/KC box Select whether to display keycode or timecode.
Select: To:
Speed box Select a mode to display the speed change for timewarps.
Select: To:
EDL Display box Select a display mode for EDLs, Tape List view, or Undo List view.
Select: To:
Undo List View all modifications (up to the number of undo levels specified in the Preferences
menu) that you made in the current session, and undo a single or series of commands.
Click the item in the undo list that you want to undo. All operations are undone up
to and including that modification. All operations prior to the highlighted modification
are redone.
Tape List Display the Tape List view, showing the last selected EDL.
Tape List (All EDLs) Display the Tape List view, showing all selected EDLs.
EDLs:Undo listUse the Undo List to view all modifications (up to the number of undo levels specified in the
Preferences menu)that you made in the current session and undo a single or series of commands.
You can use the tape list to modify information pertaining to events for a given tape.
As well, each tape's entry can be expanded in Tape List view to show keycode and 2:3 pulldown information
associated with the source timecode.
Click the column header to sort the tape list in descending order using that column. Click the column
heading again to sort the tape list in ascending order.
Capture The capture flag for the tape. When set to On, the tape is captured during an auto-capture session.
To set the capture flag for a given tape to On or Off, click the item under the Capture column and drag left
or right to set it On or Off.
FCM The frame code mode for the tape. If the frame code mode is 29.97, you can drag over the item in this
column to switch between DF/NDF modes.
Tracks The number and type of tracks that will be captured for the tape.
Start The starting timecode for the first event to be captured on the given tape.
Capture Time The duration of the material to capture for the given tape.
Final Telecine Indicates the final telecine log associated with the tape.
Events The number of events to capture for the given tape. You cannot modify this value in Tape List view.
The lower fields of each tape entry contain the following columns.
TC Start Start timecode for each keycode sequence.
Film FCM Film frame code mode indicating the speed of the telecine when it scanned the film frames.
Change the film FCM by clicking the Keycode field to access the calculator.
EDL View
EDLs:viewAn EDL contains events, edits, and entries. An event is a complete element in the EDL such as a
shot, dissolve, or wipe. An edit is an individual component that makes up an event, such as an outgoing
2 Click the Tape entry in the event you want to edit and enter the new name:
■ If the Affect Tape option is enabled, the tape name for all events on the same tape changes
automatically.
■ If the Affect Tape option is disabled, only the tape name for the selected event changes.
■ If the Affect Selection option is enabled, only the tape names for selected events change.
Audio Patching
EDLs:audio patchingaudio:patching, in EDLsIf you want to capture audio from a different track than that
specified in the EDL, you can change the audio patching for a single event, selected events, or all events on
the same tape. For example, if an edit specifies the audio tracks as 1 and 2, but you want to capture the audio
from tracks 3 and 4, use the Audio Patching menu to reroute the audio during auto-capture.
1 In the EDL work area, select the events that you want to modify.
2 Click an Audio Patch field.
(a) Audio Patch boxes (b) Source audio track (c) Destination audio track
You can edit the source audio tracks. Each one of the eight available source audio tracks can be patched
to one of the eight available destination audio tracks. You can patch the same source audio track to
multiple destination audio tracks.
3 Enable or disable the Affect Tape and Affect Selection buttons.
4 Reroute the audio in the Audio Patch boxes by doing one of the following:
■ Drag in an Audio Patch box to cycle through source audio tracks one through eight.
■ Click an Audio Patch box to access the calculator, then type a value one through eight indicating
the source audio track.
5 Click Return.
To exit the Audio Patching menu without changing the patching information, click Cancel.
The source tracks that have been patched to different audio tracks than the defaults are indicated in
the affected event's Audio Patch Field. Dashes in the Audio Patch Field indicate the track is patched to
its default. Comments are also added which indicate the name of audio tracks and their patching
information.
When clips are captured, audio tracks are patched as indicated.
Editing Tracks
EDLs:tracks, editing editing:tracks in EDLYou can edit the tracks of an event in the EDL. Editing tracks is
useful if you want to modify the tracks captured when you auto-capture or assemble the EDL.
For example, if the Track entry for an event is V1 and you want to capture only the video track (V), change
the Track entry to V.
1 In the EDL work area, select the Track entries in the event that you want to edit from the EDL.
The Track menu appears.
Select: To:
Change To Replace tracks in the event with tracks you specified in the Track menu.
Add Add the tracks you specified in the Track menu to the tracks in the event.
Filter Keep only the tracks you specified in the Track menu. For example, if an event is “V12”
and you specify “V1,” audio track 2 is filtered out, and the resulting event has “V1.”
Flip Reverse the status of tracks you specified in the Track menu. For example, if an event
is “V23” and you specify “V34,” the resulting event has “V24.”
5 Click Return to confirm the change or Cancel to exit back to the EDL module without making any
modifications.
Dissolves in EDLs
dissolves:in EDLsDissolves are represented in the EDL by two consecutive edits with the same event number.
The first edit represents the outgoing shot of the dissolve and the second edit represents the incoming shot
of the dissolve. The dissolve is listed in the Transition column of the second edit as D n (where n is the
transition duration).
The Transition duration appears in the Transition entry of the second edit in the dissolve. The Start Location
for the dissolve is also indicated in the Transition entry.
If the EDL was exported from Flame, the dissolve can be Centred, From Cut, or Up To Cut. The start location
for the dissolve appears beside the Transition duration.
The following illustration is a typical dissolve in an EDL.
Wipes in EDLs
wipes:in EDLsEDLs:wipesWipes are represented in the EDL by two consecutive edits with the same event
number. The first edit represents the outgoing shot of the wipe and the second edit represents the incoming
shot of the wipe. The wipe is listed in the Transition column of the second edit as W n m (where n is the
wipe code and m is the wipe duration).
(a) Outgoing shot (b) Transition duration (c) Incoming shot (d) SMPTE wipe number
If you add 500 to the SMPTE wipe number, the wipe is inverted during assembly. For example:
If you change the Transition duration of a wipe, the Source Out of the incoming shot automatically changes
by the same duration.
Editing Timecode
EDLs:keycodekeycode:editing in EDLsediting:keycode in EDLsEDLs:timecodetimecode:editing in
EDLsediting:timecodes in EDLsIf you want to capture different material than what appears in the EDL, you
can slip or trim the edits to specify the correct material for your final assembly. You can change any source
or record timecode in the EDL.
You can also edit timecode and keycode in the Tape List.
To edit timecode:
1 If you want to edit source timecode, and keycode in and out values are displayed, toggle the Show
Timecode/Show Keycode box to Timecode.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Click the source or record timecode entry you want to modify and drag right to increase the value
or drag left to decrease the value. You can use hotkeys to change the values in varying increments.
Use: To:
■ Double-click the source or record timecode you want to modify to get the calculator, and then enter
a new timecode. If the source or record timecode is already selected, click it again to get the calculator.
When you edit source timecode, the corresponding keycode changes to reflect the new frames to be
captured. Toggle the Show Timecode/Show Keycode button to see the edited keycode in and out values.
You cannot edit the keycode for events in the EDL work area.
NOTE Other entries in the same edit affected by your modifications become highlighted as you edit an
entry.
In Tape List view, you can slip all the start timecode values for a given tape. This is useful when you need
to modify the start timecode of a tape that is used in multiple EDLs, because you edit the value only once.
You can also slip keycode and its associated start timecode and duration. This is similarly useful to alter
keycode values correlated to the timecode for given sequences on the tapes.
1 In the Import EDL menu, from the Display group, enable View Tape List.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Click the start timecode entry you want to modify and drag right to increase the value or drag left
to decrease the value. You can use hotkeys to change the values in varying increments.
Use: To:
■ Click the start timecode entry you want to modify to get the calculator, then enter a new timecode.
1 In the Import EDL menu, from the Display group, enable View Tape List.
2 If necessary, click the triangle on the left of the tape entry to expand its contents.
Sequences of timecode on the tape are associated to keycode values. If no keycode is available from
the telecine log(s) you loaded, N/A (not available) appears for the sequence.
1 In the Import EDL menu, from the Editing group, disable Lock Speed.
You can view the speed value in either percentage or frames per second. Select the View mode in the EDL
Preferences menu.
1 In the Conform tab, right-click the Event list and select Load New EDL.
2 From the window that appears, locate and select the EDL to import, and then click Load.
The EDL is loaded and opened as a sequence in the timeline view of the Conform tab.
3 Right-click the event list, and select Capture All From VTR.
The VTR module opens and cues the VTR.
4 Proceed with the recapture of the cued events.
5 Once back to the Conform tab, continue with the conform process as you would with a file-based
sequence.
1 Display the AAF to conform in the Conform tab. Do one of the following:
■ If you imported the AAF using the MediaHub: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the AAF and
select Open as a Sequence.
NOTE An AAF dragged from the MediaHub and dropped in the Media Panel is automatically opened as
a sequence, under the following conditions:
■ It is dropped in the Desktop section of the Media Panel.
■ It is dropped in the Default Library and Protect From Editing is disabled in the Preferences.
■ If you have not already imported the AAF: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the Event list and
select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL.
From the window that appears, locate and select the AAF to conform, and then click Load.
NOTE By default, the Conform Media list displays only the sources matching the currently selected event.
Disable Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches to view all the possible sources.
3 With Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches selected, click a event from the event list. The sources
matching that event are displayed in the Potential Matches list.
Match Select Link Sources from the Linking combo box. Link Matched Sources links all events with
the Match status to their unique sources. Match indicates that Flame found only one source from the
Sources list that fit the selected Match Criteria.
No Match Found Either add more sources to the Media folder or modify the criteria selected in the
Match Criteria drop-down box. Not Found indicates that either the criteria are too restrictive for Flame
to find a match in the available sources, or that the source is simply not there. The event list displays
in red any criteria that cannot be matched.
Unlinked Add sources to the Media folder. Unlinked indicates that the event is not linked to any
source. It appears only when no sources are available in the Media folder, and the Conform section of
the Media panel displays 0 clip total.
Linked Nothing to do: the event is already linked to source. Linked events appear in the Events list
only if Options ➤ Hide Linked is not enabled.
5 Once there all the events are linked to sources, you are done with the conform. You can leave the
Conform tab.
IMPORTANT No matter the selected criteria, a source cannot be linked to an event if it is not long enough to
cover the whole event.
Flame does not automatically cache the relinked source media. To cache the source media: right-click the
target and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media. You can target a segment on the timeline to cache only
that segment, or the sequence itself to cache every segment in the sequence.
Available Options
Limit Handles To limit the amount of relinked handles and perform the equivalent of a consolidate on
link, enable Limit Handles when linking to the sources. When you need to access more than the consolidated
media:
Save Sources To save a copy of the source in the Sources reel, enable Save Sources. The source saved is what
is relinked to the segment, including the Limit Handles setting.
Caching Sources Flame does not automatically cache the relinked source media. To cache the source media:
right-click the target and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media. You can target a segment on the timeline
to cache only that segment, or the sequence itself to cache every segment in the sequence.
Filtering Out Tracks Filter out tracks from the Conform list by locking them on the timeline and selecting
Filter Locked Tracks from the Options menu. This removes the segments of the locked track from the Conform
Events list, and excludes matching sources from the Media Panel's Conform area.
Spanned Clips
You can conform AAF referencing Canon C series spanned MXF clips by using both the Original Sources
media options and the Filename as a Match Criteria. Because AAF files use the name of the first file of the
clip as file name, automatic linking of media does not work when importing AAF files.
1 Import the AAF file and set Media Options ➤ Preferred Media to Original Sources.
If Conform is able to find the media files, events referring to spanned clip will not be matched.
2 Press Set Search Location.
3 Navigate to the location of the media files and press the Set button.
4 Conform matches the clips. You can now relink your sequence.
1 Display the FCP XML to conform in the Conform tab. Do one of the following:
■ If you imported the FCP XML using the MediaHub: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the FCP
XML and select Open as a Sequence.
■ If you have not already imported the FCP XML: switch to the Conform tab, right-click the Event
list and select Load New FCP XML/AAF/EDL.
From the window that appears, locate and select the FCP XML to conform, and then click Load.
NOTE By default, the Conform Media list displays only the sources matching the currently selected event.
Disable Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches to view all the possible sources.
3 With Options ➤ Filter Potential Matches selected, click a event from the event list. The sources
matching that event are displayed in the Potential Matches list.
NOTE You can also select a segment directly in the timeline. Both the timeline and the event list update to
reflect the current selection.
Match Select Link Sources from the Linking combo box. Link Matched Sources links all events with
the Match status to their unique sources. Match indicates that Flame found only one source from the
Sources list that fit the selected Match Criteria.
No Match Found Either add more sources to the Media folder or modify the criteria selected in the
Match Criteria drop-down box. Not Found indicates that either the criteria are too restrictive for Flame
to find a match in the available sources, or that the source is simply not there. The event list displays
in red any criteria that cannot be matched.
Unlinked Add sources to the Media folder. Unlinked indicates that the event is not linked to any
source. It appears only when no sources are available in the Media folder, and the Conform section of
the Media panel displays 0 clip total.
5 Once there all the events are linked to sources, you are done with the conform. You can leave the
Conform tab.
IMPORTANT No matter the selected criteria, a source cannot be linked to an event if it is not long enough to
cover the whole event.
Flame does not automatically cache the relinked source media. To cache the source media: right-click the
target and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media. You can target a segment on the timeline to cache only
that segment, or the sequence itself to cache every segment in the sequence.
Available Options
Limit Handles To limit the amount of relinked handles and perform the equivalent of a consolidate on
link, enable Limit Handles when linking to the sources. When you need to access more than the consolidated
media:
Save Sources To save a copy of the source in the Sources reel, enable Save Sources. The source saved is what
is relinked to the segment, including the Limit Handles setting.
Caching Sources Flame does not automatically cache the relinked source media. To cache the source media:
right-click the target and select Media ➤ Cache Source Media. You can target a segment on the timeline
to cache only that segment, or the sequence itself to cache every segment in the sequence.
Filtering Out Tracks Filter out tracks from the Conform list by locking them on the timeline and selecting
Filter Locked Tracks from the Options menu. This removes the segments of the locked track from the Conform
Events list, and excludes matching sources from the Media Panel's Conform area.
All this can be accomplished using the Connected Conform tools which include:
■ Sources Sequence, a specialized sequence to conform multiple sequences in a single operation.
■ Shots Sequence, a specialized sequence to help with shot distribution and processing
■ Connected Segments, a concept to share information between related segments across different sequences.
■ Reel Group and the Sequences reel, which provides a central location for the Connected Conform
workflow.
What follows is an example of a Connected Conform workflow. Also provided, links to online videos.
Online tutorial: Connected Conform Workflow - Conforming & The Sources Sequence
1 Go to Conform.
2 Import your sequences. Make sure that they are all in a single Reel
group's Sequences reel.
3 Click Create Sources Sequence.
4 Go to the created Sources Sequence, and conform it.
■ For added benefits:
■ Enable Limit Handles and specify a number of handles. This option limits the
amount of media relinked, but can ensure that there are enough heads and
tails to slip around effects.
■ Enable Save Sources. This option facilitates source management later on. And
does not impact media cache usage unless you have enabled the Cache
Source Media or Generate Proxies import options.
NOTE If you plan on using the Sources Connection workflow, enable Save
Sources.
■ Lock a track to exclude its segments from being included in the Sources Se-
quence.
Online Tutorial: Connected Conform Workflow - Metadata & The Shots Sequence
Lock a track to exclude its segments from being included in the Shots Sequence.
Applied Batch FX gets carried over to the Shots Sequence, but might prevent shots from
connecting between sequences.
NOTE If you defined a limited amount of handles but need more content from the original
source media file:
1 Unlink the segment. Notice how every connected segment in the
connected sequences is unlinked from its media file.
2 Enable and set Limit Handles to the required number of handles.
3 Using Link to Media File, relink the segment to its media. The segment
now sports the new handles.
This operation is similar to an un-consolidate.
NOTE This example assumes that there is only one artist working on the sequences. But
you could well distribute the shots (Batch Groups) using the Shared Libraries. Or without
creating Batch Groups, you could use the Shot Publish approach to distribute the shots.
Both approaches create a Version track and use placeholder segments.
Once you have created a Shots Sequence, you can, from Conform, create Batch Groups. One batch group is
created for each different Shot Name within the selected segments. Each batch group can be seen as a discrete
unit of work encapsulated.
One Batch group is created for each unique Shot name, in the location defined by the Batch Group Destination
box. Each segment of the shot becomes a clip node inside Batch, stored in a Schematic Reel.
When you use Create Batch Group in Conform, that Batch group's Render node uses the following settings:
■ Its attributes, such resolution, source timecode, or tape name, are taken from the back plate. The node
is also connected to the back plate.
■ Its In/Out marks are from the original timeline segment.
■ Its name is set to the Shot Name, or by the Default Render Node Name preference.
When you create a Batch group, a related segment is created on a new Version track, labelled Shots Track
by default, in every sequence connected to Shots Sequence by the connected segments. By using Replace
Media, this related segment can be replaced with the result of the Batch group, with every connected sequence
automatically inheriting the replacement.
Batch Group segments created for a Timeline that already has a Shots Track will be added to the existing
Shots Track, instead of a new track, as long as the space required by the new Batch Group segment is free.
The "Shots Track" label can be removed from the Timeline Tracks, using the contextual menu. The tag is
removed on all sequences located inside the current Sequences Reel.
It is also possible to manually flag a Timeline Version as Shots Track. The tag is only added to the current
Sequence.
NOTE By default, the Batch Group created starts at the frame matching the source frame number of the background
element. Enable Preferences ➤ Timeline FX / Batch / BFX ➤ Ignore in Publish/Conform to have the
Batch Group start at frame 1.
You can create a duplicate version of the connected segment above the existing one, using the Duplicate
Segment Connections, from the Contextual menu of a connected Timeline segment.
■ The operation is selection-based.
■ The new segment has _copy appended to the Segment name by default.
■ The new segment is created on every sequence where a connected segment exists.
■ If there's a gap on the track above the selected segment(s), the copy is added to that track.
Applying a Batch FX to vertically composited segments The flattening of the vertical structure require
by a Batch FX disables segment connections since it destroys the spatial information for the concerned
segments. Use instead the Create Batch Group workflow, where such information is preserved.
NOTE Applying a Batch FX to an individual segment is a supported operation in the context of Connected Conform.
Connecting Sources
Use Source Segment Connection to set Connected Segment from a source to other instances of this source
within the same Reel Group. For example, perform your colour corrections from the Sources Sequence. Once
done, propagate the changes to every instance of the source you worked on, to every sequence in the Sequence
Reel.
1 In the Sources Sequence, right-click the segment with the source media that you need to connect and
select Create Source Segment Connection.
This connects together every segment, in the Sequences reel, that uses the same source media.
2 Use the Sources Sequence as a working sequence.
3 Use Sync Connected Segments from the contextual menu to propagate the effects to you deliverables'
sequences.
The scope of Create Source Segment Connection can be set from the contextual menu's Source Segment
Connection Options:
■ Sequences Only: Enable this option to connect only segments located in the Sequences Reel. Disable this
option to extend the scope of the connection to the whole Reel Group, including the Sources reel.
■ Overwrite Existing Connections: Enable this option if connections already exist but you want to overwrite
them with new ones. For example, you duplicated multiple times a segment referencing the same source,
but now you need these connections to share the same source segment.
■ Sync Up: Enable this option to synchronize the segments as soon as the connection is created. This
automatic sync only happens when the connection is first created: after this, you need to manually
synchronize the segments.
1 Verify that the sources for the already imported sequences are all saved in the Sources reel.
If the sources are not available in the Sources reel,
2 Add a sequence to the Sequences reel.
3 Disable the Save Sources option.
4 Link to the sources located in the Sources reel. This automatically adds Source Segment Connections
to the new sequence, complete with the link icon.
For this operation to work properly, you must make sure that Save Sources was enabled and that the sources
were all imported to the Sources reel the first time you created the Sources Sequence. And when you import
and relink the new sequence, the Save Sources option must be disabled. This is because Flame assigns a
NOTE Do not mix Sources and Shots connections. If a Shots Sequence exists in the Reel Group, it takes precedence
over the Sources Sequences: it owns all of the Segment Connections. If you try to link media to a newly added
sequence while a Shots Sequence exists in the Reel Group, there can be no Source connections, only Shot
connections.
NOTE One could distribute the Sources Sequence for source grading; relinking to the new, graded, sources will
update all of the connected sequences.
The creation of a Sources Sequence connects together the sequences used to create it. This allows you to use
the Sources Sequence to perform a number of source operations that are automatically carried to every
connected sequence.
Since the goal of the Sources Sequence is to simplify the conform of multiple related sequences, the Sources
Sequence creation process tries to consolidate the different sources from the many sequences to simplify
the Sources Sequence. It does this using the following steps.
3 Once the longest sequence has been analysed, the process analyses the other sequences, trying to
consolidate the sources together using the same criteria as above.
When all the sequences and sources are consolidated and connected, the Sources Sequence is built, its
segments ordered by Tape or File Name, and then Timecode (also known as EDL C-Sort mode).
In addition, if Limit Handles is enabled and the sequences are unlinked, Flame adds the specified amount
of handles to the segments in the Sources Sequence, or less if the specified interval of a source's timecodes
does not allow it by being too short.
Finally, the segment names used for the Sources Sequence are the one from the original sequences, not the
media file name.
When working in Connected Conform, creating a Sources Sequence connects together the different sequence
by the used sources. This means that changing the Format Options or the Pre-Processing settings on a
segment in one sequence affects every other occurrence of that source.
To prevent this from happening, you can create an new and exclusive link between the segment you wish
to isolate and its source by duplicating that source.
To duplicate a source:
■ Right-click the segment with the source to isolate.
■ From the contextual menu, select Duplicate Source.
Using Duplicate Source does not duplicate any media: it only ensures that the segment now has independent
Format Options and Pre-Processing Options from the other connected segments. Also, this does not break
Segment Connection enabled by Connected Conform: you can still Sync Segments across sequences. Finally,
a clip derived from a segment to which you applied a Duplicate Source (through Copy & Paste, Duplicate,
or simply a cut) behaves as usual, in that it shares the same source as the clip from which it is derived.
1 In Connected Conform, with the Sources Sequence created, Link to Sources making sure Save Sources
is enabled.
2 Select a segment connected across the connected sequences, and through the Pre-Processing options,
apply a visible letterbox resize.
Verify that this affects all connected segments across the connected sequences.
3 Apply Duplicate Source to that same segment.
4 Unlink that same segment.
5 With Save Sources still enabled, select Link To Media Files.
In the Sources reel, you can now see a duplicate source gets added. This is because Duplicate Source
creates a new link to the source, forcing Flame to consider it as a completely different source. And if
you disable the Letterbox resize from the Pre-Processing options, it only affects this segment.
TIP In Conform, when you modify a connected segment, it is selected in every sequence where it is found. This
makes it easy to see the modified segment across the different sequences using the sequence tabs.
A Shots Sequence preserves original timewarps, Batch FX, as well as Containers and Matte Containers. Note
that in the case of both containers, only the segments they contain are connected, not the containers
themselves.
While the Sources Sequence connects only source clip metadata, a Shots Sequence connects source and
segment metadata with all connected sequences.
Metadata connected between the Shots Sequence and the connected sequences:
■ Source clip metadata
■ Segment Name
■ Shot Name
■ Comment
■ Timeline FX (including Batch FX).
TIP Consider always doing any bulk operation from the Shots Sequence: this ensures that modifications include
every segment because the Shots contains all the segments from every connected sequence.
In the Shots Sequence, the segments are ordered based on the story order of the longest sequence. Segments
found in other connected sequences but not in the longest sequence are added sequentially at the end of
the Shots Sequence. If two or more sequences share the title of "longest sequence", then the tied sequences
are ordered alphabetically, and the first one is used as the reference sequence.
In addition, Batch FX are also used as a matching criteria when grouping segments from the different
connected sequences: if two segments are match in every aspect except for the presence a Batch FX, they
will result in different segments in the Shots Sequence (but those segments in the Shots Sequence will each
have a version of the Batch FX).
In the Shots Sequence creation process, Shot names impact the structure of the Shots Sequence:
■ If Shot naming is done after the creation of the Shots Sequence, its segments are organized based on their
location in the original sequences. This is the recommended approach.
■ If Shot naming is done before the creation of the Shots Sequence, the structure of the created sequence
takes into account the Shot naming: segments sharing sources but with different shot names are duplicated
for each differing shot name. If you use this approach, make sure that every segment of every connected
sequence has a shot name to ensure predictability of the resulting Shots Sequence.
The approach to use depends on your goal: the latter is useful when working with sequences that may share
the same media but require different visual treatment, such as delivery of localized content. The former
creates a more compact structure, easier to manage, aimed at creating uniform visual treatment.
The segment names used in the Shots Sequence are the ones from the original sequences, not the media file
name.
A Shots Sequence connects the segments of the sequences in the Reel group. This in turn allows you to
modify metadata, like Shot Names, in one sequence and have that change propagate to the other sequences
connected by the Shots Sequence.
Connected Segment Icon A segment connected across multiple sequences is identified with
Navigating Instances of Connected Segments Right-click a segment and select Jump to Connected
Segment: the drop-down list displays the sequences with an instance of that segment. Selecting a sequence
from the list opens that sequence, with the segment selected.
Syncing Connected Segments Modifications made to the Timeline FX, Batch FX, or History of a given
segment are local to that segment until you sync it. For example, when working with the Shots Sequence.
TIP Render all of the updated Timeline FX for all synced Connected Segments by rendering the original
segments Timeline FX before syncing.
Notes:
Replacing Connected Segments To replace a connected segment across the connected sequences of a Reel
group:
1 Open Timeline.
2 Select the segment to be replaced.
3 Select the clip that will replace the segment.
4 Do one of the following:
■ To replace the segment and overwrite the Timeline FX applied to the destination segment, use the
Timeline Replace operation. Press R, or click the Replace button.
■ To replace the segment and preserve the Timeline FX applied to the destination segment, use the
Timeline Replace Media operation. Press Ctrl-Shift-R, or click the Secondary Edit box and select
Replace Media.
NOTE The media used must be long enough to cover the whole of the segment it replaces, or this will fail.
The Replace operation can be performed on any clips, whether they have Timeline FX applied, a Batch FX,
or include History.
Removing Segment Connections Sometimes you need to isolate a segment to perform a unique edit, such
as applying language-specific titling to multi-language deliverables; the connection of segments' metadata
becomes a hindrance. In this case, you want to remove the segment's connection to other segments.
IMPORTANT While you can Undo this operation, there is no Restore Connection operation that can be performed
later. Although you can create new connected segments.
You can create a connected segment, use that segment across multiple timelines, and then sync the connected
segments to propagate changes across timelines, without using the Shots Sequence and Connected Conform
workflow.
You can now use the same tools available to you in Connected Conform: sync segments, navigate between
connected segments, propagate Timeline FX across connected segments.
Shots Sequence is the best solution when working in a multi-sequence conform workflow, where you need
to keep many segments in many sequences in sync.
1 Make sure all hardware devices involved in the clip input and output process are properly configured.
If not, the VTR Input and VTR Output menu options are disabled.
2 Edit the software initialization configuration file or run the Flame Setup application to ensure the
proper devices and settings are initialized on application start-up.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Input clips.
■ Output clips.
If you are using an NVIDIA graphics card with and SDI daughter card, Flame also supports real-time operations
for some deliverables.
Your Mac must be equipped with either an AJA or a Blackmagic Design device to connect to a VTR.
Consult the online System Requirements to see which devices are supported. The actual supported features
depend on the device used, but generally includes SDI Capture, SDI Playout, and SDI / HDMI Preview, and
3G I/O when available.
When you are preparing for a clip input and output session on a Linux system, consult the software
initialization configuration file to confirm the following keyword sections are uncommented and properly
configured:
■ VIDEO KEYWORD
You do not need to specify the default video I/O timing. The initial timing corresponds to the default
resolution and frame rate of the project that you select on start-up. If you select a film or custom resolution
for your project on start-up, video I/O timing corresponds to the resolution that was selected as the
preferred resolution when the application was installed.
■ VTR KEYWORD
You must assign a specific VTR timing, such as NTSC, PAL, or 1920x1080_5994i. Multi-format video
input and output capability of your system allows you to modify the VTR timing, without exiting the
project, to any timing supported by your system's video board.
If you plan to perform input and output operations using a live video signal from a broadcast feed or
from a device that does not support remote control functionality using RS-422 interface, such as a VCR
or camcorder, uncomment the corresponding Live video keyword at the bottom of the SD DECKS section.
NOTE When working in HD projects and capturing material from a VariCam (variable frame rate 720p material),
ensure that the following VTR are enabled: VTR DVCProHD 720 59p, SERIAL1, 1280x720_5994P and VTR
DVCProHD 720 60p, SERIAL1, 1280x720_60p.
1 Select a folder from the Media Library. This is where the captured clips will be created.
If VTR Input is not available, connect your workstation to a VTR, and configure Flame to use the VTR.
1 Cue up the tape to the frame at which you want to begin capturing.
2 Do one of the following:
■ From the Capture Method box, select Start On Click/Stop On Click.
■ Enter clip input in and out points in the In and Out fields.
1 Cue up to the frame you want to capture using the VTR Transport controls or by scrubbing the preview
window.
2 Click Grab.
NOTE If you notice that the previewed image is different from the captured one, edit the Video Input Delay
field found in the Engineering menu and recapture that frame. If the two images now match, the delay is
fine. If they do not match, you need to tweak the Input Delay until they do.
(a) Device Name box (b) Aspect Ratio box (c) Aspect Ratio field (d) EDL button (e) Current Timecode field (f) Proxy
Quality box (g) Bit Depth box (h) Scan mode box (i) Tape Name field (j) Clip Name field (k) Increment Name field
(l) Tape Type box
Device Name box Select the VTR and timing combination to use to capture clips. The available VTR are
defined in the software configuration file using the VTR keyword.The available VTR are defined in the Smoke
Setup application.
Aspect Ratio box Select the aspect ratio of the clip to capture.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio of the clip to capture. Editable.
Bit Depth box Select the bit depth used to capture the clip.
Scan Mode box Selects how to flag the captured clip: Progressive, Field 1 dominant, or Field 2 dominant.
The flag is only there as a reminder; for example, setting Field 2 does not prevent you from de-interlacing
on Field 1. In most cases, select the option that matches the format you are capturing.
Proxy Only button Enable to capture proxies only. In this case, the high-resolution media is captured,
proxies are generated, but the high-resolution media is discarded. As a result, much storage space is required.
Only available if the current project is configured to use proxies. If your proxies are set to be generated as a
post process in the Engineering menu, you can see an estimated time required for proxies generation in the
message bar. You can abort this process at any time by clicking anywhere on the screen. When you click
the screen, a message appears asking you to confirm the operation. Only the captured media that corresponds
to completed proxy generation is preserved. Any captured frames for which no proxies have been generated
are purged.
Proxy Quality box proxies:quality boxProxies generated during capture are always of draft quality. Using
the Proxy Quality box, you can set the default quality for proxy generation after capture. Results vary
depending on the type of clips involved, so it is a good idea to try different settings. Only available if the
current project is configured to use proxies.
Select: To get:
Bicubic Very good results for resizing soft-looking images. Use to sharpen the image.
Quadratic Good results for resizing simple images with straight edges. Similar to Gaussian but with
more blurring. Use to soften the image.
Gaussian Excellent results when resizing a clip with no patterns and alot of straight edges to a lower
resolution. Useful for softening some detail.
Shannon Excellent results when resizing a clip to a lower resolution. Very similar to Lanczos, but
results are a little softer.
Lanczos Best results when resizing a clip containing a variety of patterns and elements to a lower
resolution. It is the most complex with the longest processing time.
Input Type box Select the type of footage found on the tape. Use Standard for regular capture. 2X can only
be used with HDCAM SR. Dual Image is for stereo footage recorded side-by-side on the tape; use Slice to
create a single Stereoscopic clip on capture, but with half the horizontal resolution; use Scale to create a
single Stereoscopic clip, but resized to full horizontal resolution. With Scale, use Engineering > Dual Image
Resizing Filter to select the quality of the resize.
EDL button Opens the EDL menu where you can capture and edit EDLs.
Log On Out button Enable to log EDL events every time you enter an out point.
Tape Name field Displays the name of the tape from which you are capturing. This name is important for
EDL assembly and media recapture procedures. Editable.
Clip Name field Displays the name to use for the clip to capture. Editable.
Increment field Displays the number automatically appended to the clip name. Active when Increment is
enabled.
Increment button Enable to append numerical increments to the clip name automatically. For example,
enter “My_Clip” in the Clip Name field and then enable Increment Name. The first clip you capture is named
“My_Clip-1”, the second is named “My_Clip-2”, and so on.
Start Mode box Determines the start mode for clip input.
Select: To:
Start On Click Capture starting from the currently displayed frame on the tape. Click Process to
activate the start-on-click trigger.
Start On Timecode Capture starting from the timecode you enter in the In field. Click Process to start
the clip input process.
Stop After Frames A specific number of frames have been captured. When you select this option, a
field appears in which you enter the number of frames you want to capture.
Stop On Timecode A timecode on the tape has been reached (entered in the Out Timecode field).
Current Timecode field Indicates the current timecode of the tape in the VTR.
The following controls are found on the right side of the menu (not shown in preceding illustration).
In Timecode field Displays the timecode on the tape at which point the clip input begins. Editable.
Out Timecode field Displays the timecode on the tape at which point the clip input process ends. Editable.
Duration field Displays the duration, in timecode, between the clip in point and out point. Editable.
Tape EE button Click to toggles E-to-E on and off. When lit, indicates that the VTR is in E-to-E mode
(electronic to electronic). This means that the VTR output is showing its input signal.
Standby button When lit, the VTR is in standby mode. Click to toggle between standby modes.
Cue In button Cues the VTR to the value of the In Timecode field.
Cue Out button Cues the VTR to the value of the Out Timecode field.
Out button Sets the Out Timecode field to the current VTR timecode.
Toggle Audio Tracks button Switch between audio banks of 4 audio tracks.The actual number of tracks
depends on your capture device.
1 From the Device Name box, select an option corresponding to your VTR device.
(a) Video track enabled for capture (b) Toggle Audio Tracks button (c) Audio channels 1 and 2 enabled for capture
Audio meters display the gain level being captured. You cannot change this level during capture. You
can modify the gain of a clip once capture is complete.
1 Ensure that the HDCAM SR is connected to the AJA card using a dual-link.
2 Set the HDCAM SR VTR to DBL 422.
3 From the Device Name box, select the HDCAM SR VTR.
4 From the Input Type box, select 2x-DOUBLE.
NOTE If the player displays the clip with some colour bias, it is because the player falsely interprets the 4:2:2
signal from the VTR as a 4:4:4 signal. This does not impact the capture; the stereoscopic clip will be captured
without that bias. To remove this bias, go to the Engineering menu and set the Input Connection box to
Serial 1 4:2:2.
5 Capture the clip. See Capturing Media with a VTR (page 295).
1 Ensure that the HDCAM SR is connected to the AJA card using a dual-link.
2 Set the HDCAM SR VTR to the stereoscopic setting.
3 From the VTR Input menu, select the HDCAM SR VTR from the Device Name box.
4 From the Input Type box, select 2x-STEREO.
NOTE If the player displays the clip with some colour bias, it is because the player falsely interprets the 4:2:2
signal from the VTR as a 4:4:4 signal. This does not impact the capture; the stereoscopic clip will be captured
without that bias. To remove this bias, go to the Engineering menu and set the Input Connection box to
Serial 1 4:2:2.
5 Capture the clip. See Capturing Media with a VTR (page 295).
The stereoscopic material is captured as a single, regular stereoscopic clip, with two layers, one for each
eye.
If VTR Output is not available, connect your workstation to a VTR, and configure Flame to use the VTR.
Select: To:
Output Configure the output settings described in this section. This is the default menu.
Audio Set Audio preferences. Changes are reflected in the Audio section of the Preferences
menu, and vice versa.
NOTE The Deliverables and Logo tabs are only available if the workstation uses an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 SDI
graphics card.
Output list Displays information about the clip selected for output. If there are multiple clips, you can sort
them by clicking the column headings. This changes the output sequence order. You can also edit the
Timecode field in this list.
If the list includes Deliverables and you do not have the hardware required by Real-Time Deliverables, the
Deliverables are greyed out.
Video Layer field Indicates the track to output in a multi-track clip. Drag the field to browse through the
video tracks and versions. This field is red when the selected track is not the top track of the selected video
version; this does not prevent output.
Graphics Card box If you have the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 SDI graphics card for using Real-Time
Deliverables, switch between it and the standard AJA_OEM2K card using this box.
Tape EE button When lit, indicates that the VTR is in E-to-E mode (electronic to electronic). This means
that the VTR output is showing its input signal. When E-to-E is off, the VTR shows the contents of the tape
it contains. Click this button to toggle E-to-E on and off.
Standby button When lit, indicates that the VTR is in standby mode. Click this button to toggle between
on and off.
Current Timecode field Indicates the current timecode of the tape in the VTR.
Output box Switch between insert or assemble mode. Click to perform the selected action.
Preview button Triggers a simulation of the output process. The VTR behaves as if it is inserting material,
however no material is recorded to tape.
Split View button Enable to simultaneously monitor the clip selected for output and the contents of the
tape.
Start On Timecode field A locked field indicating that clip output begins at the timecode entered in the In
Timecode field.
Stop On Timecode A timecode on the tape is reached (indicated in the Out Timecode field).
Stop After Frames A specified number of frames is output. When you select this option, a field appears
in which you enter the number of frames to output.
In Timecode field Indicates the timecode on the tape at which point the clip output process begins.
Out Timecode field Indicates the timecode on the tape at which point the clip output process ends.
Duration field Indicates the duration, in timecode, between the clip output in and out points.
Offset field Indicates the offset, in timecode, by which the selected clip is output. For example, an offset of
00:00:00:05 indicates that the first five frames of the clip to be output are skipped. The first frame to be
output is frame 5 of the clip (counting frames from 0).
In/Out Point controls Use to enter, adjust, and cue the in and out points.
All Audio button Enable to output all audio channels for monitoring, even if only some audio channels
are enabled for recording to tape.
1 Load the clip that you want to output into the VTR Output module. See Accessing the VTR Output
Module (page 301).
(a) Video track enabled for output (b) Audio channels 1 and 2 enabled for output
3 Enable or disable All Audio in the Clip Output menu (to the left of the audio controls).
When All Audio is enabled, all audio channels are sent to the audio converter, not just the ones you
enabled in the previous step.
This means you can monitor all audio, even though you are only recording one or two tracks to the
VTR. You can also route the other audio channels to a mixer or any other device capable of capturing
an audio signal.
4 Make sure the appropriate VTR is selected in the Device Name box. See Selecting a VTR Device For
Output (page 304).
The preview window displays the contents of the tape currently in the selected VTR.
5 To preview the clip before outputting, click Preview.
6 To preview the clip you are outputting against the contents on the tape, enable Split View. See Monit-
oring Video During Clip Output (page 313).
7 To output the selected clip starting at any frame other than the first one, enter the start timecode in
the Start Offset field.
8 Set the in and out points for clip output. See Setting Input and Output In and Out Points (page 313).
9 To output the clip to the VTR, select Insert from the Output box.
The clips with Status selected are output to tape. During output, the Status column is updated to reflect
the status of each clip:
■ Pending: the clip is waiting to be output to tape.
■ Output: the clip is being output to ape.
■ Done: the clip has been ouput to tape.
10 After the transfer is complete, verify that it was successful by playing the transferred clip. To do so, cue
to the in timecode and click the Play button in the VTR Transport controls.
11 When you are done, click EXIT.
If some of the clips have overlapping timecodes, their timecodes are highlighted in red in the clip list. To
fix overlapping timecodes, edit the timecodes in the clip list, or use the timecode fields in the Output tab.
1 Load the clips that you want to output into the VTR Output module. See Accessing the VTR Output
Module (page 301).
2 If the clips have conflicting timings, you are prompted to select the timing you want to use.
Clips that do not match this timing are discarded.
3 To ouput a clip, its status field must have the selected indicator. Click the Status field to alternate
between the selected indicator and an empty field.
4 Set output options for each clip.
5 Optional: Click the column headers to sort the list. This changes the order of the output sequence.
6 To output the clip to the VTR, select Insert from the Output box.
The clips with Status selected are output to tape. During output, the Status column is updated to reflect
the status of each clip:
■ Pending: the clip is waiting to be output to tape.
■ Output: the clip is being output to tape.
■ Done: the clip has been ouput to tape.
7 After the transfer is complete, verify that it was successful by playing the transferred clips: cue to the
in timecodes and click the Play button in the VTR Transport controls. Clips that have been output are
highlighted in the clip list of the large VTR Output module.
8 When finished, click EXIT.
When outputting multiple clips with the small VTR Output module, note the following differences:
■ Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate the clip list.
■ Once output options have been set for each clip, make sure you are viewing the first clip you want to
output.
■ When you select Insert in the Output box, the clip you are viewing, and all subsequent clips, are output
to tape. Clips that precede the clip you are viewing are not output to tape.
letterbox formats:outputting clips with letterboxoutputting:letterbox overlayTo output clips with a letterbox
overlay:
1 In the Output Clip menu, click the Deliverables tab to see the Letterbox controls.
(a) Letterbox Offset field (b) Letterbox aspect ratio field (c) Colour selector box
2 Enable Letterbox.
3 Set the letterbox options:
■ In the Aspect Ratio field, enter a value to set the aspect ratio of the letterbox overlay. Alternatively,
select a preset from the Aspect Ratio box.
■ In the Letterbox Offset field, enter a value to shift the letterbox overlay up or down, as required.
■ Use the Colour Selector box to set the colour of the letterbox overlay.
NOTE When you select the Logo tab, you see the clip selected in the Output list instead of the VTR feedback.
Load Logo Opens the Clip Select menu where you can select logo clips.
Disable All Use to remove the logo from all clips to output.
Scaling (Front) Changes the size of the Logo clip. The range of values is 0 to 100, with 100 being the actual
size of the Logo clip.
Transparency (Front) Changes the transparency of the Logo (front clip). 0% is Opaque. 100% is Transparent.
Position controls (X and Y fields) Moves the logo along the X and Y axes.
Blend Mode box Selects how the front and matte clips or the front and back clips are combined.
Select: To:
Add Trans Compensate for the soft or anti-aliased edge on an object in a front and matte clip
media, with transparency.
Blend Punch the matte through the front. This blends the edge of the front clip and adds
additional softness to the media.
Shadow Uses the Matte clip to add a Shadow. The default position is set to X:-5 and Y:-5. A colour pot on
the right allows for the shadow colour to be changed.
Scaling (Shadow) Changes the size of the shadow. The range of values is 0 to 100, with 100 being the actual
size of the shadow.
Transparency (Shadow) Changes the transparency of the Shadow. 0% is Opaque. 100% is Transparent.
Softness Softness can be added to the Shadow. The range of values is 0 to 200.
Horizontal alignment Positions the logo along the X-axis using one of the following options.
Select: To:
Left Snap the left edge of the clip to the Safe Title guide on the left.
Right Snap the right edge of the clip to the Safe Title guide on the right.
Vertical alignment Positions the logo along the Y-axis using one of the following options.
Select: To:
Top Snap the top edge of the logo to the Safe Title guide at the top.
Bottom Snap the bottom edge of the clip to the Safe Title guide at the bottom.
Guides Enables the display of the Safe Action and Safe Title guides within the Clip Preview window. Use
the colour pot to change the colour of the guides.
Centre Enables the display of the Centre guide within the Clip Preview window. Use the colour pot to
change the colour of the Centre guide.
In point Select an option to specify when the logo appears on the clip.
Select: To:
Start On In Point Have the logo appear at the in point of the clip.
Start After Frames Specify after how many frames the logo appears. Enter the number of frames in the
adjacent field.
Select: To:
Stop on Out Point Have the logo disappear at the out point of the clip.
Duration Specify how long the logo remains on screen. Enter the duration in the adjacent field.
Stop Before Frames Hide the logo before the end of the clip, by the number of frames specified in the adja-
cent field. For example, selecting this option and entering a value of 5 makes the logo
disappear by frame 15 in a 20-frame clip.
Fade In Defines the length of the logo fade in. A value of 0 indicates there is no fade in.
Fade Out Defines the length of the logo fade out. A value of 0 indicates there is no fade out.
Zoom controls The small VTR Output module is not available from the Logo tab. Use the Zoom controls
to view oversized clips.
Select: To:
Logo settings are persistent, and previous logo settings are loaded when you open the VTR Output module.
NOTE The same logo, with its settings, is applied to all clips for which you have checked the Logo column in the
VTR Output module list.
1 Select clips from the Media List and select File > VTR Output...
2 In the VTR Output module, use the Logo column to indicate which clips are to be output with the
logo.
3 Click the Logo tab to access the logo controls.
4 Select one or two clips to use as logo:
■ If you select one clip, it is used as the front clip and a luminance key is applied to it. If the clip has
multiple frames, only the first frame is used.
■ If you select two clips, the first is used as the front and the second as the matte.
1 On the VTR, set the TC generator switch to Internal and Regen to make the VTR generate the timecode.
Refer to your VTR manual for instructions on setting the TC generator.
TIP If you have just added black to your tape, the VTR should already have these settings.
2 Set clip output options. See Outputting a Single Clip (page 304).
3 With the clip you want to output in the VTR Output module, set the clip output in and out points.
See Setting Input and Output In and Out Points (page 313).
4 If black was not added at the end of the clip, make sure the out point exceeds the duration of the clip
by five to ten seconds.
5 Select the Assemble option from the Output box.
6 Click Assemble to output the clip in assemble mode.
1 Ensure that the HDCAM SR is connected to the output device using a dual-link.
IMPORTANT If you use an NVIDIA SDI card to output the stereoscopic material, the NVIDIA card downconverts
the material to 8-bit.
2 Set the HDCAM SR VTR to the stereoscopic setting and insert a stereoscopic tape.
3 In the application, enter the VTR Output module with a stereoscopic clip. The presence of an S in the
bottom right corner of a proxy indicates a stereoscopic clip.
NOTE You can output only clips at 23, 24, 50 or 59 fps, with a 1080i or 1080PsF resolution.
The Split View controls are enabled and you can view the clip that is currently set for output alongside
the content on the tape.
2 Set Split View preview options:
■ In the Split field, enter a value to set the relative position of the split.
■ From the Current Clip Display box, select an option to set the location of the current clip display.
■ From the Split Orientation box, select Horizontal Split or Vertical Split to set the Split View
orientation.
3 With Split View enabled, you can scrub the VTR to locate the frame that matches the frame of the
current clip.
4 Set the In point to the timecode of the frame on tape that corresponds to the first frame of the clip.
5 Cue to the In point. The first frame of the clip and matching frame on tape are displayed in Split View.
6 Click Play to play the tape and the clip simultaneously in Split View.
7 Click Stop, and disable Split View when you are finished.
Out button Click to set the Out field to the VTR's current timecode.
+ and - buttons Click to frame-step the In or Out timecodes forward or backward. If Stop After Frames is
selected from the Stop Mode box, both the in and out points move because the duration between them is
locked.
3 Set input options. For example, enter the clip name and enable the video tracks and audio channels
that you want to capture. See Inputting Clips From a VTR (page 294).
4 Make sure you are receiving the live video signal.
5 If you are capturing from a device that does not support remote control, press Play (allowing enough
time to click Process in Flame).
6 To begin capturing, click Process.
After a moment, you are prompted to click anywhere to begin the output process.
7 Click anywhere on the screen.
8 To end capturing in Stop On Click mode, click anywhere on the screen.
NOTE Refer to your Panasonic documentation for information on verifying the firmware version.
1 Ensure your devices are properly connected and the corresponding VTR keywords are enabled in the
software initialization configuration file. See Configuring Software For Clip Input and Output Using a
VTR (page 294).
2 Open the VTR Input module. See Accessing the VTR Input Module (page 294).
3 From the Device Name box, select a video device, supporting variable frame rate (for example, one of
the following options: VTR DVCProHD 720 59p or VTR DVCProHD 720 60p).
4 Enter the Engineering menu and enable Varicam (on the right side).
5 Make sure the Video Input Delay is set to zero or a positive value (negative video input delay is not
supported on VariCam capture).
6 From the Timecode Mode box, select the required timecode.
NOTE When performing operations in Varicam mode, audio/video synchronization largely depends on frame rate
compatibility and can be guaranteed only if the following conditions are observed: (1) Material shot at 24 fps and
captured into a 24 fps project (2) Material shot at 30 fps and captured into a 30 fps project (3) Material shot at
60 fps and captured into a 60 fps project.
Controlling a VTR
The RS-422 serial connection between the VTR and your workstation enables full remote control of the
device from Flame. Connected VTR devices send their current status to Flame, and this status is displayed
in the VTR Input and VTR Output modules.
(a) VTR Status (b) VTR Timing (c) Colour Space (d) Bit Precision (e) Control Mode (f) Audio Sample Rate (g) Audio
Input/Output Type
Other VTR status values include.
VTR Status Play, Play Lock, Stop, Jog, Fast Forward (FFW), Rewind (RWD), 3x, 4x, 8x, 15x, 30x.
When the field is blank the VTR is disengaged.
VTR Timing The video timing currently configured on the video device.
Colour Space The colour space conversion method for both input and output of clips.
Control Mode (LOCAL, REMOTE, Whether the VTR is in Local or Remote control mode. Local appears in yellow when the
or REC INHIBIT) VTR is in Local mode. In Local mode, the VTR cannot be controlled from Flame. You
can switch the VTR between Local and Remote mode only on the VTR. Rec Inhibit implies
REMOTE mode, but you cannot output to the tape.
Audio Sample Rate The audio sampling rate when you input or output from the VTR.
Audio Input/Output Type The source audio interface type when inputting and the destination audio interface
type when outputting.
Bit Precision The accuracy used (SDI bit depth) when transferring data. This cannot be changed.
NOTE The VTR must be in Remote mode to use the VTR Transport controls.
Move backward one frame. Hold down to slowly jog left arrow key (down arrow key for
backward. -5 frames)
Move forward one frame. Hold down to slowly jog right arrow key (up arrow key for +5
forward. frames)
You can also shuttle the VTR by dragging the cursor in the image window. Place the cursor on the image,
press the pen or mouse button, and drag the cursor to the right to shuttle forward and to the left to shuttle
backward. The farther away you move the cursor horizontally from the middle of the image, the faster the
speed.
You can also change the reverse or forward playback speed by pressing the Up or DownarrowKeys on your
keyboard. Each press reduces or increases the speed by two.
(a) Audio Tracks Toggle button (b) Channel Selection buttons and indicators (c) Audio Level fields (d) Fader Lock buttons
All Audio button When enabled, outputs to the audio monitor every audio channels. When disabled,
outputs only the enabled audio channels to the audio monitor. The All Audio button has no impact on the
audio tracks recorded by the VTR.
Audio Tracks Toggle button Toggles the Channel Selection buttons and indicators between audio tracks
1-8 and 9-16.
Channel Selection buttons and indicators Controls and displays which audio channels are recorded by
the VTR. The black boxes with the green LEDs indicate video tracks and audio channels that are part of the
clip that you want to output. The red buttons indicate the tracks and channels the VTR records on output.
Audio Level fields Displays the audio gain, in decibels. Adjust using the faders. In the small VTR Output
module, increase or decrease the gain by dragging left or right on the fields. By default, audio gain is 0 db.
Fader Lock buttons When enabled, locks the faders for the corresponding pair of audio channels together.
1 Enable the Fader Lock buttons (so that they are light grey) if you want to apply the identical value to
pairs of audio channels.
2 Slide the faders to adjust the audio gain before you start processing. Use the All Audio button to monitor
all the audio tracks that are output, regardless of what audio tracks the VTR records.
3 In the VTR Output module, enable Output All Audio.
4 Select or deselect channels for output by clicking the Channel Selection button for each channel as
needed.
NOTE In a multiple clip selection, channel selection is independent for each clip but the gain levels set with
the faders are the same for all clips.
1 From the VTR Input module, click Eng, or from the VTR Output module, click the Engineering tab, to
open the Engineering menu.
Consult the following illustration (broken into three parts) and explanations of the options in the Engineering
menu. These illustrations are of the VTR Input Engineering menu. The VTR Clip Engineering menu contains
a subset of these controls.
Video I/O Timing box Provides video timing options (resolution and frame rate) corresponding to different
video formats supported by the video input/output board of the system.
Precision box Determines the video interface precision, or SDI bit depth used. This value cannot be changed.
Timecode Source box Determines which type of timecode is obtained from the VTR device. Timecode VITC
& LTC is the default, and recommended option. You should only have to switch to Timecode VITC or
Timecode LTC if one of the timecode tracks is corrupted.
Select: To obtain:
Timecode VITC & LTC Both types of timecode. At normal playback speed, Flame obtains LTC, but switched
to VITC when the tape is rewinding, fast-forwarding, or otherwise moving at a non-
playback speed.
Input and Output Connection boxes These boxes determine the connection by which the video signal is
transferred. This box is automatically set to reflect the selected VTR.
■ In Serial 1 3G / Out serial 1 3G: The video signal is transferred through one SDI 3G link. This is the only
available option when you use a 3G VTR. The VTR Status field indicates any conversion that might
happen because of the sampling used, 4:2:2 (conversion YCbCr <-> RGB) or 4:4:4 (no conversion RGB
<-> RGB).
Colour Space box Determines the YCrCb colour space conversion method.
YCrCb->RGB A standard YCrCb-RGB conversion process that clips superblack and superwhite luma
(Y). Use this option for typical clip I/O processes with VTR devices.
YCrCb->RGB + Headroom A YCrCb-RGB conversion process that preserves superblack and superwhite colour in-
formation. Use this option when inputting or outputting greyscale mattes or other
clips where preserving extremes in the luma channel is required.
No Conversion This is available when using dual link for RGB input and output. Video black and white
levels on the SDI stream are mapped to black and white values in RGB on the
framestore.
Use this option in conjunction with 4:2:2 input and output connections to input and
output 4:4:4 video using dual-links (4:2:2 and 0:2:2).
No Conversion + Headroom Also available when using dual link for RGB input and output. This mode uses all levels
available and preserves all but a few RGB values.
Use this option with the 4:4:4 input and output connections to input clips from and
output clips to a Telecine.
Output Sync box Determines the output sync reference source. The reference signal may originate from
several different sources. Select the source you are using from this box according to the following table.
Digital 1 and Digital 2 Most HP® 8400s and all HP 8600s Same as Digital, except you can choose between two inputs:
and 9400s Digital 1 or Digital 2. On the HP 8400 with the AJA SD (OEM-
LH) video board, only Digital 1 is available.
Standalone All systems The reference signal generated internally by the Flame
workstation.
Video Input Delay field Indicates the video delay on input, in frames. If this value is incorrect, the result
clip when you click Frame Grab in the VTR Input module does not match the frame you see in the preview
window.
Video Output Delay field Indicates the video delay on output, in frames. If this value is incorrect, the clip
you output does not get recorded to the proper place on the tape.
Audio Output Delay field Indicates the video delay on output, in frames.
Stop VTR on EXIT button When enabled, sends a stop command to the VTR when you exit the Input Clip,
Output Clip, Auto-Capture, or Archiving menu. For example, if the VTR is playing a clip, or if it is cueing
to an in point, the transport operation in-progress is interrupted.
Cue Up Fast Forward Using Flame. Use this option if Cue Up VTR is too slow for far cue points, such as
on the betacam SP.
Error Retry field Indicates the number of times Flame retries failed input or output processes.
2:3 Removal/Insertion button Enables automatic, real-time 2:3 removal on output and insertion on input.
This is only available when the VTR is set to 29.97i or 59.94i.
Edit Sync Creation button Automatically create edit sync groups for clips with audio channels on input.
Select: To generate:
Generating proxy during capture is the quickest method. Depending on hardware configuration of your
system, capture may be performed in real time with playback. Some extra required processing, however,
may prevent the graphics board from updating the image window and broadcast monitor in real time, so
you may not be able to view the clip being played as it is captured.
Monitor box Set this to Monitor VTR or Monitor Output. In Monitor VTR mode, the signal coming back
from the VTR is displayed, and video may be appear to be late compared to the audio. In Monitor Output
mode, the signal being output to tape is displayed, and the video and audio should be in sync.
Dual Image Resizing Filter box Select the resize algorithm used to scale back to full resolution clips captured
using the Dual Image - Scale resolution. Ordered from lowest quality (Triangle) to highest (Lanczos). On
some lower-end workstation, you might need to select a lower quality algorithm to capture every frame.
Using the YCbCr<->RGB with headroom colour space option during input on Flame systems, it is possible
to capture these super black and super white values. In this case, video black YCbCr (64,512,512) maps to
RGB (64,64,64) in 10 bits, and video white YCbCr (940,512,512) maps to RGB (940,940,940). YCbCr Luma
values between 4 and 64 and between 940 and 1019 are converted to RGB on capture. While this gives you
the advantage of being able to capture super black and super white values, it also means that video black
will not map to full black in RGB, and video white will not map to full white in RGB. The following image
illustrates this:
1 Open the clip library with the clip(s) you want to output.
(a) 2:3 Removal button (b) 24>DF Reference field (c) AA Reference field
TIP To determine an AA frame, frame-step (Right arrow) the tape and look closely at each frame. In 2:3
pulldown, two jitter frames with field artefacts are followed by three normal frames. The second frame after
the two jitter frames is an AA frame.
5 When you capture material from a tape that uses 30 fps drop-frame timecode with 2:3 removal enabled,
a slight discrepancy between timecodes is introduced due to the reference timecode used to determine
the 30 drop frame to 24 timecode conversion. To optimize correspondence between the timecodes,
enter the timecode in the 24 >DF Reference field that matches the start reel timecode for the tape.
TIP The start clip timecode can be deduced from the hour-mark of the timecode used by your clips. For
example, 1;00;00;00 drop-frame would require a 1;00;00;00 value in the 24p>DF reference field to get a
clip starting at 01;00;00+00.
6 Make sure the project's field dominance is set to field1. If the project's field dominance is set to field
2, you must switch the field dominance back to field 1.
7 Click EXIT to return to the VTR Input module.
8 Using the In and Out timecode fields, set the in and out points for the capture session.
In/Out AA In/Out A
In/Out BB In/Out B
In/Out DD In/Out D
In BC In C
In CD In D
Out CD Out C
Colour Space Conversion Method Supported for Single-Link Supported for Dual-Link Serial
Serial (4:2:2) I/O (4:4:4) I/O
No Conversion No Yes
HD 1920 x 1080 23p, 23psf, 24p, 24psf, 25p, 25psf, 50i, 29p, 59i, 30p, 50p, 59p, 60p
HD 1920 x 1080 23p, 23psf, 24p, 24psf, 25p, 25psf, 50i, 29p, 59i, 30p
What Is a Deliverable?
Deliverables:aboutThe settings created in Real-Time Deliverables panel are saved as a Deliverable, which is
central to the Real-Time Deliverables workflow.
Deliverables:virtual clip;virtual clips, DeliverablesA Deliverable is a virtual clip that is associated with the
source clip from that point on, in the library or on the Desktop. A clip can have multiple Deliverables, and
each Deliverable that you create is itself treated like a clip—a modified version of the original clip. As with
clips, you can enter the Output Clip menu and output a Deliverable to tape. See Managing Deliverables
(page 336).
1 Open the Output Clip menu as described in Outputting Clips To a VTR (page 301).
2 From the Graphics Card box, select GFX SDI.
To install or configure an FX 5600, FX 5800, or FX 6000 SDI, see one of the hardware guides previously cited
in this topic.
To output to NTSC video, you would create a Deliverable that does the following:
■ Adds 2:3 pulldown
■ Resizes the clip
■ Applies a print-look 3D LUT
From the Clip Output menu, the clip is output to tape with no need to render the preceding settings.
From the Clip Output menu, the clip is output to tape with no need to render the preceding settings.
1 Select the clip you want to work on and open the Player.
2 From the Options box, select Show Real-Time Deliverables.
The Real-Time Deliverables panel will open to the right of the Player.
NOTE Settings in the Real-Time Deliverables panel override clip settings from other modules. These settings are
overridden, not discarded. For example, if a Deliverable has LUTs set, the LUTs from the source clip are not used.
Source clip information Displays information about the source clip before real-time operations are applied.
Resize controls Displays values set in the Resize editor, accessible with the Editor button. You can edit the
values directly in the Real-Time Deliverables panel. The available destination resolutions and timings depend
on the format of the source material.
Audio controls Displays the audio speed. To preserve audio pitch, enable Preserve Pitch.
LUT controls (3D and 1D) Enables or disables the use of LUTs. You can specify a 3D LUT to use, and access
the LUT editor.
Stereo controls Enables stereoscopic output settings, if a stereo track is detected. You can select a Stereo
Mode option and a corresponding Method option.
Select: To:
Anaglyph Output the left eye and right eye as a red/cyan clip. You can reduce ghosting (Dubois),
remove RGB values (Mono) or create custom anaglyph results.
Interlaced Output the left eye and right eye as an interlaced RGB clip. You can output the left
eye as field 1 or field 2.
Dual Image - Scale Output the left eye and right eye so that they are adjacent to each other in the same
clip, either in a left and right or top and bottom orientation.
Dual Image - Splice Ouput the left eye and right eye so that they are side by side in the same clip. Only
available when each eye track's horizontal resolution is half that of the output resolu-
tion (2 tracks at 960 for a 1920 output).
Dual Output Output the left and right eye separately to dual streams of a tape.
Start TC field Set the start timecode of the Deliverable. The start timecode is used during output, it indicates
where on the tape the clip is recorded.
With this option selected, your real-time settings are displayed during playback or when you jog or scrub
through the clip.
You can also preview real-time operations in the Clip Output menu. See Outputting Deliverables (page 335).
If you open the Real-Time Deliverables panel with a clip that has an unprocessed soft effect applied to it,
you can configure Deliverable settings for it, but you cannot output the Deliverable until the effect is
processed. To do so, click Process in the source clip information section of the Deliverables menu.
Once you set up your Deliverable, it is possible that your hardware cannot output the Deliverable to tape
in real time. The status of the GPU Benchmark button helps you decide whether to process the Deliverable.
Green You can output the Deliverable in real time, without firs rendering.
Yellow You should process the Deliverable before going to Output Clip, as real-time output might
not be possible.
Red Real-time output is not possible: you must process the Deliverable before going to Output
Clip.
If the GPU Benchmark button indicates that real-time output is impossible, click Process in the resize and
frame rate group of the Real-Time Deliverables panel.
A new clip is created with “_<Deliverable Name>” appended to the clip name. Any settings from the Real-Time
Deliverables panel are burned into the clip. Because it is a new clip, it does not have any associated Deliverables
associated. But the new clip uses the start timecode of the Deliverable. Enter the Output Clip menu with
the clip and output it to tape.
Once in the Output Clip menu, you can alter Letterbox and LUT settings in the Deliverables panel, as well
as preserve audio pitch. You can also add a logo in the Logo tab, although it does not require a Deliverable.
NOTE When you select the Real-Time Deliverables panel, you do not see the VTR feedback; instead you see the
clip selected in the Output Clip list.
1 From the Player, create a Deliverable. See Accessing the Real-Time Deliverables Panel (page 332).
2 Do one of the following:
■ From the Real-Time Deliverables panel, access the Output Clip menu.
■ From the library or Desktop, select the Deliverable or multiple clips and Deliverables, and access
the Output Clip menu. If you selected multiple items and they have conflicting timings, you are
prompted to select which timing you want to use.
Managing Deliverables
Deliverables:managingA Deliverable results when you create real-time settings for a clip, in the Real-Time
Deliverables panel. Deliverables are virtual clips associated with the original clip. You can:
■ Rename or delete a Deliverable.
■ Create multiple Deliverables for one clip, so that you can output many different formats of that clip.
■ Save a Deliverable as a reusable Deliverable template.
■ Load a Deliverable template onto another clip to apply the settings of that Deliverable to the clip.
■ View information about Deliverables in the Desktop.
■ Transfer clips and their Deliverables to other systems.
NOTE Any change to the frame rate (timing) or resolution of the clip deletes all Deliverables attached to that clip.
1 Access the Real-Time Deliverables panel, as described in Accessing the Real-Time Deliverables Panel
(page 332).
2 From the Deliverable box, select <New Deliverable>.
3 Type a name for the Deliverable and press Enter.
Once the Deliverable is created, set up real-time operations in the Real-Time Deliverables panel. The operations
you set up are automatically stored in the Deliverable you created.
The Deliverable is deleted, and the previously-loaded Deliverable (if there was one) is reloaded.
To open the Real-Time Deliverables panel from the clip proxy on the Desktop, double-click the “D” overlay.
To see quickly a list of Deliverables for a clip, Alt-click the clip proxy on the Desktop.
NOTE In the following tables, N/A stands for not applicable and NC stands for no change in timing.
Source Destination
NOTE When going from 23.967 to PAL, you can choose between increasing the frame rate to 25 or increasing
to 24 and adding PAL Pulldown. When going from 24 to PAL, you can choose between increasing the frame rate
to 25 or adding PAL Pulldown.
Source Destination
23.967psf Add Pulldown Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Speed up to 24 + Add Not sup- Not sup-
ported ported ported Pulldown ported ported
23.967p Add Pulldown Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Speed up to 24 + Add Not sup- Not sup-
ported ported ported Pulldown ported ported
24psf Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Add Pulldown Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported ported ported
24p Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Add Pulldown Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported ported ported
PAL Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Slow Down to 24 + Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported Add Pulldown ported ported
50i Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Slow Down to 24 + Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported Add Pulldown ported ported
25psf Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Slow Down to 24 + Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported Add Pulldown ported ported
25p Slow Down to 23.976 Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Slow Down to 24 + Not sup- Not sup-
+ Add Pulldown ported ported ported Add Pulldown ported ported
60i Slow down Slow NC Field N/A Not sup- Not sup-
down merge ported ported
59.94p Not supported Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Not supported N/A Speed up
ported ported ported
60p Not supported Not sup- Not sup- Not sup- Not supported Slow N/A
ported ported ported down
The Flame family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop Subscription (DTS),
with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
341
Smoke DTS 2016 Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Choosing a medium or device for your archiving needs largely depends on your technical resources and overall needs.
There are certain advantages and disadvantages to using each medium/device.
Flame can read and write filesystem archives. If your application is running on a Linux workstation, it can also read and
create tape archives.
While Flame can read VTR archives created in a previous version, it cannot create nor write to one.
Filesystem Archive
A filesystem archive is an archive stored on a hard disk drive, such as external USB/FireWire® (IEEE 1394) hard drives
offers, or shared storage such as a SAN. The device can use any of the formats supported by your workstation, but the
recommended ones are ext2, ext3, or xfs for Linux, and HFS+ for OS X. NTFS is not supported.
Using a filesystem to archive your material provides the quickest method of archiving and restoring your material, which
can be of any bit depth or resolution.
Tape Archives
A tape archive is an archive written directly to a device such as an LTO tape device. Tape provides fast and reliable read
and write performance. Tape archives can be of any bit depth or resolution.
However, tape archives can only be restored to a Flame workstation and are unreadable by other applications. The procedure
of archiving to a tape device is similar to archiving to file.
Flame only supports tape devices which the vendor confirms that:
■ The device driver is compliant with standard UNIX tape device calls.
■ The specific version of your operating system and kernel is supported.
The initialization file (init.cfg) for your Flame contains examples of the ClipMgtDevice Tape keyword to help you set up
the appropriate block size value for your tape device and define a text label to identify the device in the Archiving module.
Please refer to the documentation from your archiving device vendor for guidelines on the actual block size to use.
VTR Archives
Flame cannot create or write to a VTR archive. It can restore a VTR archive created in a previous version.
The following are VTR that were used to create VTR archives and which can be used to restore them:
■ Uncompressed SD VTRs such as D-1 or lightly compressed SD VTRs such as Digital Betacam
■ Uncompressed HD VTRs or lightly compressed HD VTRs such as Sony HDCAM SR or Panasonic HD D5
■ Compressed HD VTRs such as Sony HDCAM (using "HDCAM" rather than "VTR" as the archive device type)
NOTE About Archive and Close. Previous versions of the application had an Archive and Close button. It was
required because the archive header only updated when you explicitly closed the archive. But now, in the MediaHub,
the archive header is systematically updated as the contents are written to the archive. This means that you no
longer need to explicitly close an archive: as soon as the application is done writing to an archive, the whole
archiving process is complete. The Close Archive button is there for you to dismiss an archive easily, and then
open another one.
.
3 Click Open Archive.
The contents of the archive are displayed in the archive browser.
4 Set as required the options displayed in the Archive Options tab.
5 Click Archive Project. If the archive spans multiple segments, Flame might prompt you to locate a
specific one.
Flame starts archiving the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project and on the options you enabled or disabled. To cancel the process, click anywhere on the
screen; you cannot use Flame while it archives your project.
6 Click Close Archive to finalize the archive. The project is now archived.
In some cases, Flame warns that it cannot archive some of the elements you had selected for your archive.
You can quickly identify what was archived, or what was not archived and why, using the Media Panel.
1 Open Timeline.
If the archive is still opened, you need to close it before changing tab.
2 Set Media Panel's View Mode box to Full Width, or type Shift-~.
3 Set the Media Panel to the List View.
4 Use the scroll bar tot display the Archived column.
If you cannot see the column, right-click a column header and select Archived from the list.
You want to archive a project when you need to backup your project so that you can restore it in its entirety
at a later time. A Project Archive stores all workspaces found in the project, and their contents:
■ Project Setups (aka module setups)
■ Desktop, including Batch and its snapshots, reels
■ Libraries and their contents
■ Shared Libraries
The Flame family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
3 Navigate the contents of the archive, and click the project to restore to select it. You can recognize a
project by its icon:
.
Every archived project is created in a folder named Archive Session, time stamped with the date and
time when the project was archived.
4 Click Restore Project. If the archive spans multiple segments, Flame might prompt you to locate a
specific one.
Flame starts restoring the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project.
You cannot use the application while Flame restores your project. Cancel the process at any time by
clicking anywhere on the screen.
Once restored, load the project through Flame ➤ Project and User Settings. Or browse the its contents
using MediaHub ➤ Browse for Projects.
The Flame family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
NOTE In the archive information panel, the Archive Size Pending field indicates the number of clips that will
be archived, and the Archive Size Total field displays the size of the archive once those clips are archived.
NOTE In the archive information panel, the Archive Size Pending field indicates the number of clips that will
be archived, and the Archive Size Total field displays the size of the archive once those clips are archived.
4 Click Archive to start the archiving process. If the archive spans multiple segments, Flame might prompt
you to locate a specific one.
The time taken to archive depends on the size of the material being archived and on the options you
enabled. You cannot use Flame while it archives. Cancel the process at any time by clicking anywhere
on the screen.
In some cases, Flame warns that it cannot archive some of the elements you had selected for your archive.
You can quickly identify what was archived, or what was not archived and why, using the Media Panel.
1 Open Timeline.
If the archive is still opened, you need to close it before changing tab.
2 Set Media Panel's View Mode box to Full Width, or type Shift-~.
3 Set the Media Panel to the List View.
4 Use the scroll bar tot display the Archived column.
If you cannot see the column, right-click a column header and select Archived from the list.
The Flame family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
To see how much space a selected item will take on your storage, as well as the archive segment where it
is stored:
It also displays the archive segments that contain the selected items, which are required to restore the
selection.
NOTE When you restore multi-version clips, Flame does not automatically resync to the original Open Clips to
ensure the material is restored in the state it was archived. If you need updated versions, you need to use the
contextual menu's Media Versions ➤ Update Source. This can be done on a single clip, or on containers like
reel, folder, Reels groups. Note that segments that were updated are highlighted in white.
The Flame family of products (Flame, Flare, Flame Assist) can read contents created in Smoke Desktop
Subscription (DTS), with the following limitations:
■ Projects from Smoke DTS can be opened (and converted) by the Flame Family products.
■ Projects can be seen and imported through MediaHub, using Browse for Projects.
■ Archives created in Smoke DTS can be read in Flame Family products.
IMPORTANT Contents created in Flame Family products cannot be read or opened in Smoke DTS.
TIP The path for media is displayed in the File Location column Media Panel.
NOTE Multiple users can connect to the same file archive and restore material, projects, and settings from it. But
only the first user to open it can write to it! Once that user closes the archive, someone else can open it and write
to it.
For projects done on remote location and which are archived without their media, it is possible to relink
later the archived clips to their media files, even if the media are not in the same location.
These two archive options create the smallest possible archive: it contains only the clips of the imported
media files (links), and the media generated by tools such as Paint. Renderings from Timeline FX are not
archived with these settings.
TIP Location column is visible in the MediaHub browser, when viewing the archive using the Workspace
view.
2 In the Media panel, right-click the sequence and clips to relink. Select Media ➤ Unlink Reloadable
Media.
This deletes from the sequence the old paths that linked the clips to the media. Since the media is no
longer accessible, these paths are obsolete.
3 Relink the clips to the media:
NOTE Since audio files do not have a frame rate, you need to make sure to work within a project that has the
same frame rate as the original project.
An archive which can easily re- Enabled Exclude Included Included Excluded
build the Timeline FX and BFX Renders
renders.
An archive where renders are Disabled Exclude Source Excluded Excluded Included
archived, source media are not. Media Cache
Flame also compresses the size of an archive by archiving a single copy of duplicate frames.
If your project, or the clips you are archiving, contains multi-version clips, use the Cache Versions box to
manage what is cached. This setting can impact the size of the archive.
Note that in both cases, the actual clips are archived: the Cache Versions box only manages the media, not
the clips.
Before you start Flame to archive, edit the following keyword in the software initialization configuration
file.
■ CLIPMGTDEVICE: Define as many tape devices as you need; only those detected at start are actually
listed in the Archives browser.
Hardware Configuration
In MediaHub ➤ Browse for Archives ➤ Archive Options when you format a new tape archive, the
default block size matches the value in the Block Size field.
Keep track of the block size value for each tape in case you need to reset the block size at a later time.
Example:
mt -f /dev/st0 status
If you receive an error message when verifying the block size, you may not be using the correct archive
device number. Look in the software initialization configuration file to determine the correct number.
1 In a terminal, type:
dlcfg
2 Look for the line that begins with the following:
ClipMgtDeviceTape, /dev/st<archive device number>
If you rebooted the machine or reformatted another archive with a different block size, you must reset the
block size for your archive in the command shell.
NOTE About Archive and Close. Previous versions of the application had an Archive and Close button. It was
required because the archive header only updated when you explicitly closed the archive. But now, in the MediaHub,
the archive header is systematically updated as the contents are written to the archive. This means that you no
longer need to explicitly close an archive: as soon as the application is done writing to an archive, the whole
archiving process is complete. The Close Archive button is there for you to dismiss an archive easily, and then
open another one.
WARNING Formatting the tape erases all data already present on it. If you want to add to an existing archive,
click Open, and follow the procedure described below.
5 In the New Archive Creation window, enter the required information and click Create.
Flame creates and opens the archive in the MediaHub. You can now archive the project.
6 Set as required the options displayed in the Archive Options tab.
7 Click Archive Project.
Flame starts archiving the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project and on the options you enabled or disabled. To cancel the process, click anywhere on the
screen; you cannot use the application for anything else while Flame archives your project.
8 Click Close Archive to finalize the archive.
1 Load to the tape device one of the tapes that make up the archive.
WARNING Do not select Format, as this would erase all data on the tape.
5 Click Archive Project. If the archive spans multiple tapes, Flame might prompt you to insert a specific
tape.
Flame starts archiving the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project and on the options you enabled or disabled. You can cancel the process at any time by
clicking anywhere on the screen; you cannot use the application for anything else while Flame archives
your project.
6 Click Close Archive to finalize the archive.
In some cases, Flame warns that it cannot archive some of the elements you had selected for your archive.
You can quickly identify what was archived, or what was not archived and why, using the Media Panel.
1 Open Timeline.
If the archive is still opened, you need to close it before changing tab.
2 Set Media Panel's View Mode box to Full Width, or type Shift-~.
3 Set the Media Panel to the List View.
4 Use the scroll bar tot display the Archived column.
If you cannot see the column, right-click a column header and select Archived from the list.
1 Load to the tape device one of the tapes that make up the archive.
2 In the MediaHub, enable Browse for Archives.
3 In the Local Devices list, double-click the tape device to open it and select Open.
WARNING Do not select Format, as this would erase all data on the tape.
4 Navigate the archive, and select the project to restore. Projects are created at the root of an archive
tape.
5 Click Restore Project. If the archive spans multiple tapes, Flame prompts you to insert the required
tape.
Flame starts restoring the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project. You can cancel the process at any time by clicking anywhere on the screen: you cannot
use the application for anything else while Flame restores your project. Once restored, you can switch
to the restored project using Flame ➤ Project and User Settings.
1 Load to the tape device one of the tapes that make up the archive.
2 In the MediaHub, enable Browse for Archives.
3 In the Local Devices list, double-click the tape device and click Open.
WARNING Do not select Format, as this would erase all data on the tape.
4 Navigate the archive, and open the project that contains the setups to restore.
5 Locate and select the Project Setups folder.
6 Click Restore Setups. If the archive spans multiple tapes, Flame prompts you to insert the required
tape.
Flame starts restoring the project. The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of
the project. You can cancel the process at any time by clicking anywhere on the screen: you cannot
use the application for anything else while Flame restores your project. Once restored, you can switch
to the restored project using Flame ➤ Project and User Settings.
NOTE About Archive and Close. Previous versions of the application had an Archive and Close button. It was
required because the archive header only updated when you explicitly closed the archive. But now, in the MediaHub,
the archive header is systematically updated as the contents are written to the archive. This means that you no
longer need to explicitly close an archive: as soon as the application is done writing to an archive, the whole
archiving process is complete. The Close Archive button is there for you to dismiss an archive easily, and then
open another one.
WARNING Formatting the tape erases all data already present on it. If you want to add to an existing archive,
click Open, and follow the procedure described below.
5 In the New Archive Creation window, enter the required information and click Create.
Flame creates and opens the archive in the MediaHub. You can now archive the project.
6 Drag and drop clips and folders to archive from the Media panel to the archive.
What you add to the archive appears greyed out in the archive, indicating that it is yet to be committed
to the archive: ready to be archived, but not yet copied to the archive. The Pending Archive folder can
also be used as a summary of what is being archived.
NOTE In the archive information panel, the Archive Size Pending field indicates the number of clips that will
be archived, and the Archive Size Total field displays the size of the archive once those clips are archived.
1 Load to the tape device one of the tapes that make up the archive.
2 In the MediaHub, enable Browse for Archives.
3 In the Local Devices list, double-click the tape device to open it.
4 Click Open to open archive.
WARNING Do not select Format, as this would erase all data on the tape.
5 Drag and drop clips and folders to archive from the Media panel to the archive.
What you add to the archive appears greyed out in the archive, indicating that it is yet to be committed
to the archive: ready to be archived, but not yet copied to the archive. The Pending Archive folder can
also be used as a summary of what is being archived.
NOTE In the archive information panel, the Archive Size Pending field indicates the number of clips that will
be archived, and the Archive Size Total field displays the size of the archive once those clips are archived.
6 Click Archive to start the archiving process. If the archive spans multiple tapes, Flame might prompt
you to insert a specific tape.
The actual duration of the archive process depends on the size of the material being archived. You
cannot use the application for anything else while Flame archives the material. Cancel the process at
any time by clicking anywhere on the screen.
In some cases, Flame warns that it cannot archive some of the elements you had selected for your archive.
You can quickly identify what was archived, or what was not archived and why, using the Media Panel.
1 Open Timeline.
If the archive is still opened, you need to close it before changing tab.
2 Set Media Panel's View Mode box to Full Width, or type Shift-~.
3 Set the Media Panel to the List View.
4 Use the scroll bar tot display the Archived column.
If you cannot see the column, right-click a column header and select Archived from the list.
1 Load to the tape device one of the tapes that make up the archive.
2 In the MediaHub, enable Browse for Archives.
3 In the Local Devices list, double-click the tape device and click Open.
WARNING Do not select Format, as this would erase all data on the tape.
4 Drag and drop clips and folders from the archive to the Media panel.
To see how much space a selected item will take on your storage, as well as the archive segment where it
is stored:
It also displays the archive segments that contain the selected items, which are required to restore the
selection.
Before you start using a VTR to restore an archive, configure both the hardware and the software.
Hardware Configuration
Verify that:
■ Your VTR device is properly connected to video and audio sources and RS-422.
■ The sync is properly set up.
Software Configuration
NOTE You can only restore an HDCAM-created archive by using an HDCAM VTR.
5 Click Apply.
When you open a VTR archive in read/write mode, Flame performs an auto-test. The auto-test involves
checking whether it can write, read, and verify the integrity of the archived material. This auto-test also
scans binary and play/record delay information to verify the quality and accuracy of the video signal.
NOTE When you try to open a VTR archive in read/write mode, Flame checks for machine errors (for
example, dirty heads). If a problem is detected, the archive does not open. If the tape is write-protected,
the archive opens in read-only mode.
■ Click the Open Using OTOC button and select the OTOC in the file browser. You are given the
option to read slates from the tape. Answer 'Y' if you wish to see clip proxies.
The Flame cues the VTR. Once it's done reading the archive, displays its contents in the MediaHub.
6 Restore clips one by one using drag and drop, or click Restore Project to restore a full project.
7 Click Close Archive once you are done.
All VTR archives contain a Header Info Slate, which is a single frame providing information about the archive.
Located in the archive before the table of contents, the Header Info Slate provides information such as:
■ Name of the archive
■ Name of the Online Table of Contents (OTOC)
■ Name of the workstation where the archive was created and name and version of the Autodesk application
used for archive creation
■ Start timecode
■ Creation date and time
■ Modification date and time
■ Minimum size of the clip library buffer (in MB) required to restore the archive
Use the following tips to get better results when restoring from a VTR tape:
■ Make sure the input from the computer to the VTR is connected properly. If it is not, yet the output from
the VTR to the computer is correct, everything will appear normal when archiving and the monitor will
show your material being saved. However, black or random noise is actually being saved to tape.
■ Turn the video breakout box on before powering up the computer.
■ On the video breakout box, make sure that your house sync is connected to the Sync Genlock and not
to the Sync port in the GBRA/YUVA component. The sync should be connected to the Genlock input of
the computer and be terminated with a 75-ohm terminator.
■ Set the system reference of the VTR to External Analog.
■ Track the VTR to get the best RF (Reference) value and error-rate level. If your VTR has an auto-tracking
feature, disable it and track manually, or place it on “one shot.”
■ Check the following Engineering menu settings:
■ Timecode type: Make sure the VITC & LTC timecodes are the same. If they are not, set timecode type
to LTC.
■ Input format and sync: Make sure that input format and sync match the device.
■ Output format and sync: “House” is the recommended output sync.
■ The required Scan Mode option is F1.
When creating large archives, you can use multiple volumes to store one archive. By splitting the contents
of one archive onto separate tapes, you can keep similar types of material together in the same archive.
You can open material on any tape in a multiple tape archive but you need the last tape in the multiple
tape archive sequence. The last tape contains necessary header information for locating the material you
want to restore.
/usr/discreet/cfg Contains global settings such The UUID cannot be rebuilt from scratch, meaning that the
as the network UUID. worksation will acquire a new Wire ID. This might result in
locked files on remote systems.
/usr/discreet/clip Contains all clip metadata. Metadata will have to be recreated for each valid archive that
is restored.
/usr/discreet/project Contains full project struc- Project settings will have to be recreated for each valid archive
tures, including settings such that is restored.
as names, resolutions, and so
IMPORTANT At project creation in Flame, a user can specify
on.
a path that is not under /usr/discreet/project nor under
/opt/Autodesk/project. If the user-defined path is on the sys-
tem drive, that path must be backed-up as well.
/usr/discreet/sw/cfg Contains all Stone® and Wire Storage and Wire settings will have to be reconfigured after
software and configuration installation.
files
/usr/discreet/sw/swdb Contains the storage links Media on a shared SAN volume will have to be re-imported.
database.
/usr/discreet/user Contains users and settings. Users and user settings will have to be recreated.
1 Open the ASCII version of the table of contents using a text editor to view the contents of an archive
without opening it. ASCII TOC filenames have the following format:
<archive name>_<creation date>.atoc
Code Meaning
P Project
S Project setups
X Desktop snapshots
L Folder
R Reel
C Clip
E Source clip
M Media library
B Batch snapshots
F Snapshot folder
D Desktop
When an OTOC is created, Flame creates an ASCII text copy of it (ATOC) as well as an HTML and XML copy.
Use the ASCII and HTML copies to view the contents of an archive without opening it. For example, use
them to view the contents of a VTR archive without connecting to the VTR.
Use the XML TOC to easily populate a database with information about your archives.
The OTOC, ATOC, HTML, and XML table of contents are saved by default to /opt/Autodesk/archive. Or
define the location by adding the following token to the init.cfg file:
ArchiveLibrary<directory>
where <directory> is the location for storing your archives.
The OTOC is updated each time you close the archive.
Type Format
where <archive name> is the name that you type in the Name field when you create the archive.
NOTE When you open an archive with the OTOC, proxies only appear if the archive is on a VTR, and you
answered Yes to the prompt. For all other types of archives, proxies appear as black images.
5 Select the entire contents of the archive. Make sure you have sufficient space on your storage for the
contents of the archive.
6 Click Restore.
7 When the restore is complete, click Close.
The restored clips appear in the selected clip library.
NOTE When you select a reel, no media is appended to the archive but the header is still forced to update.
Smoke 6.0, Fire® 6.0, Inferno 5.5, Flame 8.5, Flint 8.5, and Backdraft Scan mode
5.5
Smoke 5.2, Fire 5.2, Inferno 5.0, Flame 8.0, Flint 8.0, and Backdraft Scan mode and aspect ratio
5.0
The parameters listed in the Default Resolutions menu act as default values for all listed resolutions. For
example, if you want to change the default values for PAL clips, you must change the values for the PAL
entry, which is the entry that has a width value of 720 and a height value of 576. If you are working with
a PAL archive created in an earlier version, the aspect ratio would have automatically been set to 1.3333,
but you may want to restore all your PAL archives with 16:9 aspect ratio. You can change this setting by
changing the aspect ratio to 16:9 for the PAL entry.
NOTE You should only restore an old clip at its original resolution. If you restore versions of the same clip at
different resolutions, you may encounter problems with the clip.
(a) Add Resolution box (b) Apply Changes button (c) Width and Height fields
(d) Aspect Ratio field (e) Aspect Ratio box (f) Scan Mode box (g) Frame rate box
2 Add new preferences to correspond to a specific clip resolution contained in the archive that you plan
to open.
3 Click Add Resolution.
4 Click Apply Changes.
The new archive preference is added to the list. The next time you restore an archive missing either
Scan mode or aspect ratio, Flame knows how to process that material.
TIP When you decide to open a VTR legacy archive, set the Open Mode box to Open Read Only to keep you from
mixing new content with the old.
Starting with the 2017 Extension 1 version of the application, the Classic Engine rendering option is no
longer available. Project Restore restores every project as a Flame Reactor-enabled project, even if that project
did not use Flame Reactor originally (as is that case with every pre-2013 extension 1 projects). Due to
differences in rendering engines, there might be differences between what was rendered then and what is
rendered now, and adaptors might be added to a restored Batch Schematics to convert it to the supported
16-bit float bit depth.
New Archive button Creates a new archive in the location displayed in the file browser. Opens the New
Archive Creation dialogue box.
View Content button Displays basic information about the contents of the selected archive, in a web
browser. This does not open the archive.
Close Archive button Closes the archive and returns to the file browser.
Archive Project button Adds the current project to the archive; this includes every Workspace of the project,
libraries, Shared libraries, and the Desktop; also includes all the setups.
Clear Pending Tasks button Clears the Pending Archive or Pending Restore folders. This does not delete
material already archived or in the Media panel: it only clears out the queue.
Archive/Restore button Commits the Pending folders, either to archive or restore material clips. Nothing
is archived or restored until you click this button.
The folder Pending Restore displays all that will be restored. The folder Pending Archive displays all that
will be archived. Only one operation is permitted at any given time: you either restore or archive, you cannot
do both simultaneously.
Archive/Restore Setups button Click to archive or restore all of the application's modules setups. You must
be at the root of the archive to archive setups. You must select a Projects Setup folder to restore setups.
Linked Archive Option box Determines the Wiretap Gateway to use when restoring an archive. If you are
restoring an archive on the workstation used to create the archive, select Use Archived Path. In any other
case, or if you are getting checkerboard clips, use Convert to Local Path. Only used when restoring an archive.
Archive Verification box Verify Source Media checks the integrity of the source media before adding it to
the archive. In case of missing source media, the archive proceeds without the clip. Verify Archived Data
checks the integrity of the data as it is being written to the archive: archiving stops as soon as it detects an
error.
Verify Source Media validates all the media, which can be time consuming.
The Archived column from the Details view of the Media Panel displays either the last time the clip was
successfully archived, or why it failed to archive.
Cache Media on Archive button Enable to archive all source media as cached source media. This means
that all media is cached in the archive in an uncompressed format. Use the Archive Renders box to decide
whether or not to archive Timeline FX renders. Disable to archive already cached source media, but to archive
only links for source media that are not already cached. In this case, use Archive Renders to decide how to
handle Timeline FX renders and already cached media.
Archive Renders box With Cache Media on Archive enabled, select whether or not to archive the Timeline
FX and BFX renders. With Cache Media on Archive disabled, select how to handle Timeline FX and BFX
renders, and already cached source media.
Default Resolutions button Legacy option. Opens the Default Resolutions List menu, used by the application
to restore legacy archives from Smoke 6.0 and Flame 8.5 (or earlier).
These versions did not store resolutions and associated pixel aspect ratios, and the Default Resolutions table
fills that gap.
Silent Mode button Enable to silently skip and ignore archiving errors such as missing media from the
Cache On Archive option. Ignored errors are printed to the application log files and the shell. If errors were
ignored during the archive, a message box is displayed at the end of the process.
Generate Proxies Enable to automatically generate proxies for restored clips, using the Proxy parameters
defined in the restored Project, or the settings of the current project when restoring individual clips.
Auto/Manual Start box Select Auto Start to have the application rewind the tape and then go forward to
try and discover the location of an archive. Select Manual to enter the start timecode and get to the archive
faster.
Rewind On Close button Rewinds the tape after when the archive is closed.
Open Mode box Select whether to open in read only mode or in read/write mode.
A possible workflow you might try is to archive a project daily, and then restore a specific clip, as required.
1 cd /opt/Autodesk/io/bin
2 Create and format the archive daily_archive with the default 1 GB segment. You can use -i to specify
a segment capacity, in GB, where 1 GB = 1024 MB.
./flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive
3 List the project hosted on the workstation. This is useful to validate the name of the project to archive.
./flame_archive -l
4 Append the ProjectOne project to daily_archive.
./flame_archive -a -P ProjectOne -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive
Once the process completes, you have archived the whole project in the daily_archive.
1 cd /opt/Autodesk/io/bin
2 List the contents of daily_archive.
You an also pass a text file containing the clips to restore to flame_archive. That text file lists one clip to
restore on each line.
The above approach is fine for a manual restore, but for a programmatic approach, try using: ./flame_archive
-l -x, where -x outputs the archive contents in XML.
flame_archive -h | --help
flame_archive -a [-N] [-k] [-p] [-y] [-g] -E <WIRETAP_PATH_SOURCE> -F <PATH_TO_FILE>
flame_archive -e [-E <WIRETAP_PATH_SOURCE>] [-F <PATH_TO_FILE] [-m
All|MetaData|Video|Audio]
flame_archive -f -F <PATH_TO_FILE> [-n <NAME>] [-t <COMMENT>] [-i <SIZE_IN_GB]
flame_archive -l [-F <PATH_TO_FILE> [-x] [-S <PATH_IN_ARCHIVE>]] [-E <WIRETAP_PATH>]
flame_archive -r -F <PATH_TO_FILE> -S <PATH_TO_ENTRY_IN_ARCHIVE> [-E
<TARGET_WIRETAP_PATH>]
Examples:
Format archive file
flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/archive1
flame_archive -a -E
/projects/TestProject/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c1/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c3/a38310ac_53a82f77_000079d7/a38310ac_53a82ff6_000d6100
-F /tmp/arch1
flame_archive -l
flame_archive -l -F /usr/tmp/arch1 -x
flame_archive -e -P project1
■ -a, --archive
Archive clips to a file archive. This requires the Wiretap path to the material to archive, and the file path
to the archive file. The archive file must already exist, either created from within Flame, or created using
flame_archive. The archiving process is recursive: there are no provisions made for excluding material
from the archive. If you need to archive specific clips, you must run flame_archive for each individual
clip. -F specifies the file to use, -E the material to archive, as a Wiretap path (without a trailing '/').
■ -e, --estimate
Estimate the space required to store or restore material to and from an archive. The estimate is recursive.
■ -f, --format
Format an archive file, default size being 1 GB (1024 MB).
■ -l, --list
Lists contents of a project or of an archive, depending on the target.
■ -r, --restore
Restore clips from a file archive. Requires the source file archive from which to restore, and the path of
the entry to restore. Do not specify a Wiretap path target when restoring a project: flame_archive restores
a project so that it is accessible from Flame as a regular project.
■ With -l:
■ -x, --xml: Formats in XML the list of contents of the archive file.
■ With -f:
■ -n, --name <NAME>: Uses NAME as the name of archive when formatting. Default is 'Archive'.
■ -t, --comment <TEXT>: Uses TEXT as the comment when formatting. Default is empty.
■ -i, --capacity <SIZE>: Uses SIZE (in GB, so if SIZE=10 archive is 10240 MB) for the segment capacity
when formatting an archive. Default is 1 GB.
■ With -a:
■ -N, --normal: Enables 'Normal' mode, default is 'Compact'.
■ -k, --linked: Enables 'Archive Media as Uncached' mode; default is 'Cache Media on Archive'.
■ -p, --preVerify: Verifies source data before archiving, if missing, stop archiving.
■ -y, --postVerify: Verify archive data after archiving.
■ With -e:
■ -m, --mode <MODE>: One of 'All', 'MetaData', 'Video', 'Audio', for size estimation.
To return to the previous display size, click the Full Screen button.
373
TIP While in the full screen player, the Player Option Box lists Show Play Reel. This is the only viewer that provides
this option. Selecting this option opens a scrolling clip list of available clips under the control bar. With the play
reel displayed, you can re-order, duplicate, or delete clips. These actions are available gesturally, in the context
menu, or with keyboard shortcuts.
■ The Zoom pointer increases the zoom of the clip with a left-to-right motion, and will decrease the zoom
in a right-to-left motion.
■ The Pan pointer lets you grab the clip and move it around the viewer.
NOTE The pan and zoom values of the players are kept until a clip from a different resolution is loaded; you can
change the clip selection without losing the pan and zoom values as long as the clip resolution is maintained. If
changing to a clip of a different resolution, the clip will be resized into the viewer.
NOTE Changing the focus through the timeline will also switch the focus between the Source and Sequence
viewers. Changing the focus through the Source-Sequence viewer, however, will not change the focus in the
timeline. In other words, the player doesn't drive the timeline, but the timeline drives the player.
To switch the playback focus between the source and sequence clips in the Source-Sequence Player:
3 Switch viewers by clicking in either the Source or Sequence viewer, or on the green (Source) or red
(Sequence) tab.
The viewer with the focus has a white outline.
TIP Triptych view is also available from all editors with multiview capabilities. You can set the positioners in the
Playback Options box.
Colour: Indicates:
Green/Blue Alternating dropped frames. Green indicates the first and subsequent alternating dropped
frame.
Red/White Alternating occurrences of dropped audio. Red indicates the first occurrence.
Playback | 375
To compare tracks in split screen:
NOTE Remember you will need handles for trimming and effects that you apply later. It is recommended to cue
the tape a couple of seconds before the desired footage starts.
Also, by alt-clicking on a clip proxy you will see additional clip information detail
Player options
To access the options below, select the Player Options box in the View menu bar.
Play All Frames Play back all frames as quickly as they are rendered, even if it results in
lack of audio synchronization.
Play Real-Time Play back frames synchronized with audio. May result in some frames being
dropped.
Hide Effects Play back without any rendered effects, except Resize and Timewarp.
Toggle to render all Timeline FX on-the-fly.
The Player Option box also accesses additional controls and view settings.
NOTE The Audio Desk and the Vectorscope cannot be displayed when the player is in Source-Sequence, Triptych,
or Trim View mode. Overlays and viewing settings are still accessible in these modes via pop-up dialog box by
clicking Edit Overlays and Edit Viewing Settings in the Player Option box.
Cue Marks
TIP Press Ctrl and click the In or Out button to delete the mark.
NOTE To cancel the color selection, click on the Close (x) button in the Color Picker window.
The Color Picker window will close and the color swath will revert to the previous color.
4 Click Ok to apply the color to this and any future cue marks.
The color swatch changes to reflect the color selected.
Playback Options
NOTE In the case of the Triptych Player, the middle image window shares this persistency; while the left and right
image windows each can have their own settings.
You may press Shift+Alt+[0-9] to select individual Viewing Rules, or press Shift+Alt+ the plus or minus keys
to cycle through them. You may press Shift+Alt+~ to completely bypass (or re-enable) viewport colour
management.
To modify exposure, contrast, and gamma using the Image Display settings
NOTE The Use Ratio button is only active if you are viewing a clip with a resolution that does not use square
pixels.
Use the Show Selected Item option in the Broadcast Monitor box to display the clip you selected in the
broadcast monitor. Use the Broadcast Monitor buttons to resize and set the proportions of the clip. If the
clip is zoomed in on the application monitor, the clip is still displayed in its entirety on the broadcast
monitor.
When the Show Selected Item option is selected, you can manage additional preferences.
TIP See Broadcast Monitor Preferences (page 1877) for details on all of the pertinent preferences.
Format Resolu- Supported Frame Rates 4:2:2 4:2:2 4:4:4 4:4:4 4:4:4 4:4:4 Ste- HDMI
tion YCC YCC RGB RGB RGB RGB reo Out
10- 10- 10- 10- 12- 12- 4:2:2
bit bit bit bit bit bit
1.5G 3G 1.5G 3G 1.5G 3G
Dual Dual
Link Link
Format Resolu- Supported Frame Rates 4:2:2 4:2:2 4:4:4 4:4:4 4:4:4 4:4:4 Ste- HDMI
tion YCC YCC RGB RGB RGB RGB reo Out
10- 10- 10- 10- 12- 12- 4:2:2
bit bit bit bit bit bit
1.5G 3G 1.5G 3G 1.5G 3G
HFR Dual Dual
Link Link
NOTE When using an AJA Io 4k or Io XT device, use the 4K firmware, and not the UFC firmware. You can check
or change the firmware in the AJA Control Panel under the Firmware tab.
AJA Io 4K
r at Res- Supported
Fom Sig- 42: 4:4:4 4:4:4 Single
:2 4:4:4 12-bit Dual 4:4:4 12-bit Ste- HDMI
olu- Frame Rates nal Dual Link 3G Link 1.5G 3G reo Out
tion Link 4:2:2
15
.G
HD 1920 50p, 59p, 60p 3 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Yes
HFR x G x
1080 SDI
2K 2048 50p, 59p, 60p 3 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Yes
DCI x G x
HFR 1080 SDI
UHD 3840 23p, 24p, 25p, 1.5 4 N/A N/A N/A 4 x SDI N/A Yes
x 29p, 30p G x
2160 SDI
(or
2
x
3G-
SD)I
4K 4096 23p, 24p, 25p, 1.5 4 N/A N/A N/A 4 x SDI N/A Yes
x 29p, 30p G x
2160 SDI
(or
2
x
3G-
SD)I
AJA Io XT
2K DCI 2048 x 1080 23p, 23psf, 1.5 G 1 x SDI 2 x SDI 2 x SDI Yes
24p, 24psf,
25p, 25psf
AJA Kona 3G
2K DCI 2048 x 1080 23p, 23psf, 1.5 G 1 x SDI 2 x SDI 2 x SDI Yes
24p, 24psf,
25p, 25psf,
29p, 30p
Blackmagic Design
UHD 3840 x 2160 23p, 24p, 25p, 29.97p, 3G 2x N/A N/A N/A Yes
30p, SDI
The Flame Family applications (Flame, Flame Assist, Flare) support dual monitor configurations. The second
monitor can be used either as a Broadcast monitor, to display the Media Panel in Full Width or to display
an additional viewport on the secondary screen while in Batch or Batch FX. When the Media Panel is not
set to Full Width, the secondary screen defaults to displaying an extra viewport. You can set any Batch view
to that viewport.
NOTE
■ The NVIDIA SDI card is not supported in a dual monitor setup.
■ When two NVIDIA graphics cards are installed in the same workstation, KDE considers the two monitors
as being a single wide monitor. This is normal and won't prevent Flame from using the two monitors
properly.
When working with a dual monitor configuration, you must set one of the monitors as the Primary monitor.
NOTE If you connected your monitors in the wrong ports, you can toggle their relative position by clicking
the Swap button.
You must also configure the Wacom tablet to work either only with the primary monitor or both monitors.
NOTE This can also be achieved using the Win + Tab keyboard shortcut.
To configure the Wacom tablet in dual monitor setup on Mac OS X, do the following:
NOTE This can also be achieved using the Alt + Shift + Tab keyboard shortcut.
Using the Proxy Quality box, set an option for playing back clips across the system:
■ Full Resolution: generate a full-resolution render for any player or viewer. A yellow border appears around
the selected viewport.
■ Proxy: generate a proxy-resolution render for any player or viewer. An orange border appears around the
selected viewport.
■ Proxy on Scrub: generate a proxy-resolution render when scrubbing and a full-resolution render while
playing a clip normally. A yellow border appears around the selected viewport.
Users can toggle between Full Resolution and Proxy by pressing the shortcut key Ctrl+P.
1 In the Player or full screen Player, enable the RAM Play button.
In and Out markers appear under the timebar. The markers give you the maximum range that can be
cached into memory. If you try to drag a marker beyond the maximum caching range, the caching
range shifts to ensure you can't cache more RAM than what you actually have on your system.
2 Click and drag the In and Out markers to the desired frames. The frames between the markers is the
range that you intend to cache for playback.
As you drag the markers, you can see a visual cue of the frame number to help you.
TIP Press Shift and drag either marker to move both In and Out markers proportionally.
3 Click Play. The frames between the markers are cached. You can see an indicator that the range between
the markers is cached.
NOTE The Use Ratio button is only active if you are viewing a clip with a resolution that does not use square
pixels.
Pulldown Frame Type display Displays the corresponding pulldown frame type for the clip following
pulldown insertion. This allows you to keep track of which transitions fall on jitter frames (video frames
composed of two different film-based frames). 23.97 fps timecode uses a plus sign for the last punctuation
mark, while 29.97 fps timecode uses a colon in non-drop frame mode, or a semi-colon in drop frame mode.
30 button Enable to view the 29.97 fps timecode that corresponds with each frame in the 23.97 fps clip
following pulldown insertion
To turn on the split bar, enable Compare in the Reference Buffer section of the View menu (also available
below the viewports in Batch or Batch FX). When the split bar is on, by default it lies along the lower edge
of the image window.
The split bar has a pivot point (indicated by a small box) around which the split bar can be rotated, or from
which the split bar can be moved. The letter R next to the pivot box indicates the side of the bar where the
reference clip is displayed.
(a) Pivot point (b) Split bar (c) Current display (d) Reference display
(a) Pivot point (b) Split bar (c) Current display (d) Reference display
Rotate and move the split bar using these techniques:
■ To rotate the split bar around its pivot point, drag the split bar.
■ To move the split bar, drag the pivot point. You can also Ctrl+Alt-click the image to place the pivot
point under the cursor, and then drag over the image to move the split bar.
■ To restore the split bar to its default position, Ctrl-click the pivot point.
When the split bar is on, you can show or hide it in the image window.
reference area:loading clip intoYou can display one of the tool's clip views in the reference area. For example,
turn on the split bar to show the reference area, and then display the matte of a Colour Corrector clip while
working on its result.
You can grab any number of reference frames in the reference area, limited only by framestore space.
■ Press Ctrl+Shift+G to append the new frame to all existing reference frames.
When you work with several frames stored in the reference buffer, you can cycle their display in the reference
area.
1 With the split bar on and the reference area showing, click the Prev and Next buttons in the View
menu.
NOTE The Resize tool supports two viewports; other tools support up to four viewports.
Select: To view:
3-up split Three viewports, two side-by-side, and one on top (Alt+3).
If you are working in multiple viewports, you can display widgets such as icons, crop boxes, and 3D scope
in all viewports or in a selected viewport.
When you select a multiple viewport layout, a default layout appears, and each viewport is set to display a
default view. You can change both the default layout and the views in each viewport to suit your needs.
2 To restore the default settings, select an option from the Reset box.
Select: To:
Reset Layout Restore the default layout for the current viewport layout option. You can also Alt-click
a viewport border.
Reset All Restore the default layout for all viewport layout options.
By default, when you scrub or jog a clip, only the current viewport (a yellow border indicates the current
viewport) is updated. The other viewports continue to display the last frame at which they were parked until
you release the cursor. However, you can set all viewports to be updated in sync with the current viewport.
Update All Update all viewports to display the same frame as the current viewport.
Update Sel Update only the current viewport. Other viewports continue to display the last frame
at which they were parked only once you release the cursor.
NOTE The Overlay user interface is available when accessing tools and effects from Tools and as a timeline effect.
It is not available when accessing nodes from Batch or Batch FX.
In addition to the increased area provided by the transparent controls, you can view even more of your
image depending on the action you are performing. For example:
■ Panning and zooming in the clip causes the Overlay user interface to disappear completely until the pan
or zoom is complete.
The Overlay user interface does not support multiple views. When you switch to Overlay user interface while
using multiple views, your viewport automatically goes to 1-Up until you toggle back to the regular user
interface.
When you access a submenu that does not support Overlay user interface, such as Load or Save, the Overlay
user interface is restored when you return to the main menu.
You can adjust the opacity of the Overlay user interface buttons to suit your preference, and even invert the
elements in the interface so that white outlines and text appear in a muted grey.
Press: To:
TIP You can repeatedly press the keyboard shortcuts to increase or decrease opacity, or simply hold down
the keyboard shortcuts until the desired opacity is reached.
Enable Invert (or press Ctrl+Alt+(num pad)* to switch the Overlay user interface outlines and text
from white to grey.
Primary Video Track field Displays the track and version assigned as the Primary track in the Player.
Editable.
Secondary Video Track field Displays the track and version assigned as the Secondary track in the Player.
Editable.
Preview Setup box Select which track or version to display in the Player. Options are available to display
two tracks or versions.
Use Ratio button Enable to simulate rectangular pixel display that corresponds to the delivery format.
Scan Mode button Adjusts the display to the desired scan mode format.
Playback
Hide Effects button Enable to hide effects during playback. Disable to display effects (may affect
performance).
Preroll field Displays the number of preroll frames when playing a clip. Editable.
Postroll field Displays the number of postroll frames when playing a clip. Editable.
Proxy Quality box Select the display quality of your media. This setting is only available in proxy enabled
projects.
Exposure field Displays the exposure that is used to transform image display in the image window. Editable.
Contrast field Displays the contrast that is used to transform image display in the image window. Editable.
Gamma field Displays the gamma that is used to transform image display in the image window. Editable.
Enable Look Transform button Toggles the dynamic look of a colour transform on and off. Available only
when the selected viewing transform has dynamic look operators defined. Editable.
Channels
Red Channel button Enable to display the red channel of the clip. You may press Shift+R to enable and
Shift+R again, or Shift+Z, to disable.
Green Channel button Enable to display the green channel of the clip. You may press Shift+G to enable
and Shift+G again, or Shift+Z, to disable.
Blue Channel button Enable to display the blue channel of the clip. You may press Shift+B to enable and
Shift+B again, or Shift+Z, to disable.
Isolation button Use Source Isolation to isolate the selected channel as a grey scale image, then apply the
viewing transform. Use Display Isolation to isolate the selected channel(s) after the viewing transform (this
is equivalent to turning off channels in the display itself). You may press Shift+X to toggle between the two
modes.
Viewing Transform
Graphics Monitor Viewing Rule box Select the Viewing Rule to use for the graphics monitor viewport.
Broadcast Monitor Viewing Rule box Select the Viewing Rule to use for the broadcast monitor.
Viewport and Broadcast Synchronization box Broadcast and Viewport synchronizes the Viewing Transform
of both the Viewport and the Broadcast, across Multi- and Player views. Do Not Sync allows you to assign
a Viewing Transform to the broadcast monitor that differs from the one assigned to the Player views.
The clip is added to the timeline. Extra frames outside of your selected In and Out points remain as handles.
1 Select another clip in the Media panel to display it in the source player viewer.
2 Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to start, then click In.
3 Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to end, then click Out.
4 Click the Insert button.
The clip is added to the timeline starting at the positioner location. If you hadn't moved the positioner after inserting
the first clip, the positioner was located at the last frame.
1 Move the timeline positioner to the first frame of the second clip that you inserted on the timeline.
2 Select another clip in the Media panel to display it in the source player.
3 Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to start, then click In.
405
4 Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to end, then click Out.
5 Click the Overwrite button.
Depending where the positioner was placed and the length of the second and third clips, existing material is
overwritten, but the overall length of the timeline sequence does not change.
Continue adding clips to your sequence, as needed. At this point, you are ready to fine-tune your edit sequence by trimming
clips, adding tracks for compositing, adding effects to your timeline clips, and using other Flame timeline and editing
tools.
If you like to edit with keyboard shortcuts, a useful workflow to follow is to switch between the F5, F6, and F7 shortcuts.
It is good practice to open the sequence in which you plan to make edits, so that it shows up as a red tab on the timeline.
■ F5 forces the focus back to the timeline, and is useful if you explicitly click on a clip in the workspace, but want to
switch back to editorial and drive timeline navigation.
■ When the focus is on the timeline, F6 switches to the source timeline tab, but also enables keyboard shortcut navigation
within the media panel folder where the current source is located (using Select Next Clip or Select Previous Clip). You
can use this to quickly navigate through your sources, yet not lose focus on the timeline.
■ When the focus is on the timeline, F7 sets the focus on the current active sequence, and allows you to navigate through
its timeline using keyboard shortcuts (for example for Next or Previous Transition).
TIP If the focus is on the Player or the Source-Sequence Player, you can also use the F6 and F7 shortcuts to switch the focus
between source and sequence players.
1 Move the timeline positioner to the frame that you want to use as the beginning of the insert.
2 From the Workspace, select the clip that you want to insert.
3 Add In and Out points, if needed.
4 Click the Insert button.
Depending where the positioner is placed, the clip is inserted, and the overall length of the timeline
sequence is changed. The following example shows a New Clip inserted at the transition between Clip
B and Clip C. Everything after the transition is moved ahead in order to make room for New Clip.
NOTE You can also perform three-point or four-point insert edits with In and Out points on the source and
timeline clips.
1 Enable Ripple.
2 From the Workspace Media panel or Viewing panel, select the clip that you want to insert.
3 Add In and Out points, if needed.
4 Drag the clip towards the timeline.
As you hover over the timeline with your clip, you see a phantom visual guide as to the space on the
track or tracks your clip will take when dropped.
5 Release the clip on the timeline.
TIP You can also drag and drop a clip to the timeline from the source tab of the Player.
1 Move the timeline positioner to the frame that you want to use as the beginning of the overwrite.
2 From the workspace, select the clip that you want to overwrite.
3 Add In and Out points, if needed.
4 Click the Overwrite button.
Depending where the positioner is placed, existing material is overwritten, and the overall length of
the timeline sequence does not change. In the following illustration, New Clip is edited into the
sequence at a frame in Clip B. Frames after the insertion point are overwritten by New Clip. All of Clip
C and some of Clip B and D are overwritten.
NOTE You can also perform three-point or four-point overwrite edits with In and Out points on the source
and timeline clips. In the case of a four-point edit, a Timewarp may be applied if the number of frames differs
between the source and timeline clips. You can enable of disable Auto Timewarp in the Timeline section of
the Preferences menu.
1 Disable Ripple.
2 From the Workspace Media panel or Viewing panel, select the clip that you want to overwrite.
3 Add In and Out points, if needed.
4 Drag the clip to the timeline.
As you hover over the timeline with your clip, you see a phantom visual guide as to the space on the
track or tracks your clip will take when dropped.
5 Release the clip on the timeline.
TIP You can also drag and drop a clip to the timeline from the source tab of the Player.
4 From the workspace, select the clip that you want to use as the replacement clip.
5 Click the Replace button.
The result is the same, whether you performed a Replace or Smart Replace operation. The overall length
of the sequence does not change. The replace clip must be of equal length or longer than each clip it
is replacing. If longer, extra frames are loaded as tail frames.
TIP See Other Editing Operations (page 410) for more Replace options.
An Aligned Edit is usually performed on two tracks. You set the positioner on the timeline to an point you
want to align to, then move the focus point of the positioner to a different track. Set the positioner of the
source track to the point you want aligned. The source clip is added to the track, and both points are aligned.
A Prepend Edit applies an edit that adds your source clip to the beginning of the edit sequence on the
timeline.
Ripple Replace functions as a combination of an insert and replace edit. The source clip replaces the selected
clip on the timeline, and the all of the clips to the right ripple to accommodate the length of the new clip.
A Fit To Fill edit functions as a replace edit, but instead of adding tail frames to a longer source clip, a
Timewarp is added to the replaced clip so that it fits the same space occupied by the clip it is replacing.
TIP When Smart Replace is enabled (this is the default), content duration is compared first, then Source Timecode.
If these do not match, you are asked if you want to perform a positioner to positioner Replace operation. See:
Replacing Clips on the Timeline (page 409) for more details.
Editing Operations
Insert Edit button Click to insert the selected source into the timeline at the positioner. The overall length
of the timeline may change.
Insert Example 2
Overwrite Edit button Click to overwrite material in the timeline (at the positioner) with the selected
source. The overall length of the timeline does not change.
Overwrite Example
Replace Edit button Click to replace the selected timeline clip or clips with the selected source clip. The
overall length of the timeline sequence does not change. The replacement clip must be of equal length or
Replace Example
Secondary Edit box Select an editing operation to apply to the selected source clip.
Trimming Operations
Editorial Mode box Choose an editorial mode for working with clips on the timeline.
Select: To:
NOTE Trim, Slide, and Slide Cuts modes are affected by the state of the Ripple button. The icons display as yellow
when ripple is enabled, and red when ripple is disabled.
Link button Enable to select and link all elements in an editorial group. This is useful if you want to trim
all clips in a group by the same number of frames, for example. You can invert the Link mode on-the-fly
Link Example
Ripple button When gesturally adding material into an edit sequence, enable to perform an insert edit,
disable to perform an overwrite edit. When moving (or trimming) clips on the timeline, enable to fill the
gap left by the removed clip or frames, disable to leave the gap.
Ripple On
Ripple Off
Snap button Enable to snap to the closest transition, positioner, or mark to help gesturally align edits on
the timeline. Press Shift to invert the snap mode during manipulation.
Trimming Clips
Use the trimming tools to fine-tune your rough edits. You can trim video or audio clips (with or without
effects), cuts, and transitions on the timeline. You can trim multiple tracks or segments at the same time.
Flame keeps track of the source material that goes into trimmed shots, so you can go back and reintroduce
material you had previously trimmed out.
You can trim using the Trim View, with keyboard shortcuts, or gesturally on the timeline. You can also trim
by any combination of these methods, depending on your editing style. In Trim mode, the Trim View
displays the last (outgoing) and first (incoming) frame above the timeline from the two clips you are trimming,
allowing you to visualize your trimming operation. In Slip or Slide mode, the Trim View changes to a four
frame display, which, in addition to the incoming and outgoing frames of the clip you are slipping or sliding,
also displays the outgoing frame of the preceding clip and the incoming frame of the subsequent clip on
the timeline.
The state of the Ripple button has an effect on some trimming operations. You can set the ripple state
explicitly before trimming, or on-the-fly by pressing Alt while you are trimming.
NOTE You cannot trim on a sub-frame level when simultaneously trimming audio and video tracks.
Trimming Quickstart
Use the following procedure to quickly start trimming. This method is certainly not the only way to trim,
but should give you a start in familiarizing yourself with trimming in Flame. For more detailed explanations
of the various trimming modes, see the related topics below.
1 Double-click a cut between two clips on the timeline. The positioner moves to this location, and a
yellow or red highlight appears on either side of the cut (depending if Ripple is enabled or not).
The Trim View also opens, (provided that Auto-Toggle Trim View is enabled in Preferences ➤ General
➤ Player) displaying the outgoing and incoming frame of the two clips.
TIP You can also access Trim View from the View mode box. In this case, the closest cut on the timeline is
automatically selected. You can use the Previous or Next Transition buttons to select a different cut.
3 Drag the Outgoing or Incoming Trim Offset fields to your desired trim offset value (in frames). The
corresponding view (incoming, outgoing, or both), and the timeline clips are updated.
If you are trimming a gap, the Outgoing and Incoming Trim Offset fields remain at 0.
Notice that the offset fields have the same colour borders as the highlight on the timeline cut (yellow
when Ripple is enabled, or red when Ripple is disabled).
4 Use the loop option of the Play button to loop around your trim with a number of preroll and postroll
frames to preview your trim.
TIP Enable Focus On Trim in the Timeline Options menu to snap the timeline positioner to the transition
while trimming, allowing you to view the frames you are trimming in the Player, or switch to Trim View to
see your incoming and outgoing frames.
1 Double-click a cut between two clips on the timeline, or select Trim View from the View Mode box.
Trim View appears in the Viewing panel, displaying the last (outgoing) and first (incoming) frame from
the two clips you are trimming.
2 Use any of the following techniques to trim your clips to the desired frames:
■ Click and drag directly in the left or right Trim View window. You can see the trim icon as you
drag. The icon is displayed in yellow or red, depending on the state of the Ripple button.
■ Click and drag toward the middle of the two Trim View windows. Notice that the trim icon appears
as a double-sided arrow, indicating that you are trimming the cut between the two clips.
■ Click any of the timecode or duration fields at the top of Trim View windows to enter specific
values. If a timecode or duration field is not enabled, click the corresponding Trim View window
or offset field to enable it.
■ Click and drag the outgoing or incoming Trim Offset field to specify the number of frames offset
in the clip. You can also click the minus or plus buttons to offset by those amounts.
■ You can also trim on the timeline, and use the Trim View as a viewing aid.
If you set animation keyframes on timeline effects, you have different options as to their behaviour while
trimming. Use the Keyframe Move Modes box to select how the animation channel is affected when you
trim elements with animated effects.
In the Editorial Mode box, you can also select Slide Keyframes mode, which allows you to slide all of the
keyframes of a specific timeline effect on a clip. For example, you can slide all of the Axis keyframes on a
clip.
Performing a Slip
Slip a clip to offset the frames in a clip (by trimming head and tail frames of the clip) without trimming the
clips before or after it. The state of the Ripple button has no effect on slip operations.
NOTE In Slip mode, the Duration and Offset fields of the Trim View update as you slip, but are non-editable.
Performing a Slide
Sliding changes a clip's position in the edit sequence. It simultaneously slides the clip under the cursor and
trims the head and tail of the surrounding clips. The state of the Ripple button has an effect on slide
operations.
NOTE Instead of using Slide mode, you can select Slide Cuts from the Editorial Mode box, a modified Slide mode
that trims the clips before and after it, while also changing the frames used in a clip.
NOTE In Slide mode, the Duration and Offset fields of the Trim View update as you slide, but are non-editable.
TIP Specific keyboard shortcuts are available to switch to each trim mode (Trim, Slip, Slide, Slide Cuts, and
Slide Keyframes). See the Keyboard Shortcut editor for more information.
3 Use the keyboard shortcut appropriate to the action you want to perform (in the descriptions below,
Trim refers to the selected trim mode).
If you know the amount of frames by which you want to trim, a quick way to perform the trim is by using
the keypad to enter the amount into the calculator.
NOTE If there is no explicit selection on the timeline, trim operations are not performed using this method.
Instead, the positioner is moved by the number of frames that you enter.
Dynamic Trimming
In Trim View, you can use key combinations to dynamically trim while your outgoing and incoming clips
are playing.
1 In Trim View (with Trim, Slip, or Slide mode selected), select a playback option from the Play button
(such as Loop), and click Play.
2 While your selection is playing (with the desired number of preroll and postroll frames), you can use
the Trim 1 Frame Forward, Trim 1 Frame Backward, Trim <n> Frames Forward, and Trim <n> Frames
Backward keyboard shortcuts.
In Trim mode, the Trim View displays the last (outgoing) and first (incoming) frame from the two clips you
are trimming (as seen in the example, above). In Slip or Slide mode, the Trim View changes to a four frame
display, which, in addition to the incoming and outgoing frames of the clip you are slipping or sliding, also
displays the outgoing frame of the preceding clip and the incoming frame of the subsequent clip on the
timeline.
Use these settings while working in Trim View. Most of the settings are available for all Trim View modes;
exceptions are noted below.
Tail Source Timecode field Displays the tail source timecode of the outgoing segment. Non-editable if the
outgoing trim offset is not selected.
Outgoing Duration field Displays the duration of the outgoing clip. Non-editable if the outgoing trim offset
is not selected. Available in Trim mode only.
Incoming Duration field Displays the duration of the incoming clip. Non-editable if the incoming trim
offset is not selected. Available in Trim mode only.
Head Source Timecode field Displays the head source timecode of the incoming segment. Non-editable if
the incoming trim offset is not selected.
Duration field Displays the duration of the selected segment. Non-editable. Available in Slip and Slide mode.
(Not shown)
Timecode field Displays the current timecode of the focus clip (green signifies a source clip, while red
signifies a sequence clip). Editable.
View Mode box Select a view mode for the Viewing panel layout.
Previous Transition button Click to select the previous transition on the selected track.
Next Transition button Click to select the next transition on the selected track.
Outgoing Trim Offset field Displays the number of frames offset in the outgoing clip. Click to select the
offset, and drag to change the offset value. A selected offset has a yellow border if Ripple is enabled, and a
red border if Ripple is disabled. Available in Trim mode only.
Trim Offset field Displays the number of frames offset as the result of the slip or slide operation performed
on the selection. Non-editable. (Not shown)
Preroll field Displays the number of preroll frames when playing a clip. Editable.
Play button Click to activate the current play behaviour selected for this button. Click and hold to list a
selection of playback types. The Play button will change to display the current play status; Once, Loop, or
Back and Forth.
Postroll field Displays the number of postroll frames when playing a clip. Editable.
Player Options box Select an option for working in the player. Available options differ depending on the
view selected.
Tracks on the timeline are stacked vertically within a version to help you composite.
In the example above, the upper track (version 1 track 2) is highlighted, and therefore selected. To highlight
a track and select all clips on the track, click in an empty space in the Patch Panel area for that track.
The track indicators and tools for this track are (from left to right):
Track Collapse/Expand arrow Click to collapse or expand all tracks within a version. You can collapse
tracks to remove clutter from your timeline.
Patch Identifier (Source track) Indicates which source track is patched to the track (in green).
Track Identifier (Destination or Sequence track) Displays the version and track number (in dark grey).
Track Lock icon Enable track lock to prevent editing operations from being performed on the track. A
locked track displays grey diagonal lines.
TIP You can select clips on a locked track if you enable Selection Includes Locked Tracks in the Timeline Options
menu.
Video Track indicator Indicates if a track is the primary or secondary track. The primary track can also be
set by moving the focus point on the positioner.
Track Name Drag the area between the Patch Panel area and the timeline to display the track name area.
By default, tracks are named *. Right-click a track, and select Rename Track to add your unique track name.
1 On the timeline, select the version you want to add a track to.
2 On the bottom left of the timeline, click Track+, or from the Timeline Gear menu, select New ➤ Video
Track.
Depending on your selection in the Add Track box in Preferences ➤ Timeline ➤ Editing, a new
track is either added to the version on top of the last existing track, or to the track above the focus
point.
If you want the track to be added below the last existing track, press Ctrl while clicking Track+. You
can re-order your tracks, or even move a track to a different version by dragging the track from the
handle at the left of the track.
1 On the bottom left of the timeline, click Audio+ for a mono track or Alt+Audio+ for a stereo track, or
from the Timeline Gear menu, select New ➤ Mono Audio Track or New ➤ Stereo Audio Track.
A new audio track is added to the timeline below the last existing audio track.
1 On the bottom left of the timeline, click Version+ for a mono version or Alt+Version+ for a stereo
version, or from the Timeline Gear menu, select New ➤ Mono Version or New ➤ Stereo Version.
A new version is added to the timeline above the last existing version. If you want the version to be
added below the last existing version, press Ctrl while clicking Version+.
TIP To add multiple versions or tracks, you can use the keyboard to enter the number of versions or tracks you
want to add, before using one of the above methods.
NOTE You cannot move a video track to the audio track area and vice-versa.
To resize a track:
1 Place the cursor at the bottom of the Patch Panel area for the track that you want to resize. Notice that
the cursor becomes a line with a double-headed arrow.
2 Drag down to increase the height of the track (to see more information on the tracks clips, for example),
or drag up to decrease the height of the track.
TIP To increase or decrease the height of all tracks, drag left or right on the vertical scroll bar to the right
of the timeline.
To delete a track:
1 Right-click on the Patch Panel area of the track you want to delete.
2 Click Delete Track.
In the above example, the top track (V1.3) is patched, but no source is assigned. The middle track (V1.2) is
not patched and no source is assigned. The bottom track (V1.1) is not patched, but a source is assigned. If
you click the source patch or destination identifier on the bottom track, the track becomes patched, identified
by the green patch.
While the Track Patching contextual menu can be used for all your patching needs, there are particular cases
where you can use different patching methods:
■ If the track is patched but no source is assigned, drag on the grey patch identifier until the source channel
that you want to use appears.
■ If the track is not patched and no source is assigned, drag on the grey patch identifier until the source
channel that you want to use appears and then click the patch identifier.
■ If the track is not patched but a source is assigned, click the grey source channel number on the patch
identifier.
The frame directly beneath the positioner's focus point is displayed in the Player or is the current location
for an edit such as a dissolve or cut. Drag the positioner to the desired frame on your timeline.
In the timecode area below the tracks, a lighter yellow box attached to the positioner indicates the length
of the current frame, at the timeline zoom level. Click and drag this yellow box to move the positioner, so
as not to accidentally move clips on the timeline.
If you know the amount of frames by which you want to move, a quick way to navigate the timeline is by
using the keypad to enter the amount into the calculator.
1 On the timeline, make sure that there is no explicit selection of a clip or cut (in this case, a trim may
be performed).
2 On the keyboard keypad, do one of the following:
■ Enter the number of frames by which you want to move the positioner (for example, +10 or -10).
■ Enter a number (without a + or -) to navigate to the closest timecode value that finishes with the
value entered (for example, enter 10 to move the positioner to the closest timecode value that
finishes by :10)
3 Press Enter.
TIP Use the timeline scroll bars to zoom timeline, if needed. Click Home in the Timeline Layout combo box to
reset the timeline view.
1 Click the magnifying glass icon at the bottom right side of the timeline.
TIP You can enable Get Information From Current Element to automatically fill in information from the
selected element into the search criteria.
3 Choose whether to search segments, containers, gaps, cue marks, or segment marks. You can select
more than one or all of these options.
4 Set the strictness of the search by enabling Every Criteria Below or Any Criteria Below.
5 Click Select on Current Track or Select on All Tracks to perform the search.
The Find and Select in Timeline windows closes, and results are highlighted on the timeline.
If you have multiple segments selected on the timeline (as the result of a search, or as a manual selection),
you can easily navigate through them with keyboard shortcuts or with these procedures.
1 In the Player, select and hold the Go To Next button to display more options.
2 Click Selected Element.
3 Use the Go To Previous and Go To Next buttons to scroll through the selected timeline elements.
1 In the FX pipeline above the timeline, click the arrow beside the segment thumbnail.
To help you locate timeline clips or segments in the Workspace Media panel, you can use the reveal options.
To locate a clip, you can double-click the timeline tab, or right-click the clip on the timeline, and select
Reveal ➤ Clip in Media Panel. You can also locate a specific clip segment by right-clicking it on the
timeline, and selecting Reveal ➤ Segment in Media Panel. The clip or segment is then highlighted in
the Workspace Media panel, and the Thumbnail or Reels view, if displayed.
NOTE The Marks section of the Timeline Gear menu offers other options for clearing or deleting marks. The Go
To section of the Timeline Gear menu offers navigation aids for existing marks.
NOTE You cannot contain audio across tracks, but you can contain adjacent audio elements.
1 Select all the elements on tracks or versions on the timeline that you want to collapse into the same
container.
NOTE The bottom track is always trimmed out so that you can dissolve from an element to a container.
To remove a container:
TIP Press J or L multiple times to play faster. Press Shift along with J or L to play slower.
1 Drag the positioner, or the scrub area at the bottom of the timeline, left or right.
When scrubbing in the Source tab, you cannot navigate past the first or last frame of the clip.
TIP To enter a frame number instead of timecode, click the field to bring up the numeric keypad. Click
TC to change to FRM, and then enter a frame number.
TIP To frame-step a specific number of frames, enter a number in the numeric keypad and then press the
left or right arrow key.
1 Move the positioner and focus point over the frame where you want to add a cut.
2 Select Cut from the Timeline Gear menu.
A cut is added at the specified location.
TIP You can also add cuts while the clip is playing by pressing the cut keyboard shortcut.
When Ripple is on, you extract an element, and the edit sequence collapses to fill the gap left by the extracted
element. This is also called a ripple delete.
You can lift or extract elements from the timeline independently of the Ripple mode using the contextual
menu or keyboard shortcuts.
1 Select the element (or gap) you want to lift or extract or mark in and out points around the material.
2 Right-click the element and select one of the following:
■ Select Lift to lift the element from the timeline, leaving a gap in place of the lifted element.
■ Select Ripple Delete to extract the element from the timeline and ripple the remainder of the
timeline to fill the gap.
2 Select the element (or gap) that you want to lift or extract and drag it out of the timeline.
NOTE Performing a Lift or Ripple Delete (Extract) operation on the timeline does not delete a segment
between marks if another explicit selection is made.
Once you have selected the match criteria from the list above, you can select Match or Match All.
The matched source is selected in the Media panel, and the cursor becomes a white arrow, prompting you
to select a destination reel on which to display the source.
1 On the timeline, select the overlapping video or audio elements to include in the group.
2 From the Timeline Gear menu, select Group ➤ Group.
NOTE You can also right-click your selection, and choose Group from the contextual menu. If Group is
unavailable in the contextual menu or the Timeline Gear menu, the selection is not able to be grouped.
TIP If you cut a segment that is part of a linked group, all elements in the group are cut at the positioner
location, and two separate groups are created from the cut segments.
Resetting Sync
If an editing operation removes the sync for a track in a group, a red plus (+) or minus (-) symbol appears
in the element with the amount of frames that are out of sync to the left (-) or right (+).
You can attempt to manually fix the sync issue by editing the out-of-sync element. In this case, make sure
that Link is disabled. Once you have resynced, you can enable Link again.
You can either resync the elements or reset the offsets, creating a new sync relationship based on the current
position of the segments.
To regain sync:
When you delete an editorial group, the sync is removed from all elements that were part of the group. You
can also temporarily disable an editorial group.
NOTE You can also right-click your selection, and choose Ungroup from the contextual menu.
TIP You can change the Link mode temporarily on-the-fly by using the keyboard shortcut for Invert Group
Selection.
You can also right-click a sync lock icon and select to sync or remove sync from all tracks or versions.
The state of the track or version sync lock is taken into account when performing the following operations:
■ Insert
■ Extract
■ Delete*
■ Trim*
■ Move*
■ Slide*
You can create a connected segment, use that segment across multiple timelines, and then sync the connected
segments to propagate changes across timelines, without using the Shots Sequence and Connected Conform
workflow.
You can now use the same tools available to you in Connected Conform: sync segments, navigate between
connected segments, propagate Timeline FX across connected segments.
Shots Sequence is the best solution when working in a multi-sequence conform workflow, where you need
to keep many segments in many sequences in sync.
Connected Segment Icon A segment connected across multiple sequences is identified with
Navigating Instances of Connected Segments Right-click a segment and select Jump to Connected
Segment: the drop-down list displays the sequences with an instance of that segment. Selecting a sequence
from the list opens that sequence, with the segment selected.
Syncing Connected Segments Modifications made to the Timeline FX, Batch FX, or History of a given
segment are local to that segment until you sync it. For example, when working with the Shots Sequence.
TIP Render all of the updated Timeline FX for all synced Connected Segments by rendering the original
segments Timeline FX before syncing.
Notes:
1 Open Timeline.
2 Select the segment to be replaced.
3 Select the clip that will replace the segment.
4 Do one of the following:
■ To replace the segment and overwrite the Timeline FX applied to the destination segment, use the
Timeline Replace operation. Press R, or click the Replace button.
■ To replace the segment and preserve the Timeline FX applied to the destination segment, use the
Timeline Replace Media operation. Press Ctrl-Shift-R, or click the Secondary Edit box and select
Replace Media.
NOTE The media used must be long enough to cover the whole of the segment it replaces, or this will fail.
The Replace operation can be performed on any clips, whether they have Timeline FX applied, a Batch FX,
or include History.
Removing Segment Connections Sometimes you need to isolate a segment to perform a unique edit, such
as applying language-specific titling to multi-language deliverables; the connection of segments' metadata
becomes a hindrance. In this case, you want to remove the segment's connection to other segments.
IMPORTANT While you can Undo this operation, there is no Restore Connection operation that can be performed
later. Although you can create new connected segments.
Scene Detection
A Scene Detection tool is available to perform scene detection on a Timeline segment. Scene detection is
useful when you are working on a single segment made up of multiple scenes. Scene detection locates the
frames at which the scenes change and splices the shot at those points. When you apply scene detection to
a Timeline segment, it is broken up into numerous smaller segments that you can then edit independently.
The Scene Detect button is available from the Timeline FX bar above the Timeline when the Clip Thumbnail
is selected. You can also perform Scene Detection by selecting a segment and selecting Scene Detect from
the contextual menu. The Scene Detection analysis is triggered, on the selected segment, the moment the
Scene Detect button is pressed or selected from the contextual menu. The analysis result is displayed within
the Timeline segment and cuts are previewed immediately after the analysis is done.
Once the initial analysis is done, you can change the analysis threshold to modify what is considered a cut
or not. This can be done for the entire segment using the Threshold % numeric field, by dragging the
Threshold curve over the segment or by creating a custom curve using the Edit button. The Edit curve can
be manipulated like a Channel Editor curve using the Add, Move, and Delete functions.
NOTE If you grouped segments in the Timeline and perform Scene Detection on a grouped segment while the
‘Link’ button is enabled, the resulting cuts are applied on all segments that are part of the group.
When you lower the threshold value, a small amount of change is enough to trigger a splice. If the value is
too low, splices appear in the middle of a scene. If the value is too high, some changes may not be detected.
Generally, the default threshold value gives a good result.
Once you are happy with the previewed cuts, you can commit the cuts using the Apply button. It is also
possible to cancel the process using the Cancel button.
NOTE Modifications made to the Scene Detect Threshold curve are kept in cache memory when the Cancel button
is used. The Reset button must be used to reset the curve to its default state. This applies to the current session.
If you close the application and restart it, the Scene Detection data is lost.
Timeline Reference
Use these settings to help you navigate and perform tasks on the timeline. You can also right-click anywhere
on the timeline to display a contextual menu of relevant operations for the type of element selected.
TIP There is also a Timeline tab (page 1885) in the Preference menu with numerous other timeline-related settings
and preferences.
Navigation
Positioner The “playhead” for playing the clip, displayed as a vertical yellow bar. The frame directly beneath
the positioner is displayed in the Player or is the current location for an edit such as a dissolve or cut.
In the timecode area below the tracks, a lighter yellow box attached to the positioner indicates the length
of the current frame, at the timeline zoom level. Click and drag this yellow box to move the positioner, so
as not to accidentally move clips on the timeline.
Focus point A horizontal yellow line on the positioner indicating the current track.
Back button Click to move back one page in the timeline window.
Horizontal Zoom
Forward button Click to move forward one page in the timeline window.
Current Timecode field Displays the timecode of the current timeline position. Editable. This field displays
timecode or frame number depending on the selection in the Time Display Mode box located in User Interface
preferences.
Current Frame field Displays the frame number of the current timeline position. Editable. This field displays
timecode or frame number depending on the selection in the Time Display Mode box located in User Interface
preferences.
Vertical scroll bar To pan, drag up or down. To zoom the timeline, drag left or right.
Vertical Zoom
Timeline Search button Click to open the Find and Select in Timeline window to search the timeline using
many different criteria.
Select: To:
Colour Management
Tagged Colour Space menu Choose the colour space to tag your media with (this does not modify pixel
values, but it does affect how viewports display your media).
Input Colour Space menu Select the source colour space of your media. "From Source" uses the the currently
tagged colour space, which allows you to easily convert a set of clips in various colour spaces to a common
working space.
Working Colour Space menu Select the destination colour space of your media. Set the Working Space
first in order to filter the list of Input Colour Spaces to only show the compatible options. "From Project"
takes the value from the Colour Management Preferences.
Tool Mode button Choose whether to convert your media into a different colour space or only tag them.
Get Colour Space From Selection button The tool starts with the colour space setting that was last used.
Click this button to initialize with the colour space of your primary selection.
Rendering
Rendering combo box Select an option to render timeline effects. You can edit effects after rendering.
Select: To:
Full Resolution Render at full resolution, regardless of the current working resolution.
Proxy Render proxies only, not the corresponding high-resolution images. An amber outline
appears on the timeline segment to indicate the state of the rendering. Available if
proxies are selected during the setup of a project.
Full Resolution and Proxy Render at bot full and proxy resolution.
Include Handles Select to take the heads & tails into account when rendering.
Other options appear to set the rendering mode for the selected option if you are using Burn or Background
Reactor.
TIP If you need to refresh (or force) a render on a selection, first select Flush Renders from the Media submenu
in the Timeline Gear menu, then re-render the selection.
Unrendered.
Rendered.
Partially rendered.
Proxy rendered.
Scene Detection
Scene Detect button Click to start the scene detection process on the selected segment(s). Scene detection
starts as soon as the button is clicked.
Threshold slider Drag to set the Scene Detection Threshold. With a lower the threshold, small changes in
a shot is enough to trigger a splice. With a higher threshold, the changes must be more pronounced in order
to trigger a splice.
Edit button Click to enable editing of the generated Scene Detection data.
Edit Mode menu Select the Edit mode you want to use to edit the generated Scene Detection data. Options
are Delete, Add and Move.
Reset button Click to reset the Scene Detection curve to its default state.
Apply button Click to apply the Scene Detection data to the elected segment(s).
Viewing
Timeline View Mode box Select a viewing mode for working in the timeline.
Select: To Display:
Timeline Video and audio tracks in a timeline format with a positioner at the location of the
current frame (press Shift+F5 to toggle between a larger timeline view and the
normal timeline view).
Collapsed Only the current frame of each edit sequence. The edit sequence appears in the
form of a stack. Shuttle through the sequence by dragging the cursor across the
bottom of the frame.
Head-Tail The first and last frames of each clip. Shuttle through the sequence by dragging the
cursor across the bottom of any frame.
Storyboard Only the first frame of each clip in the edit sequence. Shuttle through the sequence
by dragging the cursor across the bottom of any frame.
Frames Every frame in the edit sequence is displayed. Although you cannot edit in this mode,
it is useful for viewing your entire edit.
Clip List A list of objects and information about these objects that make up the timeline.
TIP In Collapsed or Storyboard view, you can drag sequences to reorder them. If you switch back to Timeline
view, the new order of sequences is maintained.
Timeline Tasks
Timeline Gear menu Select a task to perform on the timeline. Some of the options have sub-menus with
more options.
Select: To:
New Tracks and Versions Add new tracks or versions to the timeline.
Media Options to flush renders, and to break the link between an element's metadata and
media or high-resolution media.
Cut All Tracks Add a cut to all tracks at the positioner location.
Lift Remove the selected element from the edit sequence, and leave a gap in its place.
Ripple Delete Remove the selected element from the edit sequence, and close the gap.
Close Gap Remove a gap and collapse the elements to fill the gap.
Commit Options to manage your timeline to simplify or save space. See Timeline Media
Management Options (page 448)
Hard Commit Commit an edit sequence to one continuous clip (also called a mixdown). Soft
properties of the sequence such as transitions, head and tail frames, and timewarp
data are removed.
Other Options
Select: To:
Show Timeline Audio Meters Display mini audio meters to the right of the timeline. Audio Meters are displayed
only if the current clip or sequence has at least one audio track.
Show Waveforms With Effects Display waveforms after an effect is applied to an audio segment.
Show Waveforms Without Effects Display waveforms before an effect is applied to an audio segment.
Use the Rectangle Selection options to select how timeline elements are included in a selection when drawing
a bounding box around them.
Choose: To select:
Inclusive All elements that are partially or entirely included in the bounding box.
Partial Only the portions of the elements that fall within the bounding box. Audio is selected on
a sub-frame basis if Sub-frame Positioner is selected in the Timeline section of the Preferences
menu.
Partial A/V Only the portions of the elements that fall within the bounding box. Audio is selected on
a frame basis even if Sub-frame Positioner is selected in the Timeline section of the Prefer-
ences menu.
Enable Selection Includes Gaps to include empty gaps when performing a timeline selection.
Enable Selection Includes Locked Tracks to allow you select a Timeline segment even if is resides on a locked
track.
Enable one or both snap options to include in the timeline snap criteria:
■ Snap To Positioner on Gestural Insert
■ Snap Includes Marks
Enable Focus on Trim if you want the timeline positioner to snap to the transition while trimming, allowing
you to view frames in the player.
Commit Options
When you commit an edit sequence, it becomes one continuous clip. The soft properties of the sequence
such as transitions, head and tail frames, and timewarp data are removed. The visual effects of the transitions
and timewarps remain but you cannot edit them.
You can also choose to only commit Timeline FX or Batch FX segments on the timeline.
TIP Commit options are also available from the contextual menu when right-clicking clips on the timeline. When
right-clicking a timeline cut, you can also choose Hard Commit to commit the incoming and outgoing clips, as
well as the transition (this option is unavailable if the cut is adjacent to a timeline gap).
Consolidate Handles
If you have video or audio elements on the timeline that have excessive handles, use the Consolidate option
to remove head and tail frames. Consolidate your clip before archiving a project to avoid archiving a large
number of unused frames. You can keep a specified number of head and tail frames when you consolidate
(the calculator appears when you select Consolidate for you to enter the number of handles you want to
keep). You can consolidate a single element or a selection of elements.
History Options
You can commit a clip with a history, or a clip segment with a history just as you would any other clip.
When committing a clip, you delete the clip history without removing the clip or element's soft properties.
Delete History deletes history frames for all selected segments.
NOTE When this option is disabled, Timeline FX are not automatically rendered and display Unrendered Frame
on the Reels. However, the frame on which the Timeline positioner is parked, is rendered.
451
Gestural Editing Cursors
When you drag a source clip over a target clip, the cursor changes as the source clip moves over different
areas of the target clip. The type of cursor indicates the type of edit that occurs when you drop the source
clip on that spot.
All gestural splices, insert edits, and replace edits ripple the edit sequence; that is, they change the duration
of the target clip unless you replace a clip with another clip of the same duration.
Insert
The source clip is grabbed at any frame Perform a replace edit. You cannot gesturally
other than its first or last frame, and is po- replace frames with a two-frame clip. However,
sitioned over a frame on the target clip. you can perform this type of edit with a one-
Replace frame clip.
The source clip is grabbed at its first frame Perform a replace edit starting at the frame
and is positioned directly over a frame on under the cursor and moving in the direction
the target clip. of the arrow.
Replace ahead
The source clip is grabbed at its last frame Perform a replace edit starting at the frame
and is positioned directly over a frame on under the cursor and moving in the direction
the target clip. of the arrow.
Replace back
1 Drag the source clip over the frame in the target clip where you want to make the edit until you see
the appropriate edit cursor.
1 Select the clip(s) and/or sequence(s) you want to remove from the group.
2 From the contextual menu, select Gang ➤ Ungang
All selected clips and/or sequences are unganged.
Cutting Clips
You can split a clip into two or more clips using the Cut command. When you cut a clip, you can retain the
cut frames as head and tail frames (handles) on each resulting clip, creating a soft clip, or you can discard
the frames.
The Cut options are described as follows.
After Selected Frame After the frame that you select when in Cut mode.
Every Nth Frame At the intervals that you specify in the numeric field that appears when you select
this option.
1 Select the clip on which you want to perform the cut operation.
2 From the contextual menu, select Cut ➤ At Each Splice.
The clip is cut into segments at every splice point. If the clip contained no splices, no cuts are made.
1 Select the clip on which you want to perform the cut operation.
2 From the contextual menu, select Cut ➤ At (n) Frame.
3 Enter the number of frames to be contained in each cut in the Frame Number field.
The clip is cut into segments of the selected number of frames.
NOTE You should commit a soft cutout prior to archiving to avoid saving the soft cutout's source clip. See Hard
Committing from the Desktop (page 460).
1 Position the cursor over the frame where you want to make the cut. Place the cursor in the Cut Clip
hot spot on the frame edge closest to the cutting point.
2 Grab the frame and drag up or down to cut it from the clip.
3 Drop it in another location on a reel.
Splicing Clips
splicing:clips on Desktopclips:splicing, on DesktopYou can join together either two or more clips on a reel.
This creates a single clip with a soft edit (a splice) at the location where the clips were joined.
1 Place the cursor in an empty area to the right or left of the reel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Splice Reel.
All clips on the reel are spliced together into one clip.
Yellow transition handles indicate where the clips were spliced together. To remove the yellow handle,
hard commit the clip. See Hard Committing from the Desktop (page 460).
1 Select the source clip you want to splice into a target clip, using the Move Clip hot spot.
2 Move the selected clip so that it overlaps either the first or last frame of the target clip. The Insert cursor
is displayed.
3 Release the clip.
The two clips are spliced together to form a single clip. A yellow transition handle indicates where the two
clips were spliced together. To remove the yellow handle, hard commit the clip. See Hard Committing from
the Desktop (page 460).
To insert frames:
1 Select the source clip from which you want to insert frames into a target clip.
2 In Collapsed mode, scrub the source clip to the first frame you want to insert and drop a marker, using
the Open Bracket key ( [ ).
3 Scrub the source clip to the last frame you want to insert and drop a marker, using the Close Bracket
key ( ] ).
4 While holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift, drag up from the source clip to extract the selected frames.
5 Move the selected frames so that they overlap the target clip in between the two frames within which
you want to insert the source frames. The Insert cursor is displayed.
6 Release the frames.
The source frames are inserted in between the selected frames in the target clip. The remaining frames of
the target clip are placed at the end of the inserted clip.
To insert a clip:
1 Select the source clip you want to insert into a target clip, using the Move Clip hot spot.
2 Move the selected clip so that it overlaps the target clip in between the two frames within which you
want to insert the source clip. The Insert cursor is displayed.
3 Release the clip.
The source clip is inserted in between the selected frames in the target clip. The remaining frames of the
target clip are placed at the end of the inserted clip.
1 Make sure the source clip used is not at the first or last frame.
2 Move the selected clip over the first frame that you want to replace in the target clip. The Replace
cursor is displayed.
3 Release the clip.
The current frame in the source clip is matched to and replaces the frame on which you dropped the source
clip and the source frames before and after the current source frame replace the corresponding frames in
the target clip.
Swapping Segments
You can swap a segment within a sequence with a source clip, directly from the Desktop, while preserving
any Timeline FX applied to the original segment. When you swap segments, you select a frame in the target
clip and a frame in the source clip. When the swap operation is performed, the selected frame from the
source clip takes the place of the selected frame in the target segment and the remaining frames are aligned
relative to this position.
To swap segments:
NOTE If you are in collapsed view, the soft positioner at the bottom of the clip determines the selected frame. If
you are in storyboard view, the first frame of the segment is selected by default.
NOTE If you are swapping a shot in a dissolve, from the contextual menu, select Swap Segment ➤
Incoming or Swap Segment ➤ Outgoing to determine whether you are swapping the outgoing or
incoming segment.
The selected segment in the target clip is replaced by the source clip and the selected frame from the source
clip takes the place of the selected frame in the target segment and the remaining frames are aligned relative
to this position. The selected frames are aligned in the swap operation.
NOTE If there are not enough frames before or after the align frame in the source clip to fit before or after the
align frame in the selected shot an error message appears in the message bar.
Two clips on the Desktop prior to the Swap Segment operation. In this example, the operation will swap the green
segment for the blue clip while aligning frame 8 from the green clip to frame 11 from the blue clip.
After the Swap Segment operation, the green segment has been swapped with the blue clip, while aligning frame 8
from the green clip and frame 11 from the blue clip.
NOTE You can hard commit a sequence via Burn, by selecting Hard Commit ➤ Burn, from the contextual
menu.
To render a segment:
To render a sequence:
NOTE You can render a sequence via Burn, by selecting Render ➤ Burn, from the contextual menu.
NOTE You can only see the Audio Desk in the single player.
461
Importing Audio Files
To import an audio file:
Once you've selected an audio source, there are several ways you can monitor it.
■ You can scrub your audio tracks from the Batch orBatch FX Timebar:
■ To analog scrub your audio, hold down Ctrl+Shift and scrub the Timebar.
■ To digital scrub your audio, hold down Ctrl and scrub the Timebar.
■ From the Animation menu, under the Audio tab, you can playback your audio in real time, using the
playback controls. See also Generating Keyframes Based on Audio Analysis (page 1643).
■ Within Action, you can select a clip from the Action schematic and press F2 to playback the audio of
the selected clip in real time, using the playback controls above the Timebar.
You can click and drag the keyframes in the segment to adjust the audio level. Holding Shift + dragging
constrains the adjustment vertically or horizontally. Setting the gain slider to zero brings the audio level
back to the segment default.
1 Move the vertical focus point inline with the relevant audio track.
2 Navigate to the cut point of the two audio segments with the positioner.
3 Click the Transition button.
4 In the Audio Transitions tab, enable Fade.
An audio transition is applied to the cut point of the two audio segments.
5 Adjust the length of the fade.
The audio cross-fades between the two audio segments.
1 Move the vertical focus point inline with the relevant audio track.
2 Navigate to the beginning (or end) of the segment.
3 Click the Transition button.
4 In the Audio Transitions tab, enable Fade.
An audio transition is applied to the audio segment.
5 Adjust the length of the fade.
The audio is now fading into (or out of) the clip.
1 From the Timeline Menu Bar at the bottom of the screen, select Audio > Show Waveforms With Effects.
The Waveform display for all audio segments is turned on.
1 From the Timeline Menu Bar, select Audio > Hide Waveforms.
The Waveform display for all audio segments is turned off.
1 From the Timeline Menu Bar, select Audio > Show Waveforms Without Effects.
All Waveforms from the source are displayed and any audio timeline effects modifications are not
reflected in the Waveforms.
NOTE Unlinking media or flushing local media of a given clip achieves the same result.
1 In the Audio Desk, enable the Mute button for the input strip that you want to mute.
The strip is muted. In the case of a stereo audio track, both strips are muted.
If the input channel box is empty, the audio track is not patched to an audio desk input. You will not hear
audio segments for that track.
Normally all these mappings are automated. It is important to understand these outputs are either the audio
channel outputs for your hardware or discrete channel outputs for files exported to the application.
Rendering media can be time-consuming, and depends on a number of factors, including the type of media and the effects
applied to it. Static frame pipeline optimization can significantly decrease rendering times for sequences or Batch or Batch
FX schematics that use static source generators (such as the Coloured Frame Node, for example), static media (stills), and
static effects. A static effect is one that is not animated over time, such as static Text or a static GMask. When rendering
static media, the result of a static source generator or a static effect, Flame renders and caches a single static frame, and
uses that frame for the duration of the static element, rather than rendering each individual frame. This enables noticeably
shorter rendering times.
Flame Reactor
Flame Reactor is the name given to the hybrid CPU/GPU processing pipeline in Batch and Batch FX. Batch and Batch FX
have been optimized to make better use of GPU and CPU rendering capabilities in this pipeline.
467
NOTE The Classic Engine is now retired, after years of honorable service. Starting with version 2017 Extension 1, every project
uses Flame Reactor. Older projects which were set up to use the Classic Engine are automatically converted to Flame Reactor
when opened in a recent version of the application. Due to differences in rendering engines (Classic was CPU-only), there might
be differences between what was rendered then and what is rendered now, and adaptors might be added to a restored Batch
Schematic to convert it to the supported 16-bit float bit depth.
Burn
Burn allows you to render images in the background using low-cost Linux workstations and frees your workstation for
more creative tasks. With Burn, facilities can leverage a larger pool of rendering power so that complex visual effects
requiring intensive processing can be created more quickly. See the Rendering on Networked Hardware section of the
Installation and Configuration Guide for more information of how to install, license, and configure Burn to work with
Flame.
Background Reactor
Adding a second GPU on HP Z800, Z820, and Z840 Linux workstations (running Flame Premium, Flame, or Flare software)
allows you to use Background Reactor, a background rendering service. Rendering options for Media Library, Timeline,
BFX, Batch, and Tools are available to select between foreground or Background Reactor rendering. Using Background
Reactor allows you to continue working while effects are being generated. See the Rendering on Networked Hardware
section of the Installation and Configuration Guide for more information of how to install, license, and configure
Background Reactor.
In order to increase performances when in interactive mode, the hardware anti-aliasing (HWAA) level in interactive mode
gets automatically disabled whenever the graphics card doesn't have enough memory. This can happen in Text, GMask,
and Action modules.
Whenever the graphics card has to swap some of the textures to disk in order to allocate memory for a large HWAA buffer,
the responsiveness of the system is affected. To increase the reactivity of the interactive mode, Flame disables the HWAA
whenever this happens. The availability of HWAA in interactive mode depends two factors: the amount of graphics
memory available when the HWAA level is set, and on the resolution of the monitor where the user interface is displayed.
IMPORTANT The HWAA that you set is always applied in Preview and when rendering; it is only disabled to improve the
responsiveness of the user interface.
Rendering Preferences
In the Preferences menu, there are a few options to help you set default rendering settings. See Preferences ➤ General
➤ Default Rendering Options and Preferences ➤ Timeline ➤ Rendering.
NOTE Rendering differences may occur when using different generations of graphics hardware on different systems.
TIP If you need extra space, you can temporarily hide the FX pipeline and quick menu by clicking the FX Pipeline Display button
at the top right of the timeline area (or use the shortcut Spacebar+Tab).
NOTE Timelines may contain segments or layers that are in different colour spaces. Although the viewing transform updates at
each frame, responsive to the colour space, dissolves and blends between segments in different colour spaces may give unexpected
results. It is recommended that dissolves and blends be done between elements in a common colour space.
NOTE Effects that are enabled have already been added to the current Timeline FX pipeline.
469
NOTE You may have to resize the video or audio track so that Timeline FX are visible on the timeline.
4 You can adjust the effect's settings using the quick menu underneath the Timeline FX pipeline. Click
the Editor button if you want to enter the full editor of the effect. Once in a Timeline FX editor, you
can choose which range to display on the timebar (Segment, Media, or Timeline) from the Playback
Options box. The Playback Options box also has options to display audio waveforms and cue marks.
When adding Timeline FX to stereo clips on the timeline, in some cases (such as with the Colour
Warper effect), you are not able to use the quick menu to adjust settings. In this case, simply click the
Editor button to enter the full editor.
Reordering Timeline FX
You can reorder most applied Timeline FX directly from the Timeline FX pipeline.
NOTE In the Timeline FX pipeline, a BFX clip or pre-processing options always appear at the beginning of the
pipeline, and the Comp effect always appear at the end of the ribbon. Therefore, these effects can not be reordered.
1 From the Timeline FX pipeline with multiple Timeline FX applied, select an effect icon (for example,
a Flip effect that occurs after a 2D Transform effect).
2 Click and drag the effect to its new location.
3 Release the effect.
Copying Timeline FX
You can copy Timeline FX from the timeline to the Workspace, from the Workspace back to the timeline,
or from one segment on the timeline to another. Additionally, you can copy multiple Timeline FX
simultaneously, as long as the Timeline FX you want to copy are from the same segment. You can also copy
to and from the Media Panel or the Desktop reels.
A copy can be made gesturally or using contextual menus. Contextual menu operations can simplify copying
operations when segments are far apart or in a different timeline, or if you plan to do other editing operations
between copying and pasting.)
When you copy Timeline FX of the same type over another Timeline FX, the copied effect overwrites the
pre-existing one.
NOTE You may have to resize the video or audio track vertically, so that Timeline FX are visible on the timeline.
The Timeline FX appears in the workspace. It displays a thumbnail with the front view of the effect, and
the shortened name of the effect(s) you copied.
The Timeline FX appears in the Timeline FX pipeline and in the timeline segment.
If you want to temporarily remove Timeline FX from a clip, you can mute it. You can quickly assess if a
Timeline FX has been muted, because its LED is turned off.
1 On the timeline, select the segment with the Timeline FX you want to mute.
2 In the Timeline FX pipeline, click the blue LED on the Timeline FX.
The LED darkens to indicate that the Timeline FX is turned off.
3 To unmute an effect, click the LED on the Timeline FX in the Timeline FX pipeline. The LED will turn
blue, to indicate an unmuted Timeline FX.
1 On the timeline, select the segment with the Timeline FX you want to delete.
2 Do one of the following:
■ From the Timeline FX pipeline or the timeline segment, drag the Timeline FX to the bottom of the
screen.
■ Right-click the Timeline FX and select Delete.
You can modify Timeline FX from different clips at the same time by multi-selecting clip segments. Selecting
multiple segments allows you to apply changes to effects in one segment, and have those changes applied
to the same effects in the other segments.
5 The FX ribbon closes. The selected effects are applied to the segment.
1 In the Timeline FX pipeline or in the timeline segment, select the Timeline FX that you want to slide.
2 If the clip does not already contain animation keyframes, set keyframes on the clip to animate the FX.
3 Select how the animation channel is affected when you slide the animated effects by choosing an
option from the Keyframe Move Modes box.
4 From the Editorial Mode box, select Slide Keyframes, which allows you to slide all of the keyframes of
a specific Timeline FX on a clip.
NOTE You can only slide keyframes from one Timeline FX at a time.
NOTE Due to the nature of Matchbox on the timeline, adding and working with Matchbox transitions is slightly
different than the procedure below. See Using Matchbox as a Transition (page 1365) for more information.
NOTE Only one timeline transition can be applied at a time. Each time you apply a new transition, the latest
transition that you applied appears between the segments, and you are only able to modify the settings of
the current transition.
A transition that is copied or moved over another transition overwrites the prior transition and replaces any
prior settings.
To remove a transition:
Go to In Mark Alt - [ A
Next Timeline FX (Current Seg- Shift - Ctrl - Right Arrow Alt - Smoke - X
ment)
Gap effects are not restricted by in points, out points, cuts and transitions, so they are easily trimmed, moved
and duplicated. You can trim a gap effect over the entire duration of the video track regardless of the
underlying cut points.
You can also freely edit cuts and transitions between elements on video tracks under the gap effect. You can
cut an element, add a transition at the cut point, and then replace the incoming element without affecting
the gap effect. In addition, gap effects can be copied and placed over different media in the timeline.
TIP You can also convert a gap into a colour source by clicking Colour Source in the quick menu when a gap is
selected. Colour source settings appear in the quick menu. To remove a colour source and revert to a gap, click
Remove Colour.
NOTE Format and import options are accessible in the same editor. You can open the editor once, then
switch between menus in the editor to edit different option types.
■ Select the Format Options button in the Timeline FX pipeline, and click Editor in the quick menu.
The Basic menu opens. Format options will be saved to this menu.
■ Select the Pre-Processing button in the Timeline FX pipeline, and click Editor in the quick menu.
The Resize menu opens. Import options will be saved to this menu and the RGB LUT menu.
TIP You can set the default premultiplication setting for the segment, background, and output of timeline Comp
effects in the Timeline FX / BFX section of the Preference menu.
1 In the timeline, select the clip you want to add the matte container to.
2 In the Timeline FX pipeline, select the proxy for the clip.
Underneath the pipeline, a quick menu appears.
3 Click the Add Matte button.
4 Select a matte from the workspace. The Matte Container button appears in the Timeline FX pipeline.
If the matte media length is equal to the front length, then the matte segment is positioned at the
same start as the front segment. If the matte media length is different to the front length, then the
matte segment is positioned at the Container segment start (yellow marks).
5 To open the Matte Container, click once on the Matte Container button and then click Open in the
quick menu, or double-click on the Matte Container button.
Once the Matte container is open, you can adjust the settings for the matte or add other effects to it.
6 If you want to mute the matte, right-click the Matte Container button and select Mute.
7 If you want to remove the matte, click once on the Matte Container button and then click on the
Uncontain button.
NOTE If you use the matte container clip in Batch or Batch FX, the front and matte clips are present in the clip
node.
In the timeline, a matte container on a The 2D Transform Timeline FX is ap- The 2D Transform Timeline FX is ap-
track is stacked on a track with a clip of plied, with the Matte Offset controls plied, with the Matte Offset controls
a cloud image. disabled. The front clip and matte active. The matte position is offset inde-
transformations are linked. pendently of the RGB clip in the matte
container.
In the timeline, The matte container of The Blur Timeline FX is applied, and the The Blur Timeline FX is applied, and a
the talent's head is stacked on a cloud same blur is applied to the clip and the blur is applied to the matte instead of
image background. matte (Lock to Front is enabled). the clip (Lock to Front is disabled).
Image courtesy of The House
The matte values can be blurred separately or with the same values as the front clip.
In the Blur quick menu or the editor, you can apply blur values to the matte. Click the Lock to Front button
to use the same blur values that are applied to the front clip. In the Blur editor, you can also invert the matte
or use the matte to apply blending in the regions defined by the matte.
The RGB clip will be added to a matte A Colour Warper Timeline FX is applied When the matte clip is used as a mask,
container with a matte surrounding the to the matte container. By default, it it defines where to apply the Colour
talent. creates a transparency. Warper Timeline FX on the RGB clip.
Image courtesy of Das Werk
You can change the default functionality of the matte clip and instead use it as a mask to isolate the area
in which you want to add colour effects and corrections.
In the Colour Corrector or Colour Warper quick menu, enable the Use Mask button, which uses the matte
to delimit the region that will be processed with the colour effects.
NOTE When Use Mask is on, all mattes generated before the Colour Correct or Colour Warper Timeline FX are
ingested for use in these effects as masks, and matte functionality is no longer available for Timeline FX used after
it in the pipeline.
All mattes used in the Timeline FX pipeline for the segment are composited using this effect. The composited
mattes for each segment can be turned on or off, or be inverted.
A clip can be in a premultiplied or unpremultiplied state. An unpremultiplied clip has its pixels divided by
the pixels in the matte. A premultiplied clip has its pixels multiplied by the pixels in the matte. Use the
Comp Timeline FX quick menu or the editor to set the Segment and Background Premultiplication boxes
to the appropriate states.
By default, a segment on a track is blended with the background, and the matte is turned on by default. In
the Comp quick menu and editor, use the Matte box to also turn the matte off or invert it.
See 2D Compositing on the Timeline (page 478).
On an RGB clip, using GMask Timeline FX will apply the matte to create a garbage mask that defines which
areas of the image appear in the result clip. With a matte container, the matte clip and the GMask matte
are composited in the result matte.
Use the GMask quick menu to select a shape from a library of presets, or enter the editor to create your own.
See Masking and Rotoscoping (page 1102).
There are three states in which you can manage text in Timeline FX, (two of which allow masking
functionality).
In the Text Timeline FX quick menu, use the Alpha Rendering Mode box to select a state:
■ RGB: If you are using an RGB clip (or matte container), to generate a clip (or RGB portion of the clip)
with the text overlaid.
■ RGBA: If you are using an RGBA clip/matte container, to generate a text overlay and use the text outline
as a mask to display it on background tracks.
■ A Only: To generate a source based on the text as a mask and segment as a fill. For best results, use
unpremultiplied input. In the segment's Comp Timeline FX, verify that the Segment Premultiplication
box is set to Unpremultiplied.
TIP While Action can perform simple operations, such as picture-in-picture, there are other Timeline FX tools that
you can use that may be more lightweight, such as 2D Transform or Flip.
Using Action on the timeline offers you a way to create complex compositions as an alternative to working
in Batch or Batch FX flow-graph representations. But this workflow allows you to start compositing on the
timeline with Action, then promote and explode your comp in Batch or Batch FX to continue working.
Action is also available as a timeline transition, and has all the same options available as Action Timeline
FX in the quick menu. In addition, you can access specific transition settings by choosing Transition from
the Action Quick Menu selector. When you enter the full Action menu after applying an Action timeline
transition, notice that the outgoing clip is listed in the Media list as the back media, while the incoming
clip is listed as the front/matte media.
NOTE If you access Action as a Timeline FX or transition, you are limited to one front/matte media. Therefore,
some Media menu settings and nodes are not available. For example, if you need to work with stereo clips, you
should access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools menu.
As with other Timeline FX, you can use the quick menu to apply settings without having to enter the full
editor. Since Action is comprised of many nodes, each with their own menu settings, there are additional
quick menu controls to switch between settings for nodes, while allowing you to still view parent/child
relationships.
Object Selection box Select which object's menu to display. Objects appear in this list if there are more
than one of the type selected in the Menu Selection box.
Parent or Child Selection box Select a parent or child menu to display. Objects appear in this list if there
are any parents or children in the scene of the object selected in the Object Selection box.
For some menus, such as Lights, there is another sub menu box to further refine which settings are displayed
in the quick menu.
NOTE When selecting multiple clips with Action Timeline FX applied, you can use the quick menu to apply settings
to all the selected clips (except for camera settings).
Compositing Examples
Depending on the effect you are trying to achieve, you can decide how your Action Timeline FX is composited
(either by the Comp node, or by Action itself). The following two general examples show how you can comp
your effect in different ways.
1 On the timeline, add an Action Timeline FX to a gap on a track above another clip.
2 In the FX ribbon, make sure that the Comp node is enabled.
3 In the Action quick menu, disable Use Back.
TIP You can set the default behaviour of this button in Preferences ➤ Timeline FX / BFX ➤ Timeline
Action.
4 Double-click the Action entry in the FX ribbon to enter the Action editor.
You can see that the lower clip from the timeline is the front/matte and background in Action.
5 In Action, add a 3D Text node, change and animate the text, as needed.
6 In the View box, select Context ➤ Primary Track to see your effect in the context of the timeline.
TIP You can also toggle the F4 keyboard shortcut between the Comp output and Matte output.
Notice that in the Action Output menu's Comp box for the Comp output, Use Colour is selected, since you
entered Action with Use Back disabled.
1 On the timeline, add a green screen clip on a track above a moving background.
2 Add an Action Timeline FX to the green screen clip.
3 In the Action quick menu, enable Use Back, then enter the Action editor.
TIP You can set the default behaviour of this button in Preferences ➤ Timeline FX / BFX ➤ Timeline
Action.
4 Use the Modular Keyer within Action to key the green screen footage onto the background.
5 Add lights, lens flares, and any other Action nodes, as needed.
Notice that in the Action Output menu's Comp box for the Comp output, Use Background is selected, since
you entered Action with Use Back enabled.
In this case, when you return to the timeline, you are sending the complete result, so there is no need to
use the Comp node at the timeline level.
2 Select the track you want to key, and add an Action Timeline FX (in the example above, select the
GreenScreen clip).
5 Double-click the K field in the front/matte row to enter the Modular Keyer.
Use the desired Start Mode, and create your key. The following example uses the Master Keyer start
mode:
TIP You can set up the viewports in 2-up mode using the Viewport Layout box. In this case, you can use
one View box to set one viewport to the modular keyer schematic view, and the other viewport to Result
or Action Context view.
6 When you are finished creating the key, click Return to return to Action.
Notice that the K field in the front/matte row of the Media menu now has an MK displayed.
7 Perform any other Action tasks, as needed, then click Exit to return to the timeline.
For each tool that has a full editor, you are able to save and load setups. A setup is a file that contains a record of all changes
you make to a clip in a particular tool. This record includes references to clips used—not the clips themselves. Setups let
you save your work separately from clips, so you can load and work on the setup at anytime or apply the setup to other
clips. Setups can be shared between instances of the same effect, whether accessed from the Tools tab, as a Timeline FX,
or from the Batch or Batch FX node bin.
In the tool editor, use the Save and Load buttons to enter the file browser (pointing to the default directory location for
each tool type). From the Load browser, you can also delete previously saved setups. For most tools, you can load or save
setups or preferences/defaults. Preferences are settings that let you customize the display or functioning of some tool
elements, keyboard shortcuts, pen and tablet, and audio (defaults are the default preferences). Some tools, such as Paint,
have more saving and loading options.
Accessing Tools
To access specific tools
1 From the Tools tab, find and click the button for the tool you want to use.
2 If needed, use the Input Mode box to select the number of source clips you want to modify (for example,
front only or combinations of front, back, and matte).
3 Set any tool parameters, as needed.
4 In the workspace, select the source clip(s) needed.
The colour and text of the cursor indicates which clip you should select next. After selecting the source
clips, the cursor changes to white and the text Render Here appears.
5 Select the area to place your modified clip.
487
If the result requires no other settings (other than tool parameters), then the rendered result appears
immediately. If more settings are required, a full editor appears.
TIP Some tools, such as Paint, allow you to enter the full editor without inputs. In this case, you can
double-click the tool name, and directly apply the Render Here location.
1 From the Tools tab, find and click the button for the tool you want to use.
2 Click the "S" button to the right of the tool name, or click Use Current Setup.
3 Select the area to place your modified clip.
The result is rendered or the editor opens with the clips from the previous session. The most recent
settings are also restored.
488 | Chapter 13 Creating New Sources Using Tools from the Tools Tab
Procedural Compositing with Batch and
Batch FX
14
Batch provides a flow graph environment for procedural compositing with integrated access to almost all Flame effects
and image-processing commands. Click the Batch tab to enter the Batch view. Switch between tabs such as Timeline and
Tools without losing any current work in Batch.
A Batch FX is a setup applied directly to one or more segments on the timeline. Creating a Batch FX takes a selection of
timeline segments into a Batch flow graph environment for procedural compositing. A Batch FX node can be edited and
reordered without affecting anything else in the pipeline.
Use the Batch processing environment to assemble a process tree of clips and nodes, where the result of each operation
serves as the source for the next one. A Batch pipeline is never fixed, giving the flexibility to reorder and edit nodes as
necessary to achieve an effect.
Use the bottom tabs to switch between the Desktop, Timeline, and Batch without losing work. Add clips to Batch from
the Media panel or use the Read File node within Batch to bring in clips from anywhere on the network. Clips containing
stereo tracks can be brought in as well as clips of any resolution and bit depth. Note that some nodes require all source
clips to be of the same resolution and bit depth. Clip settings can be accessed directly from Batch.
■ The default viewing layout for Batch and Batch FX is a 1-Up view displaying the schematic containing the clips in the
schematic reel and the process tree. Use the Layout settings under the viewport to change the layout, or return to this
default view. In Batch FX, the default layout can be changed to 2-Up in the Timeline FX / BFX section of the Preferences
menu, with the schematic displayed on the left, and the result on the right.
■ To change the mode of the selected viewport, using the View Mode box in the toolbar below. If the selected node has
its own context-specific views (such as the Master Keyer and Action nodes), these options will also appear.
■ The bottom portion of the Batch or Batch FX view displays the nodes that can be added to the process tree. This bottom
area can also display the menu for the selected node in the schematic view. To switch between the node view and
selected menu view, use the FX Nodes button located at the bottom left.
Accessing Batch
The Batch compositing environment can be quickly accessed at any time directly from the Editing panel.
To access Batch:
489
2 Add clips and nodes to the Batch schematic in order to build process trees and create effects.
Switching between tabs such as to Timeline or Tools does not discard any work in Batch. Batch clips
can be opened as timeline sequences by right-clicking the clip node in the Batch schematic and selecting
Open As Sequence.
NOTE Switching between tabs such as to Timeline or Tools does not discard any work in Batch. Batch clips can
be opened as timeline sequences by right-clicking the clip node in the Batch schematic and selecting Open As
Sequence.
Imported media is stored in the Media panel in one or more of the following folders:
■ Schematic Reels
■ Batch Shelf
■ Libraries
In each Batch, there are three Schematic reels, one Batch Shelf, and one Default Library created by default.
This can be changed by editing the Default Reels Number fields in the User Interface Preferences (page 1890).
A Batch Renders reel is also provided under Batch Shelf as the initial destination for any rendered clips.
TIP Use drag and drop to quickly move media: Drag media from anywhere in the Media panel or library to another
folder to create a copy. Drag from the Media panel to the schematic to add a clip to the top reel. Drag a clip onto
the Batch icon to create a new reel with the clip's name.
Creating Batch FX
To apply Batch FX on a timeline segment:
1 Select one or more video segments on the sequence on which to apply Batch FX.
2 Click the FX button.
3 Select one of the following options and click Create Batch FX to enter Batch FX view:
Select: To:
No Option Enter Batch FX with a single timeline segment. Any existing Timeline FX will be discarded.
Selection As Clip Enter Batch FX with any existing Timeline FX converted into a single Batch FX clip. If required,
click Explode FX in the Clip Settings menu to explode all Timeline FX in the clip into a process
tree.
Selection As Flow- Enter Batch FX with existing Timeline FX converted to a Batch FX pipeline. The Batch FX view
graph recreates the timeline as a flowgraph with effects nodes representing each Timeline FX (and
Comp node). In some cases, MUX nodes can be used to help connect multiple RGBA inputs
to the outputs.
Selection As 3D Enter Batch FX with existing Timeline FX converted into a 3D composition Batch FX pipeline
Comp with an Action node. The Batch FX view recreates the timeline as a flowgraph with effects
nodes representing each Timeline FX, and outputting to an Action node. In some cases, MUX
nodes can be used to help connect multiple RGBA inputs to the outputs.
Add Adjustment Create a gap on a track above the selected segment, and enter Batch FX with the segment
Segment clip designated as a Back clip. The adjustment segment uses the top media of the tracks below
the timeline gap as the input. Inside Batch FX, the input is called the Back Clip. For example,
if three tracks are composited together and an adjustment segment is added on top, the image
available through the Back Clip is only the output of the third track.
After exiting Batch FX, click Enter Editor in the FX pipeline to re-enter it or alternatively double-click the
BFX icon on the segment or pipeline.
1 In the BFX schematic, select the clip within which you want to embed a BFX level.
2 Select the Timeline tab.
3 Create a BFX on the Timeline segment.
NOTE The Media panel always displays the BFX branch from the selected clip to its top-level parent. But clips
on the same level, that aren’t branched to the same parent BFX as the current selection, will not be shown.
At any point, you can go into any BFX level and make changes, without disrupting the BFX structure.
In this example, we assume that we have four BFX levels and that we want to edit the BFX on level 4.
TIP You can display your BFX clip in the BFX Timeline tab and make timing adjustments, add TimelineFX,
etc.
You can close a BFX level at any point, by clicking the “X”, to the right of the BFX level, in the Media panel.
Nodes have one or more colour-coded input and output points (also called tabs) used for connecting to clips
and to other nodes. All nodes have an output tab. For example, a Colour Correct node can accept a Front,
Matte, and Back connection, whereas an Auto Matte node accepts a Front input.
When adding nodes, connect them to the process tree by linking the result from one node and using it as
a source (front, matte, or back) for the next node in the process tree. Nodes can also be connected by linking
backward from the source of one node to the output of another (to reuse a node’s output).
To connect nodes, use the coloured tabs on the node's left side known as source tabs. The colours of the
source tabs represent different input types. The yellow tab on the right side of the node is called the Result
tab (for some nodes, a blue tab is also present on the right side, this is the OutMatte tab). Use the Result tab
of a node to connect its result to the input tab of another node.
This is a typical node tab configuration. Some nodes have specific tabs related to their function (such as the
forward vector tab on the Pixel Spread node).
(a) Matte tab (b) Back tab (c) Front tab (d) Warning tab (e) Result tab
TIP If Auto Display of tooltips is enabled in the Preferences menu (Preferences ➤ User Interface ➤ Tooltips),
hover over a tab to see the name of the tab.
Light Blue Misc Miscellaneous tab specific to certain nodes, such as a Z-Depth or For-
ward Vector input.
Blue Output Matte Connects the output matte of a node to other nodes.
Red circle Warning Warns that clip input to this node is unconnected or is missing media,
or clips parented to this node do not share the same resolution or a
compatible bit-depth. See Adding Clips to the Process Tree (page 507).
The available source tabs depend on the node. If the node accepts a front, back, and matte clip, all coloured
source tabs are available. If the node only accepts a front clip, the red source tab is available and the other
source tabs are grey. When a source tab or Result tab is not connected to a clip or to another node, the
coloured tabs are dimmed.
TIP Right-click any node in the schematic to reveal a contextual menu of operations available for that type of
node.
Blend Nodes
Colour Blend (CBlend) and Matte Blend (MBlend) nodes look and behave differently from other Batch or
Batch FX nodes.
A blend node is essentially a container that you can use to create a “mini-composite” at different parts of
the pipeline. CBlend and MBlend nodes each comprise one or more layers that include the components
needed for a composite: a front, matte, and back component. These components are referred to as pipes,
and they may contain as many nodes as needed to create the desired image.
NOTE When used in Batch or Batch FX, bypassing pipes is not supported.
Blend nodes are used extensively in the Modular Keyer. See Using Blend Nodes (page 1005) for more
information.
The following rules are applied to all output sockets other than the Matte:
■ If there is only one input: forward the Colour Space from that input.
■ If there are multiple inputs: forward the first input that is not in the Data family.
■ If there are multiple inputs: forward the first input if all inputs are in the Data family.
NOTE --batchDuration has precedence over --batchEnd if both are defined (They should not be).
TIP When adding nodes to the schematic in Batch or Batch FX, the resolution of a clip can be applied to a specific
node using a keyboard shortcut. To do this, select the node to resize and T+Click the clip whose resolution is
to be applied. With Render nodes, the Tape/Reel/Source name is also copied.
The node is inserted, while retaining the input and output connections.
1 Use the Autolink feature by pressing Shift and dragging a node to another node so their tabs touch.
Action: Press and hold Shift while dragging the Negative node to the Keyer node
Result: The Keyer output is the front for the Negative node
1 To distinguish between the various source tabs, use the Advanced Autolink feature by pressing Alt
repeatedly while still holding Shift to extend a similarly coloured arm from each source tab (starting
with the topmost source tab, and cycling counter-clockwise with each press of Alt). The name of the
tab is also displayed above the node. Touch the extended arm to the tab to be connected.
Approaching a node with multiple outputs, such as a multi-channel clip imported with a Read File
node, automatically expands that node.
Any connections made using this method will be retained by releasing the node over an existing
connection as it turns orange.
1 Click the Result tab of a node whose result to be used and drag the cursor to one of the source tabs of
the next node in the process tree.
An arrowed line is drawn from the node to the source tab. For example, click the Result tab of the
Colour Correct node and drag the cursor to the front tab of the Flip node to flip the result of the
colour-corrected clip.
TIP When working with a large Batch or Batch FX flow graph, you can switch to a 2-Up view with the
schematic displayed in both viewports, then drag and connect nodes from one viewport to the other.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag a linked node away from the link.
The node is disconnected and connections between existing nodes are reformed.
1 Drag the cursor across the connecting line between a clip and a node or between two nodes.
The arrowed line is cut and the source tab is dimmed.
2 Cut multiple connections in a single stroke by clicking and dragging over several connecting lines in
the schematic.
To delete a node:
TIP Press the keyboard shortcut D to quickly access the Delete tool.
NOTE Break Link points are automatically converted into Elbow nodes when an older setup is loaded.
1 In the Node bin or schematic, hover over the node type that you want to search for, and press Win+F
(this is mapped to Find Node(s) in Batch / MK Schematic in the keyboard shortcut editor).
All nodes of the selected type are highlighted in the schematic.
TIP Enable the Display Navigator from the View menu to help you see the complete schematic. This also
displays all of the highlighted search results.
NOTE These following keyboard shortcuts are based on the default User Profile for the application, and may
change if you select a different profile at startup or during a session, in the Project and User Settings window.
To: Do this:
Select multiple nodes. Press Ctrl, then click and drag a rectangular selection around the nodes.
Deselect everything. Click on an empty space in the schematic, or press Ctrl and click-drag on
an empty space in the schematic.
Add or remove nodes from a selection. Press Ctrl and click the nodes you want to add or remove.
Select all the nodes before the current node Press Alt and click the node.
(ascendants).
Select all the nodes after the current node Press Alt+Spacebar and click the node.
(descendants).
Remove a branch from a selection. Press Ctrl+Alt and click the branch.
Add or remove the branch after a node (descend- Press Ctrl+Alt+spacebar and click the node.
ants) to the selection.
Select the entire tree. Press Alt+Win+Spacebar and click any node in the tree.
Add or remove a tree to or from the selection. Press Ctrl+Alt+Win+Spacebar and click a node in the tree.
Move only one node in a selection. Press Shift and move the node in the selection.
1 Drag the note icon from the All Nodes bin to the schematic.
1 In the schematic, select the clip, node, or group to which you want to add the note.
2 Press Shift+V.
The Note text editor appears.
3 Type text into the Note field.
4 Click the upper-left corner of the text editor to close the editor. The note icon appears to the right of
the clip, node, or group.
1 Use one of the following commands with the cursor over the note (for freeform notes), or over a clip,
node, or group that has a note.
Press: To:
1 In the schematic, select the node whose input you want to bypass.
2 Enable Bypass.
The Bypass box becomes active.
3 Select the clip that you want to pass as the input to the next node from the Bypass box.
NOTE The Flip node, which was selected in step 1 of this example, has input tabs for a front source. Therefore
Front is the only option in the Bypass box.
The output tab of the bypass node changes colour. In the following example, the tab turns red indicating
that the Front input is passed to the next node in the tree. As well “(Bypass)” is added to the node
name.
To unbypass nodes:
Once a Compass node is added to the schematic, the naming field, in its header, is immediately activated.
You can rename a Compass node by clicking on the selected item name within the Compass menu table.
Compass nodes can be resized by selecting a corner or an edge of the box and dragging to the desired size.
You can frame a Compass to the center of the schematic by selecting it in the Compass menu table and
clicking the Frame button, on the bottom left. This is also achieved by double-clicking a Compass node
entry in the Compass menu table.
You can Copy, Cut, Paste, Duplicate or Delete a Compass, from the contextual menu. However, it is not
possible to save or load a Compass setup.
Keyboard Shortcuts
■ You can move the Compass away from the nodes included in it using the "Enable Smart Extract of Nodes
and Tabs" keyboard shortcut.
■ You can navigate between Compasses using the Find in Schematic function (Meta + F) and the Select
Previous / Next Node keyboard shortcuts.
NOTE The Import node is one method to add media to Batch or Batch FX. Using the Desk and Media Panel nodes,
as well as dragging a clip from the Media Panel: these are all different methods that result in the same type of clip
node.
1 Select one or more clips from a reel or library in the Media panel.
2 Drag the clips into the Batch or Batch FX schematic.
The clips are now available as a clip node to use in the process tree.
Once a clip is present in the Batch or Batch FX schematic, connect its output tab to other nodes in the same
manner as connecting nodes to nodes. The same clip can be connected to multiple nodes in the process
tree.
Using the Media Panel, Desktop, and Import nodes from the I/O node bin are other methods to add a clip
node to the process tree.
The right-click contextual menu of a schematic clip also offers many options, such as Open or Open As
Sequence.
To replace a clip:
1 Drag a clip from the Media panel into the Batch or Batch FX schematic.
2 Release the clip on top of an existing schematic clip, once you see a replace icon.
The clip is replaced.
TIP If the clip proxy is black after replacing, right-click the clip and select Reset to reset the timing offset of
the clip.
Alternatively, press Shift and double-click a selected clip in the schematic to open the Desktop in Clip
Select mode, where a new clip can be selected to replace the Batch or Batch FX clip.
About Adaptors
Because the Batch or Batch FX environment exclusively supports 8-bit or 16-bit fp media, 10 and 12-bit
media needs to be converted to 16-bit fp. While this can be done manually through the Resize or the LUT
Editor, you can apply Adaptors, which automatically apply the proper bit depth conversion(s), when you
bring media into Batch or Batch FX. This greatly reduces the number of mismatches in Batch or Batch FX
(red dots on nodes), without the need to manually convert anything.
Enable Show Adaptors in the Batch or Batch FX preferences menu. You can see that an adaptor has been
applied by an arrow inside two smaller arrows on the link between nodes in the schematic. By hovering
over the adaptor, the applied conversion is displayed in a text box, much in the same way as tooltips (i.e.
[12-bit u -> 16-bit fp]).
Clip Information
Specify the clip information to be displayed under clips in the schematic by selecting an option from the
Thumbnails area of the User Interface Preferences (page 1890):
Select: To display:
Clip Name Only button Enable to display only the name of clips on thumbnails.
Secondary Information box Select the secondary clip information displayed on thumbnails. The
options are: No Secondary Information, Record Timecode, and
Source Timecode.
Resolution Information box Select the clip resolution information displayed on thumbnails. The
options are: No Resolution Information, Resolution, Frame rate, and
Resolution & Frame rate.
Render Effects button Enable to display rendered frames in thumbnails of clips with applied
but unrendered effects. Disable to display "Unrendered" in the
thumbnails of such clips.
The colour of the clip name in the schematic shows where the particular clip originated.
Colour: Origin:
The following visual cues show the type of clip and its status:
(A) symbol and Audio Context outline Indicates that an audio context is set for the clip or node. In addition
to the A, the clip has a dotted purple outline. The letter A is followed by the number of the context, for
example, A2 is the second Audio context.
(C) symbol and Context outline Indicates that a context is set for this clip or node. In addition to the C,
the clip has a dotted green outline. The letter C is followed by the number of the context, for example, C1
is the first video context.
LUT symbol Indicates that a LUT was applied to the clip. The first and second number represent the source
and destination bit depths, for example [8 -> 16f].
(BFX) symbol Indicates that a Batch FX was applied to a timeline made up of one segment, or the clip was
converted as a Create BFX. The clip can be expanded.
(bfx) symbol Indicates that a Batch FX was applied to a timeline made up of multiple segments. Setups of
clips containing more than one segment cannot be expanded.
Clip Settings
■ Pressing Shift and double-clicking a clip in the schematic opens the workspace in Clip Select mode,
where you can select a new clip to replace the Batch or Batch FX clip.
■ In Batch, you can also double-click a clip in the schematic to switch to the Timeline with the selected
clip available as a source clip. You can apply any timeline editing operation on your clip, and when you
return to Batch, your clip is updated.
■ With a clip selected in the schematic, press Shift+C to expand the node and display its channels in the
schematic.
The following settings are available when selecting a clip in the schematic. Depending on the type of clip
selected, some of the settings may differ. You can also right-click a clip node in the schematic to reveal a
contextual menu of operations, such as opening the clip as a timeline sequence, or render options.
Basic Settings
Basic button Opens the Basic menu where you set timeline and timewarp options, control clip locking and
slipping, and define how missing media is displayed and rendered.
Head Media box Select to substitute missing media at the beginning of a clip with black frames, the first
frame of media, or leave as is.
Gap Media box Select to substitute missing media in gaps with black frames or leave as is.
Tail Media box Select to substitute missing media at the end of a clip with black frames, the last frame of
media, or leave as is.
Offset field Displays the number of frames by which selected clips and/or segments are offset. This same
setting can be found in the Timing View as well as the Clip Settings. Editable.
Lock Frame button Enable to display the current frame for the duration of the clip.
Edit BFX button Click to access the next level of nested BFX, making it available for editing.
Convert to 3D Comp button Click to convert an existing clip to a 3D composition pipeline with an Action
node.
Split Tracks button Click to split a multitrack or stereo clip into individual clips.
Alpha Colour box Select whether to output a white or black alpha of your clip.
Extended Settings
Extended button Opens the Extended menu where you set the channel options, from the channel displayed
in the node proxy to the available outputs.
Version Selection box Select the version of the selected clip. Versions are only available to Open Clip-based
clips. If Original displayed for an Open Clip: only one version is loaded, click to check for new versions. For
any other type of clip: Original is always displayed.
Creation Date field Displays the creation date of the version selected in the Clip Version box. Non-editable.
Colour Space field Displays the colour space of the channel. Non-editable.
Icon field Enable to display the channel in the schematic; disable to hide the channel. The clip must be
expanded (press Shift+C) to view the channels in the schematic. Hiding a channel does not break its link
to a node.
Proxy field Enable to use a particular channel as the clip's proxy in the schematic.
Outputs field Click to display or hide the outputs available for each channel from the clip in the schematic.
Hiding an output does not break its link to a node. There is one output each for RGB and its alpha (if any).
Clip Information
Metadata tab The Metadata tab displays metadata information about the imported media, including but
not limited to: path to the sources, camera settings (RED and ARRI), file creator.
Versions tab The Versions tab lists all the versions available for the selected clip. Available to Open clips
imports with versions.
Resize Settings
Resize settings are not available to multi-channel clips. Use Resize nodes to resize the different channels. Or
display the clip in the Timeline, and open the Pre-Processing options.
Most of the Resize menu is the same as when using the Resize node in Batch or Batch FX. The following
settings are specific to the Resize tab for a clip:
Resize button Opens the Resize menu where you change the size of a clip, as well as its aspect ratio.
Colour Management settings are not available to multi-channel clips. Use Colour Management nodes to
colour manage the different channels. Or display the clip in the Timeline, and open the Pre-Processing
options.
Colour Management button Opens the Colour Management settings for the selected clip.
These settings are available for a Batch FX Back Clip created for a timeline adjustment segment.
Head Media box Select what media is available before the In Point of the adjustment segment. Select
Timeline Level to have the Back Clip read the head media from the segments preceding (and below) the
adjustment segment.
Tail Media box Select what media is available after the Out Point of the adjustment segment. Select Timeline
Level to have the Back Clip read the tail media from the segments following (and below) the adjustment
segment.
1 In the Batch or Batch FX schematic, double-click the Action node and then click Media in the Action
menu.
2 From the Media List box, select New Input.
A Media node is added to the Action node.
Notice that the Media list is empty. Although you have added a Media node to the Action node, you
have not yet added any media.
3 Connect front and matte clips (image clips, or the output of another node in the Batch or Batch FX
process tree) to the red and blue input tabs of the Media node, respectively.
The Media list is updated with the indirect media. Brackets (“[ ]”) around the clip names indicate the
media is indirect.
When you select a Media node in the schematic, the corresponding media in the Media list is
highlighted. Conversely, selecting media in the Media list highlights the corresponding Media node
and the link to the Action node.
NOTE A red dot in the Media node indicates an input resolution mismatch between the front and matte
clips.
1 In the Batch or Batch FX schematic, double-click the Action node and then click Media in the Action
menu.
2 From the Media List box, select New Media.
3 From the workspace, select a front and matte clip to load as media.
1 From the Workspace Media panel, drag a clip to the Action schematic or Media list.
An image node and axis are added to the Action schematic (if Auto Image is selected in the Node Prefs
menu), and the Media list is updated with the front media.
2 To replace the media in an image node, drag a new clip from the workspace Media panel onto an
existing image node in the Action schematic. Release the clip when you see the red replace arrow.
The image is replaced in the schematic, and the Media list is updated with a new entry for the media.
The replaced media remains as a Media list entry in case you are using it elsewhere in your Action
scene.
1 Select the media that you want to convert from the Media list.
2 Click Extract.
A Media node is added to the Batch or Batch FX Action node and the selected media is automatically
connected to the respective input tabs. In the Media list, brackets appear around the media name,
indicating the media is indirect.
TIP You can also parent a back clip to the Action node. Although doing so is not necessary, a parented back clip
node provides a good visual reference for identifying the Action composite in the process tree.
The following example displays indirect media in Action. The swan clip is attached to the Action node as
the back clip, whereas the Corridor clip is attached to an Action media node as the front and matte media.
The tab colours of a multi-output Action node are based on the type of output (for example, yellow for
composite, blue for matte).
TIP To be able to see and connect other nodes to a multiple-output Action node, use the Shift+C keyboard
shortcut to expand or collapse the node.
The number of outputs is determined by the outputs set up in the Output list. See About Rendering Outputs
from Action (page 590).
Once confirmed, the current setup is replaced by the stereo setup and all media is deleted.
NOTE The keyboard shortcuts described below apply to the Flame profile. The names of the shortcuts are
displayed in parenthesis to allow users of other profiles to quickly search for the corresponding keyboard
shortcuts.
Pressing = + click (Set Context) on a selected node displays the Context list menu, with the first
available slot highlighted.
This keyboard shortcut also enables you to select a node output as a Context view, by clicking the output
of the node.
NOTE When all the slots are used, this menu appears, regardless of the input method used, so that you
can select the specific Context you want to overwrite.
Pressing Meta + = + click (Set As Next Available Context) on a selected node assigns it to the first available
Context view in the list.
You can display the context view of your choice, by pressing Space + [the number corresponding to
that Context view : 1 to 0, where 0 represents 10].
You can navigate between the next and previous Context view, using Tab (Previous Context) and Shift
+ Tab (Next Context).
In the Batch, Batch FX and Modular Keyer schematic, you can use the Alt + = (Select All Context Nodes)
keyboard shortcut to highlight all the nodes that are set as Context views. This is similar to the Find function
Meta + F.
You can display any of the set Context views in the Player, from the Timeline. You can select the desired
Context view, by clicking the drop-down arrow on its tab, at the top of the screen. This is possible as long
as the media in the Timeline is present in Batch or Batch FX.
NOTE To display the Current Clip Node or the Current Node in the Viewer, select the view you want to display
from the View box in Batch or Batch FX, on the Timeline Viewer tab, or from the Timeline FX user interface.
NOTE Playback of audio is only available when playing a clip. However, you can scrub audio anytime in Batch or
Batch FX. You can scrub your audio context by using Ctrl (quick scrub) or Shift+Ctrl (real-time scrub) on
any node.
The proxy quality workflow affects the Batch rendering options. There is a Resolution button, in the Basic
menu of the Batch interface, which offers two options:
■ Working Resolution: This tells Batch to render the media at the current working resolution. If the
current working resolution is set to Proxy, Batch renders at proxy resolution. If the current working
resolution is set to Full, Batch renders at full resolution. This is the default option.
■ Full Resolution: This option forces Batch to render at full resolution, regardless of the current working
resolution.
To help organize outputs, Output node can be created using the name of any output socket in the process
tree. With the Output node selected in the schematic, press N and click a node output—the name of the
Output node is updated. To change the Output node name, or if to change the name of the original output
socket, redo the naming process.
Tokens are also available to set default Render node and Write File node names:
■ To define a name for one user, use the Default Render Node Name and Default Write File Node Name
fields located in the Timeline FX / Batch / Batch FX tab of the Preferences panel.
■ To define a name based on specific criteria, use the batchDefaultRenderNodeName and
batchDefaultWriteFileNodeNamepython hooks, located in
/opt/Autodesk/<installed_application>/python/batchHook.py.
Open clip files can be created using a Write File node with Create Clip Data enabled. This enables the ability
to save a copy of the active setup with the exported material, and package exports with the setups that
created them or version the exports.
NOTE An open clip file is an XML file which describes channels, media, and versions. Create open clip files to be
used inside Batch with the Read File node, such as within a context of render passes between Flame and a 3D
application.
Batch can be executed directly from a command shell in order to render complex process trees while the
workstation is not in use, such as overnight. The following command starts Flame for a specified user, and
renders a specified Batch setup:
flame -b batchsetup -U user - J project
Basic Settings
Basic button Opens the Basic menu to set Render Node formatting and destination settings.
Export Format box Select the type of clip rendered by the node. RGB-A sets one red RGB input tab and one
blue matte tab. Stereo sets two RGB input tabs (one for each eye) as well as two blue matte tabs (one for each
eye). Stereo requires a <polarity> token in the Naming field; if there is no <polarity> token, the application
automatically adds it to the name of the exported files.
Export Resolution box Select to render the clip at either full or working resolution. Available only when
proxies are enabled for the project.
These options are also accessible in the Render List tab, in the Resolution column.
Frame rate box Select the frame rate of the output clip.
Storage box Select a 12-bit storage option. Select Packed to save image data so that it requires less space on
the framestore. Select Unpacked to save an image that can be retrieved without an intermediate step. Active
when the Output Depth option is set to 12-bit.
Source Timecode field Displays the source timecode for the output. Editable.
Record Timecode field Displays the record timecode for the output. Editable.
Tape Name field Displays the tape name for the output. Editable.
Renders Destination box Select whether to render the clip to Batch reels, reel groups, or libraries.
Selected Batch Reel box Select an existing Batch reel for the rendered clip or create a new schematic or
shelf reel as the destination.
Create Reel Group button Select an existing reel group for the rendered clip or create a new group as the
destination.
Render Range button Click to output based on the ranges in the To and From fields.
Rendering Option box Select either Foreground or Background Reactor as the rendering engine. This option
is hardware dependent.
For supported systems, select Background Reactor to continue working while effects are being generated.
Include History button Enable to track and update operations applied to the rendered node.
Resize Settings
The Resize settings are the same as when using the Resize node in Batch. Click the Active button to activate
the Resize settings.
The RGB LUT settings are the same as when using the LUT Editor node in Batch. Click the Active button to
activate the RGB LUT settings.
NOTE When rendering to an Open Clip with Clip Version enabled, make sure the frame rate remains the same
between versions: having differing frame rates within one Open Clip is not supported by the format.
Basic button Opens the Basic menu where you set Write File formatting, rendering, and naming settings.
Export Format box Select the type of clip rendered by the node. RGB-A sets one red RGB input tab and one
blue matte tab. Stereo sets two RGB input tabs (one for each eye) as well as two blue matte tabs (one for each
eye). Stereo requires a <polarity> token in the Naming field; if there is no <polarity> token, the application
automatically adds it to the name of the exported files.
Frame rate box Select the frame rate of the output clip.
File Format box Select the file format of the images to export.
File Extension field Select the extension for the file type selected in the File Format box. Editable.
Source Timecode field Displays the source timecode for the output. Editable.
Record Timecode field Displays the record timecode for the output. Editable.
Frame Pad field Displays the padding of the frame ID appended to the file name. "4" indicates that up to
four zeros are prefixed to the file name for each frame; frame 1 is written as 0001, frame 22 as 0022, frame
555 as 0555.
Offset field Displays any timecode offsets that you made in the Render List. For example, if you specify a
timecode of 00:00:00:00 and render from frame 10, the first frame of the render has TC 00:00:00:09.
Transfer Characteristics box Select an option to identify the attributes associated with a particular film or
video format, such as resolution, frame rate, or colour space. Active when File Format is set to DPX.
Compress button Enable to apply compression to the exported file. This results in smaller file size but lower
image quality. Available for Tiff, Sgi, and OpenEXR format types.
JPEG Quality field Displays the degree of quality versus compression for the Jpeg format type. 0 gives the
lowest quality (and highest compression). 100 gives the best quality (but applies no compression). Editable.
Create Clip Data button Enable to create an Open Clip file, which includes extended clip data with the
exported files. Required to create versioned clips.
Include Setup button Enable to include the Batch setup information with the rendered media. This allows
someone accessing the Open Clip file to view and modify the original Batch setup, similar to how you can
edit Clip History.
Clip Versioning box Select Custom Version or Follow Iteration to version the rendered exports with an
Open Clip. The resulting Open Clip has versions accessible through a clip node in Batch, or from the Timeline.
Follow Iteration keeps the version number in sync with Batch's Iteration number. Consider using a <version>
token in the Clip Naming field or the next rendered version will overwrite previously rendered media.
■ No Versioning: No versioning in the created Open Clip.
■ Custom Version: Versioning in the Open Clip, with a version number set by the Version Field. This is
the standard behavior.
■ Follow Iteration: Displays the value of the current Batch Group's Iteration in the Version field. With
Follow Iteration, the Version number always matches the value of the Iteration: iterating the Batch Group
automatically updates the Write File node's version.
Version field Displays the version identifier, which automatically increases at each subsequently rendered
export if Clip Versioning is set to Custom Version. Or set the version value manually. Ctrl+click to display
the next available value. Re-using a previous value overwrites that version with the new export. Editable.
Version Pad field Displays the number of zeroes to left-pad the version number with. Editable.
Render Range button Click to output based on the ranges in the To and From fields.
Name field Displays the name of the exported files. Build a dynamic naming scheme using the Add Token
menu, as well as use any of the characters allowed in a Linux file name. Create folders using the slash ( / )
character. The application always appends the file ID and the extension of the file format selected for the
export. Editable.
Destination Path field Displays where the exported files are created. Also used for Open Clip (Create Clip
Data enabled) and Batch setup (Include Setup enabled). Polarity and Version are automatically added unless
specified in the Name field. Editable with Change Path.
Add Token menu Inserts in the adjacent field the selected token.
Clip Name field Displays the name of the exported Open Clip. Build a dynamic naming scheme using the
Add Token menu, as well as use any of the characters allowed in a Linux file name. Create folders using the
slash ( / ) character. Defaults to the name of the Write File node. Editable.
Setup Name field Displays the name of the exported Batch setup. Build a dynamic naming scheme using
the Add Token menu, as well as use any of the characters allowed in a Linux file name. Create folders using
the slash ( / ) character. Defaults to the name of the Write File node. Editable.
Resize Settings
The Resize settings are the same as when using the Resize node in Batch. Click the Active button to activate
the Resize settings.
The RGB LUT settings are the same as when using the LUT Editor node in Batch. Click the Active button to
activate the RGB LUT settings.
The Matte LUT settings are the same as when you are using the LUT Editor node in Batch. Click the Active
button to activate the Matte LUT settings.
It is possible to define the OpenEXR compression used in the Batch Write File output (when using compressed
OpenEXR target), using the DL_OPENEXR_COMPRESSION environment variable.
NOTE To avoid having to manually define this variable, add this to the .cshrc file located in the home of the
application. To be able to use the modification, you can either open a new shell or source the .cshrc with the
following command: source .cshrc
Nodes box Select whether to activate or deactivate all Render and Write File nodes in the Render List.
List box Select whether to render only visible Render and Write File nodes in the current Render List view,
or include Render and Write File nodes nested in groups.
Process Indicator column Activate individual Render and Write File nodes for processing. Click an indicator
to activate or disable one job at a time.
The arrow in the P column is yellow when a job is active, grey when disabled, and red when there is a
processing error.
Node Name column Displays the name for the processed clip. Click a Node Name field to rename the clip.
Start and End frames columns Specify the range of frames you want rendered in a processed result.
Corresponds to the Range From and To fields in the Render or Write File node settings.
For example, one node could be set to process the first 30 frames of a 60-frame clip, and another node could
process the remaining 30 frames.
NOTE The Start and End fields override the total number of frames in the timebar. For example, if the timebar
shows a 60-frame clip and a node is set to start at frame 20 and end at frame 100, then 80 frames are processed.
Priority column Displays the priority of the jobs to be processed. If two processing nodes are connected to
the same process tree, they have the same priority.
If there is a processing error, for example, if the Render or Write File node is not connected to a process tree,
the job is deactivated and the priority is automatically set to 0.
Script column Attach a script file whose content is executed when the Render or Write File node is finished
rendering. Scripts must have the file extension .bscript.
Click this field to load an existing script from the file browser. See the Script Reference section below for
more information.
Source column Generate your output with a source timecode. Corresponds to the Source Timecode field
in the Render or Write File node settings. To edit the timecode, double-click the field and enter a new value.
Record column Generate your output with a record timecode. Corresponds to the Record Timecode field
in the Render or Write File node settings. To edit the timecode, double-click the field and enter a new value.
FCM column Displays the framecode mode. Change this value using the Frame rate box in the Render or
Write File node settings.
Tape Name column Displays the tape name specified in the Render Node settings. Editable.
Type column Displays the output type of clip to be processed: RGB, RGB-A, or Stereo. Corresponds to the
Export Format box in the Render or Write File node settings.
Resolution column Displays the resolution of the render: working (the current proxy setting) or full. Click
to toggle.
Script Reference
Batch scripts are ASCII files that contain instructions related to a Batch job. They must have the file extension
.bscript for Batch to recognize them. A Batch script is executed after the Render or Write File node to which
the script is associated has finished rendering.
NOTE Use the imgview and movie scripts with the Read File node, and use the listVariables script with the Render
or Write File nodes.
You should consult with your system administrator when creating scripts. Scripts are created using either C
shell, Korn shell, or Perl. Also, Batch scripts must have the proper file access, directory access, and execution
permissions for the files, directories, and applications in the script.
When the script is executed, Flame continues with its own processes and does not wait for the script to
terminate. Flame imposes no restrictions with executing scripts; however, make sure that no one else is using
the system when a script is executed and that the script is approved by your system administrator.
Script variables that you can set are defined in the following table.
Variable Description
BATCH_NODE_NAME Corresponds to the name of the Render or Write File node. This is the same name
that you provide in the Render List Node Name field.
BATCH_FIRST_FRAME Corresponds to the first frame displayed in the Render List for the selected node
name.
BATCH_LAST_FRAME Corresponds to the last frame displayed in the Render List for the selected node
name.
The BFX Output node and Batch FX inherit the timeline segment name by default. To help organize outputs,
an Output node can be automatically named as any output socket in the process tree. To do this, select the
Output node in the schematic, then press N and click any node output: the name of the Output node is
updated accordingly. To change the Output node name or to change the name of the original output socket,
simply redo this naming process.
Renaming the BFX Output node automatically renames the segment at the timeline level as well as the Batch
FX in the Media panel. Renaming the timeline segment similarly updates the BFX Output node and the
Batch FX.
NOTE Once the Batch FX name is explicitly modified, the timeline segment and BFX Output Node names are no
longer automatically updated.
Render and Write File Nodes are also available in BFX. Use the Render or Write File nodes to render portions
of BFX trees (intermediate renders) and generate new media.
NOTE While a Write File or Render node may be connected anywhere in the BFX tree, it is ultimately the BFX
Output node that is patched back into the timeline. This behaviour cannot be bypassed.
Alpha results may be outputted in addition to the RGB result from a BFX Output node. Connect the RGB
result to the front input of the BFX Output node, and the alpha result to the matte input of the BFX Output
node. The output node now displays BFXa. Both results are updated on the timeline.
A Comp Timeline FX is automatically added on output, provided that the Add Comp On Matte Output
button in the Batch FX section of the Preferences menu is enabled (default).
Basic Settings
The settings in the Basic menu are non-editable, and are available so you can see the output resolution and
timecode of the timeline segment you entered Batch FX with.
Width field Displays the width resolution of the output clip. Non-editable.
Height field Displays the height resolution of the output clip. Non-editable.
In Timecode field Displays the in point timecode of the output clip. Non-editable.
Out Timecode field Displays the out point timecode of the output clip. Non-editable.
Duration Timecode field Displays the timecode duration of the output clip. Non-editable.
The Resize settings for the BFX Output node are only available if you attach a clip to the pipeline that is a
different resolution than the original BFX output. In this case, the Resize settings are active, but you are not
able to change the Destination settings (these must remain the same as when you entered BFX from the
timeline).
Similar to the Resize settings, The RGB LUT settings for the BFX Output node are only available if you attach
a clip to the pipeline that is a different resolution than the original BFX output.
When loading a Batch setup, there is a choice of loading (replacing any existing nodes), or load and append.
NOTE A preference exists (in the TL FX / Batch / Batch FX tab) to also save a setup file when saving a Batch
iteration. This preference is enabled by default.
In Batch or Batch FX, specific node setups can be saved and loaded. The node load and save buttons appear
next to the node name field when a node is selected in the schematic.
Batch or Batch FX setups can be renamed directly above the Load and Save buttons.
A Batch or Batch FX setup contains information for the clips used, and the path to the media files each clip
references.
This means that when you restore setup, Flame uses this information to first try and locate each clip in the
Media Panel. If a clip is not available in the Media Panel, then Flame uses the clip's included media path to
locate the media and relink it to the clip.
If either method works, the clip node in the Batch schematic displays the expected media.
If both methods fail, the clip is replaced by a black slate in the schematic.
NOTE This black slate also replaces imported and generated media.
Limitations
■ Cache and proxies are not saved with the Batch or Batch FX setup. Manually cache or proxy the clips in
the restored setup; use the contextual menu on each clip node.
■ For the clips to properly relink to their media, the same media path must be available to the workstation
loading the Batch or Batch FX setup.
Creating Iterations
Default incremental naming conventions can also be set for the entire project. For more information,
see Default Batch Iteration Name in Timeline FX / Batch / Batch FX Preferences (page 1887).
4 Click the Iterate button.
In Batch, a new iteration is created in the Iterations folder of the current Batch Group, with all associated
reels and sources duplicated. The Batch Group in the Media panel shows the corresponding name.
In Batch FX, the iterations are not directly attached to the Batch FX structure. A Batch Iterations library
is created in the Libraries section of the Media panel, and a Batch group containing the iterations is
created for every Batch FX name. Batch FX iterations are also shown when the BFX tab of the Media
panel is selected.
To save a Batch iteration with an associated setup file, first enable Save Setup File in the Timeline FX / BFX
tab of the Preferences menu. The setup file is saved in the default Batch folder ~/batch/flame in a subfolder
called Iterations. Note that these setup files are not managed by Flame. If the iteration is later deleted, the
corresponding setup file will not be deleted automatically.
IMPORTANT Batch iterations are saved in the parent Batch. Clearing Batch also clears existing Batch iterations,
just like clearing reels. Batch iterations and reels are not saved until the Desktop is saved from the menu at the
bottom-right of the screen. Always make sure to save the Desktop in order to save all work.
TIP Alt-click the Iterate button to replace the current iteration without opening a confirmation dialog box.
Restoring an Iteration
Whenever there are multiple iterations available in Batch, the Iterate button displays a blue arrow, allowing
users to toggle between them.
NOTE The Replace option overwrites the current schematic, causing the loss of any unsaved changes in the
current setup.
NOTE Using any of the above methods while in Batch FX only allows you to append to your existing Batch FX
setup.
To create a BFX clip, right-click a node in the schematic, and select Create BFX. A new clip node is created
that includes the selected node and all downstream inputs node to the left. Old nodes can be deleted and
the new BFX clip connect to the pipeline.
Batch FX clips preserve the Batch schematic reel structure in their Batch FX setups.
To improve performance, switch to the Batch or Batch FX Timing view, select a BFX clip in the timeline,
and click Render. Batch or Batch FX Once the complete Batch or Batch FX pipeline is ready to be rendered,
the BFX clip does not need to be re-rendered if unmodified.
Flexibility
Another benefit of using a BFX clip is the flexibility it offers for versioning or re-using a clip. Use the offset
feature in the Timing view to offset the start time of the BFX clip, or even slide or trim the media and
animation keyframes contained within the clip. Created BFX clips reside in the Batch or BFX Sources folder
in the Media panel. The clip can be copied into another folder in the Media Library, and re-used in another
timeline segment or project.
To return a BFX clip to its original separate nodes, right-click the clip, and select Explode BFX. This action
is non-destructive, but does discard any rendering.
Because a BFX clip can be nested inside another BFX clip, the explode operation only explodes to one level.
In the Basic menu for the BFX clip, there is an option to Explode All levels of the clip back to its original
nodes.
To offset clips:
1 To access the Batch or Batch FX Timing view, click the Timing button.
2 Select the clips and/or segments to offset. If you are offsetting all clips in a group, select one clip or
segment in the group and then click Select All Clips in Group. To select all clips on a track, click the
clip proxy to the left of the track.
3 Drag left or right in the Offset field, or enter the number of frames by which to offset the clip.
Offset field Displays the number of frames by which selected clips and/or segments are offset. This same
setting can be found in the Timing View as well as the Clip Settings. Editable.
Filter box Select the type of clips to display in the Timing View.
Select: To display:
Select All Clips in Group button Click to select all clips that are part of a group. First select one clip or
segment in the group.
Timing View Render box Select an option and click to render selected Timing View clips. Also available as
a contextual option when right-clicking a clip node.
Disabled Grey Disables the cache. You can also Alt-click to disable and remove
cached frames for the selected node.
Read and write Yellow Saves and loads data to and from the cache.
Read-only Amber Is shown with a yellow outline. No data can be saved to the cache, but
rendered frames remain stored. Use this mode to prevent the framestore
from getting full.
To cache frames:
1 Specify the frames you want to render and store in cache using the From and To fields.
2 Click Render.
The cached frames are stored in the framestore and added to the cached frame counter.
To turn off the cache and remove cached frames, Alt-click the cache indicator for the selected node.
1 Enable the cache for any nodes or clips whose frames you want to cache.
2 Enable On Render.
3 When you are satisfied with current settings in your process tree, click Render.
The clip is rendered, and all node caches are rendered. While rendering, the message bar displays the
number of frames in the node and the time remaining until the render is complete.
(a) Input connection (b) Proxy window (c) Output connections (d) Group icon
To edit a group:
TIP Instead of editing the group, you can access a single node's menu by selecting the node's name from
the Node List box. Click the Return to Group button to return to the Group List menu.
NOTE Click Ungroup to expand the group of nodes to their pre-grouped positions in the schematic.
(a) Sort Order buttons (b) Enabled icon visibility (c) Disabled UI visibility (d) Enabled input visibility (e) Enabled output
visibility
Use the Group List menu as follows:
Click: To:
Sort Order buttons Move the selected node one position up or down (click the single-arrow buttons). To
move the selected node to the first or last position in a group, click the arrow-line buttons.
Icon Toggle the node's visibility in the group. Icons in the Group List are yellow when the
node is visible and grey when hidden.
UI Toggle the node's availability in the Node List box. Icons in the Group List are yellow
when the node is displayed in the box and grey when hidden.
Proxy Display a proxy of the corresponding node in the proxy window. Icons in the Proxy list
are white when locked and grey when unlocked. Lock an icon when you do not want its
proxy in the window to change as you navigate the Group List.
Inputs Hide or unhide the selected node's input sockets. Sockets are colour-coded with the same
scheme as nodes that are not part of a group. Icons in the Group List have a yellow border
when the input socket is visible.
Outputs Hide or unhide the selected node's output sockets. Sockets are colour-coded with the
same scheme as nodes that are not part of a group. Icons in the Group List have a yellow
border when the output socket is visible.
Collapsed button Enable to collapse the group icon so that only the preview proxy is displayed.
Edit button Click to display the schematic of the group contents, with all other nodes greyed out. To return
to the Group List menu, click EXIT Group.
EXIT Group button Click to return to the Group List menu after editing.
Ungroup button Click to expand the group of nodes to their original positions in the schematic.
Node List box Displays the menu of the selected option. Select List or click the Return to Group button to
return to the Group List menu.
NOTE To mimic nodes, the nodes must be of the same type. For example, you can link between Flip nodes
but not between a Flip node and a Colour Correct node. Some nodes, such as Action or Modular Keyer do
not support the Mimic Link option. In this case, you can see an error message in the message bar.
■ Duplicate: Create another instance of a node or group of nodes within the same Batch or Batch FX
schematic. All node information is duplicated as well.
■ Copy: Copy is similar to Duplicate, except that the selected nodes or group of nodes is copied into the
clipboard, so you can paste exactly where you want in the schematic. An added bonus of using Copy
and Paste instead of Duplicate, is that you can paste a copied node or nodes into a different Batch or
Batch FX schematic. You can even copy a Batch node and paste it into a Batch FX schematic or vice-versa.
1 With Stereo Mode selected, drag a node from the node bin to the schematic.
A stereo group node containing left eye and right eye inputs appears in the schematic.
2 Connect the left and right eye inputs of the stereo group node to the clip node’s left and right eye
outputs, as shown in the following example.
3 Double-click the stereo group node or click Edit in the Group List menu.
The schematic is dimmed except for the two nodes of the same type as the one you dragged from the
node bin. A green-arrowed dotted line indicates that the nodes are linked as mimics.
Duplicating Nodes
To duplicate nodes:
Copying Nodes
To copy nodes:
NOTE The All Nodes and Matchbox tabs cannot be customized or deleted.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node on top of the destination tab.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node to a new location. You can move nodes from one row to another as
well as reorganize nodes within a row.
In the following example, the AutoMatte node is dragged on top of the Degrain node.
2 Release the cursor when it appears where you want the node moved.
If you dragged the node on top of an existing node, the existing node shifts to the right and the moved
node is inserted in its place. In the following example, the AutoMatte node is inserted in the place of
the Degrain node, and the Degrain and Regrain node shift to the right.
To delete a bin:
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the tab to the bottom of the screen.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a delete cursor.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node to the bottom of the screen.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a delete cursor.
To reorder a tab:
To help you quickly access Matchbox effects, a dynamic node bin is available that behaves slightly differently
from the other node bin tabs. Keep in mind the following:
■ The contents of the Matchbox node bin tab is dynamically generated to display all Matchbox shaders
that are housed in a folder of your choice. You can set the folder location in the Shader Paths tab of the
Preference menu. The Default folder selection is the folder where the presets are housed:
opt/Autodesk/presets/<product_version>/matchbox/shaders (.mx or .glsl shaders appear in the node bin). Click
the Browse button to select a different folder location.
TIP You can also set the folder location in the FlameSetup utility, under the Shader Paths tab. By setting the
folder location here, the default path is available for all projects.
■ If new shaders are added to the selected file location, click the Refresh button under the node bin to
refresh the dynamic display.
■ Similar to the All Nodes tab, the Matchbox tab cannot be customized or deleted. Also, you cannot move
a node from the Matchbox tab to a custom node bin or tab.
I/O Bin
Use the nodes in the I/O bin to load clips into Batch or Batch FX or to output rendered clips. Render and
Write File Nodes are available in Batch FX. You can use the Render or Write File nodes to render portions
of your Batch FX trees (intermediate renders) and generate new media.
Node Description
Import Import clips in any supported formats from any available ex-
ternal location .
Media Panel Select and load a clip from the Media Panel. The display set-
tings for this Media Panel are independent from those of the
regular Media Panel.
Especially useful when you are working with a hidden Media
Panel.
MUX The MUX (multiplexer) node is a tool that helps you create
cleaner schematics by allowing you to have multiple RGBA
inputs feeding your outputs. The selection of the active input
can be changed over time, therefore MUX also acts as an an-
imated switcher.
Back Clip The Back clip node enables you to create composites and ef-
fects in Batch FX, when using the Add Adjustment Segment
option from the timeline.
NOTE Use the Import node to import multi-channel clips in Batch or Batch FX. Avoid using the Read File node:
it is there to ensure backward compatibility with previous setups. Also, clip imported through the Read File node
cannot be archived, and do not appear in the Media Panel.
Tools Bin
The Tools bin contains effects and formatting nodes classified by tabs. The All Nodes tab contains all nodes
except the nodes found in the I/O bin. The other tabs in the Tools bin allow you to create and customize
bins.
Some of the nodes in the All Nodes bin are duplicated in other bins according to a preset tab classification.
For example, the Gradient node is found in both the Colour and Comp bins.
The nodes in the Tools bin are listed in alphabetical order from top to bottom of each row. You can customize
any of the bins and preset tabs in the Tools bin except the All Nodes bin.
Enable the Stereo Mode button below the Tools bin to access only stereo nodes (nodes not available as stereo
nodes are greyed out).
User/Project Bin
The User/Project bin contains custom nodes classified by a User tab and a Project tab. Use this bin to save
custom setups per user or project. See Creating Custom Nodes (page 545).
1 Select a custom node from the User or Project bin. If necessary, scroll through the bin to find the node.
2 Drag the node to the schematic, or double-click the node.
The same configuration of nodes and clips that was used to create the custom node appears in the
schematic.
You can use custom nodes as often as you like. Each time you drag a custom node to the schematic, a
new number is appended to its name.
1 Select any of the following from the buttons below the bins.
Select: To:
Load Project Bin or Load User Bin Load custom nodes from another project or user.
NOTE If you load unsupported nodes, the unsupported nodes appear greyed
out when dragged to the schematic.
Save Project Bin or Save User Bin Save the current custom nodes so they can be loaded by another project or
user.
Reset Project Bin or Reset User Bin Delete all custom nodes in the Project or User bin.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node to the bottom of the screen.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a delete cursor.
NOTE Some Batch or Batch FX nodes also have specific preferences related to the functionality of the node. Click
Node Prefs to access the preferences for a selected node.
Rendering Tab
Free Frames field Displays the space remaining on the framestore. Non-editable.
Hardware Anti-aliasing Sample box Select a hardware anti-aliasing sampling level to accelerate edge
anti-aliasing with no performance penalty. Available values are dependent on your graphics card.
32-Bit Graphics button Enable to output in 32-bit precision. This setting can degrade performance as it
uses more memory than 16-bit precision.
Current Frame Cache field Displays the current number of cached frames. Non-editable.
Render Cache button Click to render the cache of selected nodes for the frames defined in the From and
To fields.
From field Displays the lower limit in the range of frames that can be cached. Editable.
To field Displays the upper limit in the range of frames that can be cached. Editable.
Fill with Intermediates button Enable to fill each node's cache with the intermediate clips contained in
the history. If a clip was rendered in proxy mode, the history is not cached.
Preferences Tab
Audio Source box Select the audio context you want to hear when working with another clip. This same
setting appears in the Timing View menu.
Text Log button Enable to save rendering status information in a text file, located in
/opt/Autodesk/project/<project name>/batch/log.
Update Numerics button Enable to update numerics in fields as the timebar is scrubbed.
Show Negative Frame button Enable to displays negative frame numbers in the Current Frame field when
a segment is offset before frame 1. Disable to display only frames from frame 1 onward.
Clip Info box Select what information to display under clip nodes in the schematic. (P) is also displayed
on proxy versions of clips.
Transparency field Displays the transparency of currently unselected nodes in the schematic. Editable.
Auto Parent button Enable to allow Parent and Cut options in the schematic while using the Select edit
mode.
Auto Insert button Enable to automatically insert a node when dragged between two connected nodes.
When disabled, press Shift to auto insert.
Highlight Path button Enable to highlight the path of the currently selected node in the schematic.
Show Indicators button Enable to display certain setting values in the schematic view (under the node)
for some nodes.
Show Adaptors button Enable to display an adaptor icon on the connection between two nodes in the
schematic when an automatic bit-depth conversion is applied.
Update Clip box Choose whether to automatically update all clips or only selected clips.
Action Display Default box Select whether Action nodes in the Batch or Batch FX schematic are collapsed
or expanded by default.
Clear Buffer button Click to clear the Undo buffer of all previous undo operations.
Check for Updated Versions button Checks each imported Read File .clip file to see if it is the latest version,
and updates it if that is not the case. Asks for confirmation before updating the version. Only available when
a Read File node is used to import .clip files in the schematic.
Show Keyframe button Enable to display a blue dot, in the Schematic view, above the nodes that have
keyframe animation applied to them.
Compass Default Colour patch Click to display the Colour Picker, in order to select the default colour of
the Compass node.
Use these settings to temporarily deactivate taxing operations during interactive manipulations. These
settings do not affect the final renders.
Change Node Degradation box Select whether to enable or disable adaptive degradation before clicking
Apply To Selected.
Apply To Selected button Click to set the selected nodes to the chosen option in the Change Node
Degradation box.
The following two settings appear in the Node Prefs menu for specific nodes that support adaptive degradation:
Active button Enable to activate adaptive degradation display settings. Use to prevent slowdowns in displaying
your results when changing supported settings.
Synchronize All button Enable to synchronize all nodes of the same type with the Adaptive Degradation
settings of the current node.
Action Concepts
The following concepts are used throughout the Action topics to describe the workflow and user interface.
Scene The scene is Action's representation of 3D world space. It is where objects are placed and animated.
World space has three directions: X (left/right), Y (up/down), and Z (in/out).
Object An object is any element in a scene. An axis, a camera, a surface, a light, or a model can also be
referred to as an object.
Geometric Object (Models) A 3D geometric object can be something as simple as a cube, sphere, or cone,
or as complex as a character. Although some basic geometric objects are included with Flame, most geometry
is imported from a 3D application such as Maya or 3ds Max. A model is another way to refer to a geometric
object.
3D Models and Text You can import 3ds Max files, FBX format files, Alembic format files, Wavefront files,
Inventor files, and Paint geometry into Action. Also, you can create 3D text with custom beveling.
Camera The camera represents the 'eye' you are using to see the scene. The camera is used to “record” the
scene in Action. By default, the camera consists of two objects: the camera eye and the point of interest (the
coordinates the camera is 'looking' at).
Axis An axis is the element of an object or media that can be manipulated to determine the object's 2D or
3D space, position, and movement.
Schematic The Action schematic is an icon representation of the scene. It shows all the objects in the scene
and their relationship with each other. The Action schematic is different from the Batch or Batch FX schematic
(which is more of a process tree view).
549
Particles Action contains a particle system that can simulate environmental effects such as rain, snow, and
many other user-defined effects.
NOTE Effects that are enabled have already been added to the current Timeline FX pipeline.
3 Enable AC (Action).
4 You can adjust the effect's settings using the quick menu underneath the Timeline FX pipeline. Click
the Editor button if you want to enter the full editor of the effect. Once in a Timeline FX editor, you
can choose which range to display on the timebar (Segment, Media, or Timeline) from the Playback
Options box. The Playback Options box also has options to display audio waveforms and cue marks.
When adding Timeline FX to stereo clips on the timeline, in some cases (such as with the Colour
Warper effect), you are not able to use the quick menu to adjust settings. In this case, simply click the
Editor button to enter the full editor.
Select: To:
Front Back Matte Select source clips from the workspace. The clips are selected in the order front, back,
and then matte.
None Enter Action with no media or back clip. From the Resolution menu that appears, choose
a resolution, width, height, pixel aspect ratio, bit depth, scan mode, and frame depth.
If Action already contains a setup, entering with the None option keeps the objects
present in the scene and creates empty media placeholders in the Media list for each
object.
Press the Alt key when you click the Action button to automatically select the None
option. Press Alt when you select your destination to open Action with all media and
nodes deleted and all parameters (except for resolution) set to default.
Clear All To reset all parameters (except for resolution), delete all nodes and media, and prompt
you to select front, back, and matte clips.
Press the Ctrl+Alt key when you click the Action button to automatically select the
Clear All option.
Although you can use differing resolutions per media, you cannot specify clips of different resolutions
to act as the front and matte clip of media (except for 10-bit, 12-bit, and 12-bit unpacked clips, which
are interchangeable). An error appears in the message bar if the specified clips are not able to be loaded
to the same media.
TIP To standardize some of your clip resolutions, you can resize them before entering .
3 Select the Action front, back, and matte clip. If you selected None from the Input Mode box, proceed
to the next step.
You can press Ctrl to load multiple fronts and mattes. The Ctrl key changes the order of clips to
front and matte of media 1, front and matte of media 2, and so on. The back clip and destination are
selected after the last media is filled or when the Ctrl key is released.
TIP Pay attention to the cursor colours to know which clips you are selecting (front = red cursor, matte =
blue cursor, background = green cursor, and destination = white cursor).
The left side of the Action menu houses a number of buttons that allow you to switch between the various
Action sections and menus. Clicking any of these buttons opens the specific Action section, such as the
Action Bin or Output menu.
Changing Views
You can change the orientation to view a scene from many angles. This can help you set up motion paths,
light sources, and camera angles more easily.
From the View box (on the viewing/layout toolbar under the viewports), select an option to set the view in
the image window. Most of the View box options have keyboard shortcuts displayed in the expanded list.
Some of these keyboard shortcut options are also cycle options. For example, pressing F5 repeatedly cycles
through the animation channels, tracks, and info views.
View Comments
Schematic You can toggle ` (on the Tilde key) to alternate between the Schematic view and the previous view.
Priority Displays the Priority view; you can also display the full Priority Editor menu by clicking the Priority button.
See Changing the Drawing Order with the Priority Editor (page 557).
Media List Displays the Media List view; you can also display the full Media List menu by clicking the Media button.
See Action Media (page 599).
Sources Work- Working views are useful, in that they provide you with the ability to view your scene using a working
ing camera, through which you can experiment without saving anything while preserving your camera setups.
Analyzer Work- When in a Working view, a Reset View button appears at the bottom of the Action menu list so that you
ing can reset any camera movements.
Object Views An Action Object Solo view (F8 view) is available for a number of objects (such as Lights, Projectors, and
GMasks). The Object Solo view allows you to see the scene through the point of view of the selected object,
as if it was a camera. When in Object Solo view, you can use camera manipulation tools available from the
Tools box, such as Dolly, Roll, Tilt, and Orbit.
NOTE You can even use the Object Solo view on a Camera node, allowing you to see the scene through
the point of view of the Camera, without actually making the camera active.
If you create a Group node, you can use the same F8 shortcut, or select Group Schematic, to display the
nodes inside a Group.
Animation Pressing the Animation keyboard shortcut repeatedly allows you to cycle through the animation Channels,
Tracks, and Info views.
Sources Use the keyboard shortcut to cycle through the Sources options of Result, Front, and Matte. See Action
Source Nodes (page 893).
Analyzers Use the keyboard shortcut to switch between the Analyzer 2D and Analyzer 3D views. See Action Analyzer
(page 870).
Inputs This grouping includes Media Front, Media Back, and Media Matte views.
Outputs You can switch to any Render Layer output that you set up in the Output menu. If you have more that one
output, you can use the keyboard shortcut to cycle between the Render Layers outputs. You can also cycle
through selected Render Passes associated with a Render Layer (press 1 to navigate down the list, or press
2 to navigate up the list). See About Rendering Outputs from Action (page 590).
See the next section for information about different viewing modes for outputs.
Track Camera Move the camera lens and look-at Alt + Middle Mouse button Alt + Shift + Pen down
point.
Orbit Rotate the camera lens around the Alt + Left Mouse button Alt + Pen down
look-at point.
Dolly Move the camera lens towards Alt + Right Mouse button Alt + Ctrl + Pen down
(zoom in) or away from (zoom out)
the look-at point.
As with other areas of Flame with viewports, you can use the UI items under the image window on the right
side to zoom and fit viewports. You can also set defaults in Preferences ➤ User Interface ➤ Player &
Viewports. Note that some Action views (such as the schematic and working view) have their own zoom
and pan settings that are not altered by the views that use the common zoom and pan settings.
Framing Views
You can easily frame the schematic or 3D Views to zoom and center on a selected object, or frame the scene
in its entirety.
■ Press Space+F to center the schematic or the 3D View on the selected object.
■ Press Space+A to frame the schematic or the 3D View so it displays every object or node in the scene.
NOTE Enable the Action Setup ➤ Preferences ➤ Working Cam button to automatically switch to the Working
Camera when framing a view. Framing using the Working Camera prevents you from accidentally editing the
rendering camera. Disabling this options ensures you are framing with the active camera.
When viewing the output of your Action scene, you have the option of displaying a 3D View or a Live
Preview. The current view is displayed at the bottom of the viewing panel, when in a result view. Click the
view to switch it, or use the 3 keyboard shortcut to cycle between the two views.
3D View This is the full viewport in screen resolution, and includes items outside of the render area. 3D
View does not display hardware anti-aliasing or any post-processing effects, such as Camera FX, Lens Flares,
Rays, Blooming, and Ambient Occlusion.
displayed at the bottom right corner of the image window as a visual reminder that you are in 3D View.
Live Preview This is the default view. Live Preview displays a WYSIWYG pixel-based view of the render area.
Interactive performance may be better in Live Preview mode, especially when combined with proxy settings.
The Adaptive Degradation (page 586) section of the Action Setup menu also includes a number of options
that may help interactive viewing in Live Preview mode (such as for Motion Blur and Anti-Aliasing).
Some nodes are duplicated in other bins according to a preset tab classification. For example, the Light node
is found in both the Objects and ReLighting tabs.
Nodes are listed in alphabetical order from top to bottom of each row. You can customize any of the bins
and preset tabs except the All Nodes bin.
TIP You can frame and highlight all the nodes starting with the same letter by pressing the key corresponding to
this first letter on your keyboard, while the cursor is sitting over a node bin. For example, pressing "L" while hovering
the cursor above the All Nodes bin automatically highlights Lens Flare, Lens Texture, and Light nodes.
Create custom tabs and populate them with your most commonly used nodes to optimize your workflow.
As well, change the order of the tabs along the top of the bin and rename them to reflect the contents of a
tab.
NOTE The All Nodes, Lightbox, and Matchbox tabs cannot be customized or deleted.
To create a tab:
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node on top of the destination tab.
2 Release the cursor.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node to a new location. You can move nodes from one row to another as
well as reorganize nodes within a row.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a green crosshair at the location where you want the node moved.
If you dragged the node on top of an existing node, the existing node shifts to the right and the moved
node is inserted in its place.
To delete a tab:
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the tab to the bottom of the screen.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a delete cursor.
1 Press Alt+Win and drag the node to the bottom of the screen.
2 Release the cursor when it changes to a delete cursor.
To rename a tab:
To reorder a tab:
NOTE If you load a bin layout containing unsupported nodes, the unsupported nodes do not appear.
To help you quickly access Matchbox and Lightbox effects, dynamic node bins are available for each, that
behave slightly differently from the other node bin tabs. Keep in mind the following:
■ The contents of the Matchbox and Lightbox node bin tabs are dynamically generated to display all
shaders that are housed in a folder of your choice. You can set the folder locations in the Shader Paths
tab of the Preference menu. The Default folder selections are the folders where the presets are housed
(click the Browse button to select a different folder location):
■ For Matchbox: opt/Autodesk/presets/<product version>/matchbox/shaders (.mx or .glsl shaders appear in
the node bin).
■ For Lightbox: opt/Autodesk/presets/<product version>/action/lightbox (.lx shaders appear in the node bin).
TIP You can also set the folder locations in the FlameSetup utility, under the Shader Paths tab. By setting the
folder locations here, the default paths are available for all projects.
■ If new shaders are added to the selected file location, click the Refresh button under the node bin to
refresh the dynamic display.
■ Similar to the All Nodes tab, the Lightbox and Matchbox tabs cannot be customized or deleted. Also,
you cannot move a node from the Matchbox or Lightbox tab to another tab.
To access the Priority Editor, click the Priority button, or swipe the bar at the bottom of the Media or Object
menu. You can also display a larger version of the Priority Editor as a selection from the View box.
You can specify to view the Priority Editor for a type of object, such as Lights Only, or all objects. Each entry
in the Priority Editor indicates the object's name, the order of the object in the stack, and the location of
the object in its branch. There is also a proxy showing what the object looks like in Schematic view.
NOTE If a source node is selected in the schematic, the Priority Editor that is displayed is that of the source node
(the source node name is prepended to the branch name).
The objects in the scene are shown according to z-depth, while still being drawn in the order of their priority:
highest priority at the top of the list to the lowest priority at the bottom. The lowest level object is drawn
first, the second to lowest level object is drawn next, and so on, until the top of the list.
1 From the Priority Editor box, select which type of object to view in the list.
2 In the Priority Editor list, select the object (or multiple objects).
The selected object name is highlighted in yellow, and the corresponding object is selected in the
Action schematic.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the object to the desired position in the stack.
■ Click the Push To Back button to move the selected object one position lower in the stack, or click
the Bring To Front button to move the selected object one position higher in the stack.
NOTE If the Priority Auto Key button is enabled when you move an object in the stack, a keyframe is added
to the timebar.
Grouping Media
Select objects in the Priority Editor and group them to edit or affect several media at once. You can analyse
or Z-Sort groups as you would single media.
Groups are named according to their contents. For example, if a group is created from Image 3 and Image
32, the Group's label will be “Image 2 Image 32”.
It is not possible to add a scene object to an existing group. To do this, you must ungroup the objects, reselect
those you want to include in the group, and click Group.
1 Select multiple scene objects in the Priority Editor using either Alt-click for individual objects or
Shift-click to select a range.
2 Click Group in the Priority Editor menu.
Media is minimized to a single line in the Priority Editor. To expand the group and view its contents,
click the arrow to the left of the group. Group contents can be reordered within the group.
Shadow Mix, like Z-buffer, arranges objects according to their distance from the camera eye. Use Shadow
Mix so that each shadow is rendered in the correct Z order with its corresponding surface.
Analyze button Click to analyze the entire scene for changes in rendering priority.
Z-Sort button Click to analyze the current frame for changes in rendering priority.
Push To Back button Click to move the selected object one position lower in the stack, behind the next
lower object.
Undo button Undoes the last Priority Editor operation, except for Z-Sort or Analyze.
Use Action's Undo List to view a list of recent operations and revert to a prior state. Select an item in the list
to return to that state. All actions that occurred after the selected item are undone.
Group button Click to create groups of selected media (use this to analyze, Z-Sort, or manage several lines
of media at once). See Grouping Media (page 558).
NOTE A mark indicates when a change in priority occurs. If you copy and paste a mark that does not change the
priority, no mark appears on the timebar.
Reset box Select whether to reset priority information for the current frame or for all frames.
Camera Animates the camera position and point of interest. It also contains channels for animating camera
roll, field of view, and the near and far clipping planes.
When Free Camera is selected, the point of interest channels are replaced by rotation channels in the Channel
Editor.
Media Animates media properties such as blur, crop, shadow softness. A Media folder is listed for each media
in the scene.
Axis Animates axis properties such as position, rotation, scaling, and shearing.
Image, Bilinear, Perspective, or Extended bicubic Animates surface properties such as material, offset,
and displacement. The Material folder contains a shininess channel and folders for the specular highlight,
diffuse, and ambient lighting.
Light Animates light properties such as intensity, falloff, spread, position, rotation, and colour.
TIP Selecting nodes in the schematic will automatically select the associated channels in the Channel Editor.
Most of the settings in the Animation menu are standard for all tools that support animation, but there are
a few animation settings specific to Action, available from any Action menu (on the right side).
Auto Key button Enable to set a keyframe automatically each time you change a value at any frame.
(a) Axis object is the parent of axis 4 and poly1 (b) 3D model (c) Light source (d) Diffuse texture applied to the 3D
model (e) Drop shadow of bilinear1
Here are some hints when working in the schematic with some of the various node types.
Surface Nodes When you add a surface node to the schematic, the node name is displayed with a number
in parentheses. The number indicates the media applied to the surface. For example, a bilinear object labeled
(1) shows that the bilinear uses the clips from Media 1.
When the resolution and colour space information of the surface is blue, that surface's colour space doesn't
match Action's colour space. See Colour Management in Action (page 576).
For more information on the relationship between media and surfaces, see Adding Surfaces (page 616).
Shadow and Texture Nodes Shadow and texture nodes each display a single number in parentheses beside
the name that indicates the media used for the shadow or texture. For example, a shadow labeled (2) shows
that the shadow uses the matte from Media 2.
Source Nodes Source nodes are used as part of an advanced schematic structure that separates the media's
matte and front so that each clip can be animated individually. You can also use sources to create complex
compositing effects such as nesting.
TIP Adding many nodes and connections can quickly make for a disorganized schematic. To solve this, press
Alt+T to clean up the schematic.
Node Settings
Use these settings when working with Action nodes in the schematic.
Object Node Name field Displays the selected object node name. Editable.
The right side of Action also includes other settings to help you work with nodes in the schematic.
Solo button Enable to solo an object or a branch (object and its children), depending on what is selected
in the Selection Mode box. See Soloing Objects (page 572).
Hide button Click to hide an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what is selected
in the Selection Mode box.
Duplicate button Click to duplicate an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what
is selected in the Selection Mode box.
Delete button Click to delete an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what is
selected in the Selection Mode box.
Clear All button Available in the Action Setup menu. Resets all parameters, and deletes nodes and media
as well. Press Alt to bypass confirmation
Reset All button Available in the Action Setup menu. Resets all parameters but does not delete nodes or
media. Press Alt to bypass confirmation.
The Axis menu of the selected axis appears on the left side of the Object menu, and a limited number of the
children objects' menus appear on the right side of the Object menu. The children objects are identified by
scanning the hierarchy of the schematic from top-to-bottom (starting at the selected axis). The hierarchical
scanning stops for any given branch when a non-axis object is encountered.
The order of tabs is determined on a per branch basis; that is, all of the tabs of one branch are listed before
moving to another branch, starting with the highest levels in the parenting hierarchy (lowest index levels).
For example, in the following schematic, Axis 1 is selected.
The tabs in the Object menu appear as follows. The image1 tab appears in light blue to signify that multiple
objects are connected down to it. Use the tabs to switch between menus within the Object menu. The Camera
tab appears in orange as the first tab on the right side of the Object menu, and is exempt from the tab
population rules.
NOTE If there are more than five tabs on either side of the Object menu, use the arrows beside the tab names to
navigate to the desired tab.
These objects include generators, bouncers, deformations, surfaces, texture maps, shadows, geometries, and
3D text. When one of these objects is selected in the schematic, an ascending (bottom-to-top) scanning of
branches is performed. The hierarchical scanning stops for any given branch when an axis or object with
axis attributes is encountered.
The menu of the selected object appears on the right side of the Object menu, and a limited number of the
parent objects' menus appear on the left side of the Object menu.
For example, in the following schematic, Image 1 is selected.
These types of objects include lights, animators, projectors, and cameras. These objects trigger a different
scanning behaviour depending on their position within the schematic hierarchy. If the selected object is
the first of its branch (top of the hierarchy), it inherits the tab population rules of an axis, that is, descending
branch scanning. If the selected object is not the top object of its branch, it inherits the tab population rules
of other objects, that is, ascending branch scanning.
For example, in the following schematic, light 1 is selected.
The tabs in the Object menu appear as follows. The image1 tab appears in light blue to signify that multiple
objects are connected down to it. Use the tabs to switch between menus within the Object menu.
By default, selected objects are highlighted in the Action scene. Use the Action Preferences ➤ Preferences
➤ Selection Highlight box (keyboard shortcut Space+I) to change this to wireframe or bounding box.
You can select multiple nodes to change some of the settings in the Object menu for all objects of the same
type.
Objects that support multiple selection and changing of field settings are axes, images, shadows, and lights.
For example, in the following schematic, you can select all of the nodes.
In the Object menu, you can relatively change any of the available fields. For example, if the X Position for
Axis1 and Axis2 was originally 100, and for Axis3 was 200, and you drag the X Position slider under the
Mult-axes tab to 50, Axis1 and Axis2 are now set to 150 and Axis3 is set to 250.
Because the field values for individual objects can be different, the values in the multiple selected fields
display as default values in the Object menu. When you select an individual object and view its Object
menu, you can see the true field values.
TIP Switch between multiple selection mode and displaying the individual node settings with Space+M.
To create a branch:
Any transformations applied to axis2 are applied to axis1 and its surface (image1). If axis1 has any
transformations, they are added to the transformations from axis2. For example, if axis2 is set to 500,
100, 0 and axis1 is set to -50, 20, -30, the positions are accumulated and applied to the surface. In this
case, Image1 is positioned at 450, 120, -30.
TIP You can override the transformations passed from a parent to a child by enabling the Free button in the
Axis menu.
All of the settings applied to the original object are automatically applied to the linked object. Once objects
are linked, any settings applied to either object are applied to both. When linking different map types, only
the settings found in the Texture tab are mimicked.
The originating object can link to multiple objects, but only one object can be the originating link.
NOTE To remove the link between mimicked objects, drag the cursor across the green line that joins the two
objects. Each object keeps the settings that were applied while they were linked.
To duplicate objects:
Copying Objects
To copy objects:
1 Make sure that Auto Key is enabled, and move to the frame where you want to apply the look-at
connection.
2 Select Look At in the Tools box.
3 In the schematic, drag from an object with axis characteristics to another object with axis characteristics.
The selected objects are connected by an orange dotted line with an arrow.
4 To delete a look-at link, make sure that Look At is selected in the Tools box, and return to the frame
where the link is active (orange dotted line), then swipe through the line.
5 If an Axis node is a look-at parent, you can set which axis is pointed to the look-at child object, in the
Axis menu.
You can lock the selection to the currently selected nodes. Locking a node selection ensures you can only
edit and manipulate that selection and nothing else.
Alt-Space-L toggles between selection lock and unlock.
Use the Solo button to hide all other objects except the selected object. Using Solo is useful for identifying
an object in a scene with many objects, without having to hide all of the other objects.
To solo an object:
TIP You can leave Solo enabled and select different objects in the schematic to view each object separately.
To solo a branch:
1 In the schematic, select the parent of the branch that you want to solo.
2 From the Selection Mode box, choose Branch.
3 Enable Solo (on the right side of the Action menu).
All other objects in the scene are hidden, regardless of whether they are set to Hide or not. When Solo
is disabled, the Hide settings are restored.
Hiding Objects
You can temporarily hide an object or objects in the schematic to see different results, for example.
Grouping Objects
You can collapse any collection of nodes in the schematic into a group to reduce clutter. The result is a
cleaner schematic, but you can also quickly edit the contents of the group, or even add nodes inside the
group.
To create a group:
1 Select objects in the Action schematic. You can press Ctrl and drag to multi-select. Press Ctrl+Shift
and click to add or remove items from a multi-selection.
2 Click Group, or right-click the selection, and choose Group to collapse the selected objects into a group.
A blue group node appears in the schematic to represent the entire group, and connections are
maintained outside of the group.
3 To uncollapse the group, click Ungroup in the Group node menu, or right-click the Group node and
select Ungroup.
NOTE You can not create a group within a group, and groups created in the Schematic view are not related to
groups created in the Priority Editor.
TIP Set the Icons box to Group Off to hide the icons of objects contained within Group nodes. This can help
unclutter the Action schematic. The Icons box is displayed below the Action viewports.
You can easily edit an Action group using the Group Schematic view.
You can access the Group Schematic view using one of these three methods:
■ Right-click on a Group node and select Edit Group from the contextual menu.
■ Double-click a Group node.
■ With the Group node selected, press F8 or select Action Object ➤ Group Schematic from the View
box.
The Group Schematic view displays the contents of the group framed in the image window, with all other
nodes dimmed.
Once you in Group Schematic view, you can edit or move any node (even the dimmed nodes). You can add
nodes to the Group Schematic, and they then become part of the group. You can also add nodes into the
regular Action schematic, and see them "live" as dimmed nodes in the Group Schematic.
TIP Use a 2-up view with the regular Action schematic in one view and the Group Schematic in the other. In this
case, you can see how adding nodes inside or outside of the group affects your Action scene.
You can perform certain connections to a Group node which are automatically done on all compatible
nodes found inside of it. Supported connection are:
■ Parent Axis: Connects to all top Axis.
■ Lighting link: Connects to all Geometry, Surface, 3D Text, and 3D Shape objects.
■ GMask link: Connects to all Geometry, Surface, 3D Text, and 3D Shape objects.
■ Child Material: Connects to all Geometry, Surface, 3D Text, and 3D Shape objects.
■ Child Texture map: Connects to all Geometry, Surface, 3D Text, and 3D Shape objects.
■ Child Substance: On initial creation, does a lighting link and a Material connection to all Geometry,
Surface, 3D Text, and 3D Shape objects.
NOTE For more information on the overall workflow of Colour Management in Flame, see Colour Management
(page 1693).
In the Action, the colour space of an image is displayed alongside the resolution information for that image.
If the colour space of an image doesn't match Action's colour space, the resolution and colour space are
displayed in blue. To display the resolution and colour space of an image in the Action schematic, use Node
Prefs ➤ Preferences ➤ Schematic ➤ Display Information box.
You can set the default Action colour space in Colour Management Preferences (page 1882).
In the Action setup menu Rendering tab, use the Colour Management settings to set the default behaviour
of Action:
Active button Enables Colour Management in Action. When enabled, imported media located in the Read
File menu of a texture map (or of a Substance or Lightbox effect) using the Scene Linear option are affected.
This option cannot be enabled when the connected Back media uses a non-working Action colour space, or
when an unsupported colour space is displayed in the Colour Space field.
Working Colour Space box Select whether to use the colour space defined by the backplate, or select User
Defined to set a colour space from the drop-down list below. This also controls the tagged colour space of
non-data outputs.
User Defined Working Colour Space box Select a working colour space for imported media in Action.
Available when User Defined is selected in the Action Colour Space Mode box. This also controls the tagged
colour space of non-data outputs.
When importing through the Import node (3D models in FBX or 3DStudio formats, and Photoshop PSD
files), or editing the Read File menu of a texture map, the following options are available if Colour
Management is active:
Select: To:
Auto Convert Convert content using the media file's metadata (such as OpenEXR), using a rule, or
by manually selecting the Input Colour Space and the Working Space.
Auto Convert allows you to set the media to any Working Space of your liking and
does not change if you later switch to Action Working.
Tag Only Tag content with one of the various colour spaces available in the list, using media
file metadata, or using a user-defined colour space. Tagged media is not converted
to the destination colour space. Flame displays it in the destination colour space for
viewing purposes. The original media remains in its original format and colour space.
Convert to Action Defer the choice of the working colour space to the Action Setup menu Colour Man-
agement settings. This allows you to manage the working colour space of every media
imported with Convert to Action from the Action preferences.
Input Colour Space box Select the input colour space of your media.
Working Space box Select the destination colour space of your media.
Rendering Tab
Certain settings in this menu, such as the Resolution and Over Scan settings, are unavailable if you accessed
Action from the timeline.
You can set the rendering resolution of clips that are output in Action. For example, if you are working in
an NTSC 8-bit project, the default output is NTSC 8 bits. However, if you want to change the output resolution
to HD (1920x1080), use the Resolution menu to change the values so the final outcome will be 1920x1080.
You can choose between progressive or interlaced when rendering at video resolution. Action media
automatically adjust the rendering mode of each clip. This inherent awareness also makes it possible for
Action to properly mix field-based HD / PAL with NTSC and not have dominance problems.
Resolution Mode box Select whether to use the Action background resolution, or a user defined resolution.
If you select User Defined, use the settings below to set the resolution. User defined rendering bit depth is
limited to 8-bit or 16-bit FP, whereas Same As Background retains the bit depth of the background clip.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Once you make a selection from the Apply and Scale box, the resolution is set for processing clips, and is
remembered between Action sessions.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Apply and Scale box Select whether to apply or apply and scale the defined resolution settings. All subsequent
processes will use the new render settings.
Select: To:
Apply + Scale Specify the output resolution and scale a scene to the defined resolution. Use this option
if you are working with a low resolution of an Action setup from a previous version of
the software. The scaling is applied to geometries, axes, lights, and cameras, as well as
their coordinates. Their positions are scaled accordingly.
NOTE If you do not change the Resolution settings, rendered results and camera settings default to the values set
for the current project (set when you created a new project).
Use these settings to colour manage Action-imported media. See Colour Management in Action (page 576).
Active button Enables Colour Management in Action. When enabled, imported media located in the Read
File menu of a texture map (or of a Substance or Lightbox effect) using the Scene Linear option are affected.
This option cannot be enabled when the connected Back media uses a non-working Action colour space, or
when an unsupported colour space is displayed in the Colour Space field.
Working Colour Space box Select whether to use the colour space defined by the backplate, or select User
Defined to set a colour space from the drop-down list below. This also controls the tagged colour space of
non-data outputs.
User Defined Working Colour Space box Select a working colour space for imported media in Action.
Available when User Defined is selected in the Action Colour Space Mode box. This also controls the tagged
colour space of non-data outputs.
Use the over scan settings to render Action outputs in a larger canvas, without changing the active resolution
(allowing you to easily fix a number of edge rendering issues, including AO, GMask Softness, Blooming,
etc.).
Over Scan Mode box Select whether the over scan settings are applied on an Action render, or only internally
when working in Action.
Over Scan Scale field Displays the size of the canvas to be included in the Action rendering output. The
over scan border is displayed in the image window as a dotted line, if the Border button is enabled in the
Grid settings. Editable.
Rendering Settings
Use the Rendering settings to improve the final output quality of your image.
This is useful if interaction with Action becomes slow because of many surfaces and 3D models. Convert
objects to wireframe when you want to speed up processing or rendering times. Because lighting and textures
are not computed in wireframe mode, interaction time and rendering times are reduced.
Clamp Colours button Enable to clamp colour and luminance in the 16-bit floating point processing
pipeline.
Clamp Divide button Enable to allow the Media list divide operation to handle floating-point values
correctly (at the cost of losing some colour information).
Stereo Settings
Reset To Stereo Mode button Enable to clear any previous stereo settings in Action, and reset all stereo
settings to their defaults.
In the Stereo mode, these are the default settings when you enter Action with the Front/Back/Matte input
option using stereo clips:
■ A 3D camera (stereo camera) is created and the default camera is hidden.
■ In the 3D Camera menu, the Result Camera is set to the stereo camera.
■ In the Output menu, the Mode is set to Stereo and the Camera is set to Result Cam.
■ A stereo object is created with the clips you selected.
NOTE If you enter Action using mono clips, the default camera is automatically created. If you need a stereo
camera, you must add it manually.
Shading Settings
Scene Ambient button Enable to have global ambient lighting in your Action scene. This same setting can
be found in the Action Setup menu and the Light menu.
Scene Ambient Intensity field Displays the intensity level of the default ambient lighting in the Action
scene. Available when Scene Ambient is enabled. Editable.
Scene Ambient Shading field Displays the shading level of the default ambient lighting in the Action scene.
Available when Scene Ambient is enabled. Editable.
You can also access Action hardware anti-aliasing settings in the Common tab when you access Action as a
Timeline FX or from the Tools tab, or from Batch or Batch FX Prefs.
Software Anti-Aliasing Sample box Select a software anti-aliasing sampling level. To set an arbitrary amount
of animatable samples, select AA N Samples, then choose the number of samples in the Samples field that
appears.
The jagged lines that often occur along the edges of diagonal or curved lines when processing high-frequency
images such as text are the result of aliasing. You can increase or decrease the anti-aliasing sampling level.
Higher values yield smoother results at the expense of processing time.
Anti-Aliasing Softness field Displays the softness value of the software anti-aliasing sample. Editable.
Samples field Available when AA N Samples is selected in the Software Anti-Aliasing Sample box. Displays
the number of software anti-aliasing samples to consider. Editable and animatable.
Accumulation Settings
Samples field Displays the quality of motion blur and the depth of field produced by the number of samples
taken at each frame. Editable.
Increasing this value causes the processing time to increase linearly and affects the quality of the depth of
field. The number of motion blur samples is multiplied by the number of anti-aliasing samples. To reduce
the total number of passes made for each frame, reduce the level of anti-aliasing when motion blur is enabled.
Phase field Displays the frame that motion blur is based on (before or after the current frame). Editable.
A value of -100 places the motion blur before while a value of 100 places the motion blur after. A value of
0 is centred, which evenly distributes the motion blur. The default value is 0.
Shutter field Displays the duration of motion blur at each frame (essentially the number of frames that the
shutter is open). Increasing this value does not increase the processing time. Editable
TIP You can animate the Global Motion blur button, as well as the Phase, Shutter, and Samples fields. They can
be found in the Channel Editor under the motion_blur folder.
Depth of Field Softness field Defines the softness of the depth of field. A low value yields a sharp falloff
between focused and unfocused regions. Editable.
Motion Blur curve Controls the sample weight over the scope of the motion blur.
Home button Resets the position of the motion blur curve after panning.
Preferences Tab
Surfaces Settings
Default Resolution field Displays the default geometry resolution (number of polygons) of surfaces. You
can also change the geometry resolution of specific surfaces in the Surface menu. Editable.
Apply To All button Click to apply the geometry resolution in the Resolution field to all surfaces. Since
you can change the resolution of specific surfaces in the Surface menu, you can use this button to re-apply
the default resolution to all surfaces.
Filtering Settings
Default Filter box Select the type of filtering to be set as the default when creating surfaces and maps.
Apply To All button Click to apply the default filter to all existing surfaces and maps.
Blending Settings
Default Premultiplication box Select the default blend operation premultiplication setting.
Apply To All button Click to apply the default blend premultiplication setting to all existing surfaces and
geometries.
Lightbox Settings
Lightbox Shading button Sets the default behaviour of Lightbox nodes when the attached Light is not
active.
Apply To All button Click to apply the default Lightbox Shading setting to all existing lights.
Miscellaneous Settings
Matte Channel box Select which channel is displayed as transparent by default. This can be useful for a
multichannel clip to display only the Red channel matte, for example.
Animation Update button Enable to update properties such as position, rotation, and colour in the scene.
When disabled, animated objects do not move, but keep the position of their current value. Disable to copy
keyframe values from one frame to another.
Play Lock button Enable to update the animation settings according to the frame or timebar position as
you move through the clip while keeping it locked at the current frame.
When Play Lock is disabled and you use > or < to play the resulting clip, each frame is loaded and displayed
in sequence in the image window.
Working Camera button Enable to automatically switch to the Working Camera when framing the contents
of the viewport with Frame All (Space+A) or Frame Selection (Space+F). Disable to frame using the active
camera.
Shift-Snap button Enable to use the Shift key as a snap-to-surface modifier key. Hold the Shift key when
selecting an axis to snap the selected axis to the surface of the underlying geometry. Not available when in
Top, Front, or Side views.
Display Settings
Icons box Sets object icon (axes, borders, control points) and wireframe display options. Selected displays
icons only for the object currently selected in the scene. Group Off displays every icons except for objects
nested in Group nodes. Use option the Cycle Icons Draw Modes keyboard shortcut to cycle through the
options.
Icon Transparency field Displays the transparency level for icons and wireframes in the scene. Editable.
Selection Highlight box Select the type of highlight used to identify the objects that are selected in the
viewport.
Axis Scale field Displays the size of axis icons in the scene. Editable.
Z-depth Occlusion button Enable to have Z-depth occlusion affect Action widgets such as axis, light, and
cameras. It creates a true 3D experience in terms of viewing, but hides occluded widgets.
Space Selection button Select the space for transforms performed using a 3D Manipulator. In Object space,
the manipulator sticks to the object's axis orientation, ideal for translations. In World space, the manipulator
follows the World's frame of reference, ideal for rotations. In Camera space, the manipulator stays in the
camera's XY plane.
Ruler button Enable to display the ruler in the scene area. Use the arrows at each extremity of the ruler to
place the beginning and end of the ruler anywhere in your scene view.
Ruler Define button Enable to define real unit measurements, such as feet, metres, or inches, instead of
pixels. All camera distance or axes measurements thereafter use the defined scale.
Ruler Length field Displays the length and measuring unit (feet, metres) to use in Action. When you enter
a length, click Define again to apply the new scale to the ruler and all pertinent fields, such as position,
rotation, and scale. Editable.
TIP Hold the Ctrl key and click Define to reset the ruler’s scale.
Grid box Select the type of grid to display in the scene. Use to position objects in the scene more accurately.
Select: To:
Grid XZ Use a grid constructed on the X and Z planes. The XZ grid is visible only when the camera
is moved from its default position.
Grid YZ Use a grid constructed on the Y and Z planes. The YZ grid is visible only when the camera
is moved from its default position.
NOTE The Action grid is independent from the global grid in the Grids and Guides menu.
Grid Colour pot Displays the custom colour for the grid. Editable.
Ortho Far field Displays the value of the far view in the image window when using Camera or an orthographic
view. Editable.
Schematic Settings
Auto Parent button Enable to automatically parent nodes in the schematic. Press Alt and drag a node in
the schematic to disable Auto Parent temporarily.
Auto Insert button Enable to automatically insert a node when dragged between two connected nodes.
When disabled, press Shift to auto insert.
Snap To Grid button Enable to position objects with precision in the scene. When you move an object in
the scene, the object is automatically aligned to the snap grid.
NOTE When enabled, this snap only applies to the grid defined in Action. The grid defined from the Grid & Guides
menu remains visible, but its snap is overridden as long as the Action Snap is enabled.
Schematic Transparency field Displays the level of transparency of unselected nodes in the schematic.
Editable.
Display Information box Select what clip information is displayed in the schematic.
Proxy Update button Enable to automatically update proxies in the schematic. Interaction is slower when
enabled. When disabled, Action updates proxies when you switch views. You can also update proxies by
clicking Update.
Output Name button Enable to allow newly created outputs in the Output List to inherit the name of the
node. If disabled, it will use a default output [number] for additional outputs. You also can rename any
output manually by clicking the Rename button below the Output List. Once a setup is saved, the output
will use the setup name when processed.
Append Type button Enable to append the type of output to the name of a processed file.
Active button Enable to activate adaptive degradation display settings. Use to prevent slowdowns of the
image window display when changing Action settings. Press Ctrl+D to activate or deactivate degradation
settings.
displayed at the bottom right corner of the image window when degradation is active in Action.
Synchronize All button Enable to synchronize all Batch FX Action nodes with the Adaptive Degradation
settings of the current Action node.
Filtering Degrade box Select whether to degrade filtering selections in the image window when changing
any Action settings.
Filtering Update box Select whether to always degrade filtering selections, or on manipulation only.
EWA Filtering box Select whether to apply EWA or EWA+Linear filtering on maps (if selected in the Filter
box) only when processing (On Process Only), or all the time when working in Action (Degrade).
Particles Update box Select whether to always degrade particles selections, or on manipulation only.
Shading Degrade box Select whether to degrade shading selections in the image window when changing
any Action settings.
Shading Update box Select whether to always degrade shading selections, or on manipulation only.
Shadows Update box Select whether to always degrade shadows selections, or on manipulation only.
Surfaces Update box Select whether to always degrade surfaces selections, or on manipulation only.
NOTE When Adaptive Degradation is active for a Batch FX Action node, you'll see an icon
over the node in the schematic, and in the bottom right corner of the image window in result view.
Motion Blur Degrade box Select whether or not to degrade motion blur effects while the viewport is in
Live Preview mode.
Depth of Field Degrade box Select whether or not to degrade depth of field effects while the viewport is
in Live Preview mode.
Hardware AA Degrade box Select whether or not to degrade hardware anti-aliasing effects while the viewport
is in Live Preview mode.
Camera FX Degrade box Select whether or not to degrade Camera FX post-processing effects (Matchbox,
Lens Flares, Rays) while the viewport is in Live Preview mode.
AO Degrade box Select an ambient occlusion quality display setting while the viewport is in Live Preview
mode.
Blooming Degrade box Select whether or not to degrade Blooming while the viewport is in Live Preview
mode.
1 In Batch or Batch FX, select the Action node. Click Save Node (found next to the node name field). If
you entered Action through the timeline or Tools tab, you can click Save directly in the Action menu.
The file browser and Save menu appear.
2 From the Save Action box, select the format for saving the setup.
Select: To save:
Selected Objects The selected objects, their media and media settings.
Any expressions on channels of selected nodes are baked to the channels before saving,
and any Mimic links to or from non-selected nodes are removed before saving. If a node
is selected that is mimicked from a non-selected node, though, the animation channels
are copied from the node before saving.
Raw Selected animation channels as a user-readable ASCII file. In the file, each line corresponds
to one frame, and each column consists of one frame number and the value of the anim-
ation curve at that frame. All saved information starts at frame one.
A file with the extension .raw is saved in the .../action directory by default.
At least one channel must be selected in the Channel Editor.
Text The current text settings, including font, character size, kerning, italics, depth, beveling
curve, and text string properties, all of which can be loaded in another Action session.
A file with the extension .atext is saved in the .../action directory by default.
A 3D text node must be selected in the schematic.
TIP If you accessed Action from the Tools tab, you can click Revert to revert to the last saved setup. All
changes made since the previous Save operation are undone.
1 In Batch or Batch FX, select an Action node. Click Load Node (found next to the node name field). If
you entered Action through the timeline or Tools tab, you can click Load directly in the Action menu.
NOTE When you access the file browser through Load, you also have the option of deleting existing setups.
2 In the Load box, select the format for loading the setup.
Select: To:
All Load the clips in the selected setup into their corresponding media. The media in the
Media list is replaced with the loaded clips. If a clip cannot be found, Action searches for
it and loads it automatically to Action. If the clip still cannot be found, Action displays
the missing clip name in red in the Media list. A surface that uses a missing clip appears
as an outline in the image area and is shown in red in Schematic view.
No Clips Load a setup without its clips. The current media in the Media list remains the same.
Add Nodes+Media Add nodes and media from the setup file. This option appends the schematic from the
setup file to the current schematic, and wherever possible, media from the setup file fills
empty slots in the Media list. Remaining media from the setup file is appended to the
end of the Media list.
Enable Load Cameras if you want to include the cameras saved with the setup.
Add Nodes Add only the nodes from the setup file. This option appends the schematic from the
setup file to the current schematic.
Enable Load Cameras if you want to include the cameras saved with the setup.
Raw Load raw animation data to a selected channel in the Channel Editor.
When using the Action Output menu, you usually follow the options from left to right.
Step: Action:
1 Use the Render Layers list (page 592) to add, copy, delete, and rename render layers.
2 Set Outputs Options (page 593): select the Primary output type, the camera to output, and any
render passes per render layer.
5 Render your outputs from Action (using the options in the Render button and dropdown list).
NOTE If you accessed Action from the timeline, you are limited to a single Render Layer with Comp and Matte
enabled, and certain settings in the Outputs List are unavailable.
When you save an Action setup, your outputs are also saved.
Render Layers List Lists all of the existing render layers. Use the buttons below to populate the list with
the render layers you want. To deselect an render layer from rendering (but keep it in the list), click the
yellow arrow beside the output.
Add button Adds a new render layer to the list. Use the Rename button to change the name to something
more meaningful.
TIP Use the Output Naming settings in the Action Setup Preferences (page 582) menu to set default naming
conventions for your outputs.
Rename button Opens the onscreen keyboard to rename the selected render layer in the list. Renaming a
Render Layer automatically renames all output sockets enabled from that Render Layer.
Primary Output box Select a primary output type. Render Passes options change based on the primary
output type.
NOTE If you accessed Action from the timeline (or when using the GMask Tracer), a single Render Layer is available
with Comp and Matte enabled.
Camera box Select which camera or stereo rig to assign to the render layer.
Mode box Select a render mode. Selecting the Stereo mode and a stereo camera results in left and right clips
when processed. Selecting Stereo mode and any monoscopic camera results in two identical clips. Selecting
Left, Right, or Mono results in a single output, regardless of the camera selected.
In the Output Selections List, the primary output is indicated, such as Matte (Primary). You can add as many
other render passes to an output as you want. Simply click the dot to the left of the pass name (a coloured
dot indicates that a render pass is enabled for the selected render layer).
TIP To see the result of a render pass without enabling it for the selected render layer, click the name of the render
pass in the Output Selections List.
The following render passes are available in Action. Some settings may be different depending on the selected
render pass:
AO (Ambient Occlusion) Renders a grayscale output that is dark in areas that light cannot reach and bright
in areas where it can. Specific AO settings can be found in the Ambient Occlusion tab.
GMask Renders the GMask transparency. Equivalent to selecting GMask Only in the Use GMask box of a
Matte render pass.
Lens Flare (also includes Rays) Renders just the lens flares and rays in the Action scene. There is also an
option to include lens flares and rays in a Comp render pass.
Media Matte Available as a primary output type, but not as a render pass. Renders the matte of the media
specified in the Media field.
ObjectID Renders a map where each fragment contains the information of the object rendered into it. A
different ObjectID is produced for each schematic path ending at a renderable object or an object group.
For example, a Replica node generates only one ObjectID for all its instances.
Occluder Renders a GMask occluder when attached to a post-processing effect, such as a lens flare.
Reflection Renders the reflection map settings of selected objects in the scene.
Shadow Renders a white image with greyscale regions that represent the shadow cast coverage.
Specular Renders the specular map settings of selected objects in the scene.
Z-Depth HQ to be used with Matchbox shaders. Renders a 32-bit Z-depth output encoded into a 16-bit
buffer.
Outputs Settings
Depending on the output selection, some of the following settings may appear:
Shadow Output Type box Select the type of shadow cast to output for a Comp or Shadows render pass.
NOTE When set, this becomes the default Shadow Type for any new Shadow Cast nodes.
Threshold field Displays the value at which the alpha is included in the depth of the output.
Comp box Select whether to render the scene over a background or over a colour you choose using the
colour picker.
Comp colour pot Displays the colour that the comp is rendered over. Editable.
Ambient Occlusion button Enable to process a Comp output with the ambient occlusion (AO) effect. Other
AO settings appear in the Ambient Occlusion tab.
Matte Background box Select whether the object's matte is rendered on top of a black (default) or white
background. When using the GMask Tracer node, you also have Input as an option. Select Input to set the
Media Front and Matte as the Background for both the Comp and Matte outputs respectively.
Use Gmask box Select whether to use the garbage mask transparency or render the GMask colour. Available
for Matte render passes.
Blending box Select whether to use a master blend option (Override) or to use the blend set in the Blending
Mode box (Keep Blend). Available for Matte render passes.
Blend Mode box Select an option to determine the blending mode of the mask when it overlaps with
another mask. Available for Matte render passes when Override is selected in the Blending box.
Bit Depth field Displays the bit depth of the selected output type, 16-bit floating point by default. Enable
Batch Prefs > Rendering > Action Precision > 32-bit Graphics to output 32-bit floating point data. Non-editable.
Motion box Select an option to determine the direction of the motion. Select Average to produce a mix
between previous and next frame. Available for 3D Motion and Motion Vector render passes.
Backward button Enable to set the direction of the vectors to backwards. Available for 3D Motion and
Motion Vector render passes.
Motion Vector Range box Select whether the vector data is absolute or normalized. Available for Motion
Vector render passes.
Camera GMask Only button Enable to display GMasks connected to the current camera. In this case,
GMasks do not interact with the scene, and are only used in the post-processing pipeline. Available for
GMask render passes.
Filtering field Displays the amount of smoothing in a shadow render pass. Editable.
Maximum Z Difference field Displays the maximum amount of Z depth information to take into account
for smoothing a shadow render pass. Editable.
Media field Displays the number that corresponds to the media in the Media list for a Media Matte output.
Editable.
Use the settings in the Rendering tab to further refine your output. These settings are applicable to all render
passes of the same render layer.
Emissive button Enable to process an output with the effect of an emissive map in the scene. An emissive
map uses colours to simulate a glowing effect within the texture.
Transparency button Enable to include the alpha transparency of the objects in the output.
GMask button Enable to process the output with garbage mask effects.
Accumulation box Select an accumulation processing option for the output (accumulation comprises AA,
Motion Blur, DOF, and HWAA settings). You can select to apply accumulation to RGBA outputs only (Comp,
Matte, Albedo, Emissive, Reflection, Shadows, and Specular), or to all outputs that support it. This setting
also affects Camera FX rendering speeds.
Anti-Aliasing button Select whether to apply anti-aliasing to the output (when the Accumulation box is
set to On or RGBA).
Motion Blur button Enable to include motion blur processing in the output.
Depth of Field button Enable to process the selected output with the Depth of Field settings defined in the
Action Setup menu.
Ambient occlusion refers to the blocking of indirect or diffuse light on an object. Ambient occlusion is caused
by indirect light's inability to bounce around and illuminate areas that are blocked by a nearby object that
absorbs the light rays. These subtle variations in lighting are visual clues for our eyes to detect surface details
and distinctions that would otherwise be washed out and unnoticeable. Ambient occlusion adds realism to
your scene by adding shadows in crevices, nooks and crannies, and so on. For each surface point, it calculates
how much light is blocked by other geometry.
Spread field Displays the width of the ambient occlusion effect. Editable.
Falloff field Displays the amount of falloff around the edge of the ambient occlusion effect. Editable.
Tolerance field Displays the starting point at which darker areas are included in the ambient occlusion
output. Editable.
Precision field Displays the number of steps to take into account on rays cast from the surface of the object.
Editable.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the ambient occlusion. Editable.
Softness field Displays the softness value of the ambient occlusion sample. Editable.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the ambient occlusion
settings.
TIP When you create a new output in the Outputs list, it is empty by default. Enable All Objects to display all
objects in the scene.
NOTE When you select multiple objects with different visibility settings (Visible or Occluded), Mixed is
indicated in the Visibility box.
NOTE When the Output type is set to Normal or Z-Depth, the objects in Occlude Only mode are rendered
normally; it will be part of the Normal or Z-Depth output. The Visibility mode is ignored.
NOTE In Edit Output mode, All Objects in the Object Options is disabled when you remove objects from
the selected output.
2 Add or remove objects from the output by doing one of the following in the schematic:
■ Click an object. The complete tree of the object in the schematic must either be selected or grayed
out for it to be included or excluded from the output.
Object Options
All Objects button Enable to output all objects in the Object List.
Reset All button Click to set all objects to Visible mode in the Object List.
Action Media
You should have a working understanding of Action media and the relationship between media and
surfaces/maps to be successful in using Action. Media has the following characteristics:
■ Each front and matte clip combination that you load into Action is called media.
■ The clips you load into Action are listed in the Media list.
■ When you first open Action, you load the front clip and matte clip for the first media and a common
back clip for all media.
■ Media must have a front and matte of the same resolution, but each media can have a different resolution
from the other.
■ You can work with front-only or matte-only media. In this case, the empty front or matte is replaced
with an internal white frame of the same resolution.
■ The same media can be applied to multiple surfaces. Any cropping, blurring, or colour correcting that
you apply to one instance of media is applied to all the surfaces for that media. For example, if you blur
media, all of the surfaces using that media are blurred.
NOTE If you access Action from the timeline, you are limited to one front/matte media. Therefore, some Media
menu settings are not available.
When you open Action, you load the front and matte clips for the first media. You can then load any
additional media.
NOTE In Batch or Batch FX, you can add direct or indirect media to an Action node. See Adding Media to an
Action Node (page 512)
The clips you load for each media appear in the Media list. The back clip you selected to access Action appears
in the first row of the Media list and is assigned the letter B in the # column. The second row in the Media
list contains the first front and matte clips you selected when accessing Action. The length of each clip
appears in parentheses beside the clip name. A new line is added to the Media list each time you add media.
For stereoscopic projects, you can apply media to the left and right eye.
You can sort the Media list by list number, front clip name, or matte clip name. As you view clips, you can
look at the original front, back, or matte clip individually, as well as the results of colour correcting and
keying a matte.
Use these tips when working with clips and media in the Media menu.
■ Different colours and shades are used as visual cues within the Media menu. The current media is outlined
in yellow, and the selected media is highlighted in light grey. Selected fields of the media are highlighted
in grey.
■ Ctrl-click fields or media to add to a selection, or Shift-click to add a range to a selection. If you
Ctrl-click a field that is already selected, all selected fields of this type in other selected media become
deselected. However, if you continue to press Ctrl, you can then click any field, and all fields of the
same type in other selected media become selected.
■ Click a numeric field to display the calculator, or click and drag to increase or decrease the value in a
field.
■ Ctrl+Alt-click a field to reset the field (and all other selected fields).
■ Double-click the Divide or Crop field to toggle the effect on or off.
■ Double-click the MK, CC, CW, or Blur field to enter its menu.
■ Click a front or matte media to select all the displayed fields.
■ Use the F keyboard shortcut to toggle the matte media display in the Media list on or off. You can also
set this behaviour with the Show Front Only button in the Action Setup menu.
■ Resize the column widths in the Media menu by dragging the column dividers.
■ Ctrl-click to multiselect media for applying to the left or right eye of a stereo object. The media that
you select first (odd numbers) are applied to the left eye. Even numbered media apply to the right eye.
NOTE If you are looking for Shadow Softness settings in the Media list, they can now be found directly in the
Shadow (page 638) menu, allowing you to set shadow softness by object, instead of by media.
The effects and tools in the Media list appear from left to right in the order that Action processes them:
Use Slip to create a timing offset for your clip and Lock to lock media at a certain frame.
1 In the Media list, drag the slip field for your chosen media.
A positive value starts the clip at the specified frame. A negative value creates a freeze frame effect
where the first frame of the clip is held by the specified number of frames.
2 To lock the media at a certain frame, drag the Lock field to the desired frame number, or click the Lock
field to display the calculator to enter a frame number. Ctrl+Alt click the field to return it to Off.
NOTE If you want to animate the Slip values, use the Channel Editor. The channels are found in their respective
media and are named slip and matte_slip. The Background Slip channel is found in Scene ➤ Media ➤ Background
➤ Slip.
Modular Keyer
When you load media into the Modular Keyer from Action, the front and matte clips for the selected media
are loaded with the back clip and appear at the beginning of the processing pipeline. The front clip is used
as the Front clip and the matte clip is used as the Key In clip for the processing pipeline. The back clip is
used as the Back clip in the processing pipeline and is loaded as a reference only. Any modifications you
make to the Back clip in the Modular Keyer are not used when you return to Action.
NOTE If the Action back clip is a different resolution than the front clip, a Resize node is added to the Back pipeline
when entering the Modular Keyer.
1 In the Media list, double-click the corresponding MK field for your chosen media to enter the Modular
Keyer.
2 As you work in the Modular Keyer, select Action Context from the View box to preview the result.
3 Click Return to return to Action. You do not have to click Render; the modifications are automatically
applied to the media in Action.
4 To mute a Modular Keyer effect, press Alt and click the MK media. The MK in the field turns black to
signify the effect is muted. To unmute the MK effect, press Alt and click the field again.
The MK field is displayed in red if there is an error within the Modular Keyer, such as a broken input
connection. Open the Message History viewer to see the error, and return to the Modular Keyer to fix
the error.
NOTE Since source nodes are applied before any Media list effects, if you do not want to apply the Modular Keyer
effect on a source node, you'll need to create a new media layer for the source node output.
Blur
You can quickly add Gaussian blur along the X and Y axes in the Media list, or enter the full Blur editor to
have access to all blur settings, including other blur types, such as Radial and Defocus.
1 In the Media list, drag the X or Y blur values to apply a Gaussian blur, or double-click the corresponding
Blur field for your chosen media to enter the full Blur editor.
TIP Alt-drag over a front or matte X or Y Blur field to change both values proportionally; or press Alt+Shift
and drag over any front or matte blur field to change all four fields proportionally.
2 As you work in the Blur editor, select Action Context from the View box to preview the result.
3 Click Exit to return to Action. You do not have to click Render; the modifications are automatically
applied to the media in Action.
You can apply separate Colour Corrector and Colour Warper effects on Action media.
1 In the Media list, double-click the corresponding CC or CW field for your chosen media to enter the
Colour Corrector or Colour Warper.
2 As you work in the Colour Corrector or Colour Warper, select Action Context from the View box to
preview the result.
3 Click Exit to return to Action. You do not have to click Render; the modifications are automatically
applied to the media in Action.
4 To mute a CC or CW effect, press Alt and click the white check mark in the media field. The check
mark turns black to signify the effect is muted. To unmute the CC or CW effect, press Alt and click
the check mark again.
Divide
When compositing with images generated by rendering 3D objects over a black background, unwanted black
often appears on translucent or anti-aliased areas of the media. Use the Divide tool to divide the front media
by its associated matte media, which eliminates the black edges in the composite.
1 In the Media list, select the media containing the unwanted black.
2 Double-click the Divide field of the media containing the unwanted black.
The selected media's front is divided by its matte, resulting in correct colour in areas of transparency.
NOTE A blending premultiplication setting is also present in individual surface and geometry menus.
Crop
When you crop media, the front and matte clips are cropped together. You cannot crop the back clip. If you
applied the media to more than one surface, all the surfaces are cropped.
You can animate a crop by changing the size and shape of the Crop box at different keyframes. You can also
animate the softness of the Crop box.
NOTE Animating a crop in the Channel Editor does not enable the Crop field in the Media list.
TIP Alt-drag over one of the fields to change all four values proportionally.
TIP You can use two viewports to view the crop interactively on both the front and the matte clips.
3 Set the corners of the Crop box and Softness box by dragging either the corners or edges of the red
and green outlines.
The crop and softness values in the Media list are updated as you drag.
4 Click Result.
The cropped media appears in the image window, and the front and matte clip share the same crop.
5 To mute the Crop and Softness values, double-click the Crop field. To mute only the Softness,
double-click the Softness area of the Crop field. When muted, a black checkmark appears in the Crop
field.
New Media button Click to open the workspace to add new media. Available when Action is accessed from
the Tools tab.
Media List box To add media directly to the Media list, select New Media. To add an indirect layer to the
Action node, select New Input. Available when Action is accessed from Batch or Batch FX.
Apply button Applies the selected media in the Media list to the selected surface in the scene.
Apply dropdown list For stereoscopic clips, select how the selected media in the Media list is applied to
the selected surface in the scene.
Copy button Copies media and effects (for example, Blur and Crop settings) of the selected media in the
Media list. Use the Paste options to decide how you want to use the copy/paste operation.
Clone button Clones the selected media, or media and effects onto a new media entry in the Media list.
Clone dropdown list Select whether the clone operation clones just selected media, or media and effects.
Paste button Pastes the copied parameters onto the selected media or media entry in the Media list.
Paste dropdown list Select how the paste operation is applied in the Media list.
Select: To:
Paste Media Only Paste the copied media onto a selected empty media entry, without any
effects (such as Blur or Crop settings).
Paste FX/Media+FX If pasting onto an existing media entry, pastes only the copied effects. If
pasting on an empty media entry, pastes both the copied media and effects.
Delete button Deletes the selected media from the Media list.
Replace button Click to replace the selected media in the Media list from the Clip Select area.
Front Clip box Select an option to edit the front clip's visibility.
Select: To:
Front Off Hide the front clip for the selected media.
Back Clip box Select an option to edit the back clip's visibility.
Select: To:
Matte Clip box Select an option to edit the matte clip's visibility.
Select: To:
Matte Off Hide the matte clip for the selected media.
Matte Invert Invert a matte. Black areas will be made white, and white areas will become black.
TIP To invert multiple matte clips, Ctrl-click the matte media and select Invert in the Matte
Clip box.
TIP Use options in the View box to display selected media in the image window: Media Front (or press F1), Media
Back (F2), and Media Matte (F3).
Front Only button Enable to display only the front media in the Media menu. Disable to display both the
front and matte media.
Reset button Resets the properties selected in the Reset Choice box.
TIP Hiding an object in the Action schematic hides its manipulators in the 3D viewport.
Transformations are relative to an object's (or component's) pivot point, and take place along/around either
the world axes, object axes, or local axes.
To rotate an object:
1 In Schematic view, click the object to rotate. This can be an axis, a light, or a camera.
2 Do one of the following to edit the X, Y, and Z rotation fields:
■ Drag a rotation field to rotate the object around that axis.
■ Click a rotation field to display the calculator, and then enter a value. The object rotates as soon
as you click Enter.
Scaling an Axis
The numeric fields displayed in an Object's menu always use the World space. Transformations using an
object's manipulator in Object or Camera space are converted into World space coordinates in the object's
menu.
Action Axes
An axis is the element of an object or media that can be manipulated to determine the object's 2D or 3D
space, position, and movement.
axes, in Action;Action:axesWhen you add certain objects to the scene, such as models or images, they are
added with their own axes. Each axis is used to place its respective object in the scene. An axis is represented
by the following icon.
All transformations that you apply to the selected axis are applied to the objects connected to the axis. For
example, if the position of a surface's axis is set to 500, 100, 0, then its surface is placed at 500 on the X-axis,
100 on the Y-axis, and 0 on the Z-axis.
Selecting an Axis
Selection tips:
■ If you have numerous overlapping axes in the scene, pressQ to cycle through each axis until the axis you
need is selected.
■ Space+H hides every Axis in the 3D viewport except for the top Axis in the selected object hierarchy.
This helps selecting the right Axis when many Axes pile up at the same coordinates.
■ If the size of an axis icon prevents you from selecting the right axis, resize the icons using Action
Preferences ➤ Preferences ➤ Axis Scale field.
Action Views
Front, top, and side view are orthographic views used to position an object's axis in the scene. These views
are useful for viewing the scene from another angle than the camera. From the View box (on the
viewing/layout toolbar under the viewports), select an option to set the view in the image window.
You can attach a look-at connection (page 571) between Action objects with axis characteristics (Axis, Camera,
Light, and Projector). The connection allows the parent object to rotate to face the child look-at object, no
matter where it is positioned. Look-At links can be animated; therefore you can link different objects from
the parent at different frames. In the channel editor, you can see a lookAt channel for every look-at parent.
Stabilize a Clip
1 From the Action Axis menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be stabilized from the Use Media field
(to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 In the Axis menu for the selected media, make sure that the motion path is disabled (Path button).
NOTE Do not move the axis from its default position at the centre of the image window before entering
the Stabilizer, or else the tracking data will be overwritten. Use the offset axis to add an offset to the tracker
movement instead.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
TIP After stabilizing, you can set a reference frame that has no transformations by enabling the Adjust Offset
button (in the Axis tab) at the selected frame.
Track a Clip
1 From the Action Axis menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be stabilized from the Use Media field
(to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 In the Axis menu for the selected media, make sure that the motion path is disabled (Path button).
3 In the Tracking tab, enable Rotation, Scale or both, as needed. The choice depends on the movement
of the object to track and on the camera movement in the clip.
4 In the Tracking Mode box, select Track and click the Enter Tracker button.
The media is automatically loaded into the Stabilizer and the Stabilizer menu appears.
5 In the Stabilizer menu, enable Context to use the Action scene as the reference.
6 Position the tracker(s) over the pattern(s) that you want to track, and click Analyze to generate the
tracking data. For one-point tracking, you use only one tracker to generate position information. For
two-point tracking, you use a second tracker to generate rotation and/or scaling information. The
Stabilizer obtains this information by comparing the position of Tracker2 to that of Tracker1.
■ Tracker1 follows the horizontal and vertical translation of the reference point. You should position
Tracker1 over a point on the pattern that you want to track.
NOTE The position of the axis is synced with the position of Tracker1. Therefore, any existing animation
on the Axis is overwritten by the tracking data.
■ Tracker2 tracks the rotation and/or the change in size of the pattern. In the first frame, the rotation
is always 0 and the scaling factor is always 100%. In subsequent frames, a rotation and/or scaling
factor is added if the relative position of the two trackers changes. You should position Tracker2
over a point that represents the rotation or change in size of the pattern.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
Planar tracking in Action uses tracking algorithms along with combinations of settings to perform the track.
Results can vary depending on the footage, as well as settings applied. See Getting Better Results with the
Planar Tracker (page 649).
Axis Tab
Motion Path button Enable to animate the position of the axis using a spline drawn in the scene. Disable
to animate the position of the axis using explicit animation.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected axis (can only be used once the
global Motion Blur is enabled in the Setup menu).
Adjust Offset button Enable to set the current frame as a reference frame that has no transformation data.
Reference Frame field Displays the frame number of the reference frame that has no transformation data.
Non-editable.
Autoscale option box Select whether to autoscale when Position settings are changed relative to the camera
(On Position Changes), or when Position, Rotation, Shear, or Centre settings are changed (On All Transforms).
Select: To:
On Position Changes Preserve the projected size of the image by automatically scaling when
changing any Position parameters that affect the depth of the image relative
to the camera.
On All Transforms Preserve the projected size of the image by automatically changing Position,
Scale, and Centre parameters (when any Position, Rotation, Shear, or Centre
parameters are changed).
Parented Camera box Select which camera is used for the parenting offset when the immediate parent is
a stereo camera. Choose left, right, or center camera. Active only when there is exactly one parent that is a
stereo camera, or if a look-at connection is attached between the axis and the stereo camera.
Point Axis box Select which axis is pointed to the attached look-at object. Available only when objects are
attached with a Look At connection. See Applying Look-At Connections (page 571).
Tracking Tab
Common Settings
Enter Tracker button Click to open the Tracker menu to apply tracking data for the selected tracking mode.
Camera box Specify which camera to take into account when tracking or viewing in Action Object view
(F8).
Use Media field Displays the number of the media associated with the analysis. To track the Back media,
select 0.
Tracking View box When the media associated to the analysis is a Source node, select to track the media
in the Source Front, Source Matte, or Source Result view.
Media FX button Enable to take into account blur and colour correct settings from the Action Media list
in the analysis.
Display Tab
Shape Reference button Enable to display an overlay of the reference frame when tracking in Object view
(F8).
Shape Current button Enable to display an overlay of the current frame when tracking in Object view (F8).
Action Surfaces
You use surfaces to display media in the scene and then composite front and matte clips with a common
back clip.
You should have a working understanding of Action media and the relationship between media and surfaces
to be successful in using Action.
A surface is used to place a media in the scene. To use media that you load into Action, you must add a
surface to the scene for that media. A surface has the following characteristics:
■ A surface type can be flat, bilinear, perspective, or extended bicubic.
■ The same media can be applied to multiple surfaces. Any cropping, blurring, or re-colouring that you
apply to one media is applied to all the surfaces for that media. For example, if you blur a media, all of
the surfaces using that media are blurred.
The first time you open Action during a session, an image surface is added to the scene using the first media
(if Auto Image is enabled in the Action Setup menu). You must add a surface for each additional media
before its clips can be used in the scene. You can then add textures and lighting effects, or change the surface's
properties such as its shape, transparency, and specular highlight. Once added, the media appears in the
Media list.
By default, a Flat surface is added. You can change the surface type in the Shape box of the Surface menu.
See Changing the Shape of a Surface (page 626).
Adding Surfaces
To add a surface:
1 In the Media list, select the media containing the back or front/matte that you want to add to the
scene.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag an image node from the node bin and place it in the schematic. An axis and an image are
created and linked together.
■ Drag an image node from the node bin to the Result view, so you can see its effect on the scene
before placing it exactly where you want.
■ Double-click an image node. The node appears next to the last added object. You do not need to
be in Schematic view to add a node in this manner.
The surface is added to the scene with its own axis. The selected media in the Media list is automatically
applied to the surface.
Notice that when front/matte media is applied to the image surface, the front and matte clip are
combined. You can turn off the matte in the Matte Clip box in the Media menu to show the entire
front clip.
Modifying Surfaces
The Surface menu includes properties common to all surfaces, and specific controls for bilinear, perspective,
and extended bicubic surfaces. You can change a surface's shape, position, and transparency, as well as apply
lighting effects. You can also apply tracking data to, and access the UV points of bilinear, perspective, and
extended bicubic surfaces.
1 Double-click the selected surface in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
The Object Image menu appears with the Image controls for the selected surface displayed on the right
side of the menu. Some of the tabs for the Surface menu are contextual, and are available depending
on the circumstance.
NOTE When accessing Action as a Timeline FX, you have access to a quick menu with some of Surface
settings. To see the full Surface menu, click the Editor button to enter Action.
Surface Tools
From the Tools drop down menu, you can select additional tools to modify surfaces.
Slide Texture Enables you to slide the texture under the vertices, without moving the vertices, effectively
moving the UV points behind the scene.
Move UV/Vertex Enables you to move the UV points and the vertices simultaneously and does not introduce
any deformation.
NOTE If the UV points and Vertices grids are already in different positions, the relative position offset is kept when
moving the UV points and vertices in this mode.
Surface Settings
The Surface tab is available at all times, and is divided into a number of sections.
Blend Type box Select whether to use Flame or Photoshop blend modes.
Blend Mode box Select how the front and matte clips or the front and back clips are combined.
See Surface Blending Modes (page 627).
Blend Premultiplication box Select whether the blend operation is premultiplied or not. You can set this
as a default preference in the Action Setup menu.
Transparency field Displays the transparency of the image. Enter 0 for a completely opaque image, or 100
for a completely transparent image.
Shine field Displays the level of shine for the specular highlights (there are no specular highlights when
Shine is set to 0). Editable.
Specular Highlights colour pot Displays the colour of the surface highlights. The specular highlight is
visible only if Shading is enabled in the Setup menu and if shine is greater than 0. Editable.
See Specular Highlights (page 660).
Lighting box Select Ambient or Diffuse lighting so that the surface can reflect incidental light.
See Incidental Light Reflection (page 660).
Surface Section
Shape box Select a shape for the selected surface. For Stereo Objects, you are limited to using a Flat surface.
For shapes other than flat, you have access to the Vertices and UV Points settings.
Shape Description
Flat This is the simplest surface. It is added to the scene by default the first time you enter Action with a Front,
Back, and Matte. When working with a Stereo Object, Flat is the only shape available. You cannot change
its shape because a flat image does not have vertices. You can, however, scale and shear a flat image using
its axis.
Bilinear A bilinear surface has four vertices: one for each corner. The vertices are joined using linear interpolation
(straight lines). You can animate the shape of a bilinear surface by changing the position of the corners.
Perspective A perspective surface has four vertices similar to a bilinear surface. The vertices form a perspective plane
of the surface. You can animate the shape of a perspective surface by changing the position of the corners.
Extended Bicubic An extended bicubic surface has vertices in sections that can be subdivided up to eight times to increase
the number of vertices. The vertices are joined using bicubic interpolation (curved lines). You can animate
the shape of a bicubic surface by changing the position of the corners and moving the tangent handles
to adjust the curve between corners.
Flip Normals button Enable to flip the selected surface normals to light the back side of a surface.
Force 2-Sided button Enable to have lights in the scene light both sides of the surface (when shading is
turned on).
Surface Offset X field Displays the level of offset for a surface along the X axis. Editable.
Surface Offset Y field Displays the level of offset for a surface along the Y axis. Editable.
Extrapolation Section
Using the extrapolation sliders, you can extrapolate the texture beyond the geometry, in X and Y. You can
assign negative extrapolation values and effectively crop the texture. The extrapolation is in mirror mode,
by default. You can change this by adding a Diffuse node in the Action schematic. When working with an
Extended Bicubic surface, you can choose between Linear Extrapolation and Smooth Extrapolation. Smooth
extrapolation produces a more organic deformation, extrapolating the deformation created by the vertices
and tangents, while Linear extrapolates the surface in a straight line after the last vertices, in the direction
of the tangents.
Linear extrapolation
Vertical Size Offset field Displays the vertical size offset (expansion or restriction) of the surface while
respecting the surface shape. Editable.
Horizontal Size Offset field Displays the horizontal size offset (expansion or restriction) of the surface while
respecting the surface shape. Editable.
Extrapolation box Available for extended bicubic surfaces only, and when the size offset fields are not at
0. Select Linear to extrapolate the surface in a straight direction. Select Smooth to extrapolate smoothly
based on the position of the vertices of the surfaces.
Crop button Enable to restrict a bilinear or perspective surface to the dimensions of the UV points.
You can crop the parts of the image that are outside of the geometry, or let the texture go beyond the surface
wireframe, by enabling the Crop button.
Rendering Section
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the surface. For example, to be able to mix various ratios
in an Action setup, such as a PAL image in a 1080 HD setup, requires filtering.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA A high-quality elliptical weighted average filter that determines the proportions
of an elliptical area around every pixel to perform a weighted sampling of the
colours (slower to process than other filters). EWA is always calculated in screen
space, so you should always view the result with a 100% zoom factor.
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
EWA and Anisotropic filtering are especially useful to deal with rotations and perspective effects.
The majority of the filters do not alter the image in any way if you have not moved it, or if you move it in
actual pixel increments. The only exception is the EWA+Linear filter which always filters the image, even
if you have not moved it (inherent to this type of filtering).
Surface Resolution field Displays the geometry resolution of the selected surface. By default, the value is
equal to the default Action Resolution setting (in the Rendering section of the Setup menu).
The lower the value, the better the resolution and the greater the processing time required to interact with
the image. For example, a value of 1 on an NTSC image creates a mesh with 720 horizontal and 486 vertical
subdivisions on the selected surface, affording accurate displacement, normals, and lighting.
Wireframe button Enable to convert the selected surface to a wireframe representation (lighting and
transparency properties are kept).
Motion Blur button Enable to use motion blur for the selected surface (can only be used if the global Motion
Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Sort button Enable to sort non-flat surfaces where overlapping transparent regions are causing artefacts.
Vertices Settings
Vertices settings are available for all surface shapes, except for flat.
Merge button Click to merge the extended bicubic surface sections (can be clicked multiple times).
X Position field Displays the position of the selected surface points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the selected surface points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the selected surface points along the Z axis. Editable.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected surface points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected surface points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected surface points along the Z axis. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the selected surface points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the selected surface points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Scale field Displays the scale of the selected surface points along the Z axis. Editable.
Edit Track button Enable to edit tracking data directly from the image window without having to switch
to the Animation channel. Make sure the Auto Key is enabled, so as not to lose any keyframe modifications.
Magnet button Enable to transform a range of surface points. Use in conjunction with the Magnet
Transformation box. See Transforming Multiple Points (page 634).
Magnet Transformation box Select a transformation type to use when Magnet is enabled.
Magnet Curve Editor Displays the weighted polarity from the centre to the edge of the magnet.
Magnet Curve Home button Resets the position of the magnet curve after panning.
Magnet Curve Undo button Undoes a change to the Magnet Curve Editor.
Vertex Position X field Displays the position of the vertices on the X axis. Editable.
Vertex Position Y field Displays the position of the vertices on the Y axis. Editable.
Vertex Position Z field Displays the position of the vertices on the Z axis. Editable.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu to apply stabilizing data to selected surface vertices.
Tracking Mode box Select wether to track each selected vertex or UV point individually (Each Point) or
grouped via two proxy trackers, and from which parameters from the proxy trackers extrapolate the movement
(Pos/Scale, Pos/Rot, Pos/Rot/Scale). With Perspective tracking, you can further select whether to enter the
Stabilizer with four trackers associated to the 4 Corners of the perspective surface (4 Corners), or use an
unlimited number of trackers to track the Perspective transformation of the vertices or UV points (Perspective).
■ Each Point: Perform the tracking using a tracker for each selected vertex or UV point.
■ Pos/Rot: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the position of the selected
vertices or UV points, based on the detected position and rotation motion.
■ Pos/Scale: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the movement of the selected
vertices or UV points, based on the detected position and scale motion.
■ Pos/Rot/Scale: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the movement of the
selected vertices or UV points, based on the detected position, scale and rotation motion.
■ 4 Corners: Associates a tracker to each corner of your image (equivalent to a four-point track on a
bilinear surface).
Shape Channel button Enable to use the Shape channel in the Channel Editor. Disable to use individual
channels in the Channel Editor. See Reshaping Using the Channel Editor (page 628).
Copy To UV Points button Click to copy vertex data to the UV point animation channels.
Auto Adjust button Enable to scale adjacent tangents automatically. Auto Adjust creates a smooth curve
between points in the deformation. If you want to work on a specific area of the image without affecting
other tangents, disable Auto Adjust.
NOTE If you move a tangent explicitly, it is not affected by Auto Adjust. Click Reset Points or Reset Shape so that
the tangents will be affected by the Auto Adjust mode.
3D Handles button Enable to allow Z buffering of the vertices. By default, the vertices are always visible,
regardless of their position in Z space in relation to other media.
Reset Selection box Select whether to reset selected points, tracking data, or the shape of the surface. Click
Reset All to reset all data.
UV Points Settings
UV Points settings are available for all surface shapes, except for flat.
Merge button Click to merge the extended bicubic surface sections (can be clicked multiple times).
Subdivide button Click to subdivide the extended bicubic surface into more sections (can be clicked multiple
times). See Subdividing an Extended Bicubic (page 633).
X Position field Displays the position of the selected surface points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the selected surface points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected surface points along the Z axis. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the selected surface points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the selected surface points along the Y axis. Editable.
Magnet button Enable to transform a range of surface points. Use in conjunction with the Magnet
Transformation box. See Transforming Multiple Points (page 634).
Magnet Transformation box Select a transformation type to use when Magnet is enabled.
Magnet Curve Home button Resets the position of the magnet curve after panning.
Magnet Curve Undo button Undoes a change to the Magnet Curve Editor.
UV Point Position X field Displays the position of the selected UV points along the X axis. Editable.
UV Point Position Y field Displays the position of the selected UV points along the Y axis. Editable.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu to apply stabilizing data to the selected UV points.
Tracking Mode box Select wether to track each selected vertex or UV point individually (Each Point) or
grouped via two proxy trackers, and from which parameters the proxy trackers extrapolate the movement
(Pos/Scale, Pos/Rot, Pos/Rot/Scale). With Perspective tracking, you can further select whether to enter the
Stabilizer with four trackers associated to the 4 Corners of the perspective surface (4 Corners), or use an
unlimited number of trackers to track the Perspective transformation of the vertices or UV points (Perspective).
■ Each Point: Perform the tracking using a tracker for each selected vertex or UV point.
■ Pos/Rot: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the position of the selected
vertices or UV points, based on the detected position and rotation motion.
■ Pos/Scale: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the movement of the selected
vertices or UV points, based on the detected position and scale motion.
■ Pos/Rot/Scale: Perform the tracking using two proxy trackers that extrapolate the movement of the
selected vertices or UV points, based on the detected position, scale and rotation motion.
■ 4 Corners: Associates a tracker to each corner of your image (equivalent to a four-point track on a
bilinear surface).
■ Perspective: Allows you to add as many trackers as you want and position them in the same plane as
your surface, to cover as much of the perspective transformation as possible.
Shape Channel button Enable to use the Shape channel in the Channel Editor. Disable to use individual
channels in the Channel Editor. See Reshaping Using the Channel Editor (page 628).
Copy To Vertices button Click to copy UV point data to vertex animation channels.
Auto Adjust button Enable to scale adjacent tangents automatically. Auto Adjust creates a smooth curve
between points in the deformation. If you want to work on a specific area of the image without affecting
other tangents, disable Auto Adjust.
NOTE If you move a tangent explicitly, it is not affected by Auto Adjust. Click Reset Points or Reset Shape so that
the tangents will be affected by the Auto Adjust mode.
Reset Selection box Select whether to reset selected points, tracking data, or the shape of the surface. Click
Reset All to reset all data.
Blending Settings
Use the settings in the Blending tab to adjust blending curve for each surface.
Matte box Select the matte curve you want to adjust. Selecting a curve in the curve editor automatically
sets the correct curve in this box.
Keyframe Option box Select an option to Set, Delete, or Reset keyframes. If Auto Key is enabled, a keyframe
is added automatically when you adjust the blending curve.
Reset Selection box Select whether to reset the selected curve (Reset) or all curves (Reset All) to their default
settings.
For more information on using the blending curves, see Applying Blending Curves per Surface (page 630).
Distortion box Specify whether you want perform a lens distortion or rectification.
Distort Corrections box Select whether to apply radial corrections manually in this menu, or use the
automatic settings derived from the selected analyzer.
Distort Analyzer box Select which analyzer is used to provide automatic radial corrections.
Auto Expand button Enable to automatically resize the surface when an attached diffuse map's Axis settings
are changed. This same button appears in the Surface tab.
Centre X field Displays the horizontal position of the centre of the lens. Editable.
Adjustment field Displays the level of secondary adjustment of radial distortion or rectification. Editable.
Anamorph field Displays the ratio of radial distortion or rectification along the X or Y axis. Editable.
Sources Settings
If a source node is parented above a surface node in the schematic, the Source tab is available. These settings
allow you to change source settings on a per surface basis, independent of the source type set in the Source
menu for the parent source node or nodes. See Replacing the Front or Matte Clip (page 895).
Offsetting a Surface
By default, a surface's axis is at the centre of the surface. Use the Surface Offset X and Y fields to offset a
surface along the X-axis or Y-axis. All rotations, scaling, and shearing applied to a surface are applied about
its axis. The location of the axis is indicated by the axis icon in the scene.
To offset a surface:
Rotated image with no offset. Notice that the axis is Rotated image with an offset along the X-axis. Notice
in the centre of the image. that the axis is offset from the image centre.
■ BackLUT is the back matte pixel value, re-mapped according to any luminance curve change made in
the blending curve. The value is expressed as a decimal, as is the FrontLUT.
TIP If a tangent point is hidden behind a vertex or reference point, press Q and click the point in the image window
to select the tangent.
The handles are not broken. If you move this handle, the adjacent handle will move in the
opposite direction and by the same magnitude (length).
The handles are broken. If you move this handle, no other handles are affected.
The handles are geometrically continuous. If you move this tangent, the adjacent handles
will move in the opposite directions but maintain its magnitude (length).
1 Set the reference point values you want to use as the axis of origin using the X, Y, Z Vertex Position
fields.
2 Select multiple surface points by pressing Ctrl and dragging to select the surface points.
3 From the Tools box, select Rotate.
A 3D trackball appears on the reference point.
4 Use the 3D trackball to rotate the reference point and selected points.
All selected points rotate around the reference point.
1 Set the reference point values you want to use as the axis of origin using the X, Y, Z Vertex Position
fields.
2 Select multiple surface points by pressing Ctrl and dragging to select the surface points.
3 From the Tools box, select Scale.
4 Drag in a direction in the image window to scale accordingly.
Use the Magnet Curve Editor to define the weighted polarity from the centre to the edge of the magnet.
Points are either attracted or repelled depending on their location in the magnet and the shape of the magnet
curve.
The area of the magnet is plotted on the X-axis where 0 is the centre of the magnet and 100 is the edge of
the magnet. The polarity is plotted on the Y-axis where 1 is maximum positive strength and -1 is maximum
negative strength.
A positive polarity value attracts nearby points. A negative polarity value repels nearby points. The following
example illustrates a magnet that has a strong positive polarity near the centre and strong negative polarity
near the edges.
The following example illustrates a magnet whose positive polarity decreases from the centre and whose
negative polarity increases toward the edges.
When you transform points, the direction and size of the transformation is determined by the weighted
polarity of the magnet at the location of the points.
Using the first example, if you use the magnet to translate the points on the X-axis by +200, the points in
the centre of the magnet move in the positive direction on the X-axis—they are attracted to the magnet—while
the points near the edge of the magnet move in the negative direction on the X axis—they are repelled by
the magnet.
1 In the Vertices or UV Points menu, click Reset to return the magnet curve to its default.
2 Click the left-most handle on the curve and drag to define the polarity for the centre of the magnet.
3 Click the right-most handle on the curve and drag to define the polarity for the edge of the magnet.
4 Click the middle handle on the curve and drag to define the transition of polarity from the centre to
the edge of the magnet.
Transforming Points
Use Magnet mode to transform points gesturally. The magnet’s area of focus is determined by where you
click the surface and the radius of the magnet is set by the Magnet Curve Editor. The radius is determined
by the distance from the centre to the farthest selected point.
To transform points:
1 Use the Magnet Curve Editor to determine the polarity for the magnet.
2 From the Tools box, select Magnet.
Select: To:
Translate Translate the selected points along the X-, Y-, or Z-axis.
Rotate Rotate the selected points about the centre of the magnet.
Scale Scale the selected points about the centre of the magnet.
Use the invisible magnet to transform points you cannot select with the magnet. The centre of the magnet
is determined by the centre of the selection and the radius is determined by the distance from the centre to
the farthest selected point. Any transformations to the selected points are affected by the magnet.
1 Use the Magnet Curve Editor to determine the polarity for the magnet.
2 From the Tools box, choose Select.
3 Hold Ctrl and drag to select a range of points.
4 In the Vertices or UV Points menu, enable Magnet.
The magnet is not visible, but is illustrated here to show how the points will be affected when you
transform them.
Select: To:
Translate Translate the selected points along the X-, Y-, or Z- axis.
Rotate Rotate the selected points about the centre of the magnet.
Scale Scale the selected points about the centre of the magnet.
NOTE A shadow has its own parent axis. It can be moved, rotated, scaled, and sheared independently of
its parent surface. Because a shadow is also the child of the surface, moving the surface axis also moves the
shadow.
NOTE You can turn the shadow on or off from the Shadow Active button. This button is independent of
the Hide option.
4 To adjust the transparency of the drop shadow, use the Transparency field. When this field is set to
100, the shadow is completely transparent. When set to 0, the shadow is completely opaque.
TIP You can lock the shadow's transparency to the transparency of its parent surface using the Lock To
Surface button. Once a shadow transparency is locked to its parent surface, changes to the surface
transparency also affect the shadow's transparency. You can then adjust transparency of the shadow as an
offset of the surface's transparency.
5 Adjust the softness of a shadow using the softness fields. Use a value of 0.0 to have a distinct shadow.
Increase the value to soften the shadow.
Action:Z-buffer for shadowsUse Shadow Mix to render shadows and surfaces according to their order in the
Priority Editor, independently of their position in Z-space. This option makes it possible to have the shadow
of one media on top of the shadow of another media. Shadow Mix is an option in the Z-Buffer box in the
Rendering section of the Action Setup menu.
Shadow Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the drop shadow. Editable.
Lock To Surface button Enable to lock a shadow's transparency to the transparency of its parent surface.
X Softness field Displays the shadow softness level on the X axis. Editable.
Y Softness field Displays the shadow softness level on the Y axis. Editable.
1. Bring stereo clips into Action. Starting a Stereoscopic Session (page 640).
2. Work with the stereo camera and stereo object to make Action 3D Cameras (page 855) and Working with the Stereo Scene
any adjustments to the scene. (page 641).
3. Output various passes of your work. About Rendering Outputs from Action (page 590).
NOTE Since Action as a timeline FX uses only one front/matte media, stereo clips are not supported. If you need
to work with stereo clips, access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools menu.
NOTE A stereo clip cannot be loaded in Action if it is selected as the Back input, or if it is selected to replace a clip
in the Media list. Also, since Action as a timeline FX uses only one front/matte media, stereo clips are not supported.
When using a stereo clip, its left and right eye tracks are automatically split and placed on individual lines
in the Media list. Also, new clips appear in the workspace. They retain the name of the original clips, and
are appended with a “_Left” or “_Right” suffix. It is important to save these clips, as they are used for loading
an Action setup or loading the previous Action session.
NOTE It is not possible to select a mono clip as the Matte input if the Front input is stereo, and vice versa.
1 Click Action.
2 From the Input Mode box, select one of the following:
■ Clear All to delete all media and objects from the previous setup. Select stereo clips for the front
and matte input. This is the Stereo Startup mode.
■ Front/Back/Matte to enter Action using the previous setup. Select stereo clips for the Front and
Matte input, and a mono clip for the Back input.
NOTE If you enter Action using mono clips, the default camera is automatically created. If you need a stereo
camera, you must add it manually.
NOTE If you entered Action using the Front/Back/Matte option and want to clear all previous settings and
use the Stereo Startup mode, click the Reset To Stereo Mode button in the Action Setup menu. You will now
have to bring in new clips.
When you exit Action, the workspace contains left and right clips for the Front and Matte inputs for
a total of four new clips.
NOTE Entering Action with a stereo clip will automatically create a stereo object with the stereo clip used as the
left and right material.
To add a stereo object to a scene (not applicable if you accessed Action as a timeline FX):
1 In the Media list, select the media for the left eye. Press Ctrl and select media for the right eye.
NOTE By default, the first clip you select is the media for the left eye. You can select multiple pairs of left-right
media. Odd numbered selections are considered as left media and even numbered selections are the right
media when creating stereo objects.
2 Create a stereo object for the media by doing one of the following:
■ Drag the Stereo Object node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Stereo Object node from the node bin and place it where you want it in the Result view.
■ Double-click the Stereo Object node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The stereo object is added to the scene.
3 To display a selected viewport in any of the stereo modes (Anaglyph Mono, Anaglyph Dubois, Blend
or one of the Difference modes), select one from the Stereo mode button in the lower-left corner of
the viewport.
4 To open the Stereo Object menu, double-click the StereoObject node in the schematic.
Use the Axis tab of the Stereo Object menu to position, rotate, scale, and shear an axis, as well as adjust the
convergence, parenting, and autoscaling of stereo objects.
Select: To:
Auto Z Link the Position Z parameter with Convergence. This allows you to see how a
change in the Convergence value makes the object appear to move closer or
farther from the camera. This preserves the same visual aspect while scaling the
textures up or down accordingly.
AutoScale Change the left and right texture parameters when the Position Z or a Scale
parameter is changed. When you create a stereo object, it is automatically oriented
towards the camera and automatically scales. That is, the apparent size of the im-
ages scale to compensate when you move the stereo object along the Z axis. If
you move a stereo object away from the camera, it grows, and vice versa.
Convergence field Displays the equal amount of convergence in opposite directions horizontally, between
left and right images. Positive values make the image appear farther from the camera. Editable.
Parent To button Enable to associate a stereo object with the camera selected in the Parent Camera box.
Enabled by default to force the stereo object to face the 3D camera at all times when the camera is moved
around.
Parent Camera box Select which camera in the scene is associated with the stereo object. Setting found in
the Axis and Correction tabs.
Use the Correction tab of the Stereo Object menu to indicate how the footage was shot, and make interaxial
offset and FOV offset adjustments to the left/right images.
Correction Analyzer box Select which analyzer is used to provide automatic keystone corrections.
Interaxial Offset Left Eye field Displays the offset distance between the left eye compared to the 3D camera.
Editable.
Interaxial Offset Right Eye field Displays the offset distance between the right eye compared to the 3D
camera. Editable.
Interaxial Offset Current Camera field Displays the interaxial offset of the selected camera. Non-editable.
FOV Offset Left field Displays the offset field of view between the left eye compared to the 3D camera.
Editable.
FOV Offset Right field Displays the offset field of view between the right eye compared to the 3D camera.
Editable.
FOV Offset Current Camera field Displays the offset field of view of the selected camera. Non-editable.
Stereo Clip Type box Specify how the footage was shot: Parallel, Off Axis, or Converged.
Parent Camera box Select which camera in the scene is associated with the stereo object. Setting found in
the Axis and Correction tabs.
Camera Number field Displays the number of the selected camera. Non-editable.
Tools box Select whether to sync the left and right eye correction values.
When synced, a change to one value affects the other value. The left eye position is a combination of the
camera’s left eye position and the left interaxial offset; the same applies for the right eye. The effective FOV
for the correction is the sum of the camera’s FOV and the FOV offset.
Sync Type box Select whether the relationship between the left and right eye correction values is absolute
or relative. Available when Sync L+R is selected in the Tools box.
Use the Surface tab of the Stereo Object menu to adjust surface and shading properties of the stereo object.
Use the Texture tab of the Stereo Object menu to set the built-in diffuse maps (as well as any added texture
maps) of a stereo object.
Tools box Select whether to sync the left and right eye texture values.
Sync Type box Select whether the relationship between the left and right eye texture values is absolute or
relative. Available when Sync L+R is selected in the Tools box.
Texture Eye box Select whether to apply changes to the left or right eye and display the values of the left
or right texture.
Use the Blending tab of the Stereo Object menu to adjust the blending curves of each stereo surface separately.
The blending curve is similar to the Keyer luminance blending curve, but you can adjust it per eye.
You can switch between the stereo surface blend curves and the keyer blend curves. This gives you a good
comparison to luminance curve work you have already done in the Keyer.
The Blending tab settings are the same as in the Object Image menu for non-stereo objects. See Applying
Blending Curves per Surface (page 630). One extra setting is available for stereo objects, allowing you to select
which eye to apply blending curves.
Eye Selection box Select which eye to apply the blending curves. Select Both Eyes to apply the same blending
settings to both eyes. In this case, the settings of the last selected eye apply to both eyes.
Differences in camera lenses or perspective irregularities cause lens distortion that results in skewed angles.
Use the settings in the Lens Distort tab to rectify or simulate these types of distortions in your stereo images.
1 Click Media.
2 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the perspective grid.
This media becomes the reference for the perspective grid alignment.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Perspective Grid node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Perspective Grid node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Perspective Grid node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The Perspective Grid object is added to the schematic. In the Schematic view, the number in brackets
next to the name of the node indicates the media used for the perspective grid reference (0 refers to
the back clip).
5 From the Perspective Grid menu's Grid tab, select whether you want a 3D or 2D grid mode.
6 While in Action Object Solo view, drag each of the four corners of the rectangle to the desired location.
The grid automatically aligns to the new perspective.
TIP If the Magnifier button is active in the Display tab of the Perspective Grid menu, each corner is magnified
as you drag it, helping you to find the exact location to place it.
NOTE You can also manipulate the perspective grid in the Result view, provided that Lock is not selected in
the FOV Adjustments box of the Perspective Grid menu, or the perspective grid camera is the same as the
Result camera.
The FOV Adjustments box in the Perspective Grid menu allows you to animate the perspective grid by
positioning corner points in other frames. To create an animated transform, place the grid in the first frame,
then select Lock in other key frames. You can also select Lock if the camera FOV does not change over the
length clip.
If you select Dynamic in the FOV Adjustments box, Action will solve for the FOV in each frame on which
you edit the corners. The target camera FOV and position adjusts to fit the perspective set by the perspective
grid. If Lock is selected, the perspective grid does not adjust the target camera. To use the existing value in
the camera and not solve for it, regardless if you animate the perspective grid, you should select Lock before
positioning in the first frame.
NOTE When the FOV of the camera is computed (not locked), the camera is repositioned in order to frame the
media.
1 From the Action Perspective Grid menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be tracked from the Use
Media field (to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 Set your perspective grid corners.
3 Select 4 Corners from the Tracking Mode box.
4 Click the Enter Tracker button.
The media is automatically loaded into the Stabilizer and the Stabilizer menu appears.
5 In the Stabilizer menu, enable Context to use the Action scene as the reference.
6 Optional: Refine the position the trackers over the corners that you want to track, and click Analyze
to generate the tracking data.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
1 From the Action Perspective Grid menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be tracked from the Use
Media field (to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 Set your perspective grid corners.
3 Adjust any Tracking Settings (page 652), as needed.
4 Set any Analysis Constraints, if needed.
5 Click the Analyze button to perform the planar tracking analysis.
Before you perform planar tracking, it is useful to think of what type of result you are trying to achieve in
Action. Since you can apply planar tracking from the Axis, Perspective Grid, or GMask node, you should
have an idea of how each node handles the resulting tracking data:
■ Planar Tracking in the Axis node: Use when you want another object or surface to follow to
transform happening in an images sequence. Since the Axis itself does not contain media, the planar
tracker needs GMask splines to include or exclude to perform the tracking analysis.
■ Planar Tracking in the Perspective Grid node: Use when you have images with planar info that
you want the perspective to be sorted out for you. Since the Perspective Grid acts as an Axis, it performs
a similar tracking function, but has the advantage of tracking the grid information directly (with or
without GMask constraints).
■ Planar Tracking in the GMask node: Use primarily for rotoscoping work (to remove parts of the
image or the Action scene for another tool or compositing), or if you want to use a GMask as an animated
occlude.
Pre-Tracking Settings
See the full list of settings here (page 652) or in the tooltips. Here are a few things to keep in mind before you
track:
■ Look out for rotation, scale, skew, and perspective in your media to be tracked; and enable the appropriate
buttons to help the tracking analysis. Of these four buttons, pay particular attention to Perspective;
enable it only if the content is planar, and there is perspective information. Enabling Perspective without
these may result in instability in the tracking analysis.
■ Sampling field (Region Warping algorithm): As a general rule, a larger sampling reference increases the
quality of the results, but takes longer. There may be instances, though, when a lower sampling value
works better, such as when there is a lot of grain or noise in the media, or if there is fast camera motion.
In these instances, down-sampling may actually eliminate these potential sources of confusion for the
algorithm.
■ Lighting button (Region Warping algorithm): Enable to help with colour variations or high specularity.
Enabling Lighting can also help with diffuse reflection in an object, such as clouds in a window.
Analysis Constraints
Use inclusive or exclusive GMask constraints to limit the tracking to certain areas of the media. When planar
tracking from the Axis node, you must set GMask constraints, as the Axis itself can not be tracked.
■ Inclusive constraints: You can set GMask constraints (which include GMask gradients, if created), or just
GMask gradients (inner and outer gradients can be tracked). An example of using only GMask gradients
is when you are tracking a highly reflective surface, such as a smart phone screen. In this case, you can
create a gradient on the GMask to expand the trackable area.
NOTE When tracking from the GMask node, Gradients is the only available inclusive constraint.
■ Exclusive constraints: You can set areas of the media to not be considered in the tracking. Media GMasks
float in the Action scene (that is, they are not attached to the node being tracked), but they must be
assigned to the same media as the node being tracked.
Analysis Settings
To help you view the tracking analysis as it occurs, switch to Object Solo (F8) view, and make sure that the
Shape Reference and Shape Current buttons are enabled in the Display tab.
If you need to fine-tune the tracking analysis, many of the analysis settings are similar to those in the
Stabilizer; Step, Snap, and Auto Update Reference should be familiar to you, as well as using the backspace
key to delete bad keyframes (it is preferable to delete any bad keyframes before re-tracking). See the full list
of settings here (page 652) or in the tooltips.
■ Use Ctrl for added functionality with the Go To Reference button to go to the last analyzed frame, and
with the Set button to add a keyframe on the track without doing an analysis.
■ Updating the reference can help the track, since it constantly compares the current frame content to the
reference, to extract the tracking data. You have two options to update the reference:
■ Update it manually when the track is failing, using Snap.
■ Enable Auto Update Reference. Using Auto Update Reference generally allows you to perform an
easier track, at the cost of stability, since it compares the current frame to the previous (or next) frame,
and therefore is likely to introduce offset over time, or instability in the track. Large occlusions or
motion blur may also impede the Auto Update Reference.
Transform Mode box Select either 2D (homographic planar projection of the perspective) or 3D (full 3D
perspective transformation) mode. Some settings are not available depending on the mode chosen.
NOTE Perspective Grids contained in Action setups from a previous release appear in 3D Legacy mode, maintaining
the previous grid position.
Scale field Displays the size of the object under the perspective grid. Editable.
Reset button Click to reset the perspective grid settings (does not reset the active perspective camera settings).
Top Left X field Displays the top left X position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly in the
image window. Editable.
Top Left Y field Displays the top left Y position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly in the
image window. Editable.
Top Right X field Displays the top right X position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly in
the image window. Editable.
Top Right Y field Displays the top right Y position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly in
the image window. Editable.
Bottom Left X field Displays the bottom left X position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly
in the image window. Editable.
Bottom Left Y field Displays the bottom left Y position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly
in the image window. Editable.
Bottom Right X field Displays the bottom right X position of the grid. You can also edit this position
directly in the image window. Editable.
Bottom Right Y field Displays the bottom right Y position of the grid. You can also edit this position directly
in the image window. Editable.
Grid Width field Displays the width resolution (in Action coordinates) of a 2D perspective grid with Invert
enabled. Editable.
Grid Height field Displays the height resolution (in Action coordinates) of a 2D perspective grid with Invert
enabled. Editable.
Constraint box Select whether to lock the height or width of the grid when manipulating the grid points
(select Lock Both to lock the width and height). Lock Both is selected automatically when planar tracking.
Z Offset field Displays the distance between the perspective grid and the camera along the Z axis to make
a 3D grid larger or smaller while maintaining the visual result. Editable.
Perspective Camera field Displays the active perspective camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Perspective box Select whether to use the left or right camera from a stereo camera rig when
working with the perspective grid.
FOV field Displays the field of view of the active perspective camera. When adjusting the perspective grid,
the FOV of the target camera updates automatically (unless Lock is selected in the FOV Adjustments box).
Non-editable.
Select: To:
Static Use all corner keyframes to compute an overall FOV and set the camera to non-animated during
tracking of the perspective grid. By using multiple keyframes of corners, this is a better estimate of
FOV (for sequences where FOV does not change).
Dynamic Allow adjustments of the target camera FOV and position during tracking of the perspective grid.
Use when the FOV changes over the length of the sequence.
Lock Lock the camera FOV and position during tracking of the perspective grid.
Tracking Tab
Common Settings
Enter Tracker button Click to open the Tracker menu to apply tracking data for the selected tracking mode.
Camera box Specify which camera to take into account when tracking or viewing in Action Object view
(F8).
Use Media field Displays the number of the media associated with the analysis. To track the Back media,
select 0.
Tracking View box When the media associated to the analysis is a Source node, select to track the media
in the Source Front, Source Matte, or Source Result view.
Media FX button Enable to take into account blur and colour correct settings from the Action Media list
in the analysis.
Go to Reference button Click to move to the frame of the last Snap operation, or press Ctrl and click to go
to the last analyzed frame.
Set button Click to analyze the current frame, based on the reference frame, to realign the shape used for
tracking. Press Ctrl and click Set to add a keyframe on the track without doing any analysis.
Skip button Click to advance to the next frame and delete the selected point on the tracking path (performs
a combination of the Step and Delete buttons).
Delete button Click to delete the selected point on the tracking path. You can also use the Backspace key
to delete the current keyframe, and move to the previous keyframe.
Auto Update Reference button Enable to update the tracking reference at the current frame after each
analysis. Disable to track the movement of the reference point specified in the reference frame.
Snap button Click to redefine the tracking reference at the selected frame.
GMask Inclusive box Select whether to use the union of parented GMasks or GMask gradients as the tracking
reference. Select None to use the whole image (Axis), or the four corner region (Perspective Grid).
GMask Exclusive box Select whether to exclude GMasks in the tracking analysis.
Sampling field Displays the size of the reference for Region Warping. A smaller reference increases
performance at the expense of the quality of its results. Editable.
Lighting button Enable to estimate local lightning variations of the tracked surface.
Occlusions button Enable to automatically exclude parts of the reference to be analyzed based on their
likelihood to be occluded.
Analyze RGB Channels button Enable to include all colour channels in the tracking analysis. Disable to
only track luminance.
Average field Displays the blending factor to apply to the tracking analysis, based on the neighbouring
frames. Use to remove jitter, for example. Note that this operation is destructive, and once applied, the value
returns to 0 (you can use Undo to revert, if needed). Editable.
Min Number field Displays the minimum number of trackers to use in the analysis. Editable.
Tolerance field Displays the level of acceptable changes in the pixel environment. For example, a low
tolerance value ensures that the motion of an external object passing in front of the tracked object does not
get tracked through the analysis. Editable.
Display Tab
Shape Reference button Enable to display an overlay of the reference frame when tracking in Object view
(F8).
Shape Current button Enable to display an overlay of the current frame when tracking in Object view (F8).
Magnifier button Enable to display the magnifier while dragging a corner of the perspective grid rectangle.
Zoom field Displays the zoom factor of the magnifier. Editable up to 5x.
Display Grid button Enable to display the grid lines in Result or Object view.
Grid Colour pot Displays the colour of the grid lines. Click to change the colour.
NOTE When accessing Action as a Timeline FX, a light object is automatically added to your Action scene.
NOTE The default Z position of the light is set at 50% of the Z position of the default camera in your Action
scene.
3 Enable the Active button in the Light menu to activate the light source.
The light icon appears in the scene.
1 Enable the Scene Ambient button in the Rendering section of the Action Setup menu, or in an individual
Light menu.
This is a global setting for the Action scene, and is enabled by default.
2 In the Action Setup menu, you can also adjust the intensity and shading levels of this global scene
ambient light.
Importing Lights
FBX and Alembic files may have lights and their data included, and you can use these same lights in Action.
See Importing 3D Models (page 693).
When selecting Custom as the falloff model, you have full control of the bevel curve. Use the options in
the Tools box to add, select, delete, or move keyframes on the bevel curve. The bevel curve behaves in much
the same way as an animation curve in the Channel Editor. Make sure that the spread value is less than 90°,
and use the settings and the curve itself to create lighting effects.
For example, a curve such as this.
TIP To create black holes in your lighting effect, use values below zero on the Bevel curve.
When using a Parametric model, you have access to falloff in and out settings, as well as an attenuation
setting. In this case, if the spread is below 90°, you can see the falloff curve, but are not able to directly
manipulate the curve as you can with the custom model.
TIP You can also use selective light links with the Projector nodes (page 817).
TIP To remove the inclusion or exclusion link, while still in Light Link mode, click and drag over the line that
connects the light source to the axis or image.
Specular Highlights
A specular highlight is a reflection of a light source. The position of the specular highlight depends on the
position and number of light sources surrounding a surface and the angle of the camera.
Use the Shine field to change the intensity of the specular highlight. When the Shine value is set to 0, the
specular highlight is disabled. To change the size of the specular highlight, use the Falloff field in the Light
menu.
This surface is lit using a Falloff of 30 and a Spread of 27. This surface is lit using a Falloff of 20 and a Spread of 27.
The surface's Shine is set to 10. The surface's Shine is set to 1.
By default, the specular highlight is the same colour as the light source. You can change the colour of the
specular highlight by changing the specular colour values.
The specular colour is the colour of light that is reflected by the surface. For example, if the specular colour
is red and the light source is white, the specular highlight is red. If the specular colour is yellow and the
light source is red, the highlight is orange.
Set how a surface reflects incidental light by applying ambient or diffuse lighting. The actual colour of the
reflection depends on both the colour value of each pixel and the colour of the incidental light. The intensity
of the reflection depends on the orientation of the light source relative to the surface; it is greatest where
the incident light strikes the object perpendicular to its surface. The intensity of the reflection is independent
of the camera eye position.
When you turn shading on, you do not have to enable a light source to see the lighting effect, as a default
infinite light source supplies ambient light at 20% intensity. The infinite light source is located behind the
camera eye and cannot be moved. As soon as you add a light source, the infinite light source is replaced by
the new light source.
In the Surface menu, make a selection in the Lighting box:
TIP You can optionally adjust the colour of the incidental light using the ambient or diffuse RGB channels. To
display the RGB channels, click Animation to display the Channel Editor. Expand the surface's folder (it should
already be selected), expand its Material folder, then expand the Ambient or Diffuse folder.
Flips the normals of the surface so that light is applied to the opposite side of the surface. Use to create a
two-sided shaded surface. To control both surfaces, parent them by a new axis and use this axis to rotate,
scale, shear, and move the two surfaces.
NOTE There may be a priority problem causing one surface to be drawn over the other. To correct this problem,
use the Priority Editor (page 557) to animate the drawing priority of surfaces, or change the Z position of one
surface by one pixel.
Converting to Wireframe
You can remove some lighting effects for a selected surface by converting surfaces to a wireframe depiction
of the surface. When Wireframe is enabled, specular values and any applied textures are replaced with a
wireframe view of the surface. When used on an image, the surface will adopt a screen-like look.
Basics Tab
Light Type box Select the type of light to apply to the scene.
Different settings may appear directly below the Light Type box depending on the type selected.
Light Mode box Select Free to light the scene in the direction that you aim the light, or Target to aim the
light at a target object in the scene based on a point of interest.
Light Intensity field Displays the intensity of the selected light. Available in the Light menu Basics and
Profile tabs. Editable.
Light Spread field Displays the spread angle. A value of 90° or less creates a spotlight. Available in the Light
menu Basics and Profile tabs. Editable
X Position field Displays the position of the selected light along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the selected light along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the selected light along the Z axis. Editable.
Path button Enable to animate the position of the light using a spline drawn in the scene. Disable to animate
the position of a light using explicit animation.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected light (can only be used if the global
Motion Blur is enabled in the Setup menu).
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation the selected light along the Y axis. Available when Free is selected in
the Light Mode box. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation the selected light along the Z axis. Available when Free is selected in
the Light Mode box. Editable.
Distance field Displays the position of the light's focus. Available when Free is selected in the Light Mode
box.
X Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the X axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Light Mode box. Editable.
Y Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the Y axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Light Mode box. Editable.
Z Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the Z axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Light Mode box. Editable.
Roll field Displays the amount of light roll. Available when Target is selected in the Light Mode box.
Red Light field Displays the red value of the selected light. Editable.
Green Light field Displays the green value of the selected light. Editable.
Blue Light field Displays the blue value of the selected light. Editable.
Light colour pot Displays the colour of the light source. Editable.
Lightbox Order box Select whether an attached Lightbox effect occurs before (Pre) or after (Post; default)
the light.
Light Source box Select whether the light or Lightbox effect is added to the result of previous lights in the
Priority Editor (Additive Light) or to the source diffuse (Solo Light).
Active button Enable to light up the scene using added light sources. When disabled, no lighting effects
appear in the scene; surfaces and 3D models appear flat. This same setting can be found in the Action Setup
menu and the Light menu.
Scene Ambient button Enable to have global ambient lighting in your Action scene. This same setting can
be found in the Action Setup menu and the Light menu.
Profile Tab
Settings for controlling the light bevel curve are located in the Light Profile tab.
Light Intensity field Displays the intensity of the selected light. Available in the Light menu Basics and
Profile tabs. Editable.
Light Spread field Displays the spread angle. A value of 90° or less creates a spotlight. Available in the Light
menu Basics and Profile tabs. Editable
Light Attenuation field Displays the level of amplitude of the light. Available when Parametric is selected
in the Falloff Model box. Editable.
Light Falloff field Displays the amount of falloff around the edge of the light source (also changes the size
of the specular highlight). Available when Custom is selected in the Falloff Model box. Editable.
Decay Type box Select the type of decay to apply to the light source.
Decay field Displays the rate at which light decreases for the chosen decay type. Editable.
Falloff Model box Select whether to use a parametric or custom falloff model. A custom falloff allows you
to interactively use the profile curve, while a parametric falloff displays the curve for visual reference only.
Falloff In field Displays the level of incoming light falloff. Available when Parametric is selected in the
Falloff Model box. Editable.
Falloff Out field Displays the level of outgoing light falloff. Available when Parametric is selected in the
Falloff Model box. Editable.
Light Bevel curve Displays the specific profile of the selected light. Use the options in the Tools box to add,
select, delete, or move keyframes on the bevel curve. When using a parametric falloff model, the curve is
read-only. See Using the Light Bevel Curve (page 656).
Home button Resets the Bevel curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Lightbox Tab
Lightbox Normals button Enable to take normals into consideration to compute the transparency of the
Lightbox effect on the scene.
Effect field Displays how much the orientation of the normals affects the result of the shader, relative to
the light position in the scene. Available when Lightbox Normals is enabled. Editable.
Override Normals button Enable to force all surfaces to be affected by the Lightbox shader, when Light
Normal attenuation isn't appropriate for the Lightbox effect. Disable to only affect front-facing surfaces,
relative to the light. The default behaviour of this button can be set as an XML tag in the shader.
GMask Tab
Use this setting when a GMask is connected to a Light with a GMask link.
GMask Link Texture Size box Select the texture size of a GMask connected to a Light through a GMask
Link.
After adding and setting up shadow casts in Action, you can output the shadow by itself, or as part of your
overall composition. A shadow pass is a white image with greyscale regions that represent the shadow
coverage. See Output Options (page 593) for information on the specific shadow output settings.
Action also supports drop shadows (see Adding Drop Shadows (page 637)).
If there is only one light in the scene, the shadow cast node is automatically connected to it. If there
are several lights in the scene, select the light in the schematic that you want parented to the shadow
cast before added the shadow cast node. Otherwise, you can parent the shadow cast node to the light
or lights manually in the schematic.
3 To display the Shadow Cast menu, double-click the shadow cast object in the schematic, or follow the
tab population rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
Invisible Receiver Be invisible in the scene while still receiving shadows. All object properties are maintained, so you
can still use blend modes, transparency, or even texture the surface or geometry for more flexibility.
TIP You can use a "dummy" geometry or surface as the receiver, such as a white frame, angled to
match the background. In this case, set the Blend Mode to Multiply, and use other object properties,
such as transparency and diffuse colour.
Cast & Receive Cast and receive a shadow (this is the default).
Shadow Output Type box Select the type of shadow to output. This setting is repeated in the Render Passes
section of the Output menu for a Shadow Output Selection.
NOTE When set in the Output menu, this becomes the default Shadow Type for any new Shadow Cast nodes.
Source Shadow Type box Select the type of shadow cast for the source node. This setting is available in the
Shadow Cast menu only if the shadow cast node is a child of a source node, and is repeated in the Source
menu.
3D Hard Shadows Use 3D Hard Shadows for higher precision shadows when lights are close to the objects
in the scene. These are best for hard edge shadows with penumbra effects, but can be
slower.
3D Soft Shadows Use 3D Soft Shadows if you want faster soft shadows with lights further away from your
objects. These shadows offer explicit control over softness.
2.5D Shadows 2.5D Shadows work best on transparent or semi-transparent objects, for example a shadow
projected on a wall by smoke.
NOTE Some of the settings in the Shadow Cast menu differ based on the shadow type you choose.
Resolution box Select a resolution to determine the quality of the selected casting type. You can select up
to 8K resolution, but a message may appear if too much memory is used with multiple Shadow Cast nodes.
In this case, you can Confirm to move to the next lower resolution, or Cancel to disable the shadow cast.
Texture Bit-Depth box Select a 16 or 32-bit quality for the shadow cast. 32-bit offers more precision, but
at the cost of memory usage.
Anti-Aliasing Sample box Select an anti-aliasing sampling level for the shadow cast.
NOTE Depending on your graphics card and the size of your Action scene, shadows may not appear or render
properly with higher anti-aliasing sampling levels.
Anti-Aliasing Softness field Displays the softness value of the anti-aliasing sample for the shadow cast.
NOTE Jitter on 3D shadows is inherent to the shadow map technique. However, in most situations it can be go
completely unnoticed. Some lighting situations which cause stretched shadows, such as lights close to the horizon,
are very likely to create visible jittering. To alleviate jittering problems, you can try to use higher resolution,
anti-aliasing, and anti-aliasing softness levels. In these cases, interactive manipulations in the image window may
become taxing; therefore, you should activate Adaptive Degradation (page 586) for Shadows.
Red Colour field Displays the amount of red in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light).
Editable.
Green Colour field Displays the amount of green in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light).
Editable.
Blue Colour field Displays the amount of blue in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light).
Editable.
Shadow Colour pot Displays the colour of the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light). Editable.
Proportional button Enable to change the Red, Green, and Blue colour fields proportionally.
Decay Type box Select the type of decay to apply to the shadow.
Decay field Displays the rate at which the shadow decreases for the chosen decay type. Editable.
Density field Displays the level of height/depth discontinuity in a 3D soft shadow. Use to fix light bleeding
issues. Editable.
Focus field Displays the softness of the 2.5D shadow based on the distance from the light. Objects closer
to the focus distance are less blurred. Editable.
Colour Bleed field Displays the amount of colour bleed in the 2.5D shadow from semi-transparent objects
in the scene. Editable.
Flattening Mode box Select a flattening mode for the 2.5D shadow. Most of the time, Best Fit gives the best
quality, but if you see clipping artefacts in the shadow, try one of the other modes.
Sampling Mode box Select a softness sampling mode for the 3D hard shadow.
Filter Samples field Displays the amount of filter samples to take into account when creating softness (X
xY) for a 3D hard shadow. Available when Regular sampling is chosen in the Sampling Mode box. Editable.
Caster Details field Displays the amount of shadow caster samples to take into account when creating
softness (X x Y) for a 3D hard shadow. Editable.
Auto Near/Far button Enable to automatically set the near and far parameters for the 3D shadow based on
the objects in the scene.
Near field Displays the near distance of the start of the 3D shadow. Editable.
Far field Displays the far distance of the end of the 3D shadow. Editable.
Matte Threshold field Displays the value at which the alpha casts a 3D shadow. Editable.
Overlap field Displays the amount of overlap from the light source. Increase to remove imperfections in
the 3D shadow. Editable.
Clip Position field Displays the position of the clipping plane for 2.5D shadows, relative to the depth of
the shadow. Use to define at what depth the shadow begins to be shown. Editable.
Lens Flares in Action are comprised of a Lens Flare object, attached to one or more Border FX objects, and
any number of texture components, such as irises, streaks, and glows. To help you get accustomed to working
with lens flares, a preset with typical settings is loaded when you first add a lens flare object to your scene.
Multiple lens flares can be attached to a light, and multiple lights can attach to a lens flare.
TIP Use a GMask link to connect a GMask directly to the Lens Flare node in the schematic. If you then select Use
As Occluder in the Post Processing box in the GMask menu, you can create interesting effects by having the GMask
occlude only the Lens Flare effect.
Lens Flares can be added as a render pass output selection. The lens flare (and rays) result can also applied
by default in the Comp output (using the Action Lens Flare / Rays button).
You can deactivate the Action Lens Flare / Rays button, and put a lens flare anywhere in the post processing
pipeline, using its own output pass via a Lens Flare Matchbox shader (by default Lens Flares are at the very
end of the Camera FX pipeline).
See Outputs Options (page 593) for more information.
A default lens flare (including a Lens Flare object, Border FX object, and multiple component texture
objects) is added to the schematic. In Result view Live Preview mode, you can see the lens flare (you
may need to move the light in the scene to see the full lens flare effect).
If there is only one light in the scene, the lens flare node is automatically connected to it. If there are
several lights in the scene, select the light in the schematic that you want parented to the lens flare
before added the lens flare node. Otherwise, you can parent the lens flare node to the light or lights
manually in the schematic.
3 To add a texture component to a lens flare, select the Border FX object in the schematic, then
double-click a texture node in the Relighting tab of the node bin.
4 To display the Lens Flare menu, double-click the lens flare object in the schematic, or follow the tab
population rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
You can also load and save lens flare presets. See Using Lens Flare Presets (page 670).
NOTE You can save and reload Lens Flare presets containing animation channel expressions. Note that only
animation channel expressions found inside the setup will reload properly (Lens Flare nodes and its children). Also
keep in mind that node names need to be unique for expressions to resolve properly (if you load the same Lens
Flare setup twice, you'll have an expression resolving clash).
1 From an existing lens flare in the schematic, double-click the Lens Flare node to access the Lens Flare
menu.
2 From the Basics tab, click the Load button in the Preset section to open the Preset browser.
By default the browser points to opt/Autodesk/shared/presets/lensflare.
3 Select a preset from the default path (in the Creative or RealLenses subfolders), or navigate to a path
of your choosing to select a preset, then click Load.
The Lens Flare object, as well as any other nodes included in the preset are attached to the light,
replacing the current lens flare.
1 Set up a lens flare object with any settings and attached texture components that you want.
2 From the Basics tab of the Lens Flare menu, click the Save button in the Preset section.
3 From the Preset browser that appears, name and select a location for your saved preset. Be careful not
to overwrite an existing preset, unless you want to.
The Lens Flare preset is saved with all nodes that are connected under the Lens Flare node, including
Border FX nodes, and texture components (even a Diffuse Map or Matchbox node, if used to re-texture
a component).
NOTE Legacy Lens Flare presets are also available through the Action Presets node. These presets are not available
in the same directory path as the presets accessed from the Lens Flare menu.
In the Action schematic, the components are attached to a Border FX object that is itself attached to the
Lens Flare object. You can use multiple Border FX objects to achieve the lens flare look you want. For example,
attach a ring and glow to one Border FX object, while a streak and iris are attached to another Border FX
object. In this case, you can control how the lens flare behaves when it reaches the borders of your image
differently for the components under each Border FX object.
TIP You can also attach multiple Border FX objects to the same texture component, to compare different Border
FX settings, for example. In this case, you can use the Action Hide button to hide each selected Border FX node
to see the different results.
Re-Texturing Components
Since the components are textures, you can also re-texture a component using a Diffuse Map with your own
texture media applied. To do so, select the component in the schematic, then select the media you want to
use from the media list, and double-click the Diffuse Map node in the node bin. In this case, the Pattern
settings in the component menu are not applicable, though you can still use the settings in the Basics and
Border FX tabs of the component menu, as well as the Diffuse menu settings.
You can also use a Matchbox shader to re-texture a lens flare component, by connected the Matchbox node
to the component that you want to replace. Since Matchbox nodes can contain embedded textures in a
texture grid, this is a good way to add your own real world lens flare elements, or even hijack the lens flare
by texture bombing with your own graphic elements, such as logos. A number of lens flare Matchbox preset
shaders are included in Flame.
Basics Tab
Position X field Displays the screen space position along the X axis of the Lens Flare pivot point. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the screen space position along the Y axis of the Lens Flare pivot point. Editable.
Position Z field Displays the screen space position along the Z axis of the Lens Flare pivot point. Editable.
Red Colour field Displays the amount of red in attached flare components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
Green Colour field Displays the amount of green in attached flare components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
Blue Colour field Displays the amount of blue in attached flare components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
Flare Colour pot Displays the colour of the attached flare components (based on the colour of the attached
light). Editable.
Global Intensity field Displays the intensity of the attached flare components (multiplied by the intensity
of the attached light). Editable.
Global Scale field Displays the scale of the attached flare components. Editable.
Global Position field Displays the position of attached flare components in relation to the light (0%) and
pivot point (100%). Editable.
Hue Shift field Displays the RGB offset applied to the edges of attached flare components. Editable.
Spread field Displays the amount of refractive distortion applied to the edges of attached flare components.
Editable.
Load button Click to open a preset browser to select a lens flare preset.
Save button Click to open the preset browser in order to save the current lens flare (including all components
attached under the lens flare node).
Occlusion curve Displays the occlusion profile of the lens flare. Use to set the behaviour of the lens flare
components when behind other objects in the scene.
Occluder Size field Displays the size of fade in/out of occluded lens flare components. Editable.
Z Threshold field Displays the transparency value at which objects start occluding the flare. Editable.
Home button Resets the bevel curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Use the Border FX settings to control how the lens flare behaves when it reaches the borders of your image.
A visual representation of the inner and outer borders, as well as the pivot area is displayed in the menu.
Border Gain field Displays the amount of gain to apply to the attached lens flare components when the
light reaches the defined border. Editable.
Inner Interpolation box Select an interpolation type to define the transition between the border gain and
the inner border.
Outer Extrapolation box Select an extrapolation type to define the transition between the border gain and
the outer border.
Pivot Gain field Displays the amount of gain to apply to the attached lens flare components when the light
reaches the defined pivot area. Editable.
Pivot Interpolation box Select an interpolation type to define the transition between the pivot gain and
the pivot point.
Border Mode box Select whether Border FX settings are applied vertically, horizontally, or in both directions.
Inner Border Margin field Displays the position of the inner border. Editable.
Outer Border Margin field Displays the position of the outer border. Editable.
Pivot Radius In field Displays the inner radius of the pivot point. Editable.
Pivot Radius Out field Displays the outer radius of the pivot point. Editable.
Each flare component has its own menu to control settings particular to the component. Some of these
settings are common among the different component types, while some are specific to the component type.
Basics 1 Tab
Intensity Variance field Displays how much the intensity varies. Available when the Number field value
is greater than 1. Editable.
Intensity Seed field Displays the random intensity seed value. Available when the Number field value is
greater than 1. Editable.
Scale Variance field Displays how much the scale varies. Available when the Number field value is greater
than 1. Editable.
Scale Seed field Displays the random scale seed value. Available when the Number field value is greater
than 1. Editable.
Spread Value field Displays the position of components in relation to each other. Available when the
Number field value is greater than 1. Editable.
Spread Variance field Displays how much the spread varies. Available when the Number field value is
greater than 1. Editable.
Spread Seed field Displays the random spread seed value. Available when the Number field value is greater
than 1. Editable.
Spread option box Select a behaviour for the spread settings: Centre (equal), Positive (light to pivot direction),
or Negative (pivot to light direction).
Rotation Value field Displays the level of rotation of the component. Editable.
Rotation Variance field Displays how much the rotation varies. Available when the Number field value is
greater than 1. Editable.
Ratio Value field Displays the aspect ratio of the component. Editable.
Ratio Variance field Displays how much the ratio varies. Available when the Number field value is greater
than 1. Editable.
Ratio Seed field Displays the random ratio seed value. Available when the Number field value is greater
than 1. Editable.
Iris Shape box Select the shape of iris component. For other component types, this box is grayed out and
displays the type of component.
Position field Displays the offset applied to the component in relation to the light (0%) and pivot point
(100%). Editable.
Lock To Light button Enable to lock the orientation of the component to the light.
The Lens Texture component Basics 1 tab only has the following two settings (not shown):
Overall Brightness field Displays the brightness level of the Lens Texture component. Editable.
Inner Brightness field Displays how much of the lens is revealed. Editable.
The Glint component Basics tab also has the following two settings (not shown):
Overall Speed field Displays the rate at which the Glint animation plays.
Time Offset field Displays the start point of the Glint animation. With a value of 0, the animation starts
at frame 1. With a value of 100, the animation begins as if it has been generating for 99 frames. You cannot
animate this field.
Basics 2 Tab
Centre X Position field Displays the position of scaling and rotation of the component along the X axis.
Editable.
Centre X Variance field Displays how much the centre position varies along the X axis. Available when
the Number field value is greater than 1. Editable.
Centre Y Position field Displays the position of scaling and rotation of the component along the Y axis.
Editable.
Centre Y Variance field Displays how much the centre position varies along the Y axis. Available when the
Number field value is greater than 1. Editable.
Centre Y Seed field Displays the random centre Y seed value. Available when the Number field value is
greater than 1. Editable.
Border FX Tab
The component Border FX settings allow you to choose which how the component interacts with the parent
lens flare border settings.
Border Intensity button Enable to take into account intensity values of the parent relighting object.
Intensity Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the intensity. Editable.
Intensity Variance field Displays how much the intensity varies. Editable.
Border Scale button Enable to take into account scale values of the parent relighting object.
Scale Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the scale. Editable.
Scale Variance field Displays how much the scale varies. Editable.
Border Rotation button Enable to take into account rotation values of the parent relighting object.
Rotation Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the rotation. Editable.
Rotation Variance field Displays how much the rotation varies. Editable.
Border Centre button Enable to take into account centre values of the parent relighting object.
Centre Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the centre. Editable.
Centre Variance field Displays how much the centre varies. Editable.
Border Ratio button Enable to take into account ratio values of the parent relighting object.
Ratio Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the ratio. Editable.
Ratio Variance field Displays how much the ratio varies. Editable.
Border Spread button Enable to take into account spread values of the parent relighting object.
Spread Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the spread. Editable.
Spread Variance field Displays how much the spread varies. Editable.
Use the pattern settings to control the texture before it is applied to the lens flare or ray. The settings in the
Pattern tabs vary depending on the component type. You can get a quick description of each setting by
viewing its tooltip.
Relighting: Rays
Action:rays;rays:adding, in ActionUse rays to simulate volumetric effects. You can attach a Rays object to a
light in Action.
You can position rays behind 2D or 3D objects to generate effects, although rays are still visible even without
an object to outline them. When semi-transparent objects are positioned in front of the light, it is possible
to generate volumetric rays that use the colour of the object.
TIP Use a GMask link to connect a GMask directly to the Rays node in the schematic. If you then select Use As
Occluder in the Post Processing box in the GMask menu, you can create interesting effects by having the GMask
occlude only the Rays effect.
A Rays object is added to the schematic. In Result view, you can see the ray.
If there is only one light in the scene, the rays node is automatically connected to it. If there are several
lights in the scene, select the light in the schematic that you want parented to the rays node before
NOTE Since a Rays object is considered a post-processing effect in Action, make sure that your image window
is set to Live Preview mode to be able to see the results.
3 To display the Rays menu, double-click the Rays object in the schematic, or follow the tab population
rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
Similar to the workflow of the Lens Flare, you can add texture components (page 671) to a rays node to
enhance the effect.
Rays Mode box Select whether the Rays pivot point position is relative to the parent Light target position
(Target mode), or independent of the parent Light (Pivot mode).
Position X field Displays the screen space position along the X axis of the Rays point-of-interest. Unavailable
if Free is disabled. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the screen space position along the Y axis of the Rays point-of-interest. Unavailable
if Free is disabled. Editable.
Position Z field Displays the screen space position along the Z axis of the Rays point-of-interest. Editable.
Free button Enable to ignore transformations from the parent light object. When disabled, the ray is affected
by the parent light's position, rotation, spread, and falloff settings.
Colour button Enable to add the ray colour to the colour bleed applied to semi-transparent 3D objects
placed in front of the attached light.
Red Colour field Displays the amount of red in the effect and in any attached components (based on the
colour of the attached light). Editable.
Green Colour field Displays the amount of green in the effect and in any attached components (based on
the colour of the attached light). Editable.
Blue Colour field Displays the amount of blue in the effect and in any attached components (based on the
colour of the attached light). Editable.
Colour pot Displays the colour of the effect and any attached components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
Falloff field Displays the amount of smoothness applied to the borders of the ray cone. Editable.
Length field Displays the amount of softness applied to the ray. Editable.
Samples field Displays the quality of the ray based on the radial distance to the attached light. Editable.
Active button Enable to use shimmering settings to modulate the ray with noise particles.
Animated button Enable to automatically apply a noise effect to the shimmer at each frame.
Thickness field Displays the thickness of the shimmer noise particles. Editable.
Pan X field Displays the amount of movement of the shimmer noise particles along the X axis. Editable.
Pan Y field Displays the amount of movement of the shimmer noise particles along the Y axis. Editable.
Object Intensity field Displays the amount of ray colour bleed applied to semi-transparent 3D objects placed
in front of the attached light. Editable.
Shading button Enable to allow the ray to inherit the shaded colours of a 3D object as it passes through
the object.
Relighting: Blooming
Action:blooming;blooming:adding, in ActionAttach a Blooming node to a light in the scene to help define
highlight areas that generate a glowing effect. You can add textures to stamp a blooming node with particular
patterns, such as streaks and glints.
Blooming can affect surfaces and geometries in your Action scene, and you can also use lighting links from
the attached lights to selectively include or exclude blooming from objects in the scene.
Since Blooming works in Action screen space, the effect is not limited to the surface or geometry in your
scene. Note however, that while blooming can occur outside of the Action scene while you are viewing the
effect in the image window, in this case you may not see the full blooming effect when you preview or
process in Action. You may notice this also if you zoom in or out while viewing in the image window.
A Blooming object is added to the schematic. In the Result view, you can see the bloom effect.
If there is only one light in the scene, the blooming node is automatically connected to it. If there are
several lights in the scene, select the light in the schematic that you want parented to the blooming
node before adding the blooming node. Otherwise, you can parent the blooming node to the light or
lights manually in the schematic.
3 Optional: To add a texture component, select the blooming object in the schematic, then double-click
a texture node in the Relighting tab of the node bin.
4 To display the Blooming menu, double-click the Blooming object in the schematic, or follow the tab
population rules for the Object menu.
Blooming Tab
Red Colour field Displays the amount of red in the effect and in any attached components (based on the
colour of the attached light). Editable.
Green Colour field Displays the amount of green in the effect and in any attached components (based on
the colour of the attached light). Editable.
Blue Colour field Displays the amount of blue in the effect and in any attached components (based on the
colour of the attached light). Editable.
Rays Colour pot Displays the colour of the effect and any attached components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
NOTE The same colour settings are also found in the Stamping tab.
Intensity field Displays the intensity of the effect and any attached components (multiplied by the intensity
of the attached light). Editable.
Threshold field Displays the minimum luminance value at which blooming occurs. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of softness along the X axis of the blooming effect. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of softness along the Y axis of the blooming effect. Editable.
Stamping Tab
For stamping settings to have any effect, you need to attach one or more texture components to the blooming
node. In this case, stamping settings are global for all attached components, and each component texture
has its own menu that is specific to the texture.
Green Colour field Displays the amount of green in the effect and in any attached components (based on
the colour of the attached light). Editable.
Blue Colour field Displays the amount of blue in the effect and in any attached components (based on the
colour of the attached light). Editable.
Rays Colour pot Displays the colour of the effect and any attached components (based on the colour of the
attached light). Editable.
NOTE The same colour settings are also found in the Blooming tab.
Stamping Intensity field Displays the global stamping intensity of all attached texture components. Editable.
Stamping Threshold field Displays the minimum value at which stamping occurs for all attached texture
components. Editable.
Stamping Softness X field Displays the softness along the X axis for all attached texture components.
Editable.
Stamping Softness Y field Displays the softness along the X axis for all attached texture components.
Editable.
Stamping Attenuation field Displays the smoothing level of the blooming effect. Use to fade out regions
that have too much blooming. Editable.
Texture Minimum Size field Displays the minimum size of all attached texture components. Editable.
Texture Scale field Displays the size of all attached texture components. Editable.
Texture Rotation field Displays the level of rotation of all attached texture components. Editable.
Texture Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio of all attached texture components. Editable.
Sampling X field Displays the size of the grid along the X axis to affect the number of samples taken to
calculate the stamping effect. A higher value yields faster results, but may be less precise. Editable.
Sampling Y field Displays the size of the grid along the Y axis to affect the number of samples taken to
calculate the stamping effect. A higher value yields faster results, but may be less precise. Editable.
NOTE On a Mac system, you are limited to one IBL map per Action object.
1 Select the media to be used as the IBL in the image list. Any type of media can be used, including, but
not limited to, .hdr images.
NOTE If no media is selected, you can create an IBL with a default lat-long cylindrical image (presets are
available at /opt/Autodesk/presets/<product version>/action/ibl).
2 Select the node in the schematic that you want to attach the IBL map to.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the IBL node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the IBL node.
To affect the entire scene, add an IBL map and make it a child of the Result camera (or any camera
used for the comp output). To affect a specific object, make the IBL map a child of the object. You can
use only one IBL to affect the entire scene, and only one IBL to affect an object.
To specify different media as the IBL source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply, or
use the Read File tab to manage the IBL media (see Working With Textures in Map Nodes (page 756))
4 To display the IBL menu, double-click the IBL object in the schematic, or follow the tab population
rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
Mapping Type box Select the type of texture mapping. Use the Map Convert (page 1533) tool to convert
different mapping types (for example from spheric to one of the supported types).
Gain field Displays the overall brightness of the IBL map. Editable.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the IBL settings.
Rotation Settings
Rotation X field Displays the level of rotation of the IBL map along the X axis. Editable.
Rotation Y field Displays the level of rotation of the IBL map along the Y axis. Editable.
Rotation Z field Displays the level of rotation of the IBL map along the Z axis. Editable.
Use As Back button Enable to use the selected IBL map as the background in the scene. Background settings
appear when enabled.
Background Gain field Displays the overall brightness of the IBL map when used as a background. Editable.
Background Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the IBL map when used as a
background (not available when Cubic is chosen as the mapping type). Editable.
Background Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the IBL map when used as a
background (not available when Cubic is chosen as the mapping type). Editable.
Background Diffuse Offset field Displays the offset based on an attached diffuse map or the existing diffuse
light in the image when used as a background. Editable.
FOV Offset field Displays the field of view offset applied to an IBL map that is used as a background. Use
to simulate a zoom in or out of the background. Editable.
PBS shading may override these settings, but one IBL map can be used for both PBS and standard shading
in the same scene.
IBL Type box Select whether to apply Ambient or Reflection IBL mapping. Extra settings appear when
Ambient is selected.
Jitter field Displays the sampling area used to calculate the normal information for ambient lighting effects.
Available when Ambient is selected as the IBL type. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the IBL map (not available when Cubic is
chosen as the mapping type). Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the IBL map (not available when Cubic is
chosen as the mapping type). Editable.
Diffuse Offset field Displays the offset based on an attached diffuse map or the existing diffuse light in the
image. Editable.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the IBL map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the IBL map with the cropped size of the IBL media. Disable to
use the cropped IBL media as is.
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the IBL map.
About Lightbox
Unlike Matchbox GLSL shaders, Lightbox shaders are available exclusively in Action, relying on the Light
framework, to which a Lightbox node is parented in the Action scene. Lightbox shaders allow you to create
and use a wide range of effects that affect one fragment at a time, allowing a casting of colour effects through
TIP Lightbox nodes are displayed as white in the schematic to help you identify them. If you added the
Lightbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node in the schematic.
Here are a few highlights and tips to help you when working with Lightbox in Action:
■ Multiple Lightbox nodes can be parented under the same Light, and the order of processing can be
controlled in the Light Priority Editor (page 557).
NOTE When the parent Light is inactive, certain Light settings are unavailable, such as colour and intensity.
Lightbox Examples
Use the following examples of Lightbox shaders to get a feel for the workflow of using different types of
Lightbox effects in Action.
A common scenario that you may encounter when working with Lightbox is how to combine images that
you don't want to shade with a geometry that you do want to shade. You can use selective lighting links
and the Priority Editor to solve this issue.
■ Light 1 is a global light, set to Additive Light in the Light Source box.
■ Light 2 is the parent of the Lightbox node, and is not set to Active.
■ Light 3 is connected to the image node with a Light Inclusion link; the Light Type is Ambient, with the
Shade set to 0%, and the Light source box set to Solo Light.
■ These settings, when combined with Light 3 appearing in the Priority Editor after Light 1, produces the
desired effect.
The goal when using the Selective 3D or Selective Noise 3D Lightbox shader is to create an alpha to use in
the next Lightbox node in the pipeline.
■ You can have more than one Selective node parented under a Light. The Selective areas created by all
the Selective nodes are combined to create one alpha selection.
You can use the Clouds and Fog Lightbox presets to simulate these environmental conditions in your Action
scene.
For these effects, you do not want to use the normals attenuation from the parent Light, so make sure that
the Override Normals button is enabled in the Lightbox tab of the Light menu. The state of this button can
be coded directly in the shader (it is enabled by default for the Clouds and Fog presets).
Action 3D Geometry
A powerful feature of Action is its ability to import 3D models created in other applications and combine
them with existing clips. Compositing 3D models and characters with other media or a background can be
done quickly and with a finite level of control.
3D geometric objects are manipulated like an image or a clip: you can animate their position and shape,
apply textures and media, and light objects to produce a variety of effects.
NOTE To preserve colour information in .svg files from Adobe Illustrator, make sure that Presentation Attributes
is enabled when exporting from Illustrator. Other vector graphics programs may have similar settings.
Paint geometry files are created by the Flame Paint tool. If you want to work with polygon geometry in
Action, import Paint geometry. Action ignores its animation and attributes, such as its colour, outline, and
gradient. For example, in Paint, if you create a blue polygon, animate its scale, and save it as geometry, it is
imported in Action as a white polygon with no animation.
NOTE Sample 3ds Max and FBX model files are located in the /opt/Autodesk/presets/<product_home>/models/(FBX
or 3DS) libraries. All models are textured with an identical image. The library consists mostly of geometric primitives
such as cubes, cylinders, and spheres.
Importing 3D Models
You can import a 3D model into one or several geometry nodes. You can also import multiple 3D models
into a single animated geometry node.
To import a 3D model:
NOTE When selecting Paint, GMask, or Photoshop, the subsequent settings described in this section do not
apply.
If you select FBX or Alembic, you can then choose an Import Type:
■ Action Objects: to create local copies of the FBX or Alembic files, without any connection to the
source file (similar to a hard import). This option can impact auto-save time and space in the file
system for large geometries.
■ Read File: to create an FBX or Alembic Scene node, similar to a soft-imported Group node, with
added functionality. This option maintains a live link to the source file, insuring a constant update
with file changes, as well as having no impact on auto-save time and file system disk space.
NOTE Make sure that you have write permissions to the folder where the FBX file is located, as Flame
decompresses the textures embedded in the FBX to an .fbm folder co-located with the FBX file.
3 If the file you want to import has a file extension different from the one specified, type a file extension.
NOTE If an imported FBX or 3DS file contains one or more textures, a Batch reel is created to house these textures.
It is closed by default.
1 Follow the same steps for adding a single 3D model, but from the Import file browser, select multiple
3D models by holding the Shift or Ctrl key.
2 Once the models are selected, click Load.
The selected 3D models are loaded to the same line in the Media list.
3 Double-click the Geometry node in the schematic to access the Geometry menu, then click the Timing
tab.
You can also import Adobe Photoshop® format files into Action without having to convert them into a TIFF
or other format. Once imported, the PSD file keeps its inherent layer structure, which can be used or modified
within Flame.
NOTE This functionality is not available if you accessed Action from the timeline.
You also have the option of automatically importing all the layers at their native resolution. Each layer is
parented by an axis that gives it the correct offset in the X and Y axes. Hidden layers are imported, but will
remain hidden. Photoshop blend modes are maintained for each layer.
Depending on the type of import, some of the options differ. See below for specific FBX and Alembic import
settings.
Import Type box Select the 3D model type to import.
File Extension field Displays the default extension for the file type selected in the Import Type box.
Smooth button Enable to build normals for the 3D model. Enable if you are importing polygons that do
not have normals.
Auto Fit In Scene button Enable to scale the imported model to fit into the current frame. When disabled,
the imported model maintains the same size in which it was created.
SVG DPI field Displays the desired dots per inch for coordinates in the imported SVG file. Used if the SVG
file uses real-world units (for example inch, cm, or mm); has no effect if the SVG is in pixel units. Editable.
Separate Nodes button Enable to create individual nodes for all 3D models contained in a file. When
disabled, the 3D model is added to the scene with its own axis.
Rotate Axis button Enable to rotate the 3D model by 90 degrees on the X-axis so that it is compatible with
the target's coordinate system.
Create Media button Enable to load the textures of the geometry to the Media list. If a texture is used in
multiple geometry maps, it is loaded only once in the Media list. Not available if Action is accessed as a
Timeline FX.
Import Type box Select an import type for the FBX or Alembic model. Select Read File to create an FBX or
Alembic Scene node, similar to a soft-imported Group node. Select Action Objects to create local copies of
the FBX or Alembic files (similar to a hard import).
Auto Fit In Scene button Enable to scale the imported model to fit into the current frame. When disabled,
the imported model maintains the same size in which it was created, or you can use the Scene Units to Pixels
field to manually set a scaling factor.
Scene Units to Pixels field Displays the scaling factor used on the imported FBX file to fit the scaling used
in the application. One unit in the FBX file (default is cm) is converted to the number of pixels (default is
10) that you specify.
Cameras button Enable to import cameras from the file. Free cameras are imported as target cameras (with
a point of interest).
Mesh Animations button Enable to import the scene animations and preserve complex geometry animations
, such as nCloth animations.
Keep FBX Frame Rate button Enable to use the frame rate of the FBX file as the frame rate in Action. It
might be useful to enable Keep FBX Frame Rate when importing an FBX file before starting to build your
animation, otherwise the timing of your animation may be affected.
Import As Action Object button Enable to import Action objects embedded in an FBX file, that had been
previously exported from Action. For example, an exported FBX with extended bicubic data remembers this
upon re-import, and creates the Extended Bicubic surface, in addition to the Geometry.
Create Media button Enable to load the textures of the geometry to the Media list. If a texture is used in
multiple geometry maps, it is loaded only once in the Media list. Not available if Action is accessed as a
Timeline FX.
Frame Rate box Select the frame rate of the imported Alembic file.
Consolidate Geometry button Enable to create a single, consolidated, geometry. Any defined Alembic Face
Sets is translated as an object group nodes, allowing you to define material properties. However, you lose
access to the axis and individual geometry nodes. Significantly improves performances.
Create Object Group button Enable to create one object group per geometry in the Alembic file. Enable
this option if you need to change only the materials, and not the position of the geometries. If the Alembic
file uses Face Sets, there is no need to also enable Create Object Group since there will be no additional
performance gains.
When importing 3D models in FBX or 3DStudio formats, and Photoshop PSD files, there are colour
management settings that appear. See Colour Management in Action (page 576) for more information.
Timing Settings
If the 3D model has animation, you can find settings in the Timing tab of the Geometry menu.
Animation Mode box Select the animation mode to use for multiple 3D geometries imported into a single
animated geometry node.
Select: To:
Hold field Displays the number of continuous frames for Loop, Once, or Last Still Animation modes. Editable.
Slip field Displays the offset to the start point for Loop, Once, or Last Still Animation modes. Editable.
Timing Range option box Select an option to determine how Frame Timing values outside the timing range
of the animation are handled. Available when Timing is selected in the Animation Mode box.
Select: To:
Round Display the first or last geometry (with this option, you can select the first and the last
geometry of your animation).
Frame Timing field Displays the value for the frame in the timing curve. Available when Timing is selected
in the Animation Mode box. Editable.
For Alembic models or FBX models with cache animation, these Timing settings are available:
Offset field Displays the offset applied to the animation curve. Editable.
Scene nodes are similar to Action Group nodes (page 573), in that the Scene node is a collapsed collection of
nodes in the schematic. The result is a cleaner schematic, but you can also quickly expand the contents of
the Scene node, or even parent other nodes to or from the Scene node.
You can easily see and interact with individual nodes within a Scene node, using the Group Schematic view.
You can access the Group Schematic view using one of these three methods:
■ Right-click on a Scene node and select Edit Group from the contextual menu.
■ Double-click a Scene node.
■ With the Scene node selected, press F8 or select Action Object ➤ Group Schematic from the View
box.
The Group Schematic view displays the contents of the Scene node framed in the image window, with all
other nodes dimmed.
TIP Use a 2-up view with the regular Action schematic in one view and the Group Schematic in the other.
You can perform certain connections to a Group node which are automatically done on all compatible
nodes found inside of it. Supported connection are:
■ Parent Axis (including Look At and Mimic links): Connects to all top Axis.
■ Lighting link: Connects to all Geometry objects.
NOTE These connections are made based on the logic of the hierarchy of the group structure. In some cases, you
may need to manually create connections or break connections.
If the linked FBX or Alembic file is updated, click Refresh in the Scene menu to update the Scene node in
Action.
NOTE If the linked file is moved or changes its file name, the File Path field turns red to indicate that the original
file cannot be found, and the geometry in your scene is replaced with a "Missing" text. In this case, click the File
Path field to open the browser and locate the moved or renamed file.
You can copy nodes (or the complete structure) from within the Group Schematic and paste them outside
of the Group. In this case, the nodes become hard-imported (that is, local Action managed objects). If the
copied nodes include a texture, you can also create the media for the texture in Action. From the Texture
menu's Read File tab, click Create Media:
The Texture Name is removed from this menu, and the texture appears in the Action Media list instead,
assigned as a proper layer to the texture in the schematic.
NOTE You can also enable Cache in the Scene menu to perform the conversion to hard-import on the complete
model. Do this at the end of the project if you want to include the FBX or Alembic scene as part of an archive, for
example.
Cache button Click to copy all of the scene files locally to Action, in order to perform an archive, for example.
Refresh button Click to update the Scene node with the content of the linked file. Use this if the file has
been updated since its import.
Scene Scale field Displays the factor by which to scale the scene. Does not scale the camera if it has already
been extracted using the Extract Camera button. Editable.
Sort box Select how the 3D models contained in the scene are drawn.
Select: To:
Sort All Sort all objects according to the Z-order and the order of the object group (Material
ID).
Sort Transparency Give transparent objects lower priority than opaque parts, to solve transparency issues
if the scene contains semi-transparent 3D models.
Force 2-Sided button Enable to have lights in the scene light both the inside and outside of the geometry
(when shading is turned on).
Smooth Angle button Enable to override existing normals in the geometry, then use the Smooth Angle
field to change the value.
Smooth Angle field Displays the angle at which the edges of normals become hard. Changes to this field
only affect the shading of the displacement, and not the shape. Editable.
Offset field Displays the offset applied to the animation curve. Editable.
Shadow Casting box Select how the selected geometry object is affected by a Shadow Cast object in the
scene. See Surface and Geometry Shadow Casters (page 665).
NOTE Flame supports the import of most models, including polygonal, nurbs, and smooth bind skinning, while
subdiv primitives are not supported. See the FBX compatibility maps.
Mesh animation (geometry caching) records the position of every vertex in an animated 3D scene over time.
This allows character animations, animated geometry deformations, or physical simulations to be "baked"
Flame supports the latest FBX SDK, in sync with Autodesk 3D applications. To ensure compatibility, all
applications must use the same version of the FBX SDK.
The following FBX features are preserved in Action:
■ Point lights, spotlights, area lights, ambient lights, and directional lights
■ Shadow casting
■ Object ID and material assignments
■ Sub-materials, exposed explicitly in the Action schematic
■ Bezier animation curves
FBX models are created with one or more faces, which leads to different representations in Action.
NOTE In this context, face actually means either a single face (such as one of six sides of a cube) or faces (such as
a group consisting of 2 sides of a cube) that are grouped together to receive a single texture. How faces are
grouped (if grouped at all) is decided when the model is created and cannot be modified in Flame.
A model with a single face appears as a simple model, with a single Material node attached to the Geom
node.
A model with multiple faces appears as a complex schematic where one Object Group node is created for
each face. To each Object Group node is then attached the Material node. Having multiple Object Nodes
allows you to modify, even replace, the textures applied to each shader.
You cannot create new Object Group nodes, and their link to the Geom node is unbreakable; they have no
editable attributes. Object Group nodes details how faces were applied to the FBX model, and allow you to
texture differently the components of the FBX model.
In the following examples, one imported FBX model has a single face, while the other has three faces, one
for each sides of the cylinder.
(a) FBX model with a single face: one texture map for the whole model (b) FBX model with multiple faces: a different
texture for each face
NOTE Textures and Extended Bicubic surfaces are only supported at the current frame (that is, animations are
not supported).
1 In the schematic, select the FBX geometry that you want to export (or no selection if you are planning
on exporting the whole scene).
2 From the right-click contextual menu in the schematic, select Export.
3 In the Export Geom menu, select whether to export Selected Objects or All Supported Objects.
4 Set other export options, as needed (see below).
5 Set the filename and directory path for the export.
6 Click Save.
TIP When re-importing the FBX geometry into Action, enable Import As Action Object in FBX Options to import
Action objects embedded in the FBX file, that had been previously exported from Action. For example, an exported
FBX with extended bicubic data remembers this upon re-import, and creates the Extended Bicubic surface, in
addition to the Geometry.
FBX Mode box Select whether to export all supported FBX objects, or only the selected FBX objects.
File Extension field Displays the default extension for the file type selected (in this case, FBX).
Filename field Displays the file name for the exported FBX model. Editable.
Pixels to FBX Units field Displays the scaling factor to apply to the exported FBX file to be used in the 3D
application. Use the Units box to select the unit of measurement. Editable.
Units box Select a unit of measurement to apply to the exported FBX file.
FBX File Version box Select which FBX version to export the file to.
Bake Animation button Enable to add a keyframe at every frame of the exported FBX camera file.
Export Point Locators button Enable to export the 3D point locators created by the Analyzer.
NOTE You can also export Cameras and 3D Cameras to the FBX format, from their respective menus.
Blending Settings
Blend Type box Select whether to use Flame or Photoshop blend modes.
Blend Mode box Select how the 3D model and the scene are combined. The available list of modes depends
on the selection in the Blend Type box. See Surface Blending Modes (page 627).
Shine field Displays the intensity value of the specular highlight. When this value is zero, the specular
highlight is disabled. Shine affects both size and intensity. Editable.
See Creating a Specular Highlight on a Model (page 711).
Specular colour pot Displays the colour of light reflected by the 3D model's surface. To enable the specular
highlight, the Shine value must be larger than 0. Editable.
Surface Settings
Shade Order box Select the drawing priority of the 3D model normals.
Shade Both That are both facing and opposite the camera.
Shade Back Opposite the camera last. This option is especially useful for semi-transparent models
Force 2-Sided button Enable to have lights in the scene light both the inside and outside of the geometry
(when shading is turned on).
Polygons Settings
Resolution field Displays the geometry resolution of the 3D model. Active when Subdivide is enabled.
Editable.
Wireframe box Select a wireframe option for the 3D model. When you render the 3D model with Wireframe
or Original Wire selected, it retains its light, shading, and texture attributes.
Select: To:
Solid Disable wireframe for the 3D model (filled polygons are drawn).
Original Wire Display the model as a wireframe outline (original mesh; any polygon type). May be useful
for imported geometries.
Sort box Select how the 3D models contained in the scene are drawn.
Select: To:
Sort All Sort all objects according to the Z-order and the order of the object group (Material
ID).
Sort Transparency Give transparent objects lower priority than opaque parts, to solve transparency issues
if the scene contains semi-transparent 3D models.
Timing Settings
If the 3D model has animation, you can find settings in the Timing tab of the Geometry menu.
Select: To:
Hold field Displays the number of continuous frames for Loop, Once, or Last Still Animation modes. Editable.
Slip field Displays the offset to the start point for Loop, Once, or Last Still Animation modes. Editable.
Timing Range option box Select an option to determine how Frame Timing values outside the timing range
of the animation are handled. Available when Timing is selected in the Animation Mode box.
Select: To:
Round Display the first or last geometry (with this option, you can select the first and the last
geometry of your animation).
Frame Timing field Displays the value for the frame in the timing curve. Available when Timing is selected
in the Animation Mode box. Editable.
For Alembic models or FBX models with cache animation, these Timing settings are available:
Offset field Displays the offset applied to the animation curve. Editable.
UV Map Settings
Use the UV Mapping settings to select how the UV coordinates of an attached displace, normal, or diffuse
node are mapped to the 3D model. You can also apply axis transformations to the UV map. These
transformations are different from the settings of the parent axis in that they transform the axes of the actual
UV map coordinates.
UV Mapping Type box Select the type of UV mapping to apply to the attached node.
When a Displace or Normal node is attached to a geometry, you may need a UV mapping type other than
Default for the displace or normal pattern to have any effect on the geometry.
NOTE When a Diffuse node is attached to a geometry, you must select Wrap from the Mapping box in the Diffuse
menu to be able to use the UV mapping settings. See Diffuse Mapping (page 798).
Use GroupId button Enable to respect GroupId information in an FBX file created in 3ds Max.
Smooth Angle button Enable to override existing normals in the geometry, then use the Smooth Angle
field to change the value.
Smooth Angle field Displays the angle at which the edges of normals become hard. Changes to this field
only affect the shading of the displacement, and not the shape. Editable.
NOTE The UV Transform fields are only available if a Mapping Type other than Default is selected.
NOTE In a PBS workflow, some Physically Based shader settings or PBS map settings override the Material node
settings. In this case, specular and shine settings in the Material menu do not have any effect.
Lighting Settings
Red Specular field Displays the red specular highlight value. Editable.
Green Specular field Displays the green specular highlight value. Editable.
Blue Specular field Displays the blue specular highlight value. Editable
Specular colour pot Displays the colour of light reflected by the 3D model's surface. To enable the specular
highlight, the Shine value must be larger than 0. Editable.
NOTE Specular lighting sets the colour of light reflected by the 3D model's surface. To enable the specular highlight,
the Shine value must be larger than zero.
Red Ambient field Displays the red ambient colour value. Editable.
Green Ambient field Displays the green ambient colour value. Editable.
Blue Ambient field Displays the blue ambient colour value. Editable.
Ambient colour pot Displays the colour of the area of the 3D model that is not illuminated by a direct light
source. Editable.
Red Diffuse field Displays the red diffuse colour value. Editable.
Green Diffuse field Displays the green diffuse colour value. Editable.
Blue Diffuse field Displays the blue diffuse colour value. Editable.
NOTE Diffuse lighting modifies the colour and illumination of the entire 3D model. Diffuse light mixes with the
colour of the light sources used to illuminate the 3D model. The diffuse colour may also mix with the ambient
colour and the colour of the specular highlight.
Surface Settings
Shine field Displays the intensity value of the specular highlight. When this value is zero, the specular
highlight is disabled. Shine affects both size and intensity. Editable.
See Creating a Specular Highlight on a Model (page 711).
Adjusting Normals
3D models:transparency, in ActionWhen using transparency with 3D models, you may sometimes see the
back polygons, giving the model a shattered or broken look. This happens when the drawing priority of the
normals is not sorted properly. Enable Sort and select an option from the Sort Order box to sort the drawing
priority back to front or front to back.
Spotlight on a polygon model rendered with Subdivide off. Spotlight on a polygon model rendered with Subdivide
set to 2.
To subdivide a model:
You can animate the Subdivide channel in the Channel Editor; however, expect a longer rendering time
when the Subdivide value changes over several keyframes.
Shine is set to 1. The specular highlight is intense. Shine is set to 20. The specular highlight is dimmer.
1 In the schematic, select the axis for the image, 3D model, or 3D text.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Deform Mesh node from the node bar and place it in the schematic.
NOTE You can only change the number of cells or lattices before you modify the parameters of the mesh. If you
modify a parameter, for example, translate a tangent, you cannot change the number of cells or lattices.
To select points:
Y Cells field Displays the number of cells in each lattice along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Cells field Displays the number of cells in each lattice along the Z axis. Editable.
X Lattices field Displays the number of lattices (to form a grid of vertices) along the X axis. Editable.
Y Lattices field Displays the number of lattices (to form a grid of vertices) along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Lattices field Displays the number of lattices (to form a grid of vertices) along the Z axis. Editable.
Position/Current mode box Select to modify the Position or Current axis controls.
X Position field Displays the position of the selected points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the selected points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the selected points along the Z axis. Editable.
X Current field Displays the position of the selected vertex along the X axis. Editable.
Y Current field Displays the position of the selected vertex along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Current field Displays the position of the selected vertex along the Z axis. Editable.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected points along the Z axis. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the selected points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the selected points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Scale field Displays the scale of the selected points along the Z axis. Editable.
Centre Reference button Enable to create a centre reference axis for selected points.
Magnet Transformation box Select a transformation type to use when Magnet is enabled.
Magnet Curve Editor Defines the weighted polarity from the centre to the edge of the magnet.
Magnet Curve Home button Resets the position of the magnet curve after panning.
Magnet Curve Undo button Undoes a change to the Magnet Curve Editor.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected deformation (can only be used if
the global Motion Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Outside button Enable to apply the deformation outside of the mesh. Disable to constrain the deformation
within the mesh.
Reset box Select whether to resets the shape of the deformation mesh, or only the selected points.
TIP A library of preset garbage mask setups is available. To load a preset garbage mask, navigate to the
/opt/Autodesk/project/<project_name>/gmask directory when importing your 3D model.
Once you import a garbage mask as a 3D geometry into Action, use the GMask menu to extrude the garbage
mask.
Multi Material button Enable to create an Object Group node for each of the front, back, and extrude of
the 3D object. You can then attach a different texture map to apply to the different surfaces.
Profile Curve Displays the selected profile curve (bevel, scale, or rotation). Move and add points to the
curve, as well as adjust the tangent handles to produce different effects with the extruded geometry. If you
select a Parametric profile type, a separate read-only curve is displayed.
Home button Resets the selected curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Undo button Undoes the last operation for the selected curve viewer.
Reset button Resets the selected curve viewer to the default curve.
Click the Geometry (page 705) and UV Map tabs to apply any of the other geometry settings to your garbage
mask.
Click the Tessellation (page 744) tab to control the tessellation of the garbage mask.
The 3D Text Preset file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets:
opt/Autodesk/<product home>/3d_text_presets.
3 Optional: Enable Scale to Action Resolution to load the preset in the current Action resolution.
4 Optional: Select which rendering settings to enable or disable in the preset (Z-Buffer, Shading, Polygon
Resolution, and Colour Clamping).
NOTE These settings are enabled by default, and by disabling any of them, you may not see the intended
results in the preset.
5 Select the 3d text preset you want to load. Hold Ctrl and click to select multiple presets.
6 Click Load.
The 3d text preset is then appended to your Action scene. In the 3D Text menu, you can change the
default text string of the preset.
Scale X=duration before the start of the In effect; Y=duration between the end of In effect and the start of
the Out effect.
Shear X=duration of the Out effect; Y=start weight; Z=end weight. The Y and Z Shear fields represent the
shape of the “S” curve of the Out effect, if applicable. The combined Y and Z values should equal 100.
Centre These fields include expressions to produce animation curves, and shouldn’t be altered.
When loading a 3D Text preset, with a few exceptions, you can replace the Type Your Own Text string
in the Text field of the 3D Text menu. Some of the presets have multiple text entries. In these cases, replace
the text string of each Text Geom node with your preferred text string.
Scale to Action Resolution button Enable to load the preset in the current Action resolution.
Z-Buffer button Enable to load the Z-buffer rendering settings of the preset.
Shading button Enable to load the shading rendering settings of the preset.
Polygon Resolution button Enable to load the rendering resolution settings of the preset.
Colour Clamping button Enable to load the resolution colour clamping settings of the preset.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
3DRotate Text on a rotating circular path. Edit timing using the Animation Track
Editor.
Bounce Characters falling and bouncing. Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Set duration and amplitude of the bouncing.
Break_and_Fall Characters breaking in two parts and falling down. Edit timing
using the Animation Track Editor.
Bubble_Pop Characters forming a bubble which pops. Edit timing using trans-
ition_ctrl settings.
Chop_Sticks Characters arriving one after the other with a scale and rotation
effect. Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Circle Characters moving along a circular path. Edit timing using the Animation
Track Editor.
Climber Characters climbing from the bottom to the top of the frame. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings. Use offset.rotation.X to set the displacement
duration and offset.rotation.Y to set the rotation duration.
Clock_Transition Transition between four text strings rotating like clock hands.
Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
DNA Animated double helix structure using two text strings of the letter “T”.
Dominos Characters falling one after the other. Edit timing using transition_ctrl
settings.
Fade_In_From_Left Fade in from the left to the right of the text. Edit timing
using transition_ctrl settings.
Fade_In_To_Centre Fade in from the extremities to the centre of the text. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Fade_Out_From_Right Fade out from the right to the left of the text. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Fade_Out_To_Centre Fade out from the extremities to the centre of the text.
Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Fast_Beam Characters arriving from the right side of the frame, with scaling and
flickering. Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings. Customize the flicker effect
using flicker settings.
Flutter Characters arriving one after the other with a scale and rotation effect.
Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
From_Bottom Characters arriving from the bottom of the frame, with rotation.
Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Ghost Text arriving toward the camera, reflecting, and fading. Edit timing using
the Animation Track Editor.
Ghost_Cascade Similar to Ghost, with a cascade applied. Edit timing using the
Animation Track Editor.
Insertion Text is revealed frame after frame in insert mode. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings. Use offset.rotation.X to set the starting value of the path.
Kern Characters arriving and leaving the frame with kerning and rotation. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Mirror Text on path with a mirror effect. Edit timing using the Animation Track
Editor.
Negate Text revealed using a negate blending effect. Edit timing using trans-
ition_ctrl settings.
Ocean_Tide Text moving slowly as if characters were floating on the sea. Use
period and amplitude axes to customize the wavy effect.
Path_Warp Text on animated path producing a warping effect. Edit timing using
the Animation Track Editor.
Random_Display Random letters with a specific starting and ending text string.
Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings. Type the start text in text_1 and the stop
text in text_2.
Reverse Transition between two text strings in which characters reverse direction.
Edit timing using the Animation Track Editor.
Rubber Characters are stretched and released like rubber. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings. Set period and amplitude of the bouncing.
Shuffle_In_Out Characters arriving from the left, stopping in the centre, and
leaving to the right. Edit timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Spin_In_Out Characters arriving and leaving with rotation. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Spin_Transition Transition between two spinning text strings. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Spiral Text on a spiral path. Edit timing using the Animation Track Editor.
Spiral_Transition Transition between two text strings with a spiral effect. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Star Text moving along a star path. Edit timing using the Animation Track Editor.
Stretch Text arriving from the left of the frame with a stretching effect. Edit
timing using transition_ctrl settings.
Subtract Text revealed using a subtract blending effect. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Text_Falling Characters moving along a line, then falling down. Edit timing
using the Animation Track Editor.
Titles Three text strings on a path arriving from the upper left. Edit timing using
the Animation Track Editor.
Titles_Stairs Three text strings revealed with a spinning effect. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Track_In Characters appear and disappear with scaling. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Twist Characters arriving and leaving with a twisting effect. Edit timing using
transition_ctrl settings.
Typewriter Text revealed frame after frame with a typewriter effect. Edit timing
using transition_ctrl settings. Use transition_ctrl.rotation.X andtransition_ctrl.shear-
ing.X to set the fade in duration of characters.
Vertical_In_Out Characters arriving from the left side of the frame and moving
vertically before going out to the right of the frame. Edit timing using transition_ctrl
settings.
Zig_Zag Characters arriving and leaving following a zig-zag path. Edit timing
using transition_ctrl settings. Change the path, if needed.
You can also add a 3D Text node using the Presets node. See Using 3D Text Presets (page 718).
Separating Text
Rather than create a separate pivot point for each letter, you can separate words or sentences so that each
letter can be individually manipulated by its own axis in the schematic.
To separate text:
Animating 3D Text
You can animate the 3D text property and geometry channels in the Channel Editor. However, you cannot
animate the text string or its profile curve. The 3D text channels are contained in the text folder.
Text field Displays the current text string. Click to display the keyboard to enter your text.
Font field Displays the current font. Click to open the font library to select a different font for the text.
You specify the default font in the Preferences menu. Also, you can install additional fonts for use with
Flame.
Depth field Displays the level of depth (thus extruding the selection, making it three dimensional). Editable.
Depth Mode box Select where the extruded geometry is positioned along the Z axis. Select Custom to set
the distance from front to back manually.
Depth Centre field Displays the position of the extruded geometry along the Z axis, as a percentage. Editable
if Custom is selected in the Depth Mode box.
Size field Displays the font size for the text string. Editable.
Kerning field Displays the kerning value for the text string. Editable.
Italic field Displays the level of italics for the characters in the text string. Editable.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected text (can only be used if the global
Motion Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Rigid Text button Enable to gang the text string characters as a single geometry. Enabling this button is
particularly noticeable when attaching the 3D Text node to a 3D path.
Show Pivots button Enable to display the pivot points for each individual text character in the 3D Text
string (displayed in the image window in red). When disabled, only the master character pivot point is
displayed (in green).
This setting can also be found in the Character Axis tab.
Separate button Click to separate selected text so that each letter has its own axis. See Separating Text (page
739).
Multi Material button Enable to create an Object Group node for each of the front, back, and extrude of
the 3D object. You can then attach a different texture map to apply to the different surfaces.
Profile Type box Select which profile curve to display. Different settings may appear depending on the type
selected.
Adaptive button Enable to extrude based on an adaptive subdivision, adding smaller segments where there
is a higher curvature. When disabled, the depth is divided into Max Samples slices of exactly the same size.
Tolerance field Displays the point at which the extrusion is subdivided. Editable.
Samples field Displays the maximum number of extrusion samples applied to the non-flat curves. Editable.
Centre X field Displays the centre along the X axis that the scale and rotation curves use. You can also
adjust the centre settings in the image window by dragging the crosshair. Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the centre along the Y axis that the scale and rotation curves use. You can also adjust
the centre settings in the image window by dragging the crosshair. Editable.
Parametric Position field Displays the relative position of the start of the beveling. Editable.
Parametric Curvature field Displays the roundness or curvature of the beveling. Editable.
Curvature Type box Select the type of curvature to apply to the parametric curve.
Profile Curve Displays the selected profile curve (bevel, scale, or rotation). Move and add points to the
curve, as well as adjust the tangent handles to produce different effects with the extruded geometry. If you
select a Parametric profile type, a separate read-only curve is displayed.
Parametric Bevel Curve Read-only display of the parametric profile curve, based on the profile settings.
Home button Resets the selected curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Undo button Undoes the last operation for the selected curve viewer.
Reset button Resets the selected curve viewer to the default curve.
Keyframe Option box Select an option for working with keyframes in the profile curve.
Interpolation Status field Displays the interpolation type for the selected area of the curve. Non-editable.
Interpolation Type box Select an interpolation type to define the shape of the profile curve between
keyframes.
You can change the axis properties of your 3D text string characters. This can be useful in offsetting your
text from a 3D path.
Cascade field Displays the amount of frames to offset the animation of other characters from the master
character. The animation that is offset includes all numeric fields in the Character Axis tab, as well as the
Specular, Ambient, Diffuse, Transparency, and Shine fields in the Geometry tab. Editable.
For example, if Cascade is set to 0, all characters have the same animation as the master character. If Cascade
is set to a positive number, all characters other than the master character have their animation offset forward
in time.
Cascade Alignment box Select the flow of the cascade offset, with respect to the master character.
X Position field Displays the position of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Scale field Displays the scale of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Shear field Displays the shear of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Centre field Displays the centre of the offset along the Z axis. Editable.
Vertical Pivot box Select the vertical position of the pivot point for the selected text characters.
Show Pivots button Enable to display the pivot point for each individual text character in the 3D text
string, displayed in the image window in red. When disabled, only the master character pivot point is
displayed (in green). This setting can also be found in the 3D Text tab.
The settings in the Geometry (page 705) and UV Map tabs are the same as for the Geom node.
The Wireframe box is also provided in the Tessellation menu. It is the same setting as in the Geometry tab,
but repeated here for ease-of-use.
Each method has its own set of options, described in the sections that follow.
Standard (GLU)
GLU tessellationThe Standard (GLU) tessellation method is the legacy tessellation option; while being very
light in its processing requirements, it is also the least efficient and precise. And compared to Delaunay and
Medial Axis tessellation methods, it has no options to fine-tune the resulting tessellation.
Delaunay
Delaunay tessellationThe Delaunay tessellation method (or more precisely, constrained Delaunay tessellation)
generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable
results, and in particular, it does not give different results if the curves are rotated.
Min Angle = 20
Max Area field Displays the largest value of area that the polygons can have. If a triangle is larger than this
value, it gets replaced by smaller ones. This allows the polygon mesh to be deformed more smoothly.
Max Area = 5
Max Vertices field Displays the total number of new vertices that can be added by the Minimum Angle and
Maximum Area options. 0 by default.
Use this option as a precaution against accidentally setting the other options to values that would create
huge amounts of geometry with long processing times.
It is not recommended that you rely on this option to control the final number of vertices because it can
force the tessellation to stop before the process is completed, thereby giving an unpredictable combination
of polygon shapes and sizes.
Boundary Split box Select an option to control tessellation along boundaries.
Select: To:
Free Allow the boundary edges along the outer contour and inner holes to be split further during tessel-
lation.
This is particularly useful for text and other shapes that may contain straight edges that need to
be deformed smoothly.
None (Contour Only) Allow boundary edges along inner holes to be split, but not boundary edges along the outer contour.
Note that this may affect the uniformity of the mesh if you enabled Min Angle or Max Area.
Medial Axis
Medial Axis tessellationThe Medial Axis tessellation method creates concentric contour lines along the
medial axes (averages between the input boundary curves), morphing from one boundary shape to the next.
This method creates mainly quads with some triangles, so it is well-suited for subdivision surfaces.
NOTE Medial Axis is not available when using the 3D Shape node.
With this method, there are several options for fine-tuning the tessellation further.
Loops field Displays the number of loops used in the tessellation, modified by the Adaptive toggle.
Loops = 2
Adaptive button Enable to set the Loops field as the average number of medial axes drawn and to keep the
distance between them fairly constant. Disable to set the Loops field as the exact number of medial axes
drawn per boundary (rounded to the nearest integer).
0 The medial axis intersects boundaries at each point of concavity, which can often create many small
triangles especially in sharp extremities.
Positive value The medial axis does not extend completely to the boundary and the remaining area is tessellated
with a fan shape.
Split Edges to Enhance button Enable to add vertices to allow the contour lines to follow the medial axes
more accurately. Turn this option off if there are no holes in the geometry; otherwise, there may be shading
artifacts along internal curves.
Edge Tessellation box Select an option to control the shape of the polygons.
Select: To:
None Have long edges that are not split. This results in fewer polygons and lighter geometry, but the res-
ulting long, thin polygons may not deform well.
Equal on Both Sides Have a tessellation made of squarer polygons that deform better, at the cost of a heavier tessellation.
Action 3D Shape
The 3D Shape node combines Action's 3D geometry environment with extrudable GMask splines to create
a powerful motion graphics tool that is easy to use. 3D Shape is used to create custom spline geometries
(open or closed) on which you can apply all the same functions as on any other Action geometry, as well
as bevel, scale, and rotation curves.
Here are a few points to help you when working with 3D Shapes:
■ When you add a 3D Shape node, in the Action schematic, notice that a hierarchy of a 3D Shape node
and GMask node (each with its own Axis) is created. You use the GMask to draw an open or closed spline.
The menu structure allows you to see and use the 3D Shape settings on the left and the GMask settings
on the right.
■ You can add as many GMask nodes to the 3D Shape node as needed. You can decide if an attached GMask
is seen as a hole or filled by the parent 3D Shape. A Spline Combination box in the 3D Shape menu
allows you to set the combination pattern if you use multiple GMasks.
■ You can use the F8 Object view to help you visualize your GMasks attached to a 3D Shape node.
■ As with 3D Text geometries, you can attach different textures to the front, back, and extrusion of a 3D
Shape with the Multi Material button. With a 3D Shape geometry, you can also apply a media projection
with any media in the Action Media list. For example, you can project the same media onto a 3D Shape
spline with gradients, then apply selective lighting only to that area.
Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) files are open-standard 2D graphics, and can be imported with the Action
Import (page 693) node. Once imported, an .svg file appears in the Action schematic as a Group node; once
ungrouped, you can see that the graphic is converted to a number of geometry elements: 3D Shape nodes
(with accompanying GMasks and Axes). In some cases, elements with the same colour are grouped together
to allow you to more easily manipulate the elements.
Depth field Displays the level of depth (thus extruding the selection, making it three dimensional). Editable.
Depth Mode box Select where the extruded geometry is positioned along the Z axis. Select Custom to set
the distance from front to back manually.
Depth Centre field Displays the position of the extruded geometry along the Z axis, as a percentage. Editable
if Custom is selected in the Depth Mode box.
Select: To:
For 3D Shape Only Render the GMask as if it were linked to the 3D Shape object only. In this case, the GMask blend
mode is automatically set to 2 Intersect 1 (Inside) for optimal blending.
Render Render the GMask globally in the Action scene. In this case, the GMask blend mode is automatically
set to Add for optimal blending.
Do Not Render Not render the GMask in the scene. In this case, certain GMask menu settings are hidden, such as
Transparency, Intensity, Smoothing and Blending.
Spline Combination box Select how multiple GMask splines attached to the 3D Shape object are combined.
Intersection Splines with the Hole button selected (in the GMask menu) are always rendered as a hole; other
splines are rendered according to their relative position. Where two or more splines overlap, these
rules apply: An even number of overlaps are rendered as a hole; whereas an odd number are
rendered as filled.
Union Splines with the Hole button selected (in the GMask menu) are always rendered as a hole; other
splines are rendered filled, except for their intersection with holes.
Priority Splines are rendered according to their status (hole or filled, depending on the state of the Hole
button), and the GMask Priority list determines the proper combination pattern.
Multi Material button Enable to create an Object Group node for each of the front, back, and extrude of
the 3D object. You can then attach a different texture map to apply to the different surfaces.
Media Projection button Enable to automatically add a Diffuse (and Axis) node to the 3D Shape node with
its mapping type set to Projection.
Shape Boundary box Select how an attached GMask's gradient is extruded. Available when an attached
GMask is closed, and has an inner or outer gradient.
Select: To extrude:
Spline And Gradient Everything inside the outer gradient. Set automatically when a gradient is added.
Use Inner Gradients button Enable to include the inner gradient when using the Spline And Gradient
option in the Shape Boundary box. Disable if tessellation issues occur when using inner and outer gradients.
Profile Type box Select which profile curve to display. Different settings may appear depending on the type
selected.
Adaptive button Enable to extrude based on an adaptive subdivision, adding smaller segments where there
is a higher curvature. When disabled, the depth is divided into Max Samples slices of exactly the same size.
Tolerance field Displays the point at which the extrusion is subdivided. Editable.
Samples field Displays the maximum number of extrusion samples applied to the non-flat curves. Editable.
Centre X field Displays the centre along the X axis that the scale and rotation curves use. You can also
adjust the centre settings in the image window by dragging the crosshair. Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the centre along the Y axis that the scale and rotation curves use. You can also adjust
the centre settings in the image window by dragging the crosshair. Editable.
Parametric Position field Displays the relative position of the start of the beveling. Editable.
Parametric Curvature field Displays the roundness or curvature of the beveling. Editable.
Curvature Type box Select the type of curvature to apply to the parametric curve.
Profile Curve Displays the selected profile curve (bevel, scale, or rotation). Move and add points to the
curve, as well as adjust the tangent handles to produce different effects with the extruded geometry. If you
select a Parametric profile type, a separate read-only curve is displayed.
Parametric Bevel Curve Read-only display of the parametric profile curve, based on the profile settings.
Home button Resets the selected curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Undo button Undoes the last operation for the selected curve viewer.
Reset button Resets the selected curve viewer to the default curve.
Keyframe Option box Select an option for working with keyframes in the profile curve.
Interpolation Status field Displays the interpolation type for the selected area of the curve. Non-editable.
Interpolation Type box Select an interpolation type to define the shape of the profile curve between
keyframes.
NOTE The Profile curve for 3D Shape functions the same as that of 3D Text. For more information, see Using the
Profile Curve With 3D Text (page 739).
The settings in the Geometry (page 705) and UV Map tabs are the same as for the Geom node.
The Wireframe box is also provided in the Tessellation menu. It is the same setting as in the Geometry tab,
but repeated here for ease-of-use.
Each method has its own set of options, described in the sections that follow.
Standard (GLU)
GLU tessellationThe Standard (GLU) tessellation method is the legacy tessellation option; while being very
light in its processing requirements, it is also the least efficient and precise. And compared to Delaunay and
Medial Axis tessellation methods, it has no options to fine-tune the resulting tessellation.
Delaunay
Delaunay tessellationThe Delaunay tessellation method (or more precisely, constrained Delaunay tessellation)
generates a mesh composed entirely of triangular polygons. This method gives consistent and predictable
results, and in particular, it does not give different results if the curves are rotated.
With this method, there are several options for fine-tuning the tessellation further.
Min Angle field Displays the smallest value of angle that the polygons can have. If a triangle contains an
angle that is smaller than this value, it gets replaced by better-shaped ones. Eliminating small-angled triangles
gives a more uniform shading and is more suited for deformations.
Max Area = 5
Max Vertices field Displays the total number of new vertices that can be added by the Minimum Angle and
Maximum Area options. 0 by default.
Use this option as a precaution against accidentally setting the other options to values that would create
huge amounts of geometry with long processing times.
It is not recommended that you rely on this option to control the final number of vertices because it can
force the tessellation to stop before the process is completed, thereby giving an unpredictable combination
of polygon shapes and sizes.
Boundary Split box Select an option to control tessellation along boundaries.
Select: To:
Free Allow the boundary edges along the outer contour and inner holes to be split further during tessel-
lation.
This is particularly useful for text and other shapes that may contain straight edges that need to
be deformed smoothly.
None (Contour Only) Allow boundary edges along inner holes to be split, but not boundary edges along the outer contour.
Note that this may affect the uniformity of the mesh if you enabled Min Angle or Max Area.
Medial Axis
Medial Axis tessellationThe Medial Axis tessellation method creates concentric contour lines along the
medial axes (averages between the input boundary curves), morphing from one boundary shape to the next.
This method creates mainly quads with some triangles, so it is well-suited for subdivision surfaces.
NOTE Medial Axis is not available when using the 3D Shape node.
With this method, there are several options for fine-tuning the tessellation further.
Loops field Displays the number of loops used in the tessellation, modified by the Adaptive toggle.
Loops = 2
Adaptive button Enable to set the Loops field as the average number of medial axes drawn and to keep the
distance between them fairly constant. Disable to set the Loops field as the exact number of medial axes
drawn per boundary (rounded to the nearest integer).
0 The medial axis intersects boundaries at each point of concavity, which can often create many small
triangles especially in sharp extremities.
Positive value The medial axis does not extend completely to the boundary and the remaining area is tessellated
with a fan shape.
Split Edges to Enhance button Enable to add vertices to allow the contour lines to follow the medial axes
more accurately. Turn this option off if there are no holes in the geometry; otherwise, there may be shading
artifacts along internal curves.
Edge Tessellation box Select an option to control the shape of the polygons.
Select: To:
None Have long edges that are not split. This results in fewer polygons and lighter geometry, but the res-
ulting long, thin polygons may not deform well.
Equal on Both Sides Have a tessellation made of squarer polygons that deform better, at the cost of a heavier tessellation.
NOTE On a Mac system, you are limited to 16 textures per Action object; therefore in large Action scenes, you
may notice that some features are not available (shadow casting, for example).
You create maps in Action (such as Diffuse and Reflection maps) based on media from the Media list. In
some cases, such as with Substance Textures, the media is automatically applied to map nodes. To specify
different media as the texture source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply. If the media
you want to use resides elsewhere on your filesystem, you can use the Read File tab of the map menu to load
the texture, and then decide if you want the texture to be managed by Action, or not.
Name field This locked field displays the name of an externally loaded texture.
Create Media button Click to convert the external texture into an Action-managed texture. The Texture
Name is removed from this menu, and the texture appears in the Action Media list instead, assigned as a
proper layer to the texture in the schematic.
NOTE For information on the Colour Management settings in this menu, see Colour Management in Action (page
576).
Use the Substance Texture node to quickly create photorealistic procedural textures using a library of organic,
fabric, and material presets. A loaded preset consists of a Material Node, a Substance node, as well as other
texture maps and shaders, as needed.
While Flame comes with a selection of Substance Texture presets, you can also use Substance Textures
available in Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, or created with the Substance Designer from Allegorithmic
(any texture file using the .sbsar file extension).
TIP You can also create textures with your own input materials, such as photographs, using the Substance Mater-
ialize (page 765) node.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the Substance Texture.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Substance Texture node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the Substance Texture node.
The file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets:
opt/Autodesk/presets/<product version>/substance_presets/TEXTURE. Change the path if you
have Substance texture .sbsar files stored in a different location.
Use the Substance PBR (Physically Based Rendering) node to create physically based textures based on real
world presets. A loaded preset consists of a Material Node, a Substance node, as well as other PBS maps,
texture maps, and shaders, as needed.
While Flame comes with a selection of Substance PBR presets, you can also add your own Substance PBR
assets (obtained from Substance Database or Substance Share, for example).
NOTE IBL Maps (page 683) work particularly well in a physically based shader workflow. You can connect an IBL
node to a camera to have it affect the whole Action scene (and combine PBS and standard shading).
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the Substance PBR.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Substance PBR node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the Substance PBR node.
The file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets:
opt/Autodesk/presets/<product version>/substance_presets/PBR. Change the path if you have
Substance PBR assets stored in a different location.
TIP Use the Hide Texture Axis keyboard shortcut (Space+H) to hide texture-related axes from the Action scene.
Hiding these axes reduces the number of axes displayed in the viewport, and makes it easier to pick the correct
axis to transform an object.
A Substance PBR schematic is similar to a Substance Texture schematic. It consists of a Material node, a
Shader node, a Substance node containing all the relevant preset controls, and the corresponding texture
maps generated by the Substance engine. Some of these texture maps correspond to PBS Map (page 811)
nodes (in this example the BaseColor, Metallic, Roughness, and AO nodes are PBS Maps):
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may not
get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
NOTE If media is selected in the Media list prior to adding a Substance Texture preset that requires an input,
the media is automatically added to the input. You can change the input by following the steps above. For
presets with more than one input, only the first input is added automatically.
4 Double-click the Input node in the schematic to access the Input menu.
Position X field Displays the X-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the Y-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the rotation offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Scale X field Displays the X-axis scaling offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Scale Y field Displays the Y-axis scaling offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Repeat Mode box Select how the input media is repeated (after Transform settings are applied).
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the input media.
Destination Resolution box Select the square destination resolution of the input media.
Perspective Correct box Enable to apply perspective transformations to the input. Switch to Object view
(F8), and interactively align the perspective of what area you want to include in the input image.
Reset Box button Click to reset the Perspective box in the Object view.
Change Preset button Click to open the file browser to select a different preset.
Lock Width and Height button Not shown. Enable to lock the texture resolution width and height. Disable
to be able to select different width and height values. Available when using third-party Substance Textures
or the Substance Materialize node.
Texture Resolution Width box Not shown. Select the width resolution of the pattern. Available if Lock
Width And Height is disabled.
Texture Resolution Height box Not shown. Select the height resolution of the pattern. Available if Lock
Width And Height is disabled.
Set Displace As box Select a map to be used as the Displace pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one of
the maps in the substance (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
Set Diffuse As box Select a map to be used as the Diffuse pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one of
the maps in the substance (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
Set Specular As box Select a map to be used as the Specular pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one of
the maps in the preset (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
Set Emissive As box Select a map to be used as the Emissive pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one
of the maps in the preset (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
Set Normal As box Select a map to be used as the Normal pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one of
the maps in the preset (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
Set Parallax As box Select a map to be used as the Parallax pass. This is useful if you want to rewire one of
the maps in the preset (such as the Bump map), that might be invisible, to be seen explicitly.
TIP Use the Output Rewire boxes to define how the images making up the Subtance are wired to each texture
map. If a texture map is not used by the selected Substance, the Output Rewire box is set to None. You can also
rewire a texture map to None to disable it and remove it from the Action Schematic (the map is not deleted, just
disabled).
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the settings. If you notice a
slowdown in interactivity, disable Regen.
NOTE The Regen button is available from all Substance menu tabs.
The Basics tab contains settings common to all Substance presets. Settings that are not applicable to a specific
preset are greyed out.
Saturation field Displays the level of colour purity of the texture. Editable.
Contrast field Displays the gradations between the light and dark areas of the texture. Editable.
Random field Displays the random seed value of the generated texture. Editable.
Normal field Displays the attenuation of the normals of the texture. Editable.
Emboss field Displays the level of enhanced details of the texture. Editable.
Angle field Displays the angle of diffuse in relation to the level of Emboss applied to the texture. Editable.
Relief field Displays the frequency of surface detail between attached Parallax and Displacement maps.
Editable.
Overall Speed field Displays the rate at which the animation plays. Editable.
Time Offset field Displays the start point of the animation. With a value of 0, the animation starts at frame
1. With a value of 100, the animation begins as if it has been generating for 99 frames. You cannot animate
this field. Editable.
The settings in the Material tab vary depending on the preset chosen.
For example, the Material settings for the BrickWall01 preset allow you to age the bricks, and alter the
number of the bricks on the X and Y axes.
Some presets include a Flow field in the Material settings. Animate the Flow field to create a motion behaviour
specific to the preset.
PBR or Not?
Substance Materialize is available in two flavours, Substance Materialize and Substance Materialize PBR.
The option you choose is based mostly on your shading approach, or the results you are trying to achieve.
Non-PBR shading is usually easier (but not always!) to set up and troubleshoot. Also, Substance Materializes
is compatible with Allegorithmic's Bitmap2Material (B2M) version 2.2.
But if you plan on working with shader nodes using the Physically Based (page 772) shader mode, then you
must use the PBR version of Materialize. The textures output from the Substance PBR are made to integrate
with a Physically Based Shader, especially when coupled to IBL Maps. Finally, Substance Materialize PBR,
is compatible with Allegorithmic's Bitmap2Material (B2M) version 3.
NOTE If you access Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may not get
the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
■ A Bitmap_Diffuse map is added to the schematic tree when creating a Substance Materialize. By default,
this uses the same input as your input image, but you can change it.
■ Three other optional inputs are available in the schematic tree for a Substance Materialize:
■ Bitmap_Details_Optional: an input image file allowing you to specify fine details in your result.
■ Bitmap_Relief_Optional: an optional grayscale image file you can use to enhance elevation. Black
represents the lowest elevation on the map, while white represents the highest.
■ Bitmap_Grunge_Optional: allows you to alter the look of your material, mainly by adding some
dust and cracks on it. You can either chose one the 15 grunge maps embedded into the Substance
Materialize node (see the Grunge parameter settings in the Substance node menu), or use your own
image in this input. You can see the 15 grunge maps on the B2M Help site.
NOTE Make sure that you set a Diffuse Opacity other than 0 in the Grunge settings to be able to see the
effect of the grunge map.
See the tooltips (or the B2M Help site) for help with each setting.
■ For each input, you can use the Input menu (page 762) (as with Substance Textures with inputs), and the
Object view (F8). The Object view lets you visualize changes that you make to the Input menu settings.
In the Object view, you can also interactively align the perspective of the area you want to include in
the input image.
TIP The Object View (F8) can also be used to visualize the output maps.
See the tooltips (or the Substance B2M Help site) for help with each setting. But here are the descriptions for
some of the most important settings.
Global menu
■ Extraction Method box: Sets how information such as Height mapping is extracted from the
main_input image. If there is direct lighting or lighting information in main_input, use Slope Based. If
the lighting is non-directional, use Luminance Based. This last setting was the one used in Substance
Materialize.
■ Light Angle field: Use in conjunction with Slope Based to manipulate how the information is extracted
from the main_input.
■ Tiling box: With a regular pattern, try using one of the Edges Linear settings. Random chunks the image
and pieces the chunks together, blurring the seams.
■ Tiling Random A field: Adds randomness to the tiling set by the Tiling box.
■ Tiling Transition field: Controls the feathering at the seams of the tiling.
Roughness | Glossiness
■ Roughness Value: Has a big impact on the texture of the material.
■ Metal Roughness : Use if you have Metallic mapping as an output.
And if you texture is to have any sort of metallic material, you need to set the Metallic options. you can do
this by providing an optional metallic map. If none is available, you need to key it from the main_input
image.
These maps could be reused unto other images. Does not need to be a still frame!
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the Substance Materialize
PBR.
2 In the Media list, select the image that you want to use as the input. This image is also used as the
default Bitmap Diffuse input.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Substance Materialize PBR node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the Substance Materialize PBR node.
The Substance tree, with applicable maps, shaders, and inputs appears in the Action schematic.
4 To specify different media as the input source, select the Input node in the schematic, select the media
in the Media menu, then click Apply.
5 Optional: If you have Details, Grunge, or Relief maps, you can also use them to enhance your Substance
material. Simply apply them from the Media list in the same manner as with the Input image.
6 Double-click any of the nodes in the schematic to access its menu.
NOTE The shader node is not a typical Action object — its appearance in the schematic represents the ability to
selectively include or exclude shading from objects in the scene.
Unlike many objects, a shader is not a confined object in the perspective space, and therefore is added
without an axis.
2 To display the Shader menu, double-click the selected shader in the schematic, or follow the tab
population rules for the Object menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
3 From the Shader Type box, select a shading algorithm, or turn shading off.
4 To exclude an object, hold the Alt key while clicking and dragging from the shader to the object you
do not want affected.
Excluded surfaces are connected to the shader by a red dotted line with an “X”, and they are not
affected by the shader.
NOTE To remove the inclusion or exclusion link, click and drag over the line that connects the Shader node to
the object (while in Light Link mode).
Physically Based shading, in ActionUse the Physically Based shader (PBS) to accurately represent real-world
materials. In a PBS workflow, some Physically Based shader settings override the Geom, Material, or Surface
node settings. For example, specular and shine settings in the Material or Geom menu do not have any
effect.
Roughness field Displays how the light reflects from the surface, based on the roughness of the material.
Use a lower value for pure specular, or a higher value for high dispersion. Editable.
Metallic field Displays the relative weight between the dielectric and metallic BRDF model, where 0 is pure
dielectric and 1 is metallic. Editable.
SubSurface field Displays the diffuse part to approximate a subsurface scattering effect for the dielectric
model (has no effect on the metallic model). Editable.
Specular Level field Displays the Fresnel F0 specular reflectance at normal incidence for the dielectric model
(for the metallic model the F0 follows the Base Color of the material). Editable.
Specular Tint field Displays the contribution of the Base Color (Diffuse) to tint the specular for the dielectric
model (has no effect on the metallic model). Editable.
Anisotropic field Displays the distortion of the specular lobe, according to the tangent and bi-normal angles.
Editable.
Anisotropic Angle field Displays the rotation of the distortion of the anisotropic specular lobe. Editable.
Emissive Intensity field Displays the intensity of the light emitted by the material. Editable.
Intensity Colour pot Displays the colour of the emitted light by material. Click to change the colour.
Sheen field Adds white colour to the geometry relative to the normals direction, where the closer the normal
is to 90 degree, the whiter the colour becomes. Has no effect of Metallic is at 1.0.
Sheen Tint field Defines how much of the Basecolor tints the Sheen effect.
Clearcoat field Creates specularity on top of the Metallic model, but is independent of the Roughness. It
creates in fact a second layer of specularity like a clear coat finish would.
Clearcoat Gloss field Shapes the specularity created by the Clearcoat parameter.
Car Paint shading, in ActionUse the Car Paint shader to blend between two colour tones, based on the
viewing angle and the normal of the object. This shader includes Cook-Torrance shaders and Fresnel controls
for the specularity.
Fresnel Factor field Displays the amount of specular light at grazing angles.
TIP To cancel out the Fresnel effect altogether, set the Fresnel Offset to 0 and the Fresnel Factor to 100.
Paint Mix field Displays the viewing angle of the normal that occurs between parallel (mid colour) and
perpendicular (edge colour). Editable.
Red Mid Colour field Displays the red mid colour value. Editable.
Green Mid Colour field Displays the green mid colour value. Editable.
Blue Mid Colour field Displays the blue mid colour value. Editable.
Red Edge Colour field Displays the red edge colour value. Editable.
Green Edge Colour field Displays the green edge colour value. Editable.
Blue Edge Colour field Displays the blue edge colour value. Editable.
Fresnel Shader
Fresnel shading, in ActionThe Fresnel shader contains only Fresnel controls for the specularity.
TIP To cancel out the Fresnel effect altogether, set the Fresnel Offset to 0 and the Fresnel Factor to 100.
Cook-Torrance Shader
Cook-Torrance shading, in ActionUse the Cook-Torrance shader for high specularity materials, such as metals
or shiny plastics. This shader includes Fresnel controls for specularity.
Fresnel Factor field Displays the amount of specular light at grazing angles.
TIP To cancel out the Fresnel effect altogether, set the Fresnel Offset to 0 and the Fresnel Factor to 100.
Anisotropic Shader
Anisotropic shading, in ActionUse the anisotropic shader to control the specular effect of the highlights.
X Roughness field Displays the shape of specularity of the shader along the X axis. Editable.
Y Roughness field Displays the shape of specularity of the shader along the Y axis. Editable.
Fresnel Factor field Displays the amount of specular light at grazing angles.
TIP To cancel out the Fresnel effect altogether, set the Fresnel Offset to 0 and the Fresnel Factor to 100.
NOTE If the Displace node is attached to an imported 3D Geometry, you may need to select a UV Mapping mode
other than Default in the Geometry menu for the displace pattern to have an effect on the geometry. See UV Map
Settings.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the displacement.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the displacement.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Displace Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Displace Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Displace Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The displace object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of the
selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the
displace node indicates the media used for the displacement.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Displace node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Displacement menu appears. You can choose between Hardware Displacement or Software
Displacement using the Displacement Type box.
The Software Displacement menu is divided into two tabbed sections: Controls and Texture.
Displacement Type box Select whether to use hardware (GPU) or software (CPU) displacement mapping.
Softness field Displays the level of rounding off, or softening of the spikes that result from colour values in
the image that vary from pixel to pixel in the displacement map. Editable.
Softness rounds the edges of the displacement. The larger the softness, the smoother the displacement.
Softness also affects rendering; the larger the softness, the longer it takes to render.
Displace Direction box Select the direction in which a displace occurs when a displacement map is attached
to a surface. Geometries parented to a displacement map always use Normal Displace as the direction.
Select: To Displace:
Camera Displace In the direction of the camera selected in the Displace Camera box.
Displace Camera box Active only when Camera Displace is selected in the Displace Direction box. Select
which camera to take into account when using camera displacement.
Displace Camera field Displays the active displace camera number. Non-editable.
Displacement X field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the X axis. Editable.
Displacement Y field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the Y axis. Editable.
Displacement Z field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the Z axis. Editable.
Repeat mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the map.
The Hardware Displacement menu is divided into two tabbed sections: Controls and Texture.
Controls Tab
Displacement Type box Select whether to use hardware (GPU) or software (CPU) displacement mapping.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the map. Editable.
Displace Direction box Select the direction in which a displace occurs when a displacement map is attached
to a surface. Geometries parented to a displacement map always use Normal Displace as the direction.
Select: To Displace:
Camera Displace In the direction of the camera selected in the Displace Camera box.
Bias field Displays the distance between the real surface of the object and the perceptual ground (zero level)
of the texture. Editable.
Attenuate field Displays the level of amplitude of the effect caused by the displacement map texture. Editable.
Displace Camera box Active only when Camera Displace is selected in the Displace Direction box. Select
which camera to take into account when using camera displacement.
Displace Camera field Displays the active displace camera number. Non-editable.
Displacement X field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the X axis. Editable.
Displacement Y field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the Y axis. Editable.
Displacement Z field Displays the amount of displacement in pixel units along the Z axis. Editable.
Bump Normals button Enable to allow the map to create a normal map for enhanced lighting effects. Used
only if no normal map exists for the object using the displacement texture. The availability of this setting
is dependant on your graphics card.
Depth field Displays the amount of Z scale applied to the generated normals. Higher values attenuate the
effect toward the normals of the parent surface. Editable.
Texture Tab
Repeat mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the map with the cropped size of the media. Disable to use the
cropped media as is.
Wrap Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the texture map according to the object’s texture coordinates.
To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can also
apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping, any
surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along the
“sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Perspective
Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on the resulting
effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance between left and
right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
POV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the map.
Parallax Mapping
Parallax mapping can generate a visual result similar to that of a displacement map without actually displacing
polygons. Parallax mapping uses the height map (similar to a displacement map) to determine how the
object texture should be warped in order to simulate shading and occlusion effects, without actual polygonal
displacement.
Because a parallax map does not actually change the polygons of the object, there are inherent limits to the
illusion — looking at the object from the side will reveal the cheat. It is best used on surfaces and geometries
where you do not see the angles or edges.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the parallax.
To specify different media as the source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply, or use
the Read File tab to manage the texture media (see Working With Textures in Map Nodes (page 756)).
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Parallax node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object menu
(see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Parallax menu appears.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the parallax settings.
Scale field Displays the perceptual height of the texture driven by the parallax map. Editable.
Bias field Displays the distance between the real surface of the object and the perceptual ground (zero level)
of the texture. A value of half of the Scale field value should give the best results.
Attenuate field Displays the level of amplitude of the effect caused by the parallax map texture. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the parallax map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the parallax map. Editable.
Relief Mapping button Enable to augment the 3D surface detail by creating occlusions where changes occur
in the parallax map. Rendering is slower when enabled, but the results may be better.
Linear Search field Displays the number of steps to search for the best depth in the relief map. Editable.
Binary Search field Displays the number of steps to refine the precision of the best depth found by the
linear search. Editable.
Bump Normals button Enable to allow the parallax map to create a normal map for enhanced lighting
effects. Used only if no normal map exists for object using the parallax texture. Enabling also affects the
Normal output in Action.
Depth field Displays the amount of Z scale applied to the generated normals. Higher values increase the
effect of normals. Editable.
(a) Repeat Mode box (b) Mapping box (c) Camera Type box (d) Fit Method box (e) Filter box
Repeat Mode box Select how the parallax map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the parallax map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the parallax map with the cropped size of the parallax media.
Disable to use the cropped parallax media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the texture map according to the object’s
texture coordinates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap
mode, you can also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping, any
surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along the
“sides” of the object.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Perspective
Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on the resulting
effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance between left and
right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
POV.
Perspective Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the parallax map.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
TIP You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the parallax map. For example, you can use this
setting to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or
geometry in a stereo scene.
Normal Mapping
A normal map is used to simulate bumps and lighting on a surface or geometry. You can apply a normal
map to modify how a surface reacts to shading. You can manipulate a surface’s normals based on X, Y, and
Z offsets.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the normal.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the normal.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Normal Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Normal Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Normal Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in this
manner.
To specify different media as the source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply, or use
the Read File tab to manage the texture media (see Working With Textures in Map Nodes (page 756)).
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Normal node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object menu
(see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Normal menu appears.
Controls Tab
Use the Encoding and Orientation settings to help Action with information on how the normal map was
encoded and rendered. Then use the Normal Controls to tweak the map in Action.
Range box When working with floating point normal map media, select the range of the normal map media:
[0, 1] or [-1, 1]. When working with 8-, 10-, or 12-bit images, the Range box displays the appropriate range
for Action, but the box is greyed out.
Orientation box Select whether the orientation of the coordinate system of the map is Left Hand or Right
Hand.
Camera box Select which axis of the map corresponds to the Z axis in Action. The selection in the Up Axis
box determines the available selections in this box.
Normals box Select whether to combine or replace the normal map with the surface normals.
Select: To:
Combine Normals Combine the normals map texture with the surface’s normals.
Replace Normals Apply only the normal map texture to the surface (ignoring the surface normal
properties).
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the normal map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the normal map. Editable.
Attenuation field Displays the level of amplitude of the effect caused by the normal map texture. Editable.
X Normal axis Displays the amount of offset in pixel units along the X axis.
Y Normal axis Displays the amount of offset in pixel units along the Y axis.
Z Normal axis Displays the amount of offset in pixel units along the Z axis.
Show Normals button Enable to display normal vectors over the surface (does not affect the render).
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the normal settings.
Texture Tab
(a) Repeat Mode box (b) Mapping box (c) Camera Type box (d) Fit Method box (e) Filter box
Repeat mode box Select how the normal map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the normal map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the normal map with the cropped size of the normal media.
Disable to use the cropped normal media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the PBS map according to the object’s coordin-
ates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can
also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping,
any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along
the “sides” of the object.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
texture map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
spective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on
the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance
between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
FOV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the normal map.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the normal map. For example, you can use this setting
to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry
in a stereo scene.
NOTE If the Normal node is attached to a 3D Geometry node, you may need to select a UV Mapping mode other
than Default in the Geometry menu for the normal pattern to have an effect on the geometry. See UV Menu
Settings (page 809).
Specular Mapping
A specular map defines the shininess and highlight colour of a surface or geometry.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the specular.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the specular.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Specular Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Specular Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Specular Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The specular object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of the
selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the
Specular node indicates the media used for the specular.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Specular node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Specular menu appears.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the specular map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the specular map. Editable.
Shininess field Displays the amount of shininess in the specular map. Editable.
NOTE To display proper results, the specular map also uses the value of the surface or geometry shine field. A
shine value of 0.0 in the Surface or Geometry menu is interpreted as 1.0.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the specular settings.
Texture Tab
(a) Repeat Mode box (b) Mapping box (c) Camera Type box (d) Fit Method box (e) Filter box
Repeat Mode box Select how the specular map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the specular map.
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the specular map with the cropped size of the specular media.
Disable to use the cropped specular media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the PBS map according to the object’s coordin-
ates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can
also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping,
any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along
the “sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
texture map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
spective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on
the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance
between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
FOV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Filter box Select the type of filtering to apply to the specular map.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
TIP You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the specular map. For example, you can use this
setting to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or
geometry in a stereo scene.
Emissive Mapping
An emissive map uses colours to simulate a glowing effect within the texture. The effect of an emissive map
does not go beyond the limits of an object, and therefore cannot be used to generate glows around the rest
of the scene or the surrounding objects.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the emissive.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the emissive.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Emissive Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Emissive Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Emissive Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The emissive object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of
the selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the
Emissive node indicates the media used for the emission.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Emissive node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Emissive menu appears.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the emissive map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the emissive map. Editable.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the emissive settings.
Texture Tab
(a) Repeat Mode box (b) Mapping box (c) Camera Type box (d) Fit Method box (e) Filter box
Repeat Mode box Select how the emissive map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the emissive map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the emissive map with the cropped size of the emissive media.
Disable to use the cropped emissive media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the PBS map according to the object’s coordin-
ates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can
also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping,
any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along
the “sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
texture map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
spective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on
the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance
between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
FOV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
TIP You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the emissive map. For example, you can use this
setting to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or
geometry in a stereo scene.
Diffuse Mapping
diffuse maps, in Action;Action:diffuse mappingUse a diffuse map to define the diffuse reflection and main
colour of a surface, 3D model, or 3D text. Since the diffuse map and its axis are parented by the surface or
geometry node, animating the parent’s axis also animates the diffuse map, which has the effect of keeping
the map properly in place on the model. A diffuse map uses the specular highlight, diffuse colour, and shine
set by its parent.
When adding a diffuse map to a shaded surface, the diffuse is used when generating the shadow. The diffuse
is only used to apply the colour to the shadow, so effects such as surface displacement still reference the
media associated with the surface. If a node has an applied diffuse map, it is the matte setting of the diffuse
map that controls whether the object will be included in the various output mattes (scene matte, blend
matte, for example).
1 In the schematic, select the surface, 3D model, or 3D text to which you want to apply the diffuse map.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the diffuse map texture (you can change this
texture later).
A diffuse map uses the front and matte of the media. If you do not want to apply transparency to your
diffuse map, turn its matte off.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Diffuse Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Diffuse Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
To specify different media as the source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply, or use
the Read File tab to manage the texture media (see Working With Textures in Map Nodes (page 756)).
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 In the Rendering section of the Action Setup menu, enable or disable Shading depending on the method
of diffuse mapping you are using. When Shading is enabled, normals are used. You must enable Shading
when using Reflection mapping because it also uses normals.
6 Double-click the Diffuse node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object menu
(see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Diffuse menu appears.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the settings.
Texture Tab
Repeat Mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the diffuse map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the diffuse map with the cropped size of the diffuse media.
Disable to use the cropped diffuse media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the PBS map according to the object’s coordin-
ates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can
also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping,
any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along
the “sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
texture map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
spective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on
the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance
between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
FOV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
TIP You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the map. For example, you can use this setting to
apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry
in a stereo scene.
NOTE When a diffuse map is connected to a flat surface, you can enable Auto Expand in the Surface menu to
automatically resize the surface when the diffuse map’s Axis settings are changed.
Reflection Mapping
reflection maps, in Action;Action:reflection mappingReflection mapping simulates a mirrored surface by
using the specular reflection values in the map. You have the option of combining the result of a reflection
map to a diffuse map.
1 In the schematic, select the surface, 3D model, or 3D text to which you want to apply the diffuse map.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the diffuse map.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Reflection Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Reflection Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Reflection Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The reflection object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of
the selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the
Reflection node indicates the media used for the diffuse.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Reflection node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Reflection menu appears.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the diffuse map. Editable.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the settings.
Texture Tab
Repeat Mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Add/Replace box Select whether to add or replace the reflection map to the diffuse colour.
Mapping Type box Select the type of texture map used, to help create the reflection effect.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the map. For example, you can use this setting to
apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry
in a stereo scene.
Position Mapping
A position map (sometimes called a world position pass), is an image where each pixel's R, G, B colour values
represent the x, y, z coordinates of the corresponding vertex, in 3D world space. In Action, a position map
works as a type of 3D displacement, that is, it displaces every pixel in that image to the actual location in
space of the vertex it represents, allowing you to:
■ Establish depth, position, and scaling in images, for compositing and creative purposes.
■ Relight your scene.
■ Create stereo objects.
A typical workflow would be to import (from a 3D application) the beauty pass, the position pass (as a 16-bit
floating point OpenEXR clip), the normal pass, and the FBX camera that rendered the scene. Then, apply
the position and the normal map to the beauty pass image surface, and set the scale of the position map so
that it aligns properly with the 3D camera frustum.
NOTE Make sure that your position pass rendering settings in the 3D application are sufficiently high so that the
position map displays correctly in Flame. For example, when rendering with Mental Ray in Maya, set the quality
level to Production or higher.
When looked from the original camera POV, your scene looks just like the rendered image. But since pixels
are accurately located in space relative to the original 3D scene with the attached position map, you can
correctly position 2D layers in the same perspective as objects of the 3D scene.
You can use position maps generated by 3D applications or Action itself (Position is available as an output
type in the Output (page 590) menu).
1 In the schematic, select the surface to which you want to apply the position map.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the position map.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Position Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Position Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Position Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The position object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of
the selected surface. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the Position node
indicates the media used for the position map.
To specify different media as the position map source, select the media in the Media menu, then click
Apply.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the Position node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu.
The Position menu appears.
Use the Orientation settings to help Action with information on how the position map was rendered. The
Normals settings affect the generated normals present in the position map.
Scale field Displays the scale of the position map in relation to Action space. Editable.
Orientation box Select whether the orientation of the coordinate system of the map is Left Hand or Right
Hand.
Camera box Select which axis of the map corresponds to the Z axis in Action. The selection in the Up Axis
box determines the available selections in this box.
Depth field Displays the amount of Z scale applied to the generated normals. Higher values attenuate the
effect toward the normals of the parent surface. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the map. Editable.
Distance Threshold field Displays the threshold at which the longest triangles producing disconnected
meshes in the geometry are hidden. Editable.
Texture Tab
Repeat mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the map.
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the map with the cropped size of the media. Disable to use the
cropped media as is.
Wrap Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the texture map according to the object’s texture coordinates.
To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can also
apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping, any
surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along the
“sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Perspective
Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on the resulting
effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance between left and
right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
POV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the map.
UV Mapping
A UV map is a pass which records the way the pixels of an image should be displaced within the image
plane, so that the warped texture looks like the textured geometry from the point of view of the CG camera.
The UV map acts as a 2D distortion field, or a pixel look up table, recording where every pixel of an input
image texture should be, had it been applied on a geometry filmed by the CG camera. It is a very effective
way of faking 3D mappings, without having a single polygon. It is most effective when combined with a
Normal map, which can be used to simulate the shading of the actual geometry even though everything is
perfectly flat.
Adding a UV Map
To add a UV map:
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the UV map.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the UV map.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the UV Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the UV Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the UV Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in this
manner.
The UV object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. The new axis is the child of the
selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in brackets next to the name of the UV
node indicates the media used for the UV.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
5 Double-click the UV node in the Schematic view, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu.
The UV menu appears.
UV Menu Settings
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the UV settings.
The UV menu is divided into two tabbed sections: Controls and Texture.
Controls Tab
Effect field Displays the amount of displacement applied to the UV map. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of softness along the X axis of the UV map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of softness along the Y axis of the UV map. Editable.
Apply Type box Select which attached maps are affected by the UV map.
Use Object ID button Enable to use Object ID info embedded into the blue channel when using a UV map
generated by Maya. When disabled, blue channel information is ignored.
The object ID allows you to control which objects within the UV map are displaced. In Maya, when performing
a UV Render Pass, enable Embed Object ID in Blue Channel.
Pick button Click to display the picker to select an object ID in the image through its blue value.
Texture Tab
Repeat mode box Select how the UV map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the UV map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Use Cropped Size button Enable to replace the UV map with the cropped size of the UV media. Disable to
use the cropped UV media as is.
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the diffuse map according to the object’s diffuse
coordinates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own diffuse coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you
can also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the diffuse map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie pro-
jector casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the diffuse
values. Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar
mapping, any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project
along the “sides” of the object.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
diffuse map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
POV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the UV map. For example, you can use this setting
to apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry
in a stereo scene.
PBS Mapping
Use the PBS (Physically Based Shading) Map to create realistic textures based on how light interacts with
surfaces. Different types of PBS textures are available from withing the PBS map. You can use the PBS Map
to create your own textures, or add a Substance PBR (page 757) node (or from other online services providing
PBR maps) to automatically include a number of PBS maps, depending on the preset. PBS maps also support
texture maps from 3D renderers, such as a high quality AO map.
These are the available physically based texture types (similar settings are available in the Shader Node when
you select Physically Based (page 772) as the Shader Type, but by using the PBS Map, you can affect the shader
on a per pixel basis instead of as a global value for the whole object):
■ Base Color
■ Roughness
On a Mac system, you are limited to Base Color, Roughness, Metallic, AO, Opacity, and Height shader types.
NOTE Most of these maps require a Shader node using the Physically Based mode to have any effect, except for
Opacity and Height maps. These last two can be used in conjunction with any type of shader, not just a PBS one.
As for the difference between a Displacement map and a Height map: while both can be used in PBS and
non-PBS scenarios, a Displacement map always has a floor value and a Height map has no floor constraint,
which maps better with third party tools.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the PBS map.
2 Click Media.
3 In the Media menu, select the media you want to use for the parallax.
4 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the PBS Map node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the PBS Map node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the PBS Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in this
manner.
By default, an Undefined material object is added to the schematic with its own parent axis. Once you
select a shader type to apply from the PBS menu, the name under the material node updates to that
type. The new axis is the child of the selected surface or geometry. In Schematic view, the number in
brackets next to the name of the node indicates the media used.
To specify different media as the source, select the media in the Media menu, then click Apply, or use
the Read File tab to manage the texture media (see Working With Textures in Map Nodes (page 756)).
5 Double-click the PBS node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object menu
(see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The PBS menu appears.
PBS Type box Select which type of physically based shader to apply.
Effect field Displays the amount of the selected shader type to apple. Editable.
Softness X field Displays the amount of X-axis blur applied to the PBS map. Editable.
Softness Y field Displays the amount of Y-axis blur applied to the PBS map. Editable.
Custom ID field Available if Custom is selected in the PBS Type box. Displays the custom ID corresponding
to a PBS type not currently available in the PBS Type box. Use this with the Lightbox API.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the PBS settings.
Texture Tab
Repeat Mode box Select how the map pattern is repeated on the surface.
Fit Method box Select a fit method option to be applied to the PBS map.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels (not available for the Fill fit
method).
Wrap (Geom UVs) Wrap mapping completely envelops the 3D model with the PBS map according to the object’s coordin-
ates. To use this option, you must import a model that has its own texture coordinates. When using Wrap mode, you can
also apply UV mapping settings from the Geometry menu.
Plane Planar mapping applies the map without distorting the front plane of the 3D model, similar to a movie projector
casting an image onto a screen. All 3D coordinates of the geometry are mapped to this plane to generate the texture values.
Planar mapping positions the lower-left corner of the diffuse map on the 3D model’s axis. When you apply planar mapping,
any surfaces on the 3D model perpendicular to the front plane cause the pixels at the edge of the texture to project along
the “sides” of the object.
Tri-Planar Similar to plane mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals orientation
with respect to the axis of projection.
Perspective Perspective mapping is similar to planar mapping, except that it performs a perspective transformation of the
texture map based on the selected camera’s field of view (FOV). When you select Perspective as the mapping type, the Per-
spective Camera box becomes active, allowing you to specify the active camera. The FOV of the camera has an impact on
the resulting effect of any transform applied to the parent axis of the texture. On stereo cameras, the interaxial distance
between left and right cameras also has an effect on the resulting perspective transform.
Tri-Perspective Similar to perspective mapping, except that it applies the map from all 3 axes, blending using the normals
orientation with respect to the axis of perspective.
Projection The texture behaves as if it is projected by the selected camera. Projection mapping is useful as an alternative
to projecting textures using the Projector node, especially when it is necessary to project while preserving a specific camera
FOV.
Camera box Specify which camera's FOV to take into account when using perspective or projection mapping.
Camera field Displays the active perspective or projection camera number. Non-editable.
Stereo Camera Projection box Select whether to use the centre, left, or right camera from a stereo camera
rig when projection mapping.
Select: To apply:
Nearest No filtering — the pixel of the texture closest to the screen pixel is displayed.
Anisotropic Non-proportional filtering between X and Y (faster to process than EWA, but with
a lesser quality).
EWA+Linear A combination of EWA and Linear filtering (offers the most advanced filter pro-
cessing).
TIP You can set the default filtering type in the Action Setup menu Preferences tab.
Camera Type box Select the camera type visibility for the map. For example, you can use this setting to
apply a Left Eye and Right Eye camera type for two maps that are children of the same surface or geometry
in a stereo scene.
Projecting Textures
Like a slide projector, textures can be projected onto 3D models to create an effect where a texture is animated
on an object in 3D space. The advantage of using a Projector node is that you can cast images on arbitrary
surfaces. You can create a spotlight texture and project it onto a 3D model, so that you can see “into” it.
You can attach a look-at connection (page 571) between Action objects with axis characteristics (Axis, Camera,
Light, and Projector). The connection allows the parent object to rotate to face the child look-at object, no
matter where it is positioned. Look-At links can be animated; therefore you can link different objects from
the parent at different frames. In the channel editor, you can see a lookAt channel for every look-at parent.
Similar to cameras in Action, you can set a Free or Target projector mode. Select Free to project the scene in
the direction that you aim the projector, or Target to aim the projector at a target object in the scene based
on a point of interest. Different settings are available in the Projector menu based on the choice of mode.
NOTE Some Action maps, such as Diffuse and Emissive maps, also allow you to use Projection mapping as a type
of texture mapping. This method of projecting behaves as if it were projected by the selected camera.
To project a texture:
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, you are limited to one front/matte media, and therefore may
not get the desired result. In this case, you can access Action from Batch or Batch FX, or from the Tools tab.
4 Double-click the Projector node to display the Projector menu, or follow the tab population rules for
the Object menu (see Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563)).
The Projector is selected.
5 Switch to Camera view to manipulate the projector in the scene using the View box.
■ To exclude a surface, hold the Alt key as you drag a connection from the Projector node to a surface
node. The exclusive connection is represented by a red dotted line.
Once an exclusive connection is created, the projector ignores the node(s) to which it is connected.
Projector Mode box Select Free to view the scene in the direction that you aim the projector, or Target to
aim the projector at a target object in the scene based on a point of interest.
Field Of View field Displays the projector's field of view value. Editable.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the ratio of height to width for the projected image. Editable.
Far field Displays the far view of the selected projector. Editable.
Near field Displays the near view of the selected projector. Editable.
X Position field Displays the position of the projector in 3D space along the X axis.
Y Position field Displays the position of the projector in 3D space along the Y axis.
Z Position field Displays the position of the projector in 3D space along the Z axis.
TIP You can also set the texture projector position by dragging the projector in the scene.
Motion Path button Enable to use motion path animation for the projector.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected projector along the X axis. Available when Free is
selected in the Projector Mode box. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected projector along the Y axis. Available when Free is
selected in the Projector mode box. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the selected projector along the Z axis. Available when Free is
selected in the Projector mode box. Editable.
Distance field Displays the position of the projector's focus. Available when Free is selected in the Projector
Mode box.
X Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the X axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Projector Mode box. Editable.
Y Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the Y axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Projector Mode box. Editable.
Z Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest along the Z axis. Available when
Target is selected in the Projector Mode box. Editable.
Roll field Displays the amount of projector roll. Available when Target is selected in the Projector Mode
box.
Red Colour field Defines the red value of the selected projector. Editable.
Blue Colour field Defines the blue value of the selected projector. Editable.
Blend Mode box Select a mode to modify how you want to blend the projected image in the scene.
Blend Premultiplication box Select whether the blend operation is premultiplied or not. You can set this
as a default preference in the Action Setup menu.
Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the projected texture effect. Editable.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected projector (can only be used if the
global Motion Blur is enabled in the Setup menu).
Active button Enable to activate the projected texture effect in the scene. When disabled, the Projector
node remains in the schematic and the projector icon appears smaller in the image area.
Matchbox in Action
While you can use interactive Matchbox shader effects elsewhere in Flame (such as from the timeline or
Batch), using Matchbox in Action presents some unique benefits:
■ Matchbox effects in Action can be parented to a texture node (or multiple texture nodes). Multiple
Matchbox effects can also be added to a texture node. Supported texture maps are Diffuse, Normal, UV,
Displacement (HW Only), Parallax, IBL, Specular, Emissive, Lens Flare textures, and Substance textures.
These Matchbox effects occur in texture space, after Media list effects but before Action objects, and can
be seen as pre-processing effects.
■ You can also connect a Matchbox shader to an Action camera, to create a Camera FX that is applied to
the whole scene. Camera FX are scene-based post-processing effects.
Keep in mind that the Matchbox XML schema contains tags to identify if the shader is designed as an Action
node, a Timeline FX, or a Transition. The tags ShaderType and SoftwareVersion are added automatically to
the XML by the shader_builder script.
The Action Priority Editor (page 557) has a Matchbox Only mode to view and change the drawing order of
Matchbox effects.
See the sections below for information on how to add, and things to watch for, when working with each
type of Action Matchbox effect.
Matchbox nodes and their links are displayed as black in the schematic to help you identify them. If
you added the Matchbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node
in the schematic.
2 Double-click the Matchbox node in the schematic to display its menu.
The Matchbox node populates the user interface dynamically, based on the GLSL (and XML) code, but
there are a few UI elements that are constant, located in the Shader tab.
3 If you added a Matchbox effect from the All Nodes bin, you can change the effect by clicking Change
Shader in the Shader tab of the Matchbox menu.
4 Use the Action Object Solo (F8) view on the parent texture to cycle through three Matchbox views:
Context, Result, and Result Matte. The F8 view also allows you to interact directly in the image window
with icons, if they are present in the shader.
TIP Instead of using a source node for a simple front/matte transform, consider using the Front Matte Offset
Matchbox (available as a preset, along with many other useful Matchbox effects).
You can connect Matchbox shaders to the Action camera and have the result of the shader applied to the
result of the Action scene. Similar to using Texture Matchbox shaders, the priority editor is used to handle
the pipeline order.
GMasks can be connected to a Camera to limit their effect to the post-processing pipeline exclusively. GMask
output passes have an option to only show GMasks connected to the current camera, so you can set GMask
to not interact with the scene, and only be created to be used with the post-processing pipeline. You can
also use a GMask input Matchbox shaders (if they have been implemented to use this input).
The Action post-processing pipeline can connect the Matchbox shader automatically to the appropriate
Action output. To support this, shader developers need to set the InputType tag properly in the shader XML
(each Action output has its equivalent InputType tag). This includes RGBA shader rendering. The following
input types are supported:
■ Front (this defines the Primary Output render layer selection).
■ Back
■ Matte
■ 3D Motion Vectors
■ Albedo
■ Ambient Occlusion
■ Comp (this defines the Action Comp output of the render layer, in case the Primary is another type).
■ Emissive
■ GMask
■ Lens Flare
■ Motion Vectors
■ Normals
■ Occluder
■ Position
■ Reflection
■ Roughness
■ Shadows
■ Specularity
■ UV
■ Z-Depth
■ Z-Depth HQ (32-bit Z-Depth output packed in two 16-bit channels; you must use the Matchbox API to
leverage the data).
Matchbox Camera FX also have access to the Acton output list in their patch panel (in the Shader tab on
the Matchbox menu), so you can manually set the proper connection if the Matchbox shader hasn't been
tagged properly in the XML.
Matchbox nodes and their links are displayed as black in the schematic to help you identify them. If
you added the Matchbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node
in the schematic.
NOTE Since a Matchbox connected to a Camera node (Camera FX) is considered a post-processing effect
in Action, make sure that your image window is set to Live Preview mode to be able to see the results of the
shader.
Rendering Camera FX
When rendering a Camera FX pipeline, Action uses Multi-Render Targets (MRT) to allow outputs to be much
more efficient. Depending on the Rendering settings, the scene is rendered only once or twice instead of as
many times as there are output passes, leading to a significant speed increase in the case of Camera FX
requiring many input connections. The biggest speed improvement can be found when the Accumulation
Rendering (page 595) box is set to Accumulation On or Accumulation Off, since all passes can then be done
using a single MRT. In the case of Accumulation RGBA, two MRTs are needed, which reduces the speed
improvement compared to the other Accumulation settings, but still offers a significant boost compared to
not using MRT at all.
A GMask connected to the Camera with a GMask link can be used to limit the effect of a Camera FX Matchbox.
In this example, a Gmask is used to limit the effect of a Lightwrap effect that works well for the roof, but is
too strong for the character. The Gmask limits the effect and the gradient gradually softens out the Lightwrap,
so the top of the head of the character still has a little bit of Lightwrap.
To be able to use a GMask in this manner, you need to used a compatible Matchbox shader and enable Use
GMask iInput in the menu. GMask output passes have an option to only show GMasks connected to the
current camera, so you can set GMask to not interact with the scene, and only be created to be used with
the post-processing pipeline.
3D Selectives as Camera FX
Some Matchbox shaders include 3D Selective functionality, allowing you to segment the render of Action
using different 3D techniques, applying the given effects to a specific portion of the image.
The following example shows the usage of 3D Selective with both the Lightwrap and Blur 3DSelective shader.
The Blur is used to create a DepthOfField effect using the Distance mode, while three different
Lightwrap3DSelective shaders are used to create independent Lightwrap effects on each of the trumpeters,
as single values for all three didn't worked out in this case.
For each Lightwrap, the Cube World Selective type was used to isolate each trumpeter.
You can use the Matchbox Lens texture grid shaders with Action Lens Flares. You can use the LensBokeh,
LensRefraction, and LensOptic Matchbox to replace Glint Texture, Glow Texture, Iris Texture, Ring Texture
Result
In each Matchbox Lens effect's menu, you can use the texture grid functionality to select different looks. In
this example, You can select different Dust elements for the Lens Dirt effect.
You can also use a Lens Flare Matchbox shader as part of the Camera FX pipeline. Since Lens Flares (and
Rays) are rendered at the end of the Camera FX pipeline, you can use instead the ActionLensFlare Matchbox
shader, which allows you to put the Lens Flare result anywhere in the Camera FX pipeline.
For this use case, make sure that you disable the Action Lens Flare / Rays button from the Comp output
Render Passes menu:
In this example, there is also a Matchbox Glow effect in the Camera FX pipeline, as well as a GMask that
allows you to blur part of the Lens Flare result without affecting the Action result. The Glow can affect both
Result
Stingray Matchbox shaders are based on the Autodesk Stingray game-engine technology, allowing you to
produce visually stunning results in Action. These shaders can be combined (as in the Camera FX example
below). You can also use GMasks and 3D Selectives with the Stingray shaders to help you limit the effects
to certain areas of your image.
Result
These are the available Stingray Matchbox shaders, as well as some usage tips:
Stingray Motion Blur This shader allows you to create motion blur effects, based on the motion vector
provided (either by the Action Motion Vector output or the Batch Motion Analysis node). This shader can
also use a Z-Depth input to help provide better results. When used as Camera FX in Action, it can
automatically receive the current Camera Near/Far values, when Frustum is set to Auto, otherwise it can be
set manually. The Exposure field is available to allow control on how much motion blur to create. While
this tool can create quite nice small and subtle motion blur effects, it cannot create large motion blur effects
due to the nature of the technique used; therefore the Exposure value is limited to 10.
Stingray Ambient Occlusion This shader allows you to create lighting occlusion, by computing how each
point in a scene is exposed to ambient lighting. To do so, the shader requires the Z-Depth and Normals
information of a 3D scene. You can control its impact in the scene by modifying the Intensity, Radius, and
Stingray Bloom This shader allows you to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras, where bright
areas create feathering (when overwhelming the camera capturing the scene). By default, the shader is set
to use the Stingray Tone Map, which handles geometry content, so in the case of an image sequence, you
may prefer using the Scene Linear Input option instead, if applicable. The first step of the Bloom shader is
to create the bright pass which can be isolated using the Bright setting of the Pass option. To control how
much of the image is contributing to the bright pass, you can adjust the Threshold and the Exposure settings.
This bright pass becomes the source of the blooming effect to which the Blur Amount, Falloff, Offset, Bloom
Colour, and Gain settings are then applied. When used as Camera FX, you can use both the Use GMask
Input and the Selective options to tailor exactly where and how much Bloom effect you want in your image.
Multiple Stingray Bloom shaders can then be added, using different values and affecting different areas of
the scene.
Stingray Reflections This shader allows you to create single-bounce screenspace reflections, based on the
Z-Depth and Normals information of a 3D scene. The shader uses the roughness information of the material
through a Roughness map to control how sharp or diffuse the reflection is. To control this in Action, you
can use the Shader node with either the Physically Based or the Cook-Torrance shading mode. The basic
Reflection settings are the Intensity, Tint, Gain, and As Additive Ambient (which allows you to add the
reflection as ambient light or blend it to the scene). The Use Z-Depth setting allows you to use a normal
Z-Depth input, since, by default, the shader is expecting the Z-Depth HQ Action output for maximum quality
(however a regular 16bit Z-Depth input can be used). The Only Reflections Output setting allows you to
output just the Reflection result, without the scene result. You can use the Screen Edge and Surface Thickness
Threshold settings to help control where the reflections are going to appear in the image. Since the Stingray
Reflection shader is a single-bounce reflection, you may need to isolate which objects cast or which objects
receive reflections, to get around some limitations of the technique. To do this, you can apply the shader
as a Camera FX, and use the Casting and Receiving Selective settings. You can also use the GMask functionality
to control the reflection further.
Stingray Depth of Field This shader allows you to create focus range blur effects. Use the Centre Z setting
for focus position, and the Range setting to define the size of the focus area. Both of these settings are in
Action camera-space coordinates. To control the Blur, you have independent control on the Near and Far
side of the focus area. Max sets the blur size, while Distance sets how quickly you will reach the Max blur
value, starting from the corresponding focus area position. You can further impact how the blur is going to
behave in the defined Distance region, by adjusting the curves found in the Advanced tab section. By default
it is set to linear, but it can be freely adjusted. Lastly, you can change the chromaticity of the effect by setting
a colour to both the Far and Near blur area which affects the RGB channels independently.
Stingray Lens Effects This shader is a simple lens distort/correction tool with chromatic aberration
capabilities. The Distortion setting distorts/corrects the image with a simple lens model, while the Fringe
Intensity and Colour settings allow you to control the chromatic aberration of the lens. When used as a
Camera FX, you can use the Use GMask Input option to only apply the overall effect to a portion of the
image.
Action Atomize
When you attach an Atomize node to a surface or geometry in Action, the object becomes a configurable
point cloud. Pixels at each vertex of the surface or geometry become square or round points. The Atomize
points always face the camera, and are displayed at the same size regardless of the distance from the camera.
Atomize points inherit any properties of the parent object, as well as any attached maps (such as transparency,
blend modes, and colours).
Depending on the vertex resolution of the parent surface or geometry, the Atomize result can become quite
detailed (more vertices equals more points), allowing you to creatively incorporate point clouds into your
Action compositions.
1 In the schematic, select the surface or 3D geometry to which you want to apply the Atomize.
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Atomize node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Drag the Atomize node from the node bin and place it where you want it in Result view.
■ Double-click the Position Map node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in
this manner.
The Atomize object is added to the schematic as a child of the selected surface or geometry.
3 Double-click the Atomize node in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object
menu.
The Atomize menu appears.
Round Dot button Enable to display the points as circles; disable to display as squares.
Action Replica
The Replica node allows you to create multiple instances of most Action objects (including the Replica node
itself), then introduce cascading animatable offsets (in position, rotation, scale, centre, and shear). Think of
Replica as a macro that saves you the time of creating multiple Axis nodes with mimic links and individual
offsets.
The following is a simple one-character 3D Text geometry with two Replica nodes creating the effect:
3 To display the Replica menu, double-click the selected replica node in the schematic, or follow the tab
population rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
Number field Displays the number of instances of the attached object to create. Editable. Each instance
creates its own entry in the Action Priority Editor, so you can change the drawing order of instances.
X Position field Displays the position offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation offset along the X axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation offset along the Z axis. Editable.
X Centre field Displays the centre offset along the X axis. Editable.
Y Centre field Displays the centre offset along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Centre field Displays the centre offset along the Z axis. Editable.
Action 3D Paths
A 3D path is an animatable 3D spline that you attach to other Action objects, such as surfaces, geometries,
3d text, cameras, or lights. The attached objects then follow the spline based on the path normals, allowing
you to create effects, such as a 3D roller coaster.
4 To open the 3D Path menu, double-click the 3D Path node in the schematic, or follow the tab population
rules for the Object menu.
See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
To create a spline:
1 Make sure that the Tools box is in Draw Shape mode (this is the default when you first add a 3D Path
node).
2 In the image window, click to add vertices.
TIP Shift-drag to add freehand segments to the spline. Vertices are added where you drag, and appear
when you release Shift. After closing or finishing the spline, you can use the Lasso Fit field to increase or
decrease the number of vertices that define the freehand segments of the spline.
4 Make sure that the Tools box is in Select mode, so that you do not add more vertices by mistake.
When the spline is closed or finished, its vertices and tangents can then be edited.
Closed button Enable to close a spline from the last to first point.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected path (can only be used if the global
Motion Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Constant Shape button Enable to modify the spline's shape without setting keyframes. This forces all
animatable parameters to be set for the whole clip rather than for only the current frame. It also removes
any existing keyframes and applies the shape of the current frame to the rest of the clip.
Lasso Fit field Displays the number of points in the segments of the spline that are drawn freehand. Use a
lower number to simplify the curve by removing vertices and tangents, resulting in a smoother curve.
Editable.
X Vertex field Displays the position of the selected vertices on the X axis. Editable.
Y Vertex field Displays the position of the selected vertices on the Y axis. Editable.
Z Vertex field Displays the position of the selected vertices on the Z axis. Editable.
Auto Tangents button Enable to position a tangent for each vertex set, to create a smooth curve between
the vertices. When enabled, it is possible to create a spline with both straight and curved segments.
When Auto Tangents is disabled, the tangents are positioned under the vertex, resulting in straight lines
between vertices. When you draw freehand segments in a spline with Auto Tangents off, vertices are added
with broken tangents, allowing the spline to follow your cursor movement.
Auto Adjust button Enable to automatically adjust the tangent handles of the two adjacent vertices when
moving vertices, to create smooth curves between the vertices.
Spacing field Displays the space between the displayed normals, in pixels. Also used to calculate the position
of the object on the path. A lower value may result in better positioning and smoother movement of the
object, but rendering may be slower. Editable.
Scale field Displays the scale of the displayed normals, in pixels. Editable.
Spline colour pot Displays the colour for the display of splines. Editable.
Tangents colour pot Displays the colour for the display of tangents. Editable.
Offset field Displays the amount of offset to apply to the object on the 3D path. Use to animate the attached
object along the path. Editable.
Offset box Select whether to offset the object from the path in a relative (expressed as a percentage of the
path) or absolute mode (expressed in pixels).
NOTE These settings are repeated in the 3D Path and Banking tabs to make it easier for you not to have to switch
tabs to change the settings. The same settings are reflected in both tabs.
(a) Alignment option box (b) Orientation Axis box (a) Alignment option box (b) Point Axis box
Alignment option box Select how the object connected to the 3D Path node aligns to the path.
Align Off Not align the attached object to the path. In this
case, the Orientation Axis box and banking controls
are unavailable. This can be useful for vertical text
effects.
Align to Path Align the attached object to the 3D path. You can
then select which axis is aligned to the path in the
Orientation Axis box, and use the banking controls.
Orientation Axis box Select which axis is aligned to the path. Available when Align to Path is selected in
the Alignment option box.
Point Axis box Select which axis is pointed to the attached look-at object. Available when Look At is selected
in the Alignment option box.
2 In the schematic, drag from the 3D Path node to an object with axis characteristics.
The selected object is connected to the 3D Path node by an orange dotted line with an arrow.
3 Select which axis looks at the attached object in the Point Axis box.
4 Optional: Use the banking curve to orient the attached objects.
Normals Offset Angle field Displays the angle of rotation of all normals, applied to the entire banking
curve. Editable.
NOTE Changes made to the banking curve and Angle field are cumulative.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as changes are made to the banking curve.
Home button Resets the Banking curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Set Key button Sets the current values for the banking curve in the current frame (when Auto Key is disabled).
Reset Selection box Select whether to reset all of the banking settings (Reset All) or just the banking curve
(Reset Key).
Interpolation box Select the default interpolation type for the Banking curve.
Extrapolation box Select the default extrapolation type for the Banking curve.
Action Cameras
The scene is what you see through the camera lens. Typically, you work with the camera to frame and
animate the view to achieve the effect you want. In Action, you have the choice of using the automatic
camera or the manual camera, whose F-Stop, film size, and focal length you can set yourself. You can also
animate specific camera properties.
Adding a Camera
By default, a camera exists in the Action scene (you may need to pan in the schematic to see the camera
node). The Z position of this default camera is placed relative to the resolution of your Action scene. You
To add a camera:
2 To display the Camera menu, double-click the selected camera in the schematic, or follow the tab
population rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects (page 563).
The result camera always appears as the first tab on the right side of the Object menu. To allow you
to easily access the camera without losing your place in the scene, this special camera tab (appearing
in orange) does not follow the tab population rules. If a camera node is selected in the schematic, the
special Camera tab does not appear, and the normal tab population rules apply.
TIP You can attach a look-at connection (page 571) between Action objects with axis characteristics (Axis, Camera,
Light, and Projector). The connection allows the parent object to rotate to face the child look-at object, no matter
where it is positioned. Look-At links can be animated; therefore you can link different objects from the parent at
different frames. In the channel editor, you can see a lookAt channel for every look-at parent.
Camera Type box Select Free (to view the scene in the direction that you aim the camera), or Target (to
aim the camera at a target object in the scene based on a point of interest).
Free cameras are easy to use because you do not have to manipulate the point of interest. You can simply
animate the camera rotation or camera tilt as though it were on a tripod. Use the Distance field in conjunction
with Free Camera.
Field of View field Displays the camera field of view value, measured in degrees. Editable.
When Physical Camera is inactive (in the Fog /DOF tab), use the field of view angle in the Y direction to
adjust the width of the camera frustum. When Physical Camera is active, use the focal length for the same
purpose.
Near field Displays the near view of the selected camera. Editable.
Far field Displays the far view of the selected camera. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the camera eye on the Y axis. Editable
Z Position field Displays the position of the camera eye on the Z axis. Editable
Motion Path button Enable to animate the camera eye on a motion path. See Moving the Camera Eye and
Point of Interest (page 844).
X Rotation field Displays the level of camera rotation along the X axis. Available when Free is selected in
the Camera Type box. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the level of camera rotation along the Y axis. Available when Free is selected in
the Camera Type box. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the level of camera rotation along the Z axis. Available when Free is selected in
the Camera Type box. Editable.
Distance field Displays the position of the camera's focus. Available when Free is selected in the Camera
Type box. This setting affects the depth of field (when enabled in the Action Setup menu). Editable.
X Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest on the X axis. Available when Target
is selected in the Camera Type box. Editable.
Y Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest on the Y axis. Available when Target
is selected in the Camera Type box. Editable.
Z Point of Interest field Displays the position of the point of interest on the Z axis. Available when Target
is selected in the Camera Type box. Editable.
Parenting Offset box Select an offset option for viewing an image when parenting a camera node. Origin
sets the image to the camera origin; Target sets the image to the default viewplane distance relative to the
camera; and Live Target sets the image to the current viewplane distance based on the FOV.
Parenting Offset field Displays the offset value, as computed from the default camera field of view and the
default image size. This value does not change even if other camera parameters are changed. Non-editable.
Result Camera box Specify which camera is active. The active camera is the one that will be used when
processing/rendering your scene.
Import Camera button Opens the Import Camera file browser to import a camera. See Importing and Ex-
porting Cameras (page 845).
Export Camera button Opens the Export Camera file browser to save a camera. Exported data includes
Position X, Y, and Z; Poi X, Y, and Z; FOV; Roll, Target or Free Camera; motion path and explicit keyframe
camera animation.
See Importing and Exporting Cameras (page 845).
Reset Camera button Resets the Camera menu to its default settings.
Fog box Select a fog type to cause objects to fade as their distance from the camera increases. See Applying
Fog to the Scene (page 854).
Fog Start field Displays the distance at which the fog should start. Editable.
Fog End field Displays the distance at which the fog should end. Editable.
Fog Range field Displays the range or distance from the camera for exponential type fog. Editable.
Physical Camera button Enable to activate the physical camera, which simulates a manual camera. Use
the physical camera fields to adjust the field of view for the camera.
f-stop box Select a depth of field value. F-stop is the ratio between the focal length of the lens and the
diameter of the aperture. For example, the F-stop value for a 100mm lens with a 50mm full aperture is 2 (or
f/2).
Film Size box Select a standard film size. As the film size increases, the focal length also increases and the
focal point moves further away from the camera eye. Changing the film size also increases the focal length.
Focal Length field Displays the field of view. Changes to the Focal Length automatically update the field
of view (based on the film size) and vice versa. Editable.
As the focal length increases, the field of view decreases. As the focal length decreases, the field of view
increases.
(a) Camera eye (b) Near clipping plane (c) Far clipping plane (d) Camera interest point or look-at point
If you place a surface within the frustum, it is visible in the final animation. If the surface is located outside
the scope of the frustum, it is not visible at that frame in the animation.
1 From the View box, select Side, Front or Top depending on how your camera is positioned. Ideally,
you will want a view that profiles the camera so the near and far planes are visible.
2 In the Camera menu, enter a value in the Near field to edit the near clipping plane's position.
The value in the Near field corresponds to the position of the near clipping plane. The default value
is 1. Any object between the camera eye and the near clipping plane is outside the camera frustum and
does not get processed in the final result.
3 Enter a value in the Far field to edit the far clipping plane's position.
The value in the Far field corresponds to the position of the far clipping plane. The default value is
10000. Any object positioned behind the far clipping plane is outside the camera frustum and does
not get processed in the final result.
4 Narrow or widen the frustum by modifying the camera's FOV (field of view). Increasing the FOV narrows
the frustum and field of view. Decreasing the value widens the frustum and field of view.
You can also animate the camera eye on a motion path. Enable the Motion Path button and drag the camera
icon while viewing the scene in Top, Side, or Front view.
The camera point of interest is the point in world space at which the camera eye is directed. The point of
interest is always at the centre of the camera's frustum. Changing the position of the point of interest causes
the orientation of the frustum to change. You can take advantage of the relationship between the point of
interest and the frustum to make the camera follow a moving object. To do this, animate the point of interest
while keeping the camera eye in a fixed position.
TIP You can animate the point of interest using a motion path by enabling the Motion Path button.
(a) Near sharpness plane (b) Focal range (c) Far sharpness plane (d) Motion path for point of interest (e) Camera point
of interest (f) Motion path for camera eye (g) Camera eye
The Target camera uses depth of field and clearly indicates its focal range when in Top, Side, or Front view.
With the Free camera, you can change the field of view by Alt-dragging the near sharpness plane. This
changes the camera only; what you are viewing remains the same size.
Flame supports the import and export of 3D data saved in the FBX 3D format. This format provides a means
for exchanging 3D data for scene compositions—such as cameras—between tools and packages developed
by different manufacturers.
An alternative to animating a camera's position is to import a camera animation from 3ds Max. 3ds Max
camera animation can be saved as a . 3DS or .ase (ASCII Scene Export) file in your scene. While the .ase
format contains only a camera's positional data, the .3DS format contains the camera's position, point of
interest, roll and field of view values.
Once the camera is imported, you can edit any of the camera's values and, if necessary, export it back to 3ds
Max in its native 3DS format using the Camera menu.
3 If needed, enable Rotate Axis to rotate the imported camera by 90° on the X-axis so that it is compatible
with Action's coordinate system.
4 Navigate to the location where a 3ds Max camera setup was exported, and select the file.
You return to Action and the imported camera is applied to your scene.
4 If needed, enable Rotate Axis to rotate the exported camera by -90° on the X-axis so that it is compatible
with the coordinate system of the 3D application.
5 Navigate to the location where you want to export the camera animation.
6 Enter a name for your exported camera in the file field.
7 Click Save.
TIP When exporting from Flame, save the .3DS file in a directory that is readable by a 3ds Max system.
1 From the View box, select Camera, Working, or an orthographic view (listed under Action 3D Views).
Select: To:
Camera View the scene in Camera view. This is the scene as viewed by the camera eye. In other
words, your field of vision in world space is equivalent to the viewing frustum of the camera.
The size of objects depends on their distance from the camera eye.
Top View the scene as if you are positioned on the positive Y-axis. This is an orthographic view;
there is no perspective deformation.
Side View the scene from the side, as if you are positioned on the positive X-axis. This is an or-
thographic view; there is no perspective deformation.
Front View the scene as if your line of vision is directed into the camera eye. This is an orthographic
view; there is no perspective deformation.
Working View the scene just as in Camera view. Try out different positions and adjustments without
affecting the camera settings.
2 If you have multiple cameras in the scene, use the Camera box that appears (below the left-side Action
menu buttons) to define which camera is used for the Camera view in the image window. The camera
selected in this box is not necessarily the camera used to process the scene.
3 Use the Working view if you want to view the scene using different adjustments, without saving any
of the settings to a camera setup. For this reason, no parameters are animatable.
NOTE Create an animatable camera node from the current Working view by pressing Space-W.
NOTE The Ortho Views parameters in the Action Setup menu are only for viewing objects, and cannot be
animated or saved. The Near and Far fields in the Camera menu are used to set clipping planes. See Moving
the Near and Far Clipping Planes (page 864).
Track Camera Move the camera lens and look-at point. Alt + Middle Mouse button Alt + Shift + Pen d
Tilt Tilt the camera up and down by moving the look-at point.
Also changes the camera roll. This option only modifies Target
cameras.
Roll Rotate the camera on the Z-axis. This option only modifies
Target cameras.
Orbit Rotate the camera lens around the look-at point. Alt + Left Mouse button Alt + Pen down
Dolly Move the camera lens towards (zoom in) or away from (zoom Alt + Right Mouse button Alt + Ctrl + Pen do
out) the look-at point.
Use the Zoom option to move the camera eye toward or away from the point of interest. While viewing the
scene in Camera view, zoom in or out from the point of interest to move the camera eye closer to or farther
from the point of interest. In Top, Side, or Front view, you can enlarge or reduce the scene in the image
window without affecting the camera. Zooming has no effect in Schematic view.
NOTE The motion blur curve in the Action Setup menu is global. It cannot be set per node. When motion blur is
enabled, all surfaces have the same blur characteristics but not necessarily the same animation.
TIP You can preview your motion blur effect by clicking Preview. This will display the rendered frame at the current
frame in the timebar.
Still object with Axis New axis added New axis as child of original axis
4 Enable Motion Blur and animate the new axis with the desired motion.
Try combining your fog effect with other effects such as transparency to create a more genuine look for
non-solid substances such as water. You can also use expressions to improve the quality of fog in a scene so
that it looks more natural. See Working with Expressions in the Channel Editor (page 1650).
1 In the Camera menu, select a fog type from the Fog box.
Type Description
Linear Specifies the distance at which fog should start and end.
2 For Linear fog, specify the distance at which the fog should start and end in the Start and End fields.
For Exp or Exp2 fog, specify the range in the Range field.
3 To select the colour of the fog, click the colour pot to display the colour picker.
Typically, the fog colour should match the background colour of the image in the scene.
Adding a 3D Camera
By default, a 3D camera exists in the Action scene when using stereo clips, or when Action has been set up
to work in stereo (you may need to pan in the schematic to see the camera node). You can add multiple 3D
cameras in order to change point-of-view or depth-of-field from one camera to another. You can add and
animate multiple cameras when creating compositions. You can also switch from one camera to another at
any point.
(a) Stereo Camera View Type box (b) 3D Camera Type box (c) Camera Type box (d) Rotation Order box
Export FBX Camera button Opens the Export Camera file browser to save an FBX camera.
Stereo Camera View Type box Available when Stereo is selected in the 3D Camera Type box. Select Left,
Right, or Rig (for Stereo Rig).
Camera Type box Select whether the camera is Free, Aim, or Aim and Up.
Select: For:
Free Static scenes and for simple animations (up, down, side-to-side, in and out), such as panning
out of a scene. A Free camera views the scene in the direction that you aim the camera. You
can simply animate the camera rotation or camera tilt as though it were on a tripod. Use
the Rotation fields in conjunction with a Free camera.
Aim Slightly more complex animations (along a path, for example), such as a camera that follows
the erratic path of a bird. The Aim camera ensures the camera is specifically aimed at a target
object in the scene. Use the Roll and Aim fields in conjunction with the Aim camera.
Aim and Up Complex animations, such as a camera that travels along a looping roller coaster. Use the
Aim and Up camera to specify which end of the camera must face upward. Use the Roll,
Aim, and Up fields in conjunction with the Aim and Up camera.
FOV field Displays the angular field of view value, measured in degrees. Use to adjust the width of the
camera frustum. Editable.
Focal Length field Displays the focal length of the camera lens, measured in millimeters. Increasing zooms
the camera in and increases the size of objects. Decreasing zooms the camera out and decreases the size of
objects. Editable.
Near Clipping Plane field Displays the position of the near clipping plane, in pixels, which represents the
distance from the camera to the closest point within which image details are processed. Editable.
See Moving the Near and Far Clipping Planes (page 864).
X Position field Displays the position of the camera, in pixels, on the horizontal (X) axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the camera, in pixels, on the vertical (Y) axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the camera, in pixels, on the perpendicular (Z) axis. Editable.
Rotation Order box Select the order in which the camera is rotated, on the horizontal, vertical, and
perpendicular (X, Y, and Z) axes.
X Rotation field Displays the level of rotation of the camera on the horizontal (X) axis, in degrees. Active
when Camera Type is set to Free. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the level of rotation of the camera on the vertical (Y) axis, in degrees. Active when
Camera Type is set to Free. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the level of rotation of the camera on the perpendicular (Z) axis, in degrees. Active
when Camera Type is set to Free. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the camera on the horizontal (X) axis, as a percentage. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the camera on the vertical (Y) axis, as a percentage. Editable.
Z Scale field Displays the scale of the camera on the perpendicular (Z) axis, as a percentage. Editable.
X Shear field Displays the shearing of the camera (diagonal shift) on the horizontal (X) axis, as a percentage.
Editable.
Y Shear field Displays the shearing of the camera (diagonal shift) on the vertical (Y) axis, as a percentage.
Editable.
Z Shear field Displays the shearing of the camera (diagonal shift) on the perpendicular (Z) axis, as a
percentage. Editable.
Result Camera box Specify which camera is active. The active camera is the one that will be used when
processing/rendering your scene.
Camera Scale field Displays the size of the camera relative to the scene, independently for either Left or
Right camera views. For example, if Camera Scale is set to 0.5, the camera's view covers an area half as large,
but objects in the camera's view are twice as large. If Focal Length is set to 35, the effective focal length for
the camera would be 70. Editable.
FBX Unit Scaling field Not shown. This locked field displays the scale factor of the FBX camera used within
the application. Use to help set the Pixels to FBX Units field when exporting an FBX camera. Non-editable.
Aim/Up Tab
When Camera Type is set to Aim or Aim and Up, the available options are enabled in the Aim/Up tab.
Camera Type box Select whether the camera is Free, Aim, or Aim and Up.
Select: For:
Free Static scenes and for simple animations (up, down, side-to-side, in and out), such as panning
out of a scene. A Free camera views the scene in the direction that you aim the camera. You
can simply animate the camera rotation or camera tilt as though it were on a tripod. Use
the Rotation fields in conjunction with a Free camera.
Aim Slightly more complex animations (along a path, for example), such as a camera that follows
the erratic path of a bird. The Aim camera ensures the camera is specifically aimed at a target
object in the scene. Use the Roll and Aim fields in conjunction with the Aim camera.
Aim and Up Complex animations, such as a camera that travels along a looping roller coaster. Use the
Aim and Up camera to specify which end of the camera must face upward. Use the Roll,
Aim, and Up fields in conjunction with the Aim and Up camera.
Parenting Offset box Select an offset option for viewing an image when parenting a camera node. Origin
sets the image to the camera origin; Target sets the image to the default viewplane distance relative to the
camera; and Live Target sets the image to the current viewplane distance based on the FOV.
Parenting Offset field Displays the offset value, as computed from the default camera field of view and the
default image size. This value does not change even if other camera parameters are changed. Non-editable.
X Aim field Displays the position of the aiming target of the camera on the horizontal (X) axis, in pixels.
Editable.
Y Aim field Displays the position of the aiming target of the camera on the vertical (Y) axis, in pixels.
Editable.
Z Aim field Displays the position of the aiming target of the camera on the perpendicular (Z) axis, in pixels.
Editable.
X Up field Displays the up direction on the horizontal (X) axis, in pixels. Editable.
Y Up field Displays the up direction on the vertical (Y) axis, in pixels. Editable.
Z Up field Displays the up direction on the perpendicular (Z) axis, in pixels. Editable.
Roll field Displays the amount of camera roll, in degrees. A positive value rolls the camera clockwise, where
a negative value rolls it counter-clockwise. Available only with the Aim, and Aim and Up cameras. Editable.
Stereo Mode box Select the method for computing the zero parallax plane.
Select: To:
Converged Compute the zero parallax plane by toeing-in the cameras. You can compare this effect
to our focusing on an object by rotating our pupils inwards. However, a dangerous side
effect may occur where you get a keystone effect on the pairs of render images, causing
visual confusion in other elements in the scene. In a rendered image, our focus tends to
cascade over the entire image and we are not focusing on a single object, which is not
true in real life. You should only use Converged when an object is at the center of the
screen with no scene elements at the render borders on either the left or right camera
frustum.
Off-axis Compute the convergence plane by shifting the frustum using camera film back. This is
the safer way to compute stereo image pairs and avoids keystone artifacts. Off-axis is the
default setting.
Parallel Create a parallel camera setup where there is effectively no convergence plane. This is
useful for landscape settings where objects exist at infinite focus.
Interaxial Separation field Displays the distance between the left and right cameras, in pixels. Editable.
Zero Parallax field Displays the distance on the camera view axis, in pixels, where the zero parallax plane
occurs (the point where objects appear off screen). Objects in front of the zero parallax plane have negative
parallax. Objects behind the zero parallax plane have positive parallax. Editable.
NOTE In general, your object should be behind the zero parallax plane. In other words, the camera distance
should be greater than the zero parallax plane value. The zero parallax value, the camera separation, and focal
length are all used to determine the shift that must be applied to film back on the respective left and right cameras.
The zero parallax distance is enabled only when Stereo Mode is set to Off-Axis or Toe-In.
Zero Parallax Plane button Enable to display the zero parallax plane.
Zero Parallax colour pot Displays the colour used for the zero parallax plane. Editable.
Zero Parallax Transparency field Displays the level of transparency for the zero parallax plane. Editable.
Safe Stereo Viewing Volume button Enable to display the safe viewing volume created by the intersection
of the frustum of the left and right cameras.
Safe Stereo Volume Transparency field Displays the level of transparency for the safe stereo viewing volume.
Editable.
Toe In Adjust field Displays the offset, in degrees, applied to the computed toe-in effect when Stereo Mode
is set to Converged. Editable.
Film Offset Left Cam field Displays the horizontal film offset for the left camera. Editable.
Film Offset Right Cam field Displays the horizontal film offset for the right camera. Editable.
(a) Film Gate box (b) Film Roll Rotation Order box
Film Gate box Select a preset film frame format type. This action automatically sets the corresponding
Camera Aperture, Film Aspect Ratio, and Lens Squeeze Ratio. To set these attributes individually, set Film
Gate to User. The default setting is User.
Camera Aperture X field Displays the width of the camera Film Gate setting, measured in inches. This
setting has a direct effect on the camera's angle of view and automatically updates Film Aspect Ratio. Editable.
Camera Aperture Y field Display the height of the camera Film Gate setting, measured in inches. This
setting has a direct effect on the camera's angle of view and automatically updates Film Aspect Ratio. Editable.
Film Aspect Ratio field Displays the ratio of the camera aperture width versus height. Modifying this field
automatically updates the Camera Aperture fields. Editable.
Lens Squeeze Ratio field Displays the amount horizontal compression that is applied to the image. Used
with some cameras (for example, anamorphic cameras), which compress the image horizontally to record
a wider aspect ratio image onto a square area on film. Editable.
Film Roll Value field Displays the amount of rotation applied to the film back. The rotation occurs around
the specified pivot point. Used to compute a film roll matrix, which is a component of the post-projection
matrix. Editable.
Film Roll Rotation Order box Select how the roll is applied with respect to the pivot value.
Enable: To:
Rotate-Translate First rotate the film back, then translate it by the pivot point value.
Translate-Rotate First translate the film back, then rotate it by the film roll value.
Pre Scale field Displays the artificial 2D camera zoom that is applied before the film roll. Used in 2D effects.
Editable.
Post Scale field Displays the artificial 2D camera zoom that is applied after the film roll. Used in 2D effects.
Editable.
Film Fit Resolution Gate box Select the size of the resolution gate relative to the film gate (Film fit). If the
resolution gate and the film gate have the same aspect ratio, then the Film Fit setting has no effect.
Select: To:
Horizontal Fit the resolution gate horizontally within the film gate.
Vertical Fit the resolution gate vertically within the film gate.
Film Fit Offset field Displays the offsets of the resolution gate relative to the film gate either vertically (if
Film Fit Resolution Gate is Horizontal) or horizontally (if Film Fit Resolution Gate is Vertical). Film Fit Offset
has no effect if Film Fit Resolution Gate is Fill or Overscan. Editable.
Film X Offset field Displays the horizontal offset, in pixels, of the resolution gate and the film gate relative
to the scene. Changing the Film X Offset produces a two-dimensional track. Editable.
Film Y Offset field Displays the vertical offset, in pixels, of the resolution gate and the film gate relative to
the scene. Changing the Film Y Offset produces a two-dimensional track. Editable.
Enter: To:
1 Have the view guide fill the view. The edges of the view guide may be exactly aligned with
the edges of the view, in which case the view guide is not visible.
>1 Increase the space outside the view guide. The higher the value, the more space is outside
the view guide.
Film X Translate field Displays the artificial 2D horizontal camera pan. Used in 2D effects. Editable.
Film Y Translate field Displays the artificial 2D vertical camera pan. Used in 2D effects. Editable.
Film Roll X Pivot field Displays the horizontal pivot point from the center of the film back, which is used
during the rotating of the film back. Used to compute the film roll matrix, which is a component of the
post projection matrix. Editable.
Film Roll Y Pivot field Displays the vertical pivot point from the center of the film back, which is used
during the rotating of the film back. Used to compute the film roll matrix, which is a component of the
post projection matrix. Editable.
NOTE You should re-adjust your Interaxial Separation if you change your output device, since the settings for
one display method may differ from another.
■ Increase the Zero Parallax to move objects further away from the camera. The 3D effect becomes less
pronounced in this case. Decrease your Zero Parallax to move objects closer to the camera. You can see
more depth if you do this.
The stereoscopic effect is the most realistic when the Zero Parallax Plane is in between the two objects.
■ You may need to re-adjust your camera attributes if you change the resolution of your output device.
■ You can also increase the Far Clip Plane to increase the depth of the camera.
■ In Anaglyph viewing mode, the red/cyan colors for objects are swapped depending on whether they are
behind or in front of the parallax plane. For objects behind the zero parallax plane, they appear in
cyan/red. For objects in front of the zero parallax plane, they appear in red/cyan.
(a) Camera (b) Near clipping plane (c) Far clipping plane (d) Aiming target
If you place a surface within the frustum, it is visible in the final animation. If the surface is located outside
the scope of the frustum, it is not visible at that frame in the animation.
TIP Objects that you want to render are usually within a certain range from the camera. Setting the near and far
clipping planes just slightly beyond the limits of the objects in the scene can help improve image quality.
The ratio of far:near clipping planes determines the depth precision. Try to keep that ratio as small as possible
for better results. Since most of the depth precision is concentrated around the near clip plane, try to avoid
a lot of detail on distant objects.
1 From the View box, select Side or Top, depending on how your camera is positioned.
Either of these views profiles the camera so that the near and far clipping planes are clearly visible.
2 From the Camera menu, on the Basics tab, enter a value in the Near field to edit the position of the
near clipping plane.
1 From the View box, select Front, Side, or Top, depending on how your camera is positioned, to provide
a clear view of the camera motion.
2 From the Camera menu, on the Basics tab, modify the Position X, Y, and Z fields.
You can also animate the camera using keyframes and the Channel Editor.
1 From the View box, select Front, Side, or Top, depending on how your camera is positioned, to provide
a clear view of the camera motion.
2 Do one of the following:
■ From the Camera menu, on the Aim/Up tab, modify the Aim X, Y, and Z fields.
■ Move the aiming target by dragging.
You can also animate the aim using keyframes and the Channel Editor.
The angle of view, or more accurately, the angular field of view, is the amount of a scene (measurable in
terms of an angle in degrees, originating at the camera position) that can be viewed by the camera. The
angle of view is not affected by changes in the distance between camera and subject. It can be modified
directly, in the FOV field, or indirectly, via the Focal Length field.
The angle of view and the focal length are inversely proportional. As you extend the camera's focal length,
the field of view gets narrower. As you shorten the focal length, the field of view gets larger.
Playing with the relationship between distance and angle of view affects the focus and perspective of objects
in the scene that can be used to creative advantage.
For example, a pair of objects that are placed a distance apart from each other, but in line with the camera,
can appear differently when changing these two parameters.
If these objects are viewed by a camera at long range, but using a lens with a high focal length (narrow angle
of view), they will appear large in the frame and in equal focus, and will seem to be located on the same
plane.
These same objects, when viewed at close range, but using a lens with a low focal length (wide angle of
view), will appear to also fill the frame, but the size difference between them will be exaggerated (the
foreground object will appear much bigger than the background object) and there will be a very noticeable
focus difference.
Focal Length
The focal length of a lens is the distance from the center of the lens to the film plane. The shorter the focal
length, the closer the focal plane is to the back of the lens. Focal length is usually expressed in millimeters.
The object's size in the frame is directly proportional to the focal length. If you double the focal length
(keeping the distance from the camera to the object constant), the subject appears twice as large in the frame.
The size of the object in the frame is inversely proportional to the object's distance from the camera. If you
double the distance, you reduce the size of the object by half in the frame.
1 From the Camera menu, ensure that the Basics tab is active.
2 If you are using degrees for angle of view, enter the value directly in the FOV field.
Increasing the FOV value widens the frustum and decreases the Focal Length. Decreasing the FOV
value narrows the frustum and increases the Focal Length.
3 If you are using different lens sizes, enter a value in the Focal Length field.
Increasing the Focal Length narrows the frustum and decreases the angle of view. Decreasing the Focal
Length widens the frustum and increases the angle of view.
NOTE Some parameters in Maya are not supported in FBX, such as Shear, FilmPostScale, and CamScale. Also,
many parameters that are animatable in Maya and Flame are not supported as animation curves in FBX. The 3D
Camera does not support depth of field.
Export a 3D camera from Action to FBX format, which can be used later by any other FBX-compatible
application.
1 From the View box, select Camera, Working, or an orthographic view (listed under Action 3D Views).
Select: To:
Camera View the scene in Camera view. This is the scene as viewed by the camera eye. In other
words, your field of vision in world space is equivalent to the viewing frustum of the camera.
The size of objects depends on their distance from the camera eye.
Top View the scene as if you are positioned on the positive Y-axis. This is an orthographic view;
there is no perspective deformation.
Side View the scene from the side, as if you are positioned on the positive X-axis. This is an or-
thographic view; there is no perspective deformation.
Front View the scene as if your line of vision is directed into the camera eye. This is an orthographic
view; there is no perspective deformation.
Working View the scene just as in Camera view. Try out different positions and adjustments without
affecting the camera settings.
2 If you have multiple cameras in the scene, use the Camera box that appears (below the left-side Action
menu buttons) to define which camera is used for the Camera view in the image window. The camera
selected in this box is not necessarily the camera used to process the scene.
3 Use the Working view if you want to view the scene using different adjustments, without saving any
of the settings to a camera setup. For this reason, no parameters are animatable.
NOTE Create an animatable camera node from the current Working view by pressing Space-W.
NOTE The Ortho Views parameters in the Action Setup menu are only for viewing objects, and cannot be
animated or saved. The Near and Far fields in the Camera menu are used to set clipping planes. See Moving
the Near and Far Clipping Planes (page 864).
Track Camera Move the camera lens and look-at point. Alt + Middle Mouse button Alt + Shift + Pen d
Tilt Tilt the camera up and down by moving the look-at point.
Also changes the camera roll. This option only modifies Target
cameras.
Roll Rotate the camera on the Z-axis. This option only modifies
Target cameras.
Orbit Rotate the camera lens around the look-at point. Alt + Left Mouse button Alt + Pen down
Dolly Move the camera lens towards (zoom in) or away from (zoom Alt + Right Mouse button Alt + Ctrl + Pen do
out) the look-at point.
Use the Zoom option to move the camera eye toward or away from the point of interest. While viewing the
scene in Camera view, zoom in or out from the point of interest to move the camera eye closer to or farther
from the point of interest. In Top, Side, or Front view, you can enlarge or reduce the scene in the image
window without affecting the camera. Zooming has no effect in Schematic view.
Action Analyzer
Use Action's Analyzer to compute the path of live-action camera and object motion in 3D space. Using the
calculated position and motion of the virtual camera, you can match image sequences perfectly, placing
any element in the scene. The perspective of the element you place in the scene changes with the perspective
of the background as the camera moves. The virtual camera motion is intended to be identical to the motion
of the actual camera that shot the scene.
Use the following workflow as a quick start guide to the Analyzer. Follow the links for more detailed
information.
Step 1
Select back or front/matte media (mono or stereo) to analyze and add an Analyzer node.
Optional steps:
■ Perform a lens correction.
■ Adjust the four corners of the perspective grid to set the focal length.
■ Add manual trackers to obtain a more predictable and consistent result.
Step 2
Step 3
Fine-Tune and recalibrate or refine the camera tracking analysis. This step is optional depending on the
results of your initial analysis.
Step 4
Step 5
Perform Object Tracking. If needed, after camera tracking, you can track moving objects in the scene — such
as inside the masks that were not tracked in the camera tracking analysis.
Preparing to Analyze
A good analysis result is often footage dependant, therefore you may need to perform object tracking after
the initial camera tracking.
Here are some things to keep in mind that can improve your analysis:
■ The Analyzer works best when tracking an image sequence that has a moving camera or environment.
Action GMasks or mattes should be used to isolate the background and the objects in the scene that have
different motions. Masking objects cause them to be ignored in the tracking process. You should also
mask any logos or watermarks in your image sequence.
■ The analysis is based on point-like and corner-like image features. Balls, spheres, lines, and smooth
surfaces are not considered.
■ Crop out any black areas around your image (such as letterbox areas). When cropping, it is very important
to keep the optical centre of the image in the centre, that is, the crop should be symmetrical in both
dimensions.
■ 3D tracking analyses each frame extensively and with high resolution clips, the process can be lengthy.
Unlike 2D tracking, however, you are not required to analyse full-resolution clips. In many cases, analyzing
proxies will produce acceptable 3D tracking results quicker than the time that would be required for the
full-resolution clips.
■ If you have information about the camera that shot the scene you want to track, such as the focal length
of the lens and the film back size, it is recommended you specify these details to improve the results of
the tracking analysis.
Add manual trackers to produce a more consistent track result. Each tracker consists of an inner reference
box, which establishes the reference point for the tracking, and an outer tracker box, which follows the
movement of the reference point. You can explicitly choose specific trackable features in the image (see
How the Stabilizer Works) (page 1064).
While trackers can be added both pre- or post-processing, it is recommended to do so pre-process if there is
going to be a difficult sequence to track. Add trackers post-process to improve the results of the automatic
processing. If added post-process, click the Update button.
When tracking, the more track points you have in each frame, the smoother and more accurate the tracking
results. As you place the trackers on the image, consider the following guidelines:
■ Scatter the trackers by placing them on markings, corners, and shadows in the widest area possible. For
example, avoid placing all trackers on the floor; place them on walls and other objects in the scene, as
well as on the floor.
■ Create a sense of depth by positioning trackers on points that lie in different planes, as well as on points
located in the foreground and the background of the sequence.
■ Avoid tracking points such as highlights or a point where the foreground and a background object meet,
as they do not represent physical 3D points.
■ Balance the number of trackers within each frame of the sequence so that as you move through the clip,
some points leave the frame and other points appear in the frame. However, maintain a balance so that
too many points do not leave or enter the frame at the same time.
■ Avoid positioning the trackers in uniform areas or on linear edges where the track points may slide along
the edge.
4 Click Analyze.
5 Click Return when done to return to the Analyzer menu.
The trackers will now be visible in the Analyzer view in a different color from the automatically
generated trackers.
NOTE Manually added trackers have persistence. They cannot be filtered, and they will not be deleted in a reset.
However a tracker can be manually deleted by first selecting it, and in the Fine Tuning section, clicking Delete.
1 From the Media list, select the back or front/matte media that you want to analyze. If you want to
analyze a stereo clip, select the left clip, then press Ctrl and select the right clip (you cannot select
Back media for a Stereo Analyzer).
2 Do one of the following:
■ Drag the Analyzer Mono or Analyzer Stereo node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the Analyzer Mono or Analyzer Stereo node. You do not need to be in Schematic view
to add a node in this manner.
NOTE If you accessed Action as a Timeline FX, Analyzer Stereo is not available.
The image window automatically switches to an analyzer view to help you view the interactive result
of your analysis.
In the schematic view, you can see that an Analyzer node is added to the scene. The number in brackets
next to the name of the Analyzer node indicates the media used for the analyzer (a zero (0) indicates
Back media). The Analyzer node is parented to a 3D Camera node, which is synced to the analysis of
the Analyzer node, as well as an Image (or Stereo Object) node with an axis.
To specify different media as the analyzer source, with the Analyzer node selected in the schematic,
select the new media in the Media list, then click Apply.
3 To display the Analyzer menu, double-click the Analyzer node in the schematic, or click the Analyzer
button.
In the Analyzer menu, you can access Camera and Object tracking settings.
Viewing Analyzers
When you add a mono or stereo analyzer node to your scene, the image window automatically switches to
an analyzer view to help you view the interactive result of your analysis. There are other views available
from the View box for working with analyzers.
Select: To Display:
Analyzer 2D 2D tracks after analysis. By default, these are displayed as blue squares in the image.
Analyzer 3D 3D points after a mono analysis. By default, these are displayed as green crosses in
the image. The F7 keyboard shortcut is a toggle keyboard shortcut; each time you
press it, the view changes from Analyzer 2D to Analyzer 3D.
Analyzer 3D Left or Analyzer 3D Right 3D points from the left or right eye perspective after a stereo analysis. The F7 key-
board shortcut is a toggle keyboard shortcut; each time you press it, the view changes
from Analyzer 2D to Analyzer 3D Left to Analyzer 3D Right.
Analyzer Working The Analyzer Working view. This view provides you with the ability to view your
analyzed scene using a working camera, which you can modify to view the scene
without modifying the tracked virtual camera. This can be helpful to orbit the scene
in order to view the depth of 3D points, for example.
NOTE The Analyzer views also display shading in the image window, if the setting is activated in the Action Setup
menu.
Analyzer View box Select which analyzer to display in the image window.
If your scene has multiple analyzers, use the Analyzer View box to select which analyzer to display in the
image window. This setting appears under the Analyzer button, and is available when the image window is
in Analyzer 2D or Analyzer 3D view.
Reset View button Click to reset any camera movements in the Working view.
This setting appears under the Analyzer button, and is available when the image window is in Analyzer
Working view.
Camera Tracking
You can perform automatic 3D tracking based on the camera properties of the device used to acquire the
image sequence you want to track. You can specify these properties, or let the analyzer automatically detect
the best solutions for the analysis. Even if you want to perform object tracking on specific moving areas of
the scene, you also start with an analysis using camera tracking to create a properly tracked camera.
TIP To improve the results of the track, consider adding 2D manual trackers (page 873) either pre- or post-process.
1 Add an Analyzer Mono or Analyzer Stereo node, as explained in Adding an Analyzer Node (page 873).
2 In the Camera Tracking menu, set Analysis options. For example, decide if you need to use a matte or
GMask in the analysis. In an image sequence of a busy street, you can create a matte or mask of moving
elements (such as cars and people) to isolate this area from the analysis. See Analysis Settings (page
881) for details of each Lens Correction, Constraints, and Camera setting.
5 Click Analyze.
You can see a progress indicator beside the Analyze button. You can interrupt the analysis and resume
it by clicking Analyze again.
Most of the time, tracking occurs in the background, allowing you to continue working while tracking.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can use connected input and matte clips as the media to be tracked. In this
case, tracking becomes a foreground process.
After tracking has completed and you press Confirm, the Analyze button changes to Update, and you
can see the 2D tracks (the blue squares in the following example) and 3D points (green crosses) in your
image, provided that you are in Analyzer 3D view.
NOTE As a general rule, a Refine field value between 1 and 1.5 is considered a good quality track.
The tracking analysis algorithm can make a best estimate of the focal length for the camera without any
user input (see Analysis Settings (page 881)). In order to refine the algorithm's analysis you can use a
perspective-based grid to define the focal length. The focal length determined through the perspective grid
is then used as part of the analysis. If you do not use this perspective grid or manually enter a value for the
focal length, the algorithm guesses at an estimate of the focal length.
1 With the Analyzer object selected in the schematic, select the Analyzer 3D view from the View box.
2 From the Analysis tab in the Analyzer, select Perspective Based from the Focal Length box.
3 While in Analyzer 3D view, drag each of the four corners of the rectangle to the desired location to
form a rectangular grid. The rectangle automatically aligns to the new perspective. The Range Error,
which displays the error estimate for the focal length, should be small relative to the focal length
(should be less than 10% of the focal length).
(See Perspective Grid (page 646) for specific details on placing the corner points.)
4 If you want to add manual trackers pre-process, do so now.
5 Click the Analyze button to start the tracking.
6 When the tracking analysis is complete, click Confirm.
Use the settings in the Camera Solving section to perform an automatic 3D track.
Camera Tracking button (Not shown) Displays the Camera Tracking menu, where you can track based on
the settings of the camera.
Analyze button Click to analyze the image (when complete, Analyze button changes to Update).
Update button (Not shown) Click to delete all previous 3D points, and start tracking based on new
information.
Pixel Error Value field Displays a representation of the distance of 2D tracks from repositioned 3D points.
Non-editable.
Forward & Backward button Enable to track the image sequence backward after the forward tracking has
completed.
Number field Displays the number of 2D tracks created by the analysis. Editable.
Add 2D Tracker button Click to enter the Stabilizer to add manual trackers.
Reset Tracker button (Not shown) Resets all tracker data in the Analyzer menu.
The settings help you view your trackers in the image window.
Tracker Display colour pot Displays the colour of the trackers. Editable.
Point Cloud Display button Enable to display 3D tracker points in your image.
Points Display colour pot Displays the colour of the points. Editable.
Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the trackers and points in the image. Editable.
Point Size field Displays the size of the 3D points in the image. Editable.
Grid box Select the type of grid to display in the scene. Use to position objects in the scene more accurately.
Select: To:
Grid XZ Use a grid constructed on the X and Z planes. The XZ grid is visible only when the camera
is moved from its default position.
Grid YZ Use a grid constructed on the Y and Z planes. The YZ grid is visible only when the camera
is moved from its default position.
You can change the display of the perspective grid with the following settings (available when Perspective
Based is selected in the Focal Length box in the Analysis tab):
Show Perspective button Enable to display the grid corners in the Analyzer view.
Grid button Enable to display the perspective grid in the Analyzer view.
Grid Colour pot Displays the colour of the grid lines. Click to change the colour.
Magnifier button Enable to display the magnifier while dragging a corner of the perspective grid rectangle.
Zoom field Displays the zoom factor of the magnifier. Editable up to 5x.
Analysis Settings
Use the Analysis settings before clicking Analyze.
Constraints Settings
Use the constraint settings to pass information to the analyzer about any mattes or masks in the scene.
Matte Media box Select whether the Action matte is used for tracking. Not available if Back media is being
analyzed.
Select: To:
Track Inside Matte Use a matte to delimit the tracking results. White areas of the matte are considered for
calculating the solution, and black areas are ignored.
Track Outside Matte Use an inverted matte to delimit the tracking results. Black areas of the matte are considered
for calculating the solution, and white areas are ignored.
GMask Option box Select whether to track inside or outside of an attached GMask shape.
While in an Analyzer view, you can add a GMask node and instantly draw the constraining mask. If added
while in Analyzer view, the GMask and Axis nodes are automatically connected to the image as part of the
Analyzer tree. If you want to use an existing GMask node, make sure that you parent the Surface (mono
analyzer) or Stereo Object (stereo analyzer) to the Axis of the GMask in the schematic.
If the area to be constrained is moving, you can perform planar tracking from within the GMask menu. See
Tracking a Mask (page 908).
Intersect Constraints field Displays that the intersection of the two constraints above are used as the
tracking region. Non-editable.
Before analysing the 3D motion, define your camera properties. The camera represents the device used to
acquire the sequence of images you are tracking. For each camera parameter, you can choose to let the auto
3D tracker calculate the value automatically, you can specify the value yourself, or you can set a perspective
grid (page 877) to estimate the focal length. This information can help the automatic 3D camera tracker
calculate better results.
NOTE You can set the camera properties before initial tracking, or after initial tracking when calibrating or refining
the track.
Camera Type box Select the type of camera motion in the tracking shot.
Select: To:
Pan and Tilt Track a rotating clip shot with a camera on a tripod.
Auto Detect Motion Automatically detect the camera type and track accordingly (default value).
Focal Length box Select Auto to let the 3D tracker calculate the camera values automatically. Select Manual
to specify the values yourself. Select Perspective Based to use the perspective rectangle in the image to
automatically determine the focal length of the camera.
Length field Displays the focal length of the camera, in millimeters. Editable.
Range Error field Displays the error of the estimate for the focal length. This should be a small number
relative to the focal length. Non-editable.
Zoom button Enable to calculate the zoom value of the reconstructed camera for each frame.
Film Back box Select the film back size of the camera that shot the scene.
Film Back Units box Select the unit of measurement (inches or millimeters) for the film back height.
Film Ratio field Displays the film aspect ratio of the camera. Non-editable.
You can apply lens correction before or after your initial analysis. If you make any changes after analysis,
you'll need to update or refine the track. While not necessarily required, performing a lens correction may
give better tracking results.
Adjust field Displays the level of secondary adjustment of lens correction. Editable.
The Stereo Analysis settings display information about the 3D camera after a stereo analysis is performed.
These are locked fields, and are meant as informational only.
Stereo Mode field Displays the stereo mode of the 3D camera after a stereo analysis. Non-editable.
Interaxial Separation field Displays the interaxial distance between the left and right cameras of the 3D
camera after a stereo analysis. Non-editable.
Zero Parallax field Displays the distance on the camera view axis (where the zero parallax place occurs) of
the 3D camera after a stereo analysis. Non-editable.
analyzer:real world measuresYou can use the Real World Measures settings to select two points in your
analyzed scene, and enter a measurement that represents the distance between the two points. Establishing
real world units is helpful when exporting the point cloud through the 3D camera for use in a 3D application.
1 In the Real World Measures section of the Fine Tuning tab, enable Define.
2 Select a point in the image, then press Alt and select a second point.
A red line is drawn between the two points.
3 Disable Define.
4 In the Length field, enter a measurement of the length between the two points, in the unit of your
choice (centimeters, inches, etc.). The Action scene scales to the distance you enter.
If you export the point cloud through the 3D camera, you'll be able to specify the unit of measurement
in the Export Camera menu (page 867).
analyzer:ground plane, definingAlthough it is not mandatory to define a ground plane in your image, it
helps orient the reconstruction of the cameras.
NOTE If you selected Pan and Tilt as the camera type (or if the Auto Detect switched to Pan and Tilt) the
Plane Define button is not available. The rest of the settings in this group are still available, but only for
orientation purposes.
2 Select a minimum of three points in the image that represent the plane of the X/Z axes, such as the
ground, a table, or any flat surface.
The selected points appear as red squares with white crosses.
TIP You may want to disable the tracker temporarily and point display options (or raise the transparency
level) to help you find and select the plane points.
3 Use the Position and Rotation controls to define the orientation of the ground plane.
4 Use the Scale field to specify the scale of the scene.
5 Disable Define.
1 Use the Quality slider to adjust the number of good trackers kept. The higher the quality setting, more
low quality trackers are selected, such as trackers that drift off their initial reference point. Click Delete
to delete the selected trackers.
Trackers of lower quality may hinder the accuracy of the camera tracking.
NOTE After you have made a change that requires the 3D tracking analysis to be refined or updated, notice
that the LED next to the Refine and Update buttons turns yellow. This signifies that a Refine or Update is
required, but you do not have to perform it until you have completed your tracker selections.
2 Adjust the Short slider to select short duration trackers, that is, trackers that only track a feature for a
few frames. Click Delete to delete the selected trackers, leaving the longer duration trackers intact.
3 You can manually select and delete trackers from the image that you feel are not tracking properly.
Do one of the following:
■ To select an individual tracker, click the tracker, and then click Delete.
■ To select multiple trackers in the same area, Ctrl-drag a selection box over a series of trackers, and
then click Delete.
■ With Delete mode selected in the Tools box, select trackers in the image.
Once you are satisfied with your fine tuning changes, you can refine or update your Analyzer.
1 Depending on the changes you have made, you can choose to refine or update the 3D track. Do one
or both of the following:
■ Click Update.
NOTE The update operation deletes all previous 3D points and starts over based on the new information.
Depending on your footage, and how many trackers you added, deleted, or linked, multiple updates may
yield different results.
■ Click Refine.
The track analysis uses the current results as a starting point, and refines from this point.
TIP The refine process is footage-dependant, so your acceptable pixel error value may change depending on what
is tracking. Since the refine process continues until you stop it, as a general rule, if the pixel error value does not
change for a length of time (for example, 30 seconds), you can stop the refine process. The lower the pixel error
value, the more accurate the reconstructed track is.
Define button Enable to define a target length between two points in the image. Select one point, then
press Shift and select the second point. When defining is complete, disable Define. Establishing real world
units is helpful when exporting the point cloud through the 3D camera for use in a 3D application.
Length field Displays the measurement of the length between the two points, in the unit of your choice
(centimeters, inches, etc.). Editable.
Plane Settings
Plane Define button Enable to define the ground plane in the image (when defining is complete, disable
Define).
Plane Scale field Displays the scale of the ground plane. Editable.
X Position field Displays the position of the ground plane on the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the ground plane on the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the ground plane on the Z axis. Editable.
X Rotation field Displays the rotation of the ground plane on the X axis. Editable.
Y Rotation field Displays the rotation of the ground plane on the Y axis. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation of the ground plane on the Z axis. Editable.
Filter Settings
Quality field Displays the number of good trackers that are kept, as a percentage. Editable.
Short field Displays the percentage of short duration trackers (trackers that only track a feature for a few
frames). Editable.
To create a point locators object or axes from the 3D camera tracking results:
1 In the Analyzer view, select the points in the image that you want converted. Selected points are
displayed as green squares with red crosses.
2 Enable Fixed Camera if you want to generate a fixed camera and a moving 3D point cloud.
Typically, 3D tracking results in a moving camera and fixed points, but you also can set the camera to
be fixed and the points to move.
3 Do one of the following:
■ Click Create Point Locators.
Selected point are converted to a point locators object with a parent axis. Double-click the newly
created point locators object to access its menu, where you can change display settings and enable
snapping. See Using the Point Locators Object (page 891).
■ Click Create Axis.
Selected points are converted to axes with a parent axis. The axes synchronize to the results of your
3D camera tracking, and any further changes you make to the 3D track are reflected in these axes.
NOTE If you want to apply settings manually to a synchronized axis, change its name so that it does not
update automatically when Analyzer settings are changed. If you reset the Analyzer settings, the
synchronized axes become regular Action axes.
4 Use the created point locators or axes to view the reconstructed scene geometry or camera motion.
You can attach objects such as surfaces, 3D text, and 3D models to the new point locators or axes to
help position them in 3D space.
Output Settings
Fixed Camera button Enable to generate a fixed camera and a moving 3D point cloud.
Create Point Locators button Click to convert selected points to a point locators object. Double-click the
new point locators node in the schematic to open the Point Locators menu.
Object Tracking
analyzer:object trackingIf the image sequence you are tracking has multiple moving objects, you can perform
object tracking to track these objects relative to the same camera. Since you perform camera tracking first,
you can use the camera data generated from the camera tracking analysis. For example, you can perform a
camera tracking analysis on the complete scene, then use masks or mattes to perform multiple object tracking
passes focusing on various moving objects in the scene. Each result can be converted to separate point clouds
or axes, but all results conform to the 3D camera synced to the original camera tracking.
NOTE To improve the results of the track, consider adding 2D manual trackers (page 873) either pre- or post-process.
Select: To:
Orbit Around Cam Track an object rotating around the camera, or far away from the camera.
Auto Detect Motion Automatically detect the motion type of the object and track accordingly. For
small objects, Auto Detect may not be able to establish the proper motion.
In this case, select Free 3D Motion or Orbit Around Cam.
■ Use the Matte Media box to select whether to use the Action matte for object tracking. If you select
to track inside the matte, white areas of the matte are considered for calculating the solution, and
black areas are ignored (vice-versa for tracking outside the matte).
■ Use the GMask Option box to select whether to track inside or outside of an attached GMask node.
This option is only available if a GMask node is attached to Analyzer tree. If you used a GMask
constraint while camera tracking, the opposite option is automatically selected for object tracking.
The tracking analysis uses an intersection of the constraints, so you may choose to hide or disconnect
gmasks if you want to perform a separate object track for each one.
5 In the Object Tracking section, enable Forward and Backward to track the image sequence backward
after the forward tracking has completed. This option takes longer, but you may get better results.
7 Click Analyze.
1 Use the Quality slider to adjust the number of good trackers kept. The higher the quality setting, more
low quality trackers are selected, such as trackers that drift off their initial reference point. Click Delete
to delete the selected trackers.
Trackers of lower quality may hinder the accuracy of the camera tracking.
NOTE After you have made a change that requires the 3D tracking analysis to be refined or updated, notice
that the LED next to the Refine and Update buttons turns yellow. This signifies that a Refine or Update is
required, but you do not have to perform it until you have completed your tracker selections.
2 Adjust the Short slider to select short duration trackers, that is, trackers that only track a feature for a
few frames. Click Delete to delete the selected trackers, leaving the longer duration trackers intact.
3 You can manually select and delete trackers from the image that you feel are not tracking properly.
Do one of the following:
■ To select an individual tracker, click the tracker, and then click Delete.
■ To select multiple trackers in the same area, Ctrl-drag a selection box over a series of trackers, and
then click Delete.
■ With Delete mode selected in the Tools box, select trackers in the image.
After tracking has occurred, you can set the scale of the tracked object. Since you are tracking a specific
object as part of an image, setting the relative scale of the object in relation to the image helps you to position
objects in the reconstructed scene when you convert the 3D points into a point cloud or axes.
Once you are satisfied with your fine tuning changes, you can refine or update your Analyzer.
1 Depending on the changes you have made, you can choose to refine or update the 3D track. Do one
or both of the following:
■ Click Update.
NOTE The update operation deletes all previous 3D points and starts over based on the new information.
Depending on your footage, and how many trackers you added, deleted, or linked, multiple updates may
yield different results.
■ Click Refine.
The track analysis uses the current results as a starting point, and refines from this point.
Click Refine again to stop the process once an acceptable pixel error value is reached. The pixel error value
is a representation of the distance of the 2D tracks from the computed 3D points.
TIP The refine process is footage-dependant, so your acceptable pixel error value may change depending on what
is tracking. Since the refine process continues until you stop it, as a general rule, if the pixel error value does not
change for a length of time (for example, 30 seconds), you can stop the refine process. The lower the pixel error
value, the more accurate the reconstructed track is.
When you are satisfied with the results of the 3D object tracking analysis, you can convert the selected
reconstructed points to a point locators object or actual axes in your scene. The point locators object is useful
because you can easily snap objects to the locators. An image that does not deform is the best candidate for
the point locators.
To create a point locators object or axes from the 3D object tracking results:
1 In the Analyzer view, select the points in the image that you want converted. Selected points are
displayed as green squares with red crosses.
NOTE If you want to apply settings manually to a synchronized axis, change its name so that it does not
update automatically when Analyzer settings are changed. If you reset the Analyzer settings, the
synchronized axes become regular Action axes.
3 Use the created point locators or axes to view the reconstructed scene geometry or camera motion.
You can attach objects such as surfaces, 3D text, and 3D models to the new point locators or axes to
help position them in 3D space.
To access the Point Locators menu, double-click the point locators object in the schematic.
Point Locators Display box Select how the point locators are displayed in the image. You can choose
between spheres, boxes, and crosses.
Point Locators Colour pot Displays the colour of the point locators. Editable.
Point Size field Displays the size of the point locators. Editable.
Snap To Point button Enable to snap an object automatically to a point in the point locators object. Use
Shift and drag the object towards the point locator.
Snap Tolerance field Displays the minimum distance between the object and the point locator for snapping
to occur. Editable.
Transform box Select how an attached object behaves based on the movement of the point locators.
Select: To:
Plane Transform Align an object based on the average plane of the maximum number of points.
TIP Instead of using a source node for a simple front/matte transform, consider using the Front Matte Offset
Matchbox preset.
To view the contents of the source node in the image window, see Viewing a Source Node (page 897).
NOTE You can change a source from a front to a matte source, or vice versa, from the Source Type box in
the Source menu.
4 Select the axis or surface parented by the source and create the animation.
The changes applied to the axis or surface connected to a source are applied to the media's matte or
front.
For example, on a matte source, if you change the axis scale to 80%, the media's matte is scaled 80%
when used with the media's front. In addition, if you replace the surface by a bilinear or bicubic, you
can create complex animations where the matte behaves like a page turn leading into the scene.
Once you add source nodes to your scene, you can access the Source menu to apply various settings.
NOTE If no source node is selected when first accessing the Source menu, or if there are no source nodes
present in the scene, all of the options in the menu are disabled.
NOTE Be careful when you unparent or delete a source. Surfaces or other objects that were parented by the source
are added to the scene.
3 Enable Override.
NOTE You can combine multiple parent sources each with their own override setting.
Source Settings
Source box Select a Front or Matte source.
Override button Enable to override a source node selection on the parent source.
Source Type box Select a source type. When selecting Custom, you can also designate a Front and Matte
type in the boxes below.
Select: To:
Front only Set the source to use only the front of the selected surface; the matte will be replaced
with white (displayed as FW under the selected surface in the schematic).
Matte only Set the source to use only the matte of the selected surface; the front will be replaced
with white (displayed as WM under the selected surface in the schematic).
Custom Set the source to have all the options of replacing the front and the matte of the selected
surface by White, original Front or original Matte.
Front Type box Select the clip to use as the front from the image parented by the source.
Matte Type box Select the clip to use as the matte from the image parented by the source.
Source View box Select which source to view in the image window. See Viewing a Source Node (page 897).
Rendering Settings
Z-Buffer Mode box Select an option to determine whether the distance from the camera eye is considered.
Select: To:
Z-Buffer Arrange sources according to their distance from the camera eye.
Z-Buffer Off Not consider the distance from the camera eye when arranging sources.
Shadow Mix To render each shadow in the correct Z order with its corresponding source.
Camera Selector box Select the child camera under a parent source node.
Source Shadow Type box Select the type of shadow cast for the source node. This setting is available in the
Shadow Cast menu only if the shadow cast node is a child of a source node, and is repeated in the Source
menu.
Anti-Aliasing Settings
Anti-Aliasing Sample box Select a software anti-aliasing sampling level. To set an arbitrary amount of
animatable samples, select AA N Samples, then choose the number of samples in the Samples field that
appears.
Samples field Available when AA N Samples is selected in the Anti-Aliasing Sample box. Displays the number
of anti-aliasing samples to consider. Editable and animatable.
Accumulation Settings
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected source node (can only be used if the
global Motion Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Phase field Displays the frame that motion blur is based on (before or after the current frame). Editable.
Shutter field Displays the duration of motion blur at each frame. Editable.
Samples field Displays the quality level of motion blur and the depth of field produced by the number of
samples taken at each frame. Editable.
Increasing the number of samples causes the processing time to increase linearly. The number of motion
blur samples is multiplied by the number of anti-aliasing samples. To reduce the total number of passes
made for each frame, reduce the level of anti-aliasing when Motion Blur is enabled.
TIP You can animate the Motion Blur button, as well as the Phase, Shutter, and Samples fields in the Channel
Editor under the source > motion_blur folder.
Softness field Displays the softness of the depth of field. A low value yields a sharp falloff between focused
and unfocused regions. Editable
Motion Blur Curve Displays the sample weight over the scope of the motion blur.
Import from Setup button Click to use the anti-aliasing and motion blur values from the Setup menu.
Home button Resets the curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Reset button Resets the anti-aliasing and motion blur settings to their default values.
Action GMasks
In Action, a GMask object is an animatable spline-based object that you draw directly in an Action scene
that allows you to apply transparency effects to the scene. A mask can be applied to all media by default, or
limited to selected media. Depending on what you want to accomplish, you can create a transparency that
reveals the background image, or hide a portion of the matte source or a front source. You can move the
mask in the 3D environment using the Axis object.
When creating a mask for a stereo object, you can apply it to both eyes simultaneously. You can change the
camera visibility options to apply a mask to only the Left Eye or Right Eye. Use the Visibility box to set the
camera visibility options. To set up stereo objects in Action, see Starting a Stereoscopic Session (page 640).
1 Do one of the following (depending on the method, the initial position of the parent Axis is different,
although it can be offset afterwards) :
■ Drag the GMask node from the node bin and place it in the Schematic view (the parent Axis is
placed at the centre of the screen).
■ Drag the GMask node from the node bin and place it in Result view (the parent Axis is placed where
it is dropped).
■ Double-click the GMask node (the parent Axis is placed at the centre of the GMask shape).
■ Press Alt+N to automatically switch to Draw Shape mode, then once you add your first point, a
GMask node is automatically added to the schematic (you do not need to access the node bin with
this method).
A GMask object (called gmask1, by default), with its parent Axis, appears in the schematic. Once you
have added the object, you can create the mask. See Creating a Mask (page 901).
TIP You can also create a mask using a preset shape. In this case, instead of the GMask node, select a GMask
Plane, GMask Ellipse, or GMask Rectangle node.
2 After the mask is created, if needed, enable the Offset Axis button (at the bottom right of the image
window) to be able to drag and position the parent Axis independently of the GMask shape. Click
Centre to set the Axis position to the centre of the GMask shape.
Here are some considerations to keep in mind when using Offset Axis:
■ Offset Axis can be used with any axis in the hierarchy, not just the axis located directly above the
GMask.
■ Offset Axis should be used with an axis that contains no keyframes, linked expressions, or look-at
links, and ideally with Auto Key turned off. If the target channel contains a single keyframe, you
need to be located at that keyframe for it to be updated properly, even if Auto Key is off.
■ You cannot use Offset Axis if the target GMask vertex channel (User or Tracking) contains two
keyframes or more. In this case, the Offset Axis option is greyed out.
■ If you have two or more keyframes in the User channel and have not done any tracking in the
GMask, you can still use Offset Axis with the Tracking channel of the GMask, but you first need to
enable Edit Track (in the GMask Vertices menu) before offsetting the axis.
■ While in Offset Axis mode, modifications to the camera associated to the GMask may lead to
unwanted modifications to the GMask shape.
Adding a GMask node to the schematic applies the mask to the entire scene. You can link the GMask object
to specific media or lights to apply a mask selectively. You can also apply a link to exclude a mask.
To create a mask:
1 In the Tools box, select Draw Shape (this is set by default when you first add the GMask node).
2 Do any of the following to draw the mask:
■ Click to add vertices.
■ Shift-click to hide vertices and tangents as you add them.
■ Shift-drag to draw the mask freehand. Vertices and tangents are hidden as you add them. After
closing the mask, you can use the Lasso Fit field (in the Vertices tab of the GMask menu) to increase
or decrease the number of vertices that define the freehand segments of the mask.
■ Click and drag out the tangents to adjust the curvature of the spline at the current vertex.
Editing operations, such as adding and removing vertices, can be effected whether or not the mask is
completed. You can edit the mask by gestural action on a single vertex or by using the Edit Box on multiple
vertices, or by modifying the numerical settings in the GMask Vertices menu tab.
In either method, you can see the mask and the menu settings update accordingly.
1 Click the Edit Box button at the bottom right of the image window (or press Ctrl+E).
2 Press Ctrl and select multiple vertices that you want to edit.
An edit box appears around the selected vertices with a centred pivot point.
TIP You can also use the GMask: Select All Vertices keyboard shortcut when using the Edit Box. This shortcut
is based on the default User Profile for the application, and may change if you select a different profile.
3 Use the available settings in the Vertices menu tab to apply transformations to the selection, or perform
the following gestural actions, as needed:
■ Hover over the pivot point to enable to pivot widget, and move the pivot point.
■ Hover just outside the Edit Box to enable the shear widget, and drag to shear.
TIP You can also click and drag inside the Edit Box to move (translate) the complete Edit Box. Press Shift
and drag to constrain the translation to the X and Y axes. There are also a number of other keyboard shortcuts
to work with the Edit Box (including for making minor adjustments). Search the keyboard shortcut editor
for Edit Box to see the shortcuts for your chosen profile.
4 Click the Edit Box button again, to deselect the vertices after you have completed your edit.
Mask Settings
Finishing and Editing Masks
These mask settings can be found at the bottom right of the image window.
Finish button Complete the creation of the mask without closing it. Once you click Finish, or a mask is
closed, this button disappears.
Edit Box button Enable to adjust the mask after it has been drawn. Press Ctrl and select multiple mask
vertices to form the Edit Box.
Offset Axis button Enable to be able to offset the axis position independently of the GMask. You can use
the Axis menu controls or the axis icon in the image window.
Centre button Click to centre the axis within the GMask shape. Available when Offset Axis is enabled.
You can customize a mask's properties by changing settings in the node's Mask tab. Some settings may be
different depending on how the GMask is accessed (such as through the GMask Tracer node).
GMask Tracer Colour field Available when using a GMask through the GMask Tracer node. Displays the
blend between the outgoing and incoming images inside the mask.
Intensity field Displays the blend between the outgoing and incoming image inside the mask. Editable.
Smoothing field Displays the amount of smoothing applied to gradient regions. Editable.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the GMask (with or without gradients). Editable.
Camera box Specify which camera to take into account when tracking or viewing in Action Object view
(F8). Select Auto Frame when the GMask is co-planar with the image.
Closed button Enable to connect a spline from the last point in the mask to the first control point (enabled
automatically if you close the mask gesturally).
Hole button Enable to define the attached 3D Shape spline as a hole. Disable to keep the spline filled.
Available only if a 3D Shape node is parented to a GMask.
Invert button Enable to apply settings to the area outside of the mask.
Animation box Select Shape Animation to group all keyframes into a single channel called shape; select
Vertex Animation to locate all keyframes on their respective channels.
Shape Animation Type box Select the interpolation type for the shape animation curve.
Tolerance field Displays the segmentation value of the spline. Use to smoothen or wrinkle the spline.
Editable.
Blend Mode box Select a blending mode for the mask when it overlaps with another mask. Locked when
a master blend option is selected in the Output menu.
Mask Tracer Blend Mode box Available when using a GMask through the Mask Tracer node. Select a
blending mode for the mask images.
Correlation box Select how overlapping gradients are blending. This box is displayed when an Autodesk
Maya Composite blending mode is selected in the Blend Mode box.
Post Processing box Select whether to use the mask as a mask or occluder when encountering post processing
effects. If you attach a Gmask to a specific post-processing node, for example a lens flare, and choose Use
As Occluder, only the effect will be blocked by the occluder. Use As Occluder affects occlusion of Action
Lens Flares, as well as defining the result of the Occluder output passes, which can be used as an Action
output as well as an input for any Camera FX.
Active button Enable to activate the GMask for rendering. Disable to use the GMask for tracking purposes
only.
Motion Blur button Enable to apply a blur effect to the selected mask. (Motion blur must be enabled in the
Setup menu.)
Visibility box Select to apply the mask to the Right, Left, or Mono camera in a stereo scene.
Shape Current button Enable to display an overlay of the current frame when tracking in Object view (F8).
Vertices colour pot When the mask is active, displays the colour of the unselected vertices. Editable.
Gradient colour pot When the gradient is active, displays the colour of the gradient spline. Editable.
Tangents Display option box Select to show all, selected, or no tangents on any mask that is selected.
Show Icons button Enable to display tracer icons in the image window.
Foreground colour pot Displays the colour of the tracer foreground colour picker. Editable.
Background colour pot Displays the colour of the tracer background colour picker. Editable.
You can select vertices and tangent handles using the Select option of the Tools box:
■ To select an individual vertex or tangent handle, click the vertex or tangent handle.
■ To select multiple vertices, Ctrl-drag a selection box over a series of vertices.
■ To select multiple vertices using the pen, press the pen button and drag a selection box over a series of
vertices.
■ To add more vertices to an existing selection, press Shift+Ctrl and drag a selection box over the
additional vertices.
■ To deselect all vertices, click anywhere outside the mask.
TIP You can also use the GMask: Select All Vertices keyboard shortcut. This shortcut is based on the default User
Profile for the application, and may change if you select a different profile.
You can move vertices and tangents using the Select option of the Tools box:
■ To move a vertex or tangent in any direction, click the vertex or tangent and drag.
■ To move selected vertices in any direction, click one of the selected vertices and drag.
■ To ensure better continuity on a garbage mask, automatically adjust tangents as you move vertices or
scale the mask. Enable Auto Adjust and drag a vertex. To toggle temporarily enable or disable Auto Adjust,
press and hold G and then drag a vertex. Auto Tangents must be enabled to use the Auto Adjust feature
(you can toggle Auto Tangent on-the-fly using the GMask: Auto Tangent Toggle Mode keyboard shortcut).
You can use the Vertices tab to move vertex and tangent positions.
The Selection fields display the current position of the vertex. If multiple vertices are selected, the position
displayed is of the vertex that is closest to the initial vertex created in the mask.
You can separate two tangent handles (break the tangent) and move them separately option from the Tools
box:
■ To break and move a tangent handle, select Break Tangent and click the tangent handle. The tangent is
displayed as a dashed line, indicating it is "broken."
■ To reconnect two broken tangent handles, click the vertex or select Auto Tangents and click either of
the two tangent handles. The tangent is displayed as a solid line (you can toggle Auto Tangent on-the-fly
using the GMask: Auto Tangent Toggle Mode keyboard shortcut).
■ To change the position of an individual tangent handle after releasing the cursor, use the Select option
in the Tools box.
In the Vertices tab, use the fields in the Tangents section to change the length and angle for the incoming
and outgoing tangent handles. If the tangents do not combine to form a straight line, the tangents will be
broken and displayed as a broken line.
You can also use the Break option to remove tangents from vertices by clicking the vertex while in Break
mode. When you remove a tangent, the interpolation of the spline between the two vertices is modified.
The shape of the border line differs depending on whether adjacent vertices are broken:
■ If adjacent vertices are unbroken, the border line curves as it approaches the vertices.
■ If adjacent vertices are broken, the border line is straight as it approaches the vertices.
You can create a garbage mask composed entirely of straight edges by removing the tangents from all the
vertices:
■ To remove the tangent of a vertex, select Break Tangent and click the vertex.
■ To add a tangent back to a vertex, select Auto Tangent and click the vertex. Alternatively, using the Break
Tangent option, click the vertex and drag the tangent out again.
Settings are also updated when you gesturally update a GMask vertex selection in the image window. Settings
are available based on the selection in the mask.
X Selection field Displays the position on the X axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
Y Selection field Displays the position on the Y axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
X Translate field Displays the position on the X axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
Y Translate field Displays the position on the Y axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
X Scale field Displays the scale value on the X axis of the selected vertices. Editable.
Y Scale field Displays the scale value on the Y axis of the selected vertices. Editable.
Y Shear field Displays the shear value on the Y axis of the selected vertices. Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation value on the Z axis of the selected vertices. Editable.
Edit Track button Enable to edit tracking data directly from the image window without having to switch
to the Animation channel. Make sure the Auto Key is enabled, so as not to lose any keyframe modifications.
Tangents Settings
Settings are also updated when you gesturally update a GMask tangent selection in the image window.
In Angle field Displays the angle of the incoming tangent handle. Editable.
In Distance field Displays the length of the incoming tangent handle. Editable.
Out Angle field Displays the angle of the outgoing tangent handle. Editable.
Out Distance field Displays the length of the outgoing tangent handle. Editable.
Auto Tangents button Enable to create tangents automatically. When enabled, the Tracker will affect
tangents.
Auto Adjust button Enable to modify tangents on either side of the selected vertex automatically. Press G
to temporarily enable or disable during a gestural operation.
Equal Length button Enable to set tangents on either side of vertices to be the same length (based on the
proximity to the next vertex).
Lasso Fit field Displays the tolerance level for the number of points in the segments of the mask, if it was
drawn freehand. This field is unavailable once a mask is manipulated, so if needed, set as soon as the mask
is drawn. Editable.
TIP To delete a gradient point, change the Tools mode to Delete, then press Shift and click the gradient
handle on the mask spline.
Gradient Settings
Position field Displays the relative position of the gradient control point in relation to the vertices. For
example, if the control point is between the third and fourth vertices, its value is 3.5. Editable.
Offset field Displays the distance from the gradient spline to the mask spline. Editable.
Gradient Curve Displays the transparency distribution of the gradient. The y axis represents the percentage
of transparency and the x axis represents the percentage of distance from the vertex to the spline. This curve
can be animated. You can edit, add and delete points from the curve.
Set Key button Sets the current values for the gradient curve in the current frame(when Autokey is disabled).
Reset Selection box Select whether to reset all of the gradient settings (Reset All) or just the gradient curve
(Reset Key).
Home button Resets the gradient curve viewer to show the whole curve.
Tracking a Mask
You can track a mask in your scene from the GMask object's Tracking tab. You can track the mask vertices
in the Tracker, and track splines using the GMask object's own planar tracker.
1 From the Action GMask menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be tracked from the Use Media field
(to track the Back media, select 0).
2 In the image window, select the vertices (page 905) you want to track.
3 Select a tracking mode:
TIP If you want to add new vertices to your tracked GMask, make sure to enable Edit Track before selecting
Add Points, so that the new points also follow the tracking data.
Planar Tracking
Planar tracking in Action uses tracking algorithms along with combinations of settings to perform the track.
Results can vary depending on the footage, as well as settings applied. See Getting Better Results with the
Planar Tracker (page 649).
TIP When tracking a shape that cuts off during analysis (for example, a person walking into or out of the
frame), begin shape tracking when the whole shape is apparent, and track in the direction of the frames at
which the shape begins to disappear.
TIP The tracking data is stored as keyframes in the track_shape channel of the Channel Editor. You also have access
to a shape channel that you can use to fine tune or add additional deformation to the existing tracking animation,
without affecting the tracking keyframes. The shape channel also holds any keyframe user data prior to the tracking,
so if you reset your track_shape channel, you can recover your state before the tracking had been performed.
Tracking Settings
Tracking Tab
Common Settings
Enter Tracker button Click to open the Tracker menu to apply tracking data for the selected tracking mode.
Camera box Specify which camera to take into account when tracking or viewing in Action Object view
(F8).
Use Media field Displays the number of the media associated with the analysis. To track the Back media,
select 0.
Tracking View box When the media associated to the analysis is a Source node, select to track the media
in the Source Front, Source Matte, or Source Result view.
Media FX button Enable to take into account blur and colour correct settings from the Action Media list
in the analysis.
Go to Reference button Click to move to the frame of the last Snap operation, or press Ctrl and click to go
to the last analyzed frame.
Set button Click to analyze the current frame, based on the reference frame, to realign the shape used for
tracking. Press Ctrl and click Set to add a keyframe on the track without doing any analysis.
Skip button Click to advance to the next frame and delete the selected point on the tracking path (performs
a combination of the Step and Delete buttons).
Delete button Click to delete the selected point on the tracking path. You can also use the Backspace key
to delete the current keyframe, and move to the previous keyframe.
Auto Update Reference button Enable to update the tracking reference at the current frame after each
analysis. Disable to track the movement of the reference point specified in the reference frame.
Snap button Click to redefine the tracking reference at the selected frame.
GMask Inclusive box Select whether to use the union of parented GMasks or GMask gradients as the tracking
reference. Select None to use the whole image (Axis), or the four corner region (Perspective Grid).
GMask Exclusive box Select whether to exclude GMasks in the tracking analysis.
Tracking Algorithm box Select which planar tracking algorithm to use. Select Region Warping to use all
the pixels defined within the reference, or Multi Feature Detection to use some points defined within the
reference. Different settings appear below based on the algorithm chosen.
Sampling field Displays the size of the reference for Region Warping. A smaller reference increases
performance at the expense of the quality of its results. Editable.
Lighting button Enable to estimate local lightning variations of the tracked surface.
Occlusions button Enable to automatically exclude parts of the reference to be analyzed based on their
likelihood to be occluded.
Analyze RGB Channels button Enable to include all colour channels in the tracking analysis. Disable to
only track luminance.
Average field Displays the blending factor to apply to the tracking analysis, based on the neighbouring
frames. Use to remove jitter, for example. Note that this operation is destructive, and once applied, the value
returns to 0 (you can use Undo to revert, if needed). Editable.
Min Number field Displays the minimum number of trackers to use in the analysis. Editable.
Tolerance field Displays the level of acceptable changes in the pixel environment. For example, a low
tolerance value ensures that the motion of an external object passing in front of the tracked object does not
get tracked through the analysis. Editable.
TIP You can also use a 3D Shape node, since a GMask node is automatically added to its branch.
TIP If colour picker boxes are overlapping, press Q to toggle between selections.
TIP Click F8 again to see the result of the keying operation in context.
8 There may be colour or lighting variations in the clip. If a good key cannot be performed for the whole
duration of the clip, you can move to another frame where you would like to create a new key shape,
and click Add once more, then follow from Step 5. Tracer settings are interpolated between keyframes.
Here are some tips for working with the GMask Tracer:
■ Multiple GMasks can be used, each providing a Tracer analysis for the clip. This can be useful, for example,
with a model on a green screen. You can use different GMasks to isolate different parts of the hair.
■ Use open or closed splines, with or without gradients. Experiment to find your best result.
■ You can quickly enable or disable the Tracer in the Rendering section of the GMask Tracer tab; giving
you the choice of having the Tracer analysis included or excluded in a tracking operation, for example.
■ Use a GMask Link or Light Link (in Action) to apply a Tracer result selectively to what you want it to
affect.
■ While the analyses are done at specific frames, the softness and post-processing settings can be animated
independently from these analysis checkpoints.
Tracer Settings
Analysis Settings
Use Media field Displays the number of the media associated with the analysis. To track the Back media,
select 0.
Tracking View box When the media associated to the analysis is a Source node, select to track the media
in the Source Front, Source Matte, or Source Result view.
Media FX button Enable to take into account blur and colour correct settings from the Action Media list
in the analysis.
Add Background button Click to add more background colour sampling boxes to define the background
3D colour volume.
Add Foreground button Click to add more foreground colour sampling boxes to define the foreground 3D
colour volume.
Delete Selected button Click to delete the current colour sampling box selection, and remove it from either
the foreground or background 3D colour volume.
Rendering Settings
Invert button Click to invert the Tracer result without affecting the GMask result. Note: Inverting the whole
GMask will also invert the Tracer result.
Gradient Only button Click to confine the Tracer result to the gradient section of the GMask.
Softness Settings
Background Softness field Displays the amount of 3D colour volume around the background colour range.
Editable.
Foreground Softness field Displays the amount of 3D colour volume around the foreground colour range.
Editable.
Post-Processing Settings
Shrink field Use to reduce the spatial extent of the Tracer result. Editable.
Dilate field Use to increase the spatial extent of the Tracer result. Editable.
NOTE Rendering particles is faster if Z-Buffer On is selected in the Rendering section of the Action Setup menu.
Generators
To create a particle stream, start by adding a particle generator that creates a stream of particles when attached
to a light source, 3D object, or surface. You can use three different generators: light source, surface, and 3D
object.
Particle generators have two settings:
■ The Generate setting creates a stream of particles using the shape of a surface, a 3D object, or the spread
of a light source. See Generating Particles (page 947).
■ The Explode setting breaks up a surface or 3D object. See Exploding Objects and Surfaces (page 960).
Particle manipulators are used to influence either the position or the speed of particles. Manipulators can
simulate the effects of a vortex, gravitational pull, or the pull toward a point, line, or plane. Manipulators
are parented by the particle stream that they influence.
Action offers eight manipulators. Instructions on how to use each manipulator are provided in Manipulating
Particles (page 963).
Bouncers
Particle bouncers are used to influence the behaviour of particles when they come into contact with a surface.
You can parent an axis or light source to a particle bouncer. See Bouncing Particles (page 981).
NOTE Action setups created in a pre-9.0 version of Flame that use a Variation value for Number, LifeTime, Speed,
and TrailSize can be restored in the current version, but will render slightly differently.
Particles Workflow
The following table shows a possible workflow when working with particles in Action.
The Particle Preset file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets:
opt/Autodesk/<product home>/particle_presets.
3 Optional: Enable Scale to Action Resolution to load the preset in the current Action resolution.
4 Optional: Select which rendering settings to enable or disable in the preset (Z-Buffer, Shading, Polygon
Resolution, and Colour Clamping).
NOTE These settings are enabled by default, and by disabling any of them, you may not see the intended
results in the preset.
6 Click Load.
The particle preset is then appended to your Action scene.
NOTE Some presets have .psd textures associated with them, and a Batch reel is created to house these
textures. It is closed by default. For this reason, Particle Presets are not available when accessing Action as a
Timeline FX.
Scale to Action Resolution button Enable to load the preset in the current Action resolution.
Z-Buffer button Enable to load the Z-buffer rendering settings of the preset.
Shading button Enable to load the shading rendering settings of the preset.
Polygon Resolution button Enable to load the rendering resolution settings of the preset.
Colour Clamping button Enable to load the resolution colour clamping settings of the preset.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Art_Coloured_Lines Speed sets the amount of stripes. Try with Colour variance
in motif_generator menu.
Autumn_Leaves Use Number, Size, and Speed settings. Try with the Rotation
and Spin settings.
Burning_Text Particle Generator and cascade effect to burn the text and make
it disappear.
Circles Use Number, Lifetime, and Size settings. Try with the Spin setting.
Colour_Cloud Animated. Use Number and Size settings. Try with Z Rotation
and Lighting.
Dots_Vortex Use the Size setting. Try with Magnitude in the size manipulator
and with Power in the vortex manipulator (try Power = 5). Move the camera and
see the effect of gravity.
Glowline Moving horizontal glows. Use Number, Lifetime, and Size settings to
characterize the glow. Try with Magnitude in the size manipulator to scale the
glows.
Hypnotic Try with Rotation and Spin settings. Orbit the camera.
Light_Canvas Grid of animated glows. Influence the colour using the light’s
colour settings. Characterize the vertical and horizontal glows using the cir-
cgrad_V_ax and circgrad_H_ax axes.
Light_Dots Speed up or slow down the effect using the Power setting in the
size Animator.
Raying_Sphere Black sphere emitting coloured streaks. Use Number and Speed
settings. Try with the Tailsize field.
Sky Moving cloudy sky. Use Number and Colour_V settings to characterize the
sky. Use Position settings in the sky_motion manipulator to set how the clouds are
moving.
Space_Blob Coloured glows with a burning effect. Try the PD_ax settings, and
influence colour using the Light's colour settings.
Stagelights Use Number, Lifetime, and Size. Try with Magnitude in the size
manipulator to control the scaling amplitude of the stagelights.
Star_Spiral Use Number, Lifetime, and Size. Try with Magnitude in the size
manipulator to control the scaling amplitude of the stars.
Text_Distort Use Number, Lifetime, and Size. Try with Rotation_V, Spin, and
Spin_V settings. Try also to change the light's colour and the glow_generator's
Material settings.
Text_Dots Use Number, Lifetime, and Size. Try with Rotation_V, Spin, and Spin_V
settings. Try also to change the light's colour and the glow_generator's Material
settings.
Text_Glow Use the Size setting. Try with Magnitude in the size manipulator.
Texture Use the Size setting. Try with the Rotation_V setting. Play with the tex-
ture_ax settings.
Atmospheric
Use these presets to create weather-like effects, such as clouds, rain, or snow.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Cloud_Generator A one-frame cloud. Use Number and Size settings. Try with
the texture's Axis settings and the geometry's Magnitude and Scaling settings.
Fog Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed to characterize the fog.
Heavy_Fog Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed to characterize the fog.
Rain Use Number and Speed to trigger the amount of rain. Colour correct the
white media’s Front, and set rain_generator Transparency to improve blending.
Rainfall Use Number and Speed to trigger the amount of rain. Colour correct
the white media’s Front, and set rain_generator Transparency to improve blending.
Use gravity's Rotation_Y to make it windier.
Snow Use Number, Size, and Speed for characterizing the snow.
Snow_Graphical Use Number, Size, and Speed for characterizing the snow.
Play with lighting.
Snow_Windy Use Number, Size, and Speed for characterizing the snow. Try
with wind’s Magnitude and axis animation to mimic the wind.
Tornado Use Magnitude in the size manipulator to scale the tornado. Use
Magnitude and Power in the twist manipulator to alter the shape of the tornado.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Bubbles_Rising Bubbles coming toward camera. Use Number, Size, and Speed
settings to characterize the bubbles. Use Mass_V to randomize the bubble motion.
Inside_Water_Rays Sun rays under water. Use water_generator for the water
and rays_generator for the rays coming from the sun above the surface.
Sea Water surface. Try the Spin_V settings to animate the sea. Customize by
adding more lights to the scene.
Water_Bubbles Use Number, Size, and Speed to characterize the bubbles. Try
the Spin & Spin_V settings to control the flow.
Waterfall Use Number, Size, and Speed to characterize the water. Try with size
and gravity manipulators.
Miscellaneous
Use the miscellaneous presets to add dirt or scratches to your scene, as well as many other effects.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Balloons Animated. Use Number, Size, and Speed settings to characterize the
balloons. Try the Spin & Spin_V settings to control the flow.
Blue_Thing Moving glow following a path. Use Number, Lifetime, and Size
settings to characterize the glow. Try with Rotation and Spin for motion. Change
the path.
Dust Modify dust size using PD_ax Scale and generator Number settings.
Hair Use Number and Size settings. Try with variance. hair_generator4 is linked
to hair_generator1, and hair_generator3 is linked to hair_generator2.
Paint_Effect Use Number, Lifetime, and Size settings to customize the paint
effect. Try changing the texture media (white square, soft cloud, etc.).
Scratch Use axis to control the scratch’s position, the amplitude of the horizontal
motion of the scratch, and the frequency of the scratch. Hide some generators for
fewer scratches, or duplicate generators if you want more scratches.
Waveform Animated audio signal monitor effect. Use axis to control the beam.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Camp_Fire Adapt the source of fire with emitter_ax. Characterize the flame with
Number, Lifetime, and Size.
Fire_Ring Characterize the fire with Number, Lifetime, and Size. Adjust the
camera.
Fireworks Animated.
Fireworks_BigBlue Animated.
Fireworks_BigRed Animated.
Lava Lava flowing from the top of a volcano. Change the flow using the path
manipulator.
Lava_Surface Speed up or slow down the lava using the transform manipulator
position settings.
Smoke
These presets allow you to create various smoke effects.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Carbo_Snow Snow coming toward camera. Use Size to characterize the snow.
Use the Magnitude setting of the gravity manipulator to set the snow’s motion.
Dark_Smoke Use on a light background. Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed
to characterize the smoke. Use the Magnitude setting of the gravity manipulator
to set the smoke’s motion.
Fire_Smoke Characterize the smoke with Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed
settings. Use the Magnitude setting of the gravity manipulator to set the smoke’s
motion. Modify the fire colour using the fire_light_1 and fire_light_2 colour settings.
Nozzle Characterize the smoke with Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed settings.
Use vortex settings to set the smoke’s motion. Change the bouncer. Not scalable.
Smoke Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed settings to characterize the smoke.
Use the Magnitude setting of the gravity manipulator to set the smoke’s motion.
Smoke_Light Characterize the smoke with Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed
settings.
Vapour Vapour rising from the ground. Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed
settings to characterize the vapour. Try the Rotation_V and Spin_V settings to
control the vapour animation
Space
Use these presets to create astronomy effects.
Proxy Name/Description/Comments
Aurora Aurora borealis effect. Use Number and Size to characterize the aurora.
Use Lifetime to speed up or slow down the animation. Change colours by modifying
the left_light & right_light settings.
Blue_Star Slow moving star. Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and TrailSize settings.
Blue_Star_2 Slow moving star. Similar to Blue_Star, but with a bigger hotspot
in the middle. Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and TrailSize settings.
Blurry_Sparks Use Number, Lifetime, Size, and Speed settings to set how the
sparks are emitted. Use the transparency, gravity, and size manipulators to specify
the behaviour of the falling sparks.
Light_Mvt_1 Try with the PD_ax settings. Process with Motion Blur enabled.
Light_Speed Use Number, Speed, and TrailSize settings. Use the speed manip-
ulator’s power to set the Z acceleration.
Pulsar Pulsating glow. Use Number, Lifetime, Size, Speed, and TrailSize settings.
Red_Pulse Pulsating red star. Customize the star with Number and Speed settings.
Set the star’s intensity with transparency magnitude.
Red_Thing Glowing red light. Change the colour with the Light Colour settings.
Space_Dust Reset vortex (Rot_Z) and try with vortex (Rot_Y). Try vortex (Rot_Y=-
90). Change the camera settings.
Star Glowing animated star. Use Number, Size, and Speed settings to characterize
the star. Change colour using the light’s Colour settings.
Star_Field Flickering stars in the sky. Modify Number at frame 0 to control the
amount of stars in the sky.
Star_Glow Glowing aggregate of stars. Customize the generator with the Rotation
and Spin settings.
Generating Particles
particles:generating streamsYou can create a particle stream that behaves in different ways depending on
the type of generator you use. When creating a particle stream, you can use three different generators: light
source, surface, and 3D object.
surface Generate particles based on the area, shape, and colour of a surface.
4 With the light node selected in the schematic, do one of the following:
■ Drag the particle generator node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the particle generator node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node
in this manner.
A particle generator object is added and automatically connected to the selected light source.
With a light source, you can animate the position of the particle stream by moving the light, changing the
spread, and rotating the light. Because the generator is a light source, you can animate the position of the
particle generator using a motion path.
Using a Surface
Use a surface as a particle generator to generate particles based on the area, shape, and colour of a surface.
You can use a surface's matte to restrict where particles are generated. When the matte is off, the particle
stream is generated from the entire surface. When the matte is on, particles are only generated where the
matte is white or grey.
You can animate the shape of the surface using its tangent handles. The starting area of the particle stream
matches the surface's shape animation. See Changing the Shape of a Surface (page 626).
4 Set the particle generator's properties. See Customizing the Particle Stream (page 950).
5 If you do not want the surface to appear in the scene, you can hide the surface in Schematic view. A
particle stream is generated from the hidden surface.
Using a 3D Object
3D models:particle generation, in ActionYou can use a 3D object as a particle generator. Particles are generated
from the centre of each polygon.
1 Select or add the 3D object that you want to use as a particle generator.
2 With the 3D object node selected in the schematic, do one of the following:
■ Drag the particle generator node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
■ Double-click the particle generator node. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node
in this manner.
A particle generator object is added and automatically connected to the selected 3D object.
3 Set the particle generator's properties. See Customizing the Particle Stream (page 950).
4 If you do not want the 3D object to appear in the scene, hide the model in Schematic view. A particle
stream is generated from the hidden model.
TimeSteps field Displays the time simulation of the Generator per frame. By default, Timestep is set to 1,
which means that time simulation is once per frame. Editable.
When Timestep is set to 2, the position of each particle is calculated once between frames. Any change in
speed or position caused by manipulators or bouncers is applied between frames. When Timestep is set to
3, the position of each particle is calculated twice between frames. The greater the timestep value, the longer
it takes to process.
Typically, you use Timestep with a particle manipulator or bouncer on a particle stream. In the following
example, the same particle settings and manipulator (AccPoint) are used. Only the timestep values are
different. The particle stream on the left uses a timestep of 1 while the stream on the right uses a timestep
of 6.
In the following figure, notice the particle stream on the right is more accurate.
Pre field Displays the start point of the particle stream. With a value of 0.0, the particle stream starts creating
particles at frame 1. With a value of 100, the clip begins as if the particle stream has been generating for 99
frames. Editable.
Trail button Enable to draw each particle with a trail. Set the length of the trail in the TrailSize field.
Motion Blur button Enable to use a motion blur effect for particles emitted from the selected Generator
(can only be used if the global Motion Blur is enabled in the Action Setup menu).
Shutter field Displays the length of the tail for lines, cones, and quads. Shutter is expressed as a percentage.
At 100%, the tail’s length is the same as the head (Size field). At 400%, the tail’s length is four times the size
of the head. Editable.
Spread field Displays the spread for the second particle generator when two particle generators are parented.
When the first particle stream dies, the second particle stream begins. Editable.
See Combining Particle Streams (page 984). This also sets the spread of a particle stream that bounces off
surfaces. See Bouncing Particles (page 981).
Number Variance field Displays how much the number varies each time particles are generated. Editable.
Lifetime field Displays the number of frames each particle lasts. For example, if Lifetime is 20 frames, a
particle generated at frame 15 disappears at frame 35. Editable.
Lifetime Variance field Displays how much the lifetime varies each time particles are generated. Editable.
Size field Displays the size of each particle, in pixels. This parameter only affects cones, spheres, quads,
squares, and objects. Editable.
Size Variance field Displays how much the size varies each time particles are generated. Editable.
Speed field Displays the speed of each particle, in pixels per frame. Editable.
Speed Variance field Displays how much the speed varies each time particles are generated. Editable.
TrailSize field Displays the length of each particle's trail, in particles. A particle trail only appears when the
Trail button is enabled. Editable.
TrailSize Variance field Displays how much the trail size varies each time particles are generated. Editable.
NOTE Rendering particles is faster if Z-Buffer On is selected in the Rendering Section of the Action Setup menu.
Factor field Displays the number of particles shown in the scene while working in Action (use to speed up
work - does not affect the rendered result). Editable.
For example, if you generate 1000 particles with manipulators and bouncers, interacting with Action may
become slow because calculations have to be made for each particle. If you specify a factor of 10, the number
of particles is reduced to 10%, or 100 particles. Using Action is then faster, yet when you click Preview or
Process, 1000 particles are created.
Regenerate box Select how you want to update the scene when you change particle generator parameters.
Regen All updates the particle and the object generating the particle, but may cause performance slowdowns.
Regen Anim only updates the particle in the scene.
Select: To:
Regen All Automatically update the particle and the object generating the particle (such as a surface)
when you change any particle generator parameter. This option allows you to see the
particle with all settings, such as position and colour correction, but may cause performance
slowdowns, since the generating object and particle stream are recalculated each time a
parameter is changed.
Regen Anim Automatically update the particle in the scene when you change any particle generator
parameter. The object generating the particle is not automatically updated in this case,
so you may not see your exact desired results. If Regen All is causing slowdowns, you can
try this option to get a faster update.
Regen Off Not update the scene automatically, unless the frame is changed.
Select: To:
Node Use your own 3D object, text, or a surface for each particle. See Using Custom Particles
(page 957).
Cones Use a cone for each particle. You can adjust the size of the cone's tail.
Polygons Explode 3D objects and surfaces. See Exploding Objects and Surfaces (page 960).
Quads Use a square with a tail for each particle. You can adjust the size of the square's tail.
Points Use a single pixel for each particle. Points are not affected by size or trail.
Subdivide field Displays the number of polygons used to render cones and spheres. The larger the number
of subdivisions, the smoother the cones or spheres are drawn, but rendering time is increased. Editable.
If you are using an imported 3D object or text for a particle, use the Subdivide field and button in the
Geometry menu to set the number of polygons. The Geometry menu's Subdivide field works differently
than the Subdivide field in the Generator menu. See Subdividing a Model (page 711).
Sort button Enable to determine how the particles are drawn, according to the Z-order. If a Particle Generator
node is selected, the state of the Sort button is the same in the Param1 and Geometry menus.
Y Rotation field Displays the Y orientation for particles that have just been born (spawned). Editable.
Z Rotation field Displays the Z orientation for particles that have just been born (spawned). Editable.
X Rotation Variance field Displays the variation of the X rotation of a particle once spawned from the
particle generator. Editable.
Y Rotation Variance field Displays the variation of the Y rotation of a particle once spawned from the
particle generator. Editable.
Z Rotation Variance field Displays the variation of the Z rotation of a particle once spawned from the
particle generator. Editable.
X Spin field Displays a value to act as a speed setting to an X rotation animated over time. Editable.
Y Spin field Displays a value to act as a speed setting to a Y rotation animated over time. Editable.
Z Spin field Displays a value to act as a speed setting to a Z rotation animated over time. Editable.
X Spin Variance field Displays a variation to the X Spin channel once particles are spawned from the particle
generator. Editable.
Y Spin Variance field Displays a variation to the Y Spin channel once particles are spawned from the particle
generator. Editable.
Z Spin Variance field Displays a variation to the Z Spin channel once particles are spawned from the particle
generator. Editable.
Colour Var field Displays the variation of the colour of each particle based on the colour set in the Diffuse
colour bar (Particle Geometry menu). Editable.
Use Seed button Enable to override the particle's seed (useful if you want to change the position of each
particle in the particle stream).
Seed field Displays the random seed value for the particle stream properties. Editable.
TailSize field Displays the width of a particle's tail, expressed as a percentage. Works only with quad and
cone particle types. Editable.
TailSize Variance field Displays the variation of the TailSize value, as a percentage. Editable.
Mass field Displays the mass of each particle (used with Damping when manipulating particles). Editable.
See Setting Manipulator Properties (page 963).
Mass Variance field Displays the variation of the mass, as a percentage. Editable.
3 From the Render Type box, select Node as the particle type and change the Interactive Type box to
Node to view the 3D object or text as you make changes to your particle stream.
4 Import the 3D object or create the text. See Importing 3D Models (page 693) or Action 3D Text (page
718).
TIP The 3D object or text used for the custom particle can also include a deformation mesh. See Deforming
Models and Surfaces (page 712).
5 In Schematic view, rename your 3D object or text “ParticleDraw”. This name is case sensitive so make
sure it is typed exactly as shown.
6 Parent the particle generator to the 3D object or text.
NOTE You do not have to apply media to the surface because the particle generator only uses the surface's
shape and not its media. To have an image appear on each particle, you have to apply a texture to the
particle generator. See Applying Textures to Particles (page 959).
4 Rename your surface “ParticleDraw”. This name is case sensitive so make sure it is typed exactly as
shown.
5 Parent the particle generator to the surface.
If you want to add transformations, such as rotating all the particles, parent the particle generator to
the axis of the surface as shown in the next step.
6 Hide the surface.
NOTE You can animate the shape of a bilinear, perspective, or extended bicubic surface, and have the particles
reflect the animation.
Exploding Objects
The properties used to explode an object cannot be animated. When something explodes, it happens at a
single point in time. This means that all the settings in the Particle Generator menu are used at once, at the
beginning of the explosion.
To explode a 3D object:
5 From the Render Type box, select Polygon as the particle type.
To view the explosion as you make changes to your particle stream, change the Interactive Type box
to Polygon as well. See Setting Particle Rendering Properties (page 953).
6 In the Number field, set the number of polygons to be removed from the 3D object with each pass.
For example, if you specify 10 as the number of polygons per frame, then at each frame, 10 polygons
are removed from the 3D object.
7 Set the other properties in the PartGen menu. See Customizing the Particle Stream (page 950).
8 Hide the 3D object or 3D text.
The following figure shows the schematic and the result of exploding a 3D object of an apple. The
number of polygons is set to 200. The result shows frame 20.
Exploding Surfaces
To make the media applied to the surface appear during the explosion, you must also apply a texture to the
particle generator.
1 Select or add a surface and adjust its shape, position, rotation, and other attributes. See Adding Surfaces
(page 616).
2 Select the surface in Schematic view and add a particle generator. See Generating Particles (page 947).
A particle generator is automatically connected to the surface.
3 From the Particle Generator menu, select Explode as the Stream Type.
4 Select Polygon as the particle type from the Render Type box. To view the explosion as you make
changes to your particle stream, change the Interactive Type box to Polygon as well. See Setting Particle
Rendering Properties (page 953).
5 Set the other properties in the Particle Generator menu. See Customizing the Particle Stream (page 950).
6 In the Rendering section of the Action Setup menu, adjust the default resolution.
Resolution is used to set the size of the polygons exploded from the surface. The higher the resolution,
the larger the polygon.
7 Hide the surface.
8 Select the particle generator in Schematic view.
9 From the Node bin, double-click the Diffuse Map node.
A diffuse object appears in the schematic and is parented by the particle generator. See Diffuse Mapping
(page 798).
10 Double-click the diffuse object and, in the Diffuse menu, select Wrap from the Mapping box.
11 Apply the appropriate media to the Diffuse element and set any other Diffuse menu settings.
Manipulating Particles
particles:creating manipulatorsYou use manipulators to direct the particle stream and create a number of
different effects, such as a swirling vortex, a swarm of objects orbiting a point, or a waterfall. A particle stream
can have an unlimited number of manipulators. Manipulators only influence the particle stream that parents
them.
When manipulating particles, you use the Particle Manipulator menu to set a manipulator's type, magnitude,
power, and damping properties, as well as position, rotation, and scale.
Particle manipulators can be animated using motion paths. You can use the same operations on a particle
manipulator that you use on an axis.
1 In the schematic, select the particle generator that you want the manipulator to influence.
2 From the Node bin, double-click the Particle Animator node.
A particle animator element is added to the scene and parented by the selected Particle Generator
element.
(a) Manipulator Type box (b) Damping box (c) Axis controls (d) Influence box
The particle manipulator controls are described as follows.
Manipulator Type box Select the type of manipulator.
Select: To:
Gravity Simulate the effect of gravity. See Simulating Gravity (page 967).
Transform Apply transformations from the Axis menu to the position or speed of each particle. See
Applying Transformations (page 966).
Vortex Mimic the effect of a vortex. See Creating a Vortex Effect (page 968).
Acceleration Point Pull particles toward a point. See Using an Acceleration Point Manipulator (page 969).
Acceleration Line Pull particles toward a line. See Using an Acceleration Line Manipulator (page 970).
Acceleration Plane Pull particles toward a plane. See Using an Acceleration Plane Manipulator (page 971).
Path Make the particles follow a path. See Forming a Particle Path (page 972).
Function Enter a mathematical expression to use as a particle manipulator. See Using a Function
as a Manipulator (page 973).
Influence box Select whether the manipulator influences each particle's position or speed.
Set the initial speed of each particle using the Speed field in the Surface Particle Generator menu.
By selecting Speed in the Influence box located on the Particle Manipulator menu, each particle's speed is
changed with each pass by the selected manipulator.
When you influence by position, the position is applied only once. For example, the following figure uses
a gravity manipulator to illustrate the difference between position and speed. The gravity manipulator on
Magnitude field Displays the unit of measurement specific to each manipulator. Editable.
Magnitude is used by each manipulator for everything from extra scale when using Transform, to a pixel
per frame acceleration factor when using AccPoint, AccLine, or AccPlane.
Power field Displays the amount of falloff from the centre of a manipulator. Editable.
If you specify 0 as the power, there is no falloff; the manipulator's influence is universal. This means that a
particle is affected no matter where it is located in the scene. A negative value makes particles that are farther
away affected by the manipulator.
Damping box Select the type of friction to apply (damping affects the speed of particles by applying friction
based on each particle's mass, size, or both).
Select: To:
Damp Mass Activate damping based on mass. The greater a particle's mass, the slower its speed in
relation to the manipulator. You set the mass using the Mass channel in the Channel
Editor.
Damp Size Activate damping based on particle size. The larger the particle, the slower it moves in
relation to the manipulator. This corresponds with the Size field in the Surface Particle
Generator menu.
Damping Percentage field Displays the percent value of how much Damping affects the position or speed
of the particles. Editable.
Minimum Speed field Displays the minimum speed range for particles affected by Damping. Editable.
Maximum Speed field Displays the maximum speed range for particles affected by Damping. Editable.
Load button Not Shown; available when Function is selected as the Manipulator type. Loads a mathematical
expressions to be used as a particle manipulator.
Save button Not Shown; available when Function is selected as the Manipulator type. Saves a mathematical
expressions to be used as a particle manipulator.
Expression field Not Shown; available when Function is selected as the Manipulator type. Displays a
mathematical expression to be used as a particle manipulator. Editable.
See Using a Function as a Manipulator (page 973).
Axis controls Use these controls to animate the position, rotation, and scale of the manipulator.
Control Description
Position Use the Position X, Y, and Z fields to displace each particle along the X, Y, and Z axes.
Rotation Use the Rotation X, Y, and Z fields to rotate each particle. Each particle is not the centre
of its rotation. Particles rotate around the manipulator's axis.
Scale Use the Scale X, Y, and Z fields to increase or decrease the speed or position of each particle
along the X, Y, and Z axes. For example, if speed is the selected influence, a Scale X of
100% has no effect while a Scale X of 105% increases the speed along the X axis by 5%
with each pass. Enable Prop to proportionally scale the axes.
Enable the Path button to animates the position of the axis using a spline drawn in the scene. Disable Path
to animate the position of the axis using explicit animation.
Free button Enable to ignore transformations from parent axes.
Applying Transformations
transforming:particles using manipulatorsUse a transform manipulator to apply the accumulated
transformations from the Axis controls to the position or speed of each particle. Unlike other manipulators,
the transform manipulator is not used to position the manipulator in the scene. Transform manipulators
are always placed at the centre of the particle stream they influence.
The following figure provides an example of creating a particle stream influenced by a transform manipulator.
The settings in the Particle Manipulator menu and the resulting effect are shown.
Simulating Gravity
Use a gravity manipulator to simulate the effects of gravity. This manipulator works on speed or position.
The Power field has no effect.
■ Make sure assigned values and vector values are within an acceptable range. For example, transparency
(opacity of each particle) is a value between 0 and 1. The expression transparency = size does not work
unless size (particle size from the PartGen menu) falls between 0.0 and 1.0.
To make transparency dependent on size, size must be divided by an appropriate value. For example, if
size is between 1 and 10, use the expression transparency = size / 10.
■ Some functions return scalars and other functions return vectors. Make sure that when you use a function,
it returns the right value and that this value is within an acceptable range.
For example, rgb is a vector of values between 0.0 and 1.0. The expression rgb = (0, 0, noise3(pos)) gives
an error because noise3 returns a vector. The expression rgb = (0, 0, frame) does not give an error, but
frame is the frame number and it is never less than 1. This means the blue channel is always set to full
blue (1).
■ You can specify more than one function by separating each with a semicolon.
For example, to place the two expressions in the Expression field, you would type:
speed = speed + pos; pos = pos + (0,size,0)
Operator Description
= Equals
+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Percentage
== Equivalence
!= Not equal to
Particle and manipulator variables that you can use in the Expression field are listed in the following table.
rgba Red, green, blue, and alpha colour channels for each particle, expressed as a 4D vector
(r,g,b,a). Each component is a value between 0 and 1.
rgb Red, green, and blue colour channel, expressed as a vector (r,g,b). Each component is
a value between 0 and 1.
lifetimeI A value between 1.0 and 0.0 where 1.0 is when a particle is first generated and 0.0 is
when it ends.
The following variables are read only. You cannot change them in the Expression field, but you can use
them in your calculations.
sin(a) Sine of a
cos(a) Cosine of a
tan(a) Tangent of a
asin(a) Arcsine of a
acos(a) Arccosine of a
atan(a) Arctangent of a
The following example illustrates how to make particles become transparent as they reach the end of their
lifetime using the expression transparency = lifetimeI. The settings in the Particle Manipulator menu, Particle
Generator menu, and the resulting effect are shown.
The following example illustrates how to spin particles using the expression:
speed = speed + (cos(frame),sin(frame),0)
Symbol Description
smoothstep (min,max, x) Returns 0 if x < min, 1if x >= max; if neither are true, returns a hermite interpol-
ation between 0 and 1
The following example illustrates how to create animated turbulence using the expression:
pos = pos + turbulence3(pos, 1) * power
Select: To:
Bounce Bounce particles off images or bouncers. All bounce properties work with this type of bounce
behaviour.
Extinct Make particles disappear when they reach a surface. Only the Max Dist parameter works
with this type of bounce.
Generator Create an additional particle stream when particles bounce. When using this bouncing be-
haviour, you must add another particle generator. See Combining Particle Streams (page
984).
Generator+ Extinct Make particles disappear and create an additional particle stream when particles reach a
parented surface. Only the Max Dist parameter works with this type of bounce unless the
particles end in another particle stream. See Combining Particle Streams (page 984).
Friction field Displays a percentage to influence the angle of bouncing particles. Editable.
The greater the percentage, the more particles bounce straight. For example, in the left figure, Friction is set
to 100%, which bounces particles almost perfectly straight. In the figure on the right, Friction is set to 20%,
which causes the particles to deviate once they make contact (bounce).
Resilience field Displays the amount of energy lost with each bounce. Editable.
For example, at a Resilience of 100%, the figure on the left shows there is no energy lost between bounces.
Each bounce is at the same height as the last bounce. When Resilience is set to 80%, 20% of energy is lost
between each bounce. At 50%, the figure on the right shows the height of each bounce is reduced by 50%.
Note that Friction is set to 0 for both examples.
Maximum Distance field Displays the distance a particle must travel past an image for it to still bounce or
become extinct. Editable.
NOTE The shape of the bouncer depends on the particle generator type.
The following figure shows the schematic and the result of bouncing particles off a bouncer.
1 Create a particle generator using a light source, 3D object, or surface as a particle generator. See Gener-
ating Particles (page 947).
2 Add an axis or a light source to the scene.
3 From the Node bin, double-click the Particle Bouncer node.
4 If you are using an axis to set the position of the particle bouncer, select the axis and go to step 5.
Otherwise, go to step 7.
5 In the Axis menu, enable Free to sever the parent-to-child relationship between the particle generator
and the axis.
Any transformations and animations from the particle generator are not passed to the axis. This makes
it easier to place the particle bouncer in the scene.
6 Parent the particle generator to the particle bouncer's axis or light source.
You must parent the particle generator to the axis or light source; otherwise, the particles will ignore
the particle bouncer.
7 In the Particle Bouncer menu, select Bounce from the Bounce Type box and set the appropriate bounce
properties.
NOTE If the particle bouncer is not parented correctly, unparent the particle bouncer and make the axis or light
source added in the last step its parent.
When each particle in the particle stream ends, the second particle stream begins. This can be used, for
example, to create fireworks.
1 Create a particle generator. You can use a light source, 3D object, or surface as a particle generator. See
Generating Particles (page 947).
2 In the schematic, select the Particle Generator.
3 Add another particle generator by double-clicking the Particle Generator node in the Node bin.
4 In the Particle Generator menu, set the second particle generator's Spread and other properties as
appropriate. See Setting Particle Properties (page 952).
NOTE In the Channel Editor's folder for the second particle generator, you can set the Spread_V channel to
add variance to the value in the Spread field.
The following figure shows the schematic and the result of a particle stream that generates a second
particle stream. The first particle stream generates spheres and the second particle stream generates
quads.
When bouncing particle off a bouncer, you can generate a second stream of particles. For example, use this
technique to give the effect of water or sparks bouncing off an image.
There are two different effects that you can create depending on your bouncer's settings. The following
example illustrates the Generator bounce type.
1 Create a schematic that bounces particles off an image or a bouncer. See Bouncing Particles (page 981).
Bounce Example Uses a gravity manipulator and a bouncer attached to an axis. The bouncer appears
as a sphere in Camera view. The particles fall down and bounce off the bouncer.
Bounce Example 2 Uses a gravity manipulator and two image surface bouncers.
Bounce Example 3 Uses an Accpoint manipulator and a bouncer linked to an axis. The bouncer follows
the Accpoint manipulator.
Explode Example An example of exploding 3D text. The Geom node is hidden in Schematic view. The
setup uses an Explode generator and Polygon particles.
To add 3D text (Geom node), go to the Text menu, click the Text field and type the
text string, then click Create.
Explode Example 2 An example of exploding an image surface. The image surface is hidden. Media1 is
applied to the generator as a texture and uses Wrap mapping mode. Replace Media
1 with an image of your choice.
FireWorks Example Uses two linked generators. The first generator generates few particles at each frame.
When these reach the end of their lifetime, the second generator is activated.
Function Example Uses a function manipulator that increases the particles' transparency as they reach
the end of their lifetime.
Function Example 2 Uses a function manipulator with sine and cosine functions to modify the speed of
the particles.
Node Example Uses 3D text for the particles. The Geom node (the 3D text) must be named
“ParticleDraw”. The generator is parented to the axis of the Geom node, and the
selected particle type is Node.
989
NOTE If you want to reload a keyer setup or BFX from Flame Premium 2013 or prior, consider the following:
■ If you enabled the Flame Reactor rendering engine when you created your project, make sure the media in the Setup/BFX
is 8 bit or 16 bit floating point, as the Flame Reactor engine only supports 8 bit and 16 bit floating point media.
■ If you enabled the Legacy Rendering engine when you created your project, the media in the Setup/BFX can be 8, 10
or 12 bit but not 16 bit floating point as the legacy keyer does not support 16 bit floating point media.
Within the Modular Keyer, the keyers are represented as processing pipelines, which are collections of interconnected
nodes. As you perform keying tasks in the Modular Keyer, you navigate from node to node to accomplish the final key,
displayed in the Result node.
As a general example, you could proceed as follows:
■ Key out the selected colour in the Keyer node;
■ Adjust your blacks and your whites in the 2D Histogram node;
■ Refine your matte in the Matte Edge node;
■ Mask out troublesome areas of your matte in the GMask node;
■ Perform colour correction of the front clip in the Colour Curves node;
■ View the result in the Result node.
Because it is node-based, you have a lot of flexibility with the Modular Keyer. You can:
■ Choose a different Start Mode to start with a different default keying pipeline. Options are:
■ Channel Keyer.
■ Default MK (3D Keyer)
■ GMask. See GMask (page 1102).
■ HLS Keyer.
■ Luminance Keyer.
■ GMask Tracer. See GMask Tracer (page 1099).
■ Master Keyer.
■ RGB Keyer.
■ RGBCMYL Keyer.
■ YUV Keyer.
IMPORTANT When you select another Start Mode, any work in progress will be lost and the selected keyer is loaded with
the default settings.
■ Add other effects nodes from the node bin to further refine your key.
NOTE All of the legacy keyers had a colour section available in the settings. This colour section of the legacy keyers is only carried
over to the Modular Keyer if the legacy keyer setup used the Master Keyer. If any other legacy keyer was used (RGB, Luminance,
etc.), the colour section is discarded when the setup is loaded. To retain the colour section of these legacy keyer setups, enable
Classic Engine in the Projects and Users dialog box. Also, motion blur data, from the GMask section of the legacy keyers is not
carried over to the Modular Keyer.
To set up the composite in the Modular Keyer from the Timeline through the Action Timeline FX:
1 Select the track you want to key, and add an Action Timeline FX.
The track below the selected track is taken as the Background.
2 Double-click the Action entry in the FX ribbon, or click the Editor button to enter Action.
3 In Action, click the Media button to display the Media menu.
4 Double-click the K field in the front/matte row to enter the Modular Keyer.
The 3D Keyer processing pipeline appears. The 3D Keyer is the default keyer.
NOTE Once inside the Modular Keyer, the Modular Keyer node bin is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Though very similar to the Batch FX Node bin, the Modular Keyer node bin contains only nodes that are
relevant for keying. To return to Batch FX view, click Return.
To set up the composite in the Modular Keyer from the Timeline through Batch FX :
1 From the timeline, select the segment you want to use as your front.
2 Click FX and select Create Batch FX
You are taken to the Batch FX view. The schematic is displayed and your front clip is connected to the
output node.
3 From the Batch FX node bin, drag the Modular Keyer node between the front clip and the output node
and release it when the connection goes from red to yellow.
The front clip is connected to the front (red) input of the Modular Keyer node, which is connected to
the output node.
4 Double-click the back (green) input of the Modular Keyer node.
You are taken to the Viewing panel and the cursor becomes green and prompts you to select a back
clip.
5 In the Viewing panel or the Media panel, click on the clip you want as your back.
The cursor becomes blue and prompts you to select a matte clip.
6 In the Viewing panel or the Media panel, click on the clip you want as your matte.
You are taken back to the Batch FX schematic and your front, back and matte clips are connected to
the front, back and matte inputs of the Modular Keyer node. You are ready to start creating your key.
7 Double-click the Modular Keyer node.
8 Click the Edit button that appears at the bottom of the screen.
The 3D Keyer processing pipeline appears with your front, back and matte clips connected to the front,
back and matte inputs of the 3D Keyer.. The 3D Keyer is the default keyer.
NOTE Once inside the Modular Keyer, the Modular Keyer node bin is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Though very similar to the Batch FX Node bin, the Modular Keyer node bin contains only nodes that are
relevant for keying. To return to Batch FX view, click Return.
9 Double-click the 3D Keyer node to display the 3D Keyer menu at the bottom of the screen.
10 Select the desired Start Mode, and create your key.
To set up the composite in the Modular Keyer from the Tools menu:
NOTE Once inside the Modular Keyer, the Modular Keyer node bin is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Though very similar to the Batch FX Node bin, the Modular Keyer node bin contains only nodes that are
relevant for keying. To return to Batch FX view, click Return.
7 Double-click the 3D Keyer node to display the 3D Keyer menu at the bottom of the screen.
8 Select the desired Start Mode, and create your key.
NOTE You can also access the Modular Keyer, as well as all the other Keyers in the application through
Batch, where each Keyer is represented as an effects node. See Using Batch and ConnectFX (page 489).
After you have set up the nodes and media, set up the viewports for keying (page 992).
NOTE It is recommended that you be familiar with the use and terminology associated with the Modular Keyer
before you use the 3D Keyer.
3D Keying Workflow
The following table shows the recommended workflow for the 3D Keyer.
1. Open the Modular Keyer, select the clips, and then Setting Up the Nodes and Media to Pull a Key (page 990).
open the 3D Keyer.
4. Minimize the noise in softened areas. Removing Noise from Softened Areas (page 999).
5. Remove grey areas from the key using negative Removing Grey Areas in the Key (page 1002), About Garbage Masks
sampling and patches, garbage masks, or RGB colour (page 1102), Techniques for Adjusting Softness (page 1030).
and softness adjustment.
6. Adjust the luminance of the key. Adjusting the Luminance of the Key (page 1047).
7. Adjust the edges of the key. Modifying the Edges of the Key (page 1053).
8. Remove colour spill. Adjusting Spill Controls with the Colour Curves Node (page 1056).
9. Adjust front and matte curves. Adjusting the Front and Matte Luminance Curves (page 1058).
(a) The colours in the key-in clip are represented by the colour cubes of the 3D histogram (b) More prevalent colours
are represented by larger cubes (c) Black canvas background (d) Red, green and blue axes
When you scroll through a clip, the 3D histogram cubes update to display the colour distribution of each
frame.
Use the 3D histogram to analyse the colour mapping of the key-in clip and to locate the colours to be keyed
out. When you sample for tolerance and softness, the sampled areas are represented as ellipsoids in the RGB
viewer. You can manipulate sampled objects in the viewer to fine-tune the key. When you plot a colour to
key in the image, its location is plotted in the RGB viewer.
You can turn the display of the histogram and the black canvas background on and off and set options to
control their appearance. Change the display any time as you create the key to help you best visualize the
contents of your image and work with the RGB viewer. To learn more about controlling the display of the
RGB viewer, see Setting the 3D Histogram Display (page 1014).
1 Click Key.
The 3D Key menu appears.
2 Make sure you are at frame 1. If you move to a different frame while sampling, you will set a second
tolerance keyframe (at the new frame) and animate the tolerance.
NOTE You can also take a sample by clicking the image and dragging the colour picker in the area to be
keyed out. All pixel values that the colour picker samples are used to set the tolerance range.
5 If needed, add to the tolerance range by sampling several more rectangles. The ellipsoid gets bigger as
you add to the tolerance.
NOTE If you are not satisfied with the result of the last sample, click Undo. The last sample you performed
is cancelled. To reset the entire tolerance sample, click the Sampling Reset button. To remove the entire
sample range at the current frame and start over with a new sample, press Ctrl+Alt and drag the cursor
in the area to be keyed out.
The tolerance sample in the RGB viewer is represented as an ellipsoid by default. The ellipsoid shows you
the location, in RGB colour space, of the range of colours included in the sample. All colours in the tolerance
ellipsoid are black on the matte.
■ To view the sample more closely, rotate the RGB viewer by pressing Ctrl and dragging it. To zoom in
on the RGB viewer, press Shift and drag inside it from left to right. To move the RGB viewer, press Alt
and drag it.
The tolerance ellipsoid surrounds the exact colours sampled, which are connected in RGB space to form a
3D convex hull. You can see the convex hull in the ellipsoid by changing the tolerance display.
(a) Tolerance Convex Hull box (b) Tolerance Display box (c) Softness Display box
NOTE To learn more about controlling the display of the tolerance sample, see Changing the Display of Key
Elements (page 1017).
1 Make sure you are at frame 1. If you move to a different frame while sampling, you will set a second
softness keyframe (at the new frame) and animate the softness.
TIP You can switch views as you sample the image. The current result view (displayed as <Currently Selected
Node> Result, in the View box), shows the result of the processing pipeline up to the selected node. To see
the Front Source, select Front from the View box.
NOTE The softness is rendered interactively on the matte - you see the results immediately. For information
on rendering the softness only after releasing the cursor, see Regen (page 1032).
9 Like the tolerance ellipsoid, the softness ellipsoid has a convex hull. To see it clearly, set the Tolerance
Display and Tolerance ConvexHull display to None, and set the Softness ConvexHull display to
Vert&Surf.
10 If needed, take another sample elsewhere on the edges or transparency. Each time you sample, the
pixels touched by the colour picker contribute to the previously calculated softness range.
NOTE If you are not satisfied with the result of a sample, click Undo. To reset the entire softness sample,
click the R button. To remove the entire sample range and start over with a new sample, press Ctrl+Alt
and drag the cursor in the area to be softened.
11 From the View box, select MK Schematic and, in the schematic, click the Result node.
12 From the View box, select the current result view (displayed as <Currently Selected Node> Result, in
the View box) to view the result.
The edges are softened but may be grainy.
TIP If the entire clip is grainy, or if you are not satisfied with the results after scaling the softness, consider using
another approach. For example, degrain the clip with Degrain before keying with the 3D Keyer. You can add a
Degrain node to the beginning of the Matte branch anytime. Additionally, use Minimize Noise on a degrained
clip if needed.
To remove noise:
NOTE Each time you change the Scaling value, it is returned to 1.00.
■ Use a colour value plotted in the image window as the basis for virtual point scaling of softness.
To do this, use the O keyboard shortcut to plot a point in the image window, then press Ctrl+V,
and click and drag in the Player.
6 If some edges or areas are still not softened, analyse again in that area and repeat the procedure.
7 Return the Softness Scaling to Prop (proportional scaling).
Alternatively, press Alt + N to scale softness based on the Minimize Noise analysis. This keyboard
shortcut is the equivalent of selecting Minimize Noise in the Softness Scaling box, then scaling the
softness using the Scaling field.
NOTE When Minimize Noise scaling is selected, it controls the arrow in the RGB viewer. To manually control
the arrow, you must return to proportional scaling.
NOTE Alt + N only works if an analysis for the noise has been done.
2 Press Alt + N and click and hold the cursor anywhere in the image window. Drag the cursor to the left
to decrease the noise or to the right to increase it.
The softness is scaled according to the noise analysis. Notice that Minimize Noise appears in the Softness
Scaling box as you use the keyboard shortcut. When you release the cursor, the Softness Scaling option
returns to Prop.
TIP For transparencies, use the V keyboard shortcut to remove unwanted grey areas in the matte, then use
Alt+N to reduce noise in areas you chose to soften (the transparency). Perform the two procedures alternately
until you achieve the best result.
NOTE You can switch between RGB and YUV Softness and retain their settings.
Select RGB Softness from the Softness box. The previous RGB Softness range is still in effect. Compare the
results with the YUV Softness. Generally, the softness ellipsoid is larger with YUV Softness, as shown in the
following example.
With RGB Softness, the softness ellipsoid is bound by the With YUV Softness, the softness ellipsoid is scaled accord-
convex hull ing to the Y component of YUV colour space
If you are satisfied with the result, use YUV Softness. If not, return to RGB softness.
In this section, two methods are shown: using Negative Sampling to refine the softness range, and using
the Patch tool to create “selective keys” in the white areas of the matte. To learn other ways to remove
unwanted grey areas, see Techniques for Adjusting Softness (page 1030).
Negative Sampling
This is probably the simplest method of removing greys from the matte. You sample in the unwanted grey
area to subtract those colour values from the softness range.
Try this method first to see if it solves the problem. However, if the colour values in the foreground subject
are too similar to those at the edges, you may remove too much of the softness.
1 From the View box, select the current result view (displayed as <Currently Selected Node> Result, in
the View box). Identify the unwanted grey areas in the matte.
2 Select Sample Softness from the Sampling box.
3 Press Alt and click a grey area. Gently drag the cursor over the area.
If the negative sampling removed too much of the desired softness or brought back graininess, click
Undo and try another method.
Adding a Patch
Patches are another type of sample you can take in the image window. Unlike tolerance and softness, you
can specify the colour that a patch sample renders on the matte. Patch samples can be rendered as white,
black, or any shade of grey on the matte. You can also set the opacity of a patch.
One use for patches is to remove unwanted grey areas from the matte. Use a patch to isolate a range of
colours from those that have been included in the softness range, then set the colour you want the pixels
to have on the matte. Sampling a patch to remove grey areas in the key is similar to creating a garbage mask
by keying instead of drawing.
You can use up to three different patches in a key.
To sample a patch:
1 From the View box, select the current result view (displayed as <Currently Selected Node> Result, in
the View box).
2 Identify the unwanted grey areas in the matte.
3 In the Sampling box, set the sample type to Patch1.
(a) Patches box (b) Active button (c) Patches Softness field
5 Enable Active.
6 Specify the colour in which you want to render the patch. In this example, make the patch white by
setting the P1(Patch 1) Colour to 100 (this is the default value). To render the sampled values as black,
enter a value of 0. Use a value between 0 and 100 for any shade of grey.
7 Sample the unwanted grey area by dragging the cursor over it.
The grey areas of the matte corresponding to the colour values sampled are changed to white.
All the colour values sampled are included in the patch. Notice the patch in the RGB viewer, represented
by a white wireframe box. All colour values in the box will be rendered white on the matte.
TIP To remove colour values from the sample, press Alt as you sample. To undo a sample, click Undo.
9 If needed, soften the edges of the patch by dragging the cursor to the right or left in the Patches Softness
field.
A negative softness value softens the edges of the patch inwards from the edge. A positive value softens
the edges outwards beyond the edge, adding softened pixel values to the patch.
TIP You can view softness as a red wireframe box when the patch is displayed in Box mode. See Changing
the Patches Display (page 1018).
10 If needed, adjust the opacity of the patch using the P1 Opacity field A value of 100% renders the patch
as fully opaque. A value of 0% renders the patch as fully transparent.
The RGB viewer now contains three key elements:
■ The tolerance sample (as an ellipsoid)
■ The softness sample (as an ellipsoid)
■ The patch (as a white wireframe box)
For instructions on completing the key using the basic keying technique, see the sections referred to in 3D
Keying Workflow (page 993).
(a) The Front and Matte pipes of the blend node constitute one layer.
The back component is not represented visually as it is applied automatically to the composite.
Nodes on the pipes are processed sequentially, with a single input and single output to and from each node.
Therefore, you cannot add multiple input nodes that require several clips to pipes. However, some multiple
input nodes can operate with only one input source, for example, the Gmask, Colour Correct, and Regrain
nodes. If you add one of these node types to a blend node pipe, it is “converted” to a single-input node.
You can animate the curves in the MatteCurves, CBlend, MBlend, Colour Curves, or Result nodes.
The Front pipe of the CBlend node is designed to result in a colour image. This is represented visually by a
red box at the right of the Front pipe. You can place any node on the Front pipe that results in a colour
image. These include the Colour Curves, Colour Correct, RGB Blur, Degrain, and Regrain nodes.
The Matte pipe is designed to result in a matte. This is represented by a blue box at the right of the pipe.
You can add any node that results in a matte to the Matte pipe, including the 3D Keyer, MasterK, 2D
Histogram, GMask, Edge and Degrain nodes.
The Front and Matte pipes of the CBlend node constitute one layer.
NOTE The Degrain node results in a colour image; however, it is often useful to place it on the Matte pipe before
the Keyer-3D node (which uses a colour image for its input). For this purpose, it can be placed on the Matte pipe.
The two pipes together, along with a back component, constitute one layer. For the first (bottom) layer, the
CBlend node uses the source input image for the back component. For example, in the CBlend node on the
Front branch of the default pipeline, the Front clip is used for the back component.
NOTE When using the Matte pipe for this purpose, you would create a second layer and place the overall matte
in the bottom layer and the second, localized matte in the upper layer. This is because layers are processed from
the bottom up.
When there are no nodes on the Matte pipe, the matte is applied to the entire image.
As with the CBlend node, you can blend the front and back images for each layer and create several layers
of mattes.
The Front and Matte pipes of the MBlend node are both designed to result in a matte. This is represented
visually by a blue box at the right of the Front and Matte pipes. You can place any node on the Front and
Matte pipes that results in a matte, including the 3D Keyer, MasterK, 2D Histogram, GMask, Edge and Degrain
nodes.
NOTE The Degrain node results in a colour image; however, it is often useful to place it on the Matte pipe before
the Keyer-3D node (which uses a colour image for its input). For this reason, it can be placed on the Matte pipe.
The Front and Matte pipes of the MBlend node constitute one layer.
Add a matte to the Matte pipe of the CBlend and MBlend nodes to limit the area on the image where the
colour correction or matte will be applied.
You can use any matte operation in the Matte pipe—add any combination of nodes that you would want
to use to isolate an area of the front image. For example, you could add a garbage mask node to the Matte
pipe of the CBlend node.
There are two different methods you can use to blend the front and back images of a layer: Basic Blend and
Curve Blend.
Basic Blend is appropriate for layers that do not have a matte component. It allows you to add the front and
back images, and adjust the colour and opacity of the result image. In effect, since you are using the entire
front image, the back image does not influence the result.
NOTE Basic Blend is only available for MBlend nodes. It would not be useful to blend colour images in a composite
in this way.
Curve Blend is suitable for layers that have a matte component. It allows you to use front and back matte
curves to adjust the luminance of the front and back mattes, and also perform logical operations on the
front and back images.
The two methods are mutually exclusive—you can set the blending in both the Basic Blend and Curve Blend
menus, but it is the menu that is displayed that takes effect.
Basic Blend
Use Basic Blend to adjust the opacity and colour of an MBlend layer that has no matte component. This
results in adding a second defined layer to the first one. You can control the opacity of the second layer.
NOTE You can also use Basic Blend when you have defined a matte in the Matte pipe. In this case, the blending
is applied to the defined matte area only, rather than the entire front image.
1 Select the MBlend layer by clicking one of the blue boxes to the right of the layer.
The MBlend menu appears and the name of the layer you selected appears in the Layer Name field.
NOTE If Curves Blend was previously selected, then it is displayed. To display Basic Blend, select it from the
Blend box.
Curve Blend
Use Curve Blend to adjust the blending of the front and back images of a CBlend or MBlend node layer that
has a matte component.
1 Select the CBlend or MBlend layer by clicking the red or blue box to the right of the layer.
The CBlend or MBlend menu appears and the name of the layer you selected appears in the Layer
Name field.
(a) Layer Name field (b) Blend box (c) Logic Ops box
For MBlend nodes, if the layer has a matte component (that is, there are nodes in the Matte pipe), the
Curves Blend option is selected in the Blend box and the Matte Curves graph is displayed at the right
of the menu.
NOTE If Basic Blend was previously selected, then it is displayed. To display Curve Blend, select it from the
Blend box. The Blend box does not appear for CBlend nodes, since Curve Blend is the only option.
2 Display the Result view. This displays the result for the entire blend node.
3 To perform a logical operation on the front and back images, select one from the Logic Ops box.
4 Use the Blend Curve editor to adjust the front and back matte curves as needed.
You can use up to four layers in blend nodes to create the composite. Using layers, you can avoid doing
multiple passes on the same composite. Layers are processed upwards from the bottom layer. In other words,
the uppermost layer will appear on top of the next layer, and so on.
The back component of the lowest layer is a pure black image (for MBlend nodes) and the node input image
(for CBlend nodes). For additional layers, however, the back component is different. On both CBlend and
MBlend nodes, the result image of the lowest layer is fed into the next highest layer to serve as its back
component. Likewise, the result image of this layer is fed into the next highest layer where it serves as that
layer's back component, and so on.
You can change the order of the layers using the Priority Editor.
1 Select the blend node by clicking anywhere in the rectangular box at its right end.
The node is highlighted and the Blend Node menu appears.
To rename a layer:
1 Select the layer by clicking on the red or blue box to the right of the layer.
2 Click the Layer Name field in the blend node menu.
Bypassing Pipes
On blend nodes, you have the option of inputting a source image from another node on the pipeline,
effectively bypassing the pipes (for example, using the key-in clip matte in a colour correction in the Matte
pipe of the CBlend node). Instead of copying all the nodes in the Front pipe of the MBlend node, you could
just add a branch from the end of the MBlend Front pipe to the blue box on the CBlend node.
When attaching an alternate input source to a Matte pipe, you should use a matte image. If you use a colour
image, it will be converted to greyscale.
NOTE To do this, you cannot have any nodes on the pipe receiving an alternate input source.
If you display the convex hull while animating a key element, the convex hull fills the ellipsoid in between
keyframes. The sample is recreated to fill the ellipsoid on interpolated frames. This ensures the smoothest
possible transition between keyframes.
To display the Channel Editor, click the Animation button.
Shape Keyframes
The shape of ellipsoids and patches is defined by their translation, rotation, and scaling values, so the Shape
keyframe is actually composed of multiple parameters. The Y value in the Channel Editor does not have the
same significance as it does for a single parameter (for example, opacity). Instead, the Y value is composed
of sequential numbers that represent keyframes that have been set. Each consecutive keyframe is assigned
a sequential Y value: the first keyframe has a Y value of 1, the second has a Y value of 2, and so on. Although
the Y value does not represent a single value, you can still adjust the curve to tweak the shape.
NOTE When you set a tolerance keyframe, a softness keyframe is also set. This is because the softness range
is always at least as large as the tolerance range. When you set the tolerance range, the 3D Keyer automatically
creates a minimum softness range that is equivalent to the tolerance range. When you adjust the tolerance,
the softness range is also adjusted to accommodate the change.
4 Optionally, tweak the animation by adjusting the shape curve in the Channel Editor. The image updates
as you make changes.
Parameter values in between keyframes are interpolated. Change the type of interpolation using the Channel
Editor.
The default interpolation for the shape curve is Bézier, which creates a smooth transition between keyframes.
If your clip has a very sudden change in the colour values (for example, if a light was switched on at a
particular frame), use Constant interpolation between the two keyframes where the change occurs.
Resetting a Channel
There are two ways to reset a channel:
■ Using the Reset button under he Sampling box.
■ Using the Rst Chn button in the Animation controls.
To: Do this:
Zoom in on the viewer Shift-click the viewer and move the cursor to the left or right.
Rotate the viewer Ctrl-click the viewer and move the cursor in any direction. By default this rotates
the viewer around its centre. Using Rotation Axis options in the Preferences menu,
you can also rotate the viewer around a plotted point, or around the centre of the
tolerance or softness ellipsoid. This makes it easier to zoom in on specific elements
in the viewer.
To reset the viewer's position, orientation, and size, click Home in the lower-left corner of the Key, Patches,
or Preferences menu.
NOTE Other settings, such as resolution or canvas light, are not reset.
The 3D histogram provides a visual representation of the colours in the key-in clip. It shows how the colours
in your clip are distributed in RGB colour space, with exposure and contrast settings taken into account.
The most prevalent colours are represented by larger cubes; colours that are less prevalent are represented
by smaller cubes.
NOTE The size of the cubes approximates the colour usage in the image, but it is not intended as an exact
representation. You can increase the resolution of the cubes using the histogram grid.
When a floating-point image is used as a key-in clip, the RGB Viewer will support this input and also activate
options to change the display of colour space in the 3D histogram. These options are available in the
Histogram panel of the Key menu. When the range in the histogram exceeds 1, a cube outline indicating
the colourspace from 0 to 1 is displayed in the RGB viewer.
Select: To display:
All Objects (Shift+A) All objects in the 3D histogram. This is the default setting.
Free (Shift+F) Objects within a user-defined range. Use the Range field to navigate between views including
the full range view and a percentage of the range.
Plot (Shift+O) Objects with colour values between a range that comprises all values between 0 and 1, and
the plot value.
Range field Displays the percentage of the full range that is displayed in the histogram. Editable when the
Frame option box is set to Free.
Store button Click to store the current value in the Range field in memory for later use. Active when the
Frame option box is set to Free.
Recall button Click to retrieve the last Range value that was stored in the buffer.
Change other display elements of the histogram using the Preferences menu. To access the Preferences menu,
click Pref.
Opacity field Displays the opacity of the cubes. As you adjust the opacity, smaller cubes become transparent
at a faster rate than larger ones. The default setting is 100% opacity.
Scaling field Resizes the cubes. Cubes representing less prevalent colours (the smaller cubes) are scaled down
more than those representing more prevalent colours. The cube of the most prevalent colour remains the
same size (as set in the Histogram Grid box). By increasing the size difference between the colours of greater
and lesser prevalence, you can see the main components of the colour space more clearly.
Threshold field Removes the display of colours that are less prevalent in the image. As you increase the
threshold, less prevalent colours are increasingly removed from the histogram.
The canvas is the black background of the RGB viewer. Control the display of the canvas using the Preferences
menu.
Canvas Light field Displays the amount of lighting in the RGB viewer. The light source emanates from
behind the viewer.
You can show or hide a white outline of the borders of the RGB viewer, as well as green wireframe boxes
around selected ellipsoids. Show the boxes to quickly identify the selected element, or hide them to reduce
“clutter” in the viewer.
As you sample the tolerance and softness in a key, corresponding key elements appear in the RGB viewer.
Set the appearance of the tolerance and softness ellipsoids to make it easier to work with them while refining
the precision of the key.
Use the Key menu to set the display of the tolerance and softness in the RGB viewer.
(a) Tolerance Convex Hull box (b) Tolerance Display box (c) Softness Convex Hull box (d) Softness Display box
Tolerance and Softness Display boxes Select an option to set the appearance of the tolerance and softness
ellipsoids.
Select: To display:
Cloud A semi-transparent grey ellipsoid. You can set the transparency of the ellipsoid using the
Cloud Opacity field in the Preferences menu. See Setting the Cloud Opacity (page 1018).
None No ellipsoid. Note that when an ellipsoid is not displayed, it still has an effect on the
image
Tolerance and Softness Convex Hull boxes Select an option to set the appearance of the tolerance and
softness convex hulls.
Select: To display:
NOTE Vertices do not appear on keyed elements when Tolerance Display or Softness Display is set to Ellipsoid
(because an ellipsoid is opaque).
You set the display of each of the three patches individually. In the Patches menu, use the Display boxes to
set the display of patches 1, 2 and 3.
Display box Select an option to set the appearance of the current patch.
Select: To display:
Box&Surf Both the wireframe box and convex hull of the patch.
Cloud The patch as a semi-transparent grey box. You can set the transparency of the box
using the Cloud Opacity field in the Preferences menu. See Setting the Cloud Opacity
(page 1018).
None No patch. When a patch is not displayed, it still has an effect on the image.
You can control the opacity of the Cloud setting of ellipsoids and patches as they appear in the RGB viewer
using the Cloud Opacity fields in the Preferences menu.
NOTE When you plot a colour value, the Plot Point button is automatically enabled to display the colour
value in the viewer.
The Preferences menu contains the Lines button. Use this button to display lines around key elements when
they are selected in the viewer. This can make it easier to identify the selected key element.
When you click key elements in the RGB viewer, a directional arrow appears through the selected element.
The arrow points in a particular direction according to where you click on the element. See Controlling
Elements with the Directional Arrow (page 1022).
The Picking box must be set to Free to select an element by clicking it. Also, the Softness Scaling must be
set to Prop not Minimize Noise (Minimize Noise selects softness and controls the arrow direction).
1 In the Key menu, select Free from the Picking box and make sure that Prop is selected in the Softness
Scaling box.
A directional arrow appears through the selected key element and, if the Lines button is enabled, a
green wireframe box appears around the selected key element.
3 At this point, you are ready to proceed with modifying the selected key element. See Translating,
Scaling, and Rotating Key Elements (page 1027) and Reshaping the Convex Hull (page 1028).
If you are unable to select the element, the element may be behind or inside another element. You
can hide the element that is in the way by setting its display to None. See Changing the Display of
Key Elements (page 1017). Alternatively, use the Picking box to select the element, as described in the
next procedure.
When an element is selected with the Picking box, you cannot select other elements in the viewer by clicking
on them. This helps prevent other key elements from being selected by accident while you work with a
particular key element.
NOTE When you use the Picking box to select a key element that has not been previously selected, the arrow is
not displayed. You must actually click the element to set the arrow direction.
1 In the Key menu, verify that the Softness Scaling is set to Prop (Minimize Noise forces the softness to
be selected).
2 Select the key element from the Picking box.
If lines are displayed in the viewer, a selected ellipsoid has a green wireframe box around it and patch
boxes change from white to green. If the element's arrow direction has been set, the arrow is displayed.
3 To display the element's arrow and set its direction, click the element.
At this point, you are ready to proceed with adjusting the range of the selected key element.
NOTE You can only click on a part of the element's surface that is visible. If necessary, rotate the RGB viewer so
that the correct area of the surface is visible.
■ To point the arrow towards a plotted point, simply select the element (either by clicking on it or using
the Picking box) before plotting. The arrow will automatically point towards the plotted point.
■ To reverse the direction of the arrow, click the Reverse Point button in the Key menu.
NOTE When Minimize Noise is enabled, this tool controls the arrow direction. See Removing Noise from Softened
Areas (page 999).
Plotting a pixel in the key image sets the exact location of the colour value in the RGB viewer. The colour
value is identified by a small, white wireframe cube in the viewer. As an alternative, you can use the Plot
tool to select a colour value directly in the viewer by clicking on a 3D histogram cube.
If a key element in the viewer is selected before you plot the colour value, the element's directional arrow
moves to point towards that colour. Plotting pixels in this way allows you to quickly refine the matte by
translating or scaling a key element with respect to the plotted colour.
1 In the RGB viewer, select the key element that you want to modify in relation to a plotted colour value.
For example, click a patch key element.
If you have problems selecting the element, see Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
2 If needed, zoom in on the key image so that you can select a pixel more easily.
Plot is enabled.
4 Click a pixel in the key image. You can also drag the cursor in the image, then release the cursor when
the colour picker is over the desired pixel.
In the RGB viewer, the colour value of the selected pixel is plotted and the arrow of the selected key
element moves to point towards the plotted colour value.
If needed, rotate the viewer by pressing Ctrl and dragging it to get a better view of the key element
with respect to the plotted value.
5 Proceed with modifying the selected key element. Using the keyboard shortcuts, you can move the
selected key element to refine the key.
Press: To:
V-click Sample pixels where you click in the image. The arrow is repositioned in the
RGB viewer. Drag left or right to scale along this axis.
6 and drag key element Move the selected key element in the direction of the arrow.
7 and drag key element Rotate the selected key element in any direction around its centre point.
8 and drag key element Scale the selected key element proportionally from its centre. Drag left to scale
down and right to scale up.
9 and drag key element Scale the selected key element in the direction of the arrow (non-proportionally)
from its centre. Drag left to scale down and right to scale up.
0 and drag key element Scale the selected key element in the direction of the arrow (non-proportion-
ally), starting from the point on the key element's surface where the back of
the arrow remains anchored in place.
As you move the key element away from the plotted pixel, you can see the effect on the key image or
the matte.
1 In the RGB viewer, select the key element that you want to modify in relation to a plotted colour value.
For example, click a patch key element.
When you plot a range of colour values in the image, the resulting plotted region in the RGB viewer appears
as a 3D convex hull. You can plot up to three colour ranges in the image. The plotted regions do not in
themselves affect the key image in any way.
A plotted region allows you to compare the intersection of a key element with a particular colour range in
the image, providing you with yet another alternative for adding precision to your key.
For example, use this tool to plot a colour range that you do not want to be softened. Using the plotting
region as the reference, you translate and scale the softness ellipsoid away from the plotted region to ensure
the softness precision of the key. Plotted regions also help you to determine whether or not to use a garbage
mask. If a colour that you want to soften is the exact colour that you want key out, then you should apply
a garbage mask.
To plot a region:
(a) Each vertex contributes to the convex hull that represents the plotted region.
4 Continue sampling pixels in the key image until you are finished plotting the region.
Plotting Several Regions You can plot a second and third region, and compare the positions of the convex
hulls. To plot a second region, use the procedure described above, selecting Plot 2 from the Sampling box
and enabling the Plot Regions 2 button.
For example, sample one plot region in an area of the matte containing unwanted grey areas, and another
plot region where the grey area is intentional. You can then observe where the colours of the two regions
are the same (where the plotted regions intersect), and adjust the softness accordingly.
To: Do this:
Remove the grey areas from the foreground subject. Move the softness key element away from the plotted region
intersection.
Prevent the matte from becoming over softened or transpar- Use a patch.
ent.
Keep part of the key that has the exact colour as the area Use a garbage mask.
being softened.
TIP Display the 3D histogram as you make modifications to see the areas of colour that you are working in. Try
reducing the size and opacity of histogram cubes to see more clearly. See Setting the 3D Histogram Display (page
1014)
To modify the tolerance or softness using these techniques, the ellipsoid must be displayed. The Tolerance
Display or Softness Display must be set to Ellipsoid, Wireframe, or Cloud. Likewise, when reshaping patches,
the patch box must be displayed. The box is displayed when the Display is set to Cloud, Box, or Box&Surf.
See More Keying Techniques (page 1030) to learn ways to apply these techniques in specific situations.
1 Select the element. See Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
2 Identify the direction in which you want to translate the element and set the arrow in this direction.
You can do this manually. See Controlling Elements with the Directional Arrow (page 1022).
3 Alternatively, you can also plot a pixel on the image or a histogram cube (see Plotting Single Colour
Values (page 1023)). When you plot a pixel on the image or a histogram cube, the arrow of the selected
key element automatically points towards the plotted pixel.
4 Press 6 and drag the cursor in the RGB viewer. Drag to the right to translate the element forward along
the arrow axis, or to the left to translate it backward.
1 Select the element. See Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
2 Press 7 and drag the cursor in the key element.
The key element rotates in any direction around its centre point.
1 Select the element. See Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
1 Select the element. See Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
2 Set the arrow in the desired direction. You can do this manually. See Controlling Elements with the
Directional Arrow (page 1022).
You can also set the arrow by plotting a point on either the image or a histogram cube. When you plot
a point on the image or a histogram cube, the arrow of the selected key element automatically points
towards the plotted pixel. See More Keying Techniques (page 1030).
3 Press 9 and drag the cursor in the RGB viewer. Drag to the right to scale it larger along the axis of the
arrow, and to the left to scale it smaller.
The element is scaled equally in the forward and backward directions of the arrow.
1 Select the element. See Selecting Key Elements in the RGB Viewer (page 1020).
2 Set the arrow in the desired direction. You can do this manually. See Controlling Elements with the
Directional Arrow (page 1022).
3 You can also set the arrow by plotting a point on either the image or a histogram cube. When you plot
a point on the image or a histogram cube, the arrow of the selected key element automatically points
towards the plotted pixel. See More Keying Techniques (page 1030).
4 Press 0 and drag the cursor in the RGB viewer. Drag to the right to scale it larger in the forward direction
of the arrow, or to the left to scale it smaller towards the centre of the element.
The element is scaled in the forward direction of the arrow only.
NOTE When using V in the RGB viewer, you can scale any convex hull (tolerance, softness or patches). If
you use V in the image window, it will apply to softness only.
4 To add colours to the sample, drag the cursor to the right. This moves the vertex in the forward direction
of the arrow.
To remove colours from the sample, drag the cursor to the left. This moves the vertex backward towards
the centre of the element.
When you are satisfied with the result in the image window, release the cursor.
The hull is reshaped as you move the vertex. If you did not display the convex hull, it is temporarily
displayed while you are moving the vertex. The direction of the arrow may change slightly as you
move the vertex, but the direction it moves in is always the direction in which the arrow was initially
pointing.
NOTE You can release the V key and the cursor, then press them again to scale the same vertex. You retain
control over the new vertex until you change the position of the arrow.
1 Display the convex hull of the key element, including the vertices. See Changing the Display of Key
Elements (page 1017).
NOTE You do not have to select a key element to delete a vertex from its convex hull.
Increasing the softness may create unwanted grey areas in the foreground subject. There are several ways to
remove these grey areas. One method is to plot a pixel in a grey area, then translate, scale, or rotate the
softness ellipsoid such that the plotted region is no longer in the ellipsoid. In effect, you will no longer be
softening the plotted region.
If you translate, rotate, or proportionally scale the softness ellipsoid, all areas of the ellipsoid are affected to
a degree. By contrast, when you use vertex scaling, you can affect a more localized area of the ellipsoid,
leaving the rest of the ellipsoid unchanged. Vertex scaling is therefore often the most accurate method to
use.
1 Show the canvas (press C) and hide the histogram (press H).
2 Use the Soft Display box to change the display of the softness ellipsoid to Cloud.
3 Select the softness ellipsoid in the RGB viewer by clicking on it or selecting Softness from the Picking
box.
4 From the View box, select Keyer 3D Result to see the matte.
5 Zoom in to see the grey pixels up close.
6 Click Pref.
7 In the Preferences menu, click Plot.
NOTE If you are not satisfied with the result, click Undo to return the ellipsoid to its previous shape, then
scale again.
11 If some grey areas remain, plot those areas and repeat the procedure.
You can also use the technique described in the previous section to increase the softness at the edges of the
key. Start by identifying the region where you want to introduce more softness, and then plot a pixel in
that area. You see the colour value in the viewer. Press the V keyboard shortcut, then either enlarge or
decrease the size of the softness ellipsoid minimally by dragging the cursor to the right or left. Include the
colours you want and exclude the rest.
TIP Display the 3D histogram to help you figure out the direction in which you want to scale the tolerance or
softness.
You can also adjust the softness in the key by changing the values in the Softness Scaling X, Y and Z fields.
Drag the cursor over the fields, watching the result in the image window. You can often get a good result
just by experimenting.
NOTE The Sampling box does not have to be set to Softness to use these fields.
1 Use the basic keying technique to get the transparency as soft as possible.
2 Sample a patch in the transparency. See Adding a Patch (page 1003).
3 View the final composite by displaying the CurResult view.
4 Do one of the following:
■ To lighten the transparency, set the Colour of the patch to 0 and the Opacity to 100, then lower
the Opacity.
■ To darken the transparency, set the Colour of the patch to 100 and the Opacity to 0, then raise the
Opacity.
Auto Key
Enable this button to set keyframes to animate the key. See Animating Key Elements (page 1012) for details.
Regen
When you sample (softness, tolerance, and so on) using the colour picker or the numeric fields, you have
the option of having the image update interactively as you move the cursor, or having the image update
only when you release the cursor.
It is useful to update the image only after sampling if interaction during sampling is slow. This can happen
if you are working with high resolution images, or if you are sampling while viewing a context from further
along the pipeline. This can also occur in the current result view (displayed as <Currently Selected Node>
Result, in the View box), where a large amount of processing is required to display the result.
1 Enable Regen.
1 Disable Regen.
Generating Mattes
Use the Matte controls in the Master Keyer to generate and refine a matte for your chroma key.
1 In the Master Keyer menu, select Matte from the Sampling box.
6 Gesturally refine the matte. In the image window, click an area of the matte that you want to
refine—only those parameters that pertain to the area you click appear. Parameters are displayed in
order of importance, from top to bottom (those that are brightest and at the top have the greatest effect
on the image). You can then modify a parameter by dragging its highlighted slider.
■ To add softness, drag a slider to the right.
■ To remove softness, drag a slider to the left.
The red indicator shows the original value and the yellow indicator shows the current value.
7 To modify more than one parameter, move the mouse between the parameters to highlight a parameter,
or drag the pen vertically. When you highlight the parameter you want to adjust, drag the slider.
TIP If you do not like the result, you can click Undo to reset parameters directly after you complete the
operation. There is only one level of undo in the Keyer menu.
8 When you are finished modifying the displayed parameters, click another area of the image without
highlighting a parameter to hide them. Alternatively, you can press any key, such as spacebar or Esc.
The parameters are no longer displayed.
9 Repeat steps 6 to 8 in other parts of the matte to further refine it. Only the parameters that apply to
the problem area will appear.
10 To scroll through the image and display the pertinent parameters, Alt-drag the image without clicking
it. The parameters update as you drag. You can then modify the displayed parameters by clicking the
image and dragging the highlighted slider.
NOTE To reset matte parameters, click the Reset button, next to the sampling box. All matte parameters are reset,
except the Mix field and the key colour.
After you have generated your matte, perform basic colour spill removal (page 1034).
1 In the Master Keyer menu, select Spill from the Sampling box.
4 Remove any colour spill. Click anywhere in the image window, and then modify the parameters that
appear by dragging the sliders—you do not need to click a specific area.
Drag: To:
Range Set the range for the removal of colour spill along the edges of the key. Drag right to
soften the edge and remove colour spill further into the key. Drag left to harden, or
create a thinner, edge.
Hue Modify and suppress colours that are adjacent to the primary sample.
The red indicator shows the original value and the yellow indicator shows the current value. The values
also appear in the Spill fields. The original values should be good, so make small adjustments only.
5 To modify both parameters, move the mouse between them to highlight a parameter, or drag the pen
vertically. When you highlight the parameter you want to adjust, drag the slider.
If you do not like the result, you can click Undo to reset parameters directly after you complete an
operation. There is only one level of undo in the Modular Keyer.
6 When you are finished modifying the displayed parameters, click another area of the image without
highlighting a parameter to hide them. Alternatively, you can press any key, such as spacebar or Esc.
The parameters are no longer displayed.
NOTE To reset Spill parameters, click the Reset button, next to the sampling box.
If you are satisfied with your colour spill removal, move on to blending your front and back clips (page 1037).
If you want to perform additional colour spill suppressions, see Advanced Colour Spill Removal (page 1035).
NOTE To apply these settings to the key, the Auto CC button must be enabled.
1 Click the Result node so that you can see the changes in the right side viewer. If you do not see the
result, see Setting Up Viewports for Keying (page 992).
2 Enable Auto CC in the Colour menu to apply the Spill settings to the front clip.
3 The Spill colour pot displays the colour that will be suppressed in the clip. By default, the original
colour extracted from the key-in clip is displayed. In many cases, you can use this colour because the
colour spill is the same colour as the original colour. However, if the colour spill is not the same, change
the colour sample. Click the colour pot, use the colour picker to sample the colour spill in the image
window, and then click the colour pot again.
NOTE When you select the colour you want to key from the Master Keyer menu, the colour that appears
in the Spill colour pot is automatically updated to match the key colour. However, the inverse is not
true—when you sample a colour from the Spill colour pot, the sampled colour used to generate a key is not
updated.
Drag: To:
Range Suppress the primary sample colour where there is colour spill (along the edges of the
key).
Hue Modify colours that are adjacent to the primary sample and further remove colour spill.
When you are satisfied with your colour spill removal, move on to blending your front and back clips (page
1037).
1 In the Master Keyer menu, select Blend from the Sampling box.
4 Blend the front and back clip. Click anywhere in the image window, and then modify the parameters
that appear by dragging the sliders—you do not need to click a specific area.
Drag: To:
Luma Darken or lighten the edge of the key. Luma only affects the luma of the edge.
Edge Size Set the range for the blend. Drag right to soften the edge and blend further into the
key. Drag left to harden, or create a thinner, edge. Edge Size affects both the Luma field
and the Edge Balance trackball.
TIP To drag faster, apply more pressure with the pen, or hold Alt+Spacebar while you drag.
The red indicator shows the original value and the yellow indicator shows the current value. The values
also appear in the Blend fields.
5 To modify both parameters, move the mouse between them to highlight a parameter, or drag the pen
vertically. When you highlight the parameter you want to adjust, drag the slider.
TIP If you do not like the result, you can click Undo to reset parameters.
6 When you are finished modifying the displayed parameters, click another area of the image without
highlighting a parameter to hide them. Alternatively, you can press any key, such as spacebar or Esc.
The parameters are no longer displayed.
7 To add a cast to the edge of the key and improve the overall look by matching the edge with a colour
cast in the back clip, drag the Edge Balance trackball toward the colour you want to add. The trackball
only affects the chroma of the edge.
After you have set your blend parameters for the front and back clip, remove grain from your clips (page
1039).
Removing Grain
After you have set your blend parameters for the front and back clips (page 1037), you may want to remove
grain from your clips. Graininess can make it difficult to pull a clean and effective key. Use the Degrain tools
in the Master Keyer to remove grain from clips.
NOTE Degrain parameters are animatable. Degrain samples are also animatable and appear in the Channel Editor
as the Degrain_Matrix channel, located in the Key_Degrain folder. See Animating Keyframes (page 1625).
To remove grain:
1 In the Master Keyer menu, select Degrain from the Sampling box.
NOTE The Degrain button is either enabled or disabled for the entire clip—you cannot turn it on and off
for different frames in the clip.
Drag: To:
Edges De-sharpen the edge of the image. By default, Degrain sharpens the edges. Use the Edges
field to restore the natural look of the edges in the image.
5 If you are not satisfied with the result, you can start over with a new sample, and then adjust the
Degrain fields. To resample an area of the image, Ctrl+Alt-drag the image.
The sample is outlined in green, indicating that you are resampling the image.
NOTE You can also reset Degrain parameters. To reset Degrain parameters, click the Reset button, next to
the sampling box.
6 If resampling the image and adjusting the Degrain fields does not sufficiently remove grain, enable
More to increase the overall effect of Degrain.
NOTE The More button is either enabled or disabled for the entire clip—you cannot turn it on and off for
different frames in the clip. When you enable More, processing speed slows down.
After you have removed grain from your clips, you may still have to remove unwanted greys (page 1040).
NOTE Patch parameters are animatable. Patch samples are also animatable and appear in the Channel Editor as
a Matrix channel, located in the Patch folder.
Black Areas of the image to be included in the black part of the matte.
White Areas of the image to be included in the white part of the matte.
Edge Analysis Areas of the image that are along the edge of the key. Edge Analysis is useful when there
is a specific edge you want to erode but cannot do so with the Matte parameters. You
can then increase or decrease the softness of this patch using the Soft field.
1 In the Master Keyer menu, select Patch1, Patch2, or Patch3 from the Sampling box.
NOTE A Patch button is either enabled or disabled for the entire clip—you cannot turn it on and off for
different frames in the clip.
NOTE If you want to reset the patch so that you can automatically select the patch type, you must disable
the patch and set the patch type to Off. You can then resample an area in the image and generate a patch
type.
Drag: To:
Range Increase or decrease the colour range that is included in the patch.
NOTE To reset Patch parameters, click the Reset button, next to the sampling box.
1 From the Start Mode dropdown list, select Reset to Channel and click Confirm.
The Channel keyer processing pipeline is displayed in the schematic view.
2 Double-click the Channel Keyer node.
The Channel controls appear.
3 Select one of the primary colour options (Red, Green, Blue) from the Channel Mode box.
4 Enable More to enhance the keying effect.
The More option extends the range of the colour to be extracted from the key-in clip.
5 Increase or decrease the softness for the key using the Softness field.
The softness value determines how much of the key-in clip is partially transparent in the matte. Softness
creates a smoother transition between the front and back clips in the composite clip.
6 Click Result to see the result of your key.
1 From the Start Mode dropdown list, select Reset to Channel and click Confirm.
The Channel keyer processing pipeline is displayed in the schematic view.
2 Double-click the Channel Keyer node.
The Channel controls appear.
(a) Channel Mode box (b) Average Colour pot (c) Softness field (d) Colour Spread field
TIP To keep shadows, click just outside them. To remove shadows, click inside them.
6 Adjust the softness for the key using the Softness field.
Increasing softness raises the level of grey in the matte. Lowering it makes the matte sharper.
7 Adjust the colour spread for the key using the Spread field.
Increasing the colour spread value extends the range of colours extracted from the key-in clip.
8 Click the Result node so that you can see the changes in the right side viewer. If you do not see the
result, see Setting Up Viewports for Keying (page 992).
NOTE To improve the key at this point, try adjusting it with the histogram in the 2D Histogram node. See
Adjusting the Luminance of the Key (page 1047).
Creating a Key by Extracting a Range of Colours with the HLS, YUV, RGB and RGBCMYL Keyers | 1043
the front clip within the softness range become grey in the matte. The key should have the greatest possible
softness value.
After setting the softness range, you set a range of colours to be keyed out in the key-in clip. This is called
the tolerance range. All pixels in the front clip within the tolerance range become black in the matte. The
tolerance range must not be too large or the edge of the composite will be too hard and the subject in the
front clip will appear to be pasted into the back clip.
HLS
In the HLS Keyer menu, you set the softness and tolerance ranges using the hue, luminance, and saturation
channels.
YUV
In the YUV Keyer menu, you set the softness and tolerance ranges using the luma and chroma signals of
YUV component video.
RGB
In the RGB Keyer menu, you set the softness and tolerance ranges using the red, green, and blue channels.
RGBCMYL
In the RGBCMYL Keyer menu, you set the softness and tolerance ranges using the red, green, blue, cyan,
magenta, yellow, and luminance channels. This colour model provides subpixel resolution.
1 From the Start Mode dropdown list, select one of the following: Reset to RGB, Reset to YUV, Reset to
HLS, Reset to RGBCMYL.
2 Select Key In in the View box to view the key-in clip.
3 Double-click the Keyer node in the schematic.
The softness for each model is set automatically to 50, which helps you to quickly gauge the model
that will create the best key for your clip.
4 At frame 1, click the Average Colour pot.
5 Drag the colour picker around the area you want to key out.
After you have selected a colour model and set the average colour, set the softness range (page 1045).
(a) Master Softness field (b) Minimum Softness field (c) Maximum Softness field
4 To increase or decrease the softness range, click the + or - button beside the Softness button and then
click an area of the image.
1 Set the minimum value for the softness range using the Minimum Softness field on the left side of the
colour bar.
2 Set the maximum value for the softness range using the Maximum Softness field on the right side of
the colour bar.
NOTE You can also set the softness range by entering a numeric value in the Master Softness field.
Creating a Key by Extracting a Range of Colours with the HLS, YUV, RGB and RGBCMYL Keyers | 1045
TIP As a reference, when setting softness and tolerance ranges, you can display the colour value for any pixel in
the key-in clip using the Plot tool. You can then adjust the tolerance or softness range so the pixel falls within one
of the ranges. For example, plot pixels at the edges of the matte to check for softness, or plot pixels in the
background to check for tolerance.
1 Click Plot.
The cursor changes to a colour picker.
2 Select a pixel in the image area.
A red bar appears in each colour gradient showing the colour value of the pixel.
After you have adjusted the softness range, set the tolerance range (page 1046).
1 Click Tolerance.
The cursor changes to a colour picker.
2 Drag the colour picker around the area of the image that you want to key out.
The colour values that the colour picker samples are used to set the maximum and minimum values
for the tolerance range. The white lines define the limits of the tolerance range. All colour values
between the white lines are extracted from the key-in clip.
(a) Master Tolerance field (b) Minimum Tolerance field (c) Maximum Tolerance field
3 To increase or decrease the tolerance range, click the + or - button beside the Tolerance button.
NOTE An alternative method of setting the tolerance range is to press Ctrl and draw a rectangle in the area
of the image you want to key out.
1 Set the minimum value for the tolerance range using the Minimum Tolerance field on the left side of
the colour bar.
2 Set the maximum value for the tolerance range using the Maximum Tolerance field on the right side
of the colour bar.
NOTE You can also set the tolerance range by entering a numeric value in the Master Tolerance field.
1 Click Plot.
The cursor changes to a colour picker.
2 Select a pixel in the image area.
A red bar appears in each colour gradient showing the colour value of the pixel.
NOTE When you load a matte as the key-in clip and open the Luminance menu with default menu values, the
resulting Keyer matte is identical to the original matte.
1 From the Start Mode dropdown list, select Reset to Luminance and click Confirm.
The Luminance Keyer processing pipeline is displayed in the schematic view.
2 Double-click the Luminance Keyer node.
The Luminance controls appear.
The Minimum Input level sets the start of the range of luminance values. Pixels with luminance values below
the Minimum Input level are mapped to black (0).
The Maximum Input level sets the end of the range of luminance values. Pixels with luminance values
greater than the Maximum Input level are mapped to white (255).
You can set the Maximum Input level by dragging the white triangle, or by setting a value in the Maximum
Input Level field.
The matte before adjusting the Input levels The matte after lowering the Maximum Input level
The Minimum Output level sets the luminance value of all black (0) pixels in the matte. Black pixels in the
matte are mapped to the luminance value set by the Minimum Output level.
You can set the Minimum Output level by dragging the black triangle, or by setting the value in the Minimum
Output Level field.
The matte before adjusting the Output levels The matte after lowering the Minimum Output level
The Maximum Output level sets the luminance value of all white (255) pixels in the matte. White pixels in
the matte are mapped to the luminance value set by the Maximum Output level.
The matte before adjusting the Output levels The matte after lowering the Maximum Output level
NOTE Adjusting these values increases the contrast and may harden the edges of the matte.
2 Use the Viewing box to select the image you want to view as you adjust the curves.
Select: To view:
Matte The front matte. You cannot see changes made to the back matte when this view is selected.
Bmatte The back matte. You cannot see changes made to the front matte when this view is selected.
Comp The composite with a coloured background. The default colour is black. To select a different
colour, click the colour pot to the right of the Comp button. The colour picker appears.
Back The background image that is revealed when the front is keyed.
3 To adjust the luminance curve for the front matte, select Front from the Front/Back box. To adjust the
back matte curve, select Back. Alternatively, click a curve to select it.
The selected curve changes to white.
4 Click a point to display its tangent handle and drag the handle to adjust the curve. Use other modes
in the Tools box to further adjust the curve, adding or deleting points or breaking tangent handles, as
needed.
Use: To:
Edges Detect the edges of your matte and fine-tune the edges with tolerance controls. This is useful
for cleaning up difficult mattes.
Shrink Remove pixels from the edge of the matte. This control should not be used when the object
in the front clip has soft edges, such as hair.
Blur Apply a softening filter to the edge of the matte. You can select either a Gaussian filter or Box
filter.
This value specifies the width of the border, in number of pixels, that is removed from the edge of the
matte.
The matte before enabling the Erode filter The matte after setting the erode width value to 1.00
The matte before enabling the Blur filter The matte after setting the blur width and height values
to 1.00
NOTE To remove colour spill in the Master Keyer, see Basic Colour Spill Removal (page 1034) and Advanced Colour
Spill Removal (page 1035). Alternatively, you can connect a Colour Curves node between the front clip and the front
input of the Master Keyer and follow the procedures below.
1 Set the view to Result, so that you can see the changes as you make them.
2 Double-click the Colour Curves node in the schematic.
The Colour menu appears.
NOTE Once you remove the saturation from a spill, you may want to increase the values for the other curves
(for example, red and green if you removed a blue spill) to reconstruct some of the natural colours at the
edge of the keyed image.
hue:shifting in Keyerkeying:hue, shifting in KeyerYou can disguise colour spill by shifting its hue so the
colour blends better with the background. Sample the colour to which you want to shift the colour spill and
then adjust the Hue Shift curve to shift the colour spill accordingly.
1 Set the view to Result, so that you can see the changes as you make them.
2 Double-click the Colour Curves node in the schematic.
The Colour menu appears.
The Colour menu displays colour curves over a hue spectrum. When you modify the shape of a curve
over a region of the spectrum, only those colours are affected.
3 Enable Hue to modify the Hue Shift curve.
Inverting a Matte
Use the Negative node to invert a matte. By inserting the Negative node between the Matte Edge and the
GMask nodes in the processing pipeline, the matte is automatically inverted. The Negative node has no
settings to configure.
To invert a matte:
1 From the Modular Keyer Node bin, drag the Negative node to the schematic.
2 Hold Shift and drag the Negative node to the Matte Edge node so their tabs touch and repeat for the
GMask node.
The Negative node is inserted to the schematic and your matte is inverted.
2 Select Result view from the Result box. This allows you to select a particular image to view as you adjust
the curve.
3 From the Result box, select the image you want to view as you adjust the curves.
Select: To view:
Matte The front matte. You cannot see changes made to the back matte when this view is se-
lected.
Bmatte The back matte. You cannot see changes made to the front matte when this view is se-
lected.
Comp The composite with a coloured background. The default colour is white. To select a dif-
ferent colour, click the colour swatch below the Tools box. The colour picker appears.
4 To adjust the luminance curve for the front matte, select Front from the Matte box. To adjust the back
matte curve, select Back. Alternatively, click a curve to select it.
(a) 255 (White) (b) Output (remapping of luminance values) (c) 0 (Black) (d) 0 (Black) (e) Input (current luminance
values) (f) 255 (White)
3 Click the colour pot under the Comp view output option.
The colour picker appears.
4 Select a colour for the background using the colour picker.
Your key is displayed on a solid colour background in the Result view.
To display the Animation controls in the Keyers, click Animation to the left of the keyer menus. Using the
Channel Editor, animate the parameters.
NOTE You can reset multiple nodes by holding the Ctrl key, selecting the nodes and right-clicking to reset.
1 When you are satisfied with your key, exit the Modular Keyer by clicking the Return button.
You are taken to the Batch FX view.
2 In the Batch FX view, click the Render Combo box and select Render. If the Render option is already
displayed, simply click Render.
The rendering starts. A progress bar appears at the bottom of the screen.
3 After the rendering is complete, click EXIT BFX to return to the timeline.
■ If you accessed the Modular Keyer from the timeline, your original source clip is updated in the
timeline and in the Viewing panel and displays the result of your key.
■ If you accessed the Modular Keyer from the Tools tab, the result of your key is rendered as new
media and is displayed in the Viewing panel.
A small BFX icon appears on the clip and the timeline segment.
1 Once you are happy with your key, exit the Modular Keyer by clicking the Return.
1063
Access the Stabilizer from: To:
Blur and Glow Track the center point of the radial blur.
When the analysis is complete, you fine-tune it if a tracker box has strayed from the reference it was supposed
to follow. Once you are satisfied with the results, you can apply the data to the clip.
To track, the Stabilizer applies the Shift values “as is.” To stabilize, the Stabilizer inverts the X and Y Shift
values in each frame of the sequence, and moves the image according to these values. This gives the impression
that the reference point stays in the same position throughout the sequence. Because the image is moved
during stabilization, a border appears on one or more edges, which means that you lose some pixels. The
following illustrations summarize the process.
Selecting a Tracker
Stabilizer:tracker, selectingYou can use any of the following methods to select a tracker:
■ Select any tracker Select Tool, from the Stabilizer Tools menu and click the tracker box, the tracking path,
or the reference box of the tracker in the viewer.
■ Select a tracker by clicking its corresponding button (Tracker1, Tracker2, and so on).
■ Select a tracker by pressing the corresponding number key on your keyboard. You must use the number
keys on the alphanumeric keyboard, not the numeric keypad.
■ Select any tracker by pressing the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard.
■ Select any tracker by selecting its channel in the Channel Editor.
When you select a reference box, a tracker box, or a keyframe in the image window, the sequence
automatically updates to the frame where the keyframe was set.
1 Go to the frame where you want to position the reference and tracker boxes.
2 If the tracker and reference boxes do not appear on the image, select the appropriate Tracker, from the
Tracker box and enable Active.
NOTE Each tracker is automatically assigned a different colour. However, you can customize the tracker
colour at any time.
3 Click inside the reference box to select it, and drag it over the pattern you want to track.
The reference box changes into a magnifying glass. By default, the tracker box follows the reference
box.
4 To position the tracker box on a different frame from the reference box, go to that frame and move
the tracker box over the pattern to track. To move only the tracker box, click anywhere outside the
reference box.
2 Click Confirm.
TIP Sometimes a small reference point does not give good results. Try enlarging the box to include more of the
selected feature. Note that the larger the box, the slower the analysing speed.
Resize the tracker box so that it is large enough to accommodate the most frame-to-frame movement of the
reference point. For example, if the movement of the reference point is mostly horizontal, you can increase
the width and reduce the height of the tracker box. If there is a large amount of movement both horizontally
and vertically, increase both the width and the height of the tracker box. Note that the smaller the tracker
box, the faster the analysis.
■ To use the menu to move or resize the reference or tracker box for the current tracker, enter values
in the Reference or Track fields.
You can also set the position of the offset the position of the reference, via the Offset X and Y fields.
See Offsetting the Tracking Motion of the Reference (page 1088).
NOTE To reset the reference or tracker box to its default position and size, select either Reset Ref, Reset Track
or Reset Shift from the Reset box.
Choose: To affect:
Selected Only the selected tracker while still showing all trackers in the image window.
Solo Only the selected tracker and hide all other trackers.
Gang All the active trackers, except when changing the colour of the trackers.
Auto Stabilize
■ Can stabilize simple 2D motion, scaling and rotation, and perspective transformation.
■ Can smooth out or pin the detected motion.
■ Can remove jitter but keep camera motion.
■ Can adapt resolution and advanced padding options.
Stabilizer
2D Transform
Simple Stabilization
Use simple stabilization to stabilize a clip where there is no pan or tilt.
NOTE The default reference frame is the first frame of the clip. You can change the reference frame of the analysis
by defining a new reference point.
NOTE The default reference frame is the first frame of the clip. You can change the reference frame of the analysis
by defining a new reference point.
NOTE The default reference frame is the first frame of the clip. You can change the reference frame of the analysis
by defining a new reference point.
1 From the Action Axis menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be stabilized from the Use Media field
(to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 In the Axis menu for the selected media, make sure that the motion path is disabled (Path button).
NOTE Do not move the axis from its default position at the centre of the image window before entering
the Stabilizer, or else the tracking data will be overwritten. Use the offset axis to add an offset to the tracker
movement instead.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
TIP After stabilizing, you can set a reference frame that has no transformations by enabling the Adjust Offset
button (in the Axis tab) at the selected frame.
3 Go to the reference frame, and click Analyze to generate the Shift data.
4 Click Animation to display the Channel Editor. Select the tracker number and expand the Shift folder.
The Shift curves turn white when the Shift channel is selected.
5 Select the Keyframe tab from the Animation Controls tabs.
(a) Keyframe tab (b) Curve option box (c) Curve Value field
1 From the Action Axis menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be stabilized from the Use Media field
(to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 In the Axis menu for the selected media, make sure that the motion path is disabled (Path button).
3 In the Tracking tab, enable Rotation, Scale or both, as needed. The choice depends on the movement
of the object to track and on the camera movement in the clip.
4 In the Tracking Mode box, select Track and click the Enter Tracker button.
The media is automatically loaded into the Stabilizer and the Stabilizer menu appears.
5 In the Stabilizer menu, enable Context to use the Action scene as the reference.
6 Position the tracker(s) over the pattern(s) that you want to track, and click Analyze to generate the
tracking data. For one-point tracking, you use only one tracker to generate position information. For
two-point tracking, you use a second tracker to generate rotation and/or scaling information. The
Stabilizer obtains this information by comparing the position of Tracker2 to that of Tracker1.
■ Tracker1 follows the horizontal and vertical translation of the reference point. You should position
Tracker1 over a point on the pattern that you want to track.
NOTE The position of the axis is synced with the position of Tracker1. Therefore, any existing animation
on the Axis is overwritten by the tracking data.
■ Tracker2 tracks the rotation and/or the change in size of the pattern. In the first frame, the rotation
is always 0 and the scaling factor is always 100%. In subsequent frames, a rotation and/or scaling
factor is added if the relative position of the two trackers changes. You should position Tracker2
over a point that represents the rotation or change in size of the pattern.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
1 From the Action Perspective Grid menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be tracked from the Use
Media field (to stabilize the Back media, select 0).
2 Set your perspective grid corners.
3 Select 4 Corners from the Tracking Mode box.
4 Click the Enter Tracker button.
The media is automatically loaded into the Stabilizer and the Stabilizer menu appears.
5 In the Stabilizer menu, enable Context to use the Action scene as the reference.
6 Optional: Refine the position the trackers over the corners that you want to track, and click Analyze
to generate the tracking data.
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
1 From the Action GMask menu's Tracking tab, select the media to be tracked from the Use Media field
(to track the Back media, select 0).
2 In the image window, select the vertices (page 905) you want to track.
3 Select a tracking mode:
NOTE You can fine-tune the tracking data if necessary. See Tracking Difficult Shots and Correcting Errors
(page 1091).
TIP If you want to add new vertices to your tracked GMask, make sure to enable Edit Track before selecting
Add Points, so that the new points also follow the tracking data.
The bilinear surface then tracked to the horizontal and vertical translation of the reference points.
See Stabilizer Menu Settings (page 1580) for an overview of the settings and options in the Stabilizer.
6 Click Stabilizer.
The Stabilizer menu is displayed.
NOTE The Position, Rotation and Scale settings of the vertices or UV points in Z are reset when entering the
Stabilizer.
7 Click Stabilizer.
The Stabilizer menu is displayed.
In this example, we want to match the motion of the cloth deformation in this t-shirt clip with the fire clip
and superimpose it on top of the t-shirt.
6 Because the t-shirt deforms much more than the four corners, subdivide the surface, by clicking the
Subdivide button twice.
NOTE The Position, Rotation and Scale settings of the vertices or UV points in Z are reset when entering the
Stabilizer.
13 Enable Edit Track in the Vertices menu to edit tracking data directly from the image window without
having to switch to the Animation channel. The vertices are displayed in blue when Edit Track is
enabled.
NOTE The Position, Rotation and Scale settings of the vertices or UV points in Z are reset when entering the
Stabilizer.
NOTE The trackers should be placed relatively close to the offset target, or on an anchor point that follows
the same movement as the offset target, otherwise the detected motion will be off and will drift from the
motion of the offset target.
A dotted line is displayed between the tracker and the offset target.
Looking at the user shape channel, in the Animation Editor, we see that only one keyframe is added, at
frame 63. The adjustment or deformation persists after the last keyframe of the user shape channel and does
not interfere with the existing tracking animation.
1 Press on the pen or hold down the left mouse button to stop the analysis.
NOTE Make sure to press below the viewer to avoid moving the tracker box.
2 Go back to the last good frame before the tracker box strayed from the reference point.
3 Adjust the size of the tracker box so that it is large enough to accommodate the largest frame-to-frame
movement of the reference point.
4 Click Snap, and then click Analyze.
1 Press on the pen or hold down the left mouse button to stop the analysis.
NOTE Make sure to press below the viewer to avoid moving the tracker box.
2 Advance the clip to the frame where the reference point becomes visible again, and reposition the
tracker box over the reference point. Click Analyse to restart the analysis at this frame.
Since the X and Y shifts are recorded as keyframes in channels, the Stabilizer calculates the translation
values for the frames in which the reference point was covered. The final result will be a smooth motion.
NOTE You cannot lock several keyframes at once. You must lock each keyframe individually.
1 Zoom in on the image until you can see the points clearly and select the point you want to lock on
the tracking path.
The tracking path becomes white when you click it, and the frame that corresponds to the keyframe
appears in the image window.
NOTE If the tracking path does not appear in the image window, enable Path in the Setup menu.
(a) The inside of locked keyframes are filled (b) The tracker box appears when you select a keyframe
TIP You can also adjust the tolerance to make a valid keyframe that has been filtered out reappear.
1 Click Setup and then enable Path to view the tracking path.
2 Analyze the clip with full (100%) tolerance.
Once you determine the optimal tolerance value, further analysis automatically discards the unwanted
keyframes, and the position of the reference point is extrapolated until the reference point reappears.
Analyzing Backward
Analyze the clip backwards when the pattern you want to track grows larger or when it is off screen at the
beginning of the clip.
To analyze backward:
NOTE If you do not see the reference image in transparency, set the Opacity option in the Setup menu to
approximately 50%.
1 From the Tracker box, select the tracker you want to change.
TIP To change all trackers, select Gang in the Tracker Selection box.
Pretracking a Clip
Before analyzing, you can use the Pretracking option in the Setup menu to preview the motion path for a
specified number of frames. You can then adjust the tracker position, if necessary, to find the best reference
point. The Pretracking option applies only to the selected tracker, regardless of whether you selected Solo,
Selected, or Gang in the Tracker Selection box. If you move or resize a tracker with Pretracking enabled, the
next frames are analyzed.
To pretrack a clip:
NOTE If you enter a number larger than the length of the clip, only existing frames are pre-tracked.
4 Enable Pretracking.
The motion path appears.
NOTE Frames, not fields, are pretracked. If you are in Fields mode, frames will be pretracked.
1 In the Channel Editor, open the folder of the tracker whose shift values you want to copy.
2 Select the X or Y Shift channel, or the entire Shift folder to select both X and Y Shift channels.
3 Click Copy.
4 If necessary, load the clip to which you want to apply the Shift values into the appropriate tool.
5 Open the folder of the channel to receive the copied shift values and select the appropriate channel(s).
6 Click Paste.
The tracking data specifies the X and Y position of the tracker box in relation to the origin point of the
image; these are absolute coordinate values. The origin point has coordinates (0,0), and is located at the
lower-left corner of the image.
The shift data specifies the difference between the position of the reference box (0,0) and the position of
the tracker box in the current frame. These are relative coordinate values.
Both the Tracking values and the Shift values are formatted as follows:
frame#: X position, Y position
NOTE If the position of the reference box is changed during the analysis, the offset is compensated for and the
exported tracking data still shows a continuous tracker path.
1099
Accessing the GMask Tracer
You can access the GMask Tracer using the following methods:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
■ The Modular Keyer, then select a node from the Node bin.
Use the GMask Tracer Start Mode in the Modular Keyer as the default keying pipeline.
TIP You can also use the GMask Tracer node in the Colour Blend (CBlend) and Matte Blend (MBlend) pipes
in Batch, Batch FX, and the Modular Keyer.
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
When you access the GMask Tracer as a Timeline FX, you can enable Use Matte to use the matte input
as part of the effect processing.
NOTE By default, the GMask Tracer accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs an outmatte.
In this case, once you enter the GMask Tracer and add a GMask node, a stereo rig and stereo camera are
added to the schematic. In the menu for the parent Axis node, you can set the stereo convergence
(Convergence is displayed as Offset in the Channel Editor under the parent Axis folder).
Once you enter the GMask Tracer user interface, you should be familiar with the look and layout, as it
resembles the Action interface (page 551), with a schematic, node bin, priority editor, and output menu.
The GMask node is usually the primary node that you use within the GMask Tracer, but many other nodes
are available in the GMask Tracer node bin to help you create your mattes. You can create a new GMask
quickly without using the node bin by using the GMask: Create Node shortcut. Press Alt+N to automatically
switch to Draw Shape mode, then once you add your first point, a GMask node is automatically added to
the schematic.
Follow the links to the comparable Action sections:
■ 3D Shape (page 747)
■ 3D Text (page 718)
■ Analyzer (Mono or Stereo) (page 870)
■ Axis (page 611)
■ Camera (page 839)
■ Camera 3D (page 855)
■ GMask (including Ellipse, Plane, and Rectangle presets) (page 899)
■ Image (Surface) (page 616)
■ Import (3D Geometry) (page 692)
■ Matchbox (attached to textures or cameras) (page 820)
■ Perspective Grid (page 646)
■ Replica (page 831)
■ Stereo Object (page 640)
Use the multi-pass rendering capabilities of the GMask Tracer's Output menu to manage your outputs. You
are limited to Matte primary outputs, but you can have multiple render passes. The overall functionality of
the Output menu is otherwise similar to the Action Output menu (page 590).
NOTE If you accessed the GMask Tracer as a Timeline FX, you are limited one Matte output.
GMask
When pulling a key, use garbage masks (GMasks) to isolate particular areas of an image to include with, or
exclude from, the opaque area of the matte. Garbage masks are spline-based objects you draw directly on a
clip or image. Depending on what you want to accomplish, you can set the area inside each garbage mask
to be either opaque (white), transparent (black), or semi-transparent (any shade of grey).
Garbage masks are useful in many situations, such as when removing unwanted elements like equipment
or people from a blue-screen shot, when removing unwanted borders from an image, or when creating
complex keys by blending portions of the front and back clips. You can animate the shape of a garbage
mask, apply motion blur to it, and even use the Stabilizer to make a garbage mask follow a moving element
in a clip.
The following example illustrates keying out an unwanted white border using a garbage mask.
Matte before garbage mask is applied Matte after garbage mask is applied
Softness applied around edge of garbage mask spline Image courtesy of Behavior Communications Inc.
NOTE A different GMask node is available from within Action (page 899) and the Mask Tracer (page 1099).
GMask | 1103
NOTE This parameter cannot be animated.
Outside button Applies the effect to the part of the image that is outside the mask.
Colour field Sets the blend value between the front and back image in the area that the mask is affecting
(that is, either outside or inside the mask). A value of 50% is a 50/50 blend between the front and back clip.
A value of 100% is the front clip. A value of 0% is the back clip.
Opacity field Sets the opacity of the matte in the area affected by the mask (that is, either inside or outside
the mask). A value of 100% means the matte is completely opaque; 50% means the matte is 50% transparent;
and 0% has no effect on the image.
Lasso Fit field Increase or decrease the number of points in the segments of the mask that are drawn freehand.
See Adjusting the Number of Points in Freehand Segments (page 1109).
Edge Softness box Apply a uniform gradient or use an advanced gradient to set different levels of softness
for different parts of the mask edge. In the GMask node in Batch or Batch FX or the Modular Keyer, use the
Tracer to set variable softness around the mask edge using pickers. See Refining the Mask (page 1124).
Alpha field Defines the transparency of the gradient from the edge of the mask.
Offset field Defines the border position of the gradient from the edge of the mask.
Inner Edge, Outer Edge, Distance fields Applies the distance and degree of change between the opaque
and transparent part of the mask edge.
Constant Shape button Enable to modify the mask's shape without setting keyframes. This forces all
animatable parameters (except the Tracer parameter Sample On) to be set for the whole clip rather than for
only the current frame. It also removes any existing keyframes and applies the shape of the current frame
to the rest of the clip.
Borders button Enable the display of borders. The Border button is active when the Advanced Gradient and
Tracer menus are displayed.
Pickers button Enable the display of pickers. This element is only available when accessing the Tracer tool
in the Garbage Mask menu from the GMask node in Batch or Batch FX or the Modular Keyer.
X/Y fields Defines the mask's X and Y offset from its axis.
GMask | 1105
About Drawing Options
Use the Mask Setup menu to access mask drawing options.
Spline Keyframing box Determines under what conditions keys are set, and for which parameters, when
you are animating a garbage mask spline. See Animating Masks Using Spline Keyframing (page 1116).
Motion Blur settings Controls motion blur applied to garbage masks that can be used to match the movement
of objects in a clip. See Applying Motion Blur to Garbage Masks (page 1121).
NOTE There are additional setup options to do with animating garbage masks. These only appear when you
disable Shape Animation in the Garbage Mask menu. For more information, see Animating Masks Using Spline
Keyframing (page 1116).
Icons button Globally displays or hides the garbage mask splines and axes.
NOTE If you hide garbage maks splines and axes with the Icons button, the Widget All / Widget Sel button in the
View menu has no effect.
Transparency field Sets the transparency for the garbage mask splines and axes.
Show Border button Displays the Softness Offset wireframe border, defined in the Shape menu.wireframe:in
garbage maskswireframe:in garbage masks
Show Border colour pot Sets the colour for the Softness Offset wireframe.
Spline colour pot Sets the colour for the wireframe of the garbage mask.
Tangents colour pot Sets the colour of the garbage mask tangents and vertices.
Pickers Display colour pot Sets the colour of the Tracer's pickers. This element is only available when
accessing the Garbage Mask Setup menu from the GMask node.
Schematic Display Transparency field Sets the transparency of the nodes in the garbage mask schematic.
Hardware Anti-aliasing Sample box Select a hardware anti-aliasing sampling level to accelerate edge
anti-aliasing with no performance penalty. The graphics hardware automatically renders the image at full
speed with approximately the equivalent of up to 32 samples of anti-aliasing (depending on your graphics
card and project graphic bit depth). Hardware anti-aliasing also gives anti-aliasing during normal interaction
instead of only while rendering.
Auto Tangents button Positions a tangent for each vertex set to create a smooth curve between the vertices.
When Auto Tangents is disabled, the tangents are positioned under the vertex, resulting in straight lines
between vertices. When you draw freehand segments in a mask with Auto Tangents off, vertices are added
with broken tangents, allowing the mask to follow your cursor movement.
TIP In Batch or Batch FX or the Modular Keyer, you can use multiple viewports as you draw the garbage
mask. For example, you can draw the mask in Matte view, while also displaying Result view. Using multiple
viewports, you can immediately see how your mask affects the clip.
(a) Vertex added by first click (b) Vertex added by third click
■ Press Shift to temporarily hide the vertices and tangents as you are drawing the mask.
GMask | 1107
(a) Vertices are temporarily hidden while holding Shift
■ Click-drag to control the tangency of any vertex as you are drawing the mask. When you release,
you can continue to add vertices.
■ Shift-drag to add freehand segments to the mask. The vertices and tangents of the mask you are
drawing are temporarily hidden. Vertices are added where you drag, and appear when you release
Shift. After closing the mask, you can use the Lasso Fit parameter to increase or decrease the
number of vertices that define the freehand segments of the mask. See Adjusting the Number of
Points in Freehand Segments (page 1109).
NOTE If you are drawing the mask with Auto Tangents turned off, freehand segments are drawn with broken
tangents. See Breaking Tangents (page 1113).
TIP You can also close the mask by pressing the keyboard shortcut for the edit mode you want to use next:
M for Move, S for Select, or B for Break. The mask closes and you are ready to work in that mode.
When the garbage mask is closed, its vertices and tangents can be edited and animated.
GMask | 1109
value affects the whole garbage mask. Otherwise, the Lasso Fit value only affects the part of the mask drawn
freehand.
The Lasso Fit parameter loses its influence over freehand segments of a mask if you have edited points as
follows:
■ Added or deleted points using the Add or Delete Edit modes
■ Saved and loaded a garbage mask
■ Started a new session with the application
NOTE If you move vertices of a garbage mask and then change the Lasso Fit value, all the vertices snap back
to the original position where they were first drawn, and all animation is lost. This occurs only if the Lasso
Fit value retains its influence on the garbage mask.
NOTE You cannot animate the priority by setting Push and Pop at different frames. When you set a mask's
priority with Push or Pop, it is set for the entire clip.
To transform a mask:
NOTE The Axis controls are similar to the Axis menu in Action.
2 Use the Transformation fields to modify the position, shape, and size of the mask.
GMask | 1111
Selecting Vertices and Tangents
tangent handles:selecting, in garbage masksvertices in garbage masks:selectinggarbage masks:tangent handles,
selectinggarbage masks:vertices, selectingYou can select vertices and tangent handles when Select, Move, or
Scale is selected in the Tools box:
■ To select an individual vertex or tangent handle, click the vertex or tangent handle.
■ To select multiple vertices, Ctrl-drag a selection box over a series of vertices.
■ To select multiple vertices using the pen, press the pen button and drag a selection box over a series of
vertices.
■ To add another vertex to a multiple selection, Shift-click the vertex.
■ To add several more vertices, press Shift+Ctrl and drag a selection box over the additional vertices.
■ To deselect all vertices, click anywhere outside the mask.
1 Select the mask vertices that the pickers or softness vertices are associated with (see previous section).
2 Click a picker or softness vertex corresponding to one of the selected mask vertices.
The pickers or softness vertices are selected for all the selected mask vertices.
TIP If you have trouble selecting a tangent handle that is very close to the vertex, hold Q then select it.
■ To move selected vertices in any direction, select Move. Click one of the selected vertices and drag.
■ To move one or more selected vertices in the direction perpendicular to their tangents, select Scale. Click
one of the selected vertices and drag.
■ To ensure better continuity on a garbage mask, automatically adjust tangents as you move vertices or
scale the mask. Press and hold G and then drag a vertex. See Automatically Adjusting Tangent Handles
of Adjacent Vertices (page 1113).tangent handles:scaling in garbage masks
You can create a garbage mask composed entirely of straight edges by removing the tangents from all the
vertices:
■ To remove the tangent of a vertex, select Break and click the vertex.
■ To add a tangent back to a vertex, select Auto and click the vertex. Alternatively, using the Break option,
click the vertex and “drag” the tangent out again.
1 From the home directory of the application, open the .cshrc file in a text editor.
2 Add the following line to the end of the .cshrc file:
setenv DL_GMASK_AUTO_MOVE_MODE
3 Save and close the .cshrc file.
4 In the home directory, type:
source .cshrc
5 Launch or restart the application.
When you click or move a vertex on a garbage mask, the tangents are automatically repositioned.
When you press G and click or move a vertex, the tangents are not repositioned.
GMask | 1113
TIP Alternatively, you can set the environment variable in the shell pointing to the home directory of the
application. When you set an environment variable in the shell, the environment variable is enabled for the
current session only.
Press: To:
NOTE Disable Spline Keyframing if you do not want a keyframe added to the Shape channel.
NOTE Enabling Shape Animation disables the Vertex Keyframing and Channel Selecting boxes in the Garbage
Mask Setup menu. These contain options for animating individual vertex channels. See Animating Masks
Using Spline Keyframing (page 1116).
6 Depending on how you want to animate the garbage mask, use the Linear Interpolation and Constant
Shape buttons as follows.
Enable: To:
Linear Interpolation Make the garbage mask trajectory linear. Enable this button when rotoscoping. For
smooth garbage mask animation, disable this button.
Constant Shape Keep the garbage mask shape the same for all frames. When you enable this button, the
following message appears: “Remove all keyframes except current one?” Click Confirm.
GMask | 1115
Animating Masks Using Spline Keyframing
vertices in garbage masks:animatingYou can animate the shape of a mask by moving the vertices of a garbage
mask spline at different frames throughout the clip. Each vertex has its own X, Y and Z position channels
in the Channel Editor, as well as several other parameters, as shown in the following table.
The position of the left and right tangent handles rel- tangents: left, right
ative to the mask vertex.
The tangent continuity (handles broken or unbroken). tangents: continuity 0 = broken handles
1 = unbroken handles
The active/inactive status of mask vertices. See Adding Vertex_x: active 0= inactive
and Removing Vertices (page 1118). 1 = active
Before you start to animate the mask, set the Spline Keyframing options in the Garbage Mask Setup menu.
In the GMask node in Batch or Batch FX, these options are located in the Node Setup menu. Use these
options to specify which elements will get a keyframe as you animate the mask.
As you adjust the mask, you can opt to apply keyframes to selected vertices or to all vertices. To quickly
animate a mask, keyframe all vertices every time you adjust a single vertex. This way, what you see at a given
frame will be exactly what you get no matter how you animate the “surrounding” frames.vertices in garbage
masks:setting keyframing options
To have more control over the shape of the mask frame by frame, animate one vertex at a time. This method
is useful for tracking garbage masks and keeping control over tangent animation. See Animating Masks Using
Tracking (page 1119).
By combining the Spline and Vertex Keyframing options in different ways, you can set an animation mode
to suit the task at hand. For example, by selecting Item and All Vertices, you could animate just the tangent
handles of all vertices on the mask.
(a) Spline Keyframing box (b) Vertex Keyframing box (c) Channel Selecting box
NOTE The Spline & Tracer, Spline only, and Item options are only available if you disable Shape Animation in the
Garbage Mask menu.
Select: To:
Spline & Tracer Set a keyframe for all the parameters of the vertex or vertices and related elements, with
the exception of the Sample On parameter. This option is only available when accessing
the Garbage Mask Setup menu from the GMask node.
Spline only Set a keyframe for one or more vertices, or related elements, for the specified parameter,
as well as for the mask vertex position and the tangent position channels.
Item Set a keyframe for a parameter of a vertex, or of a related element. Only the particular
parameter gets a keyframe.
On Set a keyframe for the shape channel when a change to a vertex is made (such as moving
a vertex or tangent handle, breaking tangent handles, or changing the Active/Inactive
status of a vertex). This option is only available when Shape Animation is enabled in the
Garbage Mask menu.
Vertex Keyframing box Sets the conditions under which parameters are applied to specified vertices in the
mask.
NOTE The Vertex Keyframing box is only available if you disable Shape Animation from the Garbage Mask menu.
Select: To:
All Vertices Set a keyframe for the parameter you are animating for all the vertices of the mask. Related
elements, such as tangents, also all get a keyframe when you animate a parameter on the
mask.
Selected Vertices Set a keyframe for the parameter you are animating for all selected vertices on the mask.
Related elements, such as tangents, that are selected, also all get a keyframe when you
animate one on the mask.
Channel Selecting box Determines which channels are selected in the Channel Editor when you select one
or more vertices.
NOTE The Channel Selecting box is only available if you disable Shape Animation from the Garbage Mask menu.
Select: To:
Vertex Select all the channels related to the vertices you select on the garbage mask. For example,
whether you select a vertex or one of its tangents, its active, position, and tangent channels
are also selected in the Channel Editor.
GMask | 1117
Select: To:
Item Select only the particular channel corresponding to the selected vertices. For example, if
you select the right tangent handle of a vertex, only the corresponding right channel is
selected in the Channel Editor.
NOTE Adding or deleting vertices on masks with freehand segments causes the Lasso Fit value to lose influence.
See Adjusting the Number of Points in Freehand Segments (page 1109).
NOTE Alternatively, use the Active button in the Shape menu to make vertices inactive. Select the vertex
you want to make inactive (you must be in Select, Move, or Scale mode), and then click Active.
NOTE Alternatively, use the Active button in the Shape menu to make vertices active. Select the vertex you
want to make active (you must be in Select, Move, or Scale mode), and then click Active.
garbage masks:vertices, deletingvertices in garbage masks:deletingTo delete a vertex from the mask:
NOTE You cannot delete the last three vertices of a mask, as they are the minimum necessary to define it.
If you want to delete the mask, you delete its Geom node in the Garbage Mask Schematic.
When you apply tracking data to a mask, only the mask axis, or position of selected vertices, is animated.
Any other keyframes set for the mask are disregarded. You can, however, animate individual vertices after
GMask | 1119
applying tracking data to your mask's axis or to individual vertices. It is especially useful to manually adjust
the tangent handles of the vertices at different frames where needed.
NOTE The first tracker is for position data and the second tracker is for rotation and scaling data. If rotation
and scaling were not selected, the second tracker has no effect.
10 Click Analyse.
Fine-tune your analysis if necessary. For more information, see Stabilizing and Tracking (page 1063).
11 Click Return.
The Garbage Mask menu reappears. The tracking data is applied to the mask.
12 Fine-tune your mask if necessary.
NOTE When tracking vertices on a mask using the Garbage Mask menu in the GMask node in Batch or
Batch FX or the Modular Keyer, you can only track the front clip.
TIP Besides the practical use of blurring a garbage mask, that is, to match the movement of an object you are
keying, you can try blurring masks for artistic effects in multi-layered composites.
motion blur:garbage masks, applyinggarbage masks:motion blur, applyingTo apply motion blur to a garbage
mask:
GMask | 1121
Motion Blur button Enable to apply motion blur to garbage masks.
Phase field Specifies whether the motion blur is based on the movement before or after the current
frame. A value of -100 places the motion blur before the frame, while a value of 100 places the motion
blur after the frame. A value of 0 is centred, which evenly distributes the motion blur. The default
value is 0.
Shutter field Controls the duration of the motion blur at each frame, which affects the size of the
motion blur. Increasing Shutter value does not increase the processing time.
Samples field Determines the quality of the motion blur produced by the number of samples taken
at each frame. Increasing the Samples value causes the processing time to increase linearly.
NOTE You can animate the Motion blur button, as well as the Phase, Shutter, and Samples fields. They can
be found in the Channel Editor under the motion_blur folder.
Motion Blur curve Determines the transparency of the samples that create the blurring effect. The
left side of the curve controls the samples of the incoming movement of the subject in the frame. The
right side of the curve controls the samples of the outgoing movement of the subject in the frame.
For example, to add blur to the left edge of the mask as it travels from left to right in the clip, adjust
the motion blur curve so it slopes down. If you want to add a bit of blur on each side of the mask,
adjust the motion blur curve so it peaks in the middle.
Select one of the three vertices on the curve to move it. When you select a vertex, its tangent handle
is displayed. You use the tangent handle to adjust the slope of the curve.
NOTE The garbage mask motion blur settings are similar to those in the Axis menu in Action.
Motion blur occurs on the mask according to the settings you select and the speed its vertices traverse
the clip.
3 Enable Motion Blur. This makes the motion blur available for application on any garbage mask or axis
in the setup.
NOTE Motion blur settings are applied uniformly to all garbage masks in the setup.
4 To reset all motion blur settings back to their default settings, click Reset and then click Confirm.
5 To apply motion blur to a garbage mask, access the Garbage Mask Shape controls, select the garbage
mask, and then enable MBlur.
The settings specified in the Garbage Mask Setup menu will be used to create the motion blur effect
on the garbage mask. You can select one garbage mask at a time.
6 To apply motion blur to an axis, select the axis, and then enable MBlur.
The settings specified in the Garbage Mask Setup menu will be used to create the motion blur effect
on the axis. You can select one axis at a time.
1 From the GMask node's menu, select Interlaced from the Rendering box.
GMask | 1123
Two garbage masks with Region of Interest enabled
1 In the Garbage Mask menu, select Geom from the Object box and click Add.
NOTE Disabling Region of Interest toggles the Colour setting back to what it was before.
NOTE Each time you add a garbage mask with ROI enabled, Result view is temporarily cleared of all masks
so that you see the entire matte. This way you have a better view of what you want to reveal and mask.
(a) Outer Softness border (b) Inner Softness border (c) Softness vertices (d) Mask border
Some potential uses for the advanced gradient are:
■ Creating compositing effects when using Action
■ Removing wires
■ Pulling a key on areas of the mask where pickers are not needed
When using the Tracer in the GMask node in Batch or Batch FX or the Modular Keyer, you can work in two
modes: advanced gradient and pickers. Individual vertices can be set to either of these modes.
You can change the default mode of the Tracer from advanced gradient to pickers, a system of localized
keys. Tracer analyses the colour information both inside and outside the mask, then compares the values
and uses a keying algorithm (the same one used in the 3D Keyer) to derive a key for the mask edge. This
system allows you to key images with a lot of detail at the edges.
GMask | 1125
NOTE For good results with the Tracer, the object must have sufficient (and relatively consistent) chroma and
luma differences between its foreground and background.
To control softness and advanced gradients, use the Garbage Mask Shape controls.
(a) Edge Softness box (b) Alpha field (c) Offset field (d) Distance field (e) Inner Edge field (f) Outer Edge field
4 Set the border of the softness gradient using the Offset field. The gradient will be affected by how far
the softness border is offset from the edge of the mask.
GMask | 1127
(a) Borders of area of pickers' influence.
Using pickers, you can key objects that otherwise would be extremely difficult to key. Imagine a golden
horse with a very fine mane on an unfocused background of various colours. As long as you have some
chroma/luma differences in the background (green vegetation, blue sky, black earth or rocks), you can 'force'
the outside pickers to sample these colour values. The inside pickers can sample the golden average values,
and the Tracer can generate a soft-edged matte based on the difference between the two sets of values.
Pickers can be selected and manipulated independently of the vertices they are associated with. See Selecting
Pickers and Softness Vertices (page 1112).
1 Select the mask vertices in the area of the mask border where you want to remove the gradient.
2 Click any one softness vertex corresponding to one of the selected mask vertices (either an inner or
outer vertex).
All the corresponding inner or outer softness vertices are selected.
3 From the Tools box, select Scale.
4 Click any one of the selected softness vertices and drag until the softness border is lined up with the
mask border.
5 Repeat for the second softness border (inner or outer).
softness border:separating from mask borderTo separate the softness border from the mask border:
1 Click a mask vertex, and then drag to the right to move the softness vertex out.
1 Analyse the image to determine which areas are appropriate for pickers and which areas are better
served by advanced gradients.
2 Draw the garbage mask.
3 Assign pickers to vertices where they are needed.
4 Adjust the softness borders, offsets, tangents, vertices, and pickers (where used).
1 Examine the edges of your talent to decide which portions would benefit from advanced gradient
treatment and which would respond better to localized key treatment. If your clip has colours that
change greatly throughout the clip, using pickers may be difficult.
For more information, see Applying Softness Using Pickers (page 1127).
1 In the Modular Keyer or Batch or Batch FX, add a context point further down the processing pipeline
or processing tree. You can then use the Context view to see the effect of the matte on the result image.
NOTE When using the Tracer to pull a key from the Modular Keyer, remove the nodes before the GMask
node in the default pipeline.
GMask | 1129
(a) Edge Softness box
2 Select the vertices to which you want to apply pickers. See Selecting Vertices and Tangents (page 1112).
3 Enable Pickers.
NOTE When one or more pickers are enabled, mask characteristics are automatically set to Outside disabled
and a Colour value of 0 so that the mask will be white inside and black outside. Do not set the Outside
button unless you want to reverse the effect.
■ On vertices without pickers, the softness borders delineate the area where a softness gradient is
applied.
■ On vertices with pickers, the softness borders delineate the area to which softness is applied according
to the picker values.
1 Adjust the softness borders and mask border by moving the vertices and tangents:
■ The mask border should follow the general contour of the subject as closely as possible.
■ The outer softness border should completely surround all details that you want to include in the
matte—all wispy details and edges must be within this line.
When moving tangents, you can opt to have the pickers follow the tangent movement (the default
behaviour), or be independent of tangent movement. To make pickers independent of tangents, switch
to Break mode and click either picker. You can animate this behaviour. See Animating a Tracer Mask
(page 1132).
NOTE If the tangents are broken, the pickers are automatically unlinked from the tangents.
2 For each pair of pickers, one requires a sample of the area outside the mask, while the other requires
a sample of the mask interior.
Place one picker outside the subject to sample values you do not want to include in the matte (for
example, a blue screen). Place the other picker within the subject for a colour value sample of an area
you do want included in the matte. Try to select areas where the colour values do not change too much
throughout the clip.
3 Click Matte or Result (Matte will provide a clearer view) to see your progress.
4 Scale the pickers by doing one of the following:
■ Select Scale edit mode, click within the picker, and drag to the left to reduce the size or to the right
to increase the size.
■ Select the picker and then drag the cursor over the Sample Size field.
5 Move the pickers around and enlarge or reduce them to interactively see how you can obtain the best
results. This will require toggling between the Front and Matte views.
GMask | 1131
The following figure illustrates the Matte view result of the pickers placed in the previous figures.
The Sample on/off status of pickers. See Animating sample: active 0 = Sample off
Picker Values (page 1133). 1 = Sample on
The interpolation mode for picker values when Sample sample: interp. 0 = Constant
is off. See Animating Picker Values (page 1133). 1 = Linear
pickers:animatingTracer:animating pickersTwo options are available to control how picker values (that is,
the sampled colour values) are animated: Sample On and Interpolation mode.
You can select Active or Passive for one or more selected pickers.
Selecting Passive works best when colour values remain fairly consistent throughout the clip. In this case,
one picker sampling will often be enough for the entire clip.
Typical technique for using Sample On: one sample is used for the entire clip
(a) Sample Off (b) Sample On (c) Sample Off
When there is more colour variation in the clip, you may need to take samples at several frames.
1 Choose a frame in which the colour values are representative of the average colour values found in
the clip.
2 Select the pickers you want to sample. See Selecting Pickers and Softness Vertices (page 1112).
3 At that frame, make sure Active is selected from the Sample box (the default).
4 Set the picker values by setting their position and size until you get the optimal result.
5 Go to the next frame and select Passive from the Sample box.
The sample values read at the frame you chose will be used to compute the softness for all other frames
in the clip.
1 Follow the steps in the previous procedure to set a picker sampling for the clip.
GMask | 1133
2 Starting at the first frame sampled, examine your results frame by frame (either forward or backward
through the clip).
3 When you come to an unsatisfactory result, select the pickers you want to re-sample and select Active.
4 Adjust the picker position and size until you get a good result.
5 Go to the next frame and select Passive from the Sample box.
6 Continue verifying frames until you come to one that needs to be adjusted.
7 Repeat steps 3-5.
8 Repeat for the remainder of the clip.
■ Linear (enabled): Picker values are interpolated between keyframes with active sampling. The picker
values for each frame are computed based on the values of the previous and next active sampling keyframes
and the proximity of the frame to those keyframes.
■ Constant (disabled): Picker values are fixed between keyframes with active sampling. This means that
the picker values at the first active sampling keyframe will be used for all subsequent frames up until the
sampling is active again.
NOTE When animating selected vertices with the Stabilizer, the vertices do the tracking, not the pickers. Once
you obtain the tracking data, you will need to go back through your clip from frame 1 onwards, making adjustments
to the pickers where necessary.
Problem One of the Tracer segments (localized keys) on my matte shows noisy black and white
artefacts and nothing else. What's wrong?
Possible Cause The two pickers are sampling luma and/or chroma values that are too similar.
Solution Try moving one of the pickers to a differently coloured area, or enlarge or reduce the size
of one or both of the pickers to include more varied colour information. If there is simply
no area in the clip that differs enough, you will need to use an advanced gradient for that
segment.
Problem One of the Tracer segments (localized keys) on my matte appears to be showing the
black/white matte information reversed, or as a negative. What's wrong?
Possible Cause You may have reversed the position of the two pickers.
Solution Try exchanging the inside picker for the outside one and vice-versa.
Problem I can't get a good colour sample from the area outside the mask edge in a certain portion
of the image. What can I do?
Possible Cause There is simply none (or not enough) of the needed colour in the immediate area of that
particular picker.
Solution You can drag the picker somewhere further away from the vertex to get a better colour
sample. The picker can be located anywhere on the image in order to facilitate the best
possible colour sample. Do not, however, place a picker outside the image.
Problem I'm getting really nice edge detail on my matte, but I'm also getting black/white holes in
my matte. Is there anything I can do?
Possible Cause This may be caused by the generation of random noise and/or artefacts.
GMask | 1135
Solution 1 Try the Clean algorithm by clicking the box labelled Clean. You may want to try several
different percentages to find the optimal level of cleaning that doesn't effect your edges
(the default percentage is 70%). The Clean algorithm works only with the Tracer and
pickers on. If you have advanced gradient segments, they will be unaffected. The Clean
command works on all vertices with pickers, whether or not they are selected. The area
affected by the Clean command is the same area that the pickers affect (see Applying
Softness Using Pickers (page 1127)).
Problem I'm repositioning and rescaling the pickers and the matte goes from having too much
softness (overly transparent) to having too little (overly opaque). What can I do?
Possible Cause The sampled colour range is either too broad or too narrow.
Solution Locate the areas that have a tendency to become too softened and the picker that is 're-
sponsible' for this by moving the pickers until the matte results change for the worse. Include
a larger portion of these softer areas in a picker box. By sampling a fuller range of
chroma/luma in this area, a more uniform, averaged effect is created.
1 In the Garbage Mask menu, click Save to open the file browser.
GMask | 1137
2 From the GMask Type box, select Save GMask.
To navigate to the default or custom directory when loading garbage mask setups:
NOTE The custom directory is updated every time you navigate to a new directory.
1 In the Garbage Mask menu, click Load to open the file browser.
NOTE The Scale Setup button is available on the GMask Setup menu only when accessed from the GMask
node in Batch or Batch FX or the Modular Keyer.
You can also view proxies for each of these setups using the file browser.
GMask | 1139
To export a raw setup file:
1 In the Garbage Mask menu, click Save to open the file browser.
2 From the GMask Type box, select Export RAW.
3 Type the name of the file to be exported, and click Save.
1 In the Garbage Mask menu, click Load to open the file browser.
2 From the GMask Type box, select Import RAW.
3 Navigate to the appropriate directory and select the raw setup file to import.
The raw setup file is imported into the Keyer.
1 In the Modular Keyer, click the GMask node in the processing pipeline. See Accessing the Garbage
Mask Menu (page 1103).
2 In the GMask menu, click Load.
The Load menu and file browser appear.
3 In the Load menu, select Import Raw and Default from the Load option boxes.
1 In the Modular Keyer, click the GMask node in the processing pipeline. See Accessing the Garbage
Mask Menu (page 1103).
2 In the GMask Setup menu, click Save.
The Save menu and file browser appear.
3 In the Save menu, select Export Raw from the Save option box.
4 In the file browser, specify the name and path of the file to export.
5 Click Save.
wipes: masks, drawing optionsBefore you create a mask, set how the points of the mask are drawn.
Enable: To:
Auto Tangents Create tangents for every new point you set.
Show Border View the border defined in the Offset field of the Shape menu. The colour pot next
to the Show Border button defines the colour of the border.
Invert Reverse your wipe. For instance, if you originally create an expanding box wipe,
enabling Invert creates a shrinking box.
3 To change the colour of the mask's wireframe, colour points, or offset border, click a colour pot and
pick a colour.
GMask | 1141
1142
Colour Correcting
19
About Colour Correcting
The Colour Corrector includes tools that provide precise control over colour values. You can modify luma
ranges in a clip (shadows, midtones, and highlights), sample colours, and adjust the colour balance. You
can rewire colour channels and suppress colours, as well as animate a colour correction by manipulating
the animation curve in the Channel Editor.
When working with large images, you can free up additional screen space with the Overlay user interface.
This feature is exclusive to the Colour Corrector and the Colour Warper. The Colour Warper's Overlay user
interface is not available when accessing the Colour Warper as a Batch or Batch FX node.
For details on using the Overlay user interface, see Overlay User Interface (page 398).
1143
To access the Colour Corrector from the Modular Keyer:
1 Double-click on, or drag, the Colour Correct node from the node bar to the schematic.
2 Double-click the Colour Correct node.
You are in the Colour Correct editor.
1 From the Media menu, select the media containing the clip you want to colour correct.
2 Double-click the CC field for the media you want to colour correct.
The clip is loaded into the Colour Corrector.
To hide the Colour Corrector menu while modifying a numeric field or the colour wheel:
1 Click and hold any numeric field or the colour wheel. For example, click and hold the Hue field.
2 Press Alt+‘ (on the Tilde key) while continuing to hold the cursor.
The Colour Corrector menu is hidden.
3 Drag the cursor to modify the field value or adjust the colour wheel.
The changes you apply will be visible in the image as you drag if Regen is enabled (see Dynamic Up-
dating (page 1146)). Otherwise, the changes appear when you release the mouse.
4 Press Alt+` (on the Tilde key) to display the menu.
To hide the Colour Corrector menu while accessing buttons via their corresponding keyboard shortcuts:
Viewing Clips
Colour Corrector:clips, viewingYou can view a front, back, matte, or result clip in the image window. The
front, back, and matte clips show the source clips used. The result clip shows your colour corrections as you
apply them.
To display a clip:
1 From the View box, select the clip you want to view. For example, select Result to view the result clip.
TIP Use the controls below the image window to change the frame displayed in the image window. Use the
viewing tools in the upper-right corner of the panel to enlarge and pan images.
To display: Press:
Dynamic Updating
Colour Corrector:updating images interactivelyUse the Regen button to enable dynamic updating of changes
you make in the Colour Corrector. When Regen is enabled, you see the changes interactively as you adjust
the values in the various displays. When Regen is disabled, you do not see changes until values are entered
after releasing the cursor, or by clicking the Enter key in the calculator.
TIP If the Overlay user interface is enabled, the split bar can extend beneath the Overlay user interface. To access
it, grab from an area where there are no menu elements.
1 Select one of the reset buttons depending on what you want to reset.
Select: To reset:
Reset Basics The basic properties of the Colour Corrector. Any changes made using the Curve,
Histogram, or Range charts are unaffected.
Reset in the Curve menu The settings defined by the Curve chart. The Basic properties of the Colour Corrector
are unaffected.
Reset in the Histogram menu The settings defined by the Histogram. The Basic properties of the Colour Corrector
are unaffected.
Reset in the Range menu The settings defined by the Range chart. The Basic properties of the Colour Corrector
are unaffected.
TIP Click Revert to revert to the last saved setup. All changes made since the previous Save operation are
undone.
To sample a colour:
1 Below the colour patches, select the sample option you want to use.
Select: To:
Y Display the NTSC luma values for the colours sampled. Either NTSC 601 or HD 709 luma
values are displayed, depending on the settings in the configuration file.
HLS Display the hue, lightness, and saturation values for the colours sampled.
RGB Display the red, green, and blue values for the colours sampled.
2 Click the Front colour patch to sample a colour from the front clip. Click the Back colour patch to
sample a colour from the back clip. Click both patches to sample front and back clips simultaneously.
The cursor becomes a colour picker.
3 To sample an individual pixel, click a colour in the image.
4 To sample an average colour, Alt-drag in the image, or press Ctrl and draw a selection box.
Colour Wheel As a reference point on the colour wheel. A black reference point indicates the colour
you sampled from the front clip. A white reference point indicates the sample from
the back clip.
Histogram menu As a red vertical line on the gradient bar, indicating the luma value. Only the front
sample is displayed.
Curves menu As red, green, and blue values mapped to the colour curves.
Ranges menu As a red vertical line on the Luminance gradient bar, indicating the luma value. Only
the front sample is displayed.
The processing order is important in determining the colour that appears in the middle (result) section of
the colour patch. The middle section displays the colour resulting from the application of all colour correction
setups; in other words, the colour at the end of the processing order. This colour is updated as you change
any parameter value. The original front colour appears in the left section of the patch.
Matching Colours
colour correcting:matching coloursmatching:colours, in Colour CorrectorYou can match and colour correct
the colours of the front clip using the back clip as a reference. To perform a match operation, sample colours
from the front and back clip and then use the Match button in the Curves menu.
Colour Correcting
Use the colour correction controls to perform many operations. You can:
■ Colour correct shadows, midtones, and highlights separately or together.
■ Adjust the hue, saturation, or contrast pivot point of an image.
■ Rewire the red, green, or blue channels of an image.
■ Create a negative or monochrome image.
■ Adjust the gamma of the individual red, green, blue, or RGB channels.
■ Adjust the red, green, blue, or RGB values in an image by modifying the gain, offset and contrast values
for the channel.
■ Perform colour suppression.
■ Adjust the colour balance.
To reset any of these changes, click Reset Basics. To reset all the changes in the Colour Corrector, click Reset
All.
Master The entire image. Modification made in the Master range are applied after individual range
modifications.
G option in the Red Channel Rewiring field, the colour values of the red channel are replaced with those
of the green channel.
The RGB Rewiring commands can be applied to the Master range only.
Select: To:
Replace colour values of the red channel with those of the green channel.
Replace colour values of the red channel with those of the blue channel.
Replace colour values of the red channel with the luma of all channels.
Replace colour values of the red channel with its inverse. For example, 1 corresponds
to the maximum value of the given colour channel. In 8 bits, this value is 255.
NOTE The green and blue channels are rewired in the same way as the red channel (described in the previous
table).
You can convert a colour image into a monochrome or negative image using the Rewire option box.
TIP You can also convert the image manually by clicking the appropriate Rewire selection box (R, G or B) and
selecting the Y option for monochrome or 1- R for a negative image.
Suppressing Colours
colour correcting:suppressing colourssuppressing:colours, in Colour CorrectorYou can suppress the RGB or
CMYw colours in an image. Chroma suppression is useful for removing blue spill from a blue-screen composite.
To suppress a colour:
1 Click Master.
Enable: To suppress:
R Red
G Green
B Blue
C Cyan
M Magenta
Yw Yellow
The status box on the button is light blue when the button is enabled.
NOTE If Saturation is set to 0, no colour balancing is performed, regardless of the Gain value. In the Channel
Editor, Balance channels are labelled hue_balance and gain_balance, respectively.
You can make colour balance points for each range (highlights, midtones, and shadows) or for all ranges
simultaneously (master). Click inside the colour wheel to create a balance point for the current tonal range.
The current range's colour balance point is connected to the hub of the colour wheel by a line. You can
constrain how the point is modified according to how you select it. If you select the line, the radius of the
line Strength is constrained. If you select the point, the direction of the line Tint is constrained. You can
make unconstrained modifications by clicking anywhere in the wheel, or by entering values in the Balance
fields.
NOTE As you move the colour balance point on the colour wheel, the values in the Balance Tools Hue and Gain
fields update automatically. You can also set the values for Tint and Strength directly in these fields.
1 Enable Regen so that the image will update as you change the colour balance.
2 Select the range you want to modify.
3 On the colour wheel, click and drag toward the colour you want to use.
As you drag the cursor, a colour balance point follows the cursor. Depending on the range you are
modifying, the colour balance points are shaded to make for easier identification (from light grey to
black, in this order: Highlights, Shadows, Midtones, Master).
You can continue dragging outside of the colour wheel. The colour balance point is replaced by a
triangle in the outer circle of the colour wheel. The triangles are also shaded depending on the range
selected (from white to grey, in this order: Master, Highlights, Shadows, Midtones).
The image dynamically updates as you drag.
TIP You can interact directly in the image window to change the colour balance. While holding the range
keyboard shortcut (V for Master; Z for Shadows; X for Midtones; or C for Highlights), drag directly in the
image window. The colour wheel and Balance Tools fields update accordingly.
4 If you are not satisfied with the resulting image, click and drag the colour balance point or triangle
again. You can continue to move the colour balance point or triangle until the desired effect is achieved.
(a) Minimum Input slider (b) Minimum Output slider (c) Minimum Input field box (d) Minimum Output field
(e) Maximum Input field (f) Maximum Output field (g) Maximum Output slider (h) Maximum Input slider
Input controls Use the minimum and maximum input sliders or fields to set the input levels of your
image.
Output controls Use the minimum and maximum output sliders or fields to set the output levels of
your image.
Select To Frame:
You can use the Input Level controls to increase the contrast in the image. For example, if you set the
minimum value to 50, pixels with colour values less than 50 are remapped to 0 (black). Pixels with colour
values greater than 50 are remapped to the appropriate values. This darkens the image and increases the
contrast in the shadow areas.
You can also set the maximum and minimum limits for the colour range by entering the values directly in
the Minimum and Maximum Input fields on either side of the histogram.
NOTE If you are in Luminance, you can invert the image by reversing the order of the black and white
triangles.
You can use the Output Level controls to decrease the contrast in the image. For example, suppose that you
set the minimum value to 100. A pixel with a colour value of 0 is remapped to 100. Pixels with colour values
greater than 0 are remapped to the appropriate values. This has the effect of lightening the image and
decreasing the contrast in the shadow areas.
Suppose that you set the maximum value for the range to 200. A pixel with a colour value of 255 is remapped
to 200. Pixels with colour values less than 255 are remapped to the corresponding values. This has the effect
of darkening the image and decreasing the contrast in the highlight areas.
You can also set the maximum and minimum limits for the colour range by setting the values directly in
the Minimum and Maximum Output fields.
(a) Frame Selection box (b) Source View option box (c) Destination View option box
Frame Selection box Choose how you want to frame the Ranges Histogram.
Select To Frame:
1 Adjust the colour balance for each of the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights channels. Note the effect
that this setup has on the image.
2 Display the Ranges menu. Adjust the curves using the tangent handles.
You should see that the resulting image is different from that in step 1. The difference is the result of
the changes you made to the luma curves for the shadows, midtones, and highlights.
Colour Corrector:colour curvesThere is one colour curve for each of the red, green, blue, and luminance
channels of an image. The colour curves are generated by plotting the input values for the source image
versus the output values for the resulting image.
For integer images, the input values range from 0 to 255, and are plotted along the horizontal axis. The
output values range from 0 to 255, and are plotted along the vertical axis. The range for both the input
values and the output values is from 0 to 255 in 8-bit mode, and from 0 to 4095 in 12-bit mode.
For 16-bit floating point images, the input values range from 0 to 1, and are plotted along the horizontal
axis. The output values range from 0 to 1, and are plotted along the vertical axis. By default, there are 2
points on the curve, mapping 0 to 0 and 1 to 1. Use the Out Range option box to define whether the curves
are constant (select Clamp) or linear (select No Clamp) before the first point of the curve and after the last
point of the curve.
The default curve for each channel is a diagonal line that extends from the lower-left corner to the upper-right
corner of the graph. The default curve represents the initial state in which the colour values for the pixels
of the source image are equal to the values for the corresponding pixels of the resulting image. For example,
all pixels that have a value of 100 in the source image also have a value of 100 in the resulting image.
The colour values of an image are remapped when you change the shape of a colour curve. Use the Curves
Editor to add, delete, or move vertices on the curve. For example, move the end vertices on the curve to
change the maximum and minimum values for the colour range. Add a vertex anywhere on the curve to
remap a particular colour value.
The Curves Editor behaves in much the same way as an animation curve in the Channel Editor. To edit
colour curves, select Add, Delete, or Move from the Tools box.
Multiple Viewports
Colour Warper:viewports, displayingWhen working in the Colour Warper, you can display up to four
viewports at a time in the image window, including a view of the Channel Editor. Multiple viewports are
convenient when you want to modify colour values, create mattes, and compare your result with other
images in different viewports simultaneously.
NOTE The Overlay user interface cannot be used with multiple views in the Colour Warper tool.
TIP If the Overlay user interface is enabled, the split bar can extend beneath the Overlay user interface. To access
it, grab from an area where there are no menu elements.
2 Click Setup.
3 From the Scope box, select the vectorscope you want to use to view the clip.
Enable: To:
Canvas Show the vectorscope canvas. When the canvas is off, the vectorscope is transparent,
but can be outlined.
Enable: To:
Source Show a histogram of the colour values in the front, or source clip. The source colour
values are obtained from the current frame. If you input both front and matte clips,
the colour values in the front clip that are defined by the white part of the matte are
displayed.
Destination Show a histogram of the colour values in the result clip. The destination colour values
are obtained from the current frame. If you input both front and matte clips, the
colour values in the front clip that are defined by the white part of the matte are dis-
played.
When both Source and Destination are enabled, you see both the source and destination colour values.
The source clip's colour values are displayed in black and the result clip's colour values are displayed
in colour. When only Source is enabled, the source clip's colour values are displayed in colour.
(a) Result clip (in colour) (b) Source clip (in black)
NOTE You can also toggle the Source and Destination buttons in the Basics menu to show or hide source
and destination colours in the histograms.
6 From the Size box, select the size of the coloured squares or cubes that make up the histogram. You
can display 8x8, 16x16, or 32x32 coloured dots.
Select: To match:
Bars 75% 75% SMPTE bars. If the current project is NTSC, the bars are set to 75% by default.
Press: To:
Ctrl-drag Rotate the 3D vectorscope. If you Ctrl-drag the 2D vectorscope, the 3D vec-
torscope appears and rotates.
Enable: To:
Source Show a histogram of the luma values in the front, or source, clip. The source luma
values are obtained from the current frame.
Destination Show a histogram of the luma values in the result clip. The destination colour values
are obtained from the current frame.
When both Source and Destination are enabled, you see both the source and destination luma values
in the histogram. Source clip colour values are displayed in black and result clip colour values are
displayed in off-white.
NOTE You can also toggle the Source and Destination buttons in the Setup menu to show or hide source
and destination colours in the histograms.
Select: To:
Master Use the Basics menu to modify the entire image. In Master mode, you cannot
output a matte.
Sel. 1, Sel.2, or Sel. 3 Generate a matte from the front clip selective colour correction. You can then
use the Basics menu to modify the range of colour defined by the matte. In a
selective mode, you can output the matte, selective, or result. See Selecting
Colour Ranges for Colour Correction (page 1175).
Colour Warper:resetting colour corrections;colour correcting:resetting in Colour WarperYou can reset colour
effects created with the Colour Warper.
You can clear or reset several Colour Warper values in the Basics menu using individual Clear/Reset boxes.
C resets the value for the current frame by setting a keyframe. R resets the value for the entire animation
curve.
NOTE Fields that do not have Clear/Reset boxes next to them cannot be reset. Use the Undo box instead.
TIP Click Revert to revert to the last saved setup. All changes made since the previous Save operation are
undone.
NOTE You also set the number of undo levels for the Modular Keyer in the Setup menu of Batch or Batch FX.
Samples appear in the histograms. In the 2D luma histogram, the Plot sample is represented by a red bar
and the Ref sample is represented by a yellow bar.
(a) Plotted colour (outlined in red) (b) Reference colour (outlined in yellow)
You can use Plot to get more information on colours you want to change. When you are adjusting colours
and levels and are not sure which controls to use, click Plot and select a colour in the image. You can then
view the histograms to determine which control you should use. For example, if the plotted colour appears
in the middle of the 2D luma histogram, you can modify the colour in the image using the Midtones trackball
while viewing the plotted colour in the 2D vectorscope.
To sample clips:
1 Load a reference clip and position the split bar so that both the reference clip and the result clip appear
in the image window.
Click-drag Sample a single pixel in the image. You can drag through the image until you locate
the pixel you want to sample.
A red vertical line appears in the 2D luma histogram indicating the luma of the sample. The sampled
colour is also outlined in red in the 2D or 3D vectorscope. In the 2D vectorscope, you see the sample
in terms of hue and saturation. In the 3D vectorscope, you see it in terms of HLS. If you are plotting
a colour in a 16-bit floating point image that is out of the 0:1 range, the red outline appears outside
of the vectorscope.
■ Enable Ref and then sample the reference clip.
Click-drag Sample a single pixel in the image. You can drag through the image until you locate
the pixel you want to sample.
A yellow vertical line appears in the 2D luma histogram and the sampled colour is outlined in yellow
in the 2D or 3D vectorscope. If you are referencing a colour in a 16-bit floating point image that is out
of the 0:1 range, the yellow outline appears outside of the vectorscope.
TIP Set the image window to 2-Up view (Alt+2) so that you can create your matte in one viewport while
simultaneously monitoring the result in the other.
Generating Mattes
mattes:generating for selective colour correctionMattes can be used for several purposes. For instance, use
a matte to remove colour spill, hue shift an object in an image for artistic effect, or match colours in a specific
range. Use mattes to define the range of colour you want to modify in the result clip.
TIP To get the best key, make sure you have enough processing speed to see the result in real time while interacting
with the Tolerance and Softness boundary handles. In the Modular Keyer, you can use the Crop feature to improve
interaction.softness:in Colour Warpertolerance:in Colour Warper
Click: To define:
Pick Custom The tolerance range based on a sample from the image. You must drag the
cursor over the image to define initial tolerance.
R, G, B, C, M, or Yw The tolerance range based on the selected colour channel. For example, click
Yw to use the yellow channel to set the tolerance. The luma range is set to default
tolerance and softness values.
Shadows, Midtones, Highlights The tolerance range based on the selected luma range. These buttons expand
the tolerance and softness boundaries to include all ranges of colours in the image.
The initial softness and tolerance is set for the matte. The range you use to define the matte becomes
visible through the greyscale image. The unselected colours remain greyscale.
TIP To redefine a matte based on a different Define control, click the control you want to use. The matte is
reset according to your selection.
TIP Select Home from the Frame Options box to reset the hue cube to its original size and position.
6 To view the matte while you refine it, select Matte from the Selective View box.
TIP Select Matte view to output a matte for use in another tool in Batch or Batch FX. The selective must
also be selected in the Work On box.
Select: To:
■ Adjust softness and tolerance by selecting Move from the Move/Zoom box and then moving the
handles of the tolerance or softness outlines on the hue cube. The Tolerance and Softness buttons
must also be enabled.
(a) Adjusting box (b) Tolerance handle (c) Softness handle (d) Move/Zoom box
TIP You can zoom the hue cube by selecting Zoom in the Move/Zoom box and then dragging the cube.
Alternatively, Ctrl+spacebar-drag to zoom. You can pan the hue cube by pressing spacebar and
dragging.
■ Adjust the softness and tolerance in the luma range by dragging the Softness and Tolerance fields.
(a) Softness range (b) Low Softness field (c) Low Tolerance field (d) Low bracket (e) Tolerance range (f) Plot line
(g) High bracket (h) High Tolerance field (i) High Softness field
When working with 16-bit floating point images, you can press spacebar to pan the gradient bar,
and Ctrl+spacebar to zoom the gradient. Select Home from the Frame Options box to reset the
gradient to the default 0:1 position. If you have softness or tolerance values out of the 0:1 range, select
Autoframe from the Frame Options box to view the complete gradient range. Select Plot Colour from
the Frame Options box to enlarge the gradient to include the plot and reference colours.
■ If the matte appears grainy, drag the Sharpness field to adjust softness and reduce noise.
8 To apply a Gaussian blur, enable G. To apply a box blur, disable G and set the width and height of the
blur with the X and Y fields.
9 To invert the matte, enable Inv Selection.
TIP When you switch from the Selective menu to any other menu in the Colour Warper, Result appears in
the Selective View box. Select Result to view the result clip.blurring:in Colour WarperGaussian blur:applying,
in Colour Warperluma:adjusting rangeshue:cube, in Colour Warper
(a) Work On box (b) C/R boxes (c) Selective View box
NOTE If there is no matte or colour correction associated with the correction, the C/R button is disabled.animation
curves:mattes, deleting in Colour Warpermattes:deleting, in Colour Warper
1 Select the matte from the Work On box (Sel 1, Sel 2, or Sel 3).
2 Select R from the C/R box next to the Selective View box.
The matte is deleted. All keyframes and colour corrections associated with the matte are also cleared.
NOTE Keyframes associated with the colour correction are not cleared.
1 Select the matte from the Work On box (Sel 1, Sel 2, or Sel 3).
2 Select C from the C/R box next to the Selective View box.
The matte is deleted at the current frame and a keyframe is set.
1 Select a matte or the entire image from the Work On box (Master, Sel 1, Sel 2, or Sel 3).
2 Select R from the C/R box next to the Work On box.
1 Select a matte or the entire image from the Work On box (Master, Sel 1, Sel 2, or Sel 3).
2 Select C from the C/R box next to the Work On box.
The colour correction is cleared at the current frame and a keyframe is set. If you selected a matte (Sel
1, Sel 2, or Sel 3) from the Work On box, the matte is unaffected and its keyframes are not cleared.
White field Modifies the luma in the image's highlights without affecting the chroma.
1 Sample the highlights in the image. To determine the white point, select a white that appears to be
flat rather than reflective so that you obtain a more accurate reading. Do not use a highly reflective
surface such as a window or metal surface as they are often too bright. Enable Plot and then sample
the whites in the result clip.
In the Basics menu, a red plot line is displayed in the 2D luma histogram indicating the luma value of
the sampled whites in the result clip.
2 While viewing the 2D luma histogram and the image, adjust the white level to modify the luma value
and set the white point—drag left to darken the highlights and right to lighten them. The Plot sample
is updated as you drag the field.
TIP You can view both the 2D luma histogram and 2D vectorscope to determine what adjustments you
need to make to the highlights. For example, if the white point is set to an acceptable level in the 2D luma
histogram but the sampled chroma value shows an unwanted colour cast in the 2D vectorscope, use the
Highlights trackball to modify the chroma value in the highlights. See Removing Unwanted Colour (page
1182).
3 Enable Plot and sample the shadows in the result clip to determine the black level. Sample the darkest
part of the image to determine the black point.
A red plot line is displayed in the 2D luma histogram indicating the luma value of the sampled blacks
in the result clip.
4 While viewing the 2D luma histogram and the image, adjust the black level to modify the luma
value—drag left to darken the shadows and right to lighten them. The Plot sample is updated as you
drag the field.
TIP Once the black level is set, you can use the Shadows trackball to adjust the chroma values in the highlights
while viewing the plot sample in the 2D vectorscope. See Removing Unwanted Colour (page 1182).
Not all colour casts detract from the natural appearance of the image. Before you remove a colour cast, it is
best to analyse the image or clip, both in relation to other clips in the project and with an eye on maintaining
the atmosphere, or mood inherent to the clip. For example, images of sunny summer days should have a
reddish cast to convey an atmosphere of warmth. Completely removing the reddish cast may result in a
colder feel than you want. In cases where the cast is a complementary one, you may want to refine it to
improve the overall effect. See Creating Colour Casts (page 1193).
The shadows, midtones, and highlights trackballs in the Basics menu are described as follows.
NOTE To make the trackballs respond to changes in pressure, use the Pointer preferences in the Preferences menu.
Shadows trackball Modifies the chroma in the low luminance area without affecting the luma.
Midtones trackball midtones:defining range, in Colour WarperModifies horizontal RGB curves in the 2D
luma histogram. These curves represent the amount of chroma tint you apply to the image. For example, if
the red and green curves are above the middle line while the blue curve is below the middle line, you are
adding a yellow tint to the midtones components of your image.
By default, the Midtones trackball affects all ranges except white and black, as shown by the histogram's
RGB curves. To set the luma range affected by the Midtones trackball, use the two midtones triangles below
the 2D luma histogram. Drag the triangles closer together to decrease the range and further apart to increase
it. You can modify the range as many times as you like. When working with 16-bit floating point images,
the midtones range is set to 0:1, and the midtones triangles can only be moved in this range.
Highlights trackball Modifies the chroma in the high luminance area without affecting the luma.
To remove unwanted colour using the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights trackballs:
TIP You can determine the colour of a sample by dragging right in the Saturation field to temporarily increase
the saturation while monitoring the sample in the 2D vectorscope. When you release the mouse, the level
that appears in the field resets to its default reference value. Once you determine the cast of the colour, click
Undo to reset the saturation level and then resample the image.
TIP Drag the left midtones triangle to decrease the range affected by the Midtones trackball. Make sure the
range includes the sampled colour.
The RGB curves in the 2D luma histogram reflect the changes you make. More of the unwanted colour
is removed from the image (while still preserving luma) without affecting the black and white points.
TIP To achieve true white, drag the Highlights and Midtones trackball to move the plot sample to the centre
of the 2D vectorscope.
6 Continue modifying the highlights and midtones until you are satisfied with the result.
7 Enable Plot and then sample the image's shadows.
8 Repeat steps 2 to 6 using the Shadows and Midtones trackballs to remove unwanted colour from the
shadows (and midtones) in the image.colour correcting:suppressing colours, in Colour Warper
3 To sample the colour you want to suppress, enable Plot and then sample the image.
The sample (outlined in red) appears in the 2D or 3D vectorscope.
4 While monitoring the 2D vectorscope and image, drag the Suppress trackball towards the colour you
want to suppress to move it closer to the centre of the 2D vectorscope. For example, to suppress yellows,
move the trackball towards yellow.
Improving Contrast
colour correcting:contrast, in Colour WarperPoor image contrast can be caused by various factors. For
example, when you remove a colour cast from a clip, it may become washed out. Washed out clips usually
occur when the image contrast and saturation levels are too low. To complete the task of balancing the
colours in the clip, use the tools in the Basics menu to correct the poor contrast. To improve contrast and
the overall look of the clip, you can:
■ Adjust the luma and chroma content in the shadows and highlights, including the black and white point.
■ Increase colour saturation without changing luma.
■ Modify the luma and chroma content using the Gamma controls.
TIP To achieve true black or white, drag the Midtones and Shadows trackball to move the plot sample to
the centre of the 2D vectorscope.
6 Continue modifying the shadows until you are satisfied with the result.
TIP View the sample in the 3D vectorscope to make more refined modifications.
Increasing Saturation
colour correcting:desaturation, in Colour Warpercontrast:saturation, in Colour Warpersaturation:in Colour
WarperWhen an image is desaturated, the colours can appear washed out. To improve contrast, you can
increase the colour saturation globally, saturate specific hues, or do both. Increasing saturation levels increases
the colour intensity and causes minor changes to the hue. The luma content is virtually unaffected when
you modify saturation.
3 Drag the Saturate trackball towards the colour you want to saturate while monitoring the 2D vectorscope.
Drag until the colour is closer to the edge of the 2D vectorscope. For example, to saturate reds, move
the trackball towards red.
NOTE To make the trackballs respond to changes in pressure, use the Pointer preferences in the Preferences
menu.
(a) Trackball option box (b) Gamma curves (c) Reset box (d) Luma range
Enable: To display:
Luminance The Luminance curve. Use this curve to modify luminance levels locally without
affecting the overall luminance.
Two curves are displayed for each channel, the original gamma curve, and an adjustment curve with
control points for regional control. Initially these curves overlap.
4 While monitoring the 2D vectorscope and image, make a minor adjustment to the gamma curves by
doing one of the following:
■ To modify R, G, and B gamma values individually across the entire luma range (from black to white),
click and drag in the Gamma R, G, and B fields. Drag left to increase contrast or right to decrease
contrast. You can also enter a value directly in these fields. Enter a low value to increase contrast
or a high value to decrease contrast.
Only the field you modified is updated. The gamma curves are also updated to reflect your changes.
The gamma curve is offset from its dotted adjustment curve. Use the adjustment curve to make regional
adjustments to the channel.
■ To modify R, G, and B gamma values proportionally across the entire luma range (from black to
white), Alt-drag the Gamma R, G, or B field. Drag left to increase contrast or right to decrease
contrast.
All three fields are updated. The gamma curves are also updated to reflect your changes. The gamma
curves are offset from their dotted adjustment curves. Use the adjustment curve to make regional
adjustments to the channel.
■ To modify part of the RGB gamma or luminescence range rather than the entire range, use the
Tools box to modify the adjustment curves.
Select: To:
Add Points Add control points to an adjustment curve. With Add Points selected, click either the
red, green, blue, or luminance adjustment curve to add a control point.
Delete Delete control points from an adjustment curve. With Delete selected, click a point on
the red, green, blue or luminance adjustment curve to delete it.
Select Select and move the control points (drag the points to move them).
Zoom Zoom in on the curves. With Zoom selected, drag over the curves right or left to zoom
in or out. You can also press Ctrl+spacebar and drag in the curves to zoom.
Rect Zoom Zoom in on a section of the curves. With Rect Zoom selected, drag a selection box to
zoom in on the area of the curves contained by the selection box.
Pan Pan the curves. With Pan selected, drag over the curves to pan the curves in any direc-
tion. You can also press spacebar and drag in the curves to pan.
After dragging control points, the image and 2D vectorscope update accordingly.
To reset RGB gamma or luminance curves for all frames in the clip:
To clear RGB gamma or luminance curve values for the current frame:
Drag: When:
White or Black field You need to adjust the luma values in the highlights or shadows without
modifying the chroma. Drag the field so that the plot line in the 2D luma his-
togram moves towards the reference line.
Highlights, Midtones, or Shadows You need to adjust the chroma values in the image without modifying the
trackball luma. Drag the trackball(s) so that the plot sample in the 2D vectorscope moves
towards the reference sample.
TIP View the sample in the 3D vectorscope to make more refined modifications.
1 If you begin using Match and want to cancel the matching process, adjust any value using the trackballs
or fields.
The blue indicator on the Match button will be disabled, indicating that the matching process has
been cancelled.
1 If necessary, create a matte for the range of colour you want to change. See Selecting Colour Ranges
for Colour Correction (page 1175).
2 Click Basics to display the Basics menu.
If you are using a selective, the Selective View box should display Result when you display the Basics
menu.
3 Sample the image to see the hue shift in the 2D luma vectorscope. Enable Plot and then sample the
colour range in the image you want to hue shift.
A red line also appears in the 2D luma histogram and the sample is outlined in the 2D or 3D vectorscope.
4 Drag the Hue field while monitoring the 2D or 3D vectorscope and the image.
The selected colour content (or entire image) shifts through the colour range.
5 If necessary, you can change the saturation of the hue by dragging the Saturation field—drag right to
increase saturation or left to decrease it.
The selected colour range moves towards the perimeter or centre of the 2D luma histogram.
NOTE Before you create a colour cast, you should correct colour imbalances in the image or clip. See Correcting
Colour Imbalances (page 1181).
1 Click Basics.
TIP You can determine the colour of an existing cast by dragging right in the Saturation field to temporarily
increase the saturation while monitoring the sample in the 2D vectorscope. Click Undo once you determine
the colour of the cast.
2 To add a colour cast to the entire image, drag the midtones triangles so that they span the entire luma
range.
3 While viewing a vectorscope and the image, drag the Midtones trackball towards the colour you want
to increase in the clip or image. For example, to add more yellow to the image, drag the Midtones
trackball towards yellow.
In the 2D or 3D vectorscope, the colours update to reflect your changes. In the image window, the
colour in your clip changes according to the direction the trackball is being dragged.
NOTE When you drag the Midtones trackball, the RGB curves in the 2D luma histogram also reflect the
changes you make.
4 To increase a range of colour in the highlights or shadows of the image, drag the Highlights or Shadows
trackball.
5 To increase or decrease the saturation of the cast, drag the Saturation field—drag right to increase
saturation and left to decrease it.
TIP You can make slight modifications to the hue of the cast using the Hue field.
1 Click Basics.
The Basics menu appears.
NOTE To make the trackballs respond to changes in pressure, use the Pointer preferences in the Preferences
menu.
6 To adjust the luminance of the destination colour, adjust the Luma field. When you adjust the luma
of the destination colour, the entire luma content of the image is adjusted around the selection. The
selected luma value changes the most.
The Dst Colour pot dynamically updates to reflect your changes. When you release the mouse, the Src
Colour pot is updated to match the destination colour. In the 2D luma histogram, the cyan bar moves
to reflect the changes you are making to the luma content.
7 Release the trackball or click the Luma field.
The Src Colour pot is set to the Dst box colour.
NOTE To make the trackballs respond to changes in pressure, use the Pointer preferences in the Preferences
menu.
3 Move the Suppress trackball towards the colour that you want to suppress. For example, to remove a
blue background, move the trackball so that the blue colours appear in the centre of the 2D vectorscope.
NOTE The colour you are suppressing appears in the middle of the 2D vectorscope at full suppression.
By comparing the Result clip and the Front clip, you may notice some unwanted colour suppression
to the colour that is opposite (on the colour wheel) the one you just suppressed. You can fix such
suppression with the Saturate trackball.
4 Select Saturate from the Trackball option box.
5 Move the Saturate trackball towards the colour that you want to saturate.
The colour that you are saturating moves closer to the edge of the 2D vectorscope.
Creating Subsetups
Colour Warper:subsetupsSubsetups are Colour Warper setups selected at a specific moment at a specific
frame. Subsetups are for the current frame only and do not include entire animations. You can select up to
ten subsetups and compare colour corrections in other subsetups. You can save and load a group of subsetups.
NOTE The group of subsetups loaded affects all Colour Warper nodes in the current setup since subsetups are
shared between Colour Warper nodes. Ten subsetups (A-J) constitute a group.
1 Press and hold one of the subsetups buttons until a message appears indicating “Storing subsetup
<subsetup letter>” and release.
The LED indicator shows that the subsetup is stored. All active subsetups have a LED indicator. If you
have not stored anything into a subsetup, the active light of the button will be off.
2 Use the setup at another frame or in another node by pressing the corresponding Subsetup button.
Naming Subsetups
subsetups in Colour Warper:namingYou can name your subsetups. This allows you to store setups and later
compare them to your current setup, or to apply the same correction to different frames in a clip.
1 Click in a subsetup field, type in a name or description, and press Enter to store the setup.
Replacing Subsetups
subsetups in Colour Warper:replacingYou can replace or override a setup.
1 Click and hold a subsetup button to overwrite and replace an existing subsetup. A keyframe is set and
the new subsetup is saved.
Comparing Subsetups
subsetups in Colour Warper:comparingThe current setup is accessed with the Current button and contains
the most recently committed setup. Compare any of your subsetups to each other or to the contents of the
current setup.
1 Perform an operation such as advancing a frame or changing a value in the Basics menu. Your present
settings will be displayed the next time you click Current.
To compare a subsetup:
For a list of all Paint node menu settings, click here (page 1560).
1199
To paint with freeform strokes:
TIP Instead of using the colour pot, Ctrl+click the canvas to pick a colour.
5 Select a brush.
6 Select an option from the Paint On box to apply the stroke to the current frame (Cur Frame), all frames
in the sequence (Sequence), or on a range of frames (Range, To Frame, or From Frame).
7 Select the Result (F4) or Output Matte (F4 F4) to set the view where you are painting.
To paint on the result and output matte simultaneously, enable Paint Both.
8 Set brush attributes.
9 Click and drag on the canvas to draw a stroke.
You can use either the mouse or the tablet and pen to paint. Press and hold the right mouse button
to apply paint at 80% pressure, the middle button to paint at 40% pressure, and the left button to paint
at 20% pressure.
Use the eraser end of the pen if you are using the stylus to erase strokes that you have created.
You can paint on the canvas using a variety of brush types and colours. Once you select a brush type, you
can modify brush attributes to further refine your strokes. A stroke can be applied to a single frame, or
simultaneously to multiple frames. You can paint on the result or output matte, or you can use matte paint
mode controls to paint on the result and output matte at the same time.
You can restrict brush strokes to the area delimited by the matte. For example, assume that you have a front
input that includes a person shot against a blue screen and a corresponding matte clip. If you opt to limit
brush strokes to the matte, your brush strokes on the result or output matte appear only inside the matte
area and, therefore, over the person. If you then limit brush strokes to the existing strokes, new paint strokes
are applied only over strokes that have already been applied.
You can undo multiple brush strokes in Paint Node. You can use the Undo button to remove brush stroke
operations, beginning with the most recent strokes. Set Undo level operations in the Preferences menu.
If you are using a stylus, remove brush strokes manually by using the back of the stylus to “erase” strokes.
If the result is displayed, erasing reveals the front clip on the canvas. If the output matte is displayed, erasing
reveals the matte.
Project Resolution Presets box Provides preset aspect ratio options and an option to use a custom resolution.
Set this option to indicate the previous resolution of the clip.
Width and Height fields Displays the frame width and height of the selected resolution preset. If you select
Custom from the Project Resolution Presets box, use these fields to enter the values you want to use.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Provides standard frame aspect ratio options and a w:h option to use a ratio based
on the values entered in the Width and Height fields. Also provides a Custom option so you can enter a
frame aspect ratio in the Ratio field.
Ratio field Displays the original aspect ratio of the clip. When Ratio is set to Custom, this field becomes
active so that you can enter a custom frame aspect ratio.
Stroke Resize box Select a fit method option to be applied to the clip.
Select: To:
Centre/Crop Center the strokes over the destination frame. If the clip at the original resolution is larger
than the destination, the strokes are cropped.
Crop Edges Fit one edge of the original clip input into the destination frame without stretching or
squashing the frame. Excess parts of the original clip after resizing are cropped.
Fill Fit the original stroke width and height into the destination frame. If the clip at its original
resolution and destination frames do not have the same aspect ratio, the brush strokes
can become distorted.
Letterbox Fit the original stroke to the destination frame without squashing or stretching it, and
without cropping the source.
Keep Aspect button Enable to preserve the aspect ratio of non-square pixels. This button only appears if
you selected Crop Edges or Letterbox in the Fit Method box.
Stroke Pan fields Enter an X and Y value to offset existing strokes on the result. You can also reposition
strokes by holding down Ctrl+Shift and panning the image.
Current Resolution fields Displays details of the current resolution of the clip.
Active button Enable to activate smooth filtering of pixels for enhanced display
The currently selected stroke has a green outline, others are outlined in red.
When editing a stroke, only the relevant Brush Attributes and Paint options can be edited.
To reshape a stroke:
Animating Strokes
1 The XY position
2 The XY scaling
3 The rotation
4 The opacity
5 The size
6 The start of a stroke
7 The end of a stroke
The start and end of a stroke allows you to recreate in the Paint node the AutoPaint effect available in the
Paint tool. In the following example, this type of animation recreates the flow of cursive writing over 60
frames.
To select a brush:
Colour
The basic Paint Mode, it applies to the canvas the colour from the colour pot.
Clone
Use the Clone brush to paint a copy of the result image to any position on the result image. The Clone brush
can also be applied to an output matte image. For example, if the result image has a tree that you would like
to copy to another position on the image, you can offset a copy of it to a different position and then paint
it onto the result.
A Clone brush is similar to a Reveal brush, except that it only takes the result images for input.
To clone an image:
TIP Enable the Overlay button, and set the Reference box to Result, to visualize the source material that will be
cloned.
To paint a source (other than the result) onto the canvas, use the Reveal tool. See Reveal (page 1207).
To clone an image and include cloned image in the brush strokes, use the Recursive Clone tool. See Recursive
Clone (page 1206).
To limit the cloned regions to the areas delimited by the matte, select an option in the Matte Source box.
Recursive Clone
Use the Recursive Clone brush to paint the contents of the result image to another position on the result.
Unlike the Clone tool, when brush strokes created while using the Recursive Clone tool are used as a reference
when the tool is applied elsewhere, the updated image data will be used.
TIP You can preview the result of the recursive clone using the Overlay option. See Previewing a Reveal or Clone
Using a Reference Image (page 1209).
To paint a source onto the canvas, use the Reveal tool. See Reveal (page 1207).
To reveal a source:
To limit the revealed sources to the areas delimited by their mattes, select Matte On in the Source Matte
box.
You can reveal sources that are marked as hidden in the Sources list. You will only be able to view the strokes
created with a source when you disable Hide Strokes.
To display the source as an overlay of the result image, enable Overlay (Tab). See Previewing a Reveal or
Clone Using a Reference Image (page 1209).
Eraser
The Eraser paint mode erases applied brush strokes.
Wash
Use the Wash brush to apply a transparent wash of the current colour to the image. Use the Shade medium
to darken or lighten the image.
Shade
Use the Shade mode to darken or lighten the image.
With the Shade medium, you darken images using a colour with a low luminance value, and lighten them
using a colour with a high luminance value. The opacity of the brush affects the transparency of the paint
applied to the image. When the opacity value is set to 100%, the paint applied is completely opaque. As
you decrease the opacity, the paint becomes more transparent.
Blur
Apply a blur filter to the image with each stroke.
Drag
Use the Drag mode to drag a selected area of the image across the canvas. The selected area is painted on
the canvas as you drag the brush, creating an image trail.
Impressionist
Paint on colours from a reference clip. When you click on the canvas, the colour at the center of the brush
is used to fill the entire brush stroke.
Rate Rate brush attributebrush attributes:RateDetermines the rate at which brush strokes are applied to the
canvas. Use a high value to produce a smooth continuous stroke, or a low value to produce a less continuous
stroke with larger gaps between brush images. The Fixed Rate button determines whether the consistency
of the stroke is dependent on the speed at which you move the pen or mouse. For example, to create a stroke
of evenly spaced dots, set the Rate field to 20 percent and enable Fixed Rate.
Pressure Pressure brush attributebrush attributes:PressureAffects the transparency of the paint applied to
the image. To apply opaque paint, use a high percentage value. For more transparent paint, use a low value.
The Pressure attribute differs from the Opacity attribute in that you can set the Pressure attribute mode so
that the paint transparency varies according to the pressure applied to the pen or the direction of the brush.
Direction Direction brush attributebrush attributes:DirectionCauses the brush to rotate around the Z-axis
and can be used to produce a calligraphy effect. The effect of the Direction attribute is most noticeable when
used with one of the elliptical or star brushes. The value of the Direction attribute causes the brush strokes
to rotate by 90 degrees for each increment of 25 percent.
NOTE You can use any attribute mode with the Roll attribute.
Pressure Uses the pressure exerted on the pen as the reference value. The harder you press on the pen, the
greater the brush attribute value. The softer you press, the lower the brush attribute value.
Direction Uses the direction of the brush stroke as the reference. When used with the Direction mode, the
Direction attribute causes the brush strokes to follow the trajectory of the brush. Increase the value to enhance
the effect on brush direction. Drag right to use 100% of the brush attribute value, left to use 0%, up to use
25%, or down to use 75%.
Direction attribute value at 100%, Direction attribute mode Direction attribute value at 15%, Direction attribute mode
Fade Uses the percentage value entered in the Fade field to determine the length of time that elapses before
the brush stroke fades. The greater the percentage, the faster the stroke fades. A value of 100 in the Fade
Front, Matte, Source Front and Source Matte Allows you to use the red channel in a reference image to
set brush attributes. Source Front and Source Matte mode use the red channel of the selected source in the
Sources list.
Using Sources
sources in Paint node:aboutSources are additional image data that can be used in Reveal paint operations
and displayed as an overlay on the result or output matte. You can scale, rotate, and offset a source. Any
transformations applied to a source will be displayed in Reveal paint strokes.
In the Paint Node menu, all sources appear in the Sources list. The Sources list allows you to select sources
to be hidden, cleared, or displayed as an overlay. The first entry in the list is the front clip and matte clip.
In the schematic, source clips are connected to a Paint Node through a source node, which accepts a source
front and source matte input.
A source can be a clip or the result of any process, and can include a front and/or matte clip. You can add
a source node from the menu or the schematic.
If a clip with frames that are missing media is attached to a source node, the Paint Node processes incoming
frames set to No Media as transparent. Strokes created with the source are stored, although they are not
visible on the canvas at frames with No Media input.
When adding a source input, it is recommended that you use clips as input, or cache the node closest to the
source node instead of parenting a large tree to a source node. This speeds up processing when changing
frames, making for a more interactive experience.
(a) Front (b) Matte (c) Source front (d) Source matte
Adding a Source
sources in Paint node:addingWhen you add source, it includes both source front and source matte input.
When you add a source front only, a black matte will automatically be created.
4 To help identify source nodes in the schematic, select a source in the Sources list to automatically
highlight in orange the corresponding source node and link to the Paint Node. Conversely, selecting
a source node also highlights the corresponding source in the Sources list.
2 Connect clips or process tree input to the source node's front and matte inputs.
1 In the schematic, disconnect the source clip from the source node.
1 From the Tools box, select Delete (or use the keyboard shortcut), and click the source node in the
schematic.
1 In the Sources list, select the source used to create the strokes you want to clear.
2 From the Selection Mode box, select Current Frame or Sequence.
1 Select the source used to create the strokes that you want to hide.
2 In the Sources list, click Hide Strokes (H).
Select: To:
Matte Invert Invert the source matte and limit painting to areas outside the source matte.
4 Draw strokes.
Brush strokes only use areas of the selected source that are delimited by its source matte.
Locking Sources
locking:sourcessources in Paint node:lockingPaint node:sources, lockingLock a source to a specific frame.
For the duration of the clip, only the source front and source matte at the selected frame is used.
To lock a source:
Displaying Sources
sources in Paint node:displaying overlaysdisplaying, sources as overlaysPaint node:sources, displaying
reference image overlaysPaint Node offers an intuitive way of previewing the effects of a Reveal operation.
In this view, the selected source is superimposed over the result, and the Transparency field is activated to
allow for transparency adjustments. This feature allows you to see exactly what your brush strokes will reveal.
See Previewing a Reveal or Clone Using a Reference Image (page 1209).
1 Click Selection.
2 Click the axis of a shape, selection, or stroke on the canvas to select it.
3 Click a button or press a hot key to copy. Ctrl+C selects the current layer, Ctrl+Shift+C selects all layers.
Ctrl+Shift+X cuts the selected contents.
4 Paste with Ctril+V. Tap U to update if you do not see your pasted object.
To delete a selection:
1 Click Selection.
2 Select the items you want to delete.
3 Click Delete. All selected items are deleted. The corresponding matte information is also deleted.
Darken Reduces the RGB channel values of each pixel of the brush stroke.
Exclusion Adds the RGB channel values of the brush stroke, then subtracts twice the product of these
channels.
Hard Light Multiplies or screens the selected colour of the brush stroke onto the image, depending on the
colour. The effect is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the image, and greatly reduces the contrast levels
in the image.
If the blend colour (light source) is lighter than 50% grey, the image is lightened as if it were screened—this
is useful for adding highlights to an image. If the blend colour is darker than 50% grey, the image is darkened,
as if it were multiplied—this is useful for adding shadows.
Multiply Multiplies the RGB channel values of corresponding pixels of the stroke and the current image
and normalizes the result by dividing by 255 in 8-bit mode, or 4095 in 12-bit mode. The resulting RGB
channel values are assigned to the corresponding pixels in the generated clip.
Divide Divides the RGB channel values of pixels of the stroke and the current image and normalizes the
result by multiplying by 255 in 8-bit mode, or 4095 in 12-bit mode. The resulting RGB channel values are
assigned to the corresponding pixels in the generated clip.
Overlay Multiplies or screens the colours, depending on the RGB channel values of the colour of the stroke
and the current image. Patterns or colours overlay the existing RGB channel values while preserving the
highlights and shadows of the stroke's colour. The colour of the stroke is not replaced, but is mixed with
the colour of the current image to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original colour.
Screen Multiplies the inverse of the current image with the colour of the brush stroke. The resulting colour
is always lighter. The colour remains unchanged when you screen with black. Screening with white produces
white. The effect is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides on top of each other.
Using this mode with a black brush stroke results in a very dark effect; with white, a very bright one.
Add Adds the luma values of corresponding pixels of the brush stroke and the current image. The resulting
value is assigned to the corresponding pixels in the generated clip. If the result is greater than 255 (in 8-bit
mode), the pixel in the destination clip is clamped at a value of 255 (white). In 12-bit mode, the maximum
colour value is 4095. The resulting clip is always brighter.
Subtract Subtracts the RGB channel values of the pixels of the current image from the RGB channel values
of the pixels of the brush stroke and assigns the result to the RGB channel values of the pixel.
For an 8-bit image, if an RGB channel value of the current image is larger than the corresponding channel
value of the brush stroke, yielding a negative result, that result is clamped at 0 (black). There is no clamping
if the image has a bit depth of 16- or 32-bit floating point: these bit depths allow negative channel values.
The resulting clip is always darker.
1 Select one of the following from the Clear Canvas option box:
■ Clear to remove strokes from the current frame.
■ Clear All to remove strokes from all frames.
rotating the canvascanvas:rotatingDuring the painting process, you can rotate the canvas, making it easier
to paint on any part of your image.
sources in Paint node:wipingwipingcanvas:wipingPaint node:canvas, wipingYou can wipe the result image
when you want to apply a uniform colour at the current frame in a single brush stroke. Alternatively, you
can use a source, to wipe over an image.
(a) Front and Source Front Slip fields (b) Matte and Source Matte Slip fields
Front (F1)
Matte (F3)
Colour (Ctrl+1)
Clone (Ctrl+2)
Reveal (Ctrl+4)
Eraser (Ctrl+5)
Wash (Ctrl+6)
Shade (Ctrl+7)
Blur (Ctrl+8)
Smear (Ctrl+9)
Drag (Ctrl+0)
Impressionist (Ctrl+-)
IMPORTANT You can load a 32-bit floating point clip. But in the Paint Tool, all the processing is done in 16-bit
floating point, and then rendered back in 32-bit floating point. This conversion degrades the image quality. Batch
Paint does not suffer from this limitation.
The front clip appears on the Paint canvas, which you can use to apply colours and effects to the clip. The
matte clip delimits the area of the front clip affected by painting. The back clip can be revealed or brushed
through onto the front clip. The colour of the blank canvas is defined by the wipe colour.
NOTE The image window in Paint is referred to as the canvas in the following sections.
4 Set the frames per second and drop-frame values for the clip from the Frame Code Mode box.
Click: To:
Paint Use the brushes or geometric shapes to paint on the canvas, record and apply strokes to
the canvas, fill areas of the image with a reference colour or image, and move the image
on the canvas.
Graphics Create, edit, and animate shapes and apply them to the canvas.
CutOut Create and add effects to cutouts and apply them to the canvas.
Setup Set preferences, rendering options, grid guides, and colour correction options.
1 Click Setup.
2 Enable Extend Clip.
To maintain the length of the original clip, disable Extend Clip. No frames are added to the clip when you
click Next Frame.
(a) Show button (b) Reference box (c) Transparency field (d) Slip field
The reference image appears by default at 50% transparency.
2 Select the reference image you want to display from the Reference box.
3 Set the transparency for the reference image in the Transparency field.
4 Set the Slip field value to show different images from the reference clip.
This option only works if the reference image you selected is from a clip with more than one frame.
NOTE The Slip field is disabled if you select Matte or Saved from the Reference box.
NOTE These overlay attributes are shared between Timeline, Batch or Batch FX and the Paint Tool.
1 Click View.
2 Select a Viewing Transform.
The lower-left corner of the Player displays in blue the viewing transform currently selected.
Press Shift+Alt+[0-9] to directly select a viewing transform.
The Colour Picker appears as a floating window when you click a colour pot in the application. Using the
Colour Picker, you can set the colour pot to the colour of your choice or you can pick colours by:
■ Setting colour model channel values;
■ Sampling pixels in a clip;
■ Sampling a pixel’s colour inside a Viewport (Player or Tools) to get its RGB values;
■ Selecting a colour from the Palette widget;
■ Selecting a colour from the Spectrum widget;
■ Mixing colours in the Canvas widget.
b The Palette Widget: Enables you to quickly select a default colour. Towards the middle of the palette,
between the bold separators, you can select pure colours.
d The Canvas Widget: Enables you to mix and create custom colours.
e Colour Values: Displays the current value of the channel sliders. These can be either numeric or percentage
values.
f Colour Management button: Enable viewport colour management on the colour swatches, based on
the tagged colour space associated with the colour being picked.
g Colour Model box: Toggle to select between the RGB or YUV colour model.
h Mode box: Use to select how the numeric values represent each channel. Options are:
■ Colour: Use a range based on bit depth (0-255 for 8-bit, 0-1023 for 10-bit, 0-4095 for 12-bit). Only
available with Bit Depth set at 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit.
■ Colour %: Use a percentage value, relative to the entire range of the selected bit depth, ranging from
0-100%. Only available with Bit Depth set at 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit.
■ Range: Use the full range of colours in a 16-bit floating point colour space, entered as a floating-point
number. The brackets enclose the 0-1 range. Only available with Bit Depth set at 16fp.
■ [0-1]: Display the 0-1 range inside the full 16-bit floating point range, where 0 and 1 are enclosed by
brackets. You can still use values outside the 0-1 range. Only available with Bit Depth set at 16fp.
i Bit Depth box: Use to select the media bit depth. Options are:
■ 8-bit
■ 10-bit
■ 12-bit
■ 16-bit fp
j RGB / YUV Channel sliders: Use to modify the values of the Red, Green and Blue channels or the YUV
channels, as set by the Colour Model box.
k HLS Channel sliders: Use to modify the values of the Hue, Luma and Saturation channels.
l Custom Colour patches: 12 custom colours can be stored using the "Add" button.
m
■ Pick button: Click to sample the colour of the pixel under the cursor.
■ Average button:
■ Click and drag to draw a box and sample the average colour of the pixels within that box.
■ Add button: Click to save a sampled colour to one of the 12 Custom Colour Patches.
colour palette:in PaintPaint:colour paletteThe colour palette appears in the Paint, Graphics, and CutOut
menus. It contains the scratch pad and colour gradient. A series of colours are stored in the colour palette
in colour pots. To select the current colour in the colour palette, click a colour pot. To set the current colour,
press and hold a colour pot.
1 To display the colour palette, swipe the bar at the bottom of the screen.
The colour palette appears.
TIP If you do not see the palette, click the Palette button. To hide it, swipe the bar a second time.
colour palette:mixing coloursUse the scratch pad to mix colours selected from the image or colour pots and
to test the selected brush type. You can also paste cutouts into the scratch pad to use when mixing colours.
You can also use the Wash, Shade, Smear, Drag, Warp, Impressionist, Recursive Clone, Stamp, and Blur
Special Effects media in the scratch pad.
colour palette:colour gradientThe colour gradient bar is used to set the gradients for graphics you create in
the Graphics menu. You can also set the current colour by selecting a colour on the gradient using the colour
picker.
NOTE You must hold the cursor down for a moment to set the Gradient colour pot.
Previewing an Animation
animation:previewing in PaintPaint:previewing animationflipbook, previewing animation in PaintUse the
Flipbook command to preview an animation by playing a sequence of either five or nine frames.
1 Click Setup.
The Setup menu appears.
2 In the Flipbook area, select an animation mode from the Flipbook box.
Select: To:
Flip About Current Play two (or four) frames before the current frame and two (or four) after the
current frame. This is the default setting.
Flip From Current Play five (or nine) frames beginning at the current frame.
Flip To Current Play five (or nine) frames ending at the current frame.
NOTE If the system is running at high resolution, it may not be able to achieve a flip rate of 30 frames per
second.
NOTE If you manually switch the zoom mode to Raster while zoomed out from the image, you will not be able
to paint on it.
You can also manually select either Raster or Tiled mode if you want to override the default mode. In Raster
mode, if you apply paint to the edge of the image while zoomed in, the paint is applied in an abruptly sharp
straight edge along the border of the canvas; the brush stroke is not completed on the image. In Tiled mode,
if you attempt the same operation, the paint is applied from the full diameter of the brush you are using to
the area of the image that is not visible on the canvas.
In the Raster mode, the zoom is rounded to the closest 100%. In Tiled mode, below 100%, the possible zoom
values are limited to 50%, 25%, and 20% down to 6%.
TIP On a Mac, the Tile mode can significantly degrade interactivity in the Paint tool; use the Raster mode whenever
possible. There is no such difference between the two modes on Linux.
Restore Replaces the current image on the canvas with the contents of the Save buffer.
(a) Show button (b) Reference box (c) Transparency field (d) Slip field
The reference image appears by default at 50% transparency.
2 Set the Reference box to Saved.
3 Set the transparency for the reference image in the Transparency field.
Select: To:
Exit Keep the changes you made to the front clip. The modified front clip appears in the
Viewing panel.
Keep One Keep only the current frame of the front clip. When this option is selected, a Confirm button
appears to the right of the canvas. Click Confirm to keep only the current frame of the
front clip. The current frame appears in the Viewing panel.
Cancel Quit Paint without saving changes to the front clip. When this option is selected, a Confirm
button appears to the right of the canvas. Click Confirm to quit without saving your changes,
or click elsewhere to cancel.
Selecting a Brush
brushes:selectingPaint:selecting brushesbrushes:typesA number of predefined brush types are available in
Paint including round, square, and elliptical brushes of various sizes and edge softness. The cursor has the
To select a brush:
To scroll the selections, click the Brushes window and drag left or right.
2 Click the brush icon you want to use.
The selected brush is highlighted by a blue outline.
1 Click Paint.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Swipe your cursor anywhere on the right edge of the screen, or press Esc to toggle between the large
canvas and Paint menu.
1 Click Paint.
2 Click Roll.
The Roll menu appears.
NOTE The frame is automatically recentred when you go to another frame or exit Paint.
Painting Lines
painting:linesUse the Line option to paint straight lines. Paint single lines one at a time, or draw connected
multiple lines. You can constrain the lines to vertical or horizontal paths or specific angles.
3 Select the type of line you want to draw from the Line Type box.
Select: To:
Angle Paint a line at a specific angle. This option displays a field in which you enter the
angle in degrees.
Painting Rectangles
painting:rectanglesUse the Rectangle option to draw rectangles or squares.
Painting Circles
painting:circles with geometryUse the Circle option to draw circles of any size.
To paint a circle:
Painting Triangles
triangles, paintingpainting:triangles with geometryUse the Triangle option to draw equilateral or asymmetric
triangles.
To paint a triangle:
NOTE The brush attribute and attribute mode values set in the Paint menu are independent from the values set
in the Graphics menu.
■ Size ■ Jitter
■ Rate ■ Direction
■ Pressure ■ Roll
■ Opacity
Brush Opacity
Opacity brush attributebrush attributes:OpacityThe brush opacity affects the transparency of the brush. A
value of 100% applies a fully opaque colour. Use a lower value to apply a more transparent colour. Enter a
value in the Opacity field.
NOTE You can only use the Front, Back, Result, and Saved attribute modes with the Opacity attribute.
Brush Size
Size brush attributebrush attributes:SizeThe brush size is indicated by the diameter of the green dashed circle
surrounding the cursor brush. To increase the brush size, set a value in the Size field and drag the brush to
the right on the canvas. To decrease it, set a value in the Size field and drag to the left.
You can also use the Size buttons to increase or decrease the brush size. Click the + button to increase the
brush size. Click the - button to decrease the brush size. You can also click and drag in the Size field or click
and enter a value.
NOTE You can use any attribute mode with the Size attribute.
Brush Rate
Rate brush attributebrush attributes:RateThe brush rate is the rate at which brush strokes are applied to the
canvas. Use a high value to produce a smooth continuous stroke, or a low value to produce a less continuous
stroke with larger gaps between brush images.
Brush Pressure
Pressure brush attributebrush attributes:PressureThe brush pressure affects the transparency of the paint
applied to the image. To apply opaque paint, use a high percentage value. For more transparent paint, use
a low value.
The Pressure attribute differs from the Opacity attribute in that you can set the Pressure attribute mode so
that the paint transparency varies according to the pressure applied to the pen or the direction of the brush.
NOTE You can use any attribute mode with the Pressure attribute.
Brush Jitter
brush attributes:JitterJitter brush attributeThe Jitter attribute randomizes the brush strokes applied to the
image. A high value produces a greater dispersion of paint, while a low value produces a greater concentration.
Brush Direction
brush attributes:DirectionDirection brush attributeThe Direction attribute causes the brush to rotate around
the Z-axis and can be used to produce a calligraphy effect. The effect of the Direction attribute is most
noticeable when used with one of the elliptical or star brushes. The value of the Direction attribute causes
the brush strokes to rotate by 90 degrees for each increment of 25 percent.
NOTE You can use any attribute mode with the Direction attribute.
Brush Roll
Roll brush attributebrush attributes:RollThe Roll attribute rolls the brush around the X-axis. The effect of
the roll is most noticeable when used with one of the non-symmetrical brushes. For each increment of 25
percent, the Roll attribute value creates a rolled brush stroke of 90 degrees.
NOTE You can use any attribute mode with the Roll attribute.
NOTE Do not set the Size, Rate, or Pressure attributes to Off mode.
Back image
Drag: To:
Direction attribute value at 100%, Direction mode Direction attribute value at 15%, Direction mode
NOTE The Pressure attribute mode cannot be used in the Graphics menu.
This option sets a uniform distance between paint strokes. No matter how fast you move the brush,
the brush spreads the paint evenly.
TIP Use a high brush rate when using stamps with the Spacing option enabled. See Using the Stamp Medium
(page 1256).
Applying Filters
Paint:filtersfilters:in PaintWhen applying filters, it is important to try different brush types and change the
brush attributes to create different effects.
Apply filters to the canvas using the brush, Wipe command, or Wash and Shade media. Paint uses the same
filter library as the Filter command in the Processing menu.
(a) Special Effects Media buttons (b) Reference box (c) Custom Media box
The following Special Effects media are available.
Use: To:
Blur Apply a blur filter to portions of the image. See Blurring the Image (page 1251).
Clone Copy a portion of the image to a new location. See Cloning the Image (page 1251).
Drag Create an image trail from a selected region of the screen. See Dragging the Image (page
1252).
Impressionist Paint on colours from a reference clip. See Using the Impressionist Medium (page 1253).
Recursive Clone Make a number of copies of a selected area of the image. See Using the Recursive Clone
Medium (page 1255).
Reveal Brush a reference image onto the current image. See Revealing a Reference Image (page
1254).
Shade Darken or lighten the image depending on the luminance value of the current colour. See
Washing and Shading the Image (page 1258).
Smear Smudge areas of the image. See Smearing the Image (page 1255).
Stamp Apply a captured image to the image. See Using the Stamp Medium (page 1256).
Warp Stretch and distort a region of the image. See Warping the Image (page 1257).
Wash Apply a transparent wash of the current colour to the image. See Washing and Shading the
Image (page 1258).
1 Click Custom and select Blur from the Custom Media box.
The Blur option boxes appear.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush size according to the size of the area you want to blur.
4 Select either a Box or Gaussian filter from the Filter Type box.
5 Set the density of the Blur brush from the Blur Strength box.
You can choose Light, Medium, or Heavy.
6 Drag the brush on the image.
1 Click Clone.
The Clone controls appear.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush opacity. The brush opacity determines the transparency of the clone. When the opacity
value is set to 100%, the clone is completely opaque.
4 Set the brush size.
5 Set the offset between the origin point and the destination point in the Offset fields.
A tracking circle appears at the offset co-ordinates you specified; this is the destination point for the
cloned image.
TIP Press Ctrl and drag the cursor to set the destination point.
1 Click Custom and then select Drag from the Custom Media box.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush size.
4 Position the brush over the region of the image that you want to use. Hold down the cursor to select
that region.
5 Drag the brush.
The selected region is painted onto the image as you drag. The pressure of the brush determines the
density of the image trail. See Brush Pressure (page 1243).
1 Click Custom and then select Impressionist from the Custom Media box.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush opacity.
4 Select a reference image from the Reference box.
1 Click Reveal.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush opacity.
4 Select a reference image from the Reference box.
5 Paint on the image.
Back image Result image The Back image revealed on the Result
image
1 Click Custom and select Recursive Clone from the Custom Media box.
The Recursive Clone options appear.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the offset between the origin point and the destination point in the Offset fields.
A red tracking circle appears around the destination point.
4 Paint on the image.
The image contained within the green circle brush is copied to the region defined by the red circle.
1 Click Custom and select Smear from the Custom Media box.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Drag the brush over the area you want to smear.
1 Click Custom and select Stamp from the Custom Media box.
The Stamp window appears beneath the Brush Size field.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the brush size. Use a small brush to isolate a specific detail of the image. Use a large brush to capture
a bigger sample.
4 Click and hold the cursor on the Stamp window.
5 Without releasing the cursor, move it over the image.
(a) Stamp applied using a circular brush (b) Stamp applied using an air brush (c) Stamp applied using a chalk brush
You can save a stamp and load it in another session to use with a different clip. See Saving, Loading, and
Deleting Setups (page 1313).
1 Click Custom and select Warp from the Custom Media box.
2 Click Canvas.
You can apply the colour using either the YUV or HLS.
1 Click Setup.
2 Select either YUV Shade/Wash or HLS Shade/Wash.
1 Click Custom, and select Wash or Shade from the Custom Media box.
2 Click Canvas.
3 Set the current colour.
4 Set the brush opacity.
5 Paint on the image.
A paint stroke using the Paint medium, A paint stroke using the Wash medium, A paint stroke using the Shade medi-
current colour red. current colour red. um, current colour red.
Wiping an Image
images:applying colours and filtersWipe command:in PaintPaint:Wipe commandUse the Wipe command
to apply colours, filters, and Special Effects media to the entire result image in a single stroke.
NOTE You can also wipe an image with the AutoPaint Wipe mode. See Wiping the Canvas in AutoPaint (page
1266).
1 Set the current colour you want to use for the wipe. See Selecting Colours (page 1229).
2 Click the Wipe colour pot.
The current colour is transferred to the wipe colour.
3 Set the brush opacity.
A value of 100% wipes the image with a completely opaque colour.
4 Click Wipe.
NOTE If you are using a filter for the wipe, you must enable the Filter button.
Filling an Image
filling areas, in PaintPaint:filling an area with colourUse the Fill command to fill areas of an image with
similar colour values or areas delimited by a colour. These areas can be filled with either a solid colour or a
reference image. You can choose how far the filled area extends by specifying how similar the pixels must
be in order to be filled. This enables you to fill only the dark areas of an image, or include slightly lighter
areas.
Use the Fill controls to set the colour model, range, and softness of the fill.
1 Click Fill in the Paint menu. If the Fill button is hidden by the colour palette, swipe the bottom of the
screen.
1 Click Fill.
The Fill controls appear.
NOTE To fill a matte, click From Matte. When this button is enabled, the pixels in the matte are used for
the colour comparison. If this button does not appear at first, click Matte on the right side of the menu
panel.
Select: To:
RGB Display the R, G, and B channel buttons. Enable each channel you want to use.
YUV Display the Y, U, and V channel buttons. Enable each channel you want to use.
Fill with range 75 and softness 50 Fill with range 50 and softness 100
1 Click Fill.
The Fill controls appear.
2 Select the colour model and channels you want to work with.
3 Set the range and softness in the Range and Softness fields.
4 Select the Special Effects medium you want to use (Clone, Reveal, Wash, or Shade). See Using Special
Effects Media (page 1249).
5 Set the Reference box to Front, Back, Result, or Saved, and set the brush opacity.
A value of 100% fills the area completely with the reference image.
6 Enable Medium.
7 Select a point in the area you want to fill.
Filling a Boundary
Use the Boundary option to fill an area of the canvas delimited by another colour.
1 Click Fill.
The Fill controls appear.
NOTE To fill a boundary with a reference image, set the Reference box to Front, Back, or Saved, and enable
Medium.
Using AutoPaint
AutoPaintPaint:AutoPaintUse the AutoPaint controls to apply paint strokes to each frame in the result clip,
a range of frames, or the current frame.
1 Click AutoPaint in the Paint menu. If the controls are hidden by the colour palette, swipe the bottom
of the screen.
1 Click AutoPaint, and select Wipe from the AutoPaint Mode box.
The Wipe menu appears.
Select: To:
Original image
After using the Wipe command with Jitter attribute at
35% and Colour attribute mode set to Front
1 Click AutoPaint and select Random from the AutoPaint Mode box.
The Samples field appears.
2 Enter the number of strokes you want to apply in the Samples field.
3 Set the current colour.
4 Select the Special Effects medium, and set the brush attributes. See Using Special Effects Media (page
1249), and Brush Attributes (page 1242).
5 Enable Animation to display the Channel Editor. If the Channel Editor is not visible, swipe the bar
below the menu.
You can animate the following parameters:
■ Number of strokes
■ All the brush attributes
■ Colour
6 Click the image to apply the paint strokes to the current frame only. Click Render to apply the paint
strokes to each frame in the front clip.
Original image
After using the Random command with Jitter attribute
at 30% and Colour attribute mode set to Front
TIP You can also play paint strokes created by converting objects (write-ons).
1 Click AutoPaint and select User from the AutoPaint Mode box.
2 Set the brush characteristics so that you can see the recorded brush strokes on your image.
NOTE The strokes you paint are recorded as a series of points or stamps of the brush. The number of strokes
is determined by dividing the number of points by the number of frames. The quality of the rendered strokes
depends on the number of recorded points. To record a larger number of points, select a small brush size.
3 Enable Record.
4 Begin painting on the image.
The position of each brush stroke is recorded, and the stroke count appears in the message bar.
5 To stop recording, click below the timebar.
All paint strokes applied to the image while recording are removed from the image and the number
of strokes is recorded.
NOTE AutoPaint stores only one set of recorded paint strokes at a time. If you record another set of paint
strokes, you lose your previously recorded strokes.
1 Enable Animation.
2 Select Front, Back, or Result from the Tracking box and click Stabilizer to track a point and apply the
offset information to the recorded strokes.
NOTE You can only track after you record paint strokes.
1 Enable Play.
The Play options appear.
(a) Indicator
The number of strokes is divided by the length of the stroke, defined by the second timebar.
The indicator in the second timebar is identical to a track in the Channel Editor.
4 Enable the Play options.
Enable: To:
Part Play only a part of the recorded strokes. AutoPaint applies the strokes to a frame, erases
those strokes, and moves to the next frame. This has the effect of creating streaks on your
rendered clip.
Distance Play paint strokes based on distance. AutoPaint divides the length of paint strokes by the
number of frames to determine what to render in each frame.
5 Enable Animation.
TIP Use the Frequency field to lower the processing time for your AutoPaint sequence. Use a low frequency
to render a quick preview of the result.
7 Swipe the bar at the bottom of the menu to display the Channel Editor.
NOTE The Channel Editor only appears if Animation is enabled. Also, animation data in the Channel Editor
is not erased when you record new strokes.
NOTE If you are zoomed in on the image and are in the Raster zoom mode, only the visible portion of the
image will be processed. This is much faster than using Tiled mode, but will not apply your modifications
to the entire frame. For more information on zoom modes, see Painting on Full-Resolution Film Images (page
1234).
About Mattes
mattes:enablingmattes:usingPaint:using a matteMattes protect specific areas of the image when you apply
paint, filters, or Special Effects media to the canvas. You can also use mattes to limit the area of a cutout.
For instructions on loading mattes into Paint, see Loading Clips into Paint (page 1226), and Saving, Loading,
and Deleting Setups (page 1313).
Viewing Mattes
mattes:viewingYou can view the matte as you use it.
NOTE You must load a matte clip in order to process a matte in Paint. If you want to create a matte from
scratch, load a black source as the matte clip.
2 Click Matte.
The Matte menu appears.
1 Click Matte.
2 Set the Matte Opacity to 0%.
3 Click Wipe.
The matte is erased.
2 Set the minimum luminance value for the matte in the colour pot on the left. To set the value, click
the field and use the colour picker to select the lightest colour from the image.
Creating Graphics
graphics, in Paint:addingGraphics can be used to create cutouts or mattes, or to apply geometrical shapes,
text, and fills to the result clip.
4 Draw the object on the image. See Using the Object Tools (page 1278).
5 Set the resolution to be used when adding or editing objects. See Setting the Object Resolution and
Display (page 1287). Objects appear at full resolution when they are drawn.
6 Set the object's attributes and gradient. See Setting the Object Attribute (page 1289), and Changing the
Object Gradient (page 1291).
7 Set the object's colour in the Current Colour pot. See Selecting Colours (page 1229).
8 Resize and move the object. See Changing the Size or Position of an Object (page 1293).
Click the Object Tools window and drag left or right. Use the left mouse button to scroll slowly, the
middle button to scroll faster, and the right button to scroll the fastest.
2 Click the object tool icon you want to use.
The selected object tool is highlighted by a blue outline.
Drawing a Rectangle
painting:rectanglespainting:squaresUse the Rectangle object tool to draw a rectangle or square in one of two
ways:
■ Corner-to-corner, with the two vertices located at diagonally opposite corners of the rectangle
■ Centre-to-corner, with the first vertex at the centre of the rectangle and the second at one corner
Drawing a Square
Press P while you draw and repeat the procedure for drawing a rectangle from corner-to-corner.
1 In the Graphics menu, click Add and then select the Circle tool.
2 Press and hold Alt.
3 Drag the cursor to establish the radius of the circle.
When the circle is the required size, release the cursor.
Drawing an Ellipse
painting:ellipsesUse the Ellipse object tool to draw an ellipse defined by three vertices. The first vertex
determines the centre of the ellipse. The second vertex determines the horizontal radius of the ellipse. The
third vertex determines the vertical radius.
To draw an ellipse:
1 In the Graphics menu, click Add and select the Ellipse tool.
2 Press P.
Drawing a Triangle
painting:trianglesUse the Triangle object tool to draw a triangle or equilateral triangle. The vertices are
located at the three corners of the triangle.
To draw a triangle:
An equilateral triangle has three sides of equal length. To draw an equilateral triangle, repeat the procedure
for drawing a triangle and press P while drawing the base of the triangle. This also establishes the height of
the triangle. Release the cursor to anchor the second and third vertices on the image.
Drawing a Polygon
polygons, drawingUse the Polygon object tool to create a series of connected lines that form a closed or
open object. You can specify how the vertices of the polygon should be connected by selecting one of the
options from the Polygon Mode box.
To draw a polygon:
3 Select an option from the Polygon Mode box to set the type of curve used to join the vertices of the
polygon.
Select: To:
Cardinal Use a smooth curve that passes through the vertices of the poly-
gon.
Bspline Use a very smooth curve that passes on the inner side of the ver-
tices of the polygon.
Bezier Use Bezier curves. Each vertex of the polygon has a tangent with
two tangent handles. In Edit mode, you can move the tangent
handles to adjust the slope of the polygon. See Editing a Bezier
Curve (page 1295).
Rubber Banding
graphics, in Paint:rubber bandingRubber banding is the default setting for drawing polygons and lines. This
means that a vertex is added to the polygon only when you press and release the cursor.
To draw a polygon with multiple vertices, disable the Rubber Banding button in the Setup menu. When you
drag the cursor while drawing a polygon or line, vertices are drawn on the image.
Draw regular polygons using the Sides field and the P key. A polygon can have three or more sides. This
enables you to draw a triangle or a square based on the centre point of the object.
3 Select a colour model from the Colour Model box (RGB or YUV).
4 Select the colour channels you want to use (R, G, and B, or Y, U, and V).
The choice of colour channels determines how Paint evaluates the area you want to fill. For example,
if you select R, G, and B, Paint fills areas whose adjacent pixels have red, green, and blue values in the
specified range. If you select only R, Paint fills only areas whose adjacent pixels have red values in the
specified range.
5 Enter the Range and Softness values for the fill.
The range determines how far the fill spreads from the point you click on the image; if you increase
the range, you increase the fill area. The softness determines how much diffusion occurs at the edges
of the fill; if you increase the softness, you increase the diffusion at the edges of the fill.
6 Move the cursor to the canvas and click inside the area to fill.
Paint fills the area with the current colour starting at the point you click.
NOTE The colour of the image and the channel, range, and softness settings determine the extent of the
fill. As you move the fill object, it changes size and shape in response to the different colours in the image.
3 Click the Font field and select a new font from the font library.
4 Click the Text field, type the text string, and click Enter.
5 Click the image to place the text object.
You can adjust the size, kerning, and italics of the text in Edit mode.
Use: To:
Italic Incline the text. Enter a positive value to slant the text to the right, and a negative value
to slant it to the left.
Kern Adjust the space (in pixels) between all letters in the text.
Selecting Objects
graphics, in Paint:selecting objectsYou must select an object before you can edit it.
Deselecting Objects:
■ To deselect an object or objects, select a different object or click the Add button.
As you add objects to the image, they are numbered sequentially, starting at 1. You can select an object by
specifying the number of the object in the Selected field.
As you change the number in the Selected field, the corresponding object is highlighted by a selection box.
1 Set the number in the Selected field to the number of the object you want to edit.
Copying Objects
copying:objects in PaintPaint:copying graphicsUse the Copy command to create multiple copies of an object.
Once a copy is created, it can be selected and edited like any other object.
To copy an object:
Deleting Objects
graphics, in Paint:deleting objectsUse the Delete command to remove one or more objects from the image.
1 Select the objects you want to delete. Click an individual object or use the Selected box to select an
object. To select multiple objects, click an object, press Shift, and click any other objects you want
to delete.
2 Click Delete.
All selected objects are removed from the image.
1 Enable All.
2 Click Delete.
All objects are deleted from the image.
graphics, in Paint:hiding objectsUse the Hide/Unhide commands to hide or unhide objects before they are
tacked onto the image.
1 Select the objects you want to hide. Click an individual object or use the Selected box to select an
object. To select multiple objects, click an object, press Shift, and click any other objects you want
to hide.
2 In the Graphics menu, click Edit and then click Hiding.
The Hide options appear.
Select: To:
graphics, in Paint:changing order for objectsObjects can be drawn so they overlap other objects to produce
a stack of objects.
NOTE To bring the object back to the front, click the object until it moves to the front.
Full Res Display the object at full resolution when updating. This is helpful for displaying gradients,
but slows down the rate at which image display is refreshed.
(a) Control Points button (b) Thick Line and Solid Line buttons (c) Graphic Regen button
Enabling and disabling the Thick Line and Solid Line buttons affects the wireframe as follows:
■ When Thick Line is enabled, the wireframe has a thickness of 2 pixels.
■ When Thick Line is disabled, the wireframe has a thickness of 1 pixel.
■ When Solid Line is enabled, the wireframe is unbroken.
■ When Solid Line is disabled, the wireframe is dashed.
Select: To:
Solid Draw a filled object with a well-defined edge. Use the Brush Opacity field to set the object's
transparency. No other brush attributes or types are available. Line objects cannot be set
to Solid.
Outline Draw an outline of the object. Use the Brush Attribute buttons to set the appearance of
the outline. See Changing the Object's Appearance (page 1290).
Fuzzy Draw a solid object with a soft edge. Use the Brush Attribute fields to set the appearance
of the outline.
Wire Draw a wireframe object. Use the Brush Opacity field to set the object's transparency. No
other brush attributes or types are available.
Changing display attributes affects all currently selected objects. See Selecting Objects (page 1285).
Select: To:
Rectangular Gradient Use a rectangular gradient in which colour changes from top to bottom.
Circular Gradient Use a circular gradient in which colour changes from centre to edge.
Gradient Off Turn off the gradient and use a solid colour.
TIP You can also set a noise level to the anti-band function. Noise may help when colour bands are very
large. Set the value in the Noise Level field to 7 to apply the maximum noise, or lower it to apply less
dither/noise. If you set the value to 0, no noise is applied.
When you select an object with a gradient, Paint displays a gradient control bar in addition to the object
transformation box. The gradient control bar has two handles at each end that show the colours of the
gradient. In a rectangular gradient, the bar also indicates the direction of the gradient.
(a) Start point of the gradient (b) Gradient control bar (c) End point of the gradient
NOTE If you want to move the transformation box, press M and click the location where you want to move the
box.
You can translate, resize, or rotate more than one object at the same time by selecting all the objects you
want to edit.
(a) Reset handle (b) Centre point (c) Resize handle (d) Rotation handle (e) Translation handle
The position of the transformation box is saved for each object. To move the transformation box, press M
and click the destination.
Resize handle To change the size of an object, drag the resize handle in any direction. To maintain an
object's proportions, press PE as you drag the resize handle.
Centre point To change the point around which the object rotates, move the centre point.
Rotation handle To rotate the object about its centre point, drag the rotation handle.
Translation handle To move the object in any direction on the image, drag the translation handle. The
transformation box moves with the object.
X (Scale) Change the size of the object along the horizontal axis.
Y (Scale) Change the size of the object along the vertical axis.
Rotation Set the object's angle of rotation along the Z-axis. The object is always rotated around its centre
point.
Reset Use the Reset button to reset the object to its initial size and position.
Start and End Numeric Fields Use these fields to set when the object appears in the clip.
graphics, in Paint:Auto Point;Auto PointWhen you add or delete a vertex on a polygon or line, the same
point is added or deleted on all shapes for that object. You can disable this option in the Setup menu. When
the Auto Point button is disabled, any point you add or delete on a shape is added/deleted in the current
shape key only.
To determine how much of an object to draw in each frame, the number of edges in the object is divided
by the number of frames in the clip. The polygons are drawn one after the other in the order in which they
were drawn in the Graphics menu.
Animating Graphics
graphics, in Paint:animatingUse the Channel Editor and Shape Animation controls to animate Paint graphics.
You can animate the position, display, and shape of a graphic. To display the Channel Editor, click the
Animation button and swipe the cursor across the bottom of the screen.
Animation Parameters
The following parameters can be animated for every object:
■ Position, rotation, and size
■ Brush attributes
■ Gradient orientation, transparency, and colour
■ Colour (red, green, and blue channels)
■ Wireframe width
■ Range and Softness of a fill object
■ Transparency
■ Size, Kerning and Italics for a text object
NOTE In Paint, the commands in the Tools box can be performed on animation curves only. To modify a keyframe
by editing the object in the image window, you must use the editing commands in the Graphics menu.
Shape Animation
animating:shapesshape animationgraphics, in Paint:shape animationTo animate the shape of an object, you
must create keyframes with the Shape Animation controls. Each shape you define becomes a keyframe in
the Shape channel of the Channel Editor. The difference between the keyframes is interpolated and the
shape animation is created.
The Shape channel is used to identify the number and location of shape keyframes in a clip. Use the shape
curve to control the rate at which an object changes to a new shape. The following figure shows the Shape
channel for an object that changes from shape 1 in frame 1, to shape 2 in frame 8, and shape 1 in frame 15.
1 Create an object.
This original shape becomes shape keyframe 1 in the Channel Editor.
2 Advance to another frame in the clip.
3 Select the object, and change its shape.
To change its shape, you must move, add, or delete a vertex on the object. This new shape is shape
keyframe 2 in the Channel Editor.
Shape Interpolation
Use the Shape Interpolation box in the Setup menu to specify the interpolation between shapes in the
animation.
Select: To:
NOTE The type of shape interpolation you use is independent of the type of polygon interpolation you use.
Deleting Keyframes
Adding Keyframes
Use Add to create a shape keyframe. This can be useful for creating animations that start and end with the
same shape.
Gradient Animation
graphics, in Paint:gradientsgradient:animating in Paintgraphics, in Paint:animating gradientsUse the Channel
Editor to animate the colours, orientation, and direction of a colour gradient. The Gradient folder includes
Start and End folders for the two colours in the gradient. The Start and End folders each contain channels
for the X and Y position of the colour, as well as the R, G, B, and alpha values.
Although you can animate the gradient independently, by default, the gradient will follow any transformations
of the object.
To animate a gradient:
Use: To:
x Move colour origin left or right. This is the same as moving the gradient bar handle.
y Move colour origin up or down. This is the same as moving the gradient bar handle.
a Change percentage of the colour's alpha channel. Use this channel to create a gradient matte
or to change the opacity of the colour.
6 Change the values for the channels in different frames to create a gradient animation.
NOTE If you are using Save and have typed in a name for the file, you must press Enter to finish saving
the file.
TIP Use Store and Recall to add graphics to clips loaded at a later time.
Tack Modes
The Tack mode is selected with the Tack Mode box in the Rendering Setup menu.
2 In the Rendering area, select an option from the Tack Mode box.
Select: To:
Vector Explicitly tack down the objects using the Tack command.
Edit Last Edit the last object drawn until the next object is added to the image. As soon as the
next object is added, the last object is tacked down.
Creating a Cutout
Creating a cutout is similar to creating a graphic. In the CutOut menu, you use the same controls as you
would in the Graphics menu to select, copy, hide, move, rotate, resize, delete, store, recall, push, and tack
cutouts.
To create a cutout:
1 Click CutOut.
2 Click Add.
The CutOut Shadow options appear.
3 To limit the area of the cutout with a matte, enable Use in the Matte controls.
4 Select an option from the Shadow Type box.
NOTE To use the GeoCut option, select all the objects you want to use in the cutout in the Graphics menu
before clicking the GeoCut button.
Keep Cut On
cutouts:Keep Cut OnOnce you add a cutout to the image, the default setting automatically switches from
Cut mode to Edit mode. To prevent the switch to Edit mode, enable Keep Cut On in the Setup menu.
To display both the cutouts and the graphics objects in the CutOut menu, enable Show Both in the Setup
menu. Although the graphics objects appear, they cannot be edited. Enabling Show Both also displays both
the graphics objects and the cutouts in the Graphics menu. Although the cutouts appear, they cannot be
edited.
Disable Graphic Regen (regeneration) in the Setup menu to ensure the cutout always appears at the display
resolution.
Enable Texture Cut/Paste in the Setup menu or Texture in the CutOut menu to speed up cut and paste
operations. These preferences are designed for platforms that support fast texture mapping.
Pasting Cutouts
drop shadows:adding to cutoutscutouts:adding drop shadowsFour options in the Shadow Type box are
available for pasting a cutout onto the image.
Select: To:
Emboss Create an embossed cutout. See The Emboss Option (page 1309).
Extrude Create cutout extrusions. See The Extrude Option (page 1310).
None Use the blend functions available for pasting cutouts. See The Blend Options (page 1310).
Shadow Add a drop shadow to the cutout. See The Drop Shadow Option (page 1311).
Offset Field
Use the Offset field to specify the offset value in pixels for the three layers. The best results are obtained with
values of 1 or 2.
(a) Paste Mode box (b) Offset field (c) Direction field
Direction Field
Use the Direction field to specify the angle of the simulated incident light. The values range from 0 to 7 and
specify the following angles of incident light.
When you create a cutout using the Extrude option, two layers are created to produce the effect. There are
vertices at the centre of each layer for manipulating the layer. You can change the depth and direction of
the extrusion by moving either layer.
Enable Use Colour to apply the current colour to the extrusion layers. The cutout image is used for the top
layer only. When Use Colour is enabled, use the Brush Opacity field to set the transparency of the extrusion
layers.
Add Adds the RGB values of the corresponding pixels in the cutout and the result image. Values greater
than 255 are clipped.
Subtract Subtracts the RGB values of pixels in the image from those of the cutout. Values less than 0 are
clipped.
Black Pastes a black object in the shape of the cutout on the result image.
White Pastes a white object in the shape of the cutout on the result image.
Colour Pastes a coloured object in the shape of the cutout on the result image. The current colour is used
for the object.
NAdd Max Compares the brightness values of corresponding pixels in the cutout and the result image, and
uses the pixel with the greater value in the tacked down cutout.
Multiply Multiplies the RGB values of corresponding pixels in the cutout and the result image. The value
is normalized by dividing the result by 255.
(a) Paste Mode box (b) Scale and Shear fields (c) Softness field (d) Shadow Opacity field
Shadow Opacity field Adjusts the transparency of the drop shadow. Decrease the value to increase the
transparency.
Softness field Adjusts the edge softness of the drop shadow. Increase the value to increase the softness of
the shadow.
Scale and Shear fields Shears and scales the drop shadow along the X- or Y-axis. These fields can be used
to add lighting perspective to the image.
Animating Cutouts
cutouts:animatingUse the Channel Editor to animate cutouts. To display the Channel Editor, click Animation
and swipe the cursor across the bottom of the screen.
The following parameters can be animated for every cutout:
■ Position, rotation, and shearing
■ Brush attributes
■ Colour (red, green, and blue channels)
■ Emboss options
■ Shadow options
NOTE If you are using Save and have typed in a name for the file, you must press Enter to finish saving
the file.
NOTE Previous versions of Flame saved cutouts as SGI. Starting with Flame 2018, Desktop Paint only supports
OpenEXR cutouts. To access an SGI cutout, import it in Flame 2018 though the MediaHub. You can then either
open it directly in Desktop Paint, or export it as an OpenEXR files to be loaded in Desktop Paint.
NOTE Custom brushes, brush sets, colour pots, and palette setups that you create in Paint are stored in your user
directory. These resources are loaded when you specify a user in the Project Management menu.
To save a setup:
Select: To:
Geometry Save the geometry created in the Graphics menu. This also includes all cutouts.
Loading Setups
To load a setup:
1 Click Load.
The Load Paint menu appears.
2 Select the type of setup you want to load from the Load option box.
A list of existing setups appears in the file browser.
3 Click the title or proxy of the setup you want to load.
Deleting Setups
Use the Delete button to remove setups from the setup directory.
To delete a setup:
1 Click Load.
The Load Paint menu appears.
2 Enable Delete.
3 Select the type of item you want to remove from the Load option box.
A list of existing setups appears in the file browser.
4 Click the title or proxy of the setup you want to remove and click Confirm.
Cropping a Setup
Use the crop box to limit the area of the picture, matte, cutout, or paint graphics to be saved in the setups
directory.
2 Click Picture, Matte, or CutOut to specify the element from the image you want to save.
3 Draw the crop box on the canvas by pressing and dragging the cursor diagonally across the screen.
Alternatively, use the left, right, top, and bottom Crop fields to set the boundaries of the crop box.
4 Click Save.
5 Select the item you are saving from the option box and name the setup in the keyboard display.
If you want to overwrite an existing setup, select the filename from the file browser.
6 Press Save (Enter) to save the setup.
1 In the Paint menu, click one of the five Brush Setup buttons.
2 Enable Edit next to the Brush Setup buttons.
3 Set the brush attributes. See Brush Attributes (page 1242).
4 Disable Edit to save the changes to the selected brush setup.
NOTE To save a set of five brush setups, use BrushSet in the Save menu.
1 Select a setup using the Brush Setup buttons and enable Edit.
2 Press Ctrl and click another Brush Setup button to copy the setup.
3 Disable Edit to save the setup.
Move: To:
To move the points only on the X-axis, select the Xscale option from the Profile box. To move the points
only on the Y-axis, select the Yscale option. To break a point and manipulate its tangent, select the Break
option and click on a point.
To add points to the curve, select the Add option from the Profile box and click on the curve. To delete
points from the curve, select the Delete option and click on one of the points on the curve.
NOTE You cannot use the Undo command when drawing or updating a custom brush.
1 To create a new shape, erase the existing brush shape by painting over the editing panel.
2 Draw the new shape.
3 To invert the brush shape, click Invert.
4 To blur the brush shape, click Blur. Each time you click Blur, a 3 x 3 filter is applied to the brush image.
To create a new brush, click the New button. This creates an icon for the new brush shape and adds it to
the Brushes window.
Custom brushes are not saved automatically when you exit Paint. To save the updated or new brush for use
in another work session, click the Save button. This opens the Brush setups directory. Use the keyboard to
enter the name of the brush, and click the Enter button. The new brush is saved in the Brush setups directory.
Click the Load button to load a custom brush from the Brush setups directory.
Pressure is mapped along the horizontal axis (X-axis) of the curve, and the amount of paint applied is mapped
along the vertical axis (Y-axis). If you are using the default S-shaped curve and you press lightly on the pen,
very little paint is applied. As you press harder, more paint is applied.
If you move point A in the previous figure to the maximum position on the Y-axis, the curve results in full
paint applied all the time, no matter how much or how little pressure you use.
Soft Airbrush
If you move Point B in the previous figure to a point midway on the vertical axis, the curve gives you a soft
airbrush, even at full pressure.
2 Click CC next to the clip you want to load into the Colour Corrector.
1 Click the Setup Name field for the clip you want to colour correct.
The file browser appears, displaying the contents of the Colour Correction setups directory.
2 Select the Colour Correction setup you want to use.
1325
Software anti-aliasing values can range from 1 to 64. A higher value increases the sampling rate, but also
increases processing time. An anti-aliasing of 1 means no anti-aliasing is performed and the result is a hard
edge.
Blur box Sets Gaussian Blur or Box Blur. Gaussian Blur uses subpixel resolution and creates a subtle effect
with the Blur Shadow attribute. Gaussian has rounded, smoother edges and is better for animation; however,
processing time is increased.
Box Blur has rectangular, rougher edges, but is more economical with rendering time, especially if you are
working on a rough draft.
1 From the Rendering box, select Interlaced, Progressive, or Auto (to render using the mode of the back
clip).
2 From the Render Mode box, select which clip gets processed.
Select: To:
Matte Render only the matte of the text. The text fill transparency attribute is transferred to the
matte. By generating a matte, you can easily composite the text onto another clip.
Both Render the text on the back layer and the matte of the text. The fill transparency is removed
from the text and transferred to the matte.
3 Click Setup.
4 From the Setup menu Rendering section, select the sampling level from the Auto-Softness box.
TIP You can zoom (Ctrl+spacebar) or pan (Ctrl+Shift+spacebar) the image window while in Preview
mode. To disable Preview, make a modification to the text or processing options, or click anywhere in the
image window.
8 Make modifications to the text and rendering options and preview until you are satisfied with the
result.
9 When you are ready to process the text clip, click Render.
The clip is processed from the currently displayed frame until the end of the clip.
Rendering Considerations
Rendering is contingent upon PreRender, Blur, and Animation settings. Depending on which options you
choose, you can increase the rendering speed:
■ When more than one non-static layer has blur shadows, Global Blur is faster, although all shadows are
blurred with the same unique colour and appear under all other layers.
■ When there is a combination of animated and non-animated layers, speed depends on the blur shadows.
If animated text has blurred shadows, Global Blur is faster. If you want a static blurred shadow, and a
non-blurred animated layer, Layer Blur is faster.
■ If you have static layers only (no animation), speed depends on the number of layers and whether
PreRender can be used. Global Blur is faster since it uses PreRender. The processing speed of Layer Blur
is the same with one or two layers. However, it becomes progressively slower with a higher number of
layers and if the layers use blur shadows.
To save a file:
1 Click Save.
2 In the Save menu, select an option from the Save box.
Defaults Override the default menu options in the Setup menu and replace them with your
specifications.
Preferences Save Setup menu specifications only and omit text and text attributes.
Selected Layers Save selected layers, their text, text attributes and Setup menu options.
Text Save text files with text attributes and Setup menu options.
3 Navigate and choose the directory where you want to save the file.
4 Type a name for the file and press Enter or click the Save button.
The file is saved and you return to the Text menu.
1 Click Load, and in the Load menu, select an option from the Load box.
Preferences Previously saved setup menu options.
Path Previously saved text path setups. Setups between text paths and garbage masks are interchangeable.
So, you can also load a garbage mask shape as a path. Preset paths are in opt/Autodesk/<product
home>/path/default.
Text File Text files. When you select Text File, you can select the encoding of the loaded file. This
applies the correct conversion from the selected file's encoding to the application's internal encoding.
For example, select ISO8859-1 to import Latin-1 ASCII files, or UCS-2 to import 2-byte Unicode encoded
text files. The encoding options reflect the character encodings available with your system. The load
mechanism supports the same encodings as the iconv utility. Optional iconv converters are available
by installing national language support options.
Multiple Text Setup Several layers or text files at a time with preferences. Text tool preferences that
were saved with the selected file are loaded as well.
Factory Defaults The original Text tool settings that were delivered with the application.
Creating a Layer
Text is contained in a layer called a text layer. When you create a text layer, a coloured border called the
crop border appears in the image window indicating the region the text will occupy.
To create a layer:
1 Click New Layer. If this is the first layer you are creating, you can click directly in the image window.
The text layer is positioned in the upper-left corner of the safe title area by default. The text in the
layer is left justified, while the width is equal to the safe title overlay. You can modify the safe title
overlay using the Grid and Guide controls. You can also modify the boundary colour. See Rendering
Text Clips (page 1326).
2 Click Axis to make sure you are in the Axis menu.
3 To set the text layer dimensions, enable Layer.
Entering Text
The text you type may be as short as one letter or word or as long as several paragraphs. If the text is long
or exists in a word processor, you can load the text file into the current layer.
You enter and edit characters much like in a word processor. You type characters using the keyboard and
many known text editing conventions, such as Shift+arrow keys to select text lines. You can also click
once to insert the cursor and select the adjacent character, double-click to select the whole word, and
triple-click to select the entire line. Quadruple-click to select all characters on the layer and use the middle
mouse button to paste selected text.
Use either the workstation or on-screen keyboard to enter characters in a layer. You can also paste the current
text selection (from a shell or any other application) into any keyboard input field by pressing the middle
mouse button or by using the pen button.
You can also input Asian characters using their corresponding ASCII codes with the numeric keypad.
2 In the image window, create a new layer by doing one of the following:
■ Click New Layer.
■ Press Alt+N.
■ Click directly in the image window (if this is the first layer you are creating).
NOTE Enabling Up ASCII also affects your workstation keyboard, so make sure you disable the button again
before exiting the Text menu.
3 If the selected font has special symbol characters, enable Symbols to see them.
4 Type the characters in the text layer.
The keyboard characters appear in the current font.
Press: To:
Alt+Shift+A Select all characters in all layers. This operation is the same as using the Select All Layers
button.
Ctrl+Shift+PgUp Extend the character selection to the beginning of the text layer.
Ctrl+Shift+PgDn Extend the character selection to the end of the text layer.
These text attributes have a cumulative effect on the selected characters. For example, if you enable the Fill
and Outline buttons, the text appears as solid characters with a coloured outline.
NOTE For a reference of the complete Text menu, see Text Menu Settings (page 1602)
To edit text characters, you must be in Move or Edit mode and some text must be selected. The Layer and
Character controls are described as follows.
Layer Order box (in the Layer Attributes section) Moves a layer in front of or behind another layer.
Aligning Layers
Use Align Sel mode to align multiple layers and specify the direction for the alignment.
1 In the image window, select two or more layers to be aligned. To select multiple layers, Ctrl-click the
layers (or click the pen button).
2 In the Text Mode box, select Align Sel.
3 On the numeric keypad, press the number that corresponds with the direction in which you want to
align the selected layers.
Press: To:
4 Align left.
6 Align right.
5 Centre align.
The text mode returns to Move when the Align Sel operation is done.
Use Leading mode to adjust the spacing between lines of text in a paragraph. The selected lines are adjusted
in proportion to the leading values already specified. Use this mode to adjust the leading among paragraphs
with various leading values.
Rekerning Text
kerning textKerning refers to the space between characters that you can either increase or decrease. Use
Rekern mode to change the kerning of all selected characters in relative proportion to the current kerning
values.
Use Rekern to adjust the kerning among paragraphs with various kerning values.
To rekern text:
Text:resizingUse Resize mode to change the font size of all the characters in a selection in relative proportion
to the current font sizes. Use this mode if you have several font sizes represented in a selection.
The Size field allows you to apply an absolute font size value to selected text.
To resize text:
Use Y Offset mode to shift selected layers along the vertical axis—the Y-axis. Use the up and down arrow
keys to offset the selection.
Safe Title: in Text;Text:safe titleUse Safe Title mode to align selected text within the safe title overlay. Use
the numeric keypad (0-9) to specify the direction of alignment. Safe title is used to define the boundary for
positioning text and how it appears in a rendered clip. By default, new layers appear in the upper-left corner
of the safe title area.
1 Select the layer you want to align with the safe title.
2 In the Text Mode box, select Safe Title.
3 Press the number on the numeric keypad that corresponds with the direction in which you want to
align the selected layers. Press 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, or 9 to determine the direction in which to align; press
5 to align the layer in the centre of the safe title area. Press 0 to align the layer horizontally in the safe
title area.
1 Select the text from which you want to copy the attributes or transformations.
2 In the Character Channels section of the Text menu, click Copy Attributes, Copy Transformations, or
Copy All.
NOTE When a group of layers is selected, you cannot switch to Edit mode.
Loading Logos
logos:loading into Text module;Text:loading logosYou can use a logo so that it appears on every frame in a
clip. Also, you can use logos in text rolls to credit sponsors, contributors, and products. Place a logo directly
in a paragraph and then set text formatting properties for the logo.
To save a logo:
Tabulating Text
tab stops, setting in Text;Text:tab stops;Text:text columnsYou can organize text into columns by setting
tabs in the Tabulation menu. In a text layer, you can also set tab stops to align text at specific locations in
a paragraph.
1 In the Tabulation menu, click Add to add the tab stop in a text layer.
2 Click the tab stop and drag it to its new location on the ruler. Alternatively, enter a pixel value in the
Position field.
Once you set tab stops for a paragraph, press Tab in subsequent paragraphs to type text in the location
of the next tab stop. In a text layer, each time you press Enter, the tab stops you set in the previous
paragraph are carried to the next paragraph.
Spell Checking
spell checking;Text:spell checkingIn the Spell Check menu, you can check the spelling of the text in a text
layer. When spelling errors are encountered, a red line is drawn through words not in its dictionary. By
default, the spell checker uses the language and dictionary installed with the operating system to verify the
spelling of words. You can also create your own custom dictionary.
NOTE If the spell checker is not installed on your system, the Spell Check menu controls are disabled.
1 In the Text Setup menu Rendering section, enable PreRender, and then select Interlaced from the
Render box.
6 Click New Layer and add the text you want to use for the text roll or crawl.
A shaded layer appears in the image window with a vertical scrollbar for a roll or a horizontal scrollbar
for a crawl. The shaded area represents the crop box area. The following is an example of a text roll.
7 To set the start position of where the text appears in the text roll or crawl, use the Scrollbar X and Y
fields or drag the scrollbar up or down (roll), or left or right (crawl).
8 Go to the frame where you want the text roll or crawl to finish and set the end position by dragging
the scrollbar or using the Scrollbar X and Y fields.
9 If you want to calculate the ideal number of frames for the text roll, choose a roll speed: 1X, 2X, 3X,
or 4X.
The suggested duration appears in the Best Roll Duration field. You can either change the number of
frames in your clip to match the one in the Best Roll Duration field, or you can leave the clip as is.
10 If the suggested duration is acceptable, enter it in the Duration field and then click Fit Best Speed.
The roll is created and the Scrollbar position and Leading are changed (if required) and locked.
11 If the suggested duration is not acceptable, click Fit Best Speed.
The roll is created and the Scrollbar position and Leading are changed (if required) and locked.
12 Click Render to render the text roll and view the results.
When you play the clip, the text rolls or crawls through the image area from the first position to the
final position.
NOTE When rendering text rolls and crawls, use PreRender in the Text Setup menu to render the roll or
crawl relatively fast while bypassing the animation. Check the message bar to see whether PreRender is
enabled.
TIP When creating credit rolls, the anti-aliasing on the text should be turned on.
NOTE PreRender must be disabled when creating text animations. See Rendering Considerations (page 1327). Check
the message bar to verify the PreRender status.
Current The channels for the selected paragraph—the current cursor location.
Select: To:
Move Modify the shape of the spline by changing the position of the vertex or tangent.
Add Add more vertices to the spline to create a more complex shape with text. Click anywhere
on the path to add a vertex.
Break Separate two tangent handles and move them independently. Click a tangent; the tangent
handle changes from a dashed to a solid line to indicate it is broken.
In the Channel Editor, the Path group contains a Shape channel to animate the path and an Offset
channel to animate the offset value.
You can use a garbage mask spline as a shape for the motion path of text on a path. You can save and load
the Shape channel as a list in raw shape data (.raw file), which is compatible with garbage mask raw data.
Raw setups between text paths and garbage masks are interchangeable.
A set of path files is visible when the Path and Default options are selected in the Load Text menu.
4 Browse to find the file you want to load.
5 Click Load.
The spline appears with its new shape in the image area.
To define a style:
NOTE You can use Ctrl+Shift and F1 to F9 to assign text attributes to Style buttons 1 through 9 from
any menu.
To modify a style:
NOTE You can use Ctrl+Shift and F1 to F9 to assign a style to Style buttons 1 through 9 from any menu.
To clear a style:
1 From the Style Option box, select Clear Style and then click a style button.
NOTE It is sometimes convenient to clear all styles just prior to using AutoStyle to save multiple styles
automatically. AutoStyle assigns up to nine style buttons at once. See Saving Multiple Styles Automatically
(page 1351).
To apply a style:
To save a style:
NOTE You can click the Create Dir button to create a new directory in which to save your styles.
Select: To:
All Styles Load files saved with multiple styles. The file browser lists setups saved with multiple styles.
One Style Load files saved with one style only. The file browser lists setups saved with a single style.
NOTE If you used more than nine sets of attributes in the selection, only the first nine are assigned to a Style
button.
Changing Fonts
When you open the Text tool, the default font is loaded and ready to use. When you choose a different font,
it becomes the current font and all text you type appears in the current font. If you edit text that has a
different font, the current font is replaced by the font of the text at the cursor position. For example, if you
are working with Carta font and you edit text that uses Helvetica, Helvetica becomes the current font and
all subsequent text you type appears in Helvetica.fonts:in Text module;Text:fonts, using
You specify the default font in the Timeline FX ➤ BFX tab of the Preferences menu. Also, you can install
additional fonts for use in the Text Tool.
1 In the Font section of the Text menu, click the Font field.
2 In the Font Type box, select the font type you want to load.
Type Description
Type 1 A single-byte font type designed for Roman language fonts. Soft-links to the Adobe®
Postscript® Type 1 fonts installed with the system or supplied by Autodesk are contained
in /opt/Autodesk/font directory.
OpenType® A font developed by Adobe and Microsoft® that supports expanded character sets and
layouts.
3 In the file browser, navigate to the directory that contains the font you want to load.
4 Preview a font. Do one of the following:
■ Select a font to see it with sample text in the Font Preview window.
In order to access symbols of the OTF font type, access the on-screen keyboard, enable the Symbols button
(in the lower right of the keyboard), then use the arrow keys to browse through the pages of symbols until
you find the character set you need.
NOTE When entering non-Latin text characters, consult your operating system documentation to install and access
the required input method packages.
1 In the Text tool, create a layer for the text you want to paste.
2 Click the Font field and select a font.
TIP You can find many more shaders by visiting the community-driven shader repository at https://logik-matchbook.org/. You
can download free shaders created by fellow Flame users, or share your own custom shaders with other users.
About Matchbox
Because of the nature of GLSL fragment shaders, Matchbox works well on image processing effects. You can
however, create simulated 3D effects using a number of image processing techniques, such as a Z-depth pass,
for example.
The Matchbox node populates the user interface dynamically, based on the parameters required by the
shader. By default, Matchbox has six physical inputs, but you are not limited to the amount of actual inputs
you can use in the effect, since you can use the same image for more than one input. You can also specify
colours as inputs, such as black or white; in this case, you may need to select User Defined in the Output
Resolution box in the Matchbox menu to be able to view the colour result.
Re-purposing of existing effects is easy, since Matchbox shaders use simple generic GLSL fragment shader
code, with no required customization. Included are a number of useful examples and presets, that can be
used as is, or serve as starting points for you to develop your own tools. If the loaded shader has any preset
starting points built into it (such as in the Duotone shader), you can find them in the Presets list in the
Shader tab of the Matchbox menu.
Matchbox shaders can also be used as timeline transitions. Flame includes some Matchbox transition presets
(see Using Matchbox as a Transition (page 1365)). The Matchbox XML schema contains tags to identify if the
shader is designed as an Action node, a Timeline FX or a Transition. The tags ShaderType and SoftwareVersion
are added automatically to the XML by the shader_builder script.
1355
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
■ The Modular Keyer, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Action or GMask Tracer, then select a Matchbox node. See Matchbox in Action (page 820) for specific
information.
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
NOTE In Batch, Batch FX and the Modular Keyer, the Matchbox node's input tab colours are based on the type
of input (for example, yellow for composite, blue for matte). For some Matchbox shaders, you may need to connect
all inputs before you can see a result.
When selecting a Matchbox shader from the file browser, you can use the File Format box to display shaders
in .glsl format or encrypted Matchbox .mx format. Some more efficient, complex, or sophisticated effects
can be split into multiple passes. Make sure to select the parent .glsl shader from the browser if you want to
load a multipass Matchbox shader (the .mx format packages all passes into one file).
NOTE When accessing Matchbox in Batch, Batch FX, and Action, you can also use a dynamic Matchbox node
bin to quickly access all Matchbox shaders housed in a folder of your choice. See Matchbox Node Bin Tab (page
543) and Matchbox and Lightbox Node Bin Tabs (page 543).
Matchbox in Action
While you can use interactive Matchbox shader effects elsewhere in Flame (such as from the timeline or
Batch), using Matchbox in Action presents some unique benefits:
■ Matchbox effects in Action can be parented to a texture node (or multiple texture nodes). Multiple
Matchbox effects can also be added to a texture node. Supported texture maps are Diffuse, Normal, UV,
Displacement (HW Only), Parallax, IBL, Specular, Emissive, Lens Flare textures, and Substance textures.
These Matchbox effects occur in texture space, after Media list effects but before Action objects, and can
be seen as pre-processing effects.
■ You can also connect a Matchbox shader to an Action camera, to create a Camera FX that is applied to
the whole scene. Camera FX are scene-based post-processing effects.
Keep in mind that the Matchbox XML schema contains tags to identify if the shader is designed as an Action
node, a Timeline FX, or a Transition. The tags ShaderType and SoftwareVersion are added automatically to
the XML by the shader_builder script.
The Action Priority Editor (page 557) has a Matchbox Only mode to view and change the drawing order of
Matchbox effects.
See the sections below for information on how to add, and things to watch for, when working with each
type of Action Matchbox effect.
TIP If you add a Matchbox node to the schematic without a supported texture node present, you can parent
the Matchbox to an image, and a Diffuse Map node (with accompanying Axis) is automatically added to
create a proper Matchbox connection. Matchbox nodes are not supported on Stereo objects.
Matchbox nodes and their links are displayed as black in the schematic to help you identify them. If
you added the Matchbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node
in the schematic.
2 Double-click the Matchbox node in the schematic to display its menu.
The Matchbox node populates the user interface dynamically, based on the GLSL (and XML) code, but
there are a few UI elements that are constant, located in the Shader tab.
3 If you added a Matchbox effect from the All Nodes bin, you can change the effect by clicking Change
Shader in the Shader tab of the Matchbox menu.
4 Use the Action Object Solo (F8) view on the parent texture to cycle through three Matchbox views:
Context, Result, and Result Matte. The F8 view also allows you to interact directly in the image window
with icons, if they are present in the shader.
TIP Instead of using a source node for a simple front/matte transform, consider using the Front Matte Offset
Matchbox (available as a preset, along with many other useful Matchbox effects).
You can connect Matchbox shaders to the Action camera and have the result of the shader applied to the
result of the Action scene. Similar to using Texture Matchbox shaders, the priority editor is used to handle
the pipeline order.
NOTE Post-processing (Camera FX, Lens Flares, and Rays) effects are only visible in the Live Preview view. Camera
FX can have 2D and 3D widgets visible in the Live Preview view. Only the widget(s) of the currently selected
Matchbox are shown. Lens Flares and Rays are rendered at the end of the Camera FX pipeline, when enabled in
the Comp output.
GMasks can be connected to a Camera to limit their effect to the post-processing pipeline exclusively. GMask
output passes have an option to only show GMasks connected to the current camera, so you can set GMask
to not interact with the scene, and only be created to be used with the post-processing pipeline. You can
also use a GMask input Matchbox shaders (if they have been implemented to use this input).
The Action post-processing pipeline can connect the Matchbox shader automatically to the appropriate
Action output. To support this, shader developers need to set the InputType tag properly in the shader XML
(each Action output has its equivalent InputType tag). This includes RGBA shader rendering. The following
input types are supported:
■ Front (this defines the Primary Output render layer selection).
■ Back
■ Matte
■ 3D Motion Vectors
■ Albedo
■ Ambient Occlusion
■ Comp (this defines the Action Comp output of the render layer, in case the Primary is another type).
■ Emissive
■ GMask
■ Lens Flare
■ Motion Vectors
■ Normals
■ Occluder
■ Position
■ Reflection
■ Roughness
■ Shadows
■ Specularity
■ UV
■ Z-Depth
■ Z-Depth HQ (32-bit Z-Depth output packed in two 16-bit channels; you must use the Matchbox API to
leverage the data).
Matchbox Camera FX also have access to the Acton output list in their patch panel (in the Shader tab on
the Matchbox menu), so you can manually set the proper connection if the Matchbox shader hasn't been
tagged properly in the XML.
Matchbox nodes and their links are displayed as black in the schematic to help you identify them. If
you added the Matchbox from the dynamic node bin, the name of the effect also appears on the node
in the schematic.
NOTE Since a Matchbox connected to a Camera node (Camera FX) is considered a post-processing effect
in Action, make sure that your image window is set to Live Preview mode to be able to see the results of the
shader.
Rendering Camera FX
When rendering a Camera FX pipeline, Action uses Multi-Render Targets (MRT) to allow outputs to be much
more efficient. Depending on the Rendering settings, the scene is rendered only once or twice instead of as
many times as there are output passes, leading to a significant speed increase in the case of Camera FX
requiring many input connections. The biggest speed improvement can be found when the Accumulation
Rendering (page 595) box is set to Accumulation On or Accumulation Off, since all passes can then be done
using a single MRT. In the case of Accumulation RGBA, two MRTs are needed, which reduces the speed
improvement compared to the other Accumulation settings, but still offers a significant boost compared to
not using MRT at all.
TIP Post-processing (Camera FX, Lens Flares, and Rays, Blooming, and Ambient Occlusion) effects are only visible
in the Live Preview view.
A GMask connected to the Camera with a GMask link can be used to limit the effect of a Camera FX Matchbox.
In this example, a Gmask is used to limit the effect of a Lightwrap effect that works well for the roof, but is
too strong for the character. The Gmask limits the effect and the gradient gradually softens out the Lightwrap,
so the top of the head of the character still has a little bit of Lightwrap.
To be able to use a GMask in this manner, you need to used a compatible Matchbox shader and enable Use
GMask iInput in the menu. GMask output passes have an option to only show GMasks connected to the
current camera, so you can set GMask to not interact with the scene, and only be created to be used with
the post-processing pipeline.
3D Selectives as Camera FX
Some Matchbox shaders include 3D Selective functionality, allowing you to segment the render of Action
using different 3D techniques, applying the given effects to a specific portion of the image.
The following example shows the usage of 3D Selective with both the Lightwrap and Blur 3DSelective shader.
The Blur is used to create a DepthOfField effect using the Distance mode, while three different
Lightwrap3DSelective shaders are used to create independent Lightwrap effects on each of the trumpeters,
as single values for all three didn't worked out in this case.
For each Lightwrap, the Cube World Selective type was used to isolate each trumpeter.
You can use the Matchbox Lens texture grid shaders with Action Lens Flares. You can use the LensBokeh,
LensRefraction, and LensOptic Matchbox to replace Glint Texture, Glow Texture, Iris Texture, Ring Texture
Result
In each Matchbox Lens effect's menu, you can use the texture grid functionality to select different looks. In
this example, You can select different Dust elements for the Lens Dirt effect.
You can also use a Lens Flare Matchbox shader as part of the Camera FX pipeline. Since Lens Flares (and
Rays) are rendered at the end of the Camera FX pipeline, you can use instead the ActionLensFlare Matchbox
shader, which allows you to put the Lens Flare result anywhere in the Camera FX pipeline.
For this use case, make sure that you disable the Action Lens Flare / Rays button from the Comp output
Render Passes menu:
In this example, there is also a Matchbox Glow effect in the Camera FX pipeline, as well as a GMask that
allows you to blur part of the Lens Flare result without affecting the Action result. The Glow can affect both
Result
Stingray Matchbox shaders are based on the Autodesk Stingray game-engine technology, allowing you to
produce visually stunning results in Action. These shaders can be combined (as in the Camera FX example
below). You can also use GMasks and 3D Selectives with the Stingray shaders to help you limit the effects
to certain areas of your image.
Result
These are the available Stingray Matchbox shaders, as well as some usage tips:
Stingray Motion Blur This shader allows you to create motion blur effects, based on the motion vector
provided (either by the Action Motion Vector output or the Batch Motion Analysis node). This shader can
also use a Z-Depth input to help provide better results. When used as Camera FX in Action, it can
automatically receive the current Camera Near/Far values, when Frustum is set to Auto, otherwise it can be
set manually. The Exposure field is available to allow control on how much motion blur to create. While
this tool can create quite nice small and subtle motion blur effects, it cannot create large motion blur effects
due to the nature of the technique used; therefore the Exposure value is limited to 10.
Stingray Ambient Occlusion This shader allows you to create lighting occlusion, by computing how each
point in a scene is exposed to ambient lighting. To do so, the shader requires the Z-Depth and Normals
information of a 3D scene. You can control its impact in the scene by modifying the Intensity, Radius, and
Stingray Bloom This shader allows you to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras, where bright
areas create feathering (when overwhelming the camera capturing the scene). By default, the shader is set
to use the Stingray Tone Map, which handles geometry content, so in the case of an image sequence, you
may prefer using the Scene Linear Input option instead, if applicable. The first step of the Bloom shader is
to create the bright pass which can be isolated using the Bright setting of the Pass option. To control how
much of the image is contributing to the bright pass, you can adjust the Threshold and the Exposure settings.
This bright pass becomes the source of the blooming effect to which the Blur Amount, Falloff, Offset, Bloom
Colour, and Gain settings are then applied. When used as Camera FX, you can use both the Use GMask
Input and the Selective options to tailor exactly where and how much Bloom effect you want in your image.
Multiple Stingray Bloom shaders can then be added, using different values and affecting different areas of
the scene.
Stingray Reflections This shader allows you to create single-bounce screenspace reflections, based on the
Z-Depth and Normals information of a 3D scene. The shader uses the roughness information of the material
through a Roughness map to control how sharp or diffuse the reflection is. To control this in Action, you
can use the Shader node with either the Physically Based or the Cook-Torrance shading mode. The basic
Reflection settings are the Intensity, Tint, Gain, and As Additive Ambient (which allows you to add the
reflection as ambient light or blend it to the scene). The Use Z-Depth setting allows you to use a normal
Z-Depth input, since, by default, the shader is expecting the Z-Depth HQ Action output for maximum quality
(however a regular 16bit Z-Depth input can be used). The Only Reflections Output setting allows you to
output just the Reflection result, without the scene result. You can use the Screen Edge and Surface Thickness
Threshold settings to help control where the reflections are going to appear in the image. Since the Stingray
Reflection shader is a single-bounce reflection, you may need to isolate which objects cast or which objects
receive reflections, to get around some limitations of the technique. To do this, you can apply the shader
as a Camera FX, and use the Casting and Receiving Selective settings. You can also use the GMask functionality
to control the reflection further.
Stingray Depth of Field This shader allows you to create focus range blur effects. Use the Centre Z setting
for focus position, and the Range setting to define the size of the focus area. Both of these settings are in
Action camera-space coordinates. To control the Blur, you have independent control on the Near and Far
side of the focus area. Max sets the blur size, while Distance sets how quickly you will reach the Max blur
value, starting from the corresponding focus area position. You can further impact how the blur is going to
behave in the defined Distance region, by adjusting the curves found in the Advanced tab section. By default
it is set to linear, but it can be freely adjusted. Lastly, you can change the chromaticity of the effect by setting
a colour to both the Far and Near blur area which affects the RGB channels independently.
Stingray Lens Effects This shader is a simple lens distort/correction tool with chromatic aberration
capabilities. The Distortion setting distorts/corrects the image with a simple lens model, while the Fringe
Intensity and Colour settings allow you to control the chromatic aberration of the lens. When used as a
Camera FX, you can use the Use GMask Input option to only apply the overall effect to a portion of the
image.
NOTE To create your own transition effect from a shader, you must manually keyframe your animation and set
your shader parameter values and save them to a setup. An added benefit of working this way is that the setup
contains the shader. This means that you can reload and use the effect even if the shader is not present on the
workstation you're working on.
About Lightbox
Unlike Matchbox GLSL shaders, Lightbox shaders are available exclusively in Action, relying on the Light
framework, to which a Lightbox node is parented in the Action scene. Lightbox shaders allow you to create
and use a wide range of effects that affect one fragment at a time, allowing a casting of colour effects through
the light cone, respecting every aspect of Light behaviour, including shading, decay, and feathering. Lightbox
nodes can be useful in the lighting pipeline to develop a look at the scene level of Action, or to help with
blue screen or green screen work.
Lightbox effects are based on the OpenGL Shading Language (glsl) programming language and can be created
by users to use in Action, or to share with other Flame users (a number of preset and example shaders are
also available). For this reason, a Lightbox API is available, that allows you to access Action scene information
(such as distance, normals, camera position, and other 3D environment variables).
Here are a few highlights and tips to help you when working with Lightbox in Action:
■ Multiple Lightbox nodes can be parented under the same Light, and the order of processing can be
controlled in the Light Priority Editor (page 557).
Since multiple Lightbox nodes parented under the same Light node respect a priority order, you can
create a pipeline of Lightbox effects. For example, you can use a Selective 3D Lightbox shader to create
a selective, then apply a second Lightbox shader, such as Colour Correct to affect only the selected areas.
■ A GMask (or multiple GMasks) connected to the parent Light with a selective GMask Link (page 900) can
help you create interesting effects, where the Lightbox is cast through the GMask shape. You can track
the GMask, and combine GMask Links with Look At Links and Replica nodes to easily build a composite,
such as simulating sunlight shining through windows.
■ Lighting links (page 657) can be useful to connected Lightbox nodes in creating inclusive or exclusive
constraints.
■ Use the Action Object Solo (F8) view on the parent light to see the scene through the point of view of
the light, as if it was a camera. The F8 view also allows you to interact directly in the image window with
icons, if they are present in the shader.
■ If the loaded Lightbox shader has any preset starting points built into it (such as in the Duotone shader),
you can find them in the Presets list in the Shader tab of the Lightbox menu.
■ A folder is available in the channel editor for each Lightbox effect in your Action scene.
■ Apart from the Lightbox menu with its dynamic settings generated from the .glsl code, there are a number
of settings in the Light menu (page 661) that can help you set up your Lightbox effect (mostly in the
Rendering section of the Basics tab, and in the Lightbox tab of the Light menu). By default, when a new
Lightbox node is added to the scene with a new Light, the light is inactive, and global shading and Scene
Ambient settings are set to active.
Lightbox Examples
Use the following examples of Lightbox shaders to get a feel for the workflow of using different types of
Lightbox effects in Action.
A common scenario that you may encounter when working with Lightbox is how to combine images that
you don't want to shade with a geometry that you do want to shade. You can use selective lighting links
and the Priority Editor to solve this issue.
■ Light 1 is a global light, set to Additive Light in the Light Source box.
■ Light 2 is the parent of the Lightbox node, and is not set to Active.
■ Light 3 is connected to the image node with a Light Inclusion link; the Light Type is Ambient, with the
Shade set to 0%, and the Light source box set to Solo Light.
■ These settings, when combined with Light 3 appearing in the Priority Editor after Light 1, produces the
desired effect.
The goal when using the Selective 3D or Selective Noise 3D Lightbox shader is to create an alpha to use in
the next Lightbox node in the pipeline.
■ You can have more than one Selective node parented under a Light. The Selective areas created by all
the Selective nodes are combined to create one alpha selection.
You can use the Clouds and Fog Lightbox presets to simulate these environmental conditions in your Action
scene.
For these effects, you do not want to use the normals attenuation from the parent Light, so make sure that
the Override Normals button is enabled in the Lightbox tab of the Light menu. The state of this button can
be coded directly in the shader (it is enabled by default for the Clouds and Fog presets).
2D Histogram
Use the 2D Histogram to display the luminance distribution of the matte.
1371
Lift field Displays the value added to the resulting pixels to create the final matte. Editable.
Gain field Displays the value that the resulting pixel values are multiplied by to create the final matte.
Editable.
Histogram Displays a bar graph that is used to adjust the luminance values of the image. In the Ranges
menu, the curves for the three luma ranges are also displayed.
Minimum Input field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black.
Minimum Output field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values for black pixels.
Maximum Input field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white.
Maximum Output field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values for white pixels.
Out Range box Select a curve that is constant (Clamp) or linear (No Clamp) before the first point of the
curve and after the last point of the curve.
When using 16-bit floating point images, you can select Clamp to clamp colour and luminance values, or
No Clamp to allow pixel floating point values to be less the 0 or more than 1.
Frame Selection box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Destination button Enable to show a histogram of the colour values in the result or destination clip.
The destination colour values are obtained from the current frame. If you input both front and matte clips,
the colour values in the front clip that are defined by the white part of the matte are displayed.
2D Transform
Use 2D Transform to apply basic axis transformations and camera shake effects to clips.
This node accepts a front and a matte clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
2D Transform | 1373
General Settings
Transform Type box Select Perspective to modify all available settings, or Pan & Scan to modify only Position
and Scale. In Pan & Scan mode, some Axis and Camera Shake settings are unavailable.
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
Show Icons button Enable to display the vertex editing tool in the image window.
Axis Settings
Position X field Displays the X-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the Y-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Position Z field Displays the depth offset of the clip. Available when Transform Type is set to Perspective.
Editable.
Rotation X field Displays the degree of rotation on the X axis. Available when Transform Type is set to
Perspective. Editable.
Rotation Y field Displays the degree of rotation on the Y axis. Available when Transform Type is set to
Perspective. Editable.
Rotation Z field Displays the degree of rotation along the Z axis. Available when Transform Type is set to
Perspective. Editable.
Scale X field Displays the X-axis scaling offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Scale Y field Displays the Y-axis scaling offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Scale Z field Displays the Z-axis scaling offset. Available when Transform Type is set to Perspective. Editable.
Shear X field Displays the offset value for the horizontal edges of the clip. Available when Transform Type
is set to Perspective. Editable.
Shear Z field Displays the depth value of the horizontal edges of the clip. Available when Transform Type
is set to Perspective. Editable.
Centre X field Displays the centre point value of the clip along the horizontal axis. Available when Transform
Type is set to Perspective. Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the centre point value of the clip along the vertical axis. Available when Transform
Type is set to Perspective. Editable.
Centre Z field Displays the centre point value of the clip along the Z axis. Available when Transform Type
is set to Perspective. Editable.
Position X field Displays the X-axis offset applied to the matte. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the Y-axis offset applied to the matte. Editable.
Rotation Z field Displays the degree of rotation along the Z axis. Editable.
Scale X field Displays the X-axis scaling offset applied to the matte. Editable.
Scale Y field Displays the Y-axis scaling offset applied to the matte. Editable.
2D Transform | 1375
Camera Shake button Enable to simulate camera shake in the image.
Translate X Amount field Displays the amount of horizontal movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Translate Y Amount field Displays the amount of vertical movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Rotation Z Amount field Displays the degree of rotation on the Z axis. Available when Transform Type is
set to Perspective.Editable.
Scale Amount field Displays the amount of scaling applied to the clip. Editable.
Translate X Frequency field Displays the frequency of horizontal movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Translate Y Frequency field Displays the frequency of vertical movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Scale Frequency field Displays the frequency of scaling applied to the clip. Editable.
Rotation Z Frequency field Displays the frequency of rotation on the Z axis. Available when Transform
Type is set to Perspective.Editable.
Translate X Phase field Displays the phase of horizontal movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Translate Y Phase field Displays the phase of vertical movement applied to the clip. Editable.
Rotation Z Phase field Displays the phase of rotation on the Z axis. Editable.
Scale Phase field Displays the phase of scaling applied to the clip. Editable.
X Centre field Displays the centre point value of the clip along the horizontal axis. Available when Transform
Type is set to Perspective. Editable.
Y Centre field Displays the centre point value of the clip along the vertical axis. Available when Transform
Type is set to Perspective.Editable.
Stabilization Settings
Invert Stabilization button Enable to apply an inverse of the stabilization data to recreate the original
camera shake.
Framing Mode box Select a method to fill or remove the area where the image has been shifted after
stabilization.
Position X field Displays the amount of stabilization data found in the animation channel for the X position.
Position Y field Displays the amount of stabilization data found in the animation channel for the Y position.
Rotation field Displays the amount of stabilization data found in the animation channel for rotation.
Set Frame button Enable to set the current frame as a reference frame that has no transformation data.
Reference Frame field Displays the frame number of the reference frame that has no transformation data.
Non-editable.
Perspective field Displays the field of view. Available when Transform Type is set to Perspective. Editable.
Random Seed field Displays the random seed value of the camera shake. Editable.
Texture Settings
Filter box Displays available filters to control the quality of resize operations. The list of filters changes when
you switch between Perspective and Pan & Scan Transform Types.
Precision field Displays the frequency cut-off point used during resize. Editable only when doing a pan and
scan with Shannon or Lanczos filters.
Crisp/Soft field Displays the amount of blurring used during resize. Editable only when doing a pan and
scan with Mitchell, Shannon or Lanczos filters.
Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Select: To:
2D Transform | 1377
Select: To:
Mirror Repeat Repeats the source pixels both vertically and horizontally.
Repeat Off Use a colour to fill the area. Use the adjacent colour pot to pick the colour. You will lose texture
and will fill the rest of the image with a black border.
Anti-Aliasing Settings
Sampling box Select the number of samples to use in the anti-aliasing process.
Samples field Displays the number of frames to sample when creating the blur. The samples include the
current frame, and an equal distribution of past and future frames. Editable.
Shutter field Displays the number of frames for which the shutter stays open. For example, when the shutter
value is set to 3, every third frame is a sample. Editable.
Lock Transform button Enable to lock the transformation of the motion blur effect.
Result Output box Select an output option. Select Premultiplied to output alpha values in the colour channels
of the result.
Resize Fit Mode box Select whether to resize the clip with width and height values.
Same As Input The output resolution remains the same as the input resolu-
tion.
3D Blur
Use the 3D Blur to create a plausible blur effect using Z-depth map information.
(a) Z-depth input tab (b) Forward Flow input tab (c) Kernel input tab
to access the 3D Blur menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
3D Blur | 1379
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
This node accepts a front, back, and matte as input. Additional inputs are available for the Z-depth map,
forward vector, and kernal media. It outputs a result and an outmatte.
The 3D Blur can be used in the following ways:
■ As a defocus node that can be modulated by a Z-depth map.
■ As an artistic blur node, by modifying the pattern of the highlights. This can be done by editing the
pattern profile curve or attaching an external clip to the appropriate node input.
■ As a motion blur node, by including forward motion data.
■ As a node using a combination of these scenarios.
Lens blur simulates the blur created by a camera lens, such as a rack defocus.
The primary input of the 3D blur node is the front clip and the matte clip. A blur effect can be created with
a front clip only. However a matte clip allows you to determine how the matte is used. The Blending settings
also determine how the input is composited in the Result view.
Divide Front button Enable to unpremultiply the front clip using the matte clip. This button is active when
a matte is in use.
Output box Select an option to determine how to composite the output in the Result view. The output can
be a blurred premultiplied or unpremultiplied result using the front clip and the matte clips, or a composite
of the blurred front clip over a background clip. Premultiplied output is equivalent to compositing the
resulting front on a black background using the resulting matte.This button is active when a matte is in use.
Use the 3D Blur type settings to refine and constrain the amount of blur to apply to the image and to
constrain the amount of blur. Higher blur values increase rendering time. You can increase rendering
performance by decreasing the blur quality. When you are ready to create a result clip and an output matte,
you can select the highest quality blur.
Blur Width field Displays the horizontal blur amount in pixels. Editable.
Blur Height field Displays the vertical blur amount in pixels. Editable.
Sides field Displays the number of sides in a Gaussian blur shape.Available when Gaussian is chosen as the
blur type. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of a Gaussian blur shape. Available when Gaussian is chosen
as the blur type.Editable.
Kernel Precision box Select the quality and speed of the defocus blur. For example, a 1x1 Kernel results in
a fast, but coarse defocus blur.Available when Defocus is chosen as the blur type.
Z Slicing field Displays the amount of slices to blend to determine the Z-Depth interpolation of a defocus
blur. Available when Defocus is chosen as the blur type.Editable.
You can offset the light and colour values in the source image. Highlights are applied to the image before
the blur is applied.
3D Blur | 1381
Gain field Displays the light values of the image. Editable.
Offset field Displays each colour value adjusted by this increment. Editable.
Threshold field Displays the minimum colour value included in highlights. Editable.
Ramp Range field Displays the difference between the Threshold value and the value at which the highlights
take full effect. Editable.
Max Effect At field Displays the value at which the highlights take full effect. Non-editable.
The kernel is the basic blur shape. The shape of the kernel is determined by its number of sides, its rotation,
and the shape of its S-curve. This curve represents the shape of the pattern, from its centre to the outside.
The default S-curve defines the softness of the blur. You can change the curve by manipulating the two
points that define the curve, or you can add points to the curve. Use the Tools box to add and delete points
on the curve.
Sides field Displays the number of sides in the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not attached
to the node.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not
attached to the node.
Bokeh Type box Select whether to use a round or angle bokeh curve to define the kernel shape.
Curvature field Displays the amount of curvature applied to a round bokeh kernel shape. Editable.
You can define the blur shape using external kernel information by attaching an input to the Kernel tab.
The input can be a different resolution than the other node inputs.
Depth blur effects control the amount of blur based on a depth of field matte. Depth blur settings are
displayed in the Depth-O-Gram tab.
3D Blur | 1383
A depth of field map (Z-depth map) can be connected to the node. Black portions of the map are in focus.
White portions display the highest level of blur. Note that a Z-depth map imported from another application
may use the opposite convention and may need to be inverted.
(a) Z-depth map (b) Front View (c) Blurred portion in Result View
Image courtesy of Jean-Marc Belloncik
Depth Map settings can be used to invert colour values in the Z-depth map for reuse with the 3D Blur node.
Z-Depth button Enable to activate depth-of-field controls and apply the effect to the image.
White Value box Select whether white pixels represent the furthest point or nearest point on the Z-axis.
Gain field Displays the white balance value. Applies a gain curve to the Z-depth map before it is used.
Editable.
Max Blur Field Displays the maximum total horizontal and vertical blur amount to clamp the value and
avoid unnecessary rendering. The cumulative effect of the high blur amount (Basic tab), and gamma and
gain correction applied to the Depth map (Depth tab) may result in very large values, which greatly increases
the rendering time. Editable.
Blur Z-Depth button Enable to allow pre-blurring of the Z-Buffer. Disable to increase performance time.
Edge Blur field Displays the minimum blur value of "in focus" pixels. In some instances, an out-of-focus
object that appears closer to the camera (that is, in front of the focus plane) can have hard edges. In this
case, increase the value in the field to add a blur to these edges. Editable.
Focus Plane field Displays the distance of your focus point, which is the point at which there is no blur on
the image. Editable.
Focus Offset field Displays the distance between the focus plane and the near offset represented as a
percentage of the total offset range. Select 50% to make the near and far offsets equidistant from the focus
point. Editable.
Focus Range field Displays the distance the near and far offset. Editble.
Frame option box Select how you want to frame the histogram.
Zoom field Displays a vertical zoom value for the histogram to display. You can zoom horizontally by
pressing Ctrl+spacebar and dragging left or right in the histogram. To pan horizontally, click spacebar and
drag left or right in the histogram.Editable.
Z Plot button Click to activate the pick cursor. Use to select a pixel in the image to display its depth.
Z Plot Colour pot Displays the colour that indicates the plane on which the plotted value is located.
Use On-Screen Widgets section in the NodeSetup menu to define display settings.
3D Blur | 1385
Near/Far button Enable to display the focus offset plane in the image window.
Near and Far colour pots Select the colours that indicate the nearest and furthest points of focus.
Focus Plane button Enable to display the plane on which the focus point lies in the image window.
Focus Plane colour pot Select the colour that indicates the plane on which the focus point is located.
Depth blur effects can be modified gesturally by dragging the focus, near offset, and far offset planes in the
graphic representation of the depth of field. As you drag these elements, the planes are also displayed in the
Result view as a preview of the areas that will be in focus. Use the depth control fields to change the gamma
and gain, and to change the focus range while keeping the focus plane constant. These parameters are
updated in the depth of field display automatically.
(a) Plot Value Plane (b) Near Focus Offset Plane (c) Focus Offset (d) Focus Plane (e) Far Focus Offset Plane (f) Focus
Range
The motion blur simulates the blur created by a fast-moving object or camera. A blur effect can be created
with front clip input and a clip with forward motion data input into the Forward Flow tab.
Use the Motion Blur Profile to define the opacity of the blur. The opacity increases at the top of the curve.
By default, the blur is more transparent further away from the pixel. The midpoint represents the opacity
of the blur at the position of the pixel.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation to apply to motion vectors. Motion is rotated counterclockwise.
Editable.
Reference button Enable to activate the reference controls and apply the effect to motion blur.
Set button Enable to apply the motion blur to objects that do not have the same relative motion as the
selected pixel. Enabled if the X or Y field is edited.
Set Reference colour pot Displays the colour of the crosshair that marks the reference point in the image
window.
X field Displays the horizontal position of the pixel to use as a reference point at the selected frame. A
reference point can be selected directly in the frame using the cursor. Editable.
X field Displays the vertical position of the pixel to use as a reference point at the selected frame. A reference
point can be selected directly in the frame using the cursor. Editable.
Auto Matte
Use the Auto Matte to generate a high-contrast matte from a clip.
Minimum field Displays the minimum luma value considered to be part of the opaque area of the matte.
Editable.
Maximum field Displays the maximum luma value considered to be part of the transparent area of the
matte. Editable.
Gain field Displays a value, in percentage, that is multiplied to the pixel values in the resulting matte to
reduce or increase the grey levels.
Auto Stabilize
Use the Auto Stabilize to analyse the movement in a clip and remove camera instability. For example, you
can remove camera jitter or lock an object's position over a sequence of frames to make it appear motionless.
This node accepts front and matte clips, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
Analyze button Click to run the stabilization analysis. During analysis, the viewport defaults to the Front
view, and the frame advances as the stabilization is calculated. Progress can be monitored by the keyframes
that have been created during analysis and the percentage of completion displayed next to the Analyze
button. Track points are displayed on the clip to indicate how the stabilization was tracked.
Progress field Displays the percentage of the analysis that is complete. Non-editable.
Scene Flexibility field Displays the level of focus on rigid objects that move in the clip. Enter 0% to focus
on a single rigid object as it moves or 100% to analyse all visible motion paths. If the analysis has no scene
flexibility, the stabilization will focus on a single rigid object as it moves in the clip. Use the following values
as a general guideline:
Select: To:
0%-20% Stabilize a pan, tilt, zoom, or the motion of a single rigid object that is visible during
the entire analysis.
30%-70% Stabilize objects that change their shape or depth, and exclude objects that are
smaller or moving rapidly.
Use Matte button Enable to exclude black areas on the matte from analysis on the front clip, and constrain
the Analysis region.
Range From field Displays the value of the first frame to include in the analysis. Editable.
Range To field Displays the value of the last frame to include in the analysis. Editable.
Region of Interest button Enable to display a rectangle that can be resized to indicate the region you want
to analyse on the front clip. Select Front from the View box.
Stabilization Settings
Position X Option box Select whether to lock the X-axis position at the reference frame to all frames in the
analysis (Fixed), or to apply smoothness to the stabilization curve on the X-axis.
Position Y Option box Select whether to lock the Y-axis position at the reference frame to all frames in the
analysis (Fixed), or to apply smoothness to the stabilization curve on the Y-axis.
Rotation Option box Select whether to lock the rotation at the reference frame to all frames in the analysis
(Fixed), or to apply smoothness to the stabilization curve on the rotation.
Scaling Lock Option box Select whether to lock the scaling at the reference frame to all frames in the
analysis (Fixed), or to apply smoothness to the stabilization curve on the scaling.
NOTE You can change the centre of rotation and scaling for the image. By default, the centre of rotation and
scaling is the centre of the image, represented by a yellow crosshair. Switch to Front view, then hold down C and
click the new centre point.
Perspective Option box Select whether to lock the perspective at the reference frame to all frames in the
analysis (Fixed), or to apply smoothness to the stabilization curve on the perspective.
Smoothness field Displays the level of smoothness of the stabilization curves generated by the analysis and
determines the mix between the original motion and the completely stabilized transformation. Editable.
Mix field Displays the percentage of smoothness used in the final stabilization output and determines how
smooth the stabilization curves are. Editable.
Set Reference Frame button Click to set the current frame as the reference frame for the stabilization.
Display Size field Displays the pixel width and height of track points. Editable.
Offset Settings
Position X field Displays the X-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the Y-axis offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the rotation offset applied to the clip. Editable.
Scaling field Displays the scaling offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Project X field Displays the X-axis projection offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Project Y field Displays the Y-axis projection offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Anamorphic field Displays the anamorphic offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Shear field Displays the shearing offsets applied to the clip. Editable.
Rendering Settings
Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Select: To:
Mirror Repeat Repeats the source pixels both vertically and horizontally.
Repeat Off Use a colour to fill the area. Use the adjacent colour pot to pick the colour. You will lose texture
and will fill the rest of the image with a black border.
Resize Fit Mode box Select whether to resize the clip with width and height values.
Same As Input The output resolution remains the same as the input resolu-
tion.
Select: To:
Same as Input The output resolution remains the same as the input resolution.
Sampling box Select the number of samples to use in the anti-aliasing process.
Average
Use Average to simulate the motion blur of a moving object in a clip. An image averaging function is applied
to the frames to create the motion blur.
Average | 1393
To access the Average menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
General Settings
Average Over field Displays the number of frames used to calculate the average and create the transparency
for the motion blur effect. Editable.
Weighted/Uniform box Select whether to uniformly average surrounding frames or give frames closest to
the current frame a greater weight when calculating the transparency for the motion blur effect.
Frames box Select whether the blur is calculated from previous frames only or future frames as well.
This node accepts up to two front and matte clips, as well as a back clip, and outputs a result and outmatte.
Blend Type box Select the set of blend mode operations available in the Blend Mode box.
Blend Mode box Select a blend operation. Options determined by Blend Type box.
Swap Inputs button Enable to switch the rendering order of the inputs.
Input Settings
NOTE Input 1 and 2 settings are identical. Activate and use based on inputs selected for Blend & Comp.
Pre-multiplication box Select whether the colour values in the input are pre-multiplied or divided from
the alpha, or left as-is when blending.
Offset field Displays a value that modifies all of the colour parameters. Editable.
Red Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the red channel. Editable.
Green Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the blue channel. Editable.
Luma Gain field Set the percentage of luma gain value to display. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to adjust the gain of the colour values proportionally.
Correlation box Select whether the mattes are related to each other.For example, select Correlated if the
mattes are from different, but continuous parts on the same object.
Blend With box Select whether you want to blend the inputs with the second input clip, the background
clip or a colour.
Blend Mode box Select a blend operation. Options determined by Blend Type box.
Offset field Displays a value that modifies all of the colour parameters. Editable.
Red Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the red channel. Editable.
Green Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the blue channel. Editable.
Luma Gain field Set the percentage of luma gain value to display. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to adjust the gain of the colour values proportionally.
Blur
Use Blur to apply and customize a blur filter to a clip.
This node accepts a front and a matte clip, and outputs a result and outmatte. The outmatte clip can have
a different level of blur than the result clip.
The following selector is unique to the quick menu when Defocus is selected in the Blur Type box. To see
the full Blur menu, click the Editor button.
Blooming and Bokeh Menu selector Select whether to display Blooming settings or Bokeh blur settings.
General Settings
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Setup Settings
Clamp Input button Enable to clamp colour and luminance values on input in the 16-bit floating point
rendering pipeline.
Clamp Render box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on output in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Blur Type box Select the type or shape of blur filter to apply to the clip. Depending on the blur type, some
of the other blur settings may vary.
Blur | 1399
Bokeh Blur field Displays the amount of smoothness applied to sharp bokeh edges. This creates the blur
that is applied to out-of-focus points of light to simulate a shallow focus. Editable.
Bias field Displays the direction of a blur. Enter a positive value for forward, a negative value for backward,
or 0 for a blur that moves in both directions. Available when Directional or Radial Stamp is chosen as the
blur type.
Radial Mode box Select whether a radial blur or glow moves in one circular direction (Spin) or two rotating
directions (Twist). Available when Radial is chosen as the blur type.
Samples field Displays the quality of a Radial Stamp blur or glow. Editable. Available when Radial Stamp is
chosen as the blur type.
Colour Space box Select whether to blur in RGB or YUV space. The Channels settings change to reflect this
setting.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu to track the centre of the blur from the source clip.
Centre X field Displays the X position of the centre of the radial blur (or gesturally move the red circle in
the image). Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the Y position of the centre of the radial blur (or gesturally move the red circle in
the image). Editable.
NOTE You can also move the red circle on the image to set the position of the centre of the blur. The Centre X
and Y fields update accordingly.
Absolute/Relative box Select whether to position and offset the centre of the radial blur in a relative mode
(expressed as a percentage) or absolute mode (expressed in pixels).
Offset X field Offsets the centre along the X axis (or press Ctrl and gesturally move the red circle in the
image).This field is useful to apply changes to the centre after tracking has been performed. Editable.
Offset Y field Offsets the centre along the Y axis (or press Ctrl and gesturally move the red circle in the
image). This field is useful to apply changes to the centre after tracking has been performed. Editable.
Front Settings
Width field Displays the width of the blur. Increasing the blur increases the render time. Editable.
Height field Displays the height of the blur. Increasing the blur increases the render time. Editable.
Gain field Displays a value by which pixel colour values are multiplied. The offset value is added to this
value to determine the final colour. Editable.
Offset field Displays the value to add to current pixel colour values. The resulting colour value is clipped
at 0. Editable.
Length field (Directional) Displays the radius amount of a directional blur. Editable.
Amount field (Radial, Radial Stamp) Displays the amount of radial blur. Editable.
Rotation field (Radial, Radial Stamp) Displays the angle of rotation for a radial blur. Editable.
Basic/Additive Blooming button Switch between basic blooming and additive blooming bokeh effects.
The basic blooming mode displays the gain applied to highlights in non-HDR images, to allow the creation
of bokeh patterns without affecting colour integrity. The additive blooming mode allows you to create higher
intensity bokeh patterns from any source image, using minimum and maximum thresholds for highlight
segregation.
Basic Blooming field Displays the gain applied to highlights in non-HDR images, to allow the creation of
bokeh patterns without affecting colour integrity. This creates the glow effect that is applied to the bright
spots of the image to simulate light bleeding, or blooming, over the edges. Editable.
Additive Blooming field Displays the amount of high intensity bokeh patterns that can be created from
any source image generating extreme highlight content . Editable.
Additive Blooming minimum field Displays the minimum threshold for highlight segregation. Editable.
Additive Blooming maximum field Displays the maximum threshold for highlight segregation. Editable.
Blur | 1401
Matte Settings
Matte Width field Displays the width of the blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Height field Displays the height of the blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Length field Displays the radius amount of a directional blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Angle field Displays the angle of a direction blur of the matte. Editable.
Matte Amount field Displays the amount of radial blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation for a radial blur for the matte. Editable.
Lock To Front button Enable to keep the matte values the same as their corresponding values for the front
clip.
Invert Matte button Enable to blur the region outside the area defined by the matte.
Channel Settings
RGB Channels
YUV Channels
Blending Settings
Screen option box Select a logical operation that can be used to blend the front clip and the result clip.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of blending when the result is composited on the front clip.
Editable.
Use Matte button Enable to apply the blur with the areas defined by the matte.
Rendering Settings
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
The kernel is the defocus blur shape. The shape of the kernel is determined by its number of sides, its rotation,
and the shape of its S-curve. This curve represents the shape of the pattern, from its centre to the outside.
The default S-curve defines the softness of the blur. You can change the curve by manipulating the two
points that define the curve, or you can add points to the curve. Use the Tools box to add and delete points
on the curve.
Sides field Displays the number of sides in the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not attached
to the node.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not
attached to the node.
Bokeh Type box Select whether to use a round or angle bokeh curve to define the kernel shape.
Blur | 1403
Curvature field Displays the amount of curvature applied to a round bokeh kernel shape. Editable.
Bump Displace
Use the Bump Displace effect to create displacement-like emboss effects using light and surface bumps. You
can select Front or Front/ZDepth or Front/ZDepth/Matte from the Input Mode box.
This node accepts a front clip and a displacement clip (usually a matte), and outputs a result.
Maximum Bumps field Displays the upper limit of the bump depth. Editable.
Bump Height field Displays the height value for the effect. Positive numbers create an embossed look.
Negative numbers create an engraved look. Editable.
Bump Softness field Displays a blurring value for the effect. Editable.
Light Settings
Light X Position field Displays the horizontal position of the light. Editable. You can also use the light icon
in the image window to change the position of the light.
Light Y Position field Displays vertical position of the light. Editable. You can also use the light icon in the
image window to change the position of the light.
Light Y Position field Displays the depth of the light. Editable. You can also use the light icon in the image
window to change the position of the light.
TIP You can also use the light icon in the image window to gesturally position the light.
Light Scale field Displays a value that you can modify to see the results of moving your light when using
extreme X, Y or Z values. Editable.
Shaded field Displays the level of intensity for the image. Editable.
Ambient field Displays the percentage of overall lighting for the image. Editable.
Threshold field Displays the percentage of bumps filtered out by using light exposure. Editable.
Red Light field Displays the red value of the light. Editable.
Green Light field Displays the green value of the light. Editable.
Blue Light field Displays the blue value of the light. Editable.
Light Colour Pot Displays the colour of the light. Click to open the Colour Picker and specify a value.
Texture Settings
Diffuse Gain field Displays a value for the contrast in the image. Use to increase or decrease the intensity
of highlights and shadows in surface features. Editable.
Specular field Displays a value for the reflectiveness of the image. Editable.
Red Distortion field Displays the amount of distortion in the red channel. Editable.
Green Distortion field Displays the amount of distortion in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Distortion field Displays the amount of distortion in the blue channel. Editable.
Repeat Mode Settings Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Anti-Aliasing Settings
Sampling box Select the number of samples to use in the anit-aliasing process.
Burn-in Letterbox
Use Burn-in Letterbox to burn a letterbox into a clip.
Offset field Displays the vertical offset. Drag left or right to apply the letterbox to a lower or higher portion
of the image. Editable.
NOTE The Ratio field is only available when Custom is selected from the Aspect Ratio box.
Burn-in Metadata
Use Burn-in Metadata to burn-in clip information.
This node accepts a front clip, and outputs a result. It renders a black frame whenever its input is unlinked
media or a No Media slate.
Note that some tokens and layers are either not available for display, or display different information,
depending where Burn-in Metadata is being used.
Rendering Mode box Select Automatic to render using the scan format of the input, or render in Progressive
or Interlaced mode.
On Screen Icons button Enable to display layer positioners in the viewport. Use the icons to move the layer
in X and Y, or rotate in Z. Alignment options allow you to affect only the selected layer or every layers.
Displayed Information list Lists all of the added information layers. Use the buttons below to populate the
list with the information layers you want. Use the eye icon to mute a layer. Click a layer to display its Layer
Specific options.
Common Attributes
Apply to All button Enable to have the Common Attributes applied to every layer already in the Displayed
Information list. Disable to apply the attributes only to the currently selected layer.
Text Size field Displays the font size of the burned-in text. Editable.
Text colour pot Select the current colour of the burned-in text. Select to open the colour picker.
Text Opacity field Displays the opacity of the burned-in text. Editable.
Enable Shadow button Enable to add a drop shadow to the burned-in text.
Shadow Opacity field Displays the opacity of the drop shadow. Editable.
Enable Background button Enable to add a rectangular background to the burned-in text.
Background colour pot Displays the current background colour. Select to open the colour picker.
Font field Displays the font used for the burned-in text. Editable.
Alignment
Layer Selection box Use Selected Layer to modify only the selected layer. All Layers modifies all the layers
at once, but the modifications are treated as offsets for each individual layer. Global Axis modifies the layers
in one block keeping their relative positions.
Alignment Selection box Selects how the layer is positioned: custom coordinates, or relative to Safe Action
or Title margins.
Text Alignment box Sets the text justification relative to its layer's axis. Disabled when the Layer Selection
box is set to Global Axis.
This section lists all the possible layers, some of which are available from the Tools or Timeline FX Burn-in
Metadata, but not from Batch or Batch FX.
Resolution
Displays the resolution of the current frame. If you use Burn-in Metadata as a Timeline FX or from the Tools
tab, you can display the resolution of either the timeline or the source media file.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node.
Resolution Text field Displays the layer's text to burn-in. Use Add Token to insert predefined information.
Editable.
Add Token box Adds a token to the Text field at the insertion point.
Date/Time
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip.
Date/Time Text field Displays the layer's text to burn-in. Use Add Token to insert predefined information.
Values of the tokens only update when Update is clicked. Editable.
Add Token box Adds a token to the Text field at the insertion point.
Update Field button Updates the tokens in the text field to current values.
Frame Rate
Displays the frame rate. If you use Burn-in Metadata as a Timeline FX or from the Tools tab, you can display
the frame rate of either the timeline or the source media file.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Numeric Only button Enable to remove the 'fps' units from the frame rate.
Frame Rate Mode button Sets the frame rate to display, either the one of the timeline/clip, or the one from
the source media file. Not available in Batch or Batch FX.
Source Timecode
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Custom Start button Enable to define a customized start value for the Source timecode.
Custom Start Value field Sets a customized start value for the Source timecode. Editable.
Frame Code Mode box Sets the frame code mode (FCM) for the customized Source timecode.
Record Timecode
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Custom Start button Enable to define a customized start value for the Record timecode.
Custom Start Value field Sets a customized start value for the Record timecode. Editable.
Frame Code Mode box Sets the frame code mode (FCM) for the customized Record timecode.
This layer displays No Keycode unless a valid keycode is manually specified or automatically derived from
the input clip.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Frame
Displays the current frame number. How that number is determined in the Timeline and in the Tools tabs
is determined by the First Frame box setting. In Batch or Batch FX, it matches that of the Current Frame
field.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node. And if you T-click a Render or a Write File node, the Max Frame
Value field is automatically set to the Render Range's To value.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
First Frame box Sets how frames are counted. Segment restarts the count at each segment, with Max Frame
as the segment duration. Timeline/Clip count starts with the timeline or clip, with Max Frame as the duration.
Source Media counts from the source absolute start frame, with Max Frame as the source duration.
Not available in Batch or Batch FX.
Padding field Sets the padding for the frame number. Editable.
Custom Start Frame button Enable to define the value of the start frame for the clip. Disables First Frame
box option if available. Editable.
Custom Start field Sets the value of the start frame. Editable.
Max Frame button Enable to display of the Max Frame Value field.
User
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
User Nickname
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Project
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Project Nickname
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Workstation
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Custom Text
File Location
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Include Filename button Enable to display the name of the media file
Truncate box Sets the directory levels to keep in the displayed path. Keep Last preserves the end of the file
path. Remove First removes the beginning of the file path.
Directory field Sets the number of directory levels to preserve or remove, according to the Truncate box.
Editable.
Source Version ID
Displays the source version ID of the clip or segment currently displayed. Not available in Batch or Batch
FX.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Displays the source version name of the clip or segment currently displayed.
Not available in Batch or Batch FX.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Comment
Tape/Reel/Source
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node. And if you T-click a Render or a Write File node, the Max Frame
Value field is automatically set to the Render Range's To value.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Source Name
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Shot Name
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Segment Name
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Name
Displays the clip Name if you use Burn Metadata from the Timeline or the Tools tab. Displays the Node
Name if you use Burn Metadata as a node in Batch or Batch FX.
In Batch or Batch FX, you can propagate Frame information to the Burn-in Metadata node by T-clicking
a Clip, a Render, or a Write File node.
Label button Enable to display as a label the contents of the Label field below.
Label field Displays the layer's label to burn-in. Enabled by Label. Editable.
Clamp
Use the Clamp node to clamp 16-bit floating point OpenExr clips.
Clamp | 1413
To access the Clamp menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ The Modular Keyer, then select a node from the Node bin.
Out of Range box Select a curve that is constant (clamp) or clamps negative values below 0.
Colour Corrector
About Colour Corrector
The Colour Corrector includes tools that provide precise control over colour values. You can modify luma
ranges in a clip (shadows, midtones, and highlights), sample colours, and adjust the colour balance. You
can rewire colour channels and suppress colours, as well as animate a colour correction by manipulating
the animation curve in the Channel Editor.
When working with large images, you can free up additional screen space with the Overlay user interface.
This feature is exclusive to the Colour Corrector and the Colour Warper. The Colour Warper's Overlay user
interface is not available when accessing the Colour Warper as a Batch or Batch FX node.
For details on using the Overlay user interface, see Overlay User Interface (page 398).
To access the Colour Corrector, you must load clips of the same resolution. If the clips you want to load
have different resolutions, resize them so that they have the same resolution.
You can load a front clip, a front and back clip, or a front, back, and matte clip for colour correction. Changes
in colour are applied to the front clip.
To access the Colour Corrector menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
■ Modular Keyer, Action or Paint tool.
To see the full Colour Correct menu, click the Editor button.
Luma Range Quick Menu selector Select the quick menu for the luma range you want to modify.
Colour Channel Quick Menu selector Select the quick menu for the colour channel you want to modify.
Use Matte button Enable to use the matte input as part of the effect processing.
Main Menu
Setup button Opens the Setup menu where you setup either Colour Correct or Colour Warper options.
Animation button Opens the Animation menu where you display the animation channel.
Master button Modifies the luma range for the entire image after individual range modifications.
Shadows button Modifies the luma range for the dark areas in the image.
Midtones button Modifies the luma range for the midlevel areas in the image.
Highlights button Modifies the luma range for the light areas in the image.
Rewire box Select an option to rewire the RGB channels of an image, or create a monochrome or negative
image.
Red Rewiring box Select a color or luma channel to replace the red values with the selected channel values.
Select 1-R to replace red values with its inverse values. Active when Master range is selected.
Green Rewiring box Select a color or luma channel to replace the green values of an image with its inverse
(1-R), red, blue, or luma values. Active when Master range is selected.
Blue Rewiring box Select a color or luma channel to replace the blue values of an image with its inverse
(1-R), red, green, or luma values. Active when Master range is selected.
Pivot field Displays the percentage value of the colour range around which the contrast pivots. The default
value is 50% for integer input and 18% for floating point input. Editable.
Gain field Drag left or right to increase or decrease light greys from the white area of the image.
Red Gamma field Adjust the grey values in the red channel. Editable.
Green Gamma field Adjust the grey values in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gamma field Adjust the grey values in the blue channel. Editable.
RGB Gain field Set the percentage of original colour values to use in the image. Editable.
Red Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the red channel to display in the image. Editable.
Green Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the green channel to display in the image. Editable.
RGB Offset field Adjust the colour values by adding an offset value. Editable.
Red Offset field Adjust the colour values in the red channel by adding an offset value. Editable.
Green Offset field Adjust the colour values in the green channel by adding an offset value. Editable.
Blue Offset field Adjust the colour values in the blue channel by adding an offset value. Editable.
Contrast field Adjust the gradations between the light and dark areas in the image. Editable.
Red Contrast field Adjust the gradations between the light and dark areas in the red channel of image.
Editable.
Green Contrast field Adjust the gradations between the light and dark areas in the green channel of image.
Editable.
Blue Contrast field Adjust the gradations between the light and dark areas in the blue channel of image.
Editable.
Red Suppression button Enable to suppress red colour values in the image.
Green Suppression button Enable to suppress green colour values in the image.
Blue Suppression button Enable to suppress blue colour values in the image.
Cyan Suppression button Enable to suppress cyan colour values in the image.
Magenta Suppression button Enable to suppress magenta colour values in the image.
Yellow Suppression button Enable to suppress yellow colour values in the image.
Front colour patch Displays colour sampled from the front clip.
Result colour patch Displays the result of front clip colour correction.
Back colour patch Displays colour sampled from the back clip.
Sampling box Select the type of colour values to display for sampled colours.
Sample Data Type box Select the type of measurement to use for RGB values of sampled colours.
Histogram Menu
Histogram tab Displays the Histogram menu where you adjust the red, green, blue, and luminance channels
of the image.
Histogram Displays a bar graph that is used to adjust the luminance values of the image. In the Ranges
menu, the curves for the three luma ranges are also displayed.
Minimum Input field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black.
Minimum Output field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values for black pixels.
Maximum Input field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white.
Maximum Output field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values for white pixels.
Channel Selection box Select the luminance or an RGB channel to extract its values for the key.
Out Range box Select a curve that is constant (Clamp) or linear (No Clamp) before the first point of the
curve and after the last point of the curve.
Frame Selection box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Source View box Select whether to display all RGB Source histograms or only the histogram you are working
on (Mono).
Destination button Enable to show a histogram of the colour values in the result or destination clip.
The destination colour values are obtained from the current frame. If you input both front and matte clips,
the colour values in the front clip that are defined by the white part of the matte are displayed.
Destination View box Select whether to display all RGB Destination histograms or only the histogram you
are working on (Mono).
When viewing the Source and Destination histograms at the same time in Mono mode, the Destination
histograms are lighter; in RGB mode, the Destination histograms are displayed with a white outline.
Curves Menu
Curves tab Displays the Curves menu to display luminance and RGB curves.
Curves Display the curves for the luminance and each RGB channel.
Home button Restores the position of panned or zoomed curves to the default setting.
Match button Matches colours in the front and back colour patches, and assigns a number to the current
match.
ReMatch button Overrides the selected match operation with current settings.
Out Range box Select a curve that is constant (Clamp) or linear (No Clamp) before the first point of the
curve and after the last point of the curve.
Ranges Menu
Ranges tab Displays the HLS Ranges menu where you can adjust highlight, midtone, and shadow ranges.
Setup
Invert Matte button Enable to colour correct the region outside the area defined by the matte.
Curve Channel button Enable this button to select the colour curve for a specific channel. Only one Curves
button can be enabled at a time. Each Curves button is active when you modify its curve in the graph.
Hue colour pot Displays the colour to shift toward when the curve is modified. Editable.
Suppression colour pot Displays the colour to suppress in the clip. Editable.
General settings
Colour Management Mode box Select the type of colour management tool to use.
Bit-Depth box Select the output bit-depth. Note: Select "16 float" or "32 float" when converting to a
scene-linear colour space.
Tagged Colour Space box Select the colour space to tag your media with. This does not alter pixel values,
but it does affect how the viewports show the media.
Invert button Invert the colour transform to convert from the original destination back to the original
source colour space. In Custom mode, available in the Colour Management node, you may also invert
individual component transforms by clicking in the Invert column to toggle it.
Pixel Sampler Click on this box and then drag the cursor through the image to sample values.
Colour Transform details Shows descriptive information about the transform including the mathematical
operations applied. (The bit-depths show the original transform scaling but internal processing is done at
32-bit float and then scaled to the selected output depth).
Input Colour Space menu Select the source colour space of your media. "From File or Rules" uses the File
Input Rules set in Colour Management Preferences. For a description of the available colour spaces, click
Input Colour Spaces, on the right.
Working Space menu Select the destination colour space of your media. Set the Working Space first in
order to filter the list of Input Colour Spaces to show only the compatible options. "From Project" takes the
value from the Colour Management Preferences.
Tagged Colour Space menu Select "From Source" to use the tagged colour space of the input or select another
value to override it.
View Transform menu Select "From Rules" to use the highest priority Viewing Rule for the Tagged Colour
Space and Display. Select from the Viewing Rules category to choose one of the Viewing Rules compatible
with this Tagged Colour Space and Display. Or select any other viewing transform. Auto-conversion will be
applied to connect the Tagged Colour Space to the colour space expected by the view transform and to
connect the output colour space of the view transform to the selected Display.
Display menu Select the Display colour space that you want to produce media for. The "Current
Broadcast/Graphics Monitor" options are taken from the Colour Management Preferences for this workstation.
Export button Opens the Export LUT menu where you select the location to export the LUT.
Advanced Editing button Enable to display advanced editing curves for each colour channel. RGB curves
use blending to distinguish overlapping curves.
Edit Curve box Select to display the editing curve for the selected colour channel.
Home box Select whether to recenter the graph or center the frame.
Red Reference White field Displays the lower limit at which red channel values are considered white.
Editable.
Green Reference White field Displays the lower limit at which green channel values are considered white.
Editable.
Blue Reference White field Displays the lower limit at which blue channel values are considered white.
Editable.
Red Reference Black field Displays the upper limit at which red channel values are considered black.
Editable.
Green Reference Black field Displays the upper limit at which green channel values are considered black.
Editable.
Blue Reference Black field Displays the upper limit at which blue channel values are considered black.
Editable.
Red Highlight field Displays the value at which greater red channel values are clamped. Editable.
Green Highlight field Displays the value at which green channel values are clamped. Editable.
Blue Highlight field Displays the value at which blue channel values are clamped. Editable.
Red Shadow field Displays the value at which lower red channel values are clamped. Editable.
Green Shadow field Displays the value at which lower green channel values are clamped. Editable.
Blue Shadow field Displays the value at which blue channel values are clamped. Editable.
Gamma Correction box Select preset gamma correction values (Video Display) or custom values. This
setting is available for Log to Lin and Lin to Log.
Red Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the red channel. Editable.
Green Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the blue channel. Editable.
NOTE The following settings are available for Log to Lin and Lin to Log.
Red Film Gamma field Displays the gamma correction value for the red channel. Editable.
Green Film Gamma field Displays the gamma correction value for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Film Gamma field Displays the gamma correction value for the blue channel. Editable.
Green Soft Clip field Displays the level of adjustment to the shoulder of the conversion curve for the green
channel. The upper limit is dependent on the channel's current reference white value. To create softer
highlight, drag right when using a linear curve. Drag left when using a logarithmic curve.
Blue Soft Clip field Displays the level of adjustment to the shoulder of the conversion curve for the blue
channel. The upper limit is dependent on the channel's current reference white value. To create softer
highlight, drag right when using a linear curve. Drag left when using a logarithmic curve.
Red Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the red channel for the display image. Editable.
Green Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the green channel for the display image. Editable.
Blue Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the blue channel for the display image. Editable.
Red Defog field Displays the value to be subtracted from red color values to reduce fogging of the image.
Editable.
Green Defog field Displays the value to be subtracted from green color values to reduce fogging of the
image. Editable.
Blue Defog field Displays the value to be subtracted from blue color values to reduce fogging of the image.
Editable.
Red Knee Low field Displays the lower limit of the compressed pixel range for the red channel. Editable.
Green Knee Low field Displays the lower limit of the compressed pixel range for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Knee Low field Displays the lower limit of the compressed pixel range for the blue channel. Editable.
Red Knee High field Displays the upper limit of the compressed pixel range for the red channel. Editable.
Green Knee High field Displays the upper limit of the compressed pixel range for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Knee High field Displays the upper limit of the compressed pixel range for the blue channel. Editable.
Red Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the red channel. Editable.
Green Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gamma Correction field Displays the gamma correction value for the blue channel. Editable.
Import button Open the file browser to select a LUT for import.
3D LUT Settings
Import button Open the file browser to select a LUT for import.
PhotoMap Settings
Invert button Enable to apply the inverse of the tone-mapping parameters function to convert video media
to scene-linear media.
Red Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the red channel for the display image. Editable.
Green Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the green channel for the display image. Editable.
Blue Exposure field Displays the luminance level of the blue channel for the display image. Editable.
Red Highlight Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the light areas of the red channel. Editable.
Green Highlight Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the light areas of the green channel. Editable.
Blue Highlight Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the light areas of the blue channel. Editable.
Red Highlight Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the light areas of the red channel.
Editable.
Green Highlight Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the light areas of the green channel.
Editable.
Blue Highlight Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the light areas of the blue channel.
Editable.
Green Contrast field Displays the value for the midtone contrast in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Contrast field Displays the value for the midtone contrast in the blue channel. Editable.
Red Shadow Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the dark areas of the red channel. Editable.
Green Shadow Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the dark areas of the green channel.
Editable.
Blue Shadow Contrast field Displays the value for the contrast in the dark areas of the blue channel.
Editable.
Red Shadow Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the dark areas of the red channel. Editable.
Green Shadow Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the dark areas of the green channel. Editable.
Blue Shadow Detail field Displays the value for the detail in the dark areas of the blue channel. Editable.
Encoding option box Select a standard format for the colour space.
Add button Add a new row to the end of the chain. Click in the Type column to select or change the
transform type, and then click in the Transform column to select a transform.
Colour Source
Use Colour Source to generate a colour bar, noise, gradient, or colour clip that can be used as the clip for
other nodes.
Source Type box Select whether to generate frames of solid colour, noise, or colour bars.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Current Colour bar Displays the pattern applied to the colour source.
Luminance box Select whether to apply 75% or 100% luminance to the colour frames.
Tagged Colour Space box Select a colour space to tag the result with.
Colour Warper:aboutWhen you colour correct an image or clip, use the Colour Warper to perform advanced
colour corrections and create artistic colour effects. The way in which you approach these tasks depends on
your goal, the number of clips you are using, and the type of clips being used.
Clips created from source material shot with the same camera equipment under the same lighting conditions
may be colour corrected quickly and easily to correct lighting and colour imbalances. Clips created from
source material shot at different times of the day, in different seasons, at different locations, or using different
equipment require more work. With the Colour Warper, you can manipulate colours with precision and
ease, working on the entire clip as you would with traditional tools or working with a matte to adjust a range
of colour in the clip.
Use the Colour Warper to gesturally set black and white levels, adjust specific colours and colour ranges,
and accurately match colours in one clip to another. You can also perform hue shifts and suppress colour
to remove colour spill or create visual effects such as a colour cast. While you manipulate the colour content
of a clip, you can monitor reference clips as well as changes in the colour distribution to ensure that you
achieve the result you want. Original data is always preserved, so you can adjust colours without the risk of
permanently losing colour information.
colour correcting:clamping, in Colour Warperclamping:colours, in Colour WarperWhen working with 16-bit
floating point images in the Colour Warper, you can plot colours outside of the 0 to 1 range. Even when
working with integer images, clamped colour information (colours that go beyond the RGB range) can be
retrieved using the Colour Warper controls.
Colour Warper:accessingUse the Colour Warper to modify the colour content in your clips. You can
manipulate colour content with intuitive controls that provide precise colour correction, and view histograms
that help you visualize your image's colours. You can also output a matte corresponding to selected colours.
You can access the Colour Warper as a Batch or Batch FX node that you drag and drop into the process tree
or the Modular Keyer's processing pipeline. Access the Colour Warper from the Modular Keyer to remove
colour spill, or access it from Batch or Batch FX to modify the colour content of your clips.
To access the Colour Warper menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
■ Modular Keyer, Action or Paint tool.
To see the full Colour Warper menu, click the Editor button.
Use Mask button Enable to use the matte to delimit the Colour Correct or Colour Warper effect.
Basics button Opens the Basics menu where you perform basic colour correction, warping, suppression and
saturation of your clips.
Subsetups button Opens the menu where you store, compare, and share Colour Warper subsetups.
Colour correct your clips. You can adjust shadows, midtones, and highlights, and control black and white
levels, hue, and saturation. You can also perform colour warping, colour suppression, and colour saturation
on a limited range of colour as well as adjust gamma and luminance curves.
Home button Positions a vectorscope at its default location and size.
Work On box Select an option to apply colour corrections to all or part of an image. Select Master to apply
colour corrections to the entire image or select a selective to generate a matte and perform selective colour
correction.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Selective View box Select whether to view the matte, selective, or result image.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Black field Displays the luminance value in the image shadows without affecting the chrominance values.
Editable.
White field Displays the luminance value in the image highlights without affecting the chrominance values.
Editable.
Hue field Displays the luminance value in the image shadows without affecting the chrominance values.
Editable.
Red Gamma field Displays the gamma level in the red channel.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Green Gamma field Displays the gamma level in the green channel.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Blue Gamma field Displays the gamma level in the blue channel.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Select button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area to adjust. Activate the cursor again and select
the area to match.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area to display its result clip colour value.
Ref button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area to display its reference clip colour value.
Home button Restore the histogram to its default zoom and pan settings.
Clear /Reset box Select whether to clear the value at the current frame or reset the value for the entire
animation curve.
Destination button Enable to show a histogram of the colour values in the result clip.
Selective menu
Define colour ranges using softness and tolerance to create a matte and apply colour correction to a selected
region.
1 Enable to apply the matte for Selective 1 to the result.
Gaussian button Enable to apply a Gaussian blur to the matte. Disable to apply a box blur.
Pick Custom button Define the tolerance range based on a sample from the image. Drag the cursor over
the image to define initial tolerance.
Red button Define the tolerance range based on the red channel.
Green button Define the tolerance range based on the green channel.
Blue button Define the tolerance range based on the blue channel.
Cyan button Define the tolerance range based on the cyan channel.
Magenta button Define the tolerance range based on the magenta channel.
Yellow button Define the tolerance range based on the yellow channel.
Shadows button Define the tolerance range based on the dark areas in the image.
Midtones Define the tolerance range based on the midlevel areas in the image.
Highlights button Define the tolerance range based on the light areas in the image.
Adjusting box Select Tolerance to add tolerance to the matte, +Softness to add softness to the matte, or
-Softness to remove softness from the matte.
Tolerance button Enable to apply the grey tolerance indicator on the hue cube.
Softness button Enable to apply the black softness indicator on the hue cube.
Move/Zoom box Select Move to adjust the softness and tolerance by moving the handles on the hue cube
or Zoom to zoom in by dragging on the cube.
Low Softness field Displays the minimum value for the softness range. Editable.
Low Tolerance field Displays the minimum value for the tolerance range. Editable.
High Tolerance field Displays the maximum value for the tolerance range. Editable.
High Softness field Displays the maximum value for the softness range. Editable.
Auto Key button Set keyframes automatically when changes are made to a frame.
Gamma Options
Warp Options
Source colour pot Displays the colour you want to modify. Editable.
Subsetups Menu
Load button Open the file browser to load a group of subsetups within a directory.
Save button Open the file browser to save active subsetups in a specific directory.
Subsetup A button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup B button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup C button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup D button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup E button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup F button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup Gbutton Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup H button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup I button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Subsetup J button Apply an active subsetup to the current frame. Hold down to replace an existing subsetup.
Setup Menu
Scope box Displays the vectorscope you want to use to view the clip.
Canvas button Enable to show the vectorscope canvas. When the canvas is off, the vectorscope is transparent,
but can be outlined.
Bars box Select the SMPTE bars setting for the 2D vectorscope.
Size box Select the size of the coloured squares or cubes that make up the histogram.
Clear Buffer button Clears the Undo buffer of all previous undo operations.
Levels field An upper limit for the number of undo or redo operations. Editable.
Combine
Use Combine to combine the individual color space channels of three different source clips (RGB, YUV, or
HSL).
Combine | 1431
This node accepts a front, back and matte clip, and outputs a result.
Colour Space Type box Select which type of colour space to combine.
Comp
Use Comp to blend two inputs and their mattes. The type of composition is determined by the selected
blending mode.
TIP The default inputs for the foreground and background can be switched using the Swap Inputs button in the
Comp menu.
Input Settings
Clamping box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on input in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Premultiplication box Select whether the colour values in the input are premultiplied by the matte or not.
Blending Settings
Blend Type box Select whether to use Flame or Photoshop blend modes.
Blend Mode box Select how the front and back inputs are composited. The available list of modes depends
on the selection in the Blend Type box.
Swap Inputs button Enable to switch the rendering order of the inputs.
Comp | 1433
Blend Matte Settings
Correlation box Select whether the mattes are related to each other. For example, select Correlated if the
mattes are from different, but continuous parts on the same object.
Clamp Render box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on output in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Pre-multiplication box Select whether the colour values in the output are pre-multiplied or not.
Compound
Use Compound to combine the contents of several frames into a single frame.
First Rendered Frame field Displays the first frame at which output is rendered from the node. Unrendered
output does not display any media.Editable.
Compound Over field Displays the number of frames that are combined into one frame. Editable.
Damage
Use Damage to apply a large variety of film or video degradation effects to a clip.
Damage | 1435
Damage Menu Settings
General Settings
Damage Type box Select an option for the media type of damage effects to use. Selecting one of the effects
groups from the Damage Type box will display a menu of options for this effect.
Random Seed field Displays the number used to generate random variations in the damage effects. Editable.
Timing Offset field Displays the number used for timing offset in the damage effects. Editable.
Damage Effect buttons Enable to display options for an effect. Click LED to switch between On (blue) and
Off (grey).
Film Settings
Use the Film Damage effects to apply a large variety of film degradation effects to a clip.
Blotches Settings
Damage | 1437
Blotch Amount field Displays the amount of blotches applied to the image. Editable.
Blotch Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the blotches. Editable.
Blotch Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation for the transparency applied to
the blotches. Editable.
Blotch Size field Displays the average size of the blotches. Editable.
Blotch Size Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the size of the blotches. Editable.
Blotch Softness field Displays the percentage by which the blotches are out of focus. Editable.
Blotch Negative Mix field Displays the amount of negative blotches in the mix. Editable.
Blotch colour pot Displays the tint applied to the blotches in the image. Editable.
Colour Settings
Colour button Use this effect to simulate colour fading and variation in old film.
Colour Gain trackball Drag to adjust the colour gain. This is an alternate control combining the Red Gain,
Green Gain, Blue Gain, and Luma fields.
Colour Saturation field Displays the level of colour purity in the image. Editable.
Colour Gamma field Displays the amount of gamma correction applied to the image. Editable.
Red Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the red channel. Editable.
Green Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the blue channel. Editable.
Luma field Displays the amount of gain applied to the luminance channel. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to synchronize changes in red, green, blue, and luma channels.
Shadows colour pot Displays the tint applied to shadows in the image. Editable.
Highlights colour pot Displays the tint applied to highlights in the image. Editable.
Minimum Colour Value field Displays the luminance value in the image shadows. Editable.
Maximum Colour Value field Displays the luminance value in the image highlights. Editable.
Dust Settings
Dust button Use this effect to simulate dust particles on old film.
Dust Amount field Displays the amount of dust particles applied to the image. Editable.
Dust Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the dust particles. Editable.
Dust Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in transparency applied to the dust
particles. Editable.
Dust Size field Displays the average size of the dust particles. Editable.
Dust Size Variation field Displays the percentage of variation applied to the size of the dust particles.
Editable.
Dust Softness field Displays the percentage by which the dust is out of focus. Editable.
Dust Negative Mix field Displays the amount of negative dust particles in the mix. Editable.
Dust colour pot Displays the tint applied to the dust particles in the image. Editable.
Damage | 1439
Grain Settings
Grain Coloured button Enable for the grain to be coloured. Disable for the grain to be monochrome.
Grain Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the grain. Editable.
Grain Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied th the grain. Editable.
Grain Width field Displays the width of the grain in pixels. Editable.
Grain Height field Displays the height of the grain in pixels. Editable.
Grain Proportional button Enable to effect the width and height proportionally. Editable.
Scratches Settings
Scratch Amount field Displays the amount of scratches applied to the image. Editable.
Scratch Width field Displays the average width of the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Width Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the width of the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Length field Displays the average length of the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Length Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the length of the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Discontinuity field Displays the percentage of gaps that occur in the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Roughness field Displays the amount of irregularities and changes in alignment of the scratches.
Editable.
Scratch colour pot Displays the tint applied to the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Travel field Displays the amount in pixels that the scratches move along. Editable.
Scratch Travel Variation field Displays a percentage of variation that the scratches travel. Editable.
Scratch Angle Variation field Displays the angle at which the scratches occur. Editable.
Scratch Spread field Displays the area of the frame over which the scratches are spread. Editable.
Scratch Horizontal Offset field Displays the horizontal offset of the scratches. Editable.
Scratch Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the scratch effect. Editable.
Scratch Duration Variation field Displays the variation in duration for the scratch effects. Editable.
Splices Settings
Damage | 1441
Splice Auto box Select whether the splice occurs automatically or is manually inserted. Select Manual to
display the Create Splice and Delete Splice buttons.
Splice Type box Select what kind of splice to be applied to the image.
Splice Border Width field Displays the width of the splice border. Editable.
Splice colour pot Displays the colour used for the splice effects. Editable.
Splice Projector Roll field Displays the amount of space that the frame will travel as a percentage. Editable.
Splice Motion Blur field Displays the amount of motion blur applied to the splice effects. Editable.
Splice Jitter field Displays the amount of jitter applied to the splice effects. Editable.
Splice Defocus field Displays the amount of defocus applied to the splice effects. Editable.
Splice Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between splice effects. Editable.
Splice Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between splice effects. Editable.
Splice Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the splice effects. Editable.
Splice Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the splice effects.
Editable.
Delete Splice button Deletes the splice at the current frame. Available when Splice Auto is set to Manual.
Defocus Settings
Defocus button Use this effect to simulate projection defocus on old film.
Defocus Amount field Displays the amount of defocus applied to the image. Editable.
Defocus Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of defocus applied to
the image. Editable.
Defocus Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between defocus effects. Editable.
Defocus Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the spacing between defocus effects.
Editable.
Defocus Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the defocus effects. Editable.
Defocus Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the defocus effects.
Editable.
Flicker Settings
Flicker button Use this effect to simulate frame flicker on old film.
Damage | 1443
Flicker Amount field Displays the amount of flicker added to the image. Editable.
Flicker Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of flicker added to the
image. Editable.
Flicker Balance field Displays the ratio of dark and bright flickers used for the effect. Editable.
Flicker Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between flicker effects. Editable.
Flicker Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the spacing between flicker effects.
Editable.
Flicker Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the flicker effects. Editable.
Flicker Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the flicker effects.
Editable.
Hairs Settings
Hair Amount field Displays the amount of hairs applied to the image. Editable.
Hair Transparency field Displays the transparency applied to the hairs. Editable.
Hair Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in transparency applied to the hairs.
Editable.
Hair Size field Displays the average size of the hairs. Editable.
Hair Size Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in size of the hairs. Editable.
Hair Jitter field Displays the amount of jitter applied to the hairs. Editable.
Hair Softness field Displays the percentage by which the hair is out of focus. Editable.
Hair Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the hair effects. Editable.
Jitter Settings
Jitter button Use this effect to simulate projection jitter on old film.
Jitter X Amount field Displays the amount of horizontal movement applied to the jitter effect. Editable.
Jitter Y Amount field Displays the amount of vertical movement applied to the jitter effect. Editable.
Jitter Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation applied to the movement of the jitter
effect. Editable.
Jitter Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between jitter effects. Editable.
Jitter Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the spacing between jitter effects.
Editable.
Jitter Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the jitter effects. Editable.
Jitter Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the jitter effects. Editable.
Vignette Settings
Damage | 1445
Vignette Scale field Displays the size of the vignette effect compared to the size of the frame. Editable.
Vignette Ratio field Displays the ratio of width to height of the vignette effect. Editable.
Vignette Transparency field Displays the amount of transparency applied to the vignette effect. Editable.
Vignette Softness field Displays the amount of softness added to the edge of the vignette effect. Editable.
Use the Analog Video Damage effects to apply a large variety of analog video degradation effects to a clip.
When you select Analog Video from the Damage type box, the Analog Video Damage Effects are displayed,
along with the most useful adjustment box to the right of each.
Analog Drops button Use this effect to simulate analog drops causing noise or shash when playing back
old tapes on VTRs. .
Drop Amount field Displays the amount of shash applied to the image. Editable.
Drop Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of shash applied to the
image. Editable.
Drop Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the shash. Editable.
Drop Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the transparency applied to the
shash. Editable.
Damage | 1447
Drop Type Variation field Displays the percentage of variation applied to the drop type. Editable.
Distortion Settings
Distortion button Use this effect to simulate edge distortion when playing back old tapes on VTRs.
Edge Distortion Amount field Displays the amount of edge distortion applied to the image. Editable.
Edge Distortion Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of edge
distortion. Editable.
Edge Distortion Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the edge distortion
effect. Editable.
Edge Distortion Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in transparency applied
to the edge distortion effect. Editable.
Edge Distortion Coverage field Displays the percentage of vertical spread for the edge distortion effect.
Editable.
Edge Distortion Scale field Displays the size scaling applied to the edge distortion effect. Editable.
Edge Distortion Vertical Offset field Displays the vertical offset applied to the edge distortion effect.
Editable.
Edge Distortion Speed field Displays the speed at which the edge distortion effect moves across the image.
Editable.
Edge Distortion Speed Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the speed at which the edge
distortion effect moves. Editable.
Edge Distortion Speed Variation Period field Displays the time period in frames within which the speed
variation occurs. Editable.
Interference Settings
Interference button Use this effect to simulate electromagnetic Interference when playing back old tapes
on VTRs.
Interference Transparency field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of electromagnetic
interference applied to the image. Editable.
Interference Coverage field Displays the percentage of vertical spread applied to the electromagnetic
interference effect. Editable.
Interference Scale field Displays the scaling applied to the electromagnetic interference effect. Editable.
Interference Vertical Offset field Displays the vertical offset applied to the electromagnetic interference
effect. Editable.
Interference Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between electromagnetic interference effects.
Editable.
Interference Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between electromagnetic
interference effects. Editable.
Interference Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the electromagnetic interference effects.
Editable.
Interference Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the electromagnetic
interference effects. Editable.
Lines Settings
Lines button Use this effect to simulate ones caused by noise artifacts when playing back old tapes on VTRs.
Damage | 1449
Lines Distance Amount field Displays the amount of distance between the noise artifact lines applied to
the image. Editable.
Lines Jittering Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the jitter applied to the
lines. Editable.
Lines Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the noise artifact lines. Editable.
Lines Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the transparency of the lines.
Editable.
Lines Angle field Displays the angle of the noise artifact lines. Editable.
Lines Speed field Displays the speed at which the noise artifact lines move around. Editable.
Lines Speed Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the speed of the noise artifact lines.
Editable.
Lines Speed Variation Period field Displays the time period in frames within which the noise artifact lines
occur. Editable.
Play Effects button Use this effect to simulate play effects caused by misaligned or dirty tape heads when
playing back old tapes on VTRs.
Play Effects Speed field Displays the speed at which the play effects occur. Editable.
Play Effects Freeze field Displays the number of repeat frames added to create a jerky play effect. Editable.
Play Effects Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between play effect errors. Editable.
Play Effects Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between play effect
errors. Editable.
Play Effects Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the play effect errors. Editable.
Play Effects Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration of the play effects.
Editable.
Vertical Offset button Use this offset to simulate vertical rolls when playing back old tapes on VTRs.
Vertical Offset Roll Amount field Displays the amount of vertical roll applied to the image. Editable.
Vertical Offset Roll Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of the
vertical roll. Editable.
Vertical Offset Jitter field Displays the amount of jitter applied to the vertical roll. Editable.
Vertical Offset Border Width field Displays the width of the vertical roll border. Editable.
Vertical Offset Border Artifacts field Displays the amount of artifacts within the vertical roll border. Editable.
Damage | 1451
Vertical Offset Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between vertical roll errors. Editable.
Vertical Offset Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between vertical
roll errors. Editable.
Vertical Offset Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the vertical roll errors. Editable.
Vertical Offset Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the vertical
roll errors. Editable.
Blur Settings
Blur button Use this effect to simulate blur from poor signal reception.
Blur Amount field Displays the amount of blurring added to the image. Editable.
Blur Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of the blur effect. Editable.
Colour Settings
Colour button Use this effect to simulate analog colour degradation, shift and variations from poor signal
reception.
Analog Colour Degrade Amount field Displays the amount of colour degradation applied to the image.
Editable.
Analog Colour Degrade Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of
the colour degradation. Editable.
Analog Colour Brightness Transparency Variation field Displays the amount of brightness applied to the
image. Editable.
Analog Colour Saturation field Displays the amount of colour saturation applied to the image. Editable.
Analog Colour Shadows colour pot Displays the tint applied to shadows in the image. Editable.
Analog Colour Highlights colour pot Displays the tint applied to highlights in the image. Editable.
Analog Colour Red Channel Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the red channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Green Channel Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the green channel.
Editable.
Analog Colour Blue Channel Gain field Displays the amount of gain applied to the blue channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Red Channel X Shift field Displays the amount of horizontal offset applied to the red
channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Green Channel X Shift field Displays the amount of horizontal offset applied to the green
channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Blue Channel X Shift field Displays the amount of horizontal offset applied to the blue
channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Red Channel Y Shift field Displays the amount of vertical offset applied to the red channel.
Editable.
Analog Colour Green Channel Y Shift field Displays the amount of vertical offset applied to the green
channel. Editable.
Analog Colour Blue Channel Y Shift field Displays the amount of vertical offset applied to the blue channel.
Editable.
Damage | 1453
Ghosting Settings
Ghosting Amount field Displays the number of repeated ghost images applied to the original image. Editable.
Ghosting Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the number of ghost images.
Editable.
Ghosting Transparency field Displays the percentage of the transparency applied to the ghosted images.
Editable.
Ghosting Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the transparency of the
ghosted images. Editable.
Ghosting Distortion field Displays the amount of distortion applied to the ghosted images. Editable.
Ghosting Scale field Displays the amount of scaling applied to the ghosted images. Editable.
Ghosting Angle field Displays the angle applied to the ghosted images. Editable.
Ghosting Colour Degradation field Displays the amount of colour degradation applied to the ghosted
images. Editable.
Ghosting Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between ghosting errors. Editable.
Ghosting Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between ghosting errors.
Editable.
Ghosting Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the ghosting errors. Editable.
Ghosting Duration Variaton field Displays the percentage of variation in the duration of ghosting errors.
Editable.
Scanlines Settings
Scanlines button Use this effect to simulate scanlines from poor signal reception.
Scanlines Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the size of the scanlines. Editable.
Scanlines Variation Speed field Displays the speed at which the scanline variation occurs. Editable.
Scanlines Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the scanlines.
Scanlines Vertical Offset field Displays the vertical offset for the scanline effect. Editable.
Scanlines Softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the scanlines. Editable.
Scanlines Angle field Displays the angle at which the scanlines occur. Editable.
Snow Settings
Snow Amount field Displays the amount of snow applied to the image. Editable.
Snow Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of snow applied to the
image.
Snow Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency or softness, applied to the snow. Editable.
Snow Transparency Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the transparency or softness,
applied to the snow. Editable.
Snow Width field Displays the width in pixels of the snow particles. Editable.
Snow Height field Displays the height in pixels of the snow particles. Editable.
Snow Proportional button Enable to effect the width and height proportionally. Editable.
TV Distort Settings
TV Distort button Use this effect to simulate TV lens distortion from a poor video camera.
Damage | 1455
TV Distort Amount field Displays the amount of TV lens distortion applied to the image. Editable.
TV Distort Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of TV lens distortion
applied to the image.
TV Distort Radius field Displays the size of the image to which the TV lens distortion is applied. A value
of 1 includes the entire image. Editable.
TV Distort Ratio field Displays the ratio of height to width that is affected by the TV lens distortion effect.
Editable.
Use the Digital Video Damage effects to apply a large variety of digital video degradation effects to a clip.
Chroma Errors button Use this effect to simulate chroma errors in badly encoded digital video transmissions.
Chroma Amount box Displays the value representing the change to the chroma channel. Editable.
Luma Amount box Displays the value representing the change to the luminance channel. Editable.
Variation Amount box Displays the percentage of variation applied to the Chroma and Luma channels.
Colour Artifacts button Use this effect to simulate digital colour artifacts and degradation appearing in
badly encoded digital video transmissions.
Colour Degradation Amount box Displays the amount of digital colour degradation applied to the image.
Editable.
Colour Degradation Variation box Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of colour degradation
applied to the image. Editable.
Damage | 1457
Contrast box Displays the amount of contrast applied to the image. Editable.
Brightness box Displays the amount of brightness applied to the image. Editable.
Tint Colour box Displays the tint value applied to the colour in the image. Editable.
Shadows colour pot Displays the tint applied to shadows in the image. Editable.
Highlights colour pot Displays the tint applied to highlights in the image. Editable.
Compression Settings
Compression button Use this effect to simulate digital compression errors in badly encoded digital video
transmissions.
Compression Amount field Displays the amount of the digital compression effect applied to the image.
Editable.
Compression Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of digital
compression applied to the image. Editable.
Compression Edges Active button Enable to activate edge detection errors in compression.
Compression Edges Minimum field Displays the minimum threshold value used to detect edges. Available
when Active button is enabled. Editable.
Compression Edges Width field Displays the width of the edge in pixels. Available when Active button is
enabled. Editable.
Compression Edges Softness field Displays the softness of the edge. Available when Active button is enabled.
Editable.
Compression Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between digital compression errors. Editable.
Compression Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between compression
errors. Editable.
Compression Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the compression errors. Editable.
Compression Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration of the compression
errors. Editable.
Digital Drops button Use this effect to simulate digital drop errors in badly encoded digital video
transmissions.
Digital Drops Amount field Displays the amount of digital drop errors applied to the image. Editable.
Digital Drops Coherence field Displays the amount of coherence to digital drop errors in the image. Editable.
Digital Drops Amount Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the amount of digital drop
errors applied to the image. Editable.
Digital Drops Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between digital drop errors. Editable.
Damage | 1459
Digital Drops Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between digital drop
errors. Editable.
Digital Drops Freeze Frame button Displays the number of repeat frames added to create a jerky digital
drop effect. Editable.
Digital Drops Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the digital drop errors. Editable.
Digital Drops Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in duration for the digital drop
errors. Editable.
Play Effects button Use this effect to simulate digital play effects in badly encoded digital video transmissions.
Play Effects Speed field Displays the amount of change to the speed of playback applied to the image.
Editable.
Play Effects Shuttering field Displays the amount of shuttering during playback that is applied to the
image. Editable.
Play Effects Spacing field Displays the spacing in frames between play effects errors. Editable.
Play Effects Spacing Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in spacing between play effects
errors. Editable.
Play Effects Duration field Displays the duration in frames of the play effects errors. Editable.
Play Effects Duration Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the duration for play effects
errors. Editable.
Pixelation Settings
Pixelation button Use this effect to simulate reduced resolution and digital pixelation errors in badly
encoded digital video transmissions.
Pixelation Width Amount field Displays the width in pixels of the new pixelation block. Editable.
Pixelation Proportional button Enable to effect the width and height proportionally. Editable.
Pixelation Average button Displays the amount of averaging applied between the pixel block and its
surroundings. Editable.
Pixelation Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency, or softness, applied to the pixel
blocks. Editable.
Pixelation X Offset field Displays the horizontal offset for the pixelation effect. Editable.
Pixelation Y Offset field Displays the vertical offset for the pixelation effect. Editable.
Pixelation Size Variation field Displays the percentage of variation in the size of pixels during playback.
Editable.
Deal
Use Deal to deal out the frames of a single clip evenly to any number of destination clips.
Deal | 1461
Deal Menu Settings
General Settings
First Rendered Frame field Displays the first frame at which output is rendered from the node. Unrendered
output does not display any media.Editable.
Clips field Displays the number of times the clip is split. Editable.
Start Frame field Displays which frame of the input clip used to determine which dealt clip is output.
Editable.
Deform
Use Deform to apply various types of deformation effects to clips.
This node accepts a front and a matte clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
Deform Type button Select the type of deformation you want to create. The available effect parameters
change based on the selection.
Deform Ripple box (not shown) Select how you want the ripples created. Pond Ripples create ripples with
a 45 degree offset. Out from Center pushes the ripples away from the center, extending the first half, and
compressing the second half of each ripple. Around Center rotates the crest of each ripple in a clockwise
direction around the center.
Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Effect Parameters
NOTE The following settings are available when Crumple is selected from the Deform Type button.
Amplitude field Displays the amount of deformation. Increase the value to increase the effect. Editable.
Time Offset field Displays the time offset interval of the crumpling. Editable.
Octaves field Displays a value for the number of layers summed in the operation, from zero to 10. Increase
the value to increase the fractal effect. Editable.
NOTE The following settings are available when Magnify is selected from the Deform Type button.
Deform | 1463
Radius field Displays the size of the affected area. You can also drag the circle in the image window to
change the size of the radius. Editable.
Direction box Select Horizontal, Vertical, or Both to indicate the direction of the magnification.
Damping box Select how the effect is applied within the radius. Select None to apply no damping, Linear
to decrease the effect linearly to 0, or Quadratic to decrease the effect quadratically to 0.
NOTE The following settings are available when Pinch is selected from the Deform Type button.
Radius field Displays the size of the affected area. You can also drag the circle in the image window to
change the size of the radius. Editable.
Damping box Select how the effect is applied within the radius. Select None to apply no damping, Linear
to decrease the effect linearly to 0, or Quadratic to decrease the effect quadratically to 0.
NOTE The following settings are available when Ripple is selected from the Deform Type button.
Ripples field Displays the frequency of the ripples (from zero to 60). Editable.
Radius field Displays the size of the affected area. You can also drag the circle in the image window to
change the size of the radius. Editable.
Phase field Displays the spread of the ripples to the centre. Use this value to animate the ripple effect.
Editable.
Max Ridges field Displays the total number of ripples that can be generated. For example, set to 5 to create
5 rings of distortion. Editable.
Damping box Select how the effect is applied within the radius. Select None to apply no damping, Linear
to decrease the effect linearly to 0, or Quadratic to decrease the effect quadratically to 0.
NOTE The following settings are available when Twirl is selected from the Deform Type button.
Radius field Displays the size of the affected area. You can also drag the circle in the image window to
change the size of the radius. Editable.
Damping box Select how the effect is applied within the radius. Select None to apply no damping, Linear
to decrease the effect linearly to 0, or Quadratic to decrease the effect quadratically to 0.
NOTE The following settings are available when Wave is selected from the Deform Type button.
Deform | 1465
Amplitude field Displays the amount of deformation. Increase the value to increase the effect. Editable.
Phase field Displays the spread of the ripples to the centre. Use this value to animate the ripple effect.
Editable.
Compression field Displays a pixel flattening value (negative values flatten to the left, and positive values
flatten to the right). Editable.
Transform Settings
NOTE Transform settings for Input, Deform and Output are identical.
Transform X Position field Displays the horizontal position of the transformation. Enable the Icons button
to change the position by dragging the vertex tool in the image window. Editable.
Transform Y Position field Displays the vertical position of the transformation. Editable. Enable the Icons
button to change the position by dragging the vertex tool in the image window. Editable.
Transform Rotation field Displays the rotation of the transformation. Editable. Enable the Icons button to
change the rotation by dragging the vertex tool in the image window. Editable.
Transform Centre X field Displays the centre point value of the transform along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Transform Centre Y field Displays the centre point value of the transform along the vertical axis. Editable.
Anti-Aliasing Settings
Anti-Aliasing Sampling box Select the number of samples to use in the anti-aliasing process.
Anti-Aliasing Softness field Displays the softness value for software anti-aliasing. Editable.
Degrain
Use Degrain to remove grain from the RGB channels of a selected colour in an image.
Degrain | 1467
Degrain Menu Settings
General Settings
Render Method box Select whether you are removing grain from progressive or interlaced media.
Red Average slider Displays the amount of blur applied to the red channel.
Red Average field Displays the amount of blur applied to the red channel. Editable.
Green Average slider Displays the amount of blur applied to the green channel.
Green Average field Displays the amount of blur applied to the green channel. Editable.
Blue Average slider Displays the amount of blur applied to the blue channel.
Blue Average field Displays the amount of blur applied to the blue channel. Editable.
Red Sharpen slider Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the red channel.
Red Sharpen field Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the red channel. Editable.
Green Sharpen slider Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the green channel.
Green Sharpen field Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the green channel. Editable.
Blue Sharpen slider Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the blue channel.
Blue Sharpen field Displays the amount of sharpness applied to the blue channel. Editable.
Deinterlace
Use Deinterlace to separate the odd and even scanlines of a clip.
First Rendered Frame field Displays the first frame at which output is rendered from the node. Unrendered
output does not display any media.Editable.
Field Dominance box Select Field 1 or Field 2 dominance, or Auto to have the application detect
automatically the field dominance.
Interpolation box Enable to interpolate a blend between adjacent lines and fill in the isolated scan lines.
This also reduces interlacing artifacts.
Denoise
Use the Denoise effect to reduce or remove noise and grain from your source media.
Denoise | 1469
To access the Denoise menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
The Modular Keyer, then select a node from the Node bin.
This node accepts a front clip, and outputs a result clip.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Export button Click to export a Denoise setup to be used as a Lustre Degrain preset.
Import button Click to open the browser to select a Lustre Degrain preset to import.
Add Bounding Box button Adds a new sub-region. Click and drag the bounding box in the image window
to set the location.
Remove Bounding Box box Select an option to remove the currently selected bounding box or all the
bounding boxes.
Reference frame field Displays the frame number that is analysed. You can use this frame analysis as a
reference that can be edited and applied to the clip.
Show Icons button Enable to display all the defined bounding boxes.
Bounding Box colour pot Displays the colour used for the border of the bounding boxes. Click to change
the colour.Editable.
Denoise Settings
Red Gain field Displays the gain for red channel colour values. Editable.
Green Gain field Displays the gain for green channel colour values. Editable.
Blue Gain field Displays the gain for blue channel colour values. For film scans, the grain is often greater
in this channel. Editable.
Denoise | 1471
Proportional button Enable to change gain values proportionally for all three colour channels.
Grain Size field Displays a value in pixels that is proportional to the size of the grain. The default value is
3, but may be higher for 4K images. Editable.
Smoothing Radius field Displays the blur radius. For smoother results, a higher value will add more pixels
to the blur, but increase rendering time. Editable.
Detail field Displays the amount of detail to preserve when the Smoothing Radius is set to a high value. It
is recommended you enter 0.05 to 0.15 as an initial value. Editable.
Opacity field Displays a percentage of the level of opacity between the source image and the output with
the applied grain filter. Editable.
Use Past button Enable to compare with pixel data from previous frames.
Use Future button Enable to compare with pixel data from subsequent frames.
Histogram Settings
Histogram box Select to display the red, green, blue, or luminance histogram in the graph. Select Current
Curve to display the histogram for the currently selected Curves Channel.
Curves Channel box Select to highlight the red, green, or blue channel curve in the graph.
Set Key button Sets the current values for the selected channels in the current frame.
Reset Key button Select to reset the current curve or all the curves to default.
The Median Filter removes noise by calculating the median value for each pixel (the most probable pixel
value) and applies an edge-preserving smoothing filter.
Median Filtering button Enable to use the median filter.
Criteria box Select the ranking criteria by which the median value is chosen. Options are:
■ Luminance :Uses the pixel luminance value to calculate the median value.
■ RGB Vector: Uses the RGB coordinate values to calculate the median value.
■ RGB Component: Uses the R, G and B channels independently to calculate the median value.
Radius field Displays the size of the filtering region in pixels from the centre. A higher value results in more
pixels being taken into account when calculating the median value. Editable.
Iterations field Displays the number of times that the filter is applied recursively. Editable.
Opacity field Displays how much the result of one median iteration is combined with the original input.
Editable.
Depth of Field
Use Depth of Field to create a blur that is applied to out-of-focus points of light to simulate a shallow focus.
This node accepts a front, Z-depth and matte clip, and outputs a result, out Z-depth and outmatte clip. The
output matte clip can have a different level of depth of field than the result clip.
Blur Width field Displays the horizontal blur amount in pixels. Editable.
Blur Height field Displays the vertical blur amount in pixels. Editable.
Bokeh Blur field Displays the amount of smoothness applied to sharp bokeh edges. This creates the blur
that is applied to out-of-focus points of light to simulate a shallow focus. Editable.
Basic Blooming field Displays the gain applied to highlights in non-HDR images, to allow the creation of
bokeh patterns without affecting colour integrity. This creates the glow effect that is applied to the bright
spots of the image to simulate light bleeding, or blooming, over the edges. Editable.
Additive Blooming field Displays the amount of high intensity bokeh patterns that can be created from
any source image generating extreme highlight content . Editable.
Additive Blooming minimum field Displays the minimum threshold for highlight segregation. Editable.
Additive Blooming maximum field Displays the maximum threshold for highlight segregation. Editable.
Bokeh Settings
Sides field Displays the number of sides in the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not attached
to the node.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the kernel shape. Editable, if kernel information is not
attached to the node.
Bokeh Type box Select whether to use a round or angle bokeh curve to define the kernel shape.
Curvature field Displays the amount of curvature applied to a round bokeh kernel shape. Editable.
Slices Number field Displays the number of slices to blend to determine the Z-Depth interpolation of a
depth-of-field focus blur. You can see the slices in the depth-o-gram to allow a better understanding of the
focus plane behaviour, and to help define the number of slices required, depending on your Z-depth colour
information. Editable.
Slices Overlap field Displays the amount of blending overlap between adjacent slices. Editable.
Foreground Expand field Displays the amount of mixing between the edges of selected objects and their
surroundings in the foreground. Editable.
Background Blend field Displays the amount of mixing between the edges of selected objects and the
background image. Editable.
Z-Depth Settings
Z-Depth Minimum field Displays the lower limit of the Z-Depth values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black. Editable.
Z-Depth Z Maximum field Displays the upper limit of the Z-Depth values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white. Editable.
White Value box Select whether white pixels represent the furthest point or nearest point on the Z-axis.
Premultiplied Depth button Enable to have the alpha channel information premultiplied with the colour
depth data. Use to prevent a black halo from forming around blurred areas.
Slopes field Displays the gamma value. Applies a gamma curve to the Z-depth map before it is used. Editable.
Depth-O-Gram Settings
Depth blur effects control the amount of blur based on a depth of field matte. Depth blur settings are
displayed in the Depth-O-Gram tab.
A depth of field map (Z-depth map) can be connected to the node. Black portions of the map are in focus.
White portions display the highest level of blur. Note that a Z-depth map imported from another application
may use the opposite convention and may need to be inverted.
Focus Plane field Displays the distance of your focus point, which is the point at which there is no blur on
the image. Editable.
Focus Offset field Displays the distance between the focus plane and the near offset represented as a
percentage of the total offset range. Select 50% to make the near and far offsets equidistant from the focus
point. Editable.
Focus Range field Displays the distance the near and far offset. Editble.
Frame option box Select how you want to frame the histogram.
Zoom field Displays a vertical zoom value for the histogram to display. You can zoom horizontally by
pressing Ctrl+spacebar and dragging left or right in the histogram. To pan horizontally, click spacebar and
drag left or right in the histogram.Editable.
Z Plot button Click to activate the pick cursor. Use to select a pixel in the image to display its depth.
Z Plot Colour pot Displays the colour that indicates the plane on which the plotted value is located.
Depth blur effects can be modified gesturally by dragging the focus, near offset, and far offset planes in the
graphic representation of the depth of field. As you drag these elements, the planes are also displayed in the
Result view as a preview of the areas that will be in focus. Use the depth control fields to change the gamma
and gain, and to change the focus range while keeping the focus plane constant. These parameters are
updated in the depth of field display automatically.
Use the Bokeh Profile tab to edit the blur kernal pattern.
The kernel is the basic blur shape. The shape of the kernel is determined by its number of sides, its rotation,
and the shape of its S-curve. This curve represents the shape of the pattern, from its centre to the outside.
The default S-curve defines the softness of the blur. You can change the curve by manipulating the two
points that define the curve, or you can add points to the curve. Use the Tools box to add and delete points
on the curve.
Set Key button Sets a keyframe at the selected frame.
Reset button Resets the blur pattern profile curve to its default values.
This node accepts a front and back clip as input, and outputs a result.
The Difference Matte allows you to remove an image from one context and add it to another. The matte is
created using the Tolerance and Softness values that you specify.
You can enable the RGB or the YUV settings to generate a matte clip.
RGB Settings
RGB button Enable to use values in the RGB colour space to generate a matte.
R button Enable to use the red colour channel to create the matte.
G button Enable to use the green colour channel to create the matte.
B button Enable to use the blue colour channel to create the matte.
Red Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the red channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Red Tolerance field Displays the value of the red channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Green Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the green channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Green Tolerance field Displays the value of the green channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Blue Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the blue channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Blue Tolerance field Displays the value of the blue channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Red Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the red channel to create the matte. Editable.
Green Softness colour pot Displays the softness value applied to the green channel to create the matte.
Editable.
Green Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the green channel to create the matte. Editable.
Blue Softness colour pot Displays the softness value applied to the blue channel to create the matte. Editable.
Blue Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the blue channel to create the matte. Editable.
Gain field Displays the value that the resulting pixel values are multiplied by to create the final matte.
Editable.
Lift field Displays the value added to the resulting pixels to create the final matte. Editable.
YUV Settings
YUV button Enable to use values in the YUV colour space to generate a matte.
Y Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the Y channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Y Tolerance field Displays the value of the Y channel used to create the matte. Editable.
U Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the green channel used to create the matte. Editable.
U Tolerance field Displays the value of the U channel used to create the matte. Editable.
V Tolerance colour pot Displays the value of the V channel used to create the matte. Editable.
V Tolerance field Displays the value of the V channel used to create the matte. Editable.
Y Softness colour pot Displays the softness value applied to the Y channel to create the matte. Editable.
Y Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the Y channel to create the matte. Editable.
U Softness colour pot Displays the softness value applied to the U channel to create the matte. Editable.
U Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the U channel to create the matte. Editable.
V Softness colour pot Displays the softness value applied to the V channel to create the matte. Editable.
V Softness field Displays the softness value applied to the V channel to create the matte. Editable.
Gain field Displays the value that the resulting pixel values are multiplied by to create the final matte.
Editable.
Lift field Displays the value added to the resulting pixels to create the final matte. Editable.
Distort
Use Distort to create warps and morphs of clips using spline-based shapes.
To access Distort, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
Distort accepts two front clips, two matte clips and one back clip as inputs, and outputs a result and an
outmatte.
Back Display box Select a display mode for the background clip.
Input box Toggles between Input1 and Input2 clips based on the selection in the View box.
If Input is selected in the View box, this box toggles between Front1 and Front2. If Matte is selected in the
View box, this box toggles between Matte1 and Matte2. If Result is selected in the View box, this box toggles
between showing the splines for Front1 and Front2 drawn on top of the result.
Motion Path button Enable to animate the position of the axis using a spline drawn in the scene.
Distort | 1481
Z Rotation field Displays the rotation value of the Z axis.
Track Axis button Opens the Stabilizer menu to apply tracking data to an axis.
Tracking Rotation box Select whether tracking rotation is On, Off, or Inverted.
Tracking Scale box Select whether tracking scaling is On, Off, or Inverted.
Tracking Adjust box Select whether an offset is applied relative to the spline's axis.
Interpolation field Displays the percentage of mixing between the Input1 spline and the Input2 spline
when source splines are linked for source interpolation. Editable.
You independently set an interpolation value for each set of linked Front1 and Front2 source splines.
Blend field Displays the level of blend between the Input1 and Input2 clips when morphing. Editable.
NOTE The Blend field is only available from the Morph menu.
Source button Enable to display source splines for manipulation. Also use to display the unwarped input
clip.
Source Show button Enable to display source splines for reference when working with destination splines.
Destination button Enable to display destination splines for manipulation. Also use to display the warped
input clip.
Destination Show button Enable to display destination splines for reference when working with source
splines.
Destination colour pot Displays the colour of all destination splines. Editable.
Correspondences button Enable to display correspondence points and connector lines, which indicate how
the source spline maps to the destination spline.
You can add, edit, animate, and delete correspondence points. The more correspondence points a spline
has, the greater effect it has on the overall warp.
Active button Enable to allow greater control over an animated spline by toggling selected vertices on and
off.
Lasso Fit field Displays the number of vertices in freehand segments of a spline. Editable.
Increasing the value decreases the number of vertices, while decreasing the value increases the number of
vertices. Only segments of the spline drawn using freehand mode are affected, while segments created by
simple clicks remain unaffected. The Lasso Fit parameter loses its influence over freehand segments of a
spline if you edit vertices.
Link box Controls whether source and destination splines are linked together or manipulated independently.
Set this to Lnk Src & Dst to keep the source and destination splines linked as you draw and animate the
source spline. Set this to Enable Warping to control the destination spline independently to create a warp.
You can also independently link and unlink the axis nodes that are the parents of a source spline and its
corresponding destination spline.
Toggle Input button Switch between an Input1 spline and an Input2 spline.
This is useful when you have animated a spline on one input and wish to apply it to the other.
Iterations field Displays a value for the distance that the distortion follows the destination spline. Editable.
If Z-mode is disabled, the maximum distance of the distortion is limited to avoid overlapping. When there
is a large distance between a source and destination spline, you will achieve better results by increasing the
number of iterations. For smaller warps or morphs, there is no advantage in using a greater number of
iterations—it will increase processing time unnecessarily.
Distort | 1483
Z-mode button Enable to allow overlapping in the image to create 3D-like effects where parts of the image
are pulled over other parts.
Range field Displays the size of the region affected by the warping effect. Editable.
The greater the value, the larger the portion of the image affected. A value of 100% affects the entire image,
a value of 33% affects one-third of the image, for example.
Weight field Displays the relative weight on the selected spline, to control its influence. Editable.
For example, you can set a higher weight on a spline in an area of the image that you do not want to move.
Resolution field Displays the pixel resolution of the clip being warped or morphed. A lower pixel resolution
creates warps and morphs that better follow the contours of the distortion splines, although it can slow
down system performance.
Track Shape button Opens the Stabilizer menu to apply tracking data to a spline's vertices.
Adjust box Select whether an offset is applied relative to the spline's tangents.
Repeat Value box Select 4 to fill gaps by repeating the clip once on each side, or 8 to repeat the clip twice
on each side.
Scale Setup button Enable to scale a loaded setup's splines to the resolution of the current project.
Icons button Enable to display splines, tangents, and vertices in the image.
Icons Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the icons in the image. Editable.
Tangent colour pot Displays the colour of tangents on the splines. Editable.
Schematic Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the schematic. Editable.
Undo Levels field Displays the levels of Undo available in the Undo/Redo lists. Editable.
Miscellaneous Settings
Setup Name field Displays the name of the last saved setup.
Player button Opens the Player to view the last rendered clip.
Setup button Opens the Setup menu, where you can set various preference and display settings.
Animation button Opens the channel editor, where you can animate various distort settings.
Copy button Copies an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what is selected in
the Selection Mode box.
Delete button Deletes an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what is selected in
the Selection Mode box.
Reset button Resets an object, a branch (object and its children), or all, depending on what is selected in
the Selection Mode box.
Node Name field Displays the name of the selected node in the schematic. Editable.
Add button Adds an axis or spline, depending of the selection of the Node box.
Node box Select whether to add an axis or spline, then click Add.
Edge Detect
Use Edge Detect to trace the edges in a clip based on colour. This data can then be used to create a range of
artistic effects in various colour spaces.
This node accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
Colour Type box Select the colour space that you want to use to isolate the edge.
Matte Output button Select Input to output the input matte or Edge Matte to output the matte generated
by the edge detection.
Red Weight field Displays a value for the relative intensity of red used to detect edges. This value is scaling
factor, not the color value of the channel itself. Editable.
Green Weight field Displays a value for the relative intensity of green used to detect edges. This value is
scaling factor, not the color value of the channel itself. Editable.
Blue Weight field Displays a value for the relative intensity of blue used to detect edges. This value is scaling
factor, not the color value of the channel itself. Editable.
Proportional Weight button Enable to adjust the red, green, and blue weights proportionally.
Minimum Edge Detection Threshold field Displays the lower limit for edge detection. Editable.
Maximum Edge Detection Threshold field Displays the upper limit for edge detection. Editable.
Softness Width field Displays a value for the width of the edge. Editable.
Softness Gain field Displays a value for the softness of the edge. Editable.
Double Edge button Enable to do a second edge detection pass and create twice as many edges.
Minimum Edge Detection Threshold field Displays the lower limit for edge detection. Editable.
Maximum Edge Detection Threshold field Displays the upper limit for edge detection. Editable.
Softness Width field Displays a value for the width of the edge. Editable.
Softness Gain field Displays a value for the softness of the edge. Editable.
Directional button Enable to create the edge in the direction indicated in the Angle field.
Edge Angle field Displays a value for the direction of the edge. Editable.
Colour Offset pot Displays a colour offset value for the image outside of the detected edges.
Offset field Displays a value that modifies all of the colour parameters. Editable.
Red Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the red channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the blue channel. Editable.
Luma Gain field Set the percentage of luma gain value to display. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to adjust the gain of the colour values proportionally.
Blending Settings
Blend Mode option box Select an operation to blend the input image with the matte created by the edge
detection, and the input matte (if the Use Matte button is enabled).
Edge Transparency field Displays a value for the transparency applied to the edges. Editable.
Use Matte button Enable to use the input matte to constrain the blending of the input image and the matte
created by the edge detection.
Exposure
Use Exposure to apply plausible exposure and contrast settings suitable to the image data type of an input
clip. The values can be adjusted separately for each colour channel or controlled simultaneously.
Front view of a 16-bit floating point image Result view of the image after the exposure and contrast
have been modified
Exposure | 1489
This node accepts a front clip and a matte clip, and outputs a result. The matte input is used to limit the
areas of the front clip that are affected by exposure and contrast changes.
NOTE To adjust the exposure, contrast, and image data type of the image for display purposes only, set the image
display viewer options in the View menu or edit them gesturally in the current viewport. See Displaying Multiple
Views (page 396).
Calculations for exposure and contrast adjustments are based on the type of image that is selected in the
Exposure menu.
Select: To:
Linear Apply a transformation to a 16-bit floating-point image, with a high dynamic range.
Red Exposure field Displays the exposure offset of the red channel.
Green Exposure field Displays the exposure offset of the green channel.
Blue Exposure field Displays the exposure offset of the blue channel.
Proportional button Enable to change the exposure offset value for a channel and update the values for
the other channels proportionally.
Red Contrast field Displays the contrast level of the red channel.
Green Contrast field Displays the contrast level of the green channel.
Blue Contrast field Displays the contrast level of the blue channel.
Red Pivot field Displays the red value used as a pivot when generating contrast. The pivot value affects the
way the contrast is calculated. The default value is mid-gray on a logarithmic scale.
Green Pivot field Displays the green value used as a pivot when generating contrast. The pivot value affects
the way the contrast is calculated. The default value is mid-gray on a logarithmic scale.
Blue Pivot field Displays the blue value used as a pivot when generating contrast. The pivot value affects
the way the contrast is calculated. The default value is mid-gray on a logarithmic scale.
Proportional button Enable to change the pivot value for a channel and update the values for the other
channels proportionally.
Field Merge
Use Field Merge to remove field jitter by merging the fields of a clip.
Level field Enter the percentage of blending between fields, or drag on the field to modify its value.
Filter
Use Filter to apply different effects to a clip, including textures, blurring, edge detection, embossing, and
sharpening.
Filter 1 button Modifies the set of image operations in the first filter element that is applied in the final
composite filter.
Filter 2 button Modifies the set of image operations in the second filter element that is applied in the final
composite filter.
Filter 3 button Modifies the set of image operations in the third filter element that is applied in the final
composite filter.
Filter 4 button Modifies the set of image operations in the fourth filter element that is applied in the final
composite filter.
Filter 5 button Modifies the set of image operations in the fifth filter element that is applied in the final
composite filter.
Use Filter button Enable to apply the filter element to the final composite filter.
Bypass Chroma button Enable to ignore hue and saturation channels of an image.
Filter Type box Select whether to use matrix calculations or a predefined procedure to alter the image.
Matrix Settings
Same button Enable to change a symmetrical field to the same value as a field that is being edited.
Invert button Enable to change a symmetrical field to the equal and opposite value as the field value that
is being edited.
3x3 button Enable to apply a matrix of three rows and three columns. The field in the centre represents the
pixel that is currently being evaluated; the others represent surrounding pixels. The matrix displays the
relative influence of each pixel surrounding the current one.
5x5 button Enable to apply a matrix of five rows and five columns. The field in the centre represents the
pixel that is currently being evaluated; the others represent surrounding pixels. The matrix displays the
relative influence of each pixel surrounding the current one.
7x7 button Enable to apply a matrix of seven rows and seven columns. The field in the centre represents
the pixel that is currently being evaluated; the others represent surrounding pixels. The matrix displays the
relative influence of each pixel surrounding the current one.
9x9 button Enable to apply a matrix of seven rows and seven columns. The field in the centre represents
the pixel that is currently being evaluated; the others represent surrounding pixels. The matrix displays the
relative influence of each pixel surrounding the current one.
11x11 button Enable to apply a matrix of eleven rows and eleven columns. The field in the centre represents
the pixel that is currently being evaluated; the others represent surrounding pixels. The matrix displays the
relative influence of each pixel surrounding the current one.
Procedural Settings
Sobel button Enable to apply an edge-detection filter that uses the Sobel operator.
Sobel Direction box Select the direction in which the filter is applied.
Prewitt button Enable to apply an edge-detection filter that uses the Prewitt operator.
Prewitt Direction box Select the direction in which the field is applied.
Flip
Use Flip to generate a mirror image of a clip. You can flip frames in a clip horizontally, vertically or both.
Flip | 1493
To access the Field Merge menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
Reverse Dominance box Select an option for correcting the field dominance when flipping clips vertically.
Garbage Mask
Use the Garbage Mask to isolate particular areas of an image to include with, or exclude from, the opaque
area of the matte.
NOTE A different GMask node is available from within Action (page 899) and the Mask Tracer (page 1099).
This node accepts a front and a matte clip as input, and outputs a result.
Mask Selection box Apply changes to the selected mask or all masks.
Regenerate button Enable to get dynamic updating of your mask as you make changes.
Path button Enable to animate the position of the axis using a spline drawn in the scene.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu where you track reference points in a clip.
Tracking Rotation option box Select Rotation Off for one-point tracking, Rotation On for two-point tracking,
Rotation Inv to invert the rotation data.
Tracking Scale option box Select Scaling Off for one-point tracking, Scaling On for two-point tracking,
Scale Inv to invert the scaling data.
Adjust box Select Adj Offset if the mask is parented to one axis. Select Adj Axis if the mask is parented to a
hierarchy of objects. Select Adj Tangents to have the tangents for the selected points adjusted while the
points are tracked.
Motion Blur button Enable the blur effect for the selected axis (Motion Blur must be enabled in the Setup
menu).
Motion Blur button Toggles the blur effect for the selected geometry (Motion Blur must be enabled in the
Setup menu).
Render Mask button Enable to see the mask and its effect on the image.
Region of Interest button Enable to reveal the matte of multiple garbage masks.
Outside button Enable to apply the effect to the part of the image outside the mask.
Colour field Set the blend between the outgoing and incoming image inside the mask.
Lasso Fit field Set the number of points used in the freehand part of the mask.
Edge Softness box Select an edge softness method. Select Softness to create a uniform gradient around the
mask edge, or select Tracer to key out details around the mask edge. Different settings appear based on the
selection.
Alpha field Set the transparency of the gradient from the mask edge.
Offset field Set the position of the gradient's border from the mask edge.
Pickers button Enable to display two pickers to perform luma and chroma analysis of the area inside and
outside of the mask and derive localized edge keys from this information.
Distance field Specify the area over which the Inner and Outer Edge adjustments have an effect.
Inner Edge field Smoothen the softness gradient towards the inside of the mask edge.
Outer Edge field Smoothen the softness gradient towards the outside of the mask edge.
Active Points button Enable to use all points as a reference for the mask. Disable at a specific frame to mute
picker values previously sampled at another frame.
Shape Animation button Enable to animate a mask using the Shape channel.
Linear Interpolation button Enable to use linear interpolation of the mask border between keyframes.
Disable to use rounded interpolation. This button is active when the Shape Animation button is enabled.
Constant Shape button Enable to modify the mask's shape without setting keyframes.
Sample Status box Select how picker values are sampled. Active resamples picker values at every frame (the
default). Passive disables resampling for one or more frames. This box is active when the Shape Animation
button is disabled.
Interpolation Mode box Select the type of interpolation between keyframes when the Sample Status box
is set to Active.
Splines button Enable to display inner and outer splines of the mask.
Borders button Enable to display inner and outer borders for advanced gradients.
Pickers button Enable to display elements that allow for detailed chroma and luma analysis when refining
a detailed key.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu where you apply tracking data to selected vertices.
Adjust box Select Adj Tangents to have the tangents for the selected vertices adjusted while the points are
tracked.
Object Node Name field Displays the name of the selected object node.
Spline Keyframing box Select the parameters to use when animating a Garbage Mask spline. When Shape
Animation is disabled in the Garbage Mask general settings, then the Spline & Tracer, Spline and Item options
become available.
Vertex Keyframing box Select the conditions under which parameters are applied to specified vertices in
the mask.
Channel Selection box Select which channels are selected in the Channel Editor when you select one or
more vertices.
Motion Blur button Enable to apply motion blur to garbage masks that can be used to match the movement
of objects in a clip.
Phase field Displays whether the motion blur is based on the movement before or after the current frame.
-100 places the motion blur before the frame; a value of 100 places it after the frame.
Shutter field Displays the duration of the motion blur at each frame. Editable.
Samples field Displays the number of samples taken at each frame to create the motion blur. Editable.
Motion Blur curve Displays the transparency of the samples that create the blur effect. Drag the curve or
its handles to edit it gesturally.
Reset button Resets all motion blur controls and disables the Motion Blur button.
Transparency field Displays the transparency of garbage mask splines and axes. Editable.
Show Border button Enable to display the Softness Offset wireframe border, defined in the Shape menu.
Show Border colour pot Select the colour for the Softness Offset wireframe.
Control Points colour pot Select the colour of garbage mask control points.
Auto Insert button Enable to automatically insert a node when dragged between two connected nodes.
When disabled, press Shift to auto insert.
Scale Setup button Enable to scale the mask. Use when you have a resolution mismatch between the clip
and its applied mask.
This node accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs a result an outmatte. You can add a Glow node to any
part of the pipeline except to the Front and Matte pipes of MBLend nodes and the Matte pipes of CBlend
nodes.
A number of Glow presets are included, such as a basic glow effect or edge boost effect. These presets can
help you learn how the glow effect works, or provide a good starting point to change settings to create better
glow effects.
Glow | 1499
To use the Glow preset, select a preset from the Presets drop-down list in the Glow Setup menu. The Glow
menu settings are changed to reflect the chosen preset.
General Settings
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Setup Settings
Clamp Input button Enable to clamp colour and luminance values on input in the 16-bit floating point
rendering pipeline.
Clamp Render box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on output in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Glow Type box Select the type or shape of glow filter to apply to the clip. For example, a Box blur has
rectangular edges.Depending on the glow type, some of the other glow settings vary.
Radial Mode box Select whether a radial blur or glow moves in one circular direction (Spin) or two rotating
directions (Twist). Available when Radial is chosen as the blur type.
Bias field Displays the direction of a blur. Enter a positive value for forward, a negative value for backward,
or 0 for a blur that moves in both directions. Available when Directional or Radial Stamp is chosen as the
blur type.
Samples field Displays the quality of a Radial Stamp blur or glow. Editable. Available when Radial Stamp is
chosen as the blur type.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu to track the centre of the blur from the source clip.
Centre X field Displays the X position of the centre of the radial blur (or gesturally move the red circle in
the image). Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the Y position of the centre of the radial blur (or gesturally move the red circle in
the image). Editable.
NOTE You can also move the red circle on the image to set the position of the centre of the blur. The Centre X
and Y fields update accordingly.
Absolute/Relative box Select whether to position and offset the centre of the radial blur in a relative mode
(expressed as a percentage) or absolute mode (expressed in pixels).
Offset X field Offsets the centre along the X axis (or press Ctrl and gesturally move the red circle in the
image).This field is useful to apply changes to the centre after tracking has been performed. Editable.
Offset Y field Offsets the centre along the Y axis (or press Ctrl and gesturally move the red circle in the
image). This field is useful to apply changes to the centre after tracking has been performed. Editable.
NOTE You can also press Ctrl and move the red circle on the image to set the offset of the centre of the glow.
The Offset X and Y fields update accordingly.
Input Settings
Glow | 1501
Hue field Displays the colour range in the image before the glow effect is applied. Editable.
Saturation field Displays the colour purity level in the image before the glow effect is applied. Editable.
Contrast field Displays the level of gradations between light and dark areas before the glow effect is applied.
Editable.
Gamma field Displays the level of grey in the image before the glow effect is applied. Editable.
Gain field Displays a value by which pixel colour values are multiplied. The offset value is added to this
value to determine the final colour. Editable.
Offset field Displays the value to add to current pixel colour values. The resulting colour value is clipped
at 0. Editable.
Front Settings
Width field Displays the width of the blur. Increasing the blur increases the render time. Editable.
Height field Displays the height of the blur. Increasing the blur increases the render time. Editable.
Amount field (Radial, Radial Stamp) Displays the amount of radial blur. Editable.
Rotation field (Radial, Radial Stamp) Displays the angle of rotation for a radial blur. Editable.
Length field (Directional) Displays the radius amount of a directional blur. Editable.
Matte Settings for Gaussian or Box Matte Settings for Directional Matte Settings for Radial or Radial
Stamp
Matte Width field Displays the width of the blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Height field Displays the height of the blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Amount field Displays the amount of radial blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation for a radial blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Length field Displays the radius amount of a directional blur for the matte. Editable.
Matte Angle field Displays the angle of a direction blur of the matte. Editable.
Lock To Front button Enable to keep the matte values the same as their corresponding values for the front
clip.
Expand field Displays the percentage of additional blur to the matte. Editable when the Lock Expand button
is disabled.
Lock Expand button Enable to make the Expand value directly proportional to the value in the Width
field.
Auto Matte button Enable to generate matte values from the front clip.
Max Level field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values included in the glow effect. Editable.
Min Level field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values included in the glow effect. Editable.
Invert Matte button Enable to apply the glow to the region outside the area defined by the matte.
Premultiply button Enable to multiply the matte clip to the front clip.
Glow | 1503
Colour Settings
Colour 1 box Enable to define the first colour used for the glow. If two colours are used, they are combined
in additive mode to create the glow effect.
Colour 1 Colour pot Displays the hue and saturation colour of the first glow colour. Click to open the
colour picker to select a different colour.
Colour 1 Saturation field Displays the level of colour purity of colour 1. Editable.
Colour 2 box Enable to define the second colour used for the glow. If two colours are used, they are combined
in additive mode to create the glow effect.
NOTE If you are using both Colour 1 and Colour 2, they are combined in additive mode to create the glow effect.
Colour 2 Colour pot Displays the hue and saturation colour of the second glow colour. Click to open the
colour picker to select a different colour.
Colour 2 Saturation field Displays the level of colour purity of colour 2. Editable.
Blending Settings
Screen option box Select a logical operation that can be used to blend the front clip and the result clip.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of blending when the result is composited on the front clip.
Editable.
Result Settings
Result Output button Select whether to output the combined result (with blending), or only the glow effect
itself.
Matte Output button Switch between blend matte and glow luma. Blend matte allows you to output the
matte used internally to perform the blending of the glow effect over the input image. Glow luma allows
you to generate a straight-forward luminance conversion of the actual glow effect.
Glow | 1505
Gradient
Use the Gradient to create an effect based on colours and patterns of your choosing.
This node accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs a result and outmatte.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Icons button Enable to display vertices, splines, and other gradient selection tools in the image window.
Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the gradient icons in the image window. Editable.
Vertex Colour Pot Displays the colour of vertices in the image window. Click to open the colour picker to
select a different colour.
Spline Colour Pot Displays the colour of splines in the image window. Click to open the colour picker to
select a different colour.
Amplitude Colour Pot Displays the colour of amplitude in the image window. Click to open the colour
picker to select a different colour.
Gradient | 1507
Type Settings
Gradient Type box Select the type of gradient to apply. Some of the gradient settings differ based on the
gradient type you choose.
For each gradient type, you can gesturally create your gradients in the image window with various widgets,
such as splines and vertices. Make sure that Show Widgets is enabled in the Gradient Setup menu.
Orientation Settings
Position X field Displays the position of the gradient along the X axis. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the position of the gradient along the Y axis. Editable.
NOTE You can also manipulate the position and rotation of the gradient directly in the image window if Show
Widgets is available.
Centre field Directional gradient only: Displays the offset value of the centre of the spline as a percentage
of its position on the spline. Editable.
Amplitude field Directional gradient only: Displays the pixel length of the spline. You can also drag either
end of the spline directly in the image window. Editable.
Roundness field Radial gradient only: Displays the relative shape of the inner and outer circular patterns.
A value of 1 displays the full rounded shape, whereas a value of 0 indicates a square shape. You can also
enter a negative value to produce a concave shape. Editable.
Sharpness field Point gradient only: Displays the level of edge sharpness between the gradient point colours.
Editable.
Softness field Displays the level of blur added to the gradient. A higher value produces a smoother transition
between gradient colours. Editable.
Select: To:
Mirror Repeat the gradient pattern in reverse order until the frame border is reached.
Offset Cycle field Displays the cycle position of the color creating the gradient. Editable.
Ramps Settings
NOTE The Colour and Alpha ramps are available for Directional, Radial and Spline gradients.
Colour Ramp Displays the gradations of the gradient colours. The triangles below the ramp represent each
color in the gradient. You can add more colours to your gradient pattern.
A selected triangle’s colour is displayed in the colour pot to the right of the ramp, and its position is displayed
in the Position field. Also, when selecting a triangle, a smaller triangle appears representing the mid point
between the colour and the next triangles’ colour. You can move the triangles gesturally to achieve different
gradations, and move the mid point triangle to shift the weight between the colours.
Gradient | 1509
Colour Add button Adds a new colour triangle to the right of the currently selected triangle. Press Ctrl while
clicking add to clone the selected triangle colour.
Colour Ramp Copy list Select whether to copy the Colour ramp information to the Alpha ramp, or to
preserve the Colour ramp information when switching gradient types.
NOTE The Alpha ramp under the Colour ramp is identical in functionality, except that it displays gradations in
gradient transparency.
Alpha Ramp Displays the gradations of the gradient transparency. The triangles below the ramp represent
each alpha colour in the gradient. You can add more alpha colours to your gradient pattern.
Alpha Add button Adds a new colour triangle to the right of the currently selected triangle. Press Ctrl while
clicking add to clone the selected triangle colour.
Alpha Ramp Copy list Select whether to copy the Alpha ramp information to the Colour ramp, or to preserve
the Alpha ramp information when switching gradient types.
Colour Interpolation Type box Choose a Linear or Smooth gradient interpolation curve.
Colour Colour pot Displays the colour of the selected triangle. Click to open the colour picker to select a
different colour.
Reverse Colour button Click to reverse the colours of the gradient proportionally.
Colour Even Spacing button Click to space the ramp triangles evenly.
Alpha Interpolation Type box Choose a Linear or Smooth gradient interpolation curve.
Alpha Colour pot Displays the alpha colour of the selected triangle. Click to open the colour picker to select
a different colour.
Reverse Alpha Colour button Click to reverse the alpha colours of the gradient proportionally.
Alpha Even Spacing button Click to space the ramp triangles evenly.
Colour Locator Position field Displays the location of the selected colour triangle along the colour ramp.
Editable.
Colour Locator Mid field Displays the weight level between colours on the ramp (represented by the small
triangle). Editable.
Alpha Locator Position field Displays the location of the selected alpha colour triangle along the alpha
ramp. Editable.
Alpha Locator Mid field Displays the weight level between alpha colours on the ramp (represented by the
small triangle). Editable.
Use these settings if you wish to further affect the shape of a radial gradient.
NOTE Radial Shape settings are available when Radial is selected from the Gradient Type box.
Inner Width field Displays the width of the inner radial circle. You can also gesturally drag the red square
on the inner circle. Editable.
Inner Offset X field Displays the offset along the X axis of the inner radial circle. You can also gesturally
drag the + inside the inner circle. Editable.
Inner Offset Y field Displays the offset along the Y axis of the inner radial circle. You can also gesturally
drag the + inside the inner circle. Editable.
Outer Width field Displays the width of the outer radial circle. You can also gesturally drag the right-most
red square on the outer circle. Editable.
Outer Height field Displays the height of the outer radial circle. You can also gesturally drag the left-most
red square on the outer circle. Editable.
NOTE Drag the middle red square of the outer radial circle to affect both the width and the height at the same
time.
Proportional button Enable to affect the outer radial width and height proportionally.
Gradient | 1511
Spline Shape Settings
Use these settings if you wish to further affect the shape of a spline gradient. All of these settings have gestural
equivalents in the image window. Ensure that Icons is enabled in the Gradient Setup menu.)
NOTE Available when Spline is selected from the Gradient Type box.
Vertex X Position field Displays the position along the X axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
Vertex Y Position field Displays the position along the Y axis of the selected vertex. Editable.
Tangent X Position field Displays the position along the X axis of the selected tangent. Editable.
Tangent Y Position field Displays the position along the Y axis of the selected tangent. Editable.
Amplitude Position field Displays the position of the spline as a percentage of the distance between the
first and last vertex. Editable.
Amplitude Start field Displays the start position of the spline. Use to set the pixel length of the spline.
Editable.
Amplitude End field Displays the end position of the spline. Use to set the pixel length of the spline.
Editable.
Points Settings
Points List Use the rows to set the colour, position, and other settings for each color of a Point gradient.
Points Column Displays the number of the point. By default, four points are added to a gradient; however,
you can add more.
Colour Column Displays the colour of the point. Click the colour pot to open the colour picker to select a
different colour.
Alpha Column Displays the alpha colour of the point. Click the colour pot to open the colour picker to
select a different colour.
X Column Displays the position of the point along the X axis. You can also gesturally drag the point in the
image window to position it.
Y Column Displays the position of the point along the Y axis. You can also gesturally drag the point in the
image window to position it.
Weight Column Displays the weight of the colour in relation to the nearest point colour in the image.
Add button Adds a new colour point to the list and image.
Delete button Deletes the selected colour point from the list and image.
Clone button Clones the selected colour point settings in a new point in the list and image.
Blending Settings
Screen option box Select a logical operation that can be used to blend the front clip and the result clip.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of blending when the result is composited on the front clip.
Editable.
Gain field Displays the level of gain applied to the chosen blending option. Editable.
Output Mode box Select whether to output the combined result (with blending), or only the gradient effect
itself.
Gradient | 1513
Alpha Output Settings
Alpha Output box Select whether to output the combined alpha result, or only the gradient effect itself.
Interlace
Use Interlace to connect the odd and even scanlines of a clip.
The Interlace node accepts a front clip as input, and outputs a result.
For each pair of frames in the input clip, the Field 1 scanlines of one frame are interlaced with the even
scanlines of the second frame to produce a single frame in the generated clip.
First Rendered Frame field Displays the first frame at which output is rendered from the node. Unrendered
output does not display any media.Editable.
Field Dominance box Select Field 1 or Field 2 dominance, or Auto to have the application detect
automatically the field dominance.
Keyer 3D
Use the Keyer 3D to key out a given range of colours.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Key button Select to open the Key menu, where you set the elements to key in the RGB viewer, or the Pref
menu, where you customize the RGB Viewer display properties.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Sampling Settings
Sampling box Select the type of key element value to sample in the image window.
Sampling Reset button Resets the values for the key element selected in the Sampling box.
Keyer 3D | 1515
Picking Settings
Picking box Select the key element to restrict selection in the RGB viewer. Select Free to select any element.
NOTE The Rotation Axis Settings are available when you select the Pref menu from the Key button.
Rotation Axis box Select the centre of the RGB viewer or a key element as the axis of rotation of the RGB
viewer.
NOTE The Plot Regions Settings are available when you select the Pref menu from the Key button.
Plot Point button Enable to display plotted colour value in the RGB viewer.
Tolerance Display box Select to display the tolerance as an opaque, transparent, or wireframe ellipsoid.
Tolerance Convex Hull option box Select to display the vertices, surfaces, or both the vertices and surfaces
of the tolerance convex hull.
Softness Display box Select to display the softness as an opaque, transparent, or wireframe ellipsoid.
Soft Convex Hull option box Select to display the vertices, surfaces, or the vertices and surfaces of the
softness convex hull.
Softness/Noise Settings
Softness Scaling box Select to scale softness proportionally or to remove noise from softened areas.
Scaling field When Softness Scaling is set to Prop, adjust the X, Y, and Z-axis softness scaling values
proportionally. When Softness Scaling is set to Min Noise, adjust the value to increase grain removal. (The
scaling value resets to 1.00 after use.) Editable.
Keyer 3D | 1517
Patches Settings
Display box Select to display the current patch as a wireframe, a convex hull, both a wireframe and convex
hull, or a transparent cloud.
Colour field Enter the percentage of the colour value to use to render the patch. Editable.
Plot button Activates a pick cursor which you use to select a plot value in the image window. If Plot Point
is enabled in the Pref menu, a cube with a dashed outline surrounds the point in the RGB viewer.
Home button Restores the RGB viewer to its original settings and position.
Invert Point button Inverts the direction of scaling of the softness ellipsoid.
Frame option box Select an option to display the entire histogram, or a selected range of values.
Range field Displays the percentage of the full range that is displayed in the histogram. Editable when the
Frame option box is set to Free.
Store button Stores the value in the Range field in memory for later use. Active when the Frame option box
is set to Free.
Buffer Value field Displays the Range value stored in the buffer. Non-editable.
Recall button Retrieves the last Range value that was stored in the buffer.
NOTE The Pref Histogram Settings are available when you select the Pref menu from the Key button.
Histogram Grid option box Select an option for the histogram grid resolution.
Scaling field Resizes the cubes. Cubes representing less prevalent colours are scaled down more than those
representing more prevalent colours. Editable.
Threshold field Enter a value to edit the display of colours that are less prevalent in the image. As you
increase the threshold, less prevalent colours are increasingly removed from the histogram. Editable.
Canvas Light field Sets the lighting in the RGB viewer. The light source emanates from behind the viewer.
Lines button Enable to display a white outline of the borders of the RGB viewer, and a green wireframe
around selected ellipsoids.
Cloud Opacity field Displays the overall opacity for all ellipses and patches.
Patch Opacity field Displays the opacity for the third patch in the RGB viewer.
Plot button Activates a pick cursor which you use to select a plot value in the image window. If Plot Point
is enabled in the Pref menu, a cube with a dashed outline surrounds the point in the RGB viewer.
Home button Restores the RGB viewer to its original settings and position.
Invert Point button Inverts the direction of scaling of the softness ellipsoid.
Keyer Channel
Use the Keyer Channel to extract a key from a red, green, or blue channel, or from a custom value.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Key colour pot Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display an average colour
value for a custom channel.
Softness field Displays the percentage of transparency of the key-in clip. Editable.
Spread field The Spread field is available when Custom is selected from the Channel Mode box.Displays a
value for the range of colours extracted from the key-in clip. Editable.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Keyer HLS
Use the Keyer HLS to extract a key by adjusting tolerance and softness using hue, luminance, and saturation
ranges.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Key Colour colour pot Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display the average
colour value.
Tolerance button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the tolerance
range in the image window.
Master Tolerance field Displays the value added to the existing tolerance of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Softness button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the softness
range in the image window.
Master Softness field Displays the value added to the existing softness of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum hue value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum hue value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum hue value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum hue value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum saturation value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum saturation value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum saturation value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum saturation value of the softness range. Editable.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display its colour value.
Frame option box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Keyer Luma
Use the Keyer Luma to extract a key from the luminance of a clip.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Master Tolerance field Displays the value added to the existing tolerance of each channel. Enter 100 for
an entirely opaque matte.
Master Softness field Displays the softness. Drag left or right to adjust the percentage value or enter a new
percentage value.
Relative To box Select to calculate softness and tolerance ranges relative to 0 and 1 colour values, or relative
to the maximum luminance.
Relative To field Displays the maximum luminance. This field is active if the Maximum Luminance option
is selected in the Relative To box.
Get Maximum Value button Analyses the image to determine the maximum luminance value.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display its colour value.
Frame option box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Keyer RGB
Use the Keyer RGB to extract a key by adjusting tolerance and softness using red, green, and blue ranges.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Key Colour colour pot Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display the average
colour value.
Tolerance button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the tolerance
range in the image window.
Master Tolerance field Displays the value added to the existing tolerance of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Softness button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the softness
range in the image window.
Master Softness field Displays the value added to the existing softness of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Red Channel button Enable to extract red channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum red channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum red channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum red channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum red channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Green Channel button Enable to extract green channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum green channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum green channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum green channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum green channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Blue Channel button Enable to extract blue channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum blue channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum blue channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum blue channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum blue channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display its colour value.
Frame option box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Keyer RGBCMYL
Use the Keyer RGBCMYL to extract a key by adjusting tolerance and softness using red, green, blue, cyan,
magenta, yellow, and luminance ranges.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Key Colour colour pot Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display the average
colour value.
Tolerance button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the tolerance
range in the image window.
Master Tolerance field Displays the value added to the existing tolerance of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Softness button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the softness
range in the image window.
Master Softness field Displays the value added to the existing softness of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Red Channel button Enable to extract red channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum red channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum red channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum red channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum red channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Green Channel button Enable to extract green channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum green channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum green channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum green channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum green channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Blue Channel button Enable to extract blue channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum blue channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum blue channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum blue channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum blue channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Cyan Channel button Enable to extract cyan channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum cyan channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum cyan channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum cyan channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum cyan channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Magenta Channel button Enable to extract magenta channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum magenta channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum magenta channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum magenta channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum magenta channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Yellow Channel button Enable to extract yellow channel values for the key.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum yellow channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum yellow channel value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum yellow channel value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display its colour value.
Frame option box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Keyer YUV
Use the Keyer-YUV to extract a key by adjusting tolerance and softness using luma (Y) and video component
(U,V) ranges.
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Key Colour colour pot Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display the average
colour value.
Tolerance button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the tolerance
range in the image window.
Master Tolerance field Displays the value added to the existing tolerance of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Softness button Activates the pick cursor. Use to select the maximum and minimum values for the softness
range in the image window.
Master Softness field Displays the value added to the existing softness of each channel. Resets to 0 after
each use.
Y Channel button Enable to extract luminance channel values for the key.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum luminance value of the tolerance range. Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum luminance value of the softness range. Editable.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum blue-luminance difference value of the softness range.
Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum blue-luminance difference value of the tolerance range.
Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum blue-luminance difference value of the tolerance range.
Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum blue-luminance difference value of the softness range.
Editable.
Minimum Softness field Displays the minimum red-luminance difference value of the softness range.
Editable.
Minimum Tolerance field Displays the minimum red-luminance difference value of the tolerance range.
Editable.
Maximum Tolerance field Displays the maximum red-luminance difference value of the tolerance range.
Editable.
Maximum Softness field Displays the maximum red-luminance difference value of the softness range.
Editable.
Plot button Activates the pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image to display its colour value.
Frame option box Select whether to frame the histogram based on minimum and maximum slider values,
the full range of histogram values, the plot and reference colours, or the [0:1] vertical and horizontal range
(Home).
Lens Distort
Use the Lens Distort to rectify or simulate lens distortions caused by camera lens or perspective irregularities
that can result in skewed angles.
This node accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
Distortion box Select whether to perform a lens distortion or rectification. All other radial distortion controls
are implemented based on this selection.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Centre box Select the size of the crosshair icon in your image.
Centre X field Displays the horizontal position of the centre of the lens. Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the vertical position of the centre of the lens. Editable.
Icon colour pot Displays the colour of the crosshair in your image. Editable.
Radial Settings
Lens Mag field Displays the magnitude of radial distortion or rectification. Editable.
Anamorph field Displays the ratio of distortion or rectification along the X or Y axis. A value greater than
1.00 stretches more on the X axis, while a value less than 1.00 stretches more on the Y axis. Editable.
Perspective Type box Select an option to map the source anchor points to a rectangle, preserving either
the horizontal or vertical edges of the image, or mapping one four-corner free-form shape to another. Active
when Perspective button is enabled.
Range box Select whether to set the X and Y range from -0.5 to 0.5 (relative) or set the X and Y range to
half of the image size (absolute).
Source colour pot Displays the colour of the source anchor points. Editable.
Destination colour pot Displays the anchor points of the destination shape. Editable.
Upper Left X field Displays the horizontal value for the upper left source anchor. Editable.
Lower Left X field Displays the horizontal value for the lower left source anchor. Editable.
Lower Right X field Displays the horizontal value for the lower right source anchor. Editable.
Upper Right X field Displays the horizontal value for the upper right source anchor. Editable.
Upper Left Y field Displays the vertical value for the upper left source anchor. Editable.
Lower Left Y field Displays the vertical value for the lower left source anchor. Editable.
Lower Right Y field Displays the vertical value for the lower right source anchor. Editable.
Upper Right Y field Displays the vertical value for the upper right source anchor. Editable.
NOTE The following fields are available when Free Form is selected from the Perspective Type box.
Upper Left X field Displays the horizontal value for the upper left destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Lower Left X field Displays the horizontal value for the lower left destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Lower Right X field Displays the horizontal value for the lower right destination anchor. Editable (active
when the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Upper Left Y field Displays the vertical value for the upper left destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Lower Left Y field Displays the vertical value for the lower left destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Lower Right Y field Displays the vertical value for the lower right destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Upper Right Y field Displays the vertical value for the upper right destination anchor. Editable (active when
the Perspective Type box is set to Free Form).
Add Spline button Enable to draw a spline along a feature that you want to straighten.
Set Key button Click to set a keyframe based on the result of the analysis.
Compute button Click to analyse the image based on the splines you added.
Filter box Defines the type of filter for your distortion or rectification.
Resize box Assigns the resize option you choose to apply to your image (if any distortion or rectification is
present).
Map Convert
Use Map Conver to provide conversion transformation for image-based lighting (IBL) and environment
maps.
You can use the results of Map Convert in Action as an IBL map (page 683).
This node accepts a front and matte clip, and outputs a result an outmatte.
Cubic Type box Select horizontal or vertical to identify the type of cubic image you are inputting. Select
Spliced Faces to stitch together multiple images to create a horizontal cubic image. Available when Cubic is
selected in the Input Format box.
Output Format box Select the output format for the image you are converting.
Type: Description:
Spheric Sometimes referred to as a chrome ball or mirrored ball. An image of a mirrored ball in
an assumed orthogonal projection.
Angular Similar to the mirrored ball format, except that the radial dimension is mapped linearly
with the angle, giving better sampling around the edges.
Lat-Long An image mapped onto an unfolder cylinder (also known as cylindrical maps).
Cubic (Spliced Faces) A type of cubic map available as an input format using a different frames displayed as an
unfolded cube showing six sides of the image. To use this input type, frames from the input
clip are used as the 6 faces.
Polar A coordinate system for locating points in which each point on a plane is determined by
a distance from a fixed point and an angle from a fixed direction. When using this input
format, only Cartesian is available as the output format.
Cartesian A coordinate system for locating points on a plane by measuring the horizontal and ver-
tical distances from an arbitrary origin to a point. When using this input format, only Polar
is available as the output format.
Transform Settings
These Transform settings apply to Cylindrical, Angular, Spheric, and Cubic, (Horizontal or Vertical) input
formats.
Transform X Position field Displays the horizontal value of the image. Editable.
Transform Y Position field Displays the vertical value of the image. Editable.
Transform Z Position field Displays the depth value of the image. Editable.
Face Assignments fields These locked fields display the order that the face assignment follows when creating
the cubic map.
X Position field Displays the horizontal position of the output image. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the vertical position of the output image. Editable.
Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Radius Scale field Displays the scale of the radius for a cartesian to polar conversion. Editable.
Angle Scale field Displays the scale of the angle for a cartesian to polar conversion. Editable.
Angle Offset field Displays the offset of the Angle Scale for a cartesian to polar conversion. Editable.
Angular Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Output Size box Select whether to output the map at the size of the input image (Automatic), or select
Custom to change the size of the output image.
Output Width field Displays the width of the output image. Editable when you select a custom output size.
Output Height field Displays the height of the output image. Editable when you select a custom output
size.
Ratio field Displays the width to height ratio of automatic outputs. Non-editable.
Master Keyer
Use the Master Keyer to gesturally pull a key.
This node accepts a front, back and key in clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte.
Add a Master Keyer node to the pipeline when you need to create an accurate key of a clip. Use the Master
Keyer node to automatically suppress colour spill, to colour correct, and to remove noise or grain. See Cre-
ating and Refining a Key in the Master Keyer (page 1032).
While there is no setup menu for the Master Keyer node, it can be saved as part of the Batch setup, or
alternatively, as a Custom node. The Master Keyer is also available from the Keyer node.
Select an output type from the Select Output box.
TIP In order for the keyboard shortcuts M and D to correspond to Matte and Degrain, the Master Keyer in Batch
must have focus and the viewport cannot be set to a schematic view. If the schematic has focus, then M corresponds
to Move and D corresponds to Delete.
The Master Keyer node processes gaps in clips set to No Media based on the input tab receiving the
information.
Input Result
Front No media
Primary Sample colour pot Activates a pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image.
Mix field Displays the mix between the primary and secondary sample. Drag right to include more of the
secondary sample or left to include less.
Secondary Sample colour pot Activates a pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image where you do
not want any softness in the matte.
Patch1 button Enable to isolate a range of colours to be included in, or excluded from, the key. This button
is active when an area of the image is sampled and Patch1 is selected in the Sampling box.
Patch box Select the areas of the matte to which the patch is applied.
Patch2 button Enable to isolate a range of colours to be included in, or excluded from, the key. This button
is active when an area of the image is sampled and Patch2 is selected in the Sampling box.
Patch box Select the areas of the matte to which the patch is applied.
Patch3 button Enable to isolate a range of colours to be included in, or excluded from, the key. This button
is active when an area of the image is sampled and Patch3 is selected in the Sampling box.
Patch box Select the areas of the matte to which the patch is applied.
Degrain button Enable to modify the grain and de-sharpen the edges of the key.
Size field Displays the size of the grain in the image. Editable.
Edges field Displays the level of sharpness of edges in the image. Editable.
Sampling box Select the sampling method required to refine the key.
Reset button Resets sampling parameters (excluding the mix value and key colour).
Primary Reference colour pot Activates a pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image.
Secondary Reference colour pot Activates a pick cursor. Use to sample an area of the image where you do
not want any softness in the matte.
Colour Settings
Edge Size field Displays the range for the blend. Both the Luma field and the Edge Balance trackball are
affected. Editable.
Spill colour pot Displays the colour to suppress in the clip. Editable.
Range field Displays the range for the removal of colour spill along the edges of the key. Drag right to soften
the edge and remove colour spill further into the key. Drag left to harden, or create a thinner, edge.
Result Output
Result Output button Select the output mode for the result.
Matte Curves
Use Matte Curves to adjust the luminance of input mattes.
This node accepts a front, back and matte clip, and outputs a result.
NOTE The Matte Curves node is the same as the Modular Keyer Matte Curves node.
The Matte Curves node processes gaps in clips set to No Media based on the input tab receiving the
information.
Input Result
Matte No media
Matte Edge
Use the Matte Edge effect to create an image based on the detected edges, or use it to modify the edges of a
matte to help in creating a key.
This node accepts a front and matte clip as inputs, and outputs a result. You can add the Matte Edge node
to any part of the pipeline except the Front pipe of the CBLend node. The Matte Edge node is not appropriate
for this pipe because its result is a matte.
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
Regen button Enable to get dynamic updating of the image as you make changes.
Edges Settings
Matte Edge Mode box Select whether to use the Basic, Advanced or Smooth edge-detection algorithm.
Certain settings change based on this selection.
Width field Displays the value that affects how the edge-detection algorithm determines whether each pixel
forms part of the edge. Editable.
Minimum Input field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black. Editable.
Maximum Input field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white. Editable.
Advanced Settings
Minimum Input field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black. Editable.
Maximum Input field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white. Editable.
Inner Width field Displays the width of the inner edges of the matte. Editable.
Outer Width field Displays the width of the outer edges of the matte. Editable.
Width Proportional button Enable to affect the inner and outer width proportionally.
Inner Softness field Displays the level of softness on the inner edges of the matte. Editable.
Outer Softness field Displays the level of softness on the outer edges of the matte. Editable.
Softness Proportional button Enable to affect the inner and outer softness proportionally.
Smooth Minimum field Enter a lower limit for the edge detection. Editable.
Smooth Maximum field Enter the upper limit for the edge detection. Editable.
Smooth Softness field Enter a value for softness of the edge. Editable.
Smooth Gain field Enter a value for the softness gain of the edge. Editable.
Shrink Settings
Shrink button Enable to remove pixels from the edge of the matte.
Shrink Mode box Select whether to use shrink in a single pass or iterative mode. Single Pass mode allows
you to control edge softness.
Shrink Width field Displays the width of the border that is removed from the edge of the matte. Editable.
Softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the edges of the matte.
Minimum Input field Displays the lower limit of the luminance values. Pixels with lower values are mapped
to black. Editable.
Maximum Input field Displays the upper limit of the luminance values. Pixels with higher values are
mapped to white. Editable.
Erode Settings
Erode button Enable to blend the light and dark edges of the matte.
Erode Width field Displays the width of the matte border to soften. Editable.
Blur button Enable to apply a softening Gaussian blur filter to the edge of the matte.
Blur Width field Displays the width of the blur applied to the edge of the matte. Editable.
Blur Height field Displays the height of the blur applied to the edge of the matte. Editable.
Matte Luminance Curve Controls the blending of the edges.You can add keyframes to the curve using Add
mode, move keyframes with Move mode, and modify the curve's shape using tangent handles.
Noise button Enable to add noise to the transparent areas of the matte.
Noise Mode box Select the mode of noise to apply throughout the length of the image. Static adds noise
as a still frame; Impulse adds noise that changes at each frame.
Static As a still frame. You can move the static noise using the Position X and Y fields.
Impulse Changing at each frame, but always starting from the same seed.
Weight field Displays the level of noise in the clip. Values below 1 add more white noise, and values above
1 add black noise. Editable.
Softness field Displays the level of Gaussian softness added to the noise. Editable.
Position X field Displays the X position of the noise when using Static mode. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the Y position of the noise when using Static mode. Editable.
Size X field Displays the size of the noise along the X axis. Editable.
Size Y field Displays the size of the noise along the Y axis. Editable.
Mono
Use Mono to generate a monochrome copy of the front clip.
Luminance box Select the channel you want to use to create the monochrome clip.
Motif
Use the Motif node to create a tiled symmetrical texture.
This node accepts a front and a matte input, and outputs a result clip and a matte output.
Source clips can be transformed before symmetrical effects are applied. Transformations are applied to both
the front and matte clips simultaneously. You can select the type of symmetry mode to use on the
transformation, and define its parameters.
The radial symmetry mode displays a user-defined widget, which is a polygon with an equal number of
sectors to the order of symmetry. You select the sector to use as the originating tile, the basis for a kaleidoscopic
texture. Additional parameters allow you to define the center of symmetry of the image, and the angle and
radius of the originating tile.
Motif | 1547
Front and Result views in radial symmetry mode
In Radial mode, you can also reuse the pixel on the edge of a sector to pad the space between outer tiles.
The Motif node displays 2D Texture Transform controls that allow you to simultaneously change the position,
scaling, rotation, and type of image padding. The Symmetry Mode controls display a colour pot for the
original tile selection.
X Position field Displays the horizontal offset in pixels of the input and matte clips. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the vertical offset in pixels of the input and matte clips. Editable.
X Scaling field Displays the amount of horizontal scaling to apply to the front and matte clips.
Y Scaling field Displays the amount of vertical scaling to apply to the front and matte clips. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the front and matte clips. Editable.
Repeat button Select fill options to pad the empty portions of the frame with the last line of pixels, a repeated
(rolled) image, or black pixels.
Mode button Select the type of symmetry effect to apply to the transformation. Additional parameters are
displayed in Radial mode.
NOTE The following settings are available when the Symmetry Mode button is set to ROI.
Motif | 1549
Symmetry Mode box Select between a square or triangle region of interest mode.
NOTE The following settings are available when the Symmetry Mode button is set to Radial.
Order field Displays the order of symmetry and indicates the number of sectors or sides of the polygonal
widget.An order of 2 creates a basic mirrored image. An order of symmetry can have an odd number as a
value. Tiles are mirrored in a counter-clockwise direction, therefor the sector to the right of the highlighted
sector may not be its mirror image. Editable.
Even button Enable to maintain an even order of symmetry.If the order of symmetry is an odd value, an
extra tile will be added, ensuring that adjacent tiles are mirror images of each other.
Radius field Displays the pixel length of the sector radius. Editable.
Edge Repeat button Enable to use the pixel colour on the sector's edge to pad the space between outer tiles.
Displayed in Radial mode.
Position X field Displays the horizontal position of the centre of symmetry. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the vertical position of the centre of symmetry. Editable.
Softness settings
Softness field Displays the amount by which the motif effect is out of focus. Editable.
Widget colour pot Select the colour used to highlight the originating tile. Editable.
Gestural Modifications
Modifications to the originating tile and symmetry mode parameters can be made gesturally in any view.
Drag: To:
Outer edge of the region of interest Change the width or height of the selection.
Corner of the region of interest Change the width and height of the selection.
Circle on the outer edge of the widget Change the radius and the angle of symmetry.
Motion Analysis
Use Motion Analysis to analyse image displacement in a frame with respect to the frame before it.
This node accepts a front clip, and outputs forward and backward vectors.
Quality box Select Use Full Resolution to render the image at the current resolution, or an option with
decreased motion analysis accuracy and increased rendering speed.
Motion Blur
Use Motion Blur to simulate the blur created by fast moving objects.
This node accepts front, matte and forward vector clips and outputs a result, outmatte, or forward Vector
clip.
Vector Input Type button Select whether the vector inputs are Absolute or Normalized.
Max Dispersion field Displays the level of motion displacement in the image. Set to the same value that
was set in the 3D application. Editable.
Blue Channel Magnitude field Enable to use the blue channel as a magnitude multiplication of the maximum
displacement value.
Black As No Movement button Enable to set black pixels as no movement in the motion vector. When
enabled, you can set a threshold value for near-black pixels.
Threshold field Displays the level of near-black pixels taken into account in the conversion.
Show Icons button Displays the forward motion vectors in the Result view.
Colour pot Changes the display colour of the forward and backward motion vectors.
Grid Step field Displays the length of the pixel area used to calculate each vector.
Blur Type button Enable this button to select between trails and samples. Choose trails for a pixel-based
motion blur. Choose sample for an accumulation-based motion blur.
Blur Type amount field Displays the amount of motion blur applied to the image. Editable.
Blur Type softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the trails. Only available when trails is
selected as the blur type. Editable.
Blur Type balance field Displays the amount of blur that either precedes or follows the image. The more
positive the number, the more blur precedes the image. The more negative the number, the more blur follows
the image. Editable.
Artefacts Settings
Vector Softness field Displays the amount of softness that is applied to reduce the quality of vectors, and
therefor solve precision artefacts. Editable.
Post Blur field Displays the amount of global blur applied after other effects have been applied. Apply
conservatively. Editable.
Matte Fill field Display the amount used to fill in gaps in the matte. Best applied after softness adjusted.
Only available when the blur type is trials. Editable.
Colour Interpolation button Enable this button to verify that the source is already premultiplied. In this
case, the colour interpolation effect must treat the image differently for the effect to work properly. This
button is only functional when there is an input matte.
Motion Opacity Curve Allows you to control the opacity of the trail by shaping it using the curve.
Motion Convert
Use Motion Convert to convert normalized 2D vectors into absolute vectors that you can work with in
Flame.
This node accepts a front clip, and forward and backward vectors. It outputs a result, as well as forward and
backward vectors.
Motion Vectors are 2D vectors that represent the displacement in normalized pixel units of a pixel in the
current frame to the next frame (forward motion vector), or its displacement from the previous frame
(backward motion vector). Motion Vectors can be rendered by a 3D application when dealing with synthetic
images, or produced through image analysis when images come from live action footage.
You can attach the forward and backward outputs from the Motion Analysis node or import motion data
from another source.
Vector Input Type box Select whether the vector inputs are Absolute or Normalized.
Maximum Displacement field Displays the level of motion displacement in the image. Set to the same
value that was set in the 3D application.
Black As No Movement button Enable to set black pixels as no movement in the motion vector. When
enabled, you can set a threshold value for near-black pixels.
Threshold field Displays the level of near-black pixels taken into account in the conversion. Editable.
Vector Output Type Displays the absolute vector output type mode.
Forward button Enable to display the forward motion vectors in the Result view.
Forward Arrow colour pot Displays the current colour of forward motion vectors. Editable.
Backward button Enable to display the backward motion vectors in the Result view.
Backward Arrow colour pot Displays the current colour of backward motion vectors. Editable.
Forward Grid field Displays the length of the pixel area used to calculate each forward motion vector. For
example, enter 5 to sample an area of 25 pixels.
Backward Grid field Displays the length of the pixel area used to calculate each backward motion vector.
For example, enter 5 to sample an area of 25 pixels.
Forward Scaling field Displays the size of forward motion vectors. Editable.
Backward Scaling field Displays the size of backward motion vectors. Editable.
Blend Previous Frame field Displays the level of opacity of the current frame, which is overlaid on the
previous frame. Set the value to 100 to display the current frame only.
MUX
The MUX (multiplexer) node is a tool that helps you create cleaner schematics by allowing you to have
multiple RGBA inputs feeding your outputs. The selection of the active input can be changed over time,
therefore MUX also acts as an animated switcher.
This node accepts any number of front and matte clips, and outputs a result and outmatte.
When entering Batch FX with existing Timeline FX or transitions, you may notice MUX nodes with multiple
connections in the newly converted schematic. These MUX nodes are used to help recreate and represent
your timeline in a flow graph environment.
TIP If you add multiple inputs to a MUX node, you may have trouble seeing or connecting individual input sockets.
In this case, you can expand the node by selecting it, and pressing Shift + C. Press the same keyboard shortcut
again to collapse the node. You can also hide the input or output links of the MUX node to clean up a large
schematic. Even when hidden, you can select a MUX node to display semi-transparent links.
In the case of timeline transitions, the MUX node also acts as a switcher to allow the proper inputs to be
selected at the correct time.
In you enable Show Indicators in the Batch or Batch FX preferences, you can view the MUX Timing Offset
and Range values directly under the node in the schematic.
Input button Enable to hide all input links to the MUX node. Click the MUX node to display semi-transparent
hidden links.
Output button Enable to hide all output links to the MUX node. Click the MUX node to display
semi-transparent hidden links.
Selection field Displays the number of the input that has its output displayed in the Result window. Editable.
Timing Offset field Displays the number of frames by which the timing of the MUX pipeline is offset. You
can animate settings in this field with keyframes. Editable.
FX Range Settings
MUX | 1557
Range Before box Select an option to apply before the set frame range.
Range After box Select an option to apply after the set frame range.
NOTE There are two Ping Pong options included in the Range Before box and Range After box: Ping Pong and
Ping Pong+. The Ping Pong repeat mode is inclusive, meaning that the last frame of the sequence is always
repeated. For example, a five frame sequence would be: 1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4. The Ping Pong+ repeat
mode is exclusive, meaning that the last frame of the sequence is never repeated creating a sequence that is always
1 frame shorter, but that does not create stuttering with a frame repeat.
Freeze Current Frame button Click to output the image of the currently selected frame for the duration of
the clip.
Optics
Use Optics to add a glow effect to the clip in the process tree.
This node accepts front, back, and matte clips, and outputs a result.
The Optics node processes gaps in clips set to No Media based on the input tabs receiving the information.
Input Result
Front No media
Matte No media
Intensity field Displays the intensity level of the glow effect. Editable.
Noise field Displays the jitter level in the glow effect. Editable.
Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the front clip. Editable.
Interior colour pot Select a colour for the interior of the glow effect.
Exterior Colour pot Select a colour for the exterior of the glow effect.
Paint Node
About the Paint Node
The Paint node is a system that provides a scalable matte painting, retouching, or restoration workflow in
Batch or Batch FX.
Due to its underlying technology, the Paint node automatically scales strokes when changing the resolution,
ratio, or bit depth of input clips, or when switching from Full Resolution to Proxy mode. The Paint node
supports “clipless” setups, which can be applied to any image input, while accurately reproducing the
sequence of painted strokes.
The Paint node accepts a front and matte clip as input, and creates a result and output matte clip, respectively.
You can paint on the result and output matte, with a selection of brushes in different paint modes.
The Paint node also allows you to connect multiple sources and use them to paint the contents of source
images onto the result. This paint operation, applied with the Reveal paint tool, can be used with in-context
overlay over the result image. A front and matte clip can be connected as a source by connecting the clips
to a source node. The content of source front and source matte input can be used to create brush strokes on
the result and output matte.
For information about the functionality of the Paint node, click here (page 1199).
The Paint node can be accessed from:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
Select: To display:
Front (F1) The front clip or Batch or Batch FX tree input. The modifications to the front create
the result clip.
Matte (F3) The matte clip or Batch or Batch FX tree input. The modifications to the matte
create the output matte.
Source Front (F1 F1) The source front that is selected in the Sources list.
Source Matte (F3 F3) The source matte that is selected in the Sources list.
Result (F4) The result image. Paint can be applied to the result.
Output Matte (F4 F4) The output matte image. Paint can be applied to the output matte.
Source Controls
Displays the front clip, matte clip, and sources. The Sources list manages the sources attached to the current
node. A source is composed of a front source and a matte source. See Using Sources (page 1215). Also displays
the Consolidate and Brush Set buttons.
Consolidate button Consolidates multiple strokes into a single stroke. When multiple strokes are applied
with Consolidate, they are not blended together but applied as if every stroke is part of one stroke.
Consolidated strokes appear as one stroke in Edit mode. Set Brush Attributes and Paint settings before
enabling Consolidate.
Add Source button Click to add a new source node. Sources are used together with the Reveal paint mode.
Source Lock option box Select Lock Off to use the current frame for the duration of the source front clip.
Select Lock On to unlock the clip and apply it in its original state.
Source Matte option box Select Matte Off to paint anywhere on the canvas, Matte On to limit painting to
areas on the source matte, or Matte Invert to limit painting to areas outside the source matte.
Hide Strokes button Hides the strokes associated with the current source.
Clear Strokes button Clears the strokes associated with the current source.
Current Frame box Select to clear strokes for the Current Frame or the entire Sequence.
Sources List Displays the sources attached to the current node, and which sources are locked (L) or hidden
(H).
Stroke Controls
When in Edit mode, every stroke created in Paint mode is displayed in the Strokes list. It displays for every
stroke the paint type, the paint mode, the blending mode, the number of brush stamps, and the range of
frames that display the stroke.
Solo Stroke toggle Enable to display only the stroke currently selected in the Strokes list. A soloed stroke
appears across the whole frame sequence, and ignores the visibility property set in the Strokes list with the
eye icon.
Hide All Strokes button Hides every stroke listed in the Strokes list. A hidden stroke is never output by
Paint. If Solo is active, the selected stroke is always displayed.
Reveal All Strokes button. Displays every stroke listed in the Strokes list. If Solo is active, only the selected
stroke is displayed.
Strokes list Lists the strokes applied to the current node. Every stroke is displayed, even the ones that are
not used in the currently displayed frame. Strokes can be deleted, duplicated, hidden or reordered in the
list. Use the Brush Attributes and the Paint settings to edit the brush used.
Edit Box toggle Enable to display the edit box. Use the edit box to move, resize, or rotate the selected stroke.
Brush Attributes
Sets the size of the brush and other brush attributes affecting how paint is applied to the canvas.
Size field Set the radius of the brush in pixels. Editable.
Rate field Set the rate at which to apply brush strokes to the canvas. Use a higher percentage value to produce
a smoother continuous stroke. Editable.
Fixed Rate button Enable to make the stroke dependent on the speed at which you move the brush.
Pressure field Set the transparency on the pressure and direction of the pen. Editable.
Jitter field Set the level of dispersion. A lower value produces a greater concentration of paint. Editable.
Direction field Set the percentage of a complete rotation to rotate the brush around the Z-axis. Editable.
Roll field Set the percentage of a complete rotation to rotate the brush around the X-axis. Editable.
Paint Mode
Sets the type of paint operation that is applied to the brush. Some brushes paint in a colour; others use
contents of the result or a source. See Using Paint Modes (page 1205) and Using Blending Modes (page 1221).
Brush Type box Select a shape to paint, or freeform painting.
Paint Modes box Select the type of effect you want to apply to the brush.
Fade field Displays how quickly the stroke fades when the Fade brush attribute mode is selected. A higher
value fades the stroke faster.
Y Offset field Displays the vertical coordinate for the Clone offset. Editable.
Rotate field Displays the angle of rotation to rotate the reference image. Editable.
Scale field Displays the scale value of the reference image. Editable.
Blending Mode box Select the blending operation to apply to the brush colour components.
Opacity field Displays the opacity of the brush. Use a lower value to apply a more transparent colour.
Editable.
Paint On box Select the frame or frames where the stroke is applied. Sets the From Stroke and To Stroke
fields.
From Stroke field Displays the first frame where the stroke appears. Editable.
To Stroke field Displays the last frame where the stroke appears. Editable.
Viewing Controls
Overlay button Enable to show a reference clip overlaid onto the canvas.
Reference box Select the view with the reference clip you want overlay. If you select a Src, also select a
source from the Source list.
Transparency field Set the transparency percentage of the reference clip. Editable.
Wipe Controls
Controls wiping the canvas at the current frame. See Using the Canvas (page 1222).
Wipe button Select to apply a uniform colour in a single brush stroke to the entire result image, the front
only or the output matte only at the current frame.
Use Source button Enable to use the source selected in the Source list to wipe over the image.
Canvas Controls
Controls clearing the canvas at the current frame. See Using the Canvas (page 1222).
Clear box Select whether to clear all strokes from the result image and output matte at the current frame
or to clear strokes from all frames.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation used to rotate the canvas in the image window. Editable.
Defines the area that can be used to paint. You can paint on the entire canvas or areas delimited by the
matte properties. See Restricting Strokes with the Source Matte (page 1219) and Restricting Brush Strokes (page
1201).
Use Matte button Enable to limit brush strokes on the canvas to areas inside the matte.
Invert button Enable to limit brush strokes on the canvas to areas outside the matte.
Paint Both button Enable to paint on the result and output matte simultaneously.
Pixel Spread
Use Pixel Spread to create a stretching effect from the image edges delimited by a matte. This can be useful
to solve keying problems resulting from dark edges around the area to be keyed, for example.
This node accepts a front, back and matte clip, as well as a vector map clip, and outputs a result and an
outmatte.
Spread Type box Select the type of pixel spread distortion effect to apply to the clip.
Spread Mode box Select whether to have the distortion effect work in expansion mode or contraction
mode.Active when Spread Type is set to Stretch, Parallax, or Interpolate.
Spread Settings
The following settings are available when Interpolate is selected from the Spread Type box.
Interpolation Softness Amount field Displays the amount of softness applied. Editable.
Edges Shrink Amount field Displays the amount of shrinking applied to the edges. Editable.
Edges Shrink Softness field Displays the softness of the edge. Editable.
Interpolation Source Premultiplied button Enable to verify if the source is already premultiplied, in which
case the interpolation effect must treat the image differently for the effect to work properly.
The following settings are available when Parallax is selected from the Spread Type box.
Parallax Amount field Displays the amount of parallax distortion applied to the clip, in pixels. Editable.
Parallax X Bias field Displays the amount of horizontal offset applied to the parallax distortion effect, in
pixels. Editable.
Parallax Rotation field Displays the degree of rotation applied to the pixel distortion. Editable.
Edges Width field Displays the width of the distortion edge, in pixels. Editable.
Edges MidPoint field Displays the offset of the distortion edge from the middle. Editable.
Spread Blur Amount field Displays the amount of blur applied to the clip following the direction of the
edge. Editable.
Parallax Repeat Mode box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
The following settings are available when Stretch is selected from the Spread Type box.
Stretch Amount field Displays the amount of stretching distortion applied to the clip, in pixels. Editable.
Edges Width field Displays the width of the distortion edge, in pixels. Editable.
Edges MidPoint field Displays the offset of the distortion edge from the middle. Editable.
Spread Blur Amount field Displays the amount of blur applied to the clip following the direction of the
edge. Editable.
The following settings are available when Vector Warp is selected from the Spread Type box.
Motion Distance field Displays the amount of distortion to be applied to the image based on a given motion
vector. A negative amount inverts the direction of the spread. Editable.
Motion Threshold field Displays the percentage for the cut-off point below which motion data is not applied
to the image. Editable.
Vector X Origin field Displays the starting point of any horizontal motion, which can be used to offset
values entered for X Gain. Editable.
Vector Y Origin field Displays the starting point of any vertical motion, which can be used to offset values
entered for Y Gain. Editable.
Vector Overlap button Enable to invert the effects of the vector warp.
Red X Gain field Displays the amount of gain used from the red channel to augment the horizontal motion
of the distortion effect on the image. Editable.
Green X Gain field Displays the amount of gain used from the green channel to augment the horizontal
motion of the distortion effect on the image. Editable.
Green Y Gain field Displays the amount of gain used from the green channel to augment the vertical motion
of the distortion effect on the image. Editable.
Blue X Gain field Displays the amount of gain used from the blue channel to augment the horizontal
motion of the distortion effect on the image. Editable.
Blue Y Gain field Displays the amount of gain used from the blue channel to augment the vertical motion
of the distortion effect on the image. Editable.
Spread Blur Amount field Displays the amount of blur applied to the clip following the direction of the
edge. Editable.
Output Settings
Result Output box Select whether to output a combined result or the pixel spread effect only.
Alpha Output box Select Input to output the input matte, or Spread Matte to output the matte generated
by the pixel spread.
Proxy Extract
The Proxy Extract tool is available from the Tools tab, under Clip.
Use the Proxy Extract tool to generate a proxy resolution clip from an existing clip in your project. This is
useful when, for example, you have a 4K project, in which you've been working on 2K proxies and want to
export a 2K version of your work.
Proxy Regeneration
The Proxy Regeneration tool is available from the Tools tab, under Clip.
Use the Proxy Regeneration tool to regenerate updated proxy media for a single or multiple clips in your
project, overwriting the original proxies. This is useful when, for example, your proxies were generated from
soft-imported media and that original media has changed (colour corrected, for example).
To regenerate proxies:
2 Select the filter option, from the Proxy Quality box, to determine the quality of the proxy image.
3 Do one of the following:
■ To regenerate proxy media for a single clip, select Clip from the Proxy Regeneration Scope box.
■ To regenerate proxy media for all clips in a folder or reel, select Folder from the Proxy Regeneration
Scope box.
NOTE Proxies must be enabled in the project for the Proxy Regeneration tool to be available.
Proxy Scale Field Displays the proxy scale ratio. For example, a value of 0.50 generates proxies that are 50%
of the clip's resolution. This parameter is set in the Project and User Settings.
Proxy Bit Depth field Displays the bit depth for generated proxies. This parameter is set in the Project and
User Settings.
Proxy Quality box Set the quality of the proxy image. Proxy quality affects rendering and proxy generation
duration since lower qualities are faster to calculate. However, the quality does not affect the amount of
storage space required.
Proxy Regeneration Scope box Set the proxy regeneration scope. Options are:
■ Clip: Regenerates proxy media for the selected clip.
■ Folder: Regenerates proxy media for all clips in the same folder or reel as the selected clip.
Pulldown
Use the Pulldown to remove or add pulldown to a clip.
When removing a pulldown, you can analyse the clip to automatically detect the type of pulldown and the
A frame. If the analysis fails to determine the type of pulldown or the location of the AA frame, manually
set the Pulldown and the A Frame Location options.
(a) Pulldown Mode option box (b) Pulldown Type option box (c) Remove Pulldown options; available when Pulldown
Mode is set to Remove Pulldown
Pulldown type option box Select an option to add or remove pulldown from the clip.
First Rendered Frame field Displays the first frame at which output is rendered from the node. Unrendered
output does not display any media.Editable.
Pulldown option box Select the type of pulldown process to apply to the clip.
A Frame Location field Displays the value of a reference (AA) frame. The selected frame becomes the frame
of reference when adding or removing pulldown frames.Editable.
NOTE The following settings are available when Remove Pulldown is selected from the Pulldown Type option
box.
Analyze button Click to determine the type of pulldown used and the A frame.
Last Detection Frame field Displays the value of the last frame of the clip used by the Analyse button.
Selecting a subset of a clip speeds up the analysis. Editable.
NOTE When the node renders a transition, preceding and subsequent frames with no media are replaced with
black frames.
Recursive Ops
Use Recursive Ops to perform a wide range of recursive, animation-based blending effects. Recursive Ops
uses the processed result of the previous frame and blends it with the current frame using a selected blending
mode. It features a built-in colour selection, which constrains the accumulation effect within that selection.
Additionally, it accepts an external matte input which also conditions the way in which the internal blending
occurs.
This node accepts front and matte clips, and outputs a result and outmatte.
Repeat Mode options box Select an option to fill the empty portions of the frame.
Range Settings
Range From field Displays the beginning of the range of frames that to be impacted by the effect. Editable.
Range To field Displays the end of the range of frames that to be impacted by the effect. Editable.
Range Before box Select an option to be applied before the set frame range. Bypass eliminates the effect,
while Cycle repeats the effect.
Range After box Select an option to be applied afer the set frame range. Bypass eliminates the effect, while
Cycle repeats the effect.
Amplitude field Displays the amount of distortion. Increase the value to increase the crumple effect. Editable.
Time Offset field Displays the time offset interval of the crumpling. Editable.
Octaves field Displays the number of layers summed in the operation, from 0 to 10. Increase the value to
increase the fractal crumple effect. Editable.
Amount field Displays the amount of blur applied to the image. Editable.
2D Transform Settings
Show Icons button Enable to display the vertex editing tools in the image window.
Centre X field Displays the centre point value of the transformation along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Centre Y field Displays the centre point value of the transformation along the vertical axis. Editable.
Offset field Displays a value that modifies all of the colour parameters. Editable.
Red Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the red channel. Editable.
Green Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Set the percentage of colour values in the blue channel. Editable.
Luma Gain field Set the percentage of luma gain value to display. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to adjust the gain of the colour values proportionally.
Blending Settings
Blending options box Select a logical operation that can be used to blend the front clip and the result clip.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of blending when the result is composited on the front clip.
Editable.
Use Matte button Enable to apply the effect with the areas defined by the matte.
Clamp Render box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on output in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Matte Output options box Select an matte output option. Choose Selective to select the colour you wish
to keep.
Selective Tolerance field Displays the tolderance level of the selected colour of the matte output. Editable.
Available when Selective is chosen in the Matte Ouput options box.
Selective Colour box Click to enable the crosshair to select a colour in the image to be used as the matte
output. Available when Selective is chosen in the Matte Ouput options box.
Regrain
Use Regrain to add grain from the RGB channels of a selected colour in an image.
This node accepts front, back, and matte clips as input, and outputs a result.
Regrain | 1573
Regrain Menu Settings
General Settings
Image Type box Select the type of image data that is input into the node or tool. This determines the type
of transformation applied to the input clip.
fstop field Displays the relative exposure offset. Use to compensate for under or over exposure. Editable.
Grain Signature box Select a film stock grain to add to the clip.
Red X Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the red channel. Editable.
Red X Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the red channel. Editable.
Green X Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the green channel. Editable.
Green X Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the green channel. Editable.
Blue X Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the blue channel. Editable.
Blue X Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the x-axis for the blue channel. Editable.
Proportional RGB Radius X button Enable to adjust the radius on the x-axis of the red, green, and blue
channels proportionally.
Red Y Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the red channel. Editable.
Red Y Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the red channel. Editable.
Green Y Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the green channel. Editable.
Green Y Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the green channel. Editable.
Blue Y Radius slider Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the blue channel. Editable.
Blue Y Radius field Displays the value of the radius on the y-axis for the blue channel. Editable.
Proportional RGB Radius Y button Enable to adjust the radius on the y-axis of the red, green, and blue
channels proportionally.
Red Gain slider Displays the grain value in the red channel. Editable.
Red Gain field Displays the grain value in the red channel. Editable.
Green Gain slider Displays the grain value in the green channel. Editable.
Green Gain field Displays the grain value in the green channel. Editable.
Blue Gain slider Displays the grain value in the blue channel. Editable.
Blue Gain field Displays the grain value in the blue channel. Editable.
NOTE The following options are available when Mono or Custom are selected from the Grain Signature box.
Curves Display the curves for the luminance and each RGB channel.
Histogram box Select to display the red, green, blue, or luminance histogram in the graph. Select Current
Curve to display the histogram for the currently selected Curves Channel.
Curves box Select to display the red, green, blue or all curves in the graph.
Home button Restores the position of panned or zoomed curves to the default setting.
Resize
Use Resize to change a clip's resolution, frame depth, and aspect ratio.
NOTE You can use Resize to output, for example, a HD project to a lower resolution for quick viewing.
Source Settings
Use the Source settings to set or animate the position and size of the crop box.
Resize | 1575
Position/Scale Settings
X Position field Displays the horizontal position from the centre of the crop box relative to the centre of
the source frame, in pixels. Drag left or right, or click to enter a new X Position value.
Y Position field Displays the vertical position from the centre of the crop box relative to the centre of the
source frame, in pixels. Drag left or right, or click to enter a new Y Position value.
X Scale field Displays the horizontal scale of the crop box relative to the Crop Box Width field value, as a
percentage. Drag left or right, or click to enter a new X Scale value.
Y Scale field Displays the vertical scale of the crop box relative to the Crop Box Height field value, as a
percentage. Drag left or right, or click to enter a new Y Scale value.
Crop Mode box Select an option to determine the scaling behaviour of the crop box while repositioning
or rescaling. Use Free to adjust the crop box freely. Use Prop to use the current Crop Box Width and Crop
Box Height settings proportionally. Use Source or Destination to use the respective aspect ratio for the crop
box.
Source Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio of the crop box in the source frame. Editable.
Crop Box Width field Displays the current width setting of the crop box, in pixels. Editable.
Crop Box Height field Displays the current height setting of the crop box, in pixels. Editable.
Source Width button Uses the width settings of the source frame for the Crop Box Width field.
Source Height button Uses the height settings of the source frame for the Crop Box Height field.
Source Frame button Uses the width and height settings of the source frame for the Crop Box Width and
Crop Box Height fields, respectively.
Destination Width button Uses the width settings of the destination frame for the Crop Box Width field.
Destination Height button Uses the height settings of the destination frame for the Crop Box Height field.
Destination Frame button Uses the width and height settings of the destination frame for the Crop Box
Width and Crop Box Height fields, respectively.
Crop Box Border colour pot Displays the current colour of the crop box border. Editable.
Crop Box Line Style box Select the line style for the crop box.
Source Pre-Rendering buttons Select a conversion method to use for the resize. Use the Both Fields button
when both source and destination formats are interlaced or progressive. Use the Field Merge button to
combine the two fields of the source clip. Use the Deinterlace button to select one field, in which case the
Source Pre-Rendering Field box is enabled.
Source Pre-Rendering Field box Select a field to use for the resize. Active when the Deinterlace Source
Pre-Rendering button is enabled.
Resizing Settings
Resize Field Format box Select an option to determine whether the resize is performed on progressive or
interlaced frames, if both source and destination clips are interlaced. If either clip is progressive, the resize
operation is always progressive.
Fit Method box Select a fit method to be applied to the selected clip.
Precision field Displays the frequency cut-off point used during resize. Editable.
Crisp/Soft field Displays the amount of blurring used during resize. Editable.
Resize Filter box This option is available when Letterbox, Crop Edges or Fill is selected from the Fit Method
box. Select the filter option to determine the quality of the interpolated resize result.
Aspect button This option is available when Letterbox or Crop Edges is selected from the Fit Method box.
Enable to use non-square pixel formats. Active when Fit Method is set to Crop Edges or Letterbox.
Destination Padding colour pot Displays the colour used for padding the destination frame when the
source image is smaller than the destination. Editable.
Adaptive Deinterlacing button Enable to use data from the adjoining interlaced field to improve the results
of the resizing algorithm. This is most effective for clips containing stationary objects.
Adaptive Deinterlacing field Displays the amount of data used from the adjoining field for adaptive
interlacing during resize. Active when Adaptive button is enabled.
Destination Settings
Use the Destination settings to define the format of the resized clip.
Resize | 1577
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Crop/Lock Output button Enable to lock the destination resolution to match the crop box. Use this option
to animate the resolution of a clip and change it on a per-frame basis. Available when you access Resize
settings.
Sparks
Sparks are software plug-ins created by Autodesk or third-party developers.
To access Sparks, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
The Autodesk Sparks API Reference Guide is available in PDF format. If you are interested in marketing or
selling your Sparks, you must apply to the system Sparks program. To request an application, send an e-mail
message to email Sparks Manager.
The Sparks viewport uses the Viewing Rules for colour management. Enter the View settings panel to bypass
the colour management or select a viewing rule other than the primary one for that media.
1 Do one of:
■ From the Tools menu, select the Plugins tab and then click one of the Sparks buttons.
■ In Batch or Batch FX, select the Sparks node and drag it into the schematic.
■ In the Timeline, select a clip and add a Sparks Timeline FX to it.
2 Once a plug-in is loaded, the Sparks file browser appears. Sparks buttons are labelled as follows:
■ L: the plug-in can be loaded.
■ E: the plug-in has settings.
■ S: you can enter the module using the same media from the previous session. Navigate to
opt/Autodesk/sparks.
You can also load Sparks from opt/Autodesk/<product home>/sparks.
3 Select a plug-in. You are returned to your previous location. The name of the plug-in appears on the
selected button.
1 Drag the Sparks Load node on top of any tab in the ALL Tools bin except the ALL Nodes tab.
2 In the Sparks Plug-in file browser that appears, select one or many plug-in or select multiple plug-ins.
3 Click load.
The selected Sparks are created as their own nodes in the destination bin. To use one, drag it from the
destination bin to the schematic. You do not have to re-enter the Sparks browser to load a Sparks if you
preloaded it into a bin.
Sparks | 1579
Stabilizer
Stabilizing and Tracking
Use the Stabilizer to remove camera instability and motion jitter, and to track reference points in your clips.
You can also use the Stabilizer to produce 2D or, in the context of Action, 3D motion, anchor a surface to
the clip's background or anchor the UV points of the surface to features of a clip. With tracking, a point or
points on the clip are tracked as they move through the scene. You can then apply the resulting motion
path to an object on another layer so that it follows the same path as the object you tracked.
Stabilizing is the inverse of tracking. With stabilizing, the motion path is used to shift the scene so that the
point that is tracked remains fixed at one position.
Tracking and stabilizing are often processes of trial and error. It is recommended that you track or stabilize
using the default settings. If the tracker box strays from its original point, you can fine-tune the analysis.
Blur and Glow Track the center point of the radial blur.
Setup Name field Displays the name of the last saved setup.
Colour pot Displays the colour to fill the area where the image has been shifted after stabilization (available
if Shift or Letterbox is chosen in the Scale and Shift Option box). Editable.
Context button Enable to use the Action scene as the tracking reference.
Setup button Opens the Setup menu, where you can specify user interface and tracking preferences.
Animation button Opens the channel editor, where you can animate the various Stabilizer settings.
View box Select an option to set the view in the image window.
Auto Key button Enable to set a keyframe automatically each time you change a value at any frame.
Current Frame field Enter a frame number to jump to the corresponding frame.
Reset box Select an option to reset shift, tracking, reference, or all data.
Tracker colour pot Displays the colour of the selected tracker. Editable.
When you add a new tracker, the system automatically assigns it a unique colour so that you can easily
distinguish between multiple trackers. You can change the colour of an individual tracker or of all the trackers
at once.
Tolerance field Displays a value the Stabilizer uses to match reference points from frame to frame and to
set keyframes. Editable.
Tracker Selection box Select which trackers are affected when you change a parameter.
Step button Click to analyze a single frame and advance to the next frame.
Lock Key button Click to lock the selected keyframe as a point on the tracking path. Click again to unlock.
Stabilizer | 1581
Delete Key button Click to delete the selected point on the tracking path.
Source option box Select whether to track in Progressive (frame mode) or Interlaced (field mode).
By default, the Stabilizer works in Progressive (frame mode). Select Interlaced from the Source Option box
mode when working with interlaced images, or with images that display a lot of field jitter. In Interlaced
(field) mode, the Stabilizer sets two keyframes for every frame: one for the even field and one for the odd
field, and an asterisk appears in the image viewer's current frame display to indicate the second field for
each frame.
Reference X field Displays the position of the reference box along the X axis. Editable.
Reference Y field Displays the position of the reference box along the Y axis. Editable.
Reference Width field Displays the width of the reference box. Editable.
Reference Height field Displays the height of the reference box. Editable.
Auto Update Reference button Enable to update the reference point at each frame during tracking. Disable
to track the movement of the reference point specified in the reference frame. You can set the default for
this button in the Stabilizer Setup menu.
Enabling Auto Update Reference is useful when tracking a pattern that changes considerably from the first
frame to the last frame in the clip. For example, the pattern may be rotating or may change size or shape.
In this case, disable the Auto Update Reference button. The reference point is then updated in each frame.
In each frame of the analysis, the Stabilizer looks for the reference point from the previous frame.
When Auto Update Reference is disabled, the tracker box follows the movement of the reference point that
you specified in the reference frame throughout the analysis.
NOTE Unless you are in Gang mode, you must set the Auto Update Reference button for each active tracker
individually.
Tracker Y field Displays the position of the tracker box along the Y axis. Editable.
Tracker Width field Displays the width of the tracker box. Editable.
Tracker Height field Displays the height of the tracker box. Editable.
Import Track button Open the Import Stabilizer menu, where you to import a text file of saved tracking
data.
Export Track button Click to open the Export Stabilizer menu, where you to export a text file of saved
tracking data.
Shift X field Displays the difference between the position of the reference box (0,0) and the position of the
tracker box in the current frame along the X axis. Editable.
Shift Y field Displays the difference between the position of the reference box (0,0) and the position of the
tracker box in the current frame along the Y axis. Editable.
Import Shift button Click to open the Import Stabilizer menu to allow you to import a text file of saved
shift data.
Shift Copy button Click to copy the selected Shift channel (including the aspect ratio of the clip).
Setup Menu
Pretracking button Enable to preview the motion path for a specified number of frames. Active when Path
is enabled.
Before analysing, you can use the Pretracking option to preview the motion path for a specified number of
frames. You can then adjust the tracker position, if necessary, to find the best reference point. The Pretracking
option applies only to the selected tracker, regardless of whether you selected Solo, Selected, or Gang in the
Tracker Selection box. If you move or resize a tracker with Pretracking enabled, the next frames are analysed.
Auto Pan button Enable to allow the part of the image that is selected to stay in the image window when
zoomed in.
Zoom field Displays the magnification factor of the reference box when selected. Editable.
By default, the reference box turns into a magnifying glass when you select it. Increase or reduce the
magnification factor in the Zoom box.
Zoom: Result:
0 No zooming. The crosshair appears in the tracker box after you analyse the clip.
Default Auto Update button Select whether the Auto Update Reference button in the Stabilizer menu
defaults to on or off.
Colour Corrector Input button Enable to display any Colour Corrector settings on the clip.
Stereo Filter
Use Stereo Filter to process an anaglyph, interlaced or dual image clip containing one video track from either
a left and right eye mono clip, or an existing stereo track.
This node accepts a left eye mono clip and a right eye mono clip, and outputs an anaglyph, interlaced or
dual image stereo clip. You can add a Stereo Filter node to any part of the pipeline except to the Front and
Matte pipes of MBlend nodes and the Matte pipes CBLend nodes.
Select: To:
Method box Depending on the selected Stereo Mode, you have different options for modifying the effect.
Anaglyph Settings
Anaglyph Method box Select a method for your anaglyph result. For example, select Dubois to reduce the
ghosting between the left and right eyes.
Select: To:
Custom Customize the RGB left and right gain factor values. With this option, you can create
anaglyph results based on the 3D lenses that will be used.
NOTE This option is available in Batch or Batch FXand the Modular Keyer.
Mono Remove the RGB values before creating an anaglyph result. With this option, you will
see just the stereo effect.
Interlaced Settings
Interlace Method box Select whether your interlace result outputs the left eye input as field 1 or field 2.
Output the left eye and right eye so that they are adjacent to each other in the same clip, either in a left and
right or top and bottom orientation.
NOTE This option is available in Batch or Batch FXand the Modular Keyer.
Dual Image Method box Select whether your dual image result outputs the left eye and right eye so that
they are adjacent to each other in the same clip, either in a left and right or top and bottom orientation.
Red in Red Output field Displays the red gain factor in the red channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Green in Red Output field Displays the green gain factor in the red channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Blue in Red Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the red channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Red in Green Output field Displays the red gain factor in the green channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Green in Green Output field Displays the green gain factor in the green channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Blue in Green Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the green channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Red in Blue Output field Displays the red gain factor in the blue channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Green in Blue Output field Displays the green gain factor in the blue channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Blue in Blue Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the blue channel for the Left eye. Editable.
Red in Red Output field Displays the red gain factor in the red channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Green in Red Output field Displays the green gain factor in the red channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Blue in Red Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the red channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Red in Green Output field Displays the red gain factor in the green channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Green in Green Output field Displays the green gain factor in the green channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Blue in Green Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the green channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Red in Blue Output field Displays the red gain factor in the blue channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Green in Blue Output field Displays the green gain factor in the blue channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Blue in Blue Output field Displays the blue gain factor in the blue channel for the Right eye. Editable.
Stereo Toolbox
About Stereo Toolbox
When working with Stereo3D content, it may happen that certain elements of the scene are present in one
eye but not the other. When this is the case, you can apply a Floating Window that crops part of Stereo3D
content that is only displayed in one eye, preserving the 3D illusion.
NOTE You must be viewing the Stereo3D footage on a 3D monitor or on a 2D monitor in Anaglyph mode, in
order to view the results of the Floating Window properly.
The controls allow you to position the corners of the floating window in Z-space. It also allows one, two or
all four corners to be manipulated simultaneously.
There are 3 sets of parameters in the Floating Window menu:
1 The first set of controls consists of the Convergence slider. The convergence slider is used to set the
initial horizontal offset between the left and the right eye. A higher convergence value results in a 3D
scene with more depth along the Z-axis. A lower convergence value results in a 3D scene with less
depth along the Z-axis.
2 The second set of controls consists of four numerical sliders labeled Top/Left, Top/Right, Bottom/Left
and Bottom/Right.
These controls allow you to "pull in" or "push out" the corresponding corner of the Floating Window.
This translates to a black mask being drawn on the edges of the image in the left or the right eye.
Depending on whether the slider value is positive or negative, they affect each eye's mask differently.
For example:
■ Increasing the value of the Top/Left slider results in the Floating Windows's corner being "pushed
out" away from the viewer. The mask is applied on the left edge of the right eye in that case.
■ Decreasing the value of the Top/Left slider results in the Floating Window's corner being "pulled
in" towards the viewer. When the values are negative, the corner is in theater space (i.e. virtually
in front of the monitor) and a black edge becomes visible on the left edge of the left eye.
■ The other controls affect the Floating Window in the same way. Increasing the value of a slider
"pushes out" the corresponding corner of the Floating window, whereas decreasing the value results
in the corner being "pulled in".
3 The third set of controls will affect the Post-Render-Shift (PRS) value, which effectively displaces the
whole scene (including the Floating Window) along the Z-axis.
The PRS is implemented as a horizontal translation of one, or both eyes. You can select which eye
remains fixed by selecting a value from the Alignment box. 'Align Left' applies the PRS entirely to the
right eye, while Align Right applies it to the left eye and Center applies it to both eyes.
Aux and Offset values are simply additive extensions of the PRS value. For example, if you have PRS=1,
Offset=2 and Aux=4, the overall PRS value is 7.
Convergence Settings
Convergence field Set the initial horizontal offset between the left and the right eye. A higher convergence
value results in a 3D scene with more depth along the Z-axis. A lower convergence value results in a 3D
scene with less depth along the Z-axis. Editable.
Top/Left field Affects the displacement value of the Top/Left corner of the Floating Window. Increasing
the value results in the Floating Windows's Top/Left corner being "pushed out" away from the viewer.
Decreasing the value results in the Floating Window's Top/Left corner being "pulled in" towards the viewer.
Editable.
Bottom/Left field Affects the displacement value of the Bottom/Left corner of the Floating Window.
Increasing the value results in the Floating Windows's Bottom/Left corner being "pushed out", away from
the viewer. Decreasing the value results in the Floating Window's Bottom/Left corner being "pulled in",
towards the viewer. Editable.
Top/Right field Affects the displacement value of the Top/Right corner of the Floating Window. Increasing
the value results in the Floating Windows's Top/Right corner being "pushed out", away from the viewer.
Decreasing the value results in the Floating Window's Top/Top Right corner being "pulled in", towards the
viewer. Editable.
Bottom/Right field Affects the displacement value of the Bottom/Right corner of the Floating Window.
Increasing the value results in the Floating Windows's Bottom/Right corner being "pushed out", away from
the viewer. Decreasing the value results in the Floating Window's Bottom/Right corner being "pulled in",
towards the viewer. Editable.
Alignment box Select whether the offsets affect the Left, Right, or both eyes (Centre).
PRS field Affects the horizontal translation offset value applied between the two shots in the scene. This
parameter is relative to the setting if the Alignment box. Editable.
Offset field Affects the horizontal translation offset value applied between the two shots in the scene. This
parameter is relative to the setting if the Alignment box. Editable.
Aux field Affects the horizontal translation offset value applied between the two shots in the scene. This
parameter is relative to the setting if the Alignment box. Editable.
Stylize includes a collection of 10 core effects that are stacked and blended together as layers. The core effects
fall into four major categories: canvas texture, patterns, colour fillings, and outlines. Each of the core effects
has its own settings, which display when an effect is selected:
■ Canvas
■ Dots
■ Hatch Pattern
■ Palette Reduction
■ Colour Smudge
■ Drawing
■ Selective Drawing
■ Sketched Outlines
■ Scribbled Outlines
■ Sharp Outlines
Since the possible combinations of core effects are endless, over 80 presets are available to help you get
started with Stylize. These presets can also help you learn how Stylize layer stacking works. The presets are
divided into a number of categories and are easily added to your scene.
To access the Stylize menu, use:
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
This node accepts a front, back and matte clip, and outputs a result and an outmatte result.
Use the Stylize presets to create a specific look or to create a starting point to build your effect. Presets are
available in 4 categories: Comic, Paint, Print, and Sketch.
TIP In the browser, switch to Proxies view (press P) to see a visual representation of the preset.
Stylize | 1589
Setup and General Settings
Clamp Input box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on input in the 16-bit floating
point rendering pipeline.
Clamp Output box Select a clamping option for colour and luminance values on output in the 16-bit
floating point rendering pipeline.
Regen button Enable to dynamically refresh the image as settings are changed.
Use the Layer Table to organize the layers that make up your Stylize effect. The top layer in the Layer Table
has the highest priority in the overall effect. Selecting a preset populates the Layer Table with the necessary
layers and settings.
Visibility column Displays the visibility of each layer. Click the eye icon to change a layer from visible to
invisible or vice-versa.
Name column Displays the name of the layer. Click the Rename button to change the name of a selected
layer.
Effect column Displays the effect applied per layer. Use the scroll arrows to change the effect. Different
settings appear based on the effect chosen.
Blend column Displays the blend operation per layer. Use the scroll arrows to change the blend value.
Matte column Displays whether a matte is on, off, or inverted per layer. Use the scroll arrows to change the
value.
Transparency column Displays the transparency level per layer. Scroll to change the value, or click to
display the calculator.
Priority Up button Click to move the selected layer up in priority in the layer list.
Priority Down button Click to move the selected layer down in priority in the layer list.
Solo button Enable to hide all other layers except the selected layer. You can also turn specific layers on or
off using the eye icon on the left of each layer.
Seed field Displays the random seed variation value to use in the stylize effect. Editable.
Delete button Click to delete the selected layer from the layer list.
Rename button Click to open the online keyboard to rename the selected layer in the layer list.
Background colour pot Displays the background colour used in a blending operation. Click to change the
colour.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Canvas as the effect.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the Canvas effect. Editable.
Position X field Displays the position of the pattern along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the position of the pattern along the vertical axis. Editable.
Scale X field Displays the change in size of the pattern along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Scale Y field Displays the change in size of the pattern along the vertical axis. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the pattern along the Z-axis, from its centre point. Editable.
Highlights colour pot Displays the colour applied to the light areas of the Canvas effect. Click to change
the colour.
Shadows colour pot Displays the colour applied to the dark areas of the Canvas effect. Click to change the
colour.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Dots as the effect.
Effect colour pot Displays the colour applied to the effect. Click to change the colour.
Angle field Displays the change in the angle applied to the effect. Editable.
Stylize | 1591
Softness field Displays the change in softness applied to the effect. Editable.
Angle field Displays the change in angle of the Dots shapes. Editable.
Ratio field Displays the change in ratio of the Dots shapes. Editable.
Tolerance field Displays the tolerance level applied to the colour selection of the effect. Editable.
Colour Selection option box Select an option to apply a colour to the image.
Colour Selection colour pot Displays the colour applied to the image. Click to change the colour. Only
active if User Colour or User GrayScale is selected.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the input image before other effects are applied. Editable.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Hatch Pattern as the effect.
Effect colour pot Displays the colour applied to the effect. Click to change the colour.
Angle field Displays the change in the angle applied to the effect. Editable.
Softness field Displays the change in softness applied to the effect. Editable.
Threshold field Displays the amount of colour constraint applied to the shape. Editable.
Thickness field Displays the amount of thickness applied to the shape. Editable.
Variation field Displays the percentage of variance applied to the shape. Editable.
Tolerance field Displays the tolerance level applied to the colour selection of the effect. Editable.
Colour Selection option box Select an option to apply a colour to the image.
Colour Selection colour pot Displays the colour applied to the image. Click to change the colour. Only
active if User Colour or User GrayScale is selected.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the input image before other effects are applied. Editable.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Palette Reduction as the effect.
Palette box Select between Single Palette to display image stability by using a single colour palette as a
reference, and Dynamic Palette to display image transition by using a new colour palette at each frame.
Frame field Displays the frame selected when Single Palette is enabled in the Palette box. Editable.
Softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the Palette Reduction effect. Editable.
Amount field Displays the amount of the selected warp pattern that is applied to the image. Editable.
Position X field Displays the position of the pattern along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Position Y field Displays the position of the pattern along the vertical axis. Editable.
Scale X field Displays the change in size of the pattern along the horizontal axis. Editable.
Scale Y field Displays the change in size of the pattern along the vertical axis. Editable.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation of the pattern along the Z-axis, from its centre point. Editable.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the input image before other effects are applied. Editable.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Colour Smudge as the effect.
Amount field Displays the amount of Colour Smudge effect that is applied to the image. Editable.
Distortion field Displays the amount of distortion applied to the Colour Smudge effect. Editable.
Emboss colour pot Displays the colour applied to the embossing. Click to change the colour.
Amount field Displays the amount of embossing applied to the image. Editable.
Softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the embossing. Editable.
Stylize | 1593
Anti-Aliasing Active button Enable to use anti-aliasing on the edges of the image.
Anti-Aliasing Samples box Select an option to determine the size of the samples. Available when anti-aliasing
is enabled.
Anti-Aliasing Softness field Displays the amount of softness applied to the anti-aliasing. Available when
anti-aliasing is enabled. Editable.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Drawing as the effect.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Style Type box Select the style type of the paint strokes.
Density field Displays the amount of density applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Length field Displays the length applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Length Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the length of the paint strokes. Editable.
Thickness field Displays the amount of thickness applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Thickness Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the thickness of the paint strokes.
Editable.
Paint Each Frame button Enable to apply a random variation in the length and thickness values.
Preserve Stroke Ratio button Enable to allow proportional values to be applied to the length and thickness
of paint strokes.
Orientation field Displays the orientation applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Orientation Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the orientation of the paint strokes.
Editable.
Edges Orientation field Displays the percentage orientation applied to the edges of the paint strokes.
Editable.
Disorder field Displays the amount of random distribution applied to the paint strokes. Editable.
Blur field Displays the amount of blur applied to the input image before other effects are applied. Editable.
Opacity field Displays the amount of opacity applied to the input image before other effects are applied.
Editable.
Hue field Displays the amount of hue applied to the input image before other effects are applied. Editable.
Hue Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the hue. Editable.
Saturation Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the saturation. Editable.
Luminance field Displays the amount of luminance applied to the input image before other effects are
applied. Editable.
Luminance Variation field Displays the amount of variance applied to the luminance. Editable.
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Selective Drawing as the effect.
NOTE Most of the settings in the Paint Strokes section are the same as for the Drawing effect. Selective Drawing
also has two extra settings.
Paint Strokes colour pot Displays the colour applied to the paint strokes. Click to change the colour.
Front Mix field Displays the amount of colour from the source image that is visible. Editable
Inclusion colour pot Displays the colour on which the paint strokes are created. Click to change the colour.
Inclusion Tolerance field Displays the percentage of tolerance applied to the selected colour. The higher
the tolerance, the more paint strokes are created. Editable.
Exclusion colour pot Displays the colour on which the paint strokes are eliminated. Click to change the
colour.
Exclusion Tolerance field Displays the percentage of tolerance applied to the selected colour. The higher
the tolerance, the more paint strokes are eliminated. Editable.
Global Colour box Switch between the use of colour selections or grayscale versions of these colour selections.
Global Length field Displays the percentage of length by which semi-transparent strokes are modified.
Editable.
Global Softness field Displays the percentage by which the range of transparency of semi-transparent strokes
is modified. Editable.
Global Thickness field Displays the percentage by which the range of thickness of semi-transparent strokes
is modified. Editable.
NOTE The settings in the Front Controls section are the same as for the Drawing effect.
Stylize | 1595
Sketched Outlines Effect Settings
These settings are available when a layer is selected in the Layer Table with Sketched Outlines as the effect.
Minimum Threshold field Displays the minimum amount of colour restraint applied to the outline edges.
Editable.
Maximum Threshold field Displays the maximum amount of colour restraint applied to the outline edges.
Editable.
Softness Width field Displays the amount of softness applied to the width of the edges. Editable.
Softness Gain field Displays the amount of softness applied to the gain of the edges. Editable.
Transparency field Displays the percentage of transparency applied to the outlines. Editable.
Outlines colour pot Displays the colour applied to the outlines. Click to change the colour.
Front Mix field Displays the percentage of colour from the source image that is visible. Editable.
Density field Displays the amount of density applied to the outlines. Editable.
Paint Each Frame button Enable to apply a random variation in length and thickness values.
Length Variation field Displays the variance applied to the length of the outlines.
Thickness field Displays the amount of thickness applied to the outlines. Editable.
Thickness Variation field Displays the variance applied to the thickness of the outlines.
Preserve Stroke Ratio button Enable to allow proportional values to be applied to the length and thickness
for the outlines.
Orientation Variation field Displays the variance applied to the orientation of the outlines.
Follow Edges field Displays the percentage by which the outlines follow their original position. Editable.
NOTE The settings in the Front Controls section are the same as for the Drawing effect.
The Edge Detect, Softness, and Front Controls settings are the same as for the Sketched Outline effect. Some
of the Outlines settings are similar also. The following Outlines settings are specific to the Scribbled Outlines
effect.
Longest Outlines field Displays the amount by which the length of the longest outlines will be increased.
Editable.
Straight Lines field Displays the amount of the straightest outlines that are visible. Editable.
Pressure field Displays the variation in the pressure applied to the outlines. Varies with the style of the
outline. Editable.
The Edge Detect, Softness, Outlines, and Front Controls settings are the same as for the Sketched Outline
effect. The Pattern Transform settings are the same as for the Canvas effect. The following Warp Pattern
settings are specific to the Sharp Outlines effect.
Pattern Type box Select a pattern type to apply to the image.
Amount field Displays the amount of warp applied to the image. Editable.
Substance Splatter node: This node accepts front and matte inputs as the seed that you feed through a
chosen preset pattern.
1 Drag the Substance Noise node or Substance Splatter node to the Batch or Batch FX schematic.
The file browser appears, pointing to the default location of the presets:
■ opt/Autodesk/presets/<product home>/substance_presets/NOISE or
■ opt/Autodesk/presets/<product home>/substance_presets/SPLATTER
2 Select a preset.
NOTE The Splatter presets include normal and additive blend versions.
NOTE If your rendering network is set up with GPU-enabled Burn nodes, you can burn Substance clips. See your
Autodesk Burn Installation and User Guide for installation and configuration information.
The file browser appears, and you can select a different preset to load.
NOTE All menu parameters are reset when a new preset is loaded.
The behaviours are divided into a number of categories, each with their own settings.
Organic Pulse Slow pulsing evolution of width and height of the pattern.
Wave Distort Directional warping effect that deforms the pattern with different wavelength warps.
You can adjust the playback rate and timing of your chosen behaviour animation by using the Overall Speed
and Time Offset settings (available for all behaviours).
You can also adjust the Overall Speed in the Channel Editor.
Preset Name field This locked field displays the name of the current preset.
Change Preset button Click to open the file browser to select a different preset.
The Memory section of the Noise or Splatter menu allows you to store up to five variations of the current
preset. This is useful if you want to compare a certain preset type with different settings and animations.
Use the following preset memory buttons to clear, store, or recall menu parameters. A blue LED indicates
that a preset memory is stored in the slot.
(a) Preset stored in this preset memory slot (b) No presets stored in these slots
Clear button Clears the selected preset memory.
Recall button Recalls the last stored parameters for the selected preset memory.
Preset Memory buttons Use to clear, store, or recall menu parameters. A blue LED indicates that a preset
memory is stored in the slot.
Output Settings
Use the settings in the Output section to set the size and resolution of clips that are output from the Substance
node.
Crop Output button Enable to crop the output of the pattern by the amounts displayed in the Width and
Height fields.
NOTE The crop options are greyed out if the Force Tile button is enabled.
Ratio field Displays the aspect ratio of the pattern clip. The ratio is calculated by W:H to output a square
pixel ratio. Non-editable.
Crop Width field Displays the width of the cropped output. Editable.
Crop Height field Displays the height of the cropped output. Editable.
Use the Pattern Resize settings to change the input size and filtering type of a Splatter pattern.
Pattern Resize box Select the input size of the Splatter pattern.
Other Settings
Regen button Enable to automatically update the image as fields are updated.
Force Tile button Enable to ensure that your resulting image tiling is repeatable. In this case, the Crop
Output and Zoom options are greyed out.
Behaviours Settings
Behaviour Type box Select the type of preset motion to apply to the pattern.
Overall Speed field Displays the rate at which the animation plays. Editable.
Text
Use Text to make text spin, dance, and change colour over time.
This node accepts a background clip. If a background clip is not connected to the Text node, you can select
a resolution for the output of the Text node. Additionally, this node outputs a result and an outmatte.
NOTE The Prerender Text preference does not apply when you access Text from Batch or Batch FX.
Text is compromised of layers, paragraphs, and characters. You can create effects such as a text roll of credits,
text crawls, bumpers, and a text that moves on a motion path. You can also use logo images in a text roll
so that the logo of a sponsor appears in the credit list.
General Settings
Use Transparency button Enable to create a text effect in which the background clip is used as the text's
fill. Also select RGBA from the Alpha Rendering Mode box.
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
Preview Options box This box is available when you access the Text Menu settings from the Timeline.Select
to enable Preview FX or Context, to preview the effect.
Animation button Creates a text animation by setting different text properties at specific keyframes in a
clip.
See Animating Text (page 1344).
Text Mode button Select a text mode to select text, edit text in layers, modify text attributes, or enter text
strings.
Applies various text settings to layers, paragraphs, and characters. Use text modes to manipulate layers, add
text to a clip, or edit existing text in a clip. See Modifying Layer and Character Properties (page 1334).
Result button Select an option to set the view to either the composited text, the matte of the text, or the
original back clip.
Reset box Select an option to reset the selected text layer, the layer axis, the roll/crawl, or the style templates.
Reset All Click to reset the text tool to the default values set in Preferences.
Resolution Presets box Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.
Width field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Height field Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.
Aspect Ratio Presets box Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to
use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.
Aspect Ratio field Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable
Text | 1603
Insert Settings
Axis button Opens the Axis menu to set properties for layers and characters.
Roll/Crawl button Open the Roll/Crawl menu to set text motion properties for vertical or horizontal text
scrolling.
See Creating Text Rolls and Text Crawls (page 1341).
Styles button Opens the Styles menu to create preset text style formats.
See Defining Styles (page 1349)
Spell Check button Open the Spell Check menu to check text for spelling errors.
See Spell Checking (page 1340)
Fill Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the fill. Editable.
Fill Softness field Displays the softness level of the fill. Editable.
Underline Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the underline. Editable.
Outline Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the outline. Editable.
Back button Enable to apply a solid colour background using the associated text layer colour and transparency
to the text selection.
Click the colour pot to choose a colour from the colour picker. To set back transparency, enter a percentage
in the Transparency field. To make the back more opaque, enter a value close to the maximum of 100. To
make the back more transparent, enter a value close to the minimum of 0.
Back Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the background. Editable.
Shadow Transparency field Displays the transparency level of the shadow. Editable.
Shadow Softness field Displays the softness level of the shadow. Editable.
Blur Shadow button Enable to apply a blur effect to a drop shadow created with the Shadow button.
The type of blur applied depends on whether Box Blur or Gaussian Blur is selected in the Text Setup menu.
Choose a higher value for a greater shadow blur effect. Using Blur Shadow with animated text decreases
processing performance.
Blur Shadow field Displays the level of blur applied to the drop shadow. Editable.
Text | 1605
Font Settings
Font field Displays the current font. Click to open the font browser to select a different font.
Font Size field Displays the character size for the selected font. Editable.
Font Italic field Displays the angle of italicized text. Positive values make the characters slope to the right.
Negative values make them slope to the left.
Font Kerning field Displays the amount of spacing between characters. Positive values increase the spacing.
Negative values decrease the spacing.
Paragraph Settings
Left Margin field Displays the amount of space in the left margin. Editable.
Leading field Displays the space between lines in the selected paragraph. Editable.
Indent field Displays the left indentation value for the first line in the paragraph. Editable.
Separation field Displays the space between the selected paragraph and the one above it. Editable.
Character Channels
Copy Attributes button Copies attribute settings from the selected text character.
Copy Transformations button Copies transformation settings from the selected text character.
Copy All button Copies both attribute and transformation settings from the selected text character.
Closed button Enable to close the path by connecting the first and last vertices. Text continues around the
shape.
Offset field Displays the position of the text on the path. Animate the Offset value to make the text follow
the path for the duration of the clip.
Invert button Reverses the order of the vertices on the path so that the text follows the opposite side of the
path.
Text On Path Mode box Select an option to manipulate the selected path spline.
Clear button Resets the text path at the current frame. To reset the path for the entire duration of the clip,
click Reset Layer.
Axis Settings
NOTE The Axis settings are available when the Axis button is enabled in the Insert settings.
Axis menu buttons Select whether to display the Layer Axis menu or the Characters Axis menu.
Show Axis button Enable to display the axis in the image window. This button is only available when the
Character Axis menu button is selected.
Position X field Moves the layer or selected characters along the X-axis.By default, the value is 0 (for
characters). Increase the value to move right and decrease it to move left. Editable .
Y Position field Moves the layer or selected characters along the Y-axis.By default, the value is 0 (for
characters). Increase the value to move up and decrease it to move down. Editable .
Lock Position button Enable to lock the position of the text layer. You can lock text in either the Top/Left
or Centre position using the box beside this button.
Centre Axis button Moves the axis to the center point of the character. This button is only available when
the Character Axis menu button is selected.
X Position Character Axis field Sets the X-axis for the selected characters. Set each letter in a word spinning
on its own axis in a different way. This button is only available when the Character Axis menu button is
selected.
Text | 1607
Using the Axis Pos X field, you set each letter in a word spinning on its own axis in a different way.
Y Position Character Axis field Sets the Y-axis for the selected characters. Set each letter in a word spinning
on its own axis in a different way. This button is only available when the Character Axis menu button is
selected.
Using the Axis Pos Y field, you set each letter in a word spinning on its own axis in a different way.
X Scale field Scales the layer or selected characters along the X-axis. This value is a percentage, so entering
50 means 50 percent. Use a larger value to increase the scale along the X-axis. Use a negative value to create
a mirror image on the X-axis. Enter 0 to make a layer or selected characters disappear. The default is
100.Editable.
Y Scale field Scales the layer or selected characters along the Y-axis. This value is a percentage, so entering
50 means 50 percent. Use a larger value to increase the scale along the Y-axis. Use a negative value to create
a mirror image on the Y-axis. Enter 0 to make a layer or selected characters disappear. The default is
100.Editable.
X Shear field Shears or slants the layer or selected characters along the X-axis. Use a positive value to slant
right and a negative value to slant left. The maximum and minimum values are 60 and -60, respectively.
The default value is 0.
Y Shear field Shears or slants the layer or selected characters along the Y-axis. Use a positive value to slant
right and a negative value to slant left. The maximum and minimum values are 60 and -60, respectively.
The default value is 0.
Rotation field Rotates a layer around its axis or selected characters around their axis.Use a negative value
to rotate clockwise and a positive value to rotate counter-clockwise. The default is 0.Editable.
Roll/Crawl Settings
NOTE The Roll/Crawl settings are available when the Roll/Crawl button is enabled in the Insert settings.
Roll/Crawl Settings
New Layer button Creates a layer to contain a text roll or text crawl.
Roll button Enable to create text that scrolls vertically over an image.
Crawl button Enable to create text that scrolls horizontally across an image.
Scrollbar X field Displays the X position of the roll or crawl layer inside the crop box. The value changes
when you move the scrollbar at the right of the text layer for a roll or at the bottom of the layer for a crawl.
Editable.
Scrollbar Y field Displays the Y position of the roll or crawl layer inside the crop box. The value changes
when you move the scrollbar at the right of the text layer for a roll or at the bottom of the layer for a crawl.
Editable.
Fit Best Speed button Creates a broadcast quality text roll based on the number of frames in the clip and
the lines of text in the text roll. Enable this button to make corrections to a text roll without altering the
speed or duration of the clip.
For NTSC and PAL, broadcast quality is calibrated at four pixels per frame. This rate ensures no flicker in the
text roll.
Roll Speed button Select the speed of the text roll, in pixels per second.
Changes the speed of the text roll. For 1X, the speed rate is 120 p/s (pixels/second) in NTSC, and 100 p/s in
PAL. For 2X, it is 240 p/s in NTSC, and 200 p/s in PAL, and so on.
Lock Leading & Scroll button Enable to lock the leading of the paragraph text so that you can insert another
paragraph into the text roll. If the duration of the clip lengthens after you make modifications, click Fit Best
Speed to adjust the length.
Best Roll Duration field Displays the suggested duration for the text roll. The duration is calculated using
the start/end position of the roll and the currently selected speed. Non-editable.
Crop Box
Crop Box X field Displays the X position of the crop box inside the image window. The crop box determines
the X coordinates of the text roll or text crawl on the clip. Editable.
Crop Box Y field Displays the Y position of the crop box inside the image window. The crop box determines
the Y coordinates of the text roll or text crawl on the clip. Editable.
Width field Displays the width at which to crop the text within the text roll or crawl layer. Editable.
Height field Displays the height at which to crop the text within the text roll or crawl layer. Editable.
Styles Settings
NOTE The Styles settings are available when the Styles button is enabled in the Insert settings.
Text | 1609
Apply Style 2 button Saves or applies Style 2.
Load Style button Opens the file browser where you can select a saved style to load.
Save Style button Opens the file browser where you can save a style.
Style Mode box Select whether to work with all styles or one style.
Style Save Number box Select the number of the style to save. Available when One Style is selected from
the Style Mode box.
Style Option box Select an option for creating styles. AutoStyle assigns styles from an existing layer.
Tabulation Settings
NOTE The Tabulation settings are available when the Tabulation button is enabled in the Insert settings.
Add button Adds a tab stop on the text layer ruler. By default, tab stops are set at every 100 pixels.
Previous button Selects the previous tab stop on the text ruler. Tab stops appear in yellow when selected.
Tab ID field Display the tab number in the current paragraph. When you click Next or Previous, the Tab
ID field changes, showing the number of selected tab stops. Editable.
Next button Selects the next tab stop on the text ruler. Tab stops appear in yellow when selected.
Position field Displays the exact tab stop position on the X-axis, in pixels. This value is set in pixels. Editable.
Ruler button Enable to display the tabulation ruler in the text layer.
NOTE The Spell Check settings are available when the Spell Check button is enabled in the Insert settings.
Check All Layers button Runs the spell checker on the text layers. When the spell checker encounters a
misspelled word, it draws a red line through it.
Hide Spelling Errors button Enable to hide the red strike through the line that appears in each misspelled
word.
Custom Dictionary button Enable to use your custom dictionary with the spell checker. Disable this button
to check all spelling. Disable to check all spelling.
Add To Custom Dictionary button Adds a word that the spell checker has flagged to the custom dictionary.
The next time the spell checker encounters this word, it will be ignored.
Anti-Aliasing Softness field Displays the softness value of the anti-aliasing sample. Editable.
PreRender button Enable to accelerate rendering on a static layer, such as a text roll (has no effect on text
layers with animation).
PreRender has no effect on text layers with animation.
Hardware Anti-aliasing Sample box Select a hardware anti-aliasing sampling level to accelerate edge
anti-aliasing with no performance penalty. Available values are dependent on graphics card and project
graphic bit depth.
The graphics hardware automatically renders the image at full speed with approximately the equivalent of
up to 32 samples of anti-aliasing (depending on your graphics card and project graphic bit depth). Hardware
anti-aliasing also gives anti-aliasing during normal interaction instead of only while rendering.
You can combine hardware anti-aliasing level with software anti-aliasing to obtain the desired level of image
quality. For example, with hardware anti-aliasing set to 4 samples, and with 4 samples of software anti-aliasing
selected, your results should be similar to selecting 16 samples of software anti-aliasing, but with a processing
Text | 1611
time much closer to that of 4 samples. You should experiment with different combinations to determine
what works best for you.
Animation Update button Enable to update animated text dynamically in the image area when you play
the clip.
Controls the playback of animated text. When enabled, animated text is updated dynamically in the image
area when you play the clip.
Play Lock button Enable to update the animation settings according to the frame or timebar position as
you move through the clip while keeping it locked at the current frame.
Controls the playback of frames and displays the playback of animated clips exclusively. When enabled, the
first frame is locked while you play the clip.
Wireframe colour pot Displays the colour of the text path. Editable.
Points colour pot Displays the colour of the vertices on a text path. Editable.
See Animating Text on a Motion Path (page 1346).
Global/Layer Blur box Select whether to apply blurring globally or on a per layer basis.
Global Blur makes all shadows appear together, blurred with a single unique colour, on top of the background
of all layers. Layer Blur blurs each layer individually according to its priority—background, blurred shadow,
and fill.
When using Global Blur with prerendering, the layers are prerendered once and blurred on the front clip.
These layers must not have any animation—they are static. For Layer Blur, there are two possible cases:
■ All layers are static, without background. Only fill or shadow can be enabled for all layers—no blur. The
layers are prerendered once and blurred on the front clip.
■ Auto-Softness On, Progressive Rendering, or All Layers Static. Static layers (up to two) are prerendered
once and blurred on the front clip as other layers are rendered.
Entering Text
Font Type box Select the type of font to display in the font browser list.
Font Preview window Previews the selected font. Click to enter text.
Layer Axis box Select an alignment option for the selected text layer.
X Scale field Displays the scale of the text layer along the X axis. Editable.
This value is a percentage, so entering 50 means 50 percent. Use a larger value to increase the scale along
the X-axis. Use a negative value to create a mirror image on the X-axis. Enter 0 to make a layer or selected
characters disappear. The default is 100.
Y Scale field Displays the scale of the text layer along the Y axis. Editable.
This value is a percentage, so entering 50 means 50 percent. Use a larger value to increase the scale along
the Y-axis. Use a negative value to create a mirror image on the Y-axis. Enter 0 to make the layer or selected
characters disappear. The default is 100.
Proportional Scale button Enable to proportionally change the X Scale and Y Scale values.
X Shear field Displays the shear or slant value of the text layer along the X axis. Editable.
Use a positive value to slant right and a negative value to slant left. The maximum and minimum values
are 60 and -60, respectively. The default is 0.
Y Shear field Displays the shear or slant value of the text layer along the Y axis. Editable. Use a positive
value to shear up. A negative value near the minimum value -60 shears down. The maximum and minimum
values are 60 and -60, respectively. The default is 0.
Rotation field Displays a rotation value for a layer rotating around its axis. Editable.
Use a negative value to rotate clockwise and a positive value to rotate counter-clockwise. The default is 0.
Timewarp
A timewarp is an effect in which the speed of the action taking place appears faster or slower than when it
was originally recorded. A freeze-frame effect, in which a single frame is repeated, is another form of a
timewarp. Timewarps can have a constant or variable speed. In some cases, such as when creating a fit to
fill edit on the timeline, a timewarp is added automatically to a clip.
To access the Timewarp, use:
■ Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX (page 469)).
Timewarp | 1613
■ Timeline, then use Batch FX (see Creating Batch FX (page 490)).
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
■ Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
In Batch or Batch FX, the Timewarp node accepts front and matte clips, as well as forward and backward
vectors.
Motion Vectors are 2D vectors that represent the displacement in normalized pixel units of a pixel in the
current frame to the next frame (forward motion vector), or its displacement from the previous frame
(backward motion vector). Motion Vectors can be rendered by a 3D application when dealing with synthetic
images, or produced through image analysis when images come from live action footage.
NOTE There are also some Timeline Timewarp (page 1888) preferences that you can set in the Preferences menu.
These settings are only available if you accessed Timewarp as a Timeline FX, and entered the full editor.
They are informational settings only, to give you information about the segment on the timeline.
Source In field Displays the frame or timecode of the In point of the source segment. Non-editable.
Source Out field Displays the frame or timecode of the Out point of the source segment. Non-editable.
Timewarp In field Displays the frame or timecode of the In point of the timewarp result. Non-editable.
Timewarp Out field Displays the frame or timecode of the Out point of the timewarp result. Non-editable.
Record In field Displays the frame number or Record timecode of the In point of the segment in the sequence.
Non-editable.
Record Out field Displays the frame number or Record timecode of the Out point of the segment in the
sequence. Non-editable.
Timewarp Type box Select a timewarp type: Speed, Timing, or Duration (Duration only available from
timeline timewarp). Different settings appear depending on the type selected. Timewarp types are mutually
exclusive, that is, animation settings are remembered for each type.
TIP On the timeline, you can quickly create speed or duration timewarps with the keypad and a keyboard shortcut.
For speed timewarps, enter the speed on your keyboard, then press Ctrl-T. For example, select the clip, enter
50 on the keypad, then press Ctrl-T to automatically create a 50% timewarp. For duration, use the same method,
but press Alt-T.
Speed Type box Select whether to display the speed as a percentage, or as frames per second.
Speed Timing field This locked field displays the timing animation value for the current time. Non-editable.
Reverse button Enable to create a reverse timewarp effect; that is, change the speed field value to negative
or positive. In Batch, use in conjunction with the Offset field to manually set the desired end of clip.
Timing field Displays the source frame or timecode value for the current time. Editable. You can slip the
source Media underneath a Timeline FX Timewarp, without affecting your keyframes, using the Timing
field.
Duration field Displays the duration of the timewarp in frames or timecode. Editable.
Duration Speed field This locked field displays the speed value corresponding to the duration set in the
Duration field. Non-editable.
Strobe Settings
Repeat field Displays the number of frames or fields to be repeated to create a strobe effect. The strobe effect
is applied after the timewarp effect, so any speed or timing animations are respected when applying the
strobe effect. Editable.
Anchoring Settings
When you access Timewarp as a Timeline FX or within Batch FX, you can see these Anchoring settings:
Anchoring box Select where to set the anchor frame so that its timing is not affected when modifying a
timewarp.
Select: To anchor:
Timewarp | 1615
Select: To anchor:
Start and End Both the In and Out frame values. In this case, any speed changes affect the length of
the media (and the state of the Ripple button has an effect).
When you access Timewarp as a Batch node, you can see these Anchoring settings:
Source field Displays the anchor frame or timecode value of the timewarp. Editable.
Offset field Displays the amount of offset to apply to the anchor point. Editable.
Repeat Mode box Select how out of range timing values are handled.
Select: To:
Lock to Segment Range Only use timing values within the range of the segment. The Timing field is displayed in
red when reaching a timing value that is impossible to achieve with the current source
clip frame range (heads and tails).
Repeat Last Frame Not clamp or limit the timing values, by repeating the last frame when reaching the last
frame of the segment range.
Trim Segment Trim the segment (based on the selected ripple settings), when any modification to the
speed or timing cause the range of source frames to exceed the available frames.
Type: Description:
Mix When mixing frames, you are combining multiple frames together to create one blended
frame using an additive mix. Each result frame is a blend of an equal number of frames
from both sides of the given frame.
Trails With Trails blending, you have more control than in a simple mix. You can blend the
frames before and after a given frame by different amounts. Do this to create a trail that
comes before or after any motion in the clip. You can also set the amount of fall-off for
the blend so that the trail fades away completely, partially, or not at all.
Motion Motion estimation blends frames with subpixel accuracy, and is well-suited for particularly
challenging timewarps. Motion estimation is good for processing slow-motion, constant,
or variable speed timewarps of interlaced and progressive material. It is particularly good
for material that introduces artefacts or for which you cannot get satisfactory results using
Trail or Mix values.
Sample Mode box Select whether the interpolated position of the timewarp is set in relation to the beginning,
middle or end of each frame or field. Available for Mix and Trails types.
Mix Amount field Displays the mix value for the timewarp. Each result frame is a blend of an equal number
of frames from both sides of the given frame. Editable.
Pre Amount field Displays the value to mix the frames that precede the current frame with the current
frame. Editable.
Pre Weight field Displays the fall-off value for the pretrail. When the value is 0%, the image in the current
frame is at 100% intensity and the first image in the trail is at 0% intensity. When the value is at 100%,
there is no fall-off. Editable.
Post amount field Displays the value to mix the frames that follow the current frame with the current
frame. Editable.
Post Weight field Displays the fall-off value for the posttrail. When the value is 0%, the image in the current
frame is at 100% intensity and the first image in the trail is at 0% intensity. When the value is at 100%,
there is no fall-off. Editable.
Timewarp | 1617
Motion Analysis Quality box Select the level of motion analysis accuracy and rendering speed. Select Use
Full Resolution to render the images at the current resolution. In Batch or Batch FX, this setting is unavailable
if an external input is attached to the node's forward vector or backward vector tabs.
Motion Blur Active button Enable to apply a motion blur to the selected clip.
Sample field Displays the number of frames to sample when creating the timewarp. The samples include
the current frame, and an equal distribution of past and future frames. Editable.
Shutter field Displays the number of frames for which the shutter stays open. For example, when the shutter
value is set to 3, every third frame is as a sample. Editable.
Reference Active button Enable to apply the timewarp only to objects that do not have the same relative
motion as the selected pixel. When enabled, you can edit values in the X and Y fields.
Reference colour pot Displays the colour of the crosshair that marks the reference point. Editable
Reference X field Displays the horizontal position of the pixel to use as a reference point at the selected
frame. Editable.
Reference Y field Displays the vertical position of the pixel to use as a reference point at the selected frame.
Editable.
Rendering Mode box Select whether to render in Automatic, Progressive or Interlaced mode.
Interpolation Mode box Select an interpolation mode (available if Interlaced or Automatic is selected in
the Rendering Mode box). Interpolation helps remove field jitter artefacts that are produced when a reversal
of fields occurs during the timewarp.
Select: To:
Full Interpolation Interpolate on all fields. Note that this option has the least aliasing, but you
may notice some softening of the image due to the blending of the fields.
Shift Up Shift the image up by a single line. This may help reduce artefacts that appear
in reverse timewarps of 100%.
Shift Down Shift the image down by a single line. This may help reduce artefacts that
appear in reverse timewarps of 100%.
Warper
Use the Warper to warp a clip or morph from a source clip to a result clip. Warping is free-form distortion
of an image; it is a transition effect that matches the morphology of one clip gradually to that of another
clip, such as when a human is morphing into an alien.
You can access the Warper tool through:
■ Tools, then select from the menu (See Accessing Tools (page 487)).
Setup Name field Displays the name of the last saved setup.
Step Render field Displays the frame number interval to be rendered (to see intermediate results, for example).
Editable.
Setup button Sets playback options, changes display colours, and inputs slip values.
View box Select an option to set the view in the image window.
Auto Key button Enable to set a keyframe automatically each time you change a value at any frame.
Setup Menu
Decimation field Displays the number of subdivisions for the main patches of the mesh. Editable.
Warper | 1619
Decimation is the number of subdivisions for the main patches of the mesh (not the small subdivided
elements). The default decimation value is 10, which means that each patch is divided into 10 by 10 elements.
You should increase this value when:
■ You want to use smoother curves along the edges of the patches.
■ A patch has been greatly subdivided. When the Decimation value is too low, the subdivided sections
will appear to “swim” instead of locking to points and splines.
■ A patch is twisted extensively. When the Decimation value is too low, the interior of the patch may
appear to fold or break up unexpectedly. Increase the value to smooth the interior of the patch.
Keep the following points in mind when you are adjusting the decimation value:
■ Increasing the Decimation value will cause interaction and processing speed to decrease dramatically.
■ The Decimation value remains in effect during final processing.
■ There is no relationship between the Decimation value and the TexPrec value. The Decimation value
defines the precision of the geometry, whereas the TexPrec value affects the precision of the image that
is mapped to this geometry.
Samples field Displays the anti-aliasing factor (the number of samples per pixel during final rendering).
Editable.
The Samples field specifies the anti-aliasing factor. This number specifies the number of samples per pixel
during final processing.
Texture Repeat button Enable to allow pixels to repeat when a source mesh goes outside of the borders of
an image.
Select: To:
High Quality Use high-quality hardware texture rendering. This option always uses the highest level of
precision. High Quality tiles images according to the available texture memory. This option
is the default and is the recommended rendering option for film images or any image
that is greater than the available texture memory.
Low Quality Use low-quality hardware texture rendering, specifically during interactive rendering mode
or when you want to render an image quickly. This option uses the precision level that
you set in the Precision field.
Click Preview to hide the mesh and preview the resulting frame.
Texture Precision field Displays the speed/quality ratio for interaction, as well as the rendering quality
when Low Quality is selected as the rendering option. Editable.
The higher the value, the higher the quality of the display during interaction, and the higher the quality of
final processing when rendering under Low Quality.
Motion Update button Enable to use the same values for properties such as position, rotation, and colour
in the scene. Disable to manually copy keyframe values from one frame to another.
When disabled, animated objects do not move, but keep the position of their current value. Disable Motion
Update when you want to copy keyframe values from one frame to another.
Front Slip field Displays the number of frames to slip the front clip. Editable.
Back Slip field Displays the number of frames to slip the back clip. Editable.
Front Matte Slip field Displays the number of frames to slip the front matte clip. Editable.
Back Matte Slip field Displays the number of frames to slip the back matte clip. Editable.
Icons button Enable to display splines, tangents, and vertices in the image.
Spline colour pot Displays the colour of splines in the image. Editable.
Tangent colour pot Displays the colour of tangents in the image. Editable.
Vertex colour pot Displays the colour of vertices in the image. Editable.
Main Menu
Xcells field Displays the number of patches along the X axis. Editable.
Ycells field Displays the number of patches along the Y axis. Editable.
Proportional button Enable to keep the XCells and YCells fields proportional.
Front Clip Setup box Select an option for using the front clip.
Back Clip Setup box Select an option for using the back clip.
Matte Clip Setup box Select an option for using the matte clip.
Back Matte Clip Setup box Select an option for using the back matte clip.
Background Clip Setup box Select an option for using the background clip.
Show Front Source button Enable to display the front source mesh in the image.
Front Source colour pot Displays the colour for the front source mesh. Editable.
Show Front Destination button Enable to display the front destination mesh in the image.
Front Destination colour pot Displays the colour for the front destination mesh. Editable.
Show Back Source button Enable to display the back source mesh in the image.
Back Source colour pot Displays the colour for the back source mesh. Editable.
Show Back Destination button Enable to display the back destination mesh in the image.
Warper | 1621
Back Destination colour pot Displays the colour for the back destination mesh. Editable.
Show Source Interpolation button Enable to display source interpolation in the image.
Front Source Mapping box Select the area that the front source is mapped to.
Front Destination Mapping box Select the area that the front destination is mapped to.
Back Source Mapping box Select the area that the back source is mapped to.
Back Destination Mapping box Select the area that the back destination is mapped to.
X Position field Displays the position of the control points along the X axis. Editable.
Y Position field Displays the position of the control points along the Y axis. Editable.
Z Position field Displays the position of the control points along the Z axis. Editable.
Dissolve field Displays the percentage change in the colour of the pixels at the current frame. Editable.
Interpolate field Displays the percentage change in the position of the pixels at the current frame. Editable.
Move Mode box Select an option to change the position, size, and orientation of part or all of the mesh.
Subdivide button Enable to divide patches in a mesh into smaller subpatches and split the edges into smaller
segments.
Select button Enable to select multiple control points to translate, scale, or rotate all or part of the mesh.
Freehand button Enable to perform intricate mesh modelling by clicking to create a freehand mesh.
Magnet button Enable to use the Magnet tool to define the shape of the warped image.
Magnet Mode box Select a transformation type to use when Magnet is enabled.
Magnet Curve Editor Defines the weighted polarity from the centre to the edge of the magnet.
Magnet Curve Home button Resets the position of the magnet curve after panning.
Magnet Curve Tools box Select an option to modify the magnet curve.
Stabilizer button Opens the Stabilizer menu to track movement in the clip to help in creating meshes.
Stabilizer Clip box Select the clip to be loaded into the stabilizer.
Tracking Mesh box Select whether to apply the tracking data to the source or destination mesh.
Warper | 1623
1624
Animating Keyframes
24
You can build animations simply by editing the values of parameters in any effect editor or menu. When you animate a
parameter, you create an animation channel that you can use to control the values of the parameter over time.
To use auto key to build animations automatically in the editor for an effect or tool:
NOTE When auto key is enabled, you create keyframes whenever you change the value for a parameter. You also change
the value of any parameter that you have already set.
To delete keyframes:
NOTE A yellow bar appears under values that are keyframed at the current frame.
Select: To:
Reset (Default Value) Reset the value of the keyframe to the original value.
1625
Select: To:
Reset Channel (Current Value) Reset the value of the entire channel to the current value.
Reset Channel (Default Value) Reset the entire channel to the original value.
Indicator Example
An asterisk in a field indicates that a value has changed from the default, but a
keyframe is not set. Once a keyframe is set, the asterisk disappears.
A blue line under a numeric field indicates that one or more keyframes are present
on this channel, but not at the current frame.
A yellow line under a numeric field indicates that a keyframe is present on this
channel at this point in time.
A dotted yellow line under a numeric field indicates that this channel is linked to
another channel using an expression. In this case, the numeric value is also greyed
out, as the value can not be modified. The name of the linking channel is also
displayed as part of the tooltip.
Expression / Keyframes indicators are also displayed above a Batch, Batch FX or Modular Keyer node. The
indicators appear when the node contains at least one Expression or one Keyframe.
■ The Expression indicator is represented by a yellow dotted circle:
1 Click Animation.
The Animation Channel Editor is displayed in the bottom area of the window.
Select: To display:
Tracks Animation channels as tracks. This view can help you visualize and align keyframes.
NOTE These buttons are located at the bottom left corner of the Animation Channel Editor.
NOTE You can zoom x and y independently. Use the Zoom command from the Tools box. Click and drag up or
down to zoom the y axis. Click and drag left or right to zoom the x axis.
TIP It can be useful to set keys across multiple channels using the Track Editor since this view focuses on
channels, and their composing keyframes, in time. To view the Track Editor, select Track from the Channel
View box.
NOTE You can snap the keyframes you add to a frame (rather than in between frames). From the Curve
Functions box, select FrmSnap.
To insert a keyframe:
1 In the Animation Channel Editor, select the channel that includes the keyframes you want to change.
2 Click Frame to view the channel.
3 From the Tools box, choose Select.
NOTE To select keyframes in only the selected channel, press Ctrl+F and drag a rectangular selection around
the keyframes you want to select.
5 Drag the keyframes to the new values. Press Alt to snap the frame value (vertical axis) to the nearest
integer. Press Ctrl+Alt to snap to the nearest multiple of ten.
NOTE Enable Track Snap on the Filter tab to snap keyframes to frames (not in-between frames). Or, press Alt+Z
to snap when Track Snap is disabled.
1 Select the Channel that has the keyframe you want to change.
2 Set the positioner to the frame where the keyframe is located.
3 Click the value next to the channel name and enter a new value in the calculator. Or click the number
and drag to change its value gesturally.
NOTE If an expression is applied to the selected channel, the expression is copied instead.
TIP Keyframes do not have to follow one another to be copied and pasted to another channel.
NOTE With the Select tool active, you can also Shift+spacebar-click a channel to paste keyframes starting
from the location of the cursor. For example, Shift+spacebar-click frame 10 on a channel to paste the
copied keyframes into the channel starting at frame 10.
The keyframe values for the selected channels are pasted and set in the current frame.
1 From the Channel View box in the Keyframe tab, select Channels. The Channel View box is to the left
of the Insert Key button.
2 Select the channel containing the animation curve.
3 Click Copy.
4 Select the channel where you want to paste the copied curve.
5 Click Paste.
The channel values you copied are applied to the selected channel or folder.
When changing the length of channels, you may want to adjust the number of frames of the clip in the
Total Frames field. For example, if you shorten the length of all the clip's channels, you can then shorten
the clips' frames accordingly. Or, if you scale the channels longer than the duration of the clip, you can
then add frames to account for this.
NOTE To avoid adding keyframes between frames when scaling, press Alt-Z while scaling. If you have already
scaled the track, Select Frame Snap from the Curve Functions box to snap keyframes in the selected channel
to the closest frame numbers.
The track scales as you drag the handle. All keyframes are repositioned proportionally in time.
TIP You can move the handle of a folder to scale all channels in the folder. For example, moving the handle
of the Scene folder (the top level folder) causes all the folders and channels in the hierarchy to be scaled by
the same amount.
To change the number of frames between the current and next keyframe:
1 Select a keyframe.
2 In the Duration field, which is next to the Insert Key button in the Animation Channel Editor, enter
a value for the number of frames between the selected keyframe and the next keyframe.
To offset a channel:
(a) The Y curve before applying Simplify has a keyframe at each frame
(a) The Y curve after applying Simplify with a simplification value of 20.
To remove jitter:
Applying an Average
keyframes:averagingSelect Average in the Curve Functions box to remove jitter from a jittery animation
track. While the Jitter option is used for removing jitter caused by trackers in the Stabilizer, the Average
option is used to remove jitter from an animation track. Enter the number of keyframes used to calculate
the average in the Curve Value field.
You can change the timing of a motion path animation without changing the motion path spline by adding
a keyframe to the speed curve.
To average a channel:
NOTE You must break tangent handles to move them independently. From the Tools box, select Break
Tangents and click the tangents you want to break.
NOTE Tangent R and Tangent L only work on curves and keyframes that use Bézier, Hermite, or Natural
interpolation. Select your option from the Interpolation box.
(a) The same Hermite curve after applying Tangent L of 36. A break is applied to all keyframes before the tangents
are rotated.
Select: To:
3 Select how you want to expand or collapse channels that appear in the filtered view.
Select: To:
Exp & Col Expand animated or selected channels and collapse all others.
Expand Only Expand animated and selected channels. All previously expanded channels remain
selected.
4 Select how you want to display folders that contain channels in the filtered view.
Select: To:
Hide All Show only the animated or selected properties, for example, the X and Y values of an
axis. All other properties in the same parent folder are hidden. All other folders are also
hidden.
Hide Group Show only the animated or selected channel, its parent folder, and all channels in the
same group, where a group includes all folders in the same parent folder. All other
parent folders and groups are hidden.
NOTE If multiple channels are animated or selected, all corresponding parent folders
and groups are shown.
5 From the Auto Frame box, select an option for framing your view of the Animation Channel Editor.
Select: To frame:
All All channels. This option is the same behavior as clicking the Frame All button in the
Animation Channel Editor.
Selected All selected channels. This option is the same behavior as clicking the Frame button
in the Animation Channel Editor.
None No channels. This option enables the Frame and Frame All buttons in the Animation
controls.
6 Enable Track Snap to force key frames to snap to whole frame numbers as you drag them.
7 Enable Filter Tangent to display tangents only on selected channels. This can help you cleanup the
display.
1 Open the Animation Channel Editor from the tool where you saved your display preferences in.
2 On the User tab, click Load Prefs.
3 Click the Filter tab. Display preferences you saved are now activated on the Filter tab.
Using Selection Sets to Control the Channels and Folders You Want
to Display
selection sets, in Channel Editor;Channel Editor:selection sets;animation:creating filtersWith a selection
set, you can control the channels and folders you want to display in the Animation Channel Editor.
4 Select the channels or folders you want to in your selection set. If you are displaying the Batch or Batch
FX schematic, you can select the nodes that you want in your selection set.
Notice that channels and folders in Animation Channel Editor turn green as you make selections. This
helps you identify the channels and folders in the selection set.
6 Disable Define.
NOTE The Audio menu has a number of submenus with various settings. You may not need to use every
setting to analyse your audio clip. See the sections after this procedure for an explanation of each setting.
2 From the Media Source box, select whether you want to analyse the current audio clip (Clip) or import
an audio clip (File).
If there is more than one audio clip associated with your choice (for example, Front, Back, or Matte),
you can choose which one to use in the Name box. If only one audio clip is available, the name of the
clip appears in a locked field.
If you select File, click Import to open the Import Audio browser, and select an audio file to import.
3 In the Channel hierarchy, select the channel or channels you want to link the audio to.
The letter ‘a’ appears next to the channel in the Channel hierarchy, indicating that this channel is
linked to the audio.
6 Use the settings in the Mapping submenu to determine how the audio track is mapped to the selected
channel. Keyframes are adjusted automatically as changes are made to the settings.
7 Use the settings in the Filtering submenu to filter the exact frequencies you want to analyse. Keyframes
are adjusted automatically as changes are made to the settings.
8 Disable Link To Channel or exit the module when you are satisfied with the analysis. The generated
keyframes are automatically baked to the animation curve.
You can use different audio tracking settings on different channels. Disable Link To Channel and select
a different channel in the hierarchy and restart the mapping process.
NOTE If you want to be able to tweak the settings, you can save the analysis settings in an audio tracker setup.
Reset box Available in the Media, Mapping, and Filtering submenus. In the Setup submenu, only Reset All
is available.Select whether to reset the current Audio submenu, or all of the Audio settings.
Media Submenu
Clip Name box If multiple audio clips are available, select which clip to use as source media. If only one
audio clip is available, the name of the clip appears in a locked field.
Slip field Displays the amount of frames to slip the media. Editable.
Handles field Displays the amount of handles (frames) to analyse before and after the current shot duration.
Editable.
For example, with a shot of 100 frames, if you enter 30 in this field, the total number of frames becomes
160 (30 frames before and 30 frames after the original 100 frames).
(a) Audio Level Indicator (b) Tracking Mode box (c) Listening Mode box
Tracking Mode box Select whether to use an Amplitude or Transient tracking mode. In Amplitude tracking
mode, a keyframe is generated at each frame, following the envelope of the audio signal. In Transient tracking
mode, a keyframe is generated for each audio transient (sudden rise in amplitude), provided that the signal
rises above the specified threshold.
Listening Mode box Choose between Pre Filter (audio as it was imported) and Post Filter (audio with any
changes made) monitoring when playing back audio media. Does not affect the analysis.
Link to Channel button Enable to map the tracked audio to the selected animation channel. An 'a' appears
in the channel list next to the name of the linked channel. Multiple channels can be selected simultaneously.
Channel Name field This locked field displays the name of the selected channel being linked to the tracked
audio. Multiple Channels is displayed if more than one channel is selected.
Min Value field Displays the minimum value at which keyframes can be set in the linked channel. Editable.
Max Value field Displays the maximum values at which keyframes can be set in the linked channel. Editable.
NOTE The minimum value can be higher than the maximum value to get an inverse mapping of the tracking
mode in the animation channel.
Attack field Displays the number of frames needed for the channel to reach the Max Value before a transient.
Available only in Transient tracking mode. Editable.
Release field Displays the number of frames needed for the channel to reach the Min Value after a transient.
Available only in Transient tracking mode. Editable.
Threshold field (Not shown). Displays the value at which a keyframe is generated each time the signal rises
above it. Available only in Transient tracking mode. Editable.
TIP Start with a high threshold, and lower it until all required peaks are detected.
Floor field Displays the minimum level of the audio media to be considered for the analysis (typically used
to remove analysis noise between audio transients). Available only in Amplitude tracking mode. Editable.
Inertia field Displays the rate at which the signal decreases after a transient. Editable.
In Transient tracking mode, the Release field can be increased to avoid the generation of several consecutive
keyframes when the transient is not clearly defined in the input signal. Conversely, if the Release field is set
to 0 ms, each transient rising above the threshold generates a keyframe, even if each occurs within a few
milliseconds of another.
Audio Level Indicator A visual representation of the audio level and the current Threshold or Floor value.
Reset box Select Reset to reset the Mapping submenu settings only. Select Reset All to reset all of the Audio
tab settings.
NOTE Some of the settings in the Mapping submenu are repeated in the Filtering submenu so that you do not
to have to switch tabs to change the settings. The same settings are reflected in both submenus.
Filtering Submenu
(a) Audio Level Indicator (b) Tracking Mode box (c) Frequency Graph (d) Listening Mode box
Frequency Graph A visual frequency representation of the audio signal being tracked. The audio display is
always Pre Filter.
Frequency Range Preset box Select a frequency range preset to determine the cutoff frequencies for Low
and High filters.
Low field Displays the lowest frequency of the input signal used in the analysis (also represented by a triangle
under the frequency graph). Use the slider or field to adjust. Editable.
High field Displays the highest frequency of the input signal used in the analysis (also represented by a
triangle under the frequency graph). Use the slider or field to adjust. Editable.
NOTE Some of the settings in the Filtering submenu are repeated in the Mapping submenu so that you do not
to have to switch tabs to change the settings. The same settings are reflected in both submenus.
Setup Submenu
Common Settings
Regen button Enable to automatically update the scene when an animation change is made.
Channel View box Select a view of Channels, Tracks, or Info to control and coordinate your animation.
Auto Select button Enable to select the channel automatically when you modify a channel value in the
field for an effect or tool.
Set Key button Sets the current values for the selected channels in the current frame (when Auto Key is
disabled).
Animation Reset box Select to reset the selected channel or all channels.
Keyframe Submenu
Curve Value field Displays the value for the selection in the Curve Functions box. Editable.
Insert Key button Inserts a keyframe. Its behaviour changes depending on where the keyframe is inserted.
Absolute/Relative box Select whether the value in the Duration field is absolute or relative to the present
keyframe value.
Tangents box Select the behaviour of the keyframe tangents to help refine the shape of an animation curve
between keyframes.
Interpolation box Select an interpolation type to define the shape of an animation curve between keyframes.
Extrapolation box Select an extrapolation type to define the shape of an animation curve before the first
keyframe and after the last keyframe of the curve.
User Submenu
Filter button Enable to create and name a selection set (the channels, folders, and folder elements that you
want to display as part of a set).
Selection Set box Select a user-defined selection set. Select <new user> to create a selection set.
Define button Enable to display channels in red and green to indicate the channels contained in the current
user-defined selection set.
Delete button Removes the currently selected selection set from the Selection Set box.
Use Selection button Displays the current selection set in the Channel Editor and at the same time saves
the current selection set.
Add Selection To button Adds the current selection to the active selection set.
Load Filter Preferences button Loads the filter preferences last saved for the module.
Save Filter Preferences button Saves the current filter settings as preferences for the module.
Filter Submenu
Animated button Enable to display channels that have animation keyframes. Use in conjunction with the
Animated Expansion and Animated Show/Hide boxes to further control the content displayed.
Selected button Enable to display only channels that are selected in the Channel Editor. Use in conjunction
with the Selected Expansion and Selected Show/Hide boxes to further control the content displayed.
Auto Frame box Select an option to frame channels automatically. If None is selected, the Frame and Frame
All buttons are enabled.
Filter Tangents button Enable to display only the tangent handles of selected channels.
WARNING Expressions override interpolation modes and previously set keyframes for a selected channel.
(a) Channel View box (b) Reset Channel button (c) Expressions button
5 Enter an expression according to the guidelines described in Operator Reference (page 1657) and Function
Reference (page 1659) and press Enter.
The letter 'e' appears next to the channel in the channel hierarchy, indicating that this channel contains
an expression.
NOTE Entering an invalid expression will result in the message “Error: Expression: parse error” and the
entered expression will not be applied to the channel.
TIP When you are in the Expression field, you can press Up one or more times to retrieve its previous contents.
This can be useful if you want to correct an invalid expression that you recently entered.
To remove an expression:
Linking Channels
animation:linking channels with expressionsChannel Editor:linking channels with
expressionsexpressions:linking channelsYou can create an expression by linking the behaviour of one channel
to another using Copy and Link. You can link different types of channels together. For example, make the
scaling of a layer affect the rotation of another layer, or blur a layer by linking it to the position of an axis.
Any change that occurs in the position of the axis is reflected dynamically in the layer blur.
(a) Channel View box (b) Link button (c) Copy button
Cascading Expressions
You can copy a single expression to multiple channels that build on the result in the previous channel using
the SelectionOrder and CascadeChannel keywords. These keywords increment the channel number or name
as follows:
■ Each instance of SelectionOrder increments the channel number.
■ Each instance of CascadeChannel replaces the occurrence of the channel name with the name of the
preceding channel, relative to the order in which the channels are selected.
In general, experiment with the SelectionOrder and CascadeChannel keywords to determine which results
are optimal for your animation.
1 In Action, add four axes named axis1, axis2, axis3 and axis4.
2 Animate axis1.position by creating a few keyframes.
3 Select the channels axis2.position, axis3.position and axis4.position in this order.
4 Enter the following expression: eval(axis1.position, frame - 5 * SelectionOrder).
The following expressions are applied:
■ axis1.position: no expression
■ axis2.position: eval(axis1.position, frame - 5 * 1)
■ axis3.position: eval(axis1.position, frame - 5 * 2)
■ axis4.position: eval(axis1.position, frame - 5 * 3)
1 In Action, add four axes named axis1, axis2, axis3 and axis4.
2 Animate axis1.position by creating a few keyframes.
3 Select, in this order, the channels axis1.position, axis2.position, axis3.position and axis4.position.
4 Enter the following expression: eval(CascadeChannel, frame - 5).
The following are applied:
■ axis1.position: no expression
■ axis2.position: eval(axis1.position, frame - 5)
■ axis3.position: eval(axis2.position, frame - 5)
■ axis4.position: eval(axis3.position, frame - 5)
NOTE This results in the same animation as the SelectionOrder example given above.
Channel Expression
image2.material.transparency image1.material.transparency* 2
Vectors
vectors, in expressions;expressions:vectorsCertain channels such as Position, Rotation, Scale, and Shear are
vector based since they represent 3D space and include X-, Y-, and Z-axes. A vector contains three elements
that represent the individual components of the channel. Vectors are written using the convention (x, y, z)
where x, y, and z represent separate scalar values.
Expressions can either affect the components of a vector individually or collectively. For example, the
following expression sets the individual rotation for the x, y, and z axes to 30°, 45° and 90°, respectively.
Channel Expression
The following expression sets the rotation for axis2 twice that of axis1, affecting the vector collectively.
Channel Expression
axis2.rotation axis1.rotation* 2
Functions
functions, in expressions;expressions:functionsFlame includes many predefined functions that can be used
to perform calculations in an expression. You pass function-specific values, called arguments, and they return
another value back to the expression that called it. A function call in an expression begins with the function
name, followed by an opening parenthesis, the arguments for the function separated by commas, and finally
a closing parenthesis.
Arguments for functions can be either scalar values or vectors. When you use a function, make sure that
you pass it the correct type of parameter. See Function Reference (page 1659) for information on the arguments
and return values for each function.
You can nest function calls by using the return value of a function as one of the arguments of another
function. When a nested function is used as an argument, it must return a value that conforms to the type
and range that the argument requires.
Examples
The following expression uses the noise function to create a random positioning effect for axis1.
Channel Expression
axis1.position.x noise(frame)*5
The following expression uses the eval function to make the position of axis2 the same as that of axis1, but
delayed by 10 frames.
Channel Expression
The following expression uses the eval function to make the animation of axis3 the same as that of axis1,
but at half the speed.
Channel Expression
Select: To display:
PI 3.1416...
freefall Standard free fall acceleration near the earth's surface (9.80665 m/sec^2)
axis1.position.y x + 50 axis1.position.x + 50
References to other channels also work when referring to the siblings of any parent. For example, consider
the following structure.
You can apply the expression position.x to axis.rotation.x because position is a sibling of rotation, and
rotation is a parent of rotation.x.
Operator Reference
expressions:operatorsOperators specify a mathematical or logical calculation to be performed between various
elements of an expression.
Arithmetic Operators
Operator Description
+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
Comparison Operators
Use the following operators to compare two values with each other. When two values are compared using
these operators, the result is 1 if the comparison is true and 0 if the comparison is false.
Operator Description
== Equal to
!= Not equal to
|| Boolean OR
! Boolean NOT
Operator Precedence
When you combine several operators in a single expression, the operations are performed in the following
order.
1 ! Boolean NOT
6 == and != Equivalence
8 || Boolean OR
When operators with the same precedence are encountered, operators are evaluated from left to right.
However, when part of a formula is enclosed in parentheses, it is evaluated first.
Function Reference
expressions:functionsYou can easily create very complex expressions by using the available functions. This
function reference provides detailed information about each function. Function arguments in square brackets
are optional. However, if you give a value to an optional argument, you must also give a value to every
optional argument before that one.
Animation Functions
Use the following functions to animate channels in a general way.
NOTE Arguments shown in square brackets are optional. For example, in the syntax of the align function, the
options [AxisToAlign] and [BankingAngle] are optional.
align
Returns a rotation vector such that a designated axis of an object is aligned with the direction of the object's
movement. You can also bank the rotation around the axis. The result should usually be assigned to a
rotation channel.
Arguments: ■ PosToFollow is the vector representing the channel to align on, typically an animated
position.
■ AxisToAlign is the vector representing the axis with which to align, by default the X-
axis (1,0,0).
■ BankingAngle is the angle in radians by which to rotate the result about the AxisToAlign
(performs banking). If the BankingAngle argument is specified, the AxisToAlign argument
must also be specified.
Example: align(axis.position, (0,0,1), frame * PI / 8) returns a rotation vector that points the object's
Z-axis in the direction of its motion while the rest of the axis rotates along this axis.
Returns a rotation vector based on an object's position that points it towards a second moving object. The
result should usually be assigned to a rotation channel.
Arguments: ■ TargetPos is the vector of an object's position channel that you want the rotation vector
to point towards.
■ ObserverPos is the vector of the position channel from which you are looking.
■ AlignVector is the vector of the direction that you want to have looking at the target,
by default the Z-axis (0,0,1).
■ UpVector is the vector of the direction that you want to be pointing upwards, by default
the Y-axis (0,1,0). The UpVector should be set to a different vector than the AlignVector.
If the UpVector argument is specified, the AlignVector argument must also be specified.
eval
Arguments: ■ Expression is the expression to be evaluated. This can be any valid channel value.
■ FrameNumber is the frame to simulate when evaluating the given expression.
if
Returns one of two values based on the result of a conditional test. You can nest multiple functions inside
each other to handle multiple results.
Arguments: ■ Condition is any channel or expression. When comparison operators are used, a true
expression evaluates to 1 and a false expression evaluates to 0. See Comparison Oper-
ators (page 1658).
Examples: ■ if(axis.position.y >= 100, 5, -5) returns 5 when axis.position.yis greater than or equal
to 100, and -5 otherwise.
■ if(frame < 10 || frame >20, 100, 200) returns 100 when the current frame is less than
10 or above 20, and 200 otherwise.
■ if(axis.position.x, 6, 7) returns 6 when axis.position.x is something other than 0, and 7
when it is 0.
■ if(axis.position.x == 100 && axis.position.y != 200,8, 9) returns 8 when axis.position.x
is 100 and axis.position.y is not 200, and 9 otherwise.
■ The next four examples all equivalently return 5 when neither axis.position.x nor axis.po-
sition.y are greater than or equal to 0, and -5 otherwise.
ease
Returns a number from 0 to 1 representing a smooth S-curve transition between a given range of frames.
All frames before the start frame are assigned 0 and all frames after the end frame are assigned 1. A start
weight and end weight specify how the S-curve is formed.
Arguments: ■ StartFrame and EndFrame are the frames at which the transition starts and ends respect-
ively.
■ StartWeight and EndWeight are numbers that specify how curvature is distributed at
the start and end of the curve respectively. To get an S-curve, their sum should be less
than 1, otherwise a square curve will result. In addition, if either of these two arguments
are specified, the other must also be specified.
Examples: ■ ease(10, 50) * 100 returns a standard S-curve from 0 to 100between frames 10 and 50.
■ 80 - ease(1, 40) * 20 returns a standard S-curve from 80 to60 between frames 1 and
40.
■ ease(1, 30, 0.2, 0.2) * 50 + 10 returns a tight S-curve from10 to 60 between frames 1
and 30.
■ ease(10, 80) * 150 yields the following curve:
bell
Returns a set of values representing a bell (normal distribution) curve over time. You can specify the centre
frame number and height and width characteristics of the curve.
Arguments: ■ CentreFrame is the frame number at which the bell curve will reach its maximum height.
■ Height is the maximum height of the bell curve.
■ Width specifies the horizontal distribution of the curve.
Examples: ■ bell(10, 100, 3) returns a bell curve centred around frame10 with a maximum height
of 100 and a width distribution of 3.
■ bell(50, 150, 10) yields the following curve:
NOTE Slip functions are actually implemented as user-defined functions in the functions file. See Defining Your
Own Functions (page 1680).
pingpong
Returns a slip value that makes a clip continuously cycle forwards and backwards. The result should usually
be assigned to the slip channel of a layer.
Syntax: pingpong(length)
Arguments: ■ length is the number of frames to display before starting to play backwards. This is
usually the length of the original clip.
Examples: ■ pingpong(10) returns a slip value that makes a clip continuously play in a forward and
backward cycle from frame 1 to frame 10.
■ pingpong(30) yields the following curve:
Returns a slip value that makes a clip continuously repeat forwards. The result should usually be assigned
to the slip channel of a layer.
Syntax: repeat(length)
Arguments: ■ length is the number of frames to display before repeating from the beginning. This is
usually the length of the original clip.
Examples: ■ repeat(10) returns a slip value that makes a clip repeat forwards from frame 1 to frame
10.
■ repeat(30) yields the following curve:
repeatback
Returns a slip value that makes a clip continuously repeat backwards. The result should usually be assigned
to the slip channel of a layer.
Syntax: repeatback(length)
Arguments: ■ length is the number of frames from the beginning to display backwards before repeat-
ing. This is usually the length of the original clip.
Examples: ■ repeatback(10) returns a slip value that makes a clip repeat backwards from frame 10
to frame 1.
■ repeatback(30) yields the following curve:
Returns a slip value that makes a clip display at a given timebar frame. If the given frame number is constant,
the resulting clips will freeze at that frame. The result should usually be assigned to the slip channel of a
layer.
Syntax: frametoslip(TimebarFrame)
Examples: ■ frametoslip(10) returns a slip value that makes a clip freeze at frame 10.
■ frametoslip(frame / 2) returns a slip value that makes a clisplay at half the normal speed.
■ frametoslip(14) yields the following curve:
abs
Returns the absolute value of a given number. The absolute value is the positive value of any number.
Syntax: abs(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the number of which you want the absolute value.
sign
Returns the sign of a given number. The sign function returns 1 if the number is above or equal to zero, and
returns -1 if less than zero.
Syntax: sign(Number)
pow
Syntax: pow(Number,Power)
sqrt
Syntax: sqrt(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the non-negative number of which you want the square root.
max
Arguments: ■ Number1 and Number2 are numbers of which you want to find the maximum value.
min
Arguments: ■ Number1 and Number2 are numbers of which you want to find the minimum value.
mod
Returns the integer remainder from dividing one number by another. This function is useful for repeating
an animation every given number of frames.
rand
Returns a random value between -1 and 1, based on the value used as an argument, called the seed. Using
the same seed in the rand function for multiple channels produces the exact same results. To create completely
random results, use the true rand function.
Syntax: rand(Seed)
Arguments: ■ Seed is the value used to generate the random return value. This is usually set to a
changing value such as the current frame number.
Examples: ■ rand(frame % 10) * 50 + 50 returns a set of random values between0 and 100 that re-
peats every 10 frames.
■ rand(frame) * 100 returns a random value between -100 and 100for every frame in the
animation. The following curve shows the result of this function:
truerand
Returns a truly random value between two given numbers. The sequence of returned values will constantly
change, never reproducing past results.
Arguments: ■ Low and High are the upper and lower bounds, respectively, of the random number to
generate.
noise
Returns a random value between -1 and 1, based on a given vector. If the parameter varies smoothly, this
function will return a continuously changing value that also varies smoothly.
Syntax: noise(Position)
noise3
Returns a random vector for all elements in a vector between -1 and 1. If the parameter varies smoothly,
this function will return a vector of continuously changing values that also vary smoothly.
Syntax: noise3(Position)
Arguments: ■ Position is a vector used as a seed for the returned random vector.
Returns a random value between -1 and 1, based on a given vector. If the parameter varies smoothly, this
function will return a continuously changing value that also varies smoothly to a fractal pattern. This
function is similar to the noise function, but it applies a fractal pattern to the result.
Syntax: fnoise(Position)
Arguments: ■ Position is a vector used as a seed for the returned random value.
turbulence
Returns a random value between -1 and 1, based on a given vector and with the ability to control the level
of smoothness for the resulting curve.
Arguments: ■ Position is a vector used as a seed for the returned random value.
■ Level is a positive integer where the greater the value, the greater the jitter applied to
the resulting curve. If this argument is set to a value less than 1, the level will be treated
as if 1 were used. If it is set to a number with a fractional component, the number will
be rounded down to the nearest integer.
turbulence3
Returns a random vector for all elements in a vector between -1 and 1, along with the ability to control the
smoothness of the resulting curve. If the position parameter varies smoothly, this function will return a
vector of continuously changing values that also vary smoothly.
Arguments: ■ Position is a vector used as a seed for the returned random vector.
■ Level is a positive integer used to control the level of jitter of the resulting curve. If this
argument is set to a value less than 1, the level will be treated as if 1 were used. If it is
set to a number with a fractional component, the number will be rounded down to the
nearest integer.
NOTE Although you can use these rounding functions as you would any other predefined function, they are
actually implemented as user-defined functions in the functions file provided with the Flame installation. See De-
fining Your Own Functions (page 1680).
round
Syntax: round(Number)
ceil
Syntax: ceil(Number)
Syntax: floor(Number)
trunc
Syntax: trunc(Number)
Trigonometric Functions
The following functions are useful for working with angles and performing various trigonometric calculations.
degrees
Syntax: degrees(Angle)
Syntax: radians(Angle)
cos
Syntax: cos(Angle)
Arguments: ■ Angle is the angle in radians of which you want the cosine.
sin
Syntax: sin(Angle)
Arguments: ■ Angle is the angle in radians of which you want the sine.
Syntax: tan(Angle)
Arguments: ■ Angle is the angle in radians of which you want the tangent.
acos
Returns the arccosine—the inverse function of the cosine—of a given number. The returned angle is given
in radians within the range 0 to PI.
Syntax: acos(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the cosine of the angle you want and must be between-1 and 1.
Returns the arcsine—the inverse function of the sine—of a given number. The returned angle is given in
radians within the range -PI/2 to PI/2.
Syntax: asin(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the sine of the angle you want and must be between-1 and 1.
atan
Returns the arctangent—the inverse function of the tangent— of a given number. The returned angle is
given in radians within the range -PI/2 to PI/2.
Syntax: atan(Number)
atan2
Returns the arctangent of y/x, using the signs of both arguments to determine the quadrant of the return
value. The arctangent is the angle from the origin to the vector (x,y). The returned angle is given in radians
within the range -PI to PI.
Syntax: atan2(x, y)
Arguments: ■ x and y are the components of the vector to be used in the function.
Vector Functions
Use the following functions for performing various vector-related operations.
Returns the euclidean length (magnitude) of a given vector. The euclidian length is equivalent to the
expression sqrt(pow(Vector.x, 2) + pow(Vector.y, 2) + pow(Vector.z, 2)).
Syntax: length(Vector)
Arguments: ■ Vector is the vector of which you want the euclidean length.
dot
Returns the scalar dot-product of two given vectors. The dot-product is the product of the lengths of two
vectors and the cosine of the angle between them. If the two vectors are at a right angle (90 degrees), their
dot-product is 0.
If the product of their lengths equals 1 and they point in opposite directions (180 degrees), their dot-product
is -1. The dot-product is equivalent to the expression V1.x * V2.x + V1.y * V2.y + V1.z * V2.z.
Arguments: ■ V1 and V2 are the vectors of which you want the dot-product.
cross
Returns the vector cross-product of two given vectors. The cross-product is the vector perpendicular to the
plane containing the two vectors. In effect, there will be a right angle between the returned vector and the
first given vector, as well as a right angle between the returned vector and the second given vector. The
length of the resulting vector is equal to the product of the two vectors and the sine of the angle between
them. The cross-product is equivalent to the vector (V1.y * V2.z - V1.z *V2.y, V1.z * V2.x - V1.x * V2.z, V1.x
* V2.y - V1.y * V2.x).
Arguments: ■ V1 and V2 are the vectors of which you want the cross-product.
Logarithmic Functions
Use the following functions for performing various logarithmic calculations.
log
Returns the natural logarithm of a given number. The log function is the inverse of the exp function.
Syntax: log(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the positive number of which you want the natural logarithm.
log10
Syntax: log10(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the positive number of which you want the base-10logarithm.
Returns the natural logarithm of 1 plus a given number. The log1p function is the inverse of the expm1
function.
Syntax: log1p(Number)
Arguments: ■ Number is the positive number less 1 of which you want the natural logarithm.
exp
Returns the constant e (the base of the natural logarithm) raised to the power of a given number. The exp
function is the inverse of the log function.
Syntax: exp(Number)
Returns the constant e (the base of the natural logarithm) raised to the power of a given number, minus 1.
The expm1 function is the inverse of the log1p function.
Syntax: expm1(Number)
NOTE You should have a good understanding of how to use functions in expressions before you define your own
functions.
To define a function for your current project, add it to the project-specific file. Modifying this file will affect
only that project and not any other existing or future projects.
If you decide that you want to use the function in future projects, copy it from the project-specific file to
the template file. When you create a project, the template file is copied to your project directory as the
Enter: To:
The functions file opens in a shell and you can edit it as you would any other text file.
Defining a Function
A function is composed of a function name, with the list of arguments, and the expression that forms its
definition. You start a function by its name, followed by an opening parenthesis, the arguments for the
function separated by commas, and finally a closing parenthesis. The following rules apply for function and
argument names:
■ The first character of a function name must be a letter, and subsequent characters can only contain letters
or numbers. For example, sin100 is a valid function name, although 100sin is not.
■ The first character of an argument must be a dollar sign ( $ ), the second character must be a letter, and
subsequent characters can only contain letters or numbers. For example, $arg1 is a valid argument name,
although $1 and arg3 are not.
■ Function names and arguments are case sensitive, meaning that lowercase and uppercase make a difference.
The function name and its definition are separated by a colon ( : ). The definition itself can be any valid
expression, except that channel names are not accepted since user-defined expressions are not related to
any particular setup. In the definition, the arguments can appear, complete with the dollar sign preceding
it. Finally, the definition must end with a semicolon (;) and it can span several lines.
NOTE Errors in the functions file will be reported when it is first read. This file is read every time that an unknown
function is used in an expression.
Comments
You can include comments in the functions file by starting the line with a number sign ( # ). The comments
extend through the end of the line on which they appear and are ignored by Flame when the user-defined
functions file is interpreted. Comments are useful for describing the purpose of a function and adding any
notes you feel are pertinent. They can be introduced anywhere in the file, except for inside of function
definitions that span several lines.
■ This function creates a sine curve based on the specified frequency and amplitude. The sinfreqamp
function takes three arguments, named $pos, $freq and $amp.
sinfreqamp($pos,$freq,$amp) : sin($pos*$freq)*$amp;
■ This function provides an approximation of the speed, or more precisely, the derivative (rate of change),
of a given channel. The speed function takes one argument, named $channelName.
speed($channelName) :eval($channelName,frame+0.1) -
eval($channelName,frame-0.1))/0.2;
NOTE For information on the other example functions in the functions file, see Slip Functions (page 1663) and
Rounding Functions (page 1672).
Animated Text
To see this example, load the example setup named expressions_text into Action. This example involves
multiple text objects that move along a path, with each letter following slightly behind the last.
NOTE A series of expressions that differ only by a numeric value, such as in this example, can be entered quickly
using the SelectionOrder keyword. See Cascading Expressions (page 1653).
Channel Expression
o_axis.rotation align(o_axis.position)
Spinning Dagger
To see this example, load the setup named expressions_spinning_dagger into Action. This example features a
dagger moving in an arc. The dagger's Y-axis is aligned with the direction of its movement and the rest of
the dagger spins around its axis.
Channel Expression
The dagger's rotation is created by the dagger's position as the dagger points its negative Y-axis in the direction
of either the apple or the cherries, whichever happens to be closest. The length function is used to find the
distance between the dagger and the other objects, while the if function is used to determine which is the
shorter distance. The lookat function is used to generate the rotation vector.
Channel Expression
The ball oscillates in a dampened harmonic motion that is created by animating the position of the ball and
the rotation of the rope. The ball's x position is defined as the sine of the swing angle between the rope and
centre axis, multiplied by the length of the rope. This angle is initially PI/2 and decreases logarithmically.
In addition, the ball oscillates with a period of 30 frames. The sin function is used to calculate the sine of
the swing angle and the exp function is used to create the logarithmic dampening effect. The cos function
is used to create the oscillation.
The ball's y position is defined as the negative cosine of the swing angle between the rope and centre axis,
multiplied by the length of the rope. This expression is formed similarly to that of the ball_axis.position.x
channel. The rope rotates such that its Y-axis is always pointing toward the centre of the ball. The lookat
function is used to generate the rotation vector.
Channel Expression
NOTE In Batch and Tools editors, you also have this option in the Render box, but by setting it in the Preferences menu,
you can make sure that history is enabled for all renders (including tools that render a result directly in the workspace
without entering the editor).
TIP To quickly enter the history view, double-click the "H" icon on a clip on a desktop clip.
3 To bypass history view, and quickly re-enter the last tool used on a desktop clip with history, press Shift and
double-click the “H” icon on the clip. In this case, you enter the last tool, but if you make any changes, you need
to re-render and create a new clip. If you click Exit after making changes, a message appears stating that all changes
made since the last render will be lost.
TIP Hold Shift while double-clicking the "H" icon to create a new Batch group instead of replacing or appending the current
Batch group.
1687
2 Double-click a node (in schematic view) or an entry (in list view) to open the corresponding tool or Timeline FX
editor.
3 Edit the settings as needed.
4 If you loaded the clip into a tool editor, do one of the following:
■ To save your changes, select Return from the Exit Options box.
■ To exit without saving your changes, select Cancel from the Exit Options box, and then confirm.
Do this: To swap:
Press Ctrl and double-click a tool node All of the sources used in a tool.
The cursor becomes a coloured crosshair to indicate what type of source you can select.
3 Click the source clips you want to swap in to the clip history. The sources you swap must be of the same resolution
and bit depth.
NOTE If the new source is longer than the original source, the new source is shortened to fit the duration of the original
source. If the new source is shorter that the original, the last frame of the new source is repeated to the end of the segment.
The sources are swapped and the Render button becomes active.
4 Click Render to render the swapped sources.
1 Double-click a clip with history in the Batch or Batch FX schematic to view its clip settings.
2 In the History section, select Explode History to expand the entire clip history into the process tree, or Explode One
to expand only the most recent step of the clip's history.
Explode History and Explode One are also available from the right-click contextual menu on clip nodes with history.
If the input clip to the last node also contains history, you can also expand the history for that clip.
NOTE These history options are not available for Batch or Batch FX clips with non-supported effects (the clip appears with
a lowercase "h" next to its name in the schematic). In this case, if you double-click the clip again, you are returned to the
timeline view. You can switch to History view to see its clip history.
Certain tools, including those that do not have an equivalent Batch or Batch FX node, such as Reverse,
appear with a lowercase "h" icon when rendered. In this case, you can view the clip's history in the History
view, but not make changes to that tool, or any upstream tools in the pipeline. To edit these effects, you
need to rebuild the effect in the tool originally used to create it. You can use the Match button in the timeline
History view to help you locate the clip to its source in the workspace.
Clips that have a clip history contain sources and intermediates. Sources are any of the original clips used
to build an effect, for example, clips captured using an EDL. Intermediates are clips that are created when
building a clip that uses multiple effects or operations.
A simple way of using clip history is to load a rendered clip back into the last editor that was used to create
the clip. For instance, you load a clip into the Colour Corrector, modify the colour, and render a new clip.
You decide that you want to change the colour slightly, so you press Shift and double-click the “H” icon
of the new clip to go back into the Colour Corrector with the settings restored. You tweak the values slightly,
and then render another clip (which has its own clip history).
If multiple tools were used to create a clip, you can load the result into a Batch or Batch FX setup, explode
the history, and make modifications at any point in the process tree. For instance, you may have created a
composite by bringing a colour-corrected back layer into the Keyer with a front and key-in layer that may
also have been modified (for example, with a Flip). By loading the resulting clip into Batch or Batch FX, you
can modify it at any point in the process tree, and then process a new clip.
NOTE You can also use a Create BFX clip (page 529) instead of, or in addition to, clip history for added flexibility
in reusing or versioning complex pipelines.
■ In the Batch or Batch FX preferences Rendering tab, you can enable Fill with Intermediates in the Cache
section to so that each node's cache is filled with the intermediate clips contained in the history. Filling
a history tree's cache increases interaction speed and avoids the need to reprocess effects that were already
rendered. If an intermediate clip corresponding to a step in the history is deleted, the cache for that
particular node is not filled.
■ If you modify and then render an intermediate that is part of a clip history, all the clip history elements
after the rendered event are also rendered. Additionally, all instances of the intermediate used in the clip
history are modified. If the same intermediate appears in another clip history, however, it is not modified
— once you modify an intermediate in a clip history, any copies you made of the intermediate in other
clip histories are discrete.
■ If you have a Paint or Stabilizer element in your clip history, all modules that precede the Paint or
Stabilizer module will not be editable. You can, however, modify the elements before the Paint or Stabilizer
History View box Select a list or schematic representation of the clip's history.
History box Select to display the history of the selected source or sequence clip.
Render button Click to render sources that were replaced through the clip's history.
Match button Click to match the clip to its source in the workspace.
History View horizontal scroll bar Drag the horizontal scroll bar to pan the schematic.
History View vertical scroll bar Drag the vertical scroll bar to pan the schematic up or down.
Current Timecode field Displays the timecode of the current position. Editable.
These settings can be found in the Timeline Gear menu's Commit section.
Delete History button Click to delete intermediates from selected timeline elements. If no elements are
selected, intermediates for the entire edit sequence are deleted. Use when you want to free up disk space or
shorten the time it takes to perform a wire transfer or archive clips with clip history.
Commit History button Click to commit a clip with history. When committing a clip, you delete the clip
history without removing the clip or element's soft properties.
These history options are available in the clip settings of a clip with history.
Explode History button Click to expand the entire clip history into the rendering tree.
Explode One button Click to expand only the most recent step of the clip's history. If the input clip to the
last node also contains history, you can also expand the history for that clip.
The following setting is available in the Batch or BFX Prefs Rendering section, under Cache.
Fill with Intermediates button Enable to fill each node's cache with the intermediate clips contained in
the history. If a clip was rendered in proxy mode, the history is not cached.
You might also want to apply colour transforms to convert into and out of a specific colour space in order
to perform a particular operation. For example, operations like compositing or lens blur work best in a linear
colour space, while operations like tracking and edge detection work best in video or log colour space.
In addition, colour management is used to display images in Flame to ensure that the colours on the monitor
and projector match what will be displayed on the final output as closely as possible.
All media in the application is now tagged with a colour space identifier to help deal with the proliferation
of colour encodings used by the increasing variety of capture and display devices. Tagging your media
correctly is central to using the colour management features.
When importing media you may either convert it to a working space or leave it in its original colour space.
Each approach has its advantages. If media will be used for extensive compositing in Batch and Action, it
is usually best to convert to a common scene-linear working space. In other cases, it may be more convenient
to leave it as is (and just tag it appropriately), for example if you have a reference track from offline editorial.
The key concept to realize is that because all media is tagged with a colour space, it is possible to easily work
with material in a variety of colour spaces side by side.
1693
Tagging Clips with a Colour Space
All media in the application is now tagged with a colour space identifier, for example, "Rec.709 video", "ARRI
LogC", "ACEScg", "Matte", etc. Making the application colour space aware allows a mixture of different colour
spaces to be used simultaneously in a convenient way by providing a number of benefits:
■ The view transform setting of viewports is automatically updated so there is no need for manual
readjustment as different clips, Timeline layers, or Batch nodes are selected.
■ Accurate thumbnails and preview windows can be shown.
■ The behavior of various algorithms may be customized automatically for the clip being processed. For
example, the Image Type menu in keyers is now automatically set by default.
■ OpenClips can describe the colour space of the media.
■ There is the flexibility to either convert media upon import to a common colour space, or import in its
native state and defer conversion until it may be needed.
■ The application may provide warnings based on colour space.
Methods of Tagging
These benefits of tagging come with the responsibility of ensuring that media is correctly tagged upon import
or creation. The application provides a number of methods to tag media such as:
■ Use the Input Rules to automatically tag based on filename and path.
■ Manually tag in MediaHub when importing.
■ Modify Pre-processing settings after import.
■ Insert a Colour Management Timeline Effect in Tag Only mode.
■ Insert a Colour Management Batch node in Tag Only mode.
■ Select a group of clips and use the Edit Colour Space option from the Timeline contextual menu.
■ Set the Tagged Colour Space in generators such as Colour Source
■ Add tagging metadata to OpenClip XMLs to integrate into a facility pipeline.
Tagging as Unknown
When the colour space of a clip is not known, you may tag it "Unknown". This is what the application does
when working with Archives or Wires from libraries created in releases prior to the introduction of colour
space tagging. The "Unknown" tag may also be used temporarily to identify media that needs to be retagged
later once more information is known about it.
However, if the clip is tagged "Unknown", the colour space is generally not shown.
Each frame has its own colour space tag. Therefore via editing it is possible to create a Sequence or even a
Segment that contains more than one colour space. The players and the Colour Management effect/node
are able to respond to these changes at the frame level.
The fact that the player and viewports respond automatically to the tagging is often convenient when
working with complicated Timeline Sequences. For example, your main track could have final scene-linear
segments but you could have tracks or segments that are in video colour space as off-line references. However,
care must also be taken when creating Sequences that mix colour spaces. For example:
■ Unlike the players and viewports, Export is unable to apply different colour conversions on a per-frame
basis. Keeping your Sequences uniform will avoid mixed colour space deliveries.
■ Timeline blends and transitions such as dissolves should be done between elements that are in a common
colour space. For example, if the colour space changes during a dissolve, the player view transform may
switch causing an apparent artifact in the transition. For transitions such as fade-ins and fade-outs, you
may use the Set Sequence Gap Colour Space option from the Timeline contextual menu if you need to
override the default gap colour space of a Sequence.
Input Rules
Input Rules allow you to automatically tag clips on import based on their filename, extension, and path.
Although the application ships with some example rule sets, because there are no widely used standard
naming conventions, it is important for you to configure the rules to suit your needs.
The Input Rules are part of the colour Policy, so once you have configured them, it is easy to use them in
other projects.
1 In the Colour Management Preferences, Input Rules tab, click Create Rule.
2 Press and hold in the Input Colour Space field, and select the colour space to use for this rule.
3 In the Pattern field, enter the text to search for in the file's name and path. Leave it as "*" to not consider
the file's name and path for this rule.
4 In the Extension (Type) field, enter the text to describe the file extension (do not include the dot). For
example, entering "dpx" will match files that end in ".dpx". Leave it as "*" to not consider the file's
extension for this rule.
5 In the Rule Name field, enter a name for your rule.
6 Use the Up and Down buttons to set the priority of this rule relative to the other rules.
Rules that are organized higher in the rules table take precedence over lower ones. The first rule that matches
is the one that will be used. At the bottom of the table is the Default rule that will be used if no other rule
matches.
Pattern syntax The Extension and Pattern field strings use the Unix "glob" syntax. (There are many tutorials
for this online.) Note that the matching is case-sensitive. For example, "dpx" will only match "dpx" whereas
you may use "[dD][pP][xX]" to match "dpx", "Dpx", "DPX", etc. Here are some more details:
[chars] Any one of the specified characters. *[nN]ormal* matches normal or Normal
anywhere in the name.
[char1-char2] Any character in the range. *[0-9] matches any name ending with
a numeral.
[!chars_or_range] Any character except those specified. *[!0-9] matches any name that does not
end with a numeral.
/ Escapes the next character, that is, treats */[*/]* matches a pair of square brackets
the next character as a literal, instead of anywhere in the name.
part of the pattern matching syntax.
When you import media, the Input Rules will be applied when you select the "From File or Rules" option
from the Input Colour Space menu when you are in Auto Convert mode and the Tagged Colour Space menu
One way to test Input Rules, is to use List View in the MediaHub and enable the File Colour Space, and
Colour Space columns. The File Colour Space shows the colour space being returned by the Input Rules for
each clip. The Colour Space column shows the resulting tagged colour space based on the current mode
(Auto Convert or Tag Only) and any fall-backs that were applied.
When you import media in From File or Rules mode, the tagged colour space is computed and assigned at
the time of import. If you later change your Input Rules, this does not change the colour space of media
that was already imported. You will need to update the colour space of those clips manually, if desired. This
may be done by going into the Pre-processing options in Timeline. Using the Colour Space column in the
media list is a convenient way to check tagging. You may also search for media that uses a specific colour
space. The Edit Colour Space option in the Timeline contextual menu is a convenient way to change the
colour space of many sources at once.
Tool Mode button Choose whether to convert your media into a different colour space or only tag them.
Tagged Colour Space menu Choose the colour space to tag your media with (this does not modify pixel
values, but it does affect how viewports display your media).
Working Colour Space menu Select the destination colour space of your media. Set the Working Space
first in order to filter the list of Input Colour Spaces to only show the compatible options. "From Project"
takes the value from the Colour Management Preferences.
Get Colour Space From Selection button The tool starts with the colour space setting that was last used.
Click this button to initialize with the colour space of your primary selection.
This changes the underlying colour values of the clips' pixels. You should do this when you want the changes
to flow though the pipeline to the final output. If you want to apply colour management to the display
only, see Applying Colour Management to Displayed Images (page 1715) instead.
NOTE Regardless of whether you apply automatic or manual conversion, the resulting media must be tagged
with a colour space. When using automatic conversion, the result is automatically tagged. When using manual
conversion, select the colour space to tag the output of your LUT from the Tagged Colour Space menu.
1 Select a destination working colour space from the Working Space menu. Choose "From Project" to
have the working space set automatically from the project default.
NOTE By choosing the Working Space first, the list of Input Space options will be filtered to show you options
that are most compatible with the given working space. For example, pairs of colour spaces that would not require
a view transform as part of the conversion.
By enabling the Invert button, you are able to convert from a working space back to an input space. This is
useful when you need to deliver material in the same colour space as the original.
The metadata panel on the right provides detailed information about the colour processing operators that
will be used to perform the requested transformation.
By choosing "+Add New" from the Input Colour Space menu, you may add your own LUT (or colour transform)
as a User Colour Space. When you do this, a copy of your LUT will be made so that it will get Archived and
Wired with any media that uses it.
The following information must be provided:
Transform File box Browse to select the LUT or colour transform file to use for your new colour space.
Transform Name box Enter the name you want to see in menus for this new colour space.
Viewing Rule Eligibility box Specifies how the colour space is handled by the Viewing Rules' Allowed
Colour Spaces filter. For example, if you identify the user colour space as Log, then it is considered as part
of the "Any Log" and "Any Scene-linear or Log" categories in the Viewing Rules.
Destination Colour Space menu Choose the colour space that your LUT outputs. This allows the system
to calculate the transform needed to connect your LUT to any of the Working colour spaces. If you choose
"Raw", the system will not apply any conversion after your LUT (the result will simply be tagged with whatever
the selected Working space is).
The View Transform tool allows you to bake in the same colour processing the viewports apply on the fly.
Use the View Transform tool to use a viewing transform to convert from a tagged or working colour space
to a display colour space by:
1 From the Tagged Colour Space menu, select the colour space of the incoming clip. Choose "From
Source" to have the input space set automatically.
2 Select the display colour space you want to convert to from the Display menu. Choose "Current
Broadcast Monitor" or "Current Graphics Monitor" to use the settings configured in Colour Management
Preferences.
3 Select the view transform you want to apply from the View Transform menu. Select "From Rules" to
use the highest priority viewing rule for the given Tagged Colour Space and Display. Select from the
NOTE By choosing the Tagged and Display colour spaces first, the list of viewing rules will be filtered to show you
only the compatible options (just like in the viewports).
The automatic conversion algorithm will first convert from the tagged colour space to the colour space
expected by the view transform. Then the view transform will be applied. Then the automatic conversion
algorithm will convert from the output space of the view transform to the requested display space.
By enabling the Invert button, you are able to convert from a display space to a working colour space via
an inverse view transform. This is sometimes useful for bringing video material into a scene-linear working
space. When these scene-linear values later play out through the forward view transform, the result will look
the same as the original material.
See also: Available Colour Space Options (page 164)
See also: Adding a User Viewing LUT (page 1717)
Applying a Preset
NOTE Note: The provided manual Presets (Log_to_SceneLinear, etc.) are retained from previous releases for users
that may want to continue using them, however the functionality has been superseded by the Automatic Colour
Conversion methods described earlier in this chapter.
TIP To make your own preset available, save a setup to the /lut/presets subfolder of the application home directory.
This does not work with 3D LUTs.
1 Select an output bit-depth option from the Destination box in the LUT Editor.
Select: To:
Colour Transform Apply a colour transform based on the Academy/ASC colour transform XML format, as
well as several other supported LUT and transform formats.
3D LUT Import a 3D LUT. Note that this mode is superseded by Colour Transform.
1D LUT Import a 1D LUT. Note that some 1D LUTs are intended for integer values and others
are intended for floating-point values. Most 1D LUTs will also load in Colour Transform
mode.
Gamma Begin with a default curve for applying or removing gamma or offsets.
Lin to Log Begin with a default curve for converting linear or video data to logarithmic data.
Log to Lin Begin with a default curve for converting logarithmic data to linear or video data.
Importing an Operator
1 Click Import.
The file browser appears.
2 Locate and select the file that you want to import. See Colour Management Files and Locations (page
1724).
When importing a colour transform, see Autodesk Color Transform Collection (page 1749) for a description
of the available categories.
You are returned to the LUT Editor. The LUT name appears in the field next to the Import button.
■ When you import a 1D LUT, the conversion curves appear in the LUT Editor. You can modify them
only with the Advanced settings.
■ When you import a colour transform, information about the transform and the operations it
contains appears in the LUT Editor.
1 In the LUT Editor, set the LUT type box to Colour Transform.
2 Enable the Custom button.
3 Click Add to insert an empty row.
5 After you've selected a colour transform type, click in the Transform column and select a transform.
Information about the transform and the operations it contains appears in the LUT Editor.
6 To add more transforms to the end of the chain, repeat steps 3 to 5.
You can also:
■ Click in the Type or Transform columns again to change a transform in the chain.
■ Select a row and click Delete to remove a transform from the chain.
■ Use the Up or Down buttons to reorder the chain. Moving a transform up applies it earlier in the
chain, and moving it down applies it later.
■ Use the visibility icon to mute a transform in the chain.
■ Enable the Invert button to invert the entire chain of transforms, or use the Invert column to invert
individual transforms in the chain.
NOTE Some colour transforms are impossible to invert perfectly. This happens when they map multiple
input colours to the same output colour, such as when transforming from a large space to a smaller
space. It is analogous to the fact that you cannot convert from a 12-bit signal to 8 bits and back to 12
bits again without data loss. In these situations, the Invert option maps the original output colour back
to one of the original input colours, but applying the forward transform followed by the inverse transform
will inevitably change some colours.
TIP You can create subfolders in the Shared or Project locations to define custom colour transform types.
NOTE The procedures in this section apply only to Gamma, Lin to Log, and Log to Lin operators.
Once you define a basic LUT type in the LUT Editor (page 1698), you can modify:
■ The reference white and reference black values
■ The highlights and shadows
■ The gamma of the conversion curve
■ The gamma of the incoming film negative
■ The degree to which the shoulder at the upper end of the conversion curve is softened
When you modify these values, the basic LUT curves are updated to reflect the changes. For all procedures,
you can monitor the R, G, and B channels independently while modifying the LUT.
1 From the Edit Curve box, select Red, Green, or Blue to monitor the red, green, or blue channels
independently.
The reference white and reference black values define the intensity levels at which incoming pixels are
considered white or black respectively. For example, selecting a logarithmic-to-linear basic conversion LUT
curve sets the reference white to 685 and the reference black to 95. (These have been shown to be good
values for Kodak™ film stock.) As a result, source pixels with values from 685 and 1023 will produce white
pixels, while those from 0 and 95 will be set to black.
Reference white and black are affected by the values assigned to highlights and shadows. White pixels are
mapped to the value set for highlights, while black pixels are mapped to the value set for shadows. See
Modifying Highlights and Shadows (page 1705).
To modify reference white or black values using the Ref White and Ref Black fields:
(a) Highlight line (b) Reference White line (c) Edit Curve box
TIP If you already entered independent values and want to modify the R, G, and B values proportionally,
you must drag the reference white or reference black line that corresponds to the corresponding channel.
To view the selected R, G, or B luma values as a greyscale luma image in the Import Image menu, enable
the Exclusive button.
Highlight and shadow values define the maximum and minimum values permitted for each channel. All
values above the highlight are clamped down to it. Similarly, all values below the shadow are clamped up.
To modify highlight and shadow values using the Highlights and Shadows fields:
Set the gamma correction value to correspond to the display gamma you set your system to use. You can
select a preset from the Gamma Correction box or enter a custom value.
To modify the gamma correction curve using the Gamma Correction fields:
Select: To:
To modify the gamma correction curve using the LUT Editor graph:
The values in the Film Gamma fields affect the gamma correction curve inversely to the Gamma Correction
fields. This is because the gamma correction performed using these controls is based on the gamma of the
original film negative. Typically, the gamma of a film negative is 0.6. Only adjust this value if your film
negative is of a non-standard gamma. You should not have to modify this value by very much.
To modify the gamma correction curve using the Film Gamma fields:
You can soften the shoulder of the gamma correction curve by adjusting the Softclip values. When you
soften the shoulder of the conversion curve, you soften the transition of colours toward the reference white
value. This results in less harsh highlights in your clip.
To soften the shoulder of the gamma correction curve using the Softclip fields:
To soften the shoulder of the gamma correction curve using the LUT Editor graph:
NOTE The procedure in this section does not apply to colour transforms or 3D LUTs.
After you modify the basic conversion curves in the LUT Editor (page 1698), you may want to further refine
the final result. To do so, you can use advanced editing tools. With advanced editing, you modify additional
curves for the red, green, and blue channels to fine-tune the final conversion LUT and bring out or hide
detail in specific areas. These curves have editable points, adding flexibility in how they affect each channel
in the final conversion LUT.
You can modify the shape of each advanced editing curve using control points. Modifications you make to
these curves influence the curve of corresponding channels in the final conversion LUT. For example, you
can add points to the advanced editing curve for the red channel, and by dragging the points, affect the
slope of the red channel's final conversion LUT curve.
The modifications you make to the basic conversion LUT curves and the advanced editing curves are
independent. The final LUT that you generate, however, is a single curve (or set of R, G, and B curves) that
consists of basic LUT curves and adjustments you make with advanced editing curves.
(a) Red, blue and green overlapping advanced editing curves (b) Control point (c) Basic button (d) Final button
(e) Edit Curve box (f) Reset button
2 To adjust the R, G, and B curves more easily, select one of the channels from the Edit Curve box.
The corresponding channel's basic and advanced editing curves are displayed. The histogram only
displays values for the selected channel.
Select: To:
Add Add control points to an advanced editing curve. With Add selected, click either the
red, green, or blue advanced editing curve.
Delete Delete control points from an advanced editing curve. With Delete selected, click a
point on the red, green or blue advanced editing curve.
Move Move control points. With Move selected, drag the points, or press Ctrl-drag to select
multiple points.
TIP Since the advanced editing curves use B-spline interpolation, the control points
you manipulate will not necessarily rest on the curve itself. Points have a weighted in-
fluence on the curve depending on the position of the other points on the curve.
Zoom Zoom in on the curves. With Zoom selected, drag over the curves right or left to zoom
in or out.
Rect Zoom Zoom in on a section of the curves. With Rect Zoom selected, drag a selection box to
zoom in on the area of the curves contained by the selection box.
Pan Pan the curves. With Pan selected, drag over the curves to pan the curves in any direc-
tion.
Dragging control points of advanced editing curves affects the basic curves and the colour effect is
immediately reflected in the clip.
4 To view the basic and final conversion LUT curves, toggle the Basic LUT and Final LUT buttons.
5 To reset the advanced editing curves only, click Reset.
While using the LUT Editor (page 1698), you may want to sample image channel values in the source, result,
and reference clips to compare values of similar colours, or even corresponding pixels. The colour patches
appear to the right of the LUT Editor graph.
To sample colours in the LUT Editor accessed from the Import Image menu:
To use colour patches in the LUT Editor menu in Batch orBatch FX:
1 Set the Colour Management attributes in any node that supports them (i.e., Clip node, LUT Editor,
Render node, Write File node, etc.).
■ Make sure that a colour transform or a custom chain of colour transforms is selected.
■ Make sure that Custom is enabled.
2 If you haven't already done so, add another node that supports the Colour Management attributes.
3 Make sure that the destination node is selected.
4 Press Shift+T and click on the node that you want to copy Colour Management attributes from.
Some colour transforms are impossible to invert perfectly. This happens when they map multiple input
colours to the same output colour, such as when transforming from a large space to a smaller space. It is
analogous to the fact that you cannot convert from a 12-bit signal to 8 bits and back to 12 bits again without
data loss. In these situations, the Invert option maps the original output colour back to one of the original
input colours, but applying the forward transform followed by the inverse transform will inevitably change
some colours.
To check that the inverse is as accurate as possible, compare the result of applying just the forward transform
to the result of applying the forward transform, followed by the inverse transform, followed by the forward
transform again. If they match, then the inverse is accurate within the range of colors that may be inverted.
Exporting a LUT
5 If desired, type a description for the colour transform. The description is displayed in the metadata
panel of the LUT editor.
6 Select the destination location using the location shortcut under the EXIT Export LUT button:
■ Shared is a useful location for storing transforms that can be used by other Autodesk applications
on the same workstation that use Autodesk Colour Management.
■ Project (/opt/Autodesk/project/<project name>/synColor/transforms) is a useful location for storing
the transforms that are specific to the current project, for example, for archiving.
■ Saving transforms to the Autodesk location is not recommended.
7 Click Export.
The colour transform is exported to the specified location.
Viewing Rules
Media in a wide variety of different colour spaces may coexist within the application. The Viewing Rules
allow you to specify the correct viewing transform (or LUT) to use for a piece of media based on its colour
space. This is enabled by the fact that all media in the application is now tagged with a colour space identifier.
Viewing Rules are entirely customizable project settings that are configured in Colour Management Preferences.
They are part of the colour management Policy that you may export to configure new projects.
When the application needs to display an image, the Viewing Rules table is searched for rules that are
appropriate for the tagged colour space of the image and the given display being used. It is fine to define
more than one rule for a given colour space and display combination. The resulting list of applicable rules
are shown in the viewport menu as the available options. The list may be different for the Graphics vs.
Broadcast monitors.
Viewing Rules that are organized higher in the rules table take precedence over lower ones. For any given
tagged colour space and display, the highest priority rule is called the Primary Viewing Rule. The Primary
rule is the one that is used by default.
1 In Colour Management Preferences, create a new Viewing Rule and choose "+Add New" from the View
Transform menu.
2 Browse to import your colour transform or LUT. Flame will make a copy so that it gets Archived with
your project. It also becomes part of the colour management Policy and will be available in other
projects that are created using the Policy.
3 Enter the name you want to see in menus.
4 Set the Incoming Colour Space to whatever your LUT expects as input. Flame will automatically translate
from the tagged colour space of the media to the colour space expected by your LUT. You may select
"Raw" to bypass this translation.
5 Set the Display Colour Space to whatever your LUT produces as output. If your actual Graphics Monitor
or Broadcast Monitor settings differ from this, Flame will translate from what your LUT produces to
what your actual display hardware expects. You may select "Raw" to bypass this translation.
6 Click Add to create the User View Transform.
7 If you only want your LUT to be used with a specific tagged colour space, select it from the Allowed
Colour Space menu. Or you may select one of the "Any" options to use this LUT with a family of colour
spaces. In that case Flame will translate from the tagged colour space of the media to the Incoming
Colour Space of the LUT.
8 If you only want your LUT to be used with a specific display, select it from the Allowed Displays menu.
Or you may select one of the "Any" options to use this LUT with a family of displays. In that case Flame
will translate from the Display Colour Space produced by the LUT to the actual setting of your Graphics
and Broadcast monitors.
By choosing "+Add New" from the View Transform menu, you may add your own LUT (or colour transform)
as a User View Transform. The following information must be provided:
Transform File Browse to select your LUT or colour transform file.
View Transform Name Enter the name you want to see in menus for this new view transform.
Display Colour Space menu Choose the colour space that your colour transform or LUT produces as output.
This allows the system to adjust the output to be appropriate for whatever display hardware has been
configured as the Graphics or Broadcast monitors. Choose "Raw" if you want the output of your transform
to be sent directly to the monitor without any adjustment.
3D LUT Interpolation menu If your transform includes any 3D LUTs, choose the type of interpolation that
will be used when evaluating your LUTs. Trilinear is somewhat faster, Tetrahedral is somewhat better quality.
View Transform Name Enter the name you want to see in menus for this new view transform. By default,
for ICC Profiles, the creation date of the profile is appended.
Input Colour Space menu Choose the colour space that your colour transform or ICC profile expects as
input. Usually this should be CIE-XYZ. Choose "Raw" if you do not want the system to insert a translation
transform to connect the output of a view transform to the input of your display transform.
Display Type menu Select the type of display you are creating. This is used by the viewing rules to optionally
limit certain rules to certain types of displays. (HDR = High Dynamic Range monitors, SDR = Standard
Dynamic Range, conventional monitors.)
NOTE Since ICC Monitor Profiles are based on a D50 connection space, a Bradford chromatic adaptation transform
is automatically applied to make them compatible with the D65 CIE XYZ connection space used in Flame for
display-referred transforms. If you provide a transform in another format (such as CTF), it should take D65 CIE
XYZ values as input and produce RGB code values for your display. 1.0 in the connection space corresponds to
100 nits in absolute luminance.
In the Diagnostic tab of Colour Management Preferences, you may configure ten Exposure/Contrast/Gamma
user presets for use in the Player and Viewports. The shortcut for these presets is Ctrl+Shift+# (1 to 10). These
settings are saved as part of your User. (This feature is not supported in some of the older viewports.)
NOTE The Colour Management settings (Exposure, Contrast, Gamma) of a viewport are bypassed in the Broadcast
Monitor when Viewport Monitoring is enabled in the Broadcast Monitor preferences, and the Bypass option is
enabled in the viewport.
1 In LUT Preferences, specify a transform as the Default Look Transform. You can select a transform file
in any supported format.
2 In LUT Preferences, add one or more viewing transforms that reference the default look to the 3D LUT
and Colour Transform list. The transforms that reference the default look include the following:
■ The ACES Output transforms in the view/ and RRT+ODT/ directories of the Autodesk location are
available for displaying ACES material on various devices.
■ The ADX10_to_current-monitor and ADX16_to_current-monitor transforms in the film/ADX/
directory are available for displaying scanned film on the system or broadcast monitor.
NOTE The default_look transform in the misc/ directory simply applies the default look transform, and the
default_look-ACESproxy transform applies the default look transform in the ACESproxy color space that is
typically used on set (first converting from the ACES color space and then back again). These transforms are
not intended to be used directly as viewing transforms, but should be used as building blocks for creating
your own custom chain of transforms.
A Colour Policy provides a way to save colour management settings in a way that may easily be used to
configure new projects. A Colour Policy contains the following:
■ Input Rules: A way of automatically tagging sources with a colour space based on the file name.
■ Viewing Rules: A way to have viewports automatically apply the correct viewing transform for a given
colour space and display.
■ Project Working Space: The default Working Colour Space for the project.
■ Action Colour Space: The default Colour Space for Action output. This also defines the colour space
used to convert Substance generated textures, as well as textures brought in via Action's Import node.
■ User Colour Spaces: User-defined Colour Spaces, Viewing Transforms and Displays, created by you
or your facility that are made available to the project.
You have the option of exporting a colour policy as locked. When you do so elements from the Colour
Policy won't be editable from within Flame. Moreover, it won't be possible to change the Colour Policy in
Edit Project.
To export a Colour Policy as locked, select the "Export as Locked" option using the drop-down menu to the
right of the Export button.
To edit the locked Colour Policy you can either:
■ Edit the files in a Shell / Terminal.
■ Set the DL_UNLOCK_CM_POLICY environment variable before you start Flame.
NOTE We recommend you choose the example closest to how you want to work and then customize it (particularly
the Input Rules) for your needs.
Colour Policy box Initialize the colour management settings from one of these presets or copy the settings
from another project.
All of the components of a Policy may be edited individually from within the Colour Management Preferences.
However, if you need to completely replace the current settings with another Policy, you may do that by
editing the project.
Note that when you create or edit the project, the files that comprise the chosen Policy are copied into your
project directory (overwriting any existing files). Since the project settings use a local copy, any changes
made to the source presets will not have any effect on existing projects.
When performing a Project Archive, all colour management settings are archived & restored.
When performing a Clips/Sequence Archive, the content's colour management settings are archived. When
the content is restored to a different project, the colour management data of the content is also restored
and the project colour management settings are updated accordingly:
■ If the content requires a User Colour Space not available in the project, the original Colour Space is
created and the project is updated.
■ If the content uses an already existing Colour Space, the Colour Space of the current project is used.
NOTE If for any reason, the User Colour Space that was archived is different from the User Colour Space of the
current project, the latter is used. This allows colour scientists or system administrators to update User Colour
Spaces over time and not have artists manually changing the original User Colour Spaces on each clip & sequence.
Modifying a User Colour Space referenced by already existing content may have side effects, such as:
■ Changing a User Colour Space used by a clip with caching will not invalidate the cached media so you
must manually flush the cache and then re-cache the media.
■ Re-archiving content that is already part of an archive that references an updated User Colour Space is
seen as the original archived content and is not re-archived.
■ Network Transfer of clips and sequences that reference unavailable User Colour Spaces recreates the User
Colour Spaces on the destination project.
■ Media Export Presets: When you create an Export preset using a User Colour Space, a CTF of the User
Colour Space is saved alongside the export preset.
■ Media Export using a remote Wiretap Gateway: When exporting content using a remote Wiretap Gateway
server, the Export jobs contain all the data to complete the encoding tasks on the remote server. There
is no need to copy User Colour Spaces to the remote server.
■ Rendering content using Burn: In a distributed rendering environment, where all Burn nodes share the
same file system mount-points, no extra configuration is required.
Because User Colour Spaces from the 2017 release can be used in 2017 Extension 1, but cannot be managed
(i.e. archived), the naming of these Colour Spaces is displayed with a suffix of "non-archival". These Colour
Spaces may appear in menus in:
■ The Media Hub (Auto convert mode).
■ The Colour Management node (Auto convert mode).
■ The Input Rules (Input Colour Space menu).
When working in a Workgroup with Flame Family products or collaborating with Wiretap-based services
(i.e. Wiretap server, Wiretap Gateway, Media Converter), it is important to share the same colour management
policies (including User Colour Spaces) for all the workstations to have access to the same data. There are
many advantages of using a centralized location for colour management, such as:
■ Project creation is easier because all Colour Policies are centralized.
■ Remote applications and services share the same User Colour Spaces, Rules, etc.
1 Create a shared folder on a server. This can be /opt/Autodesk/ (which should already be exported) or
any other location.
2 Make sure this folder is exported (modify /etc/exports and /etc/fstab) and that its permissions are set
to full read/write.
3 On every workstation and server that is part of a workgroup, do one of the following:
■ Use the Colour Management tab of the Flame Setup application to define the centralized shared
location.
■ Alternatively, you can edit the SynColor configuration file to set SharedHome to the centralized
shared location, found here:
/opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/synColorConfig.xml
However, note that in this case you need to append "/transforms" to the actual intended centralized
location.
NOTE
■ Although the User Colour Spaces continue to be stored under the project, symbolic links are created in
the centralized shared location (via /hosts/IP address/PROJECTHOME/synColor/policy/user_color_spaces)
to ensure the content is available on all workstations and servers that are part of the workgroup.
■ User Colour Spaces for any newly created projects will be available from the centralized shared location.
■ Shared User Colour Spaces are also part of a Project Archive, even when using a centralized shared location.
Colour Transforms
Colour transforms are based on the Academy/ASC XML colour transform format and have the .ctf extension.
They are stored in the following locations:
■ Shared (/opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/Shared/transforms by default) is a useful location for storing
transforms that can be used by other applications that use Autodesk Colour Management.
■ Project (/opt/Autodesk/project/<project name>/synColor/transforms) is a useful location for storing
the transforms that are specific to the current project, for example, for archiving.
■ Autodesk (/opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/transforms) contains the transforms installed
with Flame. See Autodesk Color Transform Collection (page 1749).
As of the 2017.1 release, the Autodesk Transform Collection is a superset of all previous releases. So it is
no longer necessary to keep previous transform collections installed on a workstation in order to load
archives created in previous releases.
1D LUTs
Legacy Discreet 1D LUT files should have the .lut extension should be stored in the Project
(/opt/Autodesk/project/<project name>/lut) location.
3D LUTs
Graphics and Broadcast monitor settings are considered workstation (rather than project) settings and are
stored in:
■ /opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<VERSION>/synColorConfig.xml.
The example Colour Policies shipped with the applications are located here:
■ /opt/Autodesk/presets/2017.1/colourmgt/policies (Linux)
■ /Applications/Autodesk/ presets/2017.1/colourmgt/policies (Mac OS)
The Colour Policy files for a project are stored in the Policy home folder:
<PROJECTHOME>/synColor/policy/
■ policy.cfg: This file defines the Working Colour Space and Action Rendering Colour Space.
■ synColorFileRules.xml: This file contains the Input Rules.
■ synColorViewingRules.xml: This file contains the Viewing Rules.
Not all features are available in every application that supports Autodesk Color Management. In addition,
the implementation and workflows are different for different applications.
In general, you specify the following and the required transforms are performed automatically:
■ The color space of input images, or rules based on file name patterns and extension.
■ The desired working color space.
■ The display space.
■ The output space.
In addition, certain applications such as Flame Premium and other Creative Finishing products allow you
to specify custom chains of color transforms, which you can then export as a single file for reuse.
For detailed information about how to work with the features available in a specific Autodesk application,
see the documentation for that application.
Autodesk Color Management consists of a color engine together with a collection of transformations suitable
for input, output, display, and other situations. The transforms are provided as separate files in .ctf format,
an extension of the Academy/ASC XML color transform format. You can combine multiple files to create
complex transformations, and in addition you can author your own files for custom purposes.
The color engine supports a wide variety of color operations, including 1D look-up tables (LUTs), 3D LUTs,
gamma, log/antilog, exposure-contrast, matrix multiplication, and more.
In addition to native .ctf files, Autodesk Color Management can import many common color transform file
formats, including the legacy Autodesk .lut and .3dl formats as well as third-party formats such Cinespace,
Iridas, Pandora, and Nuke.
To fully match a triplet of code values to a specific color, a device-independent color space must define the
following characteristics:
Examples of device-independent color spaces include ACES and the ICC Profile Connection Space.
Primary Values
The primary values can be thought of as the coordinate axes used to define a color "point" in a color space.
Device-independent color spaces define their primaries with reference to CIE colorimetry values — in that
respect, CIE colorimetry provides a kind of universal reference frame or "world" coordinate system for
converting between color spaces. In a given viewing environment, two colors with the same colorimetry
will look the same to a typical human observer.
Some examples of different systems of primaries include:
■ The coordinates of red, green, and blue specified by ITU-R BT.709 (also known as "Rec. 709") for HD
video. These primaries are also used for sRGB (which has a different gamma).
■ The coordinates specified by ITU-R BT.601 (Rec. 601) for SD video.
■ The "P3" primaries specified by DCI and SMPTE for digital cinema projectors.
To interpret the numeric code values, it is necessary to know the data type of the numbers, for example,
whether they are meant to be 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, or 16-bit integers, or floating-point values. In addition,
it's necessary to know the values' encoding, that is, whether the code values represent intensities on a linear
scale or a logarithmic scale, and whether gamma has been applied.
The notion of "image state" is a standard framework (ISO 22028-1) for grouping color spaces that share
similar characteristics and which require similar processing. There are three main image states.
■ Scene-referred images are high-dynamic-range images. They use code values that are proportional to the
luminance or radiance in the scene, whether that is a live set or a virtual scene in a 3D application like
Maya. No tone-mapping has been performed, and code values greater than 1.0 are allowed. If the code
values are encoded on a linear scale, then the images are called scene-linear. Most OpenEXR files are
scene-linear.
■ Output-referred images are normal dynamic range images. They have been tone-mapped, for example,
using an S-shaped curve to compress super-whites as well as increase contrast to compensate for viewing
conditions. The maximum code value is 1.0 (after normalization in the case of integers), and the values
are not proportional to luminance in the original scene. Output-referred images are theoretically ready
for display. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are ready for display on a specific device
— for example, they may have been tone-mapped but still require a specific gamma for display on a
particular monitor. Examples of output-referred images include sRGB, HD video, digital cinema (DCI),
and so on. Output-referred images are also called "display-referred".
■ Intermediate-referred images are somewhere between scene-referred and output-referred. They have had
some color processing performed, so the code values are not proportional to scene luminance, but they
are still not ready for display. Examples of intermediate-referred images include log encodings like
Cineon-style film scans, Academy Density Exchange (ADX), some digital cinema camera outputs, and
so on.
There is some confusion about how to convert between image states in the context of a "linear workflow"
for CG rendering and compositing. Much of the confusion comes from the word "linear" — there are actually
different kinds of linear encodings: scene-referred and output-referred. It is extremely important to understand
the difference between scene-linear images and output-linear images (also called "linearized output-referred").
In both cases, the encoding is proportional to luminance — in other words, no gamma encoding has been
applied. However, in scene-linear images, the values are proportional to the luminance of the scene but in
output-linear images, the values are proportional to the luminance of the display. The mathematics that are
used to render computer graphics assume the color space is linear, and almost always this means a scene-linear
color space rather than an output-linear one.
To prepare a scene-linear image for display, you need to do more than simply apply a gamma encoding.
Because the scene-linear image has a high dynamic range and will be viewed on a device with a limited
dynamic range in a different viewing environment, you need to apply a tone map before the gamma encoding
to produce an image that looks correct.
Conversely, to convert a video image to scene-linear, it is not sufficient to simply remove the gamma
encoding. You also need to apply an inverse tone map to restore the luminance values of the original scene.
There is one notable exception: if an output-referred image is used as a texture to control diffuse reflectance
or a similar property, then it might not be suitable to apply an inverse tone map. See Color Managing Textures
and Maps (page 1742).
To make matters more confusing, video images are also sometimes called "linear" (as opposed to "log"). Video
images are actually output-referred with gamma, so they must have their gamma encoding removed to
become output-linear, and then must be "untone-mapped" to become scene-linear.
Viewing Conditions
Because human vision is adaptive, the appearance of color stimuli depends on the viewing environment.
For example, a piece of paper will appear to be "white" under both bright daylight and a dimmer tungsten
light bulb, even though it is lit by different amounts and hues of light.
The huge difference in absolute luminance level and surround between a typical outdoor daylit scene and
a cinema or television viewing environment is one of the reasons that tone-mapping must include a contrast
boost to scene-linear colors to make them look good on a projector or display.
The adaptive white point can be specified in one of several ways. One way is to refer to the chromaticity of
a standard illuminant, such as illuminant A or the D series (D50, D55, D65, and D75) all specified by CIE.
Another way is to refer to the correlated color temperature (CCT) as measured in kelvins (K). A third way is
to specify the chromaticity coordinates — for example, the DCI/SMPTE calibration white for digital cinema
is CIE {x = 0.314, y = 0.351}.
To compensate for differences in the adaptive white point between two environments, a chromatic adaptation
transform is used to preserve the color appearance. For example, a chromatic adaptation that converts colors
intended for a D65 display to the equivalent colors for a 9300K display must increase the saturation of the
reds.
Device-dependent color spaces rely on the characteristics of a particular camera, monitor, projector, printer,
or other device. Sending the same numeric color code value to a digital cinema projector as well as to a
motion picture film recorder will result in different colors.
However, devices can be characterized. Characterization involves precisely measuring their responses in
terms of absolute colorimetry. In this way, characterization provides a means to convert between
device-dependent and device-independent color spaces. sRGB and AdobeRGB are essentially virtual
device-dependent spaces that have been characterized well enough to use them as if they were
device-independent.
In order for the characterization to remain valid, a device must be calibrated. Calibration involves adjusting
the device to meet the "aim" (that is, the intended primaries, white point, and gamma) corresponding to
that characterization. This process must be repeated periodically because devices' responses drift with use
over time. For more information, see Calibrating Your Monitor (page 1738).
A connection space is an intermediate color space used to minimize the number of different color transforms
that are needed to convert from each color space to every other one.
However with a connection space, you only need 8 transformations to convert back and forth between 4
color spaces. Each additional color space requires only 2 additional transforms, or 2N transforms in total.
But note that each conversion now requires two steps: the first to convert from the source space to the
connection space, and the second to convert from the connection space to the target space.
When you convert between color spaces in an application, Autodesk Color Management uses a connection
space under the hood.
If you need to manually specify a custom chain of transforms (page 1736), the collection includes transforms
that allow you to convert back and forth between color spaces using one of two connection spaces:
■ ACES 2065-1 can be used as a connection space for scene-linear images.
■ The camera/ directory contains transforms for converting from various digital camera formats.
■ The film/ADX/ directory contains transforms for converting to and from Academy Density Exchange
format.
■ The interchange/ACESproxy/ directory contains transforms for converting to and from the ACESproxy
system used on set.
■ The RRT+ODT/ directory contains transforms for converting to and from various output-referred
spaces.
■ CIE XYZ can be used as a connection space for output-referred images, that is, for images that do not
require any tone-mapping. The transforms in the collection include any chromatic adaptation necessary
to convert to and from the CIE XYZ white point of D65, if required.
■ The display/ directory contains transforms for converting to and from various RGB color space
encodings for specific display devices.
■ The interchange/ directory contains transforms for converting to and from color spaces commonly
used for digital image exchange, including sRGB and AdobeRGB.
NOTE The transforms in the primaries/ directory convert only the primaries. They expect and produce a linear
color space encoding, and they can be applied to either scene-linear or output-linear values.
ACES
The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is an image interchange framework developed by the Science
and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
At the core of the ACES system is the Academy Color Encoding Specification (also known as ACES 2065-1).
This is an extremely wide-gamut scene-linear space that can encode any visible color without using negative
values.
The ACES system also includes a set of color transforms that can provide an innovative color managed
workflow. In particular, the ACES system provides the first standard high-quality tone-mapping algorithm
for converting scene-linear images to output-referred color spaces for viewing.
Autodesk Color Management presents components of the ACES framework in applications such as Maya,
Flame, and Lustre.
The full details of the ACES framework include additional steps, which are combined in the streamlined
version presented in application interfaces. The following diagram shows how these detailed pieces fit
together, using historical acronyms from the development of the standard.
The ACES2065-1 and ADX color encodings, and the constrained OpenEXR container specification are
published in the 2065 family of SMPTE standards. Additional documents available from the Academy website
describe the ACEScg, ACEScc, and ACEScct working spaces as well as other topics such as the Common LUT
Format (CLF). The native color transform format of Autodesk Color Management (the CTF format) is a
superset of the Common LUT Format.
When working on set, it is generally not possible to use floating-point values for monitoring. To solve this
issue, the ACES system includes an integer encoding that can be transmitted over an HD-SDI link for on-set
monitoring, called ACESproxy. This is a lower-quality ACES encoding that should never be stored, but only
used for on-the-fly previews.
Also on set, it is becoming common for the cinematographer to establish a "look", or basic color grade, so
that the production team can see an approximation of the intended final grade early in the process. It is
typically baked into dailies and footage for editorial. This look also serves as an initial reference for the final
grade during the digital intermediate (DI) process. Because the effect of the look transform depends on what
color space it is applied in, it is important to specify the intended space as part of the workflow.
The ACES system includes a standard for applying the look on-set in ACESproxy space, and then applying
it again in DI such that the original look is preserved. This is the intended workflow for using ASC CDL
looks.
In Autodesk Color Management, most of the output transforms include a reference to the look transform
(LMT). The transform currently set as the defaultLook alias in the Autodesk Color Management preferences
is applied before the RRT. The look gets applied in ACEScc space as recommended by the ACES specifications.
The output transforms reference the look transform in such a way that the look is not applied for the final
output, but can be activated for viewing. Some Autodesk applications, such as Flame and Smoke, allow you
to toggle the look transform on and off interactively for display. This provides a way to quickly preview the
on-set look in VFX, in editorial, and as a starting point for final color grading.
All internal processing is performed at 32-bit floating-point precision, so the conversion to ACEScc for
application of a look transform (and then back to ACES) avoids the quantization and clipping imposed by
the integer-based implementation of ACESproxy used on set.
If you need to bake in the look for output, you can use a custom color transform to apply the
default_look-ACESproxy.ctf transform from the misc/ directory before the RRT+ODT transform. See Custom
Color Transforms (page 1746).
The following operations work best with scene-linear colors (that is, with code values that are directly
proportional to light energy in the scene):
■ compositing and blending
■ optical effects, including lens blur and defocus operations
■ motion blur
■ anti-aliasing
■ resizing
■ sub-pixel repositioning
■ 3D rendering
■ lighting and re-lighting
The following operations require video colors (that is, color values that are restricted to the range [0, 1]):
■ color inversion
■ converting RGB to HLS, HSV, or YCbCr
Here are some notes that may be useful if you need to convert between working spaces by manually specifying
custom chains of transforms (page 1736) from the collection:
■ You can convert scene-linear to video by applying a tone map such as PhotoMap_gamma_2.4 in the
tone-map/ directory. In general, a tone map uses an S-shaped curve to increase the contrast and compress
highlights.
■ You can convert video to scene-linear by applying an inverse tone map such as
inversePhotoMap_gamma_2.4 in the tone-map/ directory. This will not be exact if the footage was
NOTE There are special considerations for images that are used as textures and other maps. See Color Managing
Textures and Maps (page 1742).
■ You can convert scene-linear images to log space using one of the Lin_to_Log transforms in the
film/LogLin/ directory.
■ You can convert log images to scene-linear using one of the Log_to_Lin transforms in the film/LogLin/
directory.
■ You can convert video images to log space by first converting to scene-linear and then to log.
■ You can convert log images to video space by first converting to scene-linear and then to video.
1 Convert images from their source space to a connection space. Several transforms are available:
■ Use the transforms in the camera/ directory to import images from various digital cinema cameras
and convert them to ACES 2065-1.
■ Use the transforms in the film/ directory to import scanned film plates in ADX or another
Cineon-style log encoding and convert them to ACES 2065-1.
■ Use the transforms in the display/ directory to import video images in HD, SD, or DCI formats and
convert them to linearized output-referred CIE XYZ.
■ Use the transforms in the interchange/ directory to import other common color spaces and convert
them to linearized output-referred CIE XYZ.
2 Once images have been imported and converted to ACES 2065-1 or CIE XYZ, you can use the other
transforms to convert them to your working space. (However, keep in mind that a tone-map transform
is needed when converting between scene-linear and output-referred color spaces.)
For example, suppose that you want to work with scene-linear values using the ProPhoto primaries. First
convert the inputs to ACES 2065-1, then apply ACES_to_CIE-XYZ followed by CIE-XYZ_to_ProPhoto-RIMM
from the primaries/ directory. If desired, you can export a custom .ctf file that applies all three transforms
in order.
On the other hand, if you want to import raw digital cinema camera footage and work with it using
video-encoded values, you can import the images using the appropriate transform from the camera/ directory
and then apply one of the transforms in the RRT+ODT/ directory.
If you need to convert Digital Cinema Distribution Master (DCDM) values to HD video, you can apply
DCI_to_CIE-XYZ from the display/DCDM/ directory followed by CIE-XYZ_to_HD-video from the
display/broadcast/ directory assuming that the DCDM was mastered to the DCI calibration white point.
However if this results in unequal RGB values for colors that are supposed to be neutral, then you may need
to replace the first transform with one that is relative to a different white point, such as DCI-D65_to_CIE-XYZ
(see White Point Conversion (page 1743)).
The display/ directory contains transforms that you can set as your graphicsMonitor alias (and
broadcastMonitor alias, if appropriate) either in your application preferences or in the SynColor configuration
file.
Once you have defined your graphicsMonitor and broadcastMonitor aliases, you can then apply a viewing
transform that references the currentMonitor alias. The currentMonitor alias will use either graphicsMonitor
or broadcastMonitor, depending on which display is being drawn to.
The following transforms are available:
■ display/broadcast/HD-video_to_current-monitor
■ display/CIE-XYZ_to_current-monitor
■ film/ADX/ADX10_to_current-monitor
■ film/ADX/ADX16_to_current-monitor
■ RRT+ODT/ACES_to_current-monitor
If your images are not in the appropriate working space for one of those transforms, then you can export a
custom .ctf file that performs the required conversions:
■ If your images are scene-linear but not in ACES, then you can convert to ACES and then apply
ACES_to_current-monitor. For example, if you are working with scene-linear ProPhoto values, use
ProPhoto-RIMM_to_CIE-XYZ followed by CIE-XYZ_to_ACES from the primaries/ directory, and then
apply ACES_to_current-monitor.
■ If your images are in log space, apply one of the transforms from the film/ directory to convert them to
scene-linear before converting them from scene-linear as above.
■ If your images are video-encoded, convert them to CIE XYZ and then use the
display/CIE-XYZ_to_current-monitor transform.
■ To view a DCDM, apply DCI_to_CIE-XYZ from the display/DCDM directory, followed by
CIE-XYZ_to_current-monitor. Note that you might need to use a different transform such as
DCI-D60_to_CIE-XYZ if a different creative white point was used for the DCDM.
To ensure that the displayed images are an accurate representation of the intended colors, your monitor
must be calibrated. Calibration must be performed periodically because the monitor's response drifts with
use over time.
With respect to calibration, there are two classes of computer monitors:
■ Some high-end monitors have internal calibration circuitry. These monitors can be calibrated to emulate
another monitor that uses a different set of primaries. You use the manufacturer's software to adjust these
monitors to your desired aim.
■ Other monitors must be calibrated externally using a third-party product to generate an ICC profile that
you can use as your monitor transform.
For Autodesk Creative Finishing products that ship with an EIZO monitor (for example, CG245, CG246, or
CG277), you can use the manufacturer's software for calibration. The monitor transforms in the display/Eizo
directory assume that the monitor has been calibrated to the factory defaults: native primaries, D65 white
point, and a gamma of 2.2.
However, these are wide-gamut monitors, and it is sometimes desirable to calibrate to a different aim. In
such cases, you should apply a color transform that converts from the working space to the monitor's current
aim, if that aim is different from the working space.
Older Autodesk Creative Finishing systems have a monitor that relies on a probe using procedures described
in the Lustre Color Management User Guide. These monitors may have different default settings.
If your images are in a log space and you are not outputting to film, first apply one of the transforms in the
film/ directory to convert them to scene-linear and then continue as above.
Digital Cinema Distribution Masters (DCDMs) require images in the DCI/SMPTE X'Y'Z' color space. The
RRT+ODT/ACES_to_DCI transforms produce images in this color space (with variations for different creative
white points).
However, this color space is much larger than that of any real projector. A typical cinema projector has a
gamut closer to that of the DCI/SMPTE reference projector (P3 primaries).
Therefore, it is sometimes desirable to limit the gamut of colors placed in the X'Y'Z' color space to that of a
more representative projector. This has two advantages:
■ The gamut mapping is performed by the output transform (which preserves hue) rather than by the
projector (which typically clips).
■ Assuming that the content was graded and approved on a projector with a typical P3 gamut, limiting
the colors to that gamut assures there will be no unpleasant surprises if the content is later viewed on a
device with a wider gamut.
1 Select the RRT+ODT for the device whose gamut you want to limit to, for example,
RRT+ODT/ACES_to_P3-D60.
2 Then add transforms to convert to DCI/SMPTE X'Y'Z', for example, display/projector/P3-D60_to_CIE-XYZ
followed by display/DCDM/CIE-XYZ_to_DCI-D60.
If the images did not come from an ADX scanner, try importing them with one of the ADX transforms
anyway as a first resort. If you are not satisfied with the result, then you can try one of the Log_to_Lin
transforms in the film/LogLin/ directory. However, be aware that these transforms modify each color channel
independently (similar to 1D LUTs), and do not attempt to account for the channel cross-talk in film like
the ADX_to_ACES transforms do.
Alternatively, you can try using one of the print-film emulation LUTs in the Lustre Color collection, if they
are available to you. These transforms are installed with the Autodesk Creative Finishing products, as well
as with Autodesk Composite. The transforms are supplied in the legacy .3dl format, and can be imported
by Autodesk Color Management. Refer to the Lustre Color Management User Guide for more information about
the transforms in that collection.
NOTE DPX files may contain values other than Cineon-style log-encoded colors. For example, they may contain
video colors. When working with DPX files in general, you need to know the specific color encoding used. There
may be metadata available in the files, but even when metadata is present it can be incorrect or misleading.
Footage from digital cinema cameras can contain negative values in the noise around black. These negative
values can cause problems during image processing, especially when adjusting hue and saturation.
All of the input transforms supplied with Autodesk Color Management for input from various cameras map
negative values to small positive values losslessly. If you prefer to undo this correction and deal with the
negative values in another way, you can apply the remove_camera_black transform after the camera input
transform.
In other cases, you may receive images that have already had a third-party input transform applied, but still
have negative values. In these cases, you can use the apply_camera_black transform to map the negative
values to small positive values.
Digital video standards use integer pixel encodings, and typically define a reference black and white level
such that there is some headroom and footroom left for values to exceed these levels without being clipped.
For example, SMPTE 10-bit digital video places reference black at 64 and reference white at 940. Broadcasters
often have requirements that content provided to them not exceed these "legal" limits. (Note that the precise
definition of "legal" varies depending on the video format and broadcaster.)
Software applications that work with integer pixel encodings often follow a different convention which
places black and white at the minimum and maximum values allowed by the integer (e.g. for the 10-bit
case, black at 0 and white at 1023).
When converting between video and computer encodings, it is necessary to decide whether to keep the
headroom and footroom (in which case black and white are not quite where they are expected on the
computer), or to discard the headroom and footroom and map the reference video black/white to the
computer black/white.
Typically, this choice is made as part of the video I/O process and is applied in the video hardware. However,
it is sometimes useful to also have color transforms available so that the conversion may be performed
elsewhere in the workflow.
The full-range_to_legal_10bit transform in the levels/ directory scales, offsets, and clamps computer color
values (i.e. 0 to 1023) so that they are within the legal SMPTE video range for broadcasting (i.e. 64 and 940).
The legal-range_to_full_10bit transform inverts that operation.
Once the image is scene-linear, you can convert the primaries to your working space using one or more of
the transforms in the primaries/ directory. For example, if you converted the image to scene-linear ACES
2065-1 and you want to work in scene-linear ProPhoto-RIMM, you can apply ACES_to_CIE-XYZ followed
by CIE-XYZ_to_ProPhoto-RIMM.
Material Colors
Maps that are used for material colors should be scene-linear, but restricted to a 0-to-1 range. This is because
they represent the proportion of light that is reflected or transmitted. These include diffuse, specular, and
ambient reflectance colors, as well as transparency color.
First, you must ensure that the images are scene-linear:
■ Output-referred images, such as video and sRGB, should have the gamma removed and an inverse tone
map applied. These two operations are often combined in one transform. Ideally, you should use the
inverse of the tone map that will be used for output and display. For example, if you will be using the
NOTE Although it is common to simply remove the gamma from output-referred images, this is not enough
to convert images to scene-linear — an inverse tone map is always required. However if a digital photograph
was not flatly lit, or if a digital painting uses overly bright colors, then an inverse tone map may create values
greater than 1.0. In these cases, the best approach may be to use one of the remove_gamma transforms in
the gamma/ directory without applying an inverse tone map, even though this is not ideal.
■ Log-encoded images should have the log encoding removed using one of the transforms in the film/
directory. See Color Managing Images from Scanned Film (page 1740) for additional considerations.
■ Scene-linear images, such as images prepared using a tone map for display, can be used as-is if the primaries
match your working space.
Once the images are scene-linear, you can convert the primaries to your working space using one or more
of the transforms in the primaries/ directory. For example, if you converted an image to scene-linear ACES
2065-1 and you want to render using the UHDTV (Rec. 2020) primaries, you can apply ACES_to_CIE-XYZ
followed by CIE-XYZ_to_LinearUHDTV.
Light Sources
Maps that represent light sources should be scene-linear but can contain values greater than 1.0. These
include reflection maps, environment maps, and backplates, as well as some other effects such as
incandescence.
■ Output-referred images, such as video and sRGB, should have the gamma removed and an inverse tone
map applied. After that, you can convert the primaries if necessary.
■ Log images should have the log encoding removed, and then the primaries converted if necessary.
■ Scene-linear images only need to have the primaries converted if they don't match your working space.
Non-color Data
If images are used to control non-color attributes, such as normals, displacement, and so on, then the values
should not have any color transform applied.
In most cases, you do not need to separately adjust the white point of images yourself — it is simply a matter
of choosing the appropriate transform. The transforms supplied with Autodesk Color Management
automatically make the proper white point adjustments for display and output, as well as when converting
between color spaces with specified white points. For example, the RRT+ODT/ACES_to_sRGB transform
includes a conversion from D60 (ACES 2065-1) to D65 (sRGB). The description tags in the metadata of the
color transform files provides detailed information about the white point that each transform is intended
for.
However, you may need to compensate for a projector or display calibrated to a different white point, or
mix images that are intended for different adaptive white points. In these cases, you can apply the transforms
in the whitepoint/ directory. Before doing this, first make sure to convert the images to the CIE-XYZ color
space (either scene-referred or output-referred linear encoding).
White point issues for digital cinema projectors (and hence DCDMs) are particularly complex since there is
both a calibration and a creative white point. The calibration white point is the white point that the device
is calibrated to. However, in a dark theater there are no other light sources to affect adaptation, so the creative
white point may be different.
For example, many people find the DCI white point used in digital cinema standards too green. So while
theaters must still calibrate their projectors to this white point, neutral objects in a scene may be portrayed
to another ("creative") white point such as D60. You can achieve this by using a transform such as
RRT+ODT/ACES_to_DCI-D60 as the output transform, or by explicitly converting the white point yourself
using the transforms in the whitepoint/ directory.
Sometimes this technique is also used on video monitors when you want to match the white point of another
device without actually recalibrating the monitor to that other white point. For example, if you have a
monitor in a dark projection room, the colors on the monitor will not match the projected colors because
the white points are different. To make the monitor colors match, you must convert the white point from,
for example, D65 to DCI. Once this is done, neutral colors on the monitor no longer correspond to equal
code values but rather to whatever code values are required to make the desired white despite the different
calibration white.
There are many varieties of 16-bit integer log encodings, but few standards. As such it is difficult to make
general purpose recommendations on how to convert these images.
To convert 16i images from log space to scene-linear, there are several options:
■ If you know the images are in ADX16 color space, you can use the ADX16_to_ACES transform from the
film/ADX/ directory, which will take into account film channel crosstalk and provide more accurate
colors. Alternatively, you can use the Log_to_Lin--adx16 transform from the film/LogLin/ directory,
which is a simple 1D-LUT-style transform that is slightly more invertible for round-tripping back to 16i.
■ Alternatively, try one of the other Log_to_Lin transforms in the film/LogLin directory. However, be aware
that these operate on each channel independently. This means that they are less accurate in terms of
color reproduction, but are more invertible and give smaller errors than the ADX transforms when
roundtripping.
There are some special transforms in the bitdepth/ directory to convert 12i or 16i images from a video-like
space to scene-linear 16f and then back to 16i while preserving the original values as much as possible.
■ The 12i_to_16f and 16f_to_12i transforms are designed to provide a lossless round-trip.
■ The 16i_to_16f and 16f_to_16i transforms are designed to minimize quantization loss — the maximum
error when round-tripping is 2 code values in 65535.
However, because 12i_to_16f and 16i_to_16f are very different from typical inverse tone maps, you should
use 16f_to_12i or 16f_to_16i respectively as your display transform as well as your output transform (if you
are round-tripping back to 12i or 16i).
In addition, note that these transforms are not appropriate for use with all operations. For example, resizing
and other operations that involve spatial filtering give very different results in scene-linear space than in
video space. In particular, the Lanczos filter has large negative coefficients that can cause artifacts like rings
or haloes around high-contrast edges. In these situations, you should consider alternative transforms to
perform the conversions:
■ Use a log-to-linear transform such as Log_to_Lin--jzp in the film/LogLin/ directory for import, and its
inverse such as Lin_to_Log--jzp for viewing and export.
■ Use a transform such as remove_2.40_gamma in the gamma/ directory for import, and its inverse such
as apply_2.40_gamma for viewing and export. This minimizes the haloes, but results in greater loss of
precision when round-tripping.
In Smoke, Flame, and Lustre, you can use Custom mode to assemble a chain of transforms, either from the
installed collection or by importing transforms in ASC CDL or third-party LUT formats. You can then export
the whole chain as a single .ctf file for example, to use as a viewing transform or to save time with conversions
that you perform frequently.
Because the .ctf file format can represent arbitrary lists of color processing operations, the exported transform
is a lossless representation of the original processing. In other words, it is much more accurate than baking
the original transforms into a single 3D LUT.
The .ctf file format is XML-based, so you can also use any XML or text editor to create or modify color
transforms. You can either create a transform from scratch, or use <Reference> elements to build a chain
from existing transform files. See Autodesk CTF File Format Version 1.3 (page 1751).
Some Autodesk applications, like Flame and Smoke, allow you to adjust exposure and contrast interactively
for viewing if those controls have been declared as dynamic in a .ctf file. The exposure and contrast values
set in the application are used for previewing, but the values set in the file are used for processing.
This means that you can create a transform that includes an ExposureContrast operator that does not affect
color values (i.e., exposure of 0 and contrast of 1), but still adjust the exposure and contrast when the
transform is applied to the display. This allows you to check the details in very bright or very dark areas.
However when the same transform is used for processing, the output color values are unaffected.
You can take advantage of this in your own color transforms by referencing one of the exposure-contrast
files in the misc/ directory. There are three versions, so that you can insert them in a scene-linear, logarithmic,
or video color space. The algorithms have been adjusted so that, for example, the exposure-contrast_log
transform causes the exposure and contrast sliders to behave the same in a log color space as
exposure-contrast_linear behaves in a scene-linear color space.
Flame and Smoke allow you to toggle a look transform on and off for previewing purposes. The Look On/Off
toggle appears whenever the viewing transform includes one or more operator elements with a LOOK_SWITCH
dynamic parameter. If the same operators have their bypass attribute set to "true", they will be skipped during
processing. This lets you include operators that will never affect values rendered to file but that can still be
toggled on and off for display.
One way to take advantage of this is to define your look transform file as the defaultLook alias. The
defaultLook alias can be set in the LUT preferences, and the setting is stored in the SynColor configuration
file. You can then create a transform chain that includes a reference to one of the transforms in the misc/
directory that in turn references the defaultLook alias:
■ The misc/default_look transform applies the look transform directly.
■ If you are using the ACES framework and ACESproxy was used on set, you can reference the
misc/default_look-ACESproxy transform instead. This transform first converts from ACES 2065-1 to
ACESproxy, then references the defaultLook transform, and finally converts back to ACES 2065-1. If your
look transform is an ASC CDL operator and you use the "noClamp" option, then ACES 2065-1 values are
not clamped to the ACESproxy range. Because internal processing is done at 32-bit floating point precision,
there will be negligible quantization loss.
Your first step is to decide on a working color space, unless that decision has already been made for you.
■ A scene-linear working space is a good idea, especially for compositing the 3D elements.
■ Considering that the deliverables are digital cinema (which uses the P3 primaries for projection) and HD
(which uses the Rec. 709 primaries), it makes sense to choose the P3 primaries. They have a larger gamut
than Rec. 709, so the DCDM can use all of the colors that are available on a SMPTE reference projector.
Furthermore by restricting the working space to this gamut, you reduce the possibility of out-of-gamut
colors.
■ Many people find the DCI calibration white point too green, and prefer to work with a different creative
white point such as D60.
So, a suitable choice for a working space is a scene-linear encoding using the P3 primaries and a white point
of D60.
Next, you need to convert all the inputs to this working space:
■ The film scans are most likely DPX files using ADX or another Cineon-like encoding. You can use one
of the transforms in the film/ directory to convert these to scene-linear ACES 2065-1 on import (see
Color Managing Images from Scanned Film (page 1740) for additional considerations). Looking at the
transforms available in the primaries/ directory, there is no direct way to convert from ACES 2065-1 to
the P3 primaries. However, it is possible using two steps: by applying ACES_to_CIE-XYZ followed by
CIE-XYZ_to_P3-D60. You can export the whole chain of transforms as a single .ctf file for convenience
when importing many shots.
■ Digital cinema cameras all use different proprietary encodings. Depending on the camera make, model,
and lighting settings, use the appropriate transform from the camera/ directory to convert the images to
Now you need to set up your view transform to display these images as you work. Since the working space
is scene-referred, you need to use a tone map to convert the images to output-referred values, and of course
you should use the same tone map as the final deliverables. For the purpose of this example, suppose that
you decide to use the ACES tone map.
To use any of the transforms in the RRT+ODT/ directory, you must first convert to ACES 2065-1. You can
do this using P3-D60_to_CIE-XYZ followed by CIE-XYZ_to_ACES from the primaries/ directory. Finally, you
can apply ACES_to_current-monitor from the RRT+ODT/ directory. Chromatic adaptation is built into these
transforms to map the D60 white point of the working space to the monitor's white point. Export this chain
of transforms as a single .ctf file and set it as your viewing transform.
In addition, you may want to preview on a projector calibrated to the DCI white point. You can first convert
to ACES 2065-1 using P3-D60_to_CIE-XYZ followed by CIE-XYZ_to_ACES from the primaries/ directory as
above, and then use ACES_to_P3-DCI from the RRT+ODT/ directory. Although the calibration white is DCI,
the creative white is D60, so chromatic adaptation is neither necessary nor built-in (see White Point Conver-
sion (page 1743)).
See Color Managing Images for Display (page 1737) for more information.
Finally, you need to apply the correct transforms for your deliverables. As for the display, you need to use
a tone map to convert from scene-referred to output-referred.
Once again, you can convert from the working space to ACES using P3-D60_to_CIE-XYZ followed by
CIE-XYZ_to_ACES from the primaries/ directory. After that:
■ For the DCDM, apply ACES_to_DCI-60 from the RRT+ODT/ directory.
■ For HD video, apply ACES_to_HD-video from the same directory.
See Color Managing Images for Output (page 1739) for more information.
/opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/transforms
■ Mac OS X:
/Applications/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/transforms
<install_directory>/synColor/transforms
Category Description
primaries Converts between linear color spaces that use different primary
colors.
.csp Cinespace.
.icc, .icm, .pf ICC monitor profile. The PCS-to-monitor-RGB transform defined in the profile is loaded.
.vf Nuke.
</Array>
</LUT1D>
<Matrix inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f">
<Array dim="3 3 3">
0.9259999990 0.0379999988 0.0359999985
0.1299999952 0.8000000119 0.0700000003
-0.0350000001 -0.0350000001 1.0700000525
</Array>
</Matrix>
<LUT1D halfDomain="true" inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f"
rawHalfs="true">
<Array dim="65536 1">
0
0
0
</Array>
</LUT1D>
<LUT3D inBitDepth="32f" interpolation="tetrahedral" outBitDepth="32f">
<Array dim="48 48 48 3">
0.000669299 0.000704187 0.000766901
0.001848371 0.001297010 0.010368987
0.002599007 0.001144927 0.023227118
</Array>
</LUT3D>
<Gamma inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f" style="moncurveFwd">
<GammaParams gamma="2.600000000000000" offset="0.050000" />
</Gamma>
<Matrix inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f">
<Array dim="3 3 3">
3.2409698963 -1.5373831987 -0.4986107647
-0.9692436457 1.8759675026 0.0415550582
0.0556300804 -0.2039769590 1.0569715500
</Array>
</Matrix>
<Range inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f">
<minInValue> 0.0000</minInValue>
<maxInValue> 1.0000</maxInValue>
<minOutValue> 0.0000</minOutValue>
<maxOutValue> 1.0000</maxOutValue>
</Range>
<Gamma inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="12i" style="basicRev">
<GammaParams gamma="2.400000000000000" />
</Gamma>
</ProcessList>
OperatorNode + This is a virtual element — replace it by one of the substitutions below (LUT1D, LUT3D,
etc.). Attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Contains:
Description (page 1758) *
LUT3D (page 1764) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Attributes: interpolation
Contains:
Array (page 1765) Attributes: dim
Matrix (page 1766) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Contains:
Array (page 1767) Attributes: dim
Range (page 1770) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Contains:
minInValue (page 1771) ?
Gamma (page 1773) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Attributes: style Contains:
GammaParams (page 1775) Attributes: channel, gamma, offset
ExposureContrast (page 1776) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Contains:
ECParams (page 1777) Attributes: exposure, contrast, pivot
Log (page 1778) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Attributes: style Contains:
LogParams (page 1780) 1 or 3 Attributes: channel, gamma, refWhite, refBlack, highlight, shadow
ASC_CDL (page 1781) Inherited attributes: id, name, inBitDepth, outBitDepth, bypass Contains:
SOPNode (page 1783) Contains:
Slope (page 1783)
XML Declaration
The XML declaration is optional but recommended. It indicates to the XML parser the version of XML and
character encoding used.
If it is present, the XML declaration must be the first line of the file.
Example
ProcessList
The ProcessList element is the root element of a CTF file. It must contain at least one operator element.
Contains
In order:
■ Info (page 1755). Optional, no more than one.
■ Description (page 1758). Optional, any number.
■ InputDescriptor (page 1759). Optional, no more than one.
■ OutputDescriptor (page 1760). Optional, no more than one.
■ At least one or more operator elements, in any combination in the order in which they are to be applied.
NOTE The inBitDepth attribute of each operator must match the outBitDepth attribute of the previous operator
in the chain. See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
Contained By
■ no parent
Attributes
name A nickname for the entire color transform (optional). This is used for display and selection in
applications that support Autodesk Color Management.
version Indicates the presence of Autodesk extensions to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Files with a value higher than that supported by the application are rejected.
inverseOf The id attribute from another CTF file. It identities this transform as the inverse of the other one.
This information is useful to the color management system to detect the case where a transform and then
its inverse are applied, so the transform pair may be optimized out. It is an Autodesk extension to the
Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Metadata Elements
The metadata elements provide information about a color transformation that can be displayed in information
panels in applications.
Info
The Info element is a container for the Copyright and Release elements.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
In any order:
■ Copyright (page 1756). Optional, no more than one.
■ Release (page 1757). Optional, no more than one.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Copyright
The Copyright element is intended to contain a copyright notice covering the CTF file.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
■ Text string. Use > for >, < for <, and & for &.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
<Release>2013.1.pr20</Release>
Release
The Release element is intended to contain the version of the SynColor library corresponding to an
Autodesk-supplied CTF file.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format. You should not add this
element to color transforms that you author yourself.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
■ Text string. Use > for >, < for <, and & for &.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Description
The Description element allows you to add information about the function or usage of a ProcessList or
operator element. It is displayed in the metadata panel of color transforms in products that support Autodesk
Color Management.
Contains
■ Text string. Use > for >, < for <, and & for &.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
InputDescriptor
The InputDescriptor element allows you to add a comment describing the intended input color space and
encoding for a color transform. It is does not affect the processing, but is displayed in the metadata panel
of color transforms in products that support Autodesk Color Management.
Contains
■ Text string. Use > for >, < for <, and & for &.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Example
OutputDescriptor
The OutputDescriptor element allows you to add a comment describing the output color space and encoding
for a color transform. It is does not affect the processing, but is displayed in the metadata panel of color
transforms in products that support Autodesk Color Management.
Contains
■ Text string. Use > for >, < for <, and & for &.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Example
NOTE The inBitDepth attribute of each operator must match the outBitDepth attribute of the previous operator
in the chain. See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
bypass Introduced in version 1.3. Specifies that the operator should not be applied during color processing.
Optional. If this attribute exists, its value must be "true". By using this attribute in combination with a
DynamicParameter (page 1788) element that has its param attribute set to "LOOK_SWITCH", you can define
operators that will never affect values rendered to file but that can still be toggled on and off for display.
inBitDepth The input color data type expected by the operator. Required.
outBitDepth The output color data type produced by the operator. Required.
NOTE The inBitDepth attribute of each operator must match the outBitDepth attribute of the previous operator
in the chain.
Value Meaning
The values specified for inBitDepth and outBitDepth attributes do not affect the quantization of color values.
All processing is performed using 32-bit floating-point values.
The inBitDepth and outBitDepth attributes affect only the format of the numbers used in the CTF file, such
as the values used in an Array, Matrix, or Range element. For example, if you find it convenient to specify
values as integers in the range [0, 1023] then you can use an inBitDepth of "10i". You can still specify
values outside this range, and those values will be used in the intermediate computations.
Contains
NOTE The IndexMap element is not supported. The most efficient way to achieve the same result is to precede
the operator with another LUT1D element, or to combine both LUTs into a single one.
Contained By
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
halfDomain Optional. If this attribute is present, its value must be "true". In this case, the input domain
is all possible 16-bit floating-point values, and there must be exactly 65536 entries in the Array element. For
example, the unsigned integer 15360 has the same bit-pattern (0011110000000000) as the half-float value
1.0, so the 15360th entry (zero-indexed) in the Array element is the output value corresponding to an input
value of 1.0.
rawHalfs Optional. If this attribute is present, its value must be "true". In this case, the values in the array
should be 16-bit floating point values expressed as unsigned 16-bit integers representing the equivalent bit
pattern. For example, to represent the value 1.0, you would enter the integer 15360 in the Array element
because it has the same bit-pattern. This allows you to specify the exact half-float values you want without
relying on conversion from decimal text strings.
Example
1D LUT
</Array>
</LUT1D>
</ProcessList>
Array (LUT1D)
The Array element specifies an array of values for a LUT or matrix. When it is contained by a LUT1D element,
the format of its contents is different than when it is contained by LUT3D or Matrix elements.
Contains
■ A series of numeric values specifying the output values of the LUT. The corresponding input values are
implied by the inBitDepth (page 1761) of the containing element. For integers, the first value corresponds
to an input of 0 and the last to an input of (2bitdepth – 1). For floating-point numbers, the first value
corresponds to an input of 0.0 and the last to an input of 1.0. Input values outside these domains are
clamped.
The intervals between the input values are uniform and depend on the number of entries. For example,
if there are 5 floating-point entries, they correspond to inputs of 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0.
For a 1D LUT, there is one value per entry which is used for all color channels. For a 3×1D LUT, there
are three values per entry specifying the separate R, G, and B output values.
Contained By
Attributes
dim Two integers representing the dimensions of the array. The first value is the number of entries in the
contents of the Array element. The second value is number of values per entry: 1 for a single value applied
to all channels or 3 for for separate values applied to the R, G, and B channels respectively.
The dim attribute is required, and its value must match the number of entries actually present.
Example
1D LUT
</Array>
3×1D LUT
See Also
LUT3D
The LUT3D element specifies a 3D LUT to apply.
Contains
NOTE The IndexMap element is not supported. The most efficient way to achieve the same result is to precede
the operator with a LUT1D element.
Contained By
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
Example
Array (LUT3D)
The Array element specifies an array of values for a LUT or matrix. When it is contained by a LUT3D element,
the format of its contents is different than when it is contained by LUT1D or Matrix elements.
Contains
■ A series of numeric values specifying the output values of the LUT. The corresponding input values are
implied by the inBitDepth (page 1761) of the containing element and the number of entries (uniform
distribution).
For a 3D LUT, each entry has three values specifying the separate R, G, and B output values. The entries
are in order from minimum to maximum with the index of the last column changing fastest and the
index of the first column changing slowest. For example, the order of entries for a 2×2×2 cube is:
Entry R G B
1 0 0 0
2 0 0 1
3 0 1 0
4 0 1 1
5 1 0 0
6 1 0 1
7 1 1 0
8 1 1 1
Contained By
Attributes
dim Four integers representing the dimensions of a 3D cube followed by followed by the number of
components per entry.
Only 3D LUTs with the same dimension in all three channels are supported, so the first three values must
be the same. The fourth value must be 3.
The dim attribute is required, and its value must match the number of entries actually present.
</Array>
</LUT3D>
</ProcessList>
See Also
Matrix
The Matrix element specifies a matrix for multiplying color values, and optionally applying an offset.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
Example
3x3 Matrix
Array (Matrix)
The Array element specifies an array of values for a LUT or matrix. When it is contained by a Matrix element,
the format of its contents is different than when it is contained by LUT1D or LUT3D elements.
Updated
Version 1.3.
Contains
Contained By
dim Specifies the size of the matrix and the number of channels to operate on.
Value Meaning
"4 4 3" A 4×4 matrix operating on RGB values. If you use this option,
the bottom row of the matrix should be [0 0 0 1].
This option is valid only if the version attribute of the Process-
List element is "1.2". For versions 1.3 and later, use "3 4 3"
instead.
Example
See Also
Where:
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
minInValue
The minValue element specifies the minimum input value for a Range element.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
maxInValue
The maxInValue element specifies the maximum input value for a Range element.
Contains
Attributes
None.
Example
minOutValue
The minOutValue element specifies the minimum output value for a Range element.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Gamma
The Gamma element applies a gamma correction to color values.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
Contained By
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
NOTE The following equations assume that the input and output bit-depths are floating-point. For integers, the
values are normalized to [0.0, 1.0]. In other words, the gamma and offset values stored in the CTF file do not
depend on the input and output bit depths.
Value Meaning
"basicFwd" Applies the power law with the gamma value specified in the
GammaParams element. The GammaParams element must
not have an offset attribute.
"basicRev" Applies the power law with the inverse of gamma value. The
GammaParams element must not have an offset attribute.
"moncurveFwd" Applies a function that has a linear segment near the origin
(black) and a power-law segment at higher values. At the
junction, the curve is continuous in both value and tangent.
This type of curve is used in the Rec. 709, sRGB, and CIE L*
equations.
The GammaParams element must have an offset attribute.
"moncurveRev" Applies a function that has a linear segment near the origin
(black) and an inverse power-law segment at higher values.
The GammaParams element must have an offset attribute.
Example
Without Offset
With Offset
GammaParams
The GammaParams element defines the gamma value and optional offset for a Gamma element.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
No content.
Contained By
channel The color channel to apply gamma correction to. Possible values are "R", "G", and "B". Optional.
If this attribute is not specified, the gamma correction is applied to all channels.
gamma The power value to use. Valid values range from 0.1 to 10.0 inclusive. Required.
–6
offset The offset to use. Valid values range from 10 to 0.9 inclusive. Optional.
If this attribute is used, the Gamma element's style attribute should be set to "moncurveFwd" or
"moncurveRev". If it is not used, the style attribute should be "basicFwd" or "basicRev".
Example
Without Offset
With Offset
Separate Channels
<ProcessList id="id">
<Gamma inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="10i" style="basicRev">
<GammaParams channel="R" gamma="2.4" />
<GammaParams channel="G" gamma="2.35" />
<GammaParams channel="B" gamma="2.2" />
</Gamma>
</ProcessList>
ExposureContrast
The ExposureContrast element simulates adjusting the exposure of an image, and also modifies the contrast
between light and dark colors.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
If a color transform is used for display, then depending on the application users can still adjust the exposure
and contrast interactively as long as the CTF file contains at least one ExposureContrast element with
DynamicParameter sub-elements. In this case, the corresponding parameter values defined in the ECParams
sub-element are ignored for display only, and instead the values set in the application are applied at each
point in the transform chain that an ExposureContrast element with DynamicParameter sub-elements
occurs.
Version 1.2.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
NOTE The following equations assume that the input and output bit-depths are floating-point. For integers, the
values are normalized to [0.0, 1.0]. In other words, the exposure offset, contrast level, and pivot values stored in
the CTF file do not depend on the input and output bit depths.
Value Meaning
"linear"
"video"
"log"
Example
<ProcessList id="561c5aba-8709-477c-8211-7ec4a6fe8820">
<ExposureContrast inBitDepth="16f" outBitDepth="32f" style="linear">
<ECParams exposure="0.65" contrast="1.2" pivot="1" />
<DynamicParameter param="EXPOSURE" />
<DynamicParameter param="CONTRAST" />
</ExposureContrast>
</ProcessList>
ECParams
The ECParams element specifies the parameters for an ExposureContrast element.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Version 1.2.
Contains
No content.
Contained By
Attributes
exposure A single decimal value representing the exposure offset in stops. A value of 0.0 corresponds to no
exposure offset. Required.
contrast A single decimal value representing the contrast level. A value of 1.0 corresponds to no contrast
adjustment. Required.
pivot A single decimal value representing the color value used as a pivot for adjusting contrast. A value of
0.18 will pivot around mid-gray. Required.
Example
<ProcessList id="561c5aba-8709-477c-8211-7ec4a6fe8820">
<ExposureContrast inBitDepth="16f" outBitDepth="32f" style="linear">
<ECParams exposure="0.65" contrast="1.2" pivot="1" />
<DynamicParameter param="EXPOSURE" />
<DynamicParameter param="CONTRAST" />
</ExposureContrast>
</ProcessList>
Log
The Log operator applies a logarithmic or anti-logarithmic function to convert between linear and Cineon-style
encodings.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
NOTE The following equations assume that the input and output bit-depths are floating-point. For integers, the
values are normalized to [0.0, 1.0]. In other words, the gamma, reference white, reference black, highlight, and
shadow values stored in the CTF file do not depend on the input and output bit depths.
Value Meaning
"log10"
"log2"
"antiLog10"
"antiLog2"
"logToLin"
"linToLog"
All Channels
Separate Channels
LogParams
The LogParams element defines the parameter values used by a Log element.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
No content.
Contained By
Attributes
channel Specifies the channel to apply the parameter values to. Possible values are "R", "G", and "B".
Optional. If it is omitted, the values are applied to each of the RGB channels.
gamma Combined film and video gamma (contrast in log space). A typical value is 0.6.
refWhite Value in log space that maps to highlight in linear space. Specified on a 10-bit scale (e.g. 685 is
typical).
refBlack Value in log space that maps to shadow in linear space. Specified on a 10-bit scale (e.g. 95 is typical).
shadow Value in linear space that maps to refBlack in log space. Specified on a floating-point scale (e.g. 0.0
is typical). Note that log values below refBlack are not clamped and will map to values below shadow in
linear space (possibly even negative).
Example
All Channels
Separate Channels
ASC_CDL
The ASC_CDL operator represents a color transform in the American Society of Cinematographers' Color
Decision List format (*.ccc or *.cdl).
An ASC CDL transform consists of a slope-offset-power (SOP) function applied individually to each of the
RGB channels, followed by a saturation function applied equally to all channels.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Attributes
id, name, bypass, inBitDepth, outBitDepth See Common Operator Attributes (page 1761).
NOTE The equations assume that the input and output bit-depths are floating-point. For integers, the values are
normalized to [0.0, 1.0]. In other words, the slope, offset, power, and saturation values stored in the CTF file do
not depend on the input and output bit depths.
NOTE The luma weights assume that the image uses the primaries specified by Rec. 709 (for example, HD and
sRGB).
Value Meaning
"v1.2_Fwd"
"noClampFwd" The same as "v1.2_Fwd", but without the two clamp func-
tions. If
Example
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
■ Slope (page 1783). Optional, no more than one. If absent, the default is 1.0 for all channels, that is, no gain
is applied.
■ Offset (page 1784). Optional, no more than one. If absent, the default is 0.0 for all channels, that is, no
offset is applied.
■ Power (page 1785). Optional, no more than one. If absent, the default is 1.0 for all channels, that is, no
gamma is applied.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Slope
The Slope element contains the RGB slope values of the slope-offset-power function of an ASC CDL color
transform.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Offset
The Offset element contains the RGB offset values of the slope-offset-power function of an ASC CDL color
transform.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Power
The Power element contains the RGB power values of the slope-offset-power function of an ASC CDL color
transform.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Saturation
The Saturation element defines the value used by the saturation function of an ASC CDL color transform.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Introduced
Version 1.3.
Contains
Attributes
None.
Example
Reference
The Reference element refers to another CTF file by path or by alias. The external file is imported into the
corresponding location of the ProcessList.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
NOTE When exporting a chain of transforms that includes a Reference element, the reference is replaced by the
contents of the referred file.
Introduced
Version 1.2.
Contains
Contained By
Attributes
path The path and file name of another CTF file. The path is relative to basePath if that attribute is defined;
otherwise, the path is absolute.
Value Meaning
Shared The shared location for custom color transforms for any ap-
plication that uses Autodesk Color Management. The location
is set in the SharedHome (page 1792) of the SynColor configur-
ation file (page 1790).
Example
<ProcessList id="561c5aba-8709-477c-8211-7ec4a6fe8820">
<Reference basePath="Autodesk" inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="32f"
path="RRT+ODT/ACES_to_CIE-XYZ_v0.1.1.ctf" />
<Reference alias="graphicsMonitor" inBitDepth="32f" outBitDepth="8i" />
DynamicParameter
The DynamicParameter element signals to a compatible application that a parameter is dynamic. If the
transform is used for display, the parameter value defined in the CTF file is ignored and the value set in the
application is used instead.
It is an Autodesk extension to the Academy/ASC XML color transform format.
Version 1.3.
Contains
No content.
Contained By
Attributes
param Specifies the parameter that will be overridden by the application when the CTF file is applied to
the display.
Value Meaning
Example
<ProcessList id="561c5aba-8709-477c-8211-7ec4a6fe8820">
<ExposureContrast inBitDepth="16f" outBitDepth="16f" style="linear">
<ECParams contrast="1.0000" exposure="0.0000" pivot="0.1800" />
<DynamicParameter param="EXPOSURE" /><DynamicParameter
param="CONTRAST" />
</ExposureContrast>
<Reference basePath="Autodesk" inBitDepth="16f" outBitDepth="16f"
path="misc/default_look-ACESproxy.ctf" bypass="true">
<DynamicParameter param="LOOK_SWITCH" />
</Reference>
<Reference basePath="Autodesk" inBitDepth="16f" outBitDepth="16f"
path="RRT+ODT/ACES_to_CIE-XYZ_v0.1.1.ctf" />
Comments
You can include standard XML comments in CTF files.
However if you want the information to appear in the metadata panel of Autodesk applications, you can
use Description (page 1758) elements instead of comments.
XML comments begin with:
<!--
and end with:
-->
Comments cannot appear inside tags (between < and >). In addition, comments cannot be nested.
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Synergy\SynColor\<version>\synColorConfig.xml
■ Linux:
/opt/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/synColorConfig.xml
■ Mac OS X:
/Applications/Autodesk/Synergy/SynColor/<version>/synColorConfig.xml
SynColorConfig
The SynColorConfig element is the root element of the SynColor configuration file.
Contains
In any order:
■ SharedHome (page 1792). Required, one only.
■ ReferenceTable (page 1793). Required, one only.
Contained By
■ no parent
Attributes
Example
AutoConfigure
The AutoConfigure element determines whether certain options get automatically configured when you
start an application that supports Autodesk Color Management.
Currently this works only for Autodesk Smoke on Mac OS X.
Contains
■ No content.
Attributes
graphicsMonitor Uses the ICC profile set in your operating system's preferences as the graphicsMonitor
alias.
Example
SharedHome
The SharedHome element specifies the location of the Shared directory. This is a useful location for storing
your own custom transforms that can be used by other applications that use Autodesk Colour Management
installed on the same computer.
Some applications allow you to set this value in their preferences.
Contains
■ No content.
Contained By
Attributes
dir Full path to the shared directory. This can be on the local or a remote computer.
Example
ReferenceTable
The ReferenceTable element is a container for Ref elements defining aliases, or short names for CTF files.
Contains
Users can define additional aliases for other transform files as they wish.
Contained By
Attributes
None.
Example
Ref
The Ref element defines an alias for a CTF file so that it can be easily referenced in other CTF files.
Some applications allow users to set certain aliases, like graphicsMonitor, in their preferences.
When an alias is changed, references that use it might not get updated until the application is restarted.
Contains
■ No content.
Contained By
Attributes
path The path and file name of the corresponding CTF file. Required.
basePath A base path that is prefixed to the path attribute value to fully resolve the file or location. Optional.
If this attribute is used, then the path attribute is interpreted as relative to the base path. Otherwise, the
path attribute is interpreted as an absolute path.
Example
</ReferenceTable>
</SynColorConfig>
NOTE To use the Avid Artist Transport, the EUCON utility must be running before launching Flame.
Use the Avid Artist Transport to navigate the clips in the timeline, as well as to mark the clips and the
timeline. Use the numeric keypad just like you would a regular keypad.
The Artist Transport has two main components, the wheel and its buttons, and the soft keys, all of which
can be reassigned using the EUCON utility.
Wheel Controls
There are two sets of wheel controls. Switch between the sets using the Shift key on the Artist Transport.
1795
Standard mapping
NOTE To use the Avid Artist Color on a Mac system, the EUCON utility must be running before launching Flame.
1 Use the Page buttons and navigate the available Timeline FX.
Colour Corrector
The Colour Corrector controls are accessed over five pages that you navigate, using the Next / Previous Page
buttons.
Colour Warper
The Colour Warper controls are accessed over four pages that you navigate, using the Next / Previous Page
buttons.
NOTE Audio effects are only available when an audio segment is selected.
EQ Timeline FX
Along with the Soft Knobs, some EQ parameters can be controlled with the trackballs and rings.
NOTE The Tangent Element control surface has expanded functionality in Lustre, since colour grading tasks are particularly well
suited for use with it. For more information, see the Tangent Element Control Surface in the Lustre user guide.
The first time you connect the Tangent Element Control Surface to your Flame workstation, it automatically connects to
your software and populates all the menus.
If the Control Surface does not automatically connect, see Tangent Troubleshooting (page 1855).
The Modes
The basic Tangent Element workflow is mode based. The panel automatically sets itself to the appropriate
mode, based on where you are in the application. Alternatively, you can manually set the panel to the mode
of your choice and the application's user interface follows. For example, accessing the Colour Corrector from
the user interface automatically sets the panel to the appropriate Colour Corrector mode (Master, Shadows,
Midtone, Highlights). And setting the CC Master mode on the panel, opens the Colour Corrector in Master
mode in the user interface.
The following modes are supported by the Tangent Element Control Surface in Flame:
This mode focuses on the Media panel and enables you to scrub the selected clip, as well as navigate the
current reel within the Media panel, select, scrub and play clips in the players. Additionally, you can perform
insert, overwrite and replace edits in the timeline, from the Media panel.
This mode focuses on the Viewing panel in Thumbnails view and enables you to scrub the selected clip, as
well as navigate through and select, scrub and play clips in the players. You can also perform insert, overwrite
and replace edits in the timeline.
1805
Reels Focus Mode
This mode focuses on the Viewing panel in Reels view and enables you to scrub the selected clip, as well as
navigate the reels and select, scrub and play clips in the players. Additionally, you can perform insert,
overwrite and replace edits in the timeline.
This mode focuses on the timeline and enables you to navigate the timeline, its layers and tracks. This mode
also supports panning and zooming the timeline via the trackball and wheel. In addition to the ability to
perform insert, overwrite and replace edits, you can also add Timeline FX and transitions. All of the Timeline
FX are supported.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
Player Modes
When you bring up a player, either using the Tangent panel or from the user interface, the panel enters one
of the player modes, based on the selected player. There are four player modes:
■ 1Up Player
■ Src-Seq Player
■ Triptych Player
■ Full Screen Player
From the Player modes, you can play and navigate through clips and sequences, drop markers on clips and
toggle the different players.
These modes focus on the Colour Corrector Timeline FX and enable you to control all of the creative settings
within the Colour Corrector, including the Colour Corrector Quick Bar.
NOTE The Colour Corrector Batch node and the Colour Corrector Tool in the Tools tab are not supported.
This mode focuses on the Colour Warper Timeline FX and enables you to control all of the creative settings
within the Colour Warper, including the Colour Warper Quick Bar.
NOTE The Colour Warper Batch node and the Colour Warper Tool in the Tools tab are not supported.
KB module (Knobs)
NOTE You can press the B button twice and lock Alt mode.
TK module (Trackballs)
The TK module is also an interface for user input parameters. The trackballs and rings provide an intuitive
way of precisely modifying parameters and are especially well suited for grading, among other things.
Trackballs: You can modify parameters by spinning the trackballs left / right or up / down based on the
current mode.
Rings: You can modify parameters by turning the rings left / right.
The values of the parameters assigned to the trackballs and the rings can be reset by pressing the Reset button
above them.
A button: Cycle through the different pages of functions mapped to the module.
B button:
■ Alt mode: Press to enable the alternate functions mapped across the entire panel.
■ Precise mode: Hold to enable Precise Mode.
NOTE You can press the B button twice and lock Alt mode.
MF module (Multi-Function)
The MF module enables you to select the mode you want to work in and provides a transport section, which
allows navigation via the trackball and ring as well.
Trackball: You can modify parameters by spinning the trackball left / right or up / down based on the
current mode.
Ring: You can modify parameters by turning the ring left / right.
The values of the parameters assigned to the trackballs and the rings can be reset by pressing the Reset button
above them.
A button: Cycle through the different pages of functions mapped to the module.
B button:
■ Alt mode: Press to enable the alternate functions mapped across the entire panel.
■ Precise mode: Hold to enable Precise Mode.
NOTE You can press the B button twice and lock Alt mode.
BT module (Buttons)
The BT module is dedicated to providing quick access to the editing operations and to the Timeline FX.
A button: Cycle through the different pages of functions mapped to the module.
B button:
■ Alt mode: Press to enable the alternate functions mapped across the entire panel.
■ Precise mode: Hold to enable Precise Mode.
NOTE You can press the B button twice and lock Alt mode.
Module 4 (BT)
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
Module 4 (BT)
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ BatchFX: Single press to apply a BatchFX to the currently selected timeline segment(s). You are taken
into Batch.
NOTE If the selected timeline segment already has a BatchFX applied to it, double pressing the button takes
to into Batch for editing.
■ Timewarp: Single press to apply a Timewarp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Timewarp editor.
■ Resize: Single press to apply a Resize Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Resize editor.
■ Text: Single press to apply a Text Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Text editor.
■ ColourC: Single press to apply a Colour Corrector Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Colour Corrector editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ ColourW (Alt): Single press (while holding Alt) to apply a Colour Warper Timeline FX to the currently
selected timeline segment. Double press (while holding Alt) to enter the Colour Warper editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ Spark: Press to apply a placeholder Spark. Click the Load Spark button (L), with your mouse or pen, to
open the Sparks Browser and navigate to the appropriate Spark.
■ Gmask: Single press to apply a Gmask Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Gmask editor.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Comp: Single press to apply a Comp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Comp editor.
■ Flip: Single press to apply a Flip Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Flip editor.
■ Transform: Single press to apply a Transform Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Transform editor.
■ Dissolve: Single press to apply a Dissolve video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Dissolve editor.
■ Wipe: Single press to apply a Wipe video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s). Double
press to enter the Wipe editor.
■ Action: Single press to apply an Action video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Action editor.
■ Player: Enable 1Up Player Focus mode. Press again to toggle between Source Player and Sequence Player.
■ QuickScrol (Trackball): Spin the ball along the X axis to quickly scroll the currently selected clip
backward or forward.
■ Scroll (Ring): Turn the ring to scroll the selected clip backward or forward.
■ Backward Play button: Play the current clip backward.
■ Backward Play + Stop buttons: Move the player head one frame backward.
■ Stop button: Stop playback.
■ Forward Play + Stop buttons: Move the player head one frame backward.
■ Forward Play button: Play the current clip backward.
■ Previous button: Got to the previous transition.
■ Previous button (Alt): Go to In mark.
■ Next button: Go to the next transition.
■ Next button (Alt): Got to Out mark.
■ Src-Seq: Enable Src-Seq Player Focus mode. Press again to toggle between Source focus and Sequence
focus.
■ QuickScrol (Trackball): Spin the ball along the X axis to quickly scroll the currently selected clip
backward or forward.
■ Scroll (Ring): Turn the ring to scroll the selected clip backward or forward.
■ Backward Play button: Play the current clip backward.
■ Backward Play + Stop buttons: Move the player head one frame backward.
■ Stop button: Stop playback.
■ Forward Play + Stop buttons: Move the player head one frame backward.
■ Forward Play button: Play the current clip backward.
■ Previous button: Got to the previous transition.
■ Previous button (Alt): Go to In mark.
■ Next button: Go to the next transition.
■ Next button (Alt): Got to Out mark.
■ Triptych: Enable Triptych Player Focus mode. Press again to toggle the Player focus.
Module 4 (BT)
Module 2 (TK)
Module 3 (MF)
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ BatchFX: Single press to apply a BatchFX to the currently selected timeline segment(s). You are taken
into Batch.
NOTE If the selected timeline segment already has a BatchFX applied to it, double pressing the button takes
to into Batch for editing.
■ Timewarp: Single press to apply a Timewarp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Timewarp editor.
■ Resize: Single press to apply a Resize Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Resize editor.
■ Text: Single press to apply a Text Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Text editor.
■ ColourC: Single press to apply a Colour Corrector Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Colour Corrector editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ ColourW (Alt): Single press (while holding Alt) to apply a Colour Warper Timeline FX to the currently
selected timeline segment. Double press (while holding Alt) to enter the Colour Warper editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ Spark: Press to apply a placeholder Spark. Click the Load Spark button (L), with your mouse or pen, to
open the Sparks Browser and navigate to the appropriate Spark.
■ Gmask: Single press to apply a Gmask Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Gmask editor.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Comp: Single press to apply a Comp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Comp editor.
■ Flip: Single press to apply a Flip Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Flip editor.
■ 2D Transform: Single press to apply a 2D Transform Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline
segment. Double press to enter the Transform editor.
■ Dissolve: Single press to apply a Dissolve video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Dissolve editor.
■ Wipe: Single press to apply a Wipe video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s). Double
press to enter the Wipe editor.
■ Action: Single press to apply an Action video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Action editor.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ BatchFX: Single press to apply a BatchFX to the currently selected timeline segment(s). You are taken
into Batch.
NOTE If the selected timeline segment already has a BatchFX applied to it, double pressing the button takes
to into Batch for editing.
■ Timewarp: Single press to apply a Timewarp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Timewarp editor.
■ Resize: Single press to apply a Resize Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Resize editor.
■ Text: Single press to apply a Text Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Text editor.
■ ColourC: Single press to apply a Colour Corrector Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment.
Double press to enter the Colour Corrector editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ ColourW (Alt): Single press (while holding Alt) to apply a Colour Warper Timeline FX to the currently
selected timeline segment. Double press (while holding Alt) to enter the Colour Warper editor.
NOTE The Tangent panel only supports the Colour Corrector and Colour Warper Timeline FX editors for input
parameters.
■ Spark: Press to apply a placeholder Spark. Click the Load Spark button (L), with your mouse or pen, to
open the Sparks Browser and navigate to the appropriate Spark.
■ Gmask: Single press to apply a Gmask Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Gmask editor.
■ Insert: Perform an insert edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Overwrite: Perform an overwrite edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Replace: Perform a replace edit with the selected clip in the active timeline sequence.
■ Comp: Single press to apply a Comp Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double
press to enter the Comp editor.
■ Flip: Single press to apply a Flip Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline segment. Double press
to enter the Flip editor.
■ 2D Transform: Single press to apply a 2D Transform Timeline FX to the currently selected timeline
segment. Double press to enter the Transform editor.
■ Dissolve: Single press to apply a Dissolve video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Dissolve editor.
■ Wipe: Single press to apply a Wipe video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s). Double
press to enter the Wipe editor.
■ Action: Single press to apply an Action video transition to the currently selected timeline segment(s).
Double press to enter the Action editor.
Troubleshooting
In the event that one or more of your panel modules are not recognized by Flame, restarting the background
service that manages the interactions between Flame and the Tangent Element Control Surface can resolve
the issue.
1 Exit Flame.
2 Open a shell on your Linux machine.
3 Login as root.
4 Type: /etc/init.d/tangenthub restart
5 Launch Flame.
1 Plug and connect the four or five modules (depending on your setup) of your Tangent Element Control
Panel to a power outlet and to your USB hub.
Troubleshooting | 1855
2 Once the modules are booted up and are displaying the Tangent logo, hit the A button on each module
to display its unique ID number.
3 On your Linux machine, log in as root and use kEdit to edit the panel-list.xml file:
kedit /var/opt/Tangent/Hub/panel-list.xml
NOTE In a four module setup, the line <Panel type= "Element-BT" number="2" serial="00"/> should be left
blank.
1857
Viewing Panel
Copy (Current Frame) Gesturally Shift - Ctrl - Alt - drag Alt - F - drag
Contextual Menu (Mouse right click Win (Smoke) - Click Menu button - Click
tablet emulation)
Timeline Navigation
Go to In Mark Alt - [ A
Next Timeline FX (Current Segment) Shift - Ctrl - Right Arrow Alt - Smoke - X
Previous Timeline FX (Current Seg- Shift - Ctrl - Left Arrow Alt - Smoke - Z
ment)
Editing
Cut Around Selection (All Ver- Alt - Shift - X Alt - Shift - Delete
sions/Tracks)
Select Between In-Out (All Versions) Ctrl - Shift - ' Alt - Shift - /
Clear In-Out Space - [ - ] Right Alt key - Right Ctrl key - Space
Clear Segment Mark Shift - Space - \ Shift - Right Ctrl key - Space
Insert I G
Overwrite O H
Replace R J
Slide Alt - D M
Front View F1 F1
Back View F2 F2
Matte View F3 F3
Result View F4 F4
Action Shortcuts
Select M Space - M
Add A Space - A
Move the Navigator inside the view- Alt - drag Alt - drag
port
Animation Shortcuts
Reset Channel (Default value) Ctrl - Alt - click Alt - Ctrl - click
Playback Controls
Play Backward J C
General Shortcuts
NOTE keyboard shortcuts:displaying errorsWhen you press a keyboard shortcut, a white keyboard appears in the lower-right
corner of the screen. If a keyboard shortcut becomes stuck at any time, the white keyboard remains until you unstick the keyboard
shortcut by pressing it. Click the white keyboard to display the name of the problematic keyboard shortcut in the message bar.
1 If auto display of tooltips is enabled in the Preferences, hover over the button for which you want to
determine the assigned keyboard shortcut. If you have disabled the auto display of tooltips, press and
hold Ctrl+Alt+W and hover over the button.
If a keyboard shortcut exists for the button, it is displayed in the tooltip.
2 In some cases where dropdown list items have separate keyboard shortcuts, the list items display the
various shortcuts.
(a) Keyboard Shortcut Catalogue (b) Keyboard Shortcut Manager (c) Search Field (d) Keystroke Editor
Where: Means:
When you select your keyboard, the onscreen keyboard is changed to reflect your choice, and entries in the
Keyboard Shortcut Catalogue are updated accordingly.
1 In the Search field, enter the characters you want to search for.
2 Click Search.
The catalogue is searched and the keyboard shortcuts whose description match your search criteria are
highlighted.
3 If more than one keyboard shortcut is highlighted, use the previous and next buttons located next to
the Search field to move through the list of search results.
1 From the area where you want to use the new keyboard shortcut, open the Keyboard Shortcut Editor.
2 Select the keyboard shortcut in the Keyboard Shortcut catalogue.
The keystroke sequence and its description appear in the Keystroke Editor fields. If you select a
map-to-button keyboard shortcut, the word “Yes” appears in the Map-to-Button field.
3 Click Clear in the Keyboard Shortcut Manager area to clear the existing keystroke sequence.
4 Enter the new keystroke sequence by clicking keys in the Keystroke Editor or by pressing keys on your
computer's keyboard.
5 Click Set in the Keyboard Shortcut Manager area.
6 Click Save to save the changes to the current user's Keyboard Shortcut catalogue.
The edited keyboard shortcut is marked in the catalogue with a “Y” to show that it is user-modified.
NOTE If you enter a keystroke sequence that is already in use, an error message is displayed.
You can use Clone to map multiple keystroke sequences to a single button, field, or function using the
regular system keyboard. This feature does not provide macro functionality.
NOTE You must enter a keystroke sequence that is not in use. Otherwise, an error message appears.
4 Click Set in the Keyboard Shortcut Manager area of the Keyboard Shortcut Editor.
5 Click Save to save the changes to the current user catalogue.
1 In the module where you want to use the new keyboard shortcuts, access the Keyboard Shortcut Editor
(Alt+Ctrl+F8).
2 Select the keyboard shortcut in the Keyboard Shortcut catalogue.
The keystroke sequence and its description appear in the Keystroke Editor fields. If you select a
map-to-button keyboard shortcut, the word “Yes” appears in the Map-to-Button field.
3 Click Clear in the Keyboard Shortcut Manager area to clear the existing keystroke sequence.
4 Enter the new keystroke sequence by clicking keys in the Keystroke Editor or by pressing keys on your
computer's keyboard.
5 Click Set in the Keyboard Shortcut Manager area.
6 Click Save to save the changes to the current user's Keyboard Shortcut catalogue.
The edited keyboard shortcut is marked in the catalogue with a “Y” to show that it is user-modified.
NOTE If you enter a keystroke sequence that is already in use, an error message is displayed.
1 With the Keyboard Shortcut Editor open, click the menu button for which you want to create the
keyboard shortcut.
NOTE If the button you want to click is hidden by the Keyboard Shortcut Editor, click the Hide Panel button.
If the menu button you selected is a map-to-button keyboard shortcut, Yes appears in the Map to
Button field, and the name of the menu button appears in the Description field.
2 Enter the new keystroke sequence by clicking keys in the Keystroke Editor, your computer's keyboard,
or the keys on your pen tablet. The new keystroke appears in the Keystroke field.
3 If the menu button is a field, you can set a default value type and increment in the Value Type box
and Increment field.
4 If the menu button is an option box, you can enable Cycle Pop-up to allow your new keyboard shortcut
to cycle through the options each time it is pressed.
5 Click Set.
6 Click Save to save the changes to the current user's Keyboard Shortcut catalogue.
Clear button Clears the contents of the Keystroke field in the Keystroke Editor before you enter a new
keystroke sequence.
Reset button Resets the current local keyboard shortcuts to their default settings.
Reload button Reloads the current catalogue of keyboard shortcuts. This is useful if you made a change but
have not yet saved it, and you wish to discard the change.
Save button Saves the current keyboard shortcuts to the Keyboard Shortcut Catalogue of the current user.
Reset All button Resets all keyboard shortcuts to their default settings.
Reload All button Reloads all keyboard shortcuts from the Keyboard Shortcut Catalogue of the current user.
Save All button Saves all keyboard shortcuts to the Keyboard Shortcut Catalogue of the current user.
Hide Panel button Hides the Keyboard Shortcut Editor panel when you want to select a menu button hidden
by the panel. The panel reappears when you select a menu button. Alternatively, click in an open area to
return to the Keyboard Shortcut Editor panel without selecting anything.
NOTE This button is only available when accessing the Keyboard Shortcut Editor from a module.
Clone button Assigns a regular keyboard keystroke sequence to a single button, field, or function.
Keystroke field Displays the keystroke sequence. Click keys in the Keystroke Editor or the keyboard to enter
a new sequence.
Description field Displays the name of the selected menu button. Non-editable.
Value Type box Select a value type for the selected menu button.
Integer Increment field Displays the integer increment for the selected value type. Editable.
Float Increment field Displays the float increment for the selected value type. Editable.
Cycle Pop-up button Enable to allow the new keyboard shortcut to cycle through options for the selected
box.
Search Section
Search field Displays the search criteria for the Hot Key Catalogue. Editable.
Search button Performs a search based on the characters in the Search field.
Previous button Selects the previous highlighted item in the search results.
Next button Selects the next highlighted item in the search results.
Miscellaneous Settings
User field Displays the current user that hot keys are saved for. Non-editable.
Keyboard Type box Select the type of keyboard being used to take advantage of extra keys on certain
keyboards. See Selecting Your Keyboard Type (page 1867).
Close button Click to close the Keyboard Shortcut Editor, and return to your previous view.
Audio Preferences
Player
Enable Audio button Press to enable / disable audio in the application. It is enabled by default.
Monitor Sync box Indicates which monitor will have audio sync when you play back a clip (the broadcast
monitor or the high-resolution monitor).
Broadcast Delay field Displays the number of frames (-30.00 to 30.00) to delay the audio signal when
syncing to the broadcast monitor. Editable.
Hi-Res Delay field Displays the number of frames (-30.00 to 30.00) to delay the audio signal when syncing
to the graphics monitor. Editable.
Auto Fade field Displays the amount of time (0 to 10 ms) that a fade is added to the start and end of each
audio segment. Use this setting to avoid audible clicks between audio sources. Editable.
Meters
Meter Range field Displays the overall scale for the fader meters. Editable.
Meter Step field Displays the step value for the meters. Enter a lower value to view a more detailed meter.
Meter Units box Select whether the meters display digital or analog units.
1873
Tone
Reference Level field Displays the reference level for custom audio tones. Editable.
Tracks
Consider Audio Head/Tail button Enable to include audio that extends before or after video when exporting
movie files.
Supported Playback Tracks field Displays the number of playback tracks supported by your sound card.
Non-editable.
Supported I/O Tracks field Displays the number of I/O tracks supported by your sound card. Non-editable.
Supported Audio Monitoring Field Displays the audio monitoring option supported by your sound card.
Non-editable.
Outputs
Output Sampling Rate field Displays the current output sampling rate. Non-editable.
Monitoring Level field Displays the default volume level. Does not effect output. Editable.
Source Controls
Displays the front clip, matte clip, and sources. The Sources list manages the sources attached to the current
node. A source is composed of a front source and a matte source. See Using Sources (page 1215). Also displays
the Consolidate and Brush Set buttons.
Consolidate button Consolidates multiple strokes into a single stroke. When multiple strokes are applied
with Consolidate, they are not blended together but applied as if every stroke is part of one stroke.
Consolidated strokes appear as one stroke in Edit mode. Set Brush Attributes and Paint settings before
enabling Consolidate.
Add Source button Click to add a new source node. Sources are used together with the Reveal paint mode.
Source Lock option box Select Lock Off to use the current frame for the duration of the source front clip.
Select Lock On to unlock the clip and apply it in its original state.
Source Matte option box Select Matte Off to paint anywhere on the canvas, Matte On to limit painting to
areas on the source matte, or Matte Invert to limit painting to areas outside the source matte.
Hide Strokes button Hides the strokes associated with the current source.
Clear Strokes button Clears the strokes associated with the current source.
Current Frame box Select to clear strokes for the Current Frame or the entire Sequence.
Sources List Displays the sources attached to the current node, and which sources are locked (L) or hidden
(H).
Stroke Controls
When in Edit mode, every stroke created in Paint mode is displayed in the Strokes list. It displays for every
stroke the paint type, the paint mode, the blending mode, the number of brush stamps, and the range of
frames that display the stroke.
Solo Stroke toggle Enable to display only the stroke currently selected in the Strokes list. A soloed stroke
appears across the whole frame sequence, and ignores the visibility property set in the Strokes list with the
eye icon.
Hide All Strokes button Hides every stroke listed in the Strokes list. A hidden stroke is never output by
Paint. If Solo is active, the selected stroke is always displayed.
Reveal All Strokes button. Displays every stroke listed in the Strokes list. If Solo is active, only the selected
stroke is displayed.
Strokes list Lists the strokes applied to the current node. Every stroke is displayed, even the ones that are
not used in the currently displayed frame. Strokes can be deleted, duplicated, hidden or reordered in the
list. Use the Brush Attributes and the Paint settings to edit the brush used.
Edit Box toggle Enable to display the edit box. Use the edit box to move, resize, or rotate the selected stroke.
Brush Attributes
Sets the size of the brush and other brush attributes affecting how paint is applied to the canvas.
Size field Set the radius of the brush in pixels. Editable.
Rate field Set the rate at which to apply brush strokes to the canvas. Use a higher percentage value to produce
a smoother continuous stroke. Editable.
Fixed Rate button Enable to make the stroke dependent on the speed at which you move the brush.
Pressure field Set the transparency on the pressure and direction of the pen. Editable.
Jitter field Set the level of dispersion. A lower value produces a greater concentration of paint. Editable.
Direction field Set the percentage of a complete rotation to rotate the brush around the Z-axis. Editable.
Roll field Set the percentage of a complete rotation to rotate the brush around the X-axis. Editable.
Paint Mode
Sets the type of paint operation that is applied to the brush. Some brushes paint in a colour; others use
contents of the result or a source. See Using Paint Modes (page 1205) and Using Blending Modes (page 1221).
Brush Type box Select a shape to paint, or freeform painting.
Paint Modes box Select the type of effect you want to apply to the brush.
Fade field Displays how quickly the stroke fades when the Fade brush attribute mode is selected. A higher
value fades the stroke faster.
Y Offset field Displays the vertical coordinate for the Clone offset. Editable.
Rotate field Displays the angle of rotation to rotate the reference image. Editable.
Scale field Displays the scale value of the reference image. Editable.
Blending Mode box Select the blending operation to apply to the brush colour components.
Opacity field Displays the opacity of the brush. Use a lower value to apply a more transparent colour.
Editable.
Paint On box Select the frame or frames where the stroke is applied. Sets the From Stroke and To Stroke
fields.
From Stroke field Displays the first frame where the stroke appears. Editable.
To Stroke field Displays the last frame where the stroke appears. Editable.
Viewing Controls
Overlay button Enable to show a reference clip overlaid onto the canvas.
Reference box Select the view with the reference clip you want overlay. If you select a Src, also select a
source from the Source list.
Transparency field Set the transparency percentage of the reference clip. Editable.
Wipe Controls
Controls wiping the canvas at the current frame. See Using the Canvas (page 1222).
Wipe button Select to apply a uniform colour in a single brush stroke to the entire result image, the front
only or the output matte only at the current frame.
Use Source button Enable to use the source selected in the Source list to wipe over the image.
Canvas Controls
Controls clearing the canvas at the current frame. See Using the Canvas (page 1222).
Clear box Select whether to clear all strokes from the result image and output matte at the current frame
or to clear strokes from all frames.
Rotation field Displays the angle of rotation used to rotate the canvas in the image window. Editable.
Defines the area that can be used to paint. You can paint on the entire canvas or areas delimited by the
matte properties. See Restricting Strokes with the Source Matte (page 1219) and Restricting Brush Strokes (page
1201).
Use Matte button Enable to limit brush strokes on the canvas to areas inside the matte.
Invert button Enable to limit brush strokes on the canvas to areas outside the matte.
Paint Both button Enable to paint on the result and output matte simultaneously.
Backburner Preferences
Backburner Manager box Select the hostname of the Backburner Manager system that handles background
jobs submitted by the workstation.
Backburner Group box Specifies a server group (a preset group of render nodes) used to process jobs
submitted by the application. By default, Backburner Manager assigns a job to all available render nodes
capable of processing it. If you have a dedicated group of render nodes for processing jobs, set the value to
the name of the render node group. See the Backburner User Guide for information on creating groups.
Burn Job Type box Configure according to the GPU capabilities of the nodes in your background processing
network.
■ Software: none of the nodes in your background processing network is equipped with a GPU. The
application will not send jobs that require a GPU to the background processing network, but only jobs
that can be processed in software mode (using OSMesa) by the render nodes.
■ GPU Burn: all the nodes in your background processing network are GPU-enabled. The application will
send all jobs to the GPU-equipped nodes in the background processing network, even if some jobs do
not specifically require a GPU node. The GPU-equipped render nodes will render jobs that require a GPU,
as well as OSMesa jobs. If your background processing network also contains nodes without a GPU, and
this setting is used, all jobs are sent only to GPU-equipped render nodes, and the nodes without a GPU
are never used.
Burn Priority field Displays the priority for renderings jobs, from 0 (highest priority) to 100 (lowest). Editable.
Wire Priority field Displays the priority for transfers from and to this workstation, from 0 (highest priority)
to 100 (lowest). Editable.
Cache Priority field Displays the priority for caching imported media on this workstation, from 0 (highest
priority) to 100 (lowest). Editable.
Export Priority field Displays the priority for exporting clips from this workstation, from 0 (highest priority)
to 100 (lowest). Editable.
NOTE Regarding the different priorities, be careful when setting new values or you might end up with a system
trying to transfer frames before they are rendered.
Broadcast Monitor box Select the output device used by the broadcast monitor, or turn it off.
Broadcast Selection box Select what you want to preview on your broadcast monitor (can be changed
on-the-fly).
Always Send Grab Area button Enable to display Player or viewport output, including times when neither
is in use. Active when the Screen Grab option is selected.
Scale Clip to Fit Monitor button Enable to resize the clip to fit the broadcast monitor. Active when the
Show Selected Item option is selected.
Show Clip On Selection button Enable to display in the broadcast monitor the selected thumbnail.
Viewport Monitoring button Enable to send to the broadcast monitor the content of the viewport displaying
the "Monitor" symbol. Disable to use the broadcast monitor as an additional viewport; then use the Broadcast
Monitor toolbar to control the broadcast monitor as you would any other viewport.
Hide Broadcast Toolbar button Enable to hide the Broadcast Monitor toolbar. By default, the toolbar is
displayed in the top-right corner of the graphics monitor. Spacebar+Click to move the Broadcast Monitor
toolbar.
Broadcast Overlay box Select the overlays displayed on the broadcast monitor. "Off" for no letterbox or
reference overlay, "Letterbox" for aspect ratio and letterbox guides, "All" for letterbox and all reference overlay
elements.
Broadcast Stereo
Broadcast Stereo box Displays the currently-selected stereoscopic display option. The options are Dual
Output, Interlaced, and Anaglyph.
Interlaced Option box When Interlaced is selected displays the options: Left Eye on Field 1 and Left Eye
on Field 2.
Anaglyph Option box When Anaglyph is selected displays the options: Diff Clamped, Diff, Blend, Dubois,
and Mono.
Colour Space Option box Sets the broadcast colour space options: Normal or With Headroom.
Broadcast Timing
Broadcast Timing box Displays the timing rate options for the broadcast monitor.
TIP For a list of supported broadcast monitor timings on Flame, see Broadcast Monitor Supported Timings on
Linux Workstations (page 382).
General Preferences
Project Information
Project Frame rate field Displays the frame rate that corresponds with the current project's default resolution.
Non-editable in Preferences, but can be changed in Project Settings.
Incoming Sync
Incoming Sync field Displays the timing of the sync received by the workstation. Non-editable.
Display Dual Timecodes button Enable to display both 29.97 and 23.97 fps timecode on the timeline and
in the Player. This allows users to monitor which transitions will fall on jitter frames when 2:3 insertion is
applied.
Dual TC: 23.97->29.97 fps NDF/DF box Select whether to view the 29.97 fps timecode in the Dual Timecode
display as either drop frame or non-drop frame.
Drop Frame Reference Timecode field Displays the point at which the 29.97 fps material is in sync with
the 23.97 fps material. Editable.
Drop Frame Bump Mode box Select a translation mode for invalid calculator entries.
Player
Source Time Mode box Select to display the timecode, keycode, or frame number of the source clip in the
Player.
Auto-Toggle Player button Enable to open the Player automatically when you press the keyboard shortcuts
for playback.
Display Sequence Viewer button Enable to display the currently selected sequence as a thumbnail with a
red border in the Thumbnail view. When disabled, the selected sequence does not appear Thumbnail view.
Jog / Shuttle on Drag button Enable to shuttle a clip in the Player when jogging. The further from the
center of the clip that the cursor is placed and dragged, the faster the shuttling.
Auto-Toggle Trim View button Enable to automatically display the Trim View when double-clicking a
timeline cut, or when double-clicking a timeline segment with Slip or Slide mode selected.
Untitled Clip Name box Select an option to rename untitled clips to make it easier to distinguish multiple
Untitled clips.
Rendered Clip Name box Select whether to add an acronym indicating the area of the software that clips
were rendered from as a prefix or suffix to a rendered clip name, if a setup name does not already exist for
the clip.
Stereo Naming
Left Eye field Displays the token used to identify left eye media in a stereo clip split or exported. Editable.
Right Eye field Displays the token used to identify right eye media in a stereo clip split or exported. Editable.
Animation
Default Interpolation box Select the default interpolation type for the channel editor.
Default Extrapolation box Select the default extrapolation type for the channel editor.
Default Audio Interpolation box Select the default audio interpolation type for the channel editor.
Soft Save field Displays the time delay for a soft autosave. A small red icon appears indicating a two-second
delay before a soft autosave occurs (allowing for a cancellation with any movement in the application).
Editable.
Hard Save field Displays the time delay for a hard autosave. A hard autosave occurs at the specified time
regardless of user intervention. Editable.
Tools Save field Displays the time delay for an autosave when using a tool that you accessed from the Tools
tab. Editable.
Media Protection Mode button Enable to trigger an autosave after adding clips or folders to the Media
Panel, or after processing clips on the Desktop. As with a regular autosave, the size of the Desktop and
libraries dictates the time it takes for the save to complete.
For example, the following operations trigger a save when Media Protection is enabled.
■ In the MediaHub tab, once all the clips are imported.
■ In the Conform tab, after importing a sequence such as an AAF.
■ After a VTR capture, once the clips are written to the Media Panel.
■ After a Wire transfer, once the transfer completes.
■ In remote access, whenever one of the above operation is performed.
■ After an archive restore, as soon as the restore is done.
■ After moving content from a reel to a library.
■ After moving from a library to another library.
■ After moving from a library to a reel.
Help Location
Help Location button Displays the location of the product help. By default, the product help is available
online and requires an internet connection to view. Help files can be downloaded from the Autodesk website
and installed locally.
If you want the local version of the Help, go to http://www.autodesk.com/vxf and look for the downloadable
HTML version (zip) version of the help. You can unzip the file into the default Help location, or click Browse
to select the folder where you unzipped the Help files.
Browse Help button Opens a browser window. Select the folder that contains the help files downloaded
from the Autodesk website.
Setups
Scale Setups button Enable to scale setups when loading that were created in a resolution different from
that of the current project.
Undo
Clear Buffer button Click to remove clips from the undo buffer and free up disk space on the framestore.
Undo Level field Displays how many levels of information are saved to the undo buffer. Editable.
Background Tasks
Update field Displays a value, in seconds, for the wait time to update the Backburner Queue. Editable.
Rendering Display
Rendering Display box Select whether to display all frames as they are rendered, or to allow the display of
all frames with potential tearing.
History
Keep History Mode box Select whether Sources or Intermediates and Sources appear on the workspace when
working with clip history.
Default Rendering Method box Select whether the default rendering method is Render Selection or Render.
Default Rendering Option box Select the default rendering option for the current project. Options depend
on installed hardware and licenses (such as Burn or Background Reactor).
Proxy Rendering
Proxy Rendering box Select the rendering mode of your media. Options are: Full Resolution and Proxy,
Full Resolution, and Proxy (Timeline Only).
Media Panel
Media Panel Position box Select the location of the Media Panel.
Thumbnail Icon Frame field Displays the frame used to create the thumbnail of a clip. If the clip is shorter
than the specified value, the first frame is used instead. Editable.
Protect from Editing button Enable to protect all of the contents in the libraries from editing. In order to
work on media in a protected library, it must first be moved to the Desktop area of the Media panel.
Show Batch Iterations button Enable to show the Iterations folder in Batch groups located on the Desktop
and in libraries.
Duplicate Name Check box Use to select which media elements the application checks for duplicate naming
in the Media panel, and prompts you to either add the item using the same name, rename the new item,
or replace the existing item.
Shared Libraries
Shared Libraries Refresh Rate field Displays the frequence at which the application refreshes the contents
of Shared Libraries. Editable.
Shared Libraries Lock Timeout field Displays how long an inactive shared folder remains available for
writing. Editable.
Tablet Model field Displays the model of the currently installed tablet. Non-editable.
Pointer Reset button Returns all pointer preferences to their default values. Available on Linux systems.
Threshold Test button Assesses the sensitivity of the pen interactively. Press the pen on the button and a
sliding grey bar in the message bar displays the response to the amount of pressure applied. Available on
Linux systems.
Pressure Threshold field Displays the amount of pressure that you want to apply when using the pen. Use
a higher value to decrease the sensitivity of the pen (more pressure required). Available on Linux systems.
Editable.
Use Mouse Cursors button When using a tablet, enable to use mouse cursors instead of tablet cursors.
Trackball Pressure button Enable to allow the trackballs to respond to changes in the pressure applied
when using a stylus.
Proportional Margins button Enable to change the four margin controls proportionally.
Top Margin Control field Displays a percentage value to adjust the top boundary of the active area on the
tablet. Editable.
Bottom Margin Control field Displays a percentage value to adjust the bottom boundary of the active area
on the tablet. Editable.
Left Margin Control field Displays a percentage value to adjust the left boundary of the active area on the
tablet. Editable.
Right Margin Control field Displays a percentage value to adjust the right boundary of the active area on
the tablet. Editable.
Use OS Settings button Enable to use the Wacom stylus shortcuts mapped in the System Preferences of the
operating system. Disable to use the buttons to access shortcuts mapped in the Keyboard Shortcut editor.
Available on Mac systems.
Name box Enter a name to use for your exported policy, then click Export.
Graphics Colour Space box Select the colour space that best describes your Graphics Monitor.
Action Colour Space box Select the default colour space to be used in Action.
Default Look Transform field Specifies the colour transform that is used when the defaultLook alias is
referenced inside the viewing transform. The ACES Output and several other view transforms are set up to
work with a Look transform.
Clear button Sets the value of the defaultLook alias to the identity transform, which has no effect on colour
values.
Browse button Browse to select a different colour transform for the defaultLook alias.
Collaboration and Services Shared Path When collaborating with or using services from remote workstations,
this is the location used to share user-created colour spaces and transforms. There will be a soft link created
in this location back to the colour space data of this project. This path is set in the Flame Setup application.
Input Colour Space Rules Table The Input Rules allow you to assign a colour space to media based on its
filename. The Extension field applies to the file extension (do not include the dot). The Pattern field applies
to the entire path (except the file extension). The fields use Unix "Glob" style pattern matching. A "*" matches
any characters. Brackets "[]" may be used to match groups of characters. Note that the matching is
case-sensitive. For example, "dpx" only matches "dpx", whereas "[dD][pP][xX]" matches "dpx", "DPX", "Dpx",
etc.
You can also duplicate existing rules and delete rules, using the Duplicate and Delete buttons.
Viewing Rules table The Viewing Rules allow you to define how viewports show media and how thumbnails
are displayed. Start by selecting a View Transform for the rule. In a viewport, a rule will only be available if
the tagged colour space of the media being viewed matches the Allowed Colour Spaces of the rule. You may
make this rule only apply to a specific colour space, or use one of the "Any ..." settings to make it available
to a family of colour spaces. The choices available in Allowed Colour Spaces are based on what the selected
View Transform may accept (e.g. you may not allow scene-linear colour spaces into View Transforms intended
for video). If the actual tagged colour space of the media does not match what the View Transform expects,
auto-conversion will be applied to connect them. The Allowed Display setting controls whether a rule will
be available based on your Graphics and Broadcast monitor settings. For example, if a LUT produces Rec.709
values you can choose to only show this rule when on a Rec.709 monitor. If you choose one of the "Any ..."
options, auto-conversion will be applied to correct the output of the View Transform for the actual monitor.
Toggling off the check mark in the left column allows you to temporarily bypass rules.
Priority Up button Click to raise the priority of a rule. Rules higher in the table take precedence over lower
ones.
Priority Down button Click to lower the priority of a rule. Rules higher in the table take precedence over
lower ones.
Import Rules button Click to browse and replace either these Input or Viewing Rules with another.
Diagnostic Shortcuts table Use this table to create shortcuts that will set specific Exposure, Contrast, and
Gamma settings in a viewport. These settings are stored with your User.
Reset All button Reset all of the values set in the Diagnostic Shortcuts table.
Sync with OS button Available on Mac systems. Automatically uses the ICC profile specified in your
computer's preferences as the Graphics Monitor setting. This also creates a user Display colour space from
the ICC profile which is labeled with the workstation and date.
Default button Click to reset to the default Matchbox file path location for the dynamic Matchbox node
bin.
File Path field Displays the file path location for the Batch or Batch FX dynamic Matchbox node bin. Click
Browse to change the file path.
Browse button Click to open the browser to select a Matchbox file path location for the dynamic Matchbox
node bin.
Lightbox
Default button Click to reset to the default Lightbox file path location for the Action dynamic Lightbox
node bin.
File Path field Displays the file path location for the Action dynamic Lightbox node bin. Click Browse to
change the file path.
Browse button Click to open the browser to select a Lightbox file path location for the Action dynamic
Lightbox node bin.
Matchbox
Default button Click to reset to the default Matchbox file path location for the Action dynamic Matchbox
node bin.
File Path field Displays the file path location for the Action dynamic Matchbox node bin. Click Browse to
change the file path.
Browse button Click to open the browser to select a Matchbox file path location for the Action dynamic
Matchbox node bin.
Storage Preferences
Space Calculation
Space Calculation options Choose to display all available frames in the message bar, all available and
purgeable frames in the message bar, or to purge frames before making a space calculation.
Volume Statistics button Lists the number of frames, proxies, and audio sources stored in the clip libraries,
and main work area of each project.
Video Framestore Estimate button Displays the estimated amount of space left on the video framestore.
Framestore
Test Disks button Displays the number of frames read per second; the number of seconds required to read
a single frame; and the amount of data, in megabytes, read per second.
Restart button Restarts the local Wiretap Gateway service, which must be running for you to import and
export media. Use this button when troubleshooting failing import or export processes.
Temporary Libraries
Clear All button Click to delete temporary libraries from the current project. Do not use if background
operations are running. Use the Background Tasks monitor to ensure all tasks are done before using.
Temporary libraries are used by background tasks, and are usually automatically deleted by Flame. But it
can happen that they are not deleted correctly, build up over time and tax your storage. Clearing these
libraries recovers that lost space. This is a safe operation unless background operations are running: wait for
them to complete before clearing the temporary libraries.
Path Translation Table The Path Translation Table is used to create and manage custom path translation
rules.
Browse Source button Click to use the file bowser to browse to a source location, for use in a path translation
rule.
Browse Destination button Click to use the file bowser to browse to a destination location, for use in a
path translation rule.
Support Preferences
Upload Config Info Only button Click to upload only configuration information to Autodesk Customer
Support. Use only if instructed by Autodesk Customer Support.
Upload Config Info and Logs button Click to upload pertinent configuration information and system logs
to Autodesk Customer Support. Use only if instructed by Autodesk Customer Support.
Max Logged Days field Displays the number of logged days of information to be uploaded to Autodesk
Customer Support. Editable.
Case ID field Enter the Case ID number given to you by Autodesk Customer Support so that it is included
in the uploaded information.
Timeline Preferences
Editing
Default Timecode field Displays the default start timecode value for new items overwritten or inserted into
a timeline sequence. Editable.
Merge Tracks Mode box Select how a timeline will be flattened when merging tracks.
Simple Track Merge Hard committing all soft transitions. Cut points between elements are preserved; clip
handles are not.
Complex Track Merge Hard committing soft transitions but creating separate elements with clip handles for
each.
Committed Track Merge Preserving editable soft transitions and clip handles.
Auto Timewarp button Enable when performing a four-point edit if you do not want to timewarp the
frames from the source clip. When disabled, a four-point edit is treated as a three-point edit.
When you specify the number of frames in the sequence clip for the four-point edit, the same number of
frames is used in the source clip. The source clip selection begins at the in point. If the source is shorter or
longer than the number of frames specified in the sequence clip, a timewarp is applied to the source clip in
order to match the duration of the sequence clip.
Frame Rate Converter button Enable to format the source clip to the correct destination frame rate by
applying a video timewarp to the source clip.
Display Phantom Marks button Enable to turn on phantom marks on the timeline and source clip. Phantom
marks indicate the result of a 4-point edit regardless of whether you have marks set.
Mark Behaviour box Select whether Out marks are inclusive or exclusive of the selected frame.
Add Track box When adding a new timeline track, select whether the track is added to the version on top
of the last existing track, or to the track above the focus point.
Keep Focus After Editing button Enable to keep the timeline focus on the source after an editorial operation.
Disable to switch the focus to the sequence.
Containers
Uncontain options box Select whether new tracks and versions are added or overwritten when a container
segment is uncontained.
Contain Timewarped Edits button Enable to preserve the edits in a fit-to-fill four-point edit. The incoming
clip is contained and a timewarp is applied to the container instead of the clip.
Segment Display
Handles box Select an option for displaying heads and tails on segments in the timeline.
Show All Metadata button Enable to display expanded clip information on timeline segments. You may
need to increase the size of the track to see the metadata.
Navigation
Frame Positioner box Select whether to snap the timeline positioner frame-to-frame, or on a sub-frame
basis (one-tenth of a frame).
Autoscroll field Displays the speed at which the timeline scrolls. Editable.
Scroll During Playback button Enable to scroll the timeline during playback, keeping the frame positioner
visible.
Scroll Past First Frame button Enable to allow the positioner to move before frame one.
Dissolve Duration field Displays the default duration for dissolves. Editable.
Transition Alignment box Sets the default alignment for dissolves, wipes, axis, and custom transitions.
Curve Type box Select bezier or linear as the default curve type for dissolves.
Rendering
Timeline Effects Render Mode box Select the render mode when a Timeline FX is added to a clip.
Timewarp Render Mode box Select the default rendering mode for timewarps created in the timeline.
Transitions Render Mode box Select a default rendering mode for transitions created in the timeline.
Timeline Effects Rendering box Select whether to render an entire track first, then the next track (Track
Based Render), or to render all tracks frame-by-frame (Frame Based Render).
Include Handles button Enable to take the handles into account when rendering Timeline FX.
Infinity Handles slider Use to limit the handles of virtual segments. This value is set in frames.
Default Shot Name Tokens button Click to add tokens to the default shot naming convention.
Full Container Render button Enable to render all content in a container or matte container, to be used
in Lustre, for example.
Use Background button Enable to connect the background automatically so that Action composites your
effect. When disabled, the background is off and the matte is configured to output the result of the scene,
so it can be comped by the Comp Timeline FX. You can override this preference for specific Action Timeline
FX with the Use Back button in the Action quick menu.
Timeline Resize
Fit Method box Select a fit option for clips that must be resized when they are added to the timeline because
their resolution is different from the project.
Resize Quality box Select a sampling algorithm for clips that must be resized when they are added to the
timeline.
Keep Aspect button Enable to maintain the aspect ratio of clips that are resized when you add the to the
timeline.
Timeline Text
Text Anti-aliasing box Select an anti-aliasing rate for Text effects. Auto-Softness mode is set by default and
provides a softness equal to the display quality you see in the Text effect. An anti-aliasing rate of 1 means
no anti-aliasing is performed and the result is a hard edge. Other anti-aliasing rates increase the sampling
rate, but also increase processing time.
Default Segment Premultiplication box Select the default segment premultiplication setting for timeline
comp effects.
Default Background Premultiplication box Select the default background premultiplication setting for
timeline comp effects.
Default Output Premultiplication box Select the default output premultiplication setting for timeline
comp effects.
Timeline Timewarp
Interpolation Option box Select an interpolation option for your interlaced timewarp.
Use Last Speed button Enable to apply the last timewarp speed to future timewarps.
Timewarp Speed Display box Select whether timewarp speed is displayed as a percentage (%) or in frames
per second (fps).
Timewarp Sample Option box Select whether the speed of the timewarp is set in relation to the speed at
the beginning, middle, or end of the timing curve for each frame or field. You can also change the Timewarp
Sample option in the Timewarp Editor to override this selection.
Batch FX
Add Comp On Matte Output button Enable to have a Comp timeline effect automatically added to the
timeline when a matte is output from the output node to the timeline.
Clear Rendered Memory button Enable to automatically clear an FX node (and all nodes in setups nested
within the clip) from memory when its output is rendered.
Automatic Nodes Copy box Select whether FX nodes are never copied into memory, always copied, copied
when there is an Action node in the setup, or copied in a partially rendered setup.
Default Viewport Layout box Select the default view. You can also change the viewport layout from within
Batch or Batch FX.
Head Media option box Select how to interpret missing information before a clip.
Gap Media option box Select how to interpret missing information during a clip.
Tail Media option box Select how to interpret missing information after a clip.
Batch Start Frame field Displays the default Batch start frame used in new Batch setups. Editable.
Ignore In Publish/Conform button Disable to have the Batch Group created by the Create Batch Group
button (Connected Conform workflow) start at the source frame of the background track. Enable to start
the Batch Group at frame 1.
BFX Cache Life Span field Displays the number of days that Batch FX clips are cached. Editable.
BFX Setup
Save Backup on Exit button Enable to back up your setup on exiting Batch FX. This backup is used only
if something goes wrong with the Batch FX setup, and is not accessible like the regular save that you can
create within the module.
Absolute Frame Offset button Enable to allow all clips imported with an Import node or a Read File node
in Batch to automatically use the start frame of the clip.
Batch Cache Life Span field Displays the number of days that Batch clips are cached. Editable.
Batch/BFX Iteration
Save Setup File button Enable to also save a setup file when saving a Batch Iteration.
Append Original Name button If enabled, when copying or moving a Batch Group Iteration to another
Batch Group Iteration, this option appends the original name of a Batch Group Iteration to the new one.
This enables you to determine, at a glance, where the Iteration came from. This preference is disabled by
default.
Open Naming Dialog Controls the behaviour of naming fields for Batch, the Render node, and the Write
File. When enabled, clicking in the naming field opens a Rename window. When disabled, clicking in the
field to edit directly in the field. Shift-Click the field to invert the behaviour.
Use this section to set default paths and names for different areas of Flame. To meet the needs of larger
facilities, system administrators can use Python hooks to configure customized Setup paths. For more
information, see Python Hooks Reference.
Default Batch Group / BFX Setup Path field Displays the default Setup path used for Batch Groups. This
field is editable; however, removing the "~" from the path results in the setups located in the defined directory
not being archived by Archive Setup or Archive Project.
Batch Group / BFX Path Token box Select a token to be included in the default Setup path for newly-created
Batch Groups. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Default Batch Iteration Setup Path field Displays the default Setup path used for Batch iterations. Editable.
Batch Iteration Setup Path Token box Select a token to be included in the default Setup path for
newly-created Batch Iterations. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Default Batch Iteration Name field Displays the default name used for Batch iterations. This field is editable;
however <batch name> and <iteration> are mandatory tokens.
Batch Iteration Name Token box Select a token to be included in the default name for newly-created Batch
schematics and iterations. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Default Render Node Name field Displays the default name used for newly-created Render nodes. Editable.
Render Node Name Token box Select a token to be included in the default name for newly-created Render
nodes. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Write File Node Name Token box Select a token to be included in the default name for newly-created Write
File nodes. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Default Action Geometry Import Path field Displays the default path used in the Action Import browser.
Editable.
Action Geometry Import Token box Select a token to be included in the default path for importing Action
geometries. Repeat to add additional tokens.
Brightness field Displays the brightness of interface elements such as buttons and fields. Editable.
Contrast field Displays the contrast of interface elements such as buttons and fields. Editable.
Colour Sampler
Show Display Colour Space Info button Enable to add a second set of RGB values in the pixel sampler
showing the values after the viewport colour management has been applied. This also adds a read-out of
the x/y pixel coordinates.
On-Screen Widgets
On-screen Keyboard button Enable to have the on-screen keyboard appear when you enter text in a field.
Calculator Placement box Select where the calculator appears when you click in a numeric field.
Default Viewing Zoom box Use to select whether content displayed in a viewport or player should fit the
viewport by default or remain at its original size.
Fit Allows Upscale button Enable to force images smaller than the viewport to be upscaled in order to fit
the viewer. When disabled the maximum zoom is locked at 100%.
Default Home Zoom field Use to set the default zoom value (percentage) of the Home function. Default is
100%.
Display
Drag Transparency field Displays the transparency level of clips while dragging. Editable.
Bold Font button Enable bold fonts on buttons. Available on Linux systems only.
Time Display Mode Box Select to display frames or timecodes in frame marking controls, the timebar,
segments, and the fields below the timeline.
Force TC in Conform List button Enable to force the Conform Table to display Timecode information,
even if Time Display Mode is set to Frame.
Clip Name Only button Enable to only display the name of clips on thumbnails.
Secondary Information box Select the secondary clip information displayed on thumbnails. Options are:
■ No Secondary Information
■ Record Timecode
■ Source Timecode
Resolution Information box Select the clip resolution information displayed on thumbnails. Options are:
■ No Resolution Information
■ Resolution
■ Frame rate
■ Resolution & Frame rate
Show Display Colour Space Info button Enable to print the tagged colour space on thumbnails.
Render Effects button Enable to display rendered frames in thumbnails of clips with applied but unrendered
effects. Disable to display "Unrendered" in the thumbnails of such clips.
Apply Colour Management button Enable to apply the highest priority Viewing Rule to each thumbnail
based on its tagged colour space and the selected graphics monitor colour space.
Auto Key Look box Select whether to apply a Classic (grey) or Coloured (yellow) look to the Auto Key
button.
Confirm Dialog
Reset Visibility button Resets the visibility of previously hidden confirmation dialog boxes.
Freeform View
Snap to Grid button Enable to snap thumbnails to a grid. The grid becomes visible when this button is
enabled.
Grid Size field Displays a value in pixels for the size of the boxes that make the grid. Editable.
Thumbnail Height field Enter a default value in pixels for the height of thumbnails displayed in the
Thumbnail view. All new thumbnails are generated at this height. Existing ones are unchanged.
Desktop
Create Reel Group button Enable to automatically create a Reel group for all new or cleared Desktops,
causing the Reel group to be selected and the initial Batch group to be collapsed in the Media panel. Enabled
by default.
Batch Copy Mode toggle Toggle to choose whether a clip is copied or moved from / to a Batch Group.
Options are: "Move From/To Batch" & "Copy From/To Batch".
Tooltips
Auto Display button Enable to automatically display tooltips. If disabled, you can still display tooltips for
selected buttons using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+W.
Reels
Friction field Displays how much the reels scroll after you release your mouse/pen. Increase the value to
limit the amount the reel scrolls after you release the mouse/pen.
Number of Batch Schematic Reels field Displays the default number of Batch Schematic reels when creating
a new Batch. Editable.
Number of Batch Shelves field Displays the default number of Batch Shelves when creating a new Batch.
Editable.
Number of Reels in Groups field Displays the default number of reels contained in a Reel group. Editable.
Desktop Reels
Reels Orientation box Select a horizontal or vertical orientation for the reels.
Reverse button Enable to reverse the order that clips appear on the reels.
Clip Spacing field Enter a value to control the padding, in pixels, between clips on the reels.
Gestural Workflow
Swipe Bars button Click to enable swipe bars that you can use to switch views in different areas of your
product.
Swipe Sensitivity slider Use to set the sensitivity of the swipe gesture in the application, as a percentage
value. The default value is 50%.
Layout Selection Overlay button Click to enable the menu overlay in the Timeline view. You can use the
menu overlay to change what is displayed in the Timeline view.
Flare Workflow
The following workflow provides one example of working in a remote connection collaborative environment.
In the example, Flare remote connects to a Flame system and loads the media it will work on directly from
a Flame project. Flame has direct access to the Flare media at all times since Flare uses the Flame storage
volume.
Though you have granular control over the media you choose to share between workstations (clips, reels,
Batch iterations, saved Desktops), the workflow detailed here assumes you are sharing saved Desktops.
1 Start the application and connect to a remote host computer. See Starting Flare (page 1895)
1893
2 Restore the saved Desktop from the Flame project's shared folder by right-clicking the saved Desktop
and selecting Replace Desktop from the contextual menu or by dragging it to the Flare Workspace
entry in the Media Panel. You are prompted to either Replace or Cancel.
NOTE Make sure the Desktop was saved to a shared folder in Flame to make them accessible to Flare.
TIP It is recommended to create a sub-folder within the Flame shared folder named From_Flare, for example,
to be able to easily distinguish the initial media from the result media. In order to create a sub-folder, make
sure to acquire exclusive access (lock).
Workspaces
When Flare connects to a remote Flame workstation, the default behavior is to automatically create its own
Flare workspace, associated to its own workstation, and which has access to all the contents of the shared
libraries in the Flame project. However, you can also select the Flame workspace directly, but this entails
that the Flame station is not being used, and hence doing this renders simultaneous work on the Flame and
Flare workstations impossible.
If you wish to work collaboratively between Flame and Flare, one of the following three scenarios applies:
■ If there is only one existing workspace and that it is associated to the current Flare workstation, Flare
selects it automatically.
■ If there is only one existing workspace and that it is not associated to the current Flare workstation, you
can either use the existing workspace or create a new one, from the Workspace drop-down menu.
■ If there are many existing workspaces, you can select an existing workspace or create a new one, from
the Workspace drop-down menu.
NOTE Workspaces are project specific. You can only access the workspaces of the current project.
Shared Libraries
About Shared Libraries
The Flare workflow is based on shared libraries. Any media placed in the shared libraries becomes accessible
to remote workstations that connect to the project. Shared libraries enable Flame and Flare to quickly and
conveniently share media, allowing you to spend more time on creative tasks and less time managing your
media.
Placing media in a shared library automatically grants read access to any remote workstations connected to
the project. The Flare operator can access the media and start working immediately after connecting to the
Flame project. Once finished, the Flare operator needs to save the resulting media back to the shared library.
To do this he must acquire exclusive access.
Exclusive access locks the library so that only the user having acquired exclusive access can modify the
library contents (i.e. write to the library). Read access is still available to other remote workstations connected
to the project. Once the media is saved, the user can release exclusive access, enabling other remote
workstations to obtain exclusive access and modify the content.
1 Select the shared library you want to acquire exclusive access to in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Acquire Exclusive Access.
NOTE By default, after 600 seconds of inactivity, your exclusive access will be released. You can customize this
setting in the user preferences (in the General tab).
1 Select the shared library you want to acquire exclusive access to in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Release Exclusive Access.
Open / Close
You can open and close shared libraries. Closing shared libraries turns off access to the media within the
shared libraries as well as freeing up your system memory.
1 Select the top level shared library you want to open or close in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Open Library or Close Library.
Refresh
The content of shared libraries is automatically refreshed every 60 seconds. You can customize this interval
in the user preferences (in the General tab). You can also manually refresh the content of shared libraries,
to make sure you have access to all the shared media.
1 Select the top level shared library you want to refresh in the Media panel.
2 From the contextual menu, select Refresh.
The content of the selected shared library is updated.
Starting Flare
To work in a remote connection environment, open a remote storage volume on start-up.
To start Flare:
6 Click Start.
The creative finishing tools found in Flame Batch appear.
To exit Flare:
1 Click the Flare button at the bottom right of the user interface.
2 Select Exit Flare.
1 Click the Flare button at the bottom right of the user interface.
2 Select Project and User Settings
The Project Management dialog box appears.
NOTE You can select a local or remote user by first selecting the appropriate option from the List From box.
3 Click Close.
The new user is loaded.
NOTE When a remote user profile is selected, the profile is unavailable to other users. This avoids concurrent
user profile modifications.
2 Click Edit.
3 Modify the user.
4 Click Done.
The Confirm dialog box pops up.
5 Click Confirm.
6 Click Close.
The modifications are applied to the user.