Film Grading Node?

[user_deleted]

Just wondering if anyone has found or used a film grading tool based on traditional method of increasing and decreasing printing lights. Going to be pretiming plates with a DP and want to give him tools that are familiar as possible.

TAI

j

[user_deleted]

i'd try a LinLog->Add->LogLin macro...
(although a simple Mult node might look better sometimes
going to float might be a good idea depending on what you do afterwards with the files.

i'm sure others have more sophisticated solutions
++ christoph ++

[user_deleted]

Actually my plan is to use a cinespace plugin node, rather than log/lin/log. What I was hoping was that there was a CC node that, rather than using the standard RGB/levels/etc manipulation, uses a printer light metaphor for increasing or decreasing exposure and density in the lights. Half a dozen of one, obviously way less controllable than a real CC node, but a metaphor the DP understands. In other words, wondering whether there is a Kodak Look Management-like node for film grading...

J

[user_deleted]

We have a printer ligts node, and an fstops node for every such occasion, so the DP can talk in his language while we grade. CAnt send you the nodes themselves but will see if i can find something that wil help you create them yourself

[user_deleted]

Very much appreciate any information you might be able to share.

j

[deke-kincaid]

You could easily turn this into a macro

pending you have a linear image
loglin > change to logspace, change the r,g,b offset, value of 90 is 1 stop
loglin > change to linear

[user_deleted]

QUOTE(beaker @ 05/09/06, 06:55 PM) [snapback]236800[/snapback]
You could easily turn this into a macro

pending you have a linear image
loglin > change to logspace, change the r,g,b offset, value of 90 is 1 stop
loglin > change to linear

Good idea. I'll definitely take this step. Was hoping for something a little more visual and maybe more professional. We all know how impressions for this sort of stuff comes from a sense of visual control and design...

[deke-kincaid]

QUOTE(jimmyt @ 05/09/06, 07:10 PM) [snapback]236802[/snapback]
Good idea. I'll definitely take this step. Was hoping for something a little more visual and maybe more professional. We all know how impressions for this sort of stuff comes from a sense of visual control and design...

right, thats why I said make it into a macro. You can have simple controls with + and - stops your want to bring up/down the scene. Quite easy to do.

Shake is very manual, very close to the math. The first version was a commandline only app without any gui. Go spend 100k on a film grading program with a turnkey setup hooked to an array if you want more controls and a system that is more visual.

[user_deleted]

QUOTE(beaker @ 05/10/06, 04:37 PM) [snapback]236901[/snapback]
right, thats why I said make it into a macro. You can have simple controls with + and - stops your want to bring up/down the scene. Quite easy to do.

Shake is very manual, very close to the math. The first version was a commandline only app without any gui. Go spend 100k on a film grading program with a turnkey setup hooked to an array if you want more controls and a system that is more visual.

This is nonsense. Shake might have been command line with no GUI but it has GUI now and it competes with things Fusion etc which is arguably a more sophisticated interface. A little more friendly interface would do wonders for Shake, no matter how awesome the guts of program are. Just because I want a node that has a little more touch and feel doesn't mean I should get out of Shake and go find some film grading software.

I'll bet at some point Apple will revamp the Shake interface to be more inline with their other pro apps like FCP, etc. Would be a great thing, imo...

j

[deke-kincaid]

QUOTE(jimmyt @ 05/12/06, 03:15 PM) [snapback]237093[/snapback]
This is nonsense. Shake might have been command line with no GUI but it has GUI now and it competes with things Fusion etc which is arguably a more sophisticated interface. A little more friendly interface would do wonders for Shake, no matter how awesome the guts of program are. Just because I want a node that has a little more touch and feel doesn't mean I should get out of Shake and go find some film grading software.
Hey, I'm just telling you how to fix the problem and the history behind why it currently exists. If you don't like my answer, don't tell me to go shove it.

With what is currently available for software, if you want a gui that is more friendly towards cinematographers/chemical film graders, etc... and don't want to write your own macro then you need to go buy the above suggested software from my last post. Yes Shake's gui could be better for your audience, but right at this moment it isn't, so either work around the problem or use something else.

[user_deleted]

Ok, np. Thanks for the macro tip. I should have paid attention to it the first time around -- it'll do just fine. I guess, as I'm just starting out with Shake, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the very simple interface - after being so used to big fancy UIs, it is a little weird to just deal with sliders. But you're right, it'll do what I need it to do and if the DP don't like it, I'll tell him to go buy the $100,000 grading system.

j

[user_deleted]

I hope that apple dont make the interface of shake like final cut. I hate the interface of final cut!

[deke-kincaid]

QUOTE(mikemarcus @ 05/14/06, 12:31 AM) [snapback]237168[/snapback]
I hope that apple dont make the interface of shake like final cut. I hate the interface of final cut!
Different team, fcp guys are up north, shake/motion/aperture guys are down south. Motion/Aperture ui is pretty nice though still need a little work (many shake/rayz/chalice/combustion guys worked on motion/aperture).

[user_deleted]

I think the Aperture interface is quite slick -- Shake would be AMAZING with something as lovely as that. As long as the current speed and flexibility isn't impacted.

j

[user_deleted]

Shake's GUI is deigned so it makes colour correction easier... hence the dark greys (neutral tone). I think FCP/DVD Studio UI would be like a nightmare!! Very distracting.

There's a way to modify the GUI in the core UI settings so it's more Combustion/Inferno/whatever you want... it's not always conformed to the usual quadrant GUI

[user_deleted]

Interesting bit of rumor: I heard that the Shake team was stolen by Apple over the last year to build Aperture and have now gone back to work on Shake in a serious way. Wonder what will come of it...

The more I use Shake the more I like the simplicity of the UI. There's just a few things that would be nice -- a little more customizability of window placement (I can't figure out how to save a setup, once I've moved all my tabs around -- I've done Save Interface Settings... but they don't load the same and tend to crash when I use two screens), better warper interface, better roto interface (something like Silhouette would be nice). But I agree -- too much of a tart up would really get in the way...

j