Wednesday, December 27, 2006

CineForm RAW Metadata

A month later, time for another update. Most of my time has been focused preparing for the full release for the SI-2K digital cinema camera (now finally in production, with the first of the next generation units shipping January -- yes later than we had hoped.) The software support RAW cameras in general has been evolving, but has remained mostly under wraps (first public showing will be at Sundance and then at Hollywood Post Alliance). But a short sneak peak to what is coming I encoding this demo showing some of the CineForm RAW metadata* controls.

* - Note: Metadata is really a wrong word. Traditional metadata like timecode, logging text, userbit, shot notes extra is passive in nature. This is active metadata that works as a non-destructive operator on the moving image in real-time.

So this little demo show the tip of the iceberg for some of the "look" controls that the media can handle. Through post controls for standard camera settings like white-balance, color matrix, and defect pixel coordinates, to full 3D LUT selection to model film stocks and look style -- all with 32-bit float precision.
Short clip here : DemoCineFormRAW-WIP.wmv

The really cool stuff is under global controls. ;)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

awesome!!!!!!!!! good work!

Anonymous said...

Extremely impressive!

But what I don't understand is why you say "The really cool stuff is under global controls."

I understand that you have to define the global settings that will apply to all clips which will define the global look of the specific project.

But isn't the "real cool stuff" that one (hopefully) will be able to further modify these settings (I hope all of them) on a "per clip" basis, e.g. by specifying offsets to the global settings, so you can quickly color correct each clip based on the RAW settings? Just like the current Cineform RT color correction effects, only more efficiently embedded into the RAW conversion process?

David said...

Mike,

I say the really cool stuff is still to come as are you are guessing incorrectly what will be with the global controls. Of course you can set a "look" for all clips in a project, that assumption is correct, but there is a lot more to it. Something else, none of this prevents traditional color correction, we expect a range of looks and color correction filters will be applied (in real-time wherever possible.) We set out to enhance the workflow, not complete break old ones.

Anonymous said...

David,

thanks for clearing this up. I watched the clip again and now got the fact that the [File Metadata] under Playback Settings actually is actually a "per clip" setting which is a bit confusing.

I assume the reason for this is the fact that you cannot add a menu item in the clip's popup menu because of Premiere limitations, correct?

What happens if I have 2 clips stacked on the timeline? Will the [File Metadata] settings be applied to the top most?

David said...

Mike,

You are correct on all counts, the top clip is manipulated. Premiere of no simple way (that I know of) to extend the UI in this non-traditional manner. We are using the API that is typically using for accelerator cards, but from their we are altering the editing experience beyond what Adobe could have imagined.

Anonymous said...

Is the .look application on the clip in realtime? Is there an interface for raw data manipulation in After Effects Also? Does it translate to AE from Premiere?
All in all, groundbreaking work. Way to go!

David said...

Yes, the .look processing is completely real-time. You can play multiple streams with different looks applied add with color correction on top in real-time on most modern PCs.

The .look processing applies to AE also.

Anonymous said...

Do you have the same interface with the same controls (color matrix etc.) for AE? Do you apply a .look from Iridas SpeedGrade OnSet directly, or does it have to be convert to a 3D LUT file beforehand?