Smoke Level 2

Cover Page

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Autodesk Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook May 2009

Autodesk, Flame, Flare, Lustre & Smoke are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Š 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Content

Content Exercises in this Workbook How to use this workbook Course Topics Project and Media Management Editing 1 - Smoke Timeline Timeline Compositing - Soft Effects Graphics: Text and Paint Color Correction Primary / Secondary Keying Stabilizing and Tracking 1 Compositing: Action Introduction Timeline Compositing - BatchFX (Smoke advanced)

1 2 4 5 7 17 27 37 43 51 57 65 81

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Exercises in this Workbook Project and Media Management Projects and Users Library Basics Notes: Data Flow Notes: Naming Strategies Import-Resize-Export Images EDL Assemble Editing EDLS and Recapturing File Archive

Editing 1 - Smoke Timeline Timeline: Basic Editing Notes: Timeline Navigation in Smoke Timeline Editing: Audio Sync Multi-Camera Editing Notes: Tracks and Layers Notes: Adding Slates and Using Hotkeys

Timeline Compositing - Soft Effects Introduction to SoftFX Timeline Soft FX: Triptych View and CC SoftFX: Axis and Text Soft FX: Axis and Resize Timewarp: Variable Speed and Mix Notes: Timewarps Integrate an Action Clip in the Timeline

Graphics: Text and Paint Notes: Text Text: Slate and Logo Cascading Text Animation Notes: Paint Brushes Paint: Creating a Matte

Color Correction Primary / Secondary CC: Color Balance CC: Color Match Colour Warper: Color Balance Colour Warper: Manual Match Colour Warper: Color Match Colour Warper: Selectives

Keying

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

17 18 19 20 22 25 26

27 28 29 30 32 33 34 35

37 38 39 40 41 42

43 44 45 46 47 48 49

51 Luminance Key Master Keyer Channel Keyer YUV Keyer

Stabilizing and Tracking 1 1-Point Stabilizing in the Stabilizer Module 1-Point Stabilizing in the Timeline 1-Point Tracking in the Timeline 2-Point Tracking in Action Color Correction and Gmask Tracking Four Point Tracking

52 53 55 56

57 58 59 60 61 62 64 Page | 2

Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook Compositing: Action Introduction Notes: Action Media Workflow Overview Notes: Action Media List Notes: Action Media List Effects Notes: Action DVE Object Notes: Action Schematic Action Compositing: Bird Cage Action Animation: Fish Bowl Action Animation: Butterfly Action Compositing: Bullet Time

Timeline Compositing - BatchFX (Smoke advanced) Notes: Batch Introduction Notes: Batch FX PreBFX: Vertical Composite Post BFX: Multi Layer Composite Post BFX: Promote Layers to Action BFX: Color Look

65 66 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 76

81 82 83 84 86 88 90

Media clips for the exercises can be found in the 2010_L1_Workbook_Media Library

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

How to use this Workbook The Smoke level 1 course introduces the editor to the editing techniques and editing workflow including key interface components, media management, editing essentials, color correction, keying and compositing.

The goal of this course is to enable editors to quickly learn the essential skills needed to use Smoke in their daily work as well as understand the concepts that will allow them to expand their skills while working.

This workbook provides exercises and notes, supporting the hands-on lessons for instructor-led courses. The exercises are not necessarily in the order in which they will be covered during the course but they are grouped in the following topics.

• Project and Media Management • Editing: Smoke Timeline • Timeline Compositing1 : Soft FX • Motion Graphics: Text and Paint • Color Correction • Keying • Stabilizing and Tracking • Compositing: Action Introduction • Timeline Compositing 2: Batch Effects All media clips for the workbook exercises can be found in the 2010_L1_Workbook_Media library.

Please note that many tools are available in both Smoke and Flame and they are often accessible from different locations in the software. Different options for accessing the tools are presented where possible. You can also ask your instructor to show you the different options.

For more detailed information on the Smoke and Flame toolsets, refer to the online help (‘ctrl + ‘ ) from anywhere in the software) or the user guides www.autodek.com/smoke-documentation

To further develop your skills, try out the online tutorials: www.autodesk.com/smoke-tutorials

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Course Topics Smoke Level 1 - “Project A to Z and the Smoke Timeline” 35 hours min 1

Project Management 1: Project

2

UI: Smoke workspace

3

Project Management 2: Media

4

Editing 1: Smoke Timeline 1

5

Timeline Compositing 1 – Soft effects

6

Editing 2: – Smoke Timeline2

7

Graphics 1:Text

8

Animation 1

9

Color Correction 1: Primary CC

10

Keying 1

11 12

Color Correction 2: Secondary CC A/V Tools

13

Project Management 3 – Clip information

14

Stabilizing and Tracking

15

Compositing 1: Action - Introduction

16

Timeline Compositing 2 : BFX intro

17

Graphics 2:Paint 1

18

Project Management 4: Output Workshop:

Projects Hotkeys EditDesk Working with Clips Player and Timeline Navigation Clip Libraries Restoring an Archive Capturing and Importing EDL and XML Import Editing Techniques Timecode Trimming Transitions Vertical Editing Intro to SoftFX Timewarp Axis Soft Effect Containers Versioning Text Module Text in Timeline Interactive Animation Channel Editor Animation Tools in the Timeline The Colour Corrector The Colour Warper Keying Basics Chroma Key/ Master Keyer Masking Resizing and Conversions Video and FX Tools Logical Operations Setups Meta data Clip History Stabilizer Module Tracking in the Timeline Access Action Action- the Scene Introduction to Batch BFX Paint Canvas Retouching Saving and Archiving Output Timeline Editing and Compositing

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Project and Media Management

Projects and Users Library Basics Notes: Data Flow Notes: Naming Strategies Import-Resize-Export Images EDL Assemble Editing EDLS and Recapturing File Archive

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

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Projects and Users ▼None Create a Project Create a User

In this exercise, we start a Flame or Smoke project by creating a project and user.

Create a Project •

•

When launching Smoke or Flame you can choose an existing project or create a new one.

Scroll the list of projects to <new>.

Click in the empty naming field and type the name for your project. Consider what type of work the project will encompass and that you cannot change the name once the project is created!

• •

Set a default resolution, the proxy creation dependency (On, Off or Conditional) and the proxy parameters.

Click “Create Project.”

Projects are Resolution independent and not restricted to the default resolution; they are associated with a set of clip libraries and each clip library can contain clips of any resolution. The default resolution is a setting that defines Display environment parameters, default settings for image processing tools (such as generating colored frames or the default destination resolution for resize tools and the default output resolution settings for Action) and default settings for entering a graphics module such as Paint or Text with a blank canvas.

The Configuration Template (cfg template) is the default running timing assigned to a project, for example: 25 0r 29.97 FPS the timing of the project must match the external sync being fed into the system (Symptoms of incorrect sync: error messages on start-up and frame skipping during playback)

Create a User When you start working on a project you should create your own user settings.

• Click on the User selection button to choose one or create a new one.

•

•

Name according to system or whim but include a notation on the software version (it is recommended that you make a new User for each software update to assure access to all new features).

Press Create User. Both the new project and new user are selected and ready for launch. Press Start.

You can edit project settings from the Project management tools in the preference menu. You can also switch to a different project from this menu.

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Library Basics ▼None Create a Library Create a Network Connection

This exercise shows how to work with libraries. This includes renaming, creating additional libraries and setting up connections to a library of shared media resources in a different project or on another system Smoke: Access the library by clicking on the LIBRARY button in the toolbar. The library button displays the name of currently active library. . When you start a project, only the “default” library is available: Flame: To access the Library from the Desktop select the load and click a destination reel.

•

Select the bar that is labeled Default at the top of the menu. This empty library was made when you created a new project. You may want to rename ‘Default’ to a more meaningful name: Press Name to type a new library name.

• To create a new Library, select “new” from the library pop-up menu. Type another name and press Enter to create an additional library.

•

To access materials already captured to your system in another project, press Network and browse the frame store to the project and library.

The network connection also allows access to libraries across Smoke and Flame stations.

• Selecting the library makes it available in your project • Press on the small grey box to the left of the library name panel. The green AC (Auto-connect) indicates that your current project will remember this network link on the next launch

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Notes: Data Flow About the relationship between the library , clips and metadata

CLIP WORKFLOW Load a clip from Clip Library to the Application Work Level.

Save the finished clip from the Application Level to Clip Library

Flame

Smoke Creative Work Level

Clip Reference in Project

Clip Reference in Project B

EDL, OMF, XML, AAF FILES - Images &Sound

Clip Library Database Level

VTR Clip Reference in Clip Library

Metadata Connection to Media All metadata references to a specific frame of media are instances of each other, therefore the media will exist on the Stone until all references are deleted in the projects and clip libraries Consolidation does not need to duplicate media. Media stored as frames and consolidation just deletes unwanted frame

Stone FS / Standard FS Physical Hard Drive

SETUPS Setups are text files which contain the settings of process effects applied to images.

Example: a colour correction setting or a keyer setting is called setup.

/usr/discreet/project/<project name>/

SETUPS LOCATION The SETUPS folders are found in the folder of the related project on the systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard disc. The folders are created when the project is created. Setup folders are a default location to save setup files (helps with organisation) and can be archives for later use.

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Notes: Naming Strategies This tip sheet provides suggestions on how to name clips and workspaces in the production environment One of the biggest favors an artist or facility can do for themselves is to embrace the habit of naming all of their clips. This becomes critical in “crunch time” when you are trying to make a deadline to output different versions of a finished assembly.

Simple adjustments can be made quickly if you can easily locate rendered matte or pre-comp. clips. Being able to read entire clip names on a crowded desktop also helps. For this reason is also a good idea to establish conventions for naming and to make use of a set of common abbreviations.

A

Here’s a sample list: tk11 fc, fe fg bg, bp cp stb tw200m2 rvrs cc, cw mt pcmp,PC cmp, v1a, v01 sc23 30s 15_txtls ctm pt3

take 11 film compressed, film expanded foreground background or backplate clean plate stabilized time warped 200% mix value 2 reversed color corrected matte pre-composite composite (versions) scene 23 30 second master 15 second text-less master color timed master paint/rotoscope pass 3

composite processed from action could be “clipname_cmp”. As you make revisions and refinements you will need to keep track of the versions: “clipname_cmp_01”. Or - call it “clipname_v01” where “v” means composite!

Observe the conventions of the post house Some facilities issue lists of abbreviations to new artists and will also specify the use of only lower case letters with underscores to separate ”words_in_a_name”. The use of special characters (~!@#$%^&*<>?) is prohibited. Although Flame allows you to use capitals, spaces and special characters when naming clips and set-ups, data wranglers may start to pull their hair out when they try to do a Linux/Unix based search for such items on a network or across archive tapes. Even if you have the luxury of being the only artist to run a particular machine it really helps to keep everything labeled via a concise system. It doesn’t take long to forget details about a job that has been archived and removed

Name and save early and often Another habit that takes advantage of the Flame workflow is name cycling, along with the ever popular: name>save (early+often) Because processed clips arrive on the desktop named by way of the set-up that produced them, it can be advantageous to start work in a module by saving a set-up and then build the effect (just be sure to up-date the set-up library before you process).

If this is carried a step further, in batch we can name nodes based on set-up names. This eases schematic navigation. Tracing cache renders or pre-rendered clips is thus simplified. The pre-rendered clip can then be added and substitute for it’s (disabled) output node in Batch. In a fashion, this predicts the new clip history function .

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Import-Resize-Export Images ▼WB_ProjectMedia_Manage Import Image Module Hires images

Resize Export

▼Import_Image > MothersBeach1 or 2 Files: MothersBeach Jpeg files

This exercise shows how to import high resolution images, use the resize module to animate a pan at standard resolution and then use background export to deliver the sequence to a network location.

Import a hi-res Image •

Access the Import Image module from the Library in Smoke or the Library menu in Flame)

The current project determines the default path to load images. Navigate to the location of the desired media.

• You may want to bookmark the location by clicking the Add button next to Bookmarks.

• Import the image at full resolution (with Auto file detection enabled, select the image and click load) .This loads the image directly to the Flame desktop and to the current library in Smoke • View the image in the Player. Switch to the big Player (Ctrl ESC) and zoom to see the whole image

Create a Pan •

• • • •

•

To create a pan from this hi-resolution panoramic still image, select Resize from the AV tools in Smoke or the Format Menu in Flame and the ‘MothersBeach1’ clip.

Select the output format from the Destination /Resolution Tools (here it is set to NTSC).

Select Clip Destination from the Crop Options, Crop Edges as a resize option and Shannon filtering Use the green target box on the front image viewport to set the initial framing. You can resize it proportionally by Shift dragging the corner Change the time bar value to 200 to 500 frames, depending how far you want to take the camera move, go to the last frame and set the picture framing for the end of the virtual camera pan. Save the setup, return to the first frame and process the result clip.

Play the clip from the player button in the module. You can revise the settings and process a new version.

Export Image Sequence to File • • • •

Exit back to the EditDesk and save the new image sequence. From the Library select Export Image and the new sequence.

Select Add to Queue and swipe to either side of the interface to reveal the Background Import/Export Queue.

Select the row for your export job and press Execute Selected. You can Exit Background Tasks and the system continues the export while you perform other tasks.

Check the progress of the export from anywhere on the system by pressing Ctrl+0 (Zero).

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EDL Assemble ▼WB_Texas_Sources EDL Link to Clip Library Reel

Files: Texas_30.edl

This exercise demonstrates how to: load and link an EDL to an existing Clip Library Reel, verify the capture marks for every clip and assemble a timeline

Load the EDL The source clips you need to use are already captured in the Texas_source_clips reel in the Clip Library.

Access the EDL Module SMOKE USERS: from the Clip Library or from the EditDesk with the “- (hyphen)” shortcut.

FLAME USERS: Access the EDL module from the Desktop, Clip Library or from Input Clip.

• Click “Load” and select the 29.97fps “Texas_30” EDL (it is available in the Additional Materials folder-or ask the Instructor for the location)

Since the materials are already captured, you must link the EDL to the clips in the library; to do this, set “Library Reel: Texas Sources Clips” Note: the library reel must be in the root of your library not inside a folder.

Check the Events in the EDL • • •

Set the EDL Player to “Source” and view each EDL event that is selected.

You can multi-select events and have the player make a record clip containing the selected events.

Verify that every event displays a capture mark next to it (an “x”).

The system links to the clips by timecode and reel numbers, if an “x” isn’t displayed, it is because the clip is not inside the library reel or has not yet been captured.

Note: When capturing an EDL, load the EDL and switch to the Capture menu. A reel with the name of the loaded EDL is automatically created along with the captured clips.

Assemble the EDL • •

Select All and Assemble theEDL record clip.

Exit the EDL module, the most recent EDL assembly will appear as the first item in the source reel. Open the Texas_source_clips reel and select the first clip.

SMOKE: Load the clip to the EditDesk and play back the assembly in Timeline view (F5).

FLAME: Load the assembled clip to the Desktop. View it with the Player set to Timeline to see the edits, transitions and timewarps.

Smoke

Flame

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Editing EDLS and Recapturing ▼WB_Texas_Sources Trimmimg In/Out Marks SMPTE Wipes

Recapture Unlinked Media Relink

Files: Texas_15.edl

In this exercise, we will edit an existing EDL, work with unlinked media and recapture clips with missing media

Edit the EDL • •

Return to the EDL menu and load the “Texas_15” EDL. Set the library reel to “Texas_Sources”

This EDL requires some editing: • Double-click on the Source In of the music (event #34) and trim the timecode to 01:00:18:14.

• Select the 10-frame dissolve in event 26.

• Select Choose from the Transitions menu and replace the dissolve with your favorite SMPTE wipe.

• Highlight event #26 and click Make Record to preview

Repcapture Unlinked Events

•

•

• This EDL contains shots that are still to be captured but they are not available yet (example: event #5). Nevertheless, you can start working with the unlinked media and capture these clips later on. Check under Assembly Options and make sure “Create Unlinked Media” is enabled before you click Assemble A white segment will show up in the Timeline. This is a place holder which references the original clip’s metadata.

When you’re ready to capture the missing clips, select the “Texas_15” clip in the Clip Library. Enter the Tools menu – Unlink/Relink submenu – Click Recapture.

Within this module, you can view any missing events in the EDL, recapture the missing clips and relink them to your working Timeline.

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File Archive Commit History Size Estimate

Format Archive View HTML TOC

▼WB_Project_Media_Manage ▼ File_Archive > ox_1 (Longhorn) > TX

This exercise demonstrates how to manage file size and create a file archive.

When you select clips to be archived, the clips are saved with their Histories and setups embedded in them. Working with History allows you to keep all the intermediate processes needed to expand the clip’s History at any stage of its creation to make a correction. History can be very useful in tracking the setup metadata while you work, it can also noticeably increase the amount of space required to archive a clip. When only the resulting clips are needed, it is recommended that you commit the history of those clips or delete intermediates before archiving Archive the clips and the project setups separately.

You can archive to file, tape or VTR (for VTR and tape archives the proper machine type needs to be enabled from the configuration file).

Prepare the Clips •

•

Open the “History sample” reel in the Library. Select “copy on drag” (alternately hold space with “move on drag” selected) and drag a copy of the “ox_1” clip to the end of the library.

Access the Archive menu – we will a preview of the disk space requirement to archive this clip with its history:

Flame: From the LIBRARY menu on the desktop select Archive and press Size Estimate. You are taken into the Library where you need to again press Size Estimate) Smoke: in the Library highlight the clip and click Size Estimate.

• • •

Exit Archive; open the Library Tools menu and select the Consolidate option.

Make sure the clip is still highlighted, select Commit History, click Commit and confirm.

Exit and go back to Archive to measure the size estimate, the clip is now about a quarter of its original size.

You can also use the Consolidate tool to reduce the unused heads and tails of a clip.

Format a file archive Archives must first be formatted with a pre-defined size. Then the archive is opened for saving, retrieving or appending clips.

Flame: From the Desktop LIBRARY menu press Archive and click Size Estimate. Select the "To be archived” reel in the library and press Size Estimate.

Smoke: Select (highlight) the "To be archived” reel /source area from within the library. Open the Archive menu and click size estimate.

This 1920x1080 frame requires a minimum of 6MB to be archived.

We will use the size estimate to create the archive wrapper: • Select the path field below Format, browse to the destination location of the archive, enter the name of the archive in the field at the bottom, and click “enter” • Select Format, enter the name, and set the capacity to 8MB, enough to archive the selection. Click Format.

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File Archive Archiving files Smoke: Enable the Dual Library view to see both library and archive content. Highlight the reel containing the clip. Click on “Archive and Close”; since the file is rather small, this will not take long Flame: Press Save From Library. Enable the Dual View to see both the project library (framestore) and the archive content. Highlight the “TX” clip. Click on Save and Close. The material is copied and the archive closes. Press EXIT Save From Library, - The Archive is done.

Restoring an archive: •

Create a <new> destination library.

Smoke: Go to Archive and Open.

Flame: Select Archive, Open and Load (this is possible without exiting the archive).

• Sort the listing by date, select the clip you’ve just archived and select Load in Library.

• Exit Archive, the clip has been restored to the destination library.

• Exit the archive by pressing EXIT Load (you are prompted to confirm closing the archive and exiting).

View the HTML Go back to Archive and select the View HTML TOC. Select the last archive available and view an HTML version of the table of contents of the archive.

An HTML TOC of the archive is created with each archive to allow you to browse the content of archives without having to actually open them in Smoke or Flame.

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Editing 1 - Smoke Timeline

Timeline: Basic Editing Notes: Navigation Timeline Editing: Audio Sync Timeline Editing: Multi-Camera Editing Notes: Tracks and Layers Notes: Adding Slates and Using Hotkeys

18 19 20 22 25 26

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Timeline: Basic Editing Timeline Navigation The Player Ripple and Snap Gestural Trimming

▼ WB_Editing ▼ XBall HD Sources Load Source Area

In this section we build a Timeline edit from scratch and become familiar with basic editing techniques.

Load the Clips to the EditDesk The clips have already been captured and we need to load them to the EditDesk • Click the Clip Library box to access the clips. Select the “XBall_HDSources”in the 2010 _L1_WB_Media library. Make sure the Destination box is set to EditDesk Library and the Clip Arrangement box is set to Saved Position. Click Load. The clips are displayed on the EditDesk.

Add Clips to the Timeline: • •

• • •

F-drag the ‘1-Entrance_Front’ clip from the Source Area to the Record Area. F-dragging makes a copy of the clip.

To view the clip in a larger window, display the Player. It can be toggled on and off by pressing Esc. For a full-res HD view, press Ctrl+Esc to display the Fullscreen player. The Player will always display the frame where the positioner is parked on, either in the Source Area or the Record Area.

From the View Menu, choose Record Timeline (or F5) and enable Ripple.

Set the Snap mode to Snap Closest. With this enabled, clips dropped in the Timeline will snap to the edges of nearby clips or marks.

Place the positioner at the first frame of the ‘2-Entrance_Flare’ shot, F-drag the ‘2-Entrance_Flare’ shot to the Timeline and drop it just after the ‘1-Entrance_Front’ shot. The positioner will determine the default in-point of a clip when dragged in the Timeline.

Keep in mind that you can zoom and pan the Timeline. The bottom pan bar can also be dragged up and down to zoom in and out on the positioner. To reset pan and zoom, click the Home button in the lower-right corner.

• F-drag the ‘3-Sandals_Left’ shot at the end of the Timeline. Again, the positioner is your implicit in-point.

• To preview the result of your edit, play back the positioner (V) or replay the region around the selected object (T).

• Continue adding clips to the Timeline. They are numbered in the order they should appear.

Trim the Clips • • • •

So far we have not specifically timed the edits. We will use interactive trimming to remove unnecessary frames.

To trim the in or out points of the clips, make sure Trim mode is enabled.

To interactively see the frame you are trimming, enable Focus.

Make sure Lock is disabled. This mode prevents you from altering the head and tail values of selected clips.

To trim clips, drag their left and right edges to add or remove material. A red trim cursor appears. Since Ripple is on, the following clips move to compensate for removed frames. Go ahead and trim the Timeline to make a more dynamic cut.

Remember that you can display the Player (Esc) and Replay the selection (T) at any time to preview the cut.

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Notes: Timeline Navigation in Smoke Tips on Smoke Editdesk and Timeline Navigation

Desktop Navigation Hotkeys Hotkey Backspace Esc (or swipe side) Ctrl-Esc V T

Undo Display Player Full Screen Player Play Replay

Hotkey Spacebar A S Right Arrow Left Arrow

Stop Go to Head Go To Tail Frame Forward Frame Backward

TL Navigation Hotkeys: Hotkey ‘X’ (next)

to move your positioner to the next edit

‘Z’ (back)

to jump back to the previous edit point

Shift+X (or Z)

moves the positioner to the ‘Before dit point on any layer

V, C

play forward, play backward

Spacebar

stop playback

Ctrl A

moves the positioner to the first edit (frame 1) of your Timeline moves the positioned to the last active frame of your Timeline

Ctrl S Click and Drag on the horizontal timebar

drag up to zoom in on positioner, drag down to zoom out

Click and Drag left on vertical scroll bar

to dynamically expand layer height and see detailed clip info

Space drag

pan Timeline

Ctrl+space+drag

to zoom the TL

Alt + Click on a clip

to see ‘info’ – length, format, fps etc

=

home - expands your view to the entire Timeline

Click on a segment

to select a clip (turns yellow)

Ctrl + Click

to add additional shots

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Timeline Editing: Audio Sync Audio Levels Aligned Edit Trimming with Slide

▼ WB_Music_Video ▼ Audio ▼ From Camera

This exercise shows editing techniques for adjusting sync between audio and video.

In this exercise we will work on clips for a music video. We have A-roll footage consisting of multiple camera takes of the band members playing the song, together and individually.

Since these takes were recorded with a scratch track, they should be synchronized to the Master Audio (the studio version).

We will sync up the clips so that use the displayed timecode to assemble our music video (See multi-camera editing exercise). In this exercise we will perform an Aligned Edit and a fine tune the sync by trimming.

Prepare the Timeline and Adjust Audio Output Levels • • • • •

• • •

Load “Music_Video” Editdesk folder.

Make a new source area:”Sync_Exercise” F-Drag the Master Audio Track from the ‘Audio’ Source Area to the empty Record Area.

Add an empty video track above your Master Audio Track (Click ‘V+’) and two empty audio tracks below it (Click ‘A+’ twice).

Making sure ‘Snap Positioner’ is enabled and the positioned is on the first frame of the clip, select both master audio tracks and (drag) them down to tracks 3 & 4, freeing up tracks 1 & 2 for the scratch audio tracks of the various camera pass.

Swipe to the right or the left to display the Player (or hit ESC). Select the ‘Audio Desk’ tab.

The track was mastered at OdB, which may be a bit hot. You can adjust the audio level of the master tracks (3 & 4) Swipe to the right or the left to return to the Edit Desk.

Syncing Source and Record • •

Select your first source clip from the ‘From Camera’ Source Area Press F6 to view the Source Timeline, enable ‘Scrub’ to hear the audio as you scrub the track.

TIP: to Scrub Audio Do one of the following: For a locked rate scrub, press Alt +Ctrl and drag the positioner. Dragging more to the left or right increases the playback speed. to real time. You can hear all tracks by pressing Alt +Ctrl+Shift.

For a free form scrub, press Alt and drag the positioner. You can hear all the tracks by pressing Alt +Shift • Place the positioner of the Source Timeline at the first frame of audio.

TIP: You can expand the waveforms vertically by dragging down the corresponding layer identifiers, to the left of the Timeline. You can expand the waveforms horizontally by expanding the tracks by dragging up from the bottom scroll bar.

• Display the Record Timeline (F5). Place the positioner of the Record Timeline at the first frame of audio.

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Timeline Editing: Audio Sync Note that the source tracks are patched automatically to the record tracks; if the Source Audio ( green patch info on the left of the track id) is not patched to Record audio tracks 1 and 2correct the patch by enabling the patch from the player menu, or dragging on the TL patch indicator

•

Press ‘L’ to perform an aligned edit.

•

The Source clip, along with its associated audio, has been inserted in the Record Timeline, while aligning the positioner of the source material with the positioner in the Record Timeline. The audio should pretty much line up but will probably require a bit of tweaking.

Select all audio tracks and press ‘W+’ to see a visual representation of the waveforms.

TIP: When you have a reference track (scratch audio) and a Master Track pretty much lined up, you can actually listen and hear whether or not you’re in sync. When NOT in sync, you’ll hear a Flanger/Chorus effect. The closer you get to a proper sync the less this effect will be audible.

TIP: If your scratch audio is too low, making it difficult to clearly see the waveform, try boosting the gain by 15 to 20 dBs via the Gain soft effect. Remember that the Scratch tracks will be discarded

Create an Edit-Sync-Group • •

Select the video event and the associated scratch audio events (1&2), press and hold the ‘Editing’ button, in the Menu Priority Box, and select ‘Edit Sync’.

Press ‘Create’. Small icons on the events indicate that this is now an ‘Edit Sync group’.

When you enable the ‘Sync’ button in the Editing toolbar all three events will be selected simultaneously and treated as one event which makes trimming in the step easier..

Adjust Sync • •

•

Switch the Menu Priority Box back to ‘Editing’. Enable the ‘Lock’ button, to lock the heads and tails values.

Enable the ‘Trim’ and slide the ‘Edit Sync Group’, forward or backwards in the Timeline: place the cursor in the middle of the event (the Slide trim cursor is a two sided arrow) and drag left or right.

Because heads and tails values are locked, sliding repositions the event in time For minute adjustments, hold ‘M’ and use the right or left arrow keys to slide the group forward or backwards by 1 frame.

TIP: if you find it difficult to hear a difference between the tracks, mute channels 2 and 3 (Ctrl click on the track identifiers or use the mute buttons in the audio panel- The track identifiers turn yellow.)

• Adjust until the audio tracks are perfectly in unity.

Remove unnecessary material • • • • • • •

Once the video is in sync with the Master Audio Track, remove whatever comes before 00:00:00:00.

Make sure the focus point is at the topmost layer and place your positioner at 00:00:00:00.

Press Shift + Delete on the keyboard to insert a cut at 00:00:00:00 on all tracks below the focus point.

Drag the overhanging segments (before 00:00:00:00) to the bottom of the screen to discard them (watch for the green recycle sign) Select the Edit Sync Group and delete the group link (press “delete” in the Edit Sync menu) Press ‘Delete’. You’ve deleted the ‘Edit Sync Group’ and can now discard the scratch audio and F-Drag the synced clip to the ‘:”Sync_Exercise”Source Area.

Repeat this procedure with all the A-Roll clips.

You can now rely on the displayed record timecode to avoid the kind of sync issues we’ve all seen in music videos (I.e. the video showing the guitarist playing a solo when he’s clearly playing rhythm guitar in the song or the drummer shown playing on his hihat when clearly he should be on the ride cymbal.

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Multi-Camera Editing Video only edit Ganging Sources Adding Layers

▼ WB_Music_Video ▼ Sync ▼ Model

In this exercise we edit a music video by syncing multiple camera sources and adding cutaway shots an a second layer.

We will assemble the first Timeline layer of the music video. In the Audio Sync exercise, we synced our A-Roll camera takes of the band members. We can treat these sources like a multi-camera shoot. We will gang the source clips and the Timeline to quickly view the action in all clips simultaneously. This way it is easy to pick the edits in sync with the master track. We will then specify the In and Out points in our sources for the events we want to use and add them to the Timeline. We’re going to start by assembling the first chorus of the song.

Adjusting the Audio Level • •

F-Drag the Master Audio Track from the Audio Source Area into the Record Area and press ‘F5’ to display the Record Timeline.

Lower the audio output level using the level controls in the Audio Desk tab of the player

Ganging Source and Record To quickly view the action in all of our source clips in the ‘Sync’ Source Area simultaneously, at any given timecode, we’re going to gang them together with the Record Timeline.

• Select ‘Source Area’ from the ‘Editing’ pop-up button.

• Press ‘Select All’ to select all sources, and then hold CTRL to also select the Record Viewer and press ‘Gang’.

Now when you scrub any one clip or the Record Timeline, they all scrub in sync. When ganged, a clip’s name and timecode information is displayed in green.

Creating the “Line-Cut” We will build the first chorus.

• Press and hold the ‘Source Area’ button and select ‘Editing’ to go back to editing mode.

• Lock the audio channels of the record Timeline by clicking on the channel designator.

• Select your first source clip and place the positioner to timecode 00:00:54+18, set an In-point and select an Out-point, by using the ‘Mark In’/’Mark Out’ buttons on the keyboard.. Press ‘H’ to add the edit to Video layer 1.

Since the Record Timeline is ganged with the sources, a third point is not needed.

• Repeat this process to complete the line between cameras on layer 1 by selecting segments from different A-Roll shots. You can use the following in and out points • Go to the Player (ESC or swipe the edge of the source area) and press ‘V’ to playback the result and review your edits

Suggested IN/OUT Values for Layer 1 00:00:54+18 – 00:00:58+11 – Full_Band_1 00:00:58+11 – 00:00:59+21 – Drummer_1 00:00:59+21 – 00:01:02+18 – Full_Band_2 00:01:02+18 – 00:01:04+23 – Bassist_1 00:01:04+23 – 00:01:06+13 – Full_Band_1 00:01:06+13 – 00:01:07+14 – Guitarist_1 00:01:07+14 – 00:01:08+17 – Drummer_1 00:01:08+17 – 00:01:12+00 – Full_Band_3

You can scrub or play back the result. To easily monitor the audio levels, display the Audio Desk in the Player and enable the waveforms. You can mute tracks 1 & 2 (scratch audio) for a ‘cleaner’ playback.

Since we have ganged all clips, the selected source segment is inserted in the Timeline at the timecode specified by the source inpoint. The positioner on the Record Timeline snaps to the Out-point, allowing us to review the footage from this point.

We’ve now assembled our first video layer and our Timeline should look like this.

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Timeline Editing: Multi-Camera Editing

Add Cut-Away Shots on Layer 2 We can now add a second layer with shots of the singer on the white and gray background. We’re going to add three segments (events) to the Timeline: The first shot we will add is a shot of the singer with some camera motion (00:00:55+22 – 00:00:56+21 – 00110D.mov). He doesn’t say anything so it doesn’t have to be in sync – we can insert it where we like. Before making the first edit, we will “ungang” the Timeline from the sources • Switch to ‘Source Area’ mode, go to 00:00:00+00, press ‘Select All’, hold Ctrl to add the Record Viewer to the selection and then press ‘Ungang’. Regang the sources and return to ‘Editing’ mode.

• Press ‘L+’ to add a second layer to the Timeline.

• Move the Timeline positioner to 00:00:57+09 – this will be our record in-point, bring the focus to layer 2 (drag or up arrow). The primary video patch follows the focal point.

• Select “Singer_1” from the ‘Sync’ Source Area. Mark In and Out points. Press ‘H’ to overwrite on layer 2.

• Select the new event, make sure Selected and V/V/V are selected in the Player options and press “Note: To return to one frame advancing in the Timeline using the right and left arrow, simply type 1 before pressing the arrow” to replay and review the edit.

Next we will add a second segment at 00:01:01+17: a shot of the singer saying ‘soldier’ in the chorus, we are looking for some camera motion. However, at this timecode the source camera is out of focus. Since the chorus is repeated throughout the song, we may be able to find a suitable take in one of the other choruses – there is a good take at 00:01:51+00.

• With the “Singer_1” source selected, press F6 to display the Source Timeline , mark In and Out points (00:01:51+00 – 00:01:53+10).

• Press F5 to display the Record Timeline. Place the positioner at the record In-point (00:01:01+17), make sure the focus is on L2 and hit “H” to overwrite The selected segment of the Source clip has been inserted in the Record Timeline, while aligning the positioner of the source material with the positioner in the Record Timeline. Your tracks should pretty much line up but, again, will probably require a bit of tweaking.

• Swipe the cursor left or right to display the player and press ‘V’ to playback the result: The In-point might need a little adjustment.

• Enable ‘Trim’. Make sure ‘Lock’ is disabled, so the heads and tails values are not locked. Adjust the clip..

In a ripple edit, the timing change ‘ripples’ through the rest of the material, as the existing clips slide apart to make room for the new material, or slide together to fill a gap.

• Trim the In-point by 7 frames, giving resulting In/Out values of 00:01:01+17 – 00:01:03+21 (Source or record??).

• Playback the result.

We can add a third segment. It is a shot of the singer saying ‘unconditionally’ at the end of the first chorus (00:01:10+17 – 00:01:13+15).

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Timeline Editing: Multi-Camera Editing

Add Additional Cut-Away Shots on Layer 3 We can also add a third layer with shots of the model (see “Model” source area) to make the video more visually interesting. Let’s go ahead and add two segments (events) to the Timeline: These shots are purely esthetic and don’t need to be in sync.

Suggested IN/OUT Values for Layer 1

00:00:04+18 – 00:00:6+03 – Model_1 00:00:06+02 – 00:00:07+11 – Model_2 We now have a three layer Timeline which should look like this: • Use “Shift A” to go to the first frame, Press ‘V’ to playback the result

Take it Further Now you can refine your edits further and edit the shots so that they play off the music.

For example, if we take the 2nd shot of the drummer, in layer 1, we can see that its Out point comes just a few frames after a snare hit.

We can trim the Out point to a few frames before the snare hit, so that visually, the cut-away comes right on the hit, giving better pace to our video.

We can do this based on the visual representation of the waveform. When your audio is music, you can usually see the bass drum and snare hits in the waveform. This will enable you to trim the clip to within a few frames of where we want the out point and you can make the small adjustments by listening and shifting by a frame or two.

TIP: When you are editing music videos, it’s good to be able to Snare Hit identify the time signature of a song; it will, among other things, make it much easier to pace your videos. The time signature would be 4/4 about 90% of the time and would be ¾ the remaining 10%. In our case here, we have a song in 4/4: 4 quarter notes per beat/4 beats per bar.

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Notes: Tracks and Layers About the use of tracks and layers in the Timeline

Video Tracks

To add a Video Track, click “V+”in the toolbar.

A video track contains all video including any video layers. Each video track is an individual stream of images. You cannot composite one video track over another Uses of the Video Track Off-line / On-line Comparison; Versioning within a single Timeline; Sync fill & matte when using a Matte Container (axis soft-FX)

Video Layers

To add a Video Layer, click “L+” in the toolbar.

A video layer exists within the video track of a Timeline. Multiple video layers can be stacked for Timeline layer-based compositing Uses of the Video Layer Compositing layers of video with Soft-FX or BatchFX effects on segments or with Gap Effects To delete a Video Track or a Video Layer, click and drag the square next to the track/layer to the bottom of the UI

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Notes: Adding Slates and Using Hotkeys This tipsheet describes a suggested workflow for users who need to assemble Tag Reels with numerous versions of the same spot, and slate them all. It introduces the use of Smoke Hotkeys.

In this example slates might be generated externally using a CG workstation and prepared as single frame images for Smoke to import. Slates start eight seconds before (59:52:00) and end two seconds before (59:58:00) the spot begins (1:00:00:00) for a duration of six seconds per slate.

Importing graphics • •

From the Library, go to Import Image.

Since we want each slate to be six seconds, select FRAMES, then REPEAT and enter 6+00.

If you are working at 10-bit 1080 in 23.976p, and your slates were created at NTSC resolution (for instance with a Deko), you can resize the images on import using the RESIZE option. Resize can also be used to convert bit depth, if needed.

• Select all the images and click LOAD. Load these clips into the source area and arrange them into the proper sequential order.

If you want to try the following tips out, you can quickly create some slates in the Text module.

Adding slates in the Timeline We now need to drop these six second slates into a Timeline so that each slate starts eight seconds before each minute, ending two seconds before each minute. Our spots will drop in at the top of each minute.

• • •

Begin by dragging the first slate to the record area, hit F3 to collapse the view.

From the A/V Tools box, click Timecode, and then select Change TC to 59:52+00.

Press F5 to return to the record Timeline view. Our positioner should be at the end of the slate (59:58+00).

Timesaving navigation hotkeys If you type a number and then press the right arrow key on the keyboard, the positioner will advance by that number of frames to the right (i.e. forward in the TL). But what if we want to advance one minute minus six seconds forward - to where the next slate would begin? If you press the NUMBER T/CODE key on the numeric keypad before you enter a number, the value will be interpreted as minutes/seconds instead of frames. This key toggles between the two options, and must be pressed before you enter any numeric values. In addition (no pun intended), you can perform timecode math inside any of the timecode dialog boxes. For example, to subtract six seconds from one minute you could enter the following sequence of keystrokes NUMBER T/CODE 1..(One Period Period) - ( hit “Minus”) 6. (Six Period) Right Arrow

This key, located on the numeric keypad, toggles between frames and timecode entry.

The period acts as a double zero, making this 1:00+00. If you get 10000 frames instead, start over and toggle the frames to timecode again using the NUMBER T/CODE key.

You are now subtracting six seconds (6+00) from one minute (1:00+00 The positioner will now move 54 seconds forward, the beginning of our next slate. Be sure NOT to press enter before pressing the right arrow.

Continue adding slates Now that our record positioner is in the right place, we need to select the next slate from the source area. Before you pick up that pen, read on…

• F8 to select SOURCE Focus.

• ALT-C to select the next clip in the source area (ALT-V to go back).

• H (Overwrite) to drop in the next clip. Record focus is automatically selected by this action.

• RIGHT ARROW. Since the last duration (54 seconds) is still in the buffer, the Timeline Positioner will advance to the next position. Repeat Once you get this repetitive procedure down, you can drop in dozens of slates in as many (few) seconds.

Note: To return to one frame advancing in the Timeline using the right and left arrow, simply type 1 before pressing the arrow

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Timeline Compositing - Soft Effects Introduction to SoftFX Timeline Soft FX - Triptych View and CC Timeline SoftFX - Axis and Text Timeline Soft FX – Axis and Resize Timewarp Soft FX – Variable Speed and Mix Notes: Timewarps Timeline SoftFX – Integrate an Action clip in the Timeline

28 29 30 32 33 34 35

•

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Introduction to SoftFX Applying Soft Effects Using the Color Warper

Copying Soft Effects Processing Effects

▼ WB_TL_SoftFX ▼SoftFX_Intro >Xball_to_editTL_v1

This exercise shows how to apply a basic soft effect to a clip and copy this effect to another clip.

Work on the First Shot • Load the Xball_to_edit_v1 clip to the record area. Select the Sandals_Left shot in the Timeline and enable the CC Soft Effect. Make sure Autokey is disabled (A button). Enter the CC •

Editor (E button).

The Overlay UI will help you color-correct an HD shot. To display the Overlay UI, press Ctrl+Esc, which is the same hotkey as the full screen player.

Enhance the image using the Colour Warper.

•

• • •

•

From the CC popup choose CW (Colour Warper). Make sure you’re in Full Res mode and not Proxy mode Drag the Black point towards the left, to make sure that you get nice deep blacks (note that when dragging parameters all other parameters disappear so most of the image is visible).

Drag the White point to the right, to boost the highlights.

Drag the Saturation slider towards the right to make the colors livelier.

Tweak the Gamma: The Gamma changes the luminance of the mid tones without affecting the black point or the white point. RGB Gamma has independent Red, Green and Blue controls. To change all these at once, Alt+drag one of them to link the parameters.

You can experiment with your own settings, and once you’re happy with the result, click Exit. Notice that we don’t need to process - because this is a soft effect, we can process at a later time.

Copy the Effect to another Shot The next shot also needs some color correction. Instead of performing the color correction from scratch, copy the color correction settings from the previous shot. Note that the soft effects are numbered - color correction is number 4.

Copy the Colour Warper effect: • Make sure the source shot is selected.

• Press and hold Ctrl+4 – you can see that a yellow highlight appears on the Soft Effect of the source shot.

• With the Ctrl key still down, drag from the source shot to the destination shot.

The effect has been copied.

Process the Timeline You need to process these effects in order to play them back in real time. Clips with soft effects display a line across at the top.

Depending on color of the line on the clip, you can tell if it’s processed or not.

• Ctrl-click both shots to select them and hit Process. Display the full screen player (Ctrl+Esc). Press the T key to replay the clips.

• Press Esc to go back to the EditDesk.

• You can check the results in the “Xball_to_editTL_V2”

White full line Black full line Black dotted line Yellow full line Yellow dotted line

Unprocessed clip Processed clip Partially processed clip Processed proxy Partially processed proxy

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Timeline Soft FX: Triptych View and CC ▼ WB_TL_SoftFX ▼ TryptichView_CC > eye_1

Soft CC Matching Shots in the Timeline Overlay UI and Triptych View

> Lollipop_girl

This exercise illustrates the steps to color match two edited shots in the Smoke Timeline, using the Color Corrector and the Triptych View.

We will take advantage of the viewing options in the Smoke Timeline and perform a color match in the Timeline between two shots edited back to back. (Note: this exercise can also be done in the ColourCorrect Module nodule or node as well as in Action by using the module viewing tools)

Triptych View •

•

Bring the eye clip down to the Record Area. Select the Lollipop_girl shot (make sure the positioner is at the beginning of the shot) and hit append (;).

The two shots are now edited back-to-back.

Switch to Timeline view (F5).

The player also offers an Overlay UI, (CTRL+ESC) to color correct with the full screen and the Triptych View (space+ESC).

The Triptych view allows the simultaneous display of three distinct segments of the Timeline. You can click in each player to position the play head and the focus point on the layer, track or segment you wish to monitor.

• Make sure that the triptych cursor option is set to “free”.

• Click in the left monitor and set the positioner to a frame where the eye is closed. Click in the right monitor and move the positioner to when the girl is facing the camera. Use the center viewport to view the color correction.

Color Match Now we want to match the skin tone of the eye to the skin tone of the girl: • Highlight the eye segment and add a soft color correction effect. Click “E” to enter the editor.

The CC Timeline editor menus are slightly different than those in the CC module. You will find the match tool under the Curves Menu instead. Select the “Curves” menu, and RGB curves (a white line).

• Click in the “Dest 1” color box, hold “CTRL” and sample an average color of the skin tone on the left, then hold “CTRL” again and click inside of the “Source” color swatch to select the skin tone to match to.

Aim for the girl’s cheek. Hit the “Match 1” button to match to the reference color. The Red, Green and Blue curves will adjust to achieve the match

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SoftFX: Axis and Text Gap Effect Fit-to-Fill Timewarp Blending Modes

Gap Effect Fit-to-Fill Timewarp Blending Modes

▼ WB_TL_SoftFX ▼ Axis_and_Text >XBALL_LOGO >Flare >Xball_to_editTL_V2

This exercise shows how to add graphics and titles to the Timeline using the Axis SoftFX, which is actually an Action/ compositor/keyer/ColourCorrectModule bundled in one. We’ll start off with a static logo, animate it, add a subtitle and finally overlay it with an animated flare.

Place a Logo in the Timeline •

Load the “XBall to edit TimelineV2”. Press S to go to the end of the Timeline. F-drag the XBALL_logo clip to the end of the Timeline.

The XBALL_logo clip appears, but it is only one frame long. We need to extend it to the proper length, which is three seconds.

• Select the XBALL_Logo clip in the Timeline. Click in the timecode field. The timecode calculator appears. Enter 3+00 and then click Add. This will move the positioner three seconds forward. Click the value on the calculator to accept the duration.

• Press B+Spacebar. This trims the tail of the clip to the positioner.

Animate the Logo We will animate the logo using the Axis soft effect. Let’s start off with a large horizontally blurred logo that positions itself quickly in the middle of the screen while zooming in slowly.

• Enable the Axis soft effect, enable Autokey (the A button) and enter the Editor (E button).

• At the first frame, set the Scale value to about 200%.

• Set the X Blur value to about 100. The default blur quality is weak; change it form Box to Gaussian.

• On frame 10. Ctrl-click the Blur value to reset it to its default value of 0. Drag down the Scale value to about 90. Because Autokey is enabled, when you change a value at another frame, Smoke automatically creates animation between the two values.

• Go to the end of the clip, at frame 72. Ctrl-click the Scale value to reset it to its default of 100%. Now the text zooms out very quickly and then zooms in slowly. Scrub to view the result.

Even though lowest keyframe value is 90, the curve goes down to about 80 in the middle of the clip. This is caused by Hermite interpolation, which means that it eases in and eases out from keyframe to keyframe. In this case, a Linear behaviour in-between keyframes would be better.

• Click on Animation to access the animation channels.In the Animation Tree, select the entire scene. Change the interpolation to Linear.

• Exit the Axis. Because this is a soft effect, you don’t need to process it right away.

Our current result starts off with a very large and blurry title, zooms out quickly as it becomes sharper and then zooms in very slowly.

Add a Subtitle Next, we will add a subtitle using the Text soft effect. Instead of adding the text directly to the logo clip, we will place the title above the logo layer to independently time and animate it.

• Move the focus point of the positioner to the topmost layer. Drag the positioner to the frame where the zoom-blur effect of the logo ends (10 frames into the XBALL_logo clip). Select the topmost layer (the empty gap) and Cut the clip (Delete key). This cuts the gap into two separate segments. We’re going to use only the second segment for the subtitle.

• Select the second clip, enable the Text soft effect, make sure Autokey is enabled and enter the Editor • Click anywhere in the viewer; this creates a new text box at the top. Type in the text: “PODIUM SERIES PAINTBALLS”.

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Timeline SoftFX and Text •

Press Alt + A to select (highlight) all the characters. To change the attributes of the text, you need to select the characters first: properties are character-based in Text. Set the paragraph settings to Center.

The Font field is typically set to ‘Discreet’ by default. You can load other fonts.

• • • • • • •

Press ESC to switch to Move mode. The text box becomes green.

Go to frame 1 and drag the text box just below the Xball logo.

Raise the kern value to about 15 to make the text appear wider In the Character axis menu, disable Prop and set the Xscale to about 130.

Set the Preview mode to Preview FX. This will give you a preview of the rendered result.

Enable the Outline attribute. Click on the Colour Chooser and click on Pick.

Pick a dark golden color from the logo. To accept this color, click on the result color swatch (top right). Increase the edge width.

Animate the Subtitle We’ll animate the kerning value, so that the width of the text matches the width of the logo.

• Go to the last frame. Increase the kerning so that it matches the width of the logo.

• . We can see that the animation eases in and eases out. To make it match the logo, choose Linear interpolation.

• Go to the Animation menu. Select the entire scene. Choose Linear as the interpolation type (instead of Hermite). Click Exit.

• To fade-in the subtitle, select the cut-point at the head of the subtitle shot. Press the End key on the keyboard to add a dissolve.

Add the Lens Flare Now the last thing we need to do is add a lens flare on top of the composite. It would look best if we could add the lens flare at the point where it’s the brightest. Since the lens flare shot is too long, we’ll do a 4-point edit to speed it up.

• Press L+ to add a new layer. Select the XBALL_logo clip.

• Mark its duration, by pressing Shift+/. This will add an In and an Out mark at each end of the clip.

• Select the Lens_Flare shot and move the positioner to the brightest frame.

Mark an In-point, by pressing Mark In (Alt key to the right of the spacebar).

• Go to the end of the shot (Shift+S). Add an out-mark (Ctrl on right-hand side of keyboard).

• With the focus point is on the topmost layer, press H, to overwrite. The clip has been timewarped to match the source in/out duration to the record in/out duration.

Since the lens flare is opaque, it fills the entire screen, covering up the title. Let’s apply a blending mode to fix this.

• Select the Lens_Flare clip. Enable the Axis soft effect and enter the Editor. Make

•

sure the Preview mode is set to Context. Set the blending mode to Screen (from Blend). Screen makes dark pixels become transparent yet the lighter pixels remain opaque.

Select the topmost layer and click on Process. Smoke will automatically process everything underneath, in order to make it real-time playable.

Replay the shot (T).

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Soft FX: Axis and Resize Timeline Keyer Axis SoftFX

▼ WB_TL_SoftFX ▼ Axis_and_Resize >XBall_to_editTL_V3 > Entrance_Front > Entrance_Backplate

This exercise shows how to composite a green screen element on a high-resolution background in the Timeline.

Set Up the Composite in the Timeline • •

• •

With Ripple off, F-drag the Entrance_Front clip to the layer above it.

Select the bottom Entrance_Front clip in the Timeline., and select the Entrance_Backplate shot in the Source Area. Press the J key on the replace the clip in the Timeline with the one in the Source Area. The 1frame background is stretched to fill the duration of the foreground. You can move the focus point up and down to see the two separate layers.

Select the top clip (Entrance_Front) and enable the Axis soft effect, disable Autokey and access the Editor.

Make sure you’re in Full Res view and set the Preview mode is set to PreviewFX.

Pull the Key and Color-Correct the Foreground (Please refer to the Keyer exercises for details) Reposition and Blur the Backplate This composite looks good, except that the backplate needs to be repositioned. When you select the backplate, we can see that a Resize soft effect has been applied by default. This is because we’re using a 3K backplate in an HD 1080p Timeline. To reposition the backplate, we’ll use an Axis soft FX instead.

• • • • • • • •

Select the Entrance_Backplate clip.

Enable the Axis FX( Resize is automatically mutedyellow LED). Enter the Axis Editor.

Set the view mode to Context. This makes all layers visible.

Switch from Full Res to Proxies. Now the image is smaller but it’s much more interactive.

Lower the Scale value to 75% Drag the Y slider to move the backplate down –. Reposition the background so you can see some blue sky and you hide the walkway at the bottom.

If you want, you can also animate the position of the backplate so that it seems to follow the motion of the camera.

Return to Full Res view.

We’re almost done with this composite, but there’s still one thing that gives it away: the backplate is sharper than the foreground plate. That’s because the backplate comes from a still camera while the foreground plate comes from an HD camera. Let’s blur the backplate to simulate depth of field.

• Alt+Drag the X Blur value in the Axis.

Alt+dragging links the X and Y parameters.

• Set the blur type to Gaussian, which is a much smoother blur.

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Timewarp: Variable Speed and Mix Anchor In / Out / Position Speed Ramps Trail / Mix

▼WB_Editing ▼ Timewarps > Horse > dancers >Truck

This section details how to create a custom timewarp, anchor a specific frame in time, ramping the speed and animating the timing curve and experiment with Timewarp Mix and Trail effect options.

Add a Variable Speed Timewarp • Bring the horse shot to the Record Area and open the Timeline (F5), go to the last frame of the shot (CTRL+ALT+S).

• Open the record Timeline and player, highlight the clip and add a TW soft effect.

• Set the TW to Progressive and set the anchor frame to “anchor in”.

This allows you to lock the in-point of the shot – keep the duration of the clip but set a new end frame using a constant speed change.

• Park on the last frame of the clip and slowly decrease the TW speed value in the quick menu. The last frame of the clip will update accordingly. Slide the value toward 80% until the action in the clip fills in the duration of the clip (cut the action before the white flash).

• Double click on the Timeline segment to enter the TW editor. With the positioner on the last frame set a keyframe “I” or click “set” from the animation channel controls.

• Select the timewarp timing curve.

• Use the Add or “space+A” to put new keyframes on the timing curve.

• Create a wave on the timing curve to have the horse go back and forth.

The timing curve determines which frame of the source will play at a certain time.

The box in the animation channel represents the available frames to be played for the duration of the shot. If you have the timing going outside of the box, the image will freeze with the first or last frame of the source material.

• Optional: You can also add a Mix value to blend frames together to create an illusion of speed.

Mix and Trails • • • •

• •

Drag down the dancers clip into the record area.

Position the clip at 01:01:58:00; this clip allows you to experiment with various mix and trail effect on a clip.

Start off by setting the Timewarp soft effect processing method according to the source, progressive 30fps.

When using the mix effect, frames before and after are merged evenly onto the current frame. With the Player set to “Preview FX” increase the “mix” value of the Timewarp quick menu and see the result directly in the player.

Select the “Trail” option instead of “Mix” to put a weighted average on the previous frames (pre-trail) or on the following frames (post-trail). Monitor the result in the Player.

Try again with the truck_1 shot.

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Notes: Timewarps About the use of the timing and the speed curve

Timewarp The Timing Curve The timing curve represents the actual frames within the clip matched against the frames of time.

In other words, frame 1 of the clip is mapped to frame 1 of time and so on. Therefore the normal curve is inclined as each frame is mapped to a frame of time.

A curve incline indicates frames playing forward over time a decline indicates frames playing backwards over time a flat curve indicates a freeze frame.

The Timing Curve allows specifying certain frames at exact points in time.

The Speed Curve The speed curve represents the velocity/frame-rate that a clip will play over a certain period of time.

In other words, if your speed was 100%, your clip would play normal speed (e.g.: 24,25 or 29.97 fps), the curve would be a constant flat line in the channel editor.

A curveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incline increases speed over time, a decline decreases speed over time, and a flat curve indicates a constant speed over time.

Useful for speed changes but does not allow for plotting of specific frames at any time during the time-warp. The frames of the clip will play according to the speed curve.

Page | 34

Integrate an Action Clip in the Timeline Timeline Layers Rendered clips

▼ WB_TL_SoftFX ▼TL_Action_Integration >Action_Comp_Result >XBALL_for_editTL_

In this exercise we integrate a composite which was rendered in Action into the Timeline For this exercise either complete the exercise “Action Compositing – Bullet Time” and use the rendered result or load the “XX Leap Bullet.” to the EditDesk Let’s integrate the Action result clip in our previous XBall Timeline. To create a smoother transition between the Action clip and the Xball logo, let’s extend the Lens flare clip to top of the Action clip.

Insert the ActionResult Clip in the Timeline • • • • •

Select the Action_Comp_Result clip in the Source Area. Set the positioner to the first frame.

Make sure the Record Timeline is displayed in the Record Area. Set the focus point to the bottom most layer (use the up/down arrow keys).

Place the positioner just before the XBALL_logo clip (use the Z and X hotkeys to move from cut to cut on the current layer).

Enable Sync. to ripple all tracks when inserting a clip.

Press G to insert the clip in the Timeline.

Note: This Action result clip has History metadata. Click on the “H” on the Timeline segment to re-enter Action and make changes to the shot.

Extend the Lensflare • •

•

Disable Ripple. Press Z to hop to the beginning of the Action clip.

Set the focus point to the topmost layer. Select the Lens_Flare clip.

Press N+Spacebar to trim the head of the selected clip to the positioner.

Process and Replay (T) the result

Page | 35

Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Graphics: Text and Paint

Notes: Text Text: Slate and Logo Cascading Text Animation Notes: Paint Brushes Paint: Creating a Matte

38 39 40 41 42

Page | 37

Notes: Text .

About working with the 2D Text Module in Smoke or Flame

Useful Hotkeys Hotkey: Alt+A Alt+P Esc Alt+C Alt+V Alt+V

Does: Select all text in layer Select all text in paragraphs Toggle between Move and Edit mode Copy Text Paste Text Cut Text

7 upper left corner

4 left-center

9

8 upper-center

upper right corner

5 center

6 right-center

1

2

3

lower left corner

lower center

lower right corner

Layers and Paragraphs

Animate Text on a Path

All text is contained in a layer. You can have as many layers as you want, and they can overlap.

Within each layer are paragraphs. Every carriage return creates a new paragraph within the layer. You can have as many paragraphs as you want within a layer.

To add a new layer, click New Layer and begin typing.

Hint: The first time you enter the Text module, you can click anywhere in the image window to add the first layer.

1. Enter Text with a black frame (or use the None option).

2. Click Delete All and Reset All. 3. Add a new layer and type: “Animate a Text on Path” 4. Select all (Alt+A) and change the following attributes:

Paragraph Modes There are two main modes for paragraphs: Edit mode and Move mode.

• If the Layer border is green you are in Move mode and cannot edit the text.

• If the layer border is red, you are in Edit mode and can edit the text.

• You can quickly toggle between the two modes by pressing ESC. If you want to move the layer while in Edit mode, you need to drag the handle in the upper left corner.

In Move mode, you can move the layer. You can select a character within the layer and drag the layer to a new location.

What is behind the “best speed” option for a roll?

Smoke andFlame need a certain rate of pixels per second for a clean roll up. The magic number you need to attain is a multiple of 120 pixels per second in NTSC, 100 pixels per second in PAL

Attribute: Font Font Size Kerning

Value: Helvetica-Narrow 60 5

5. Click On Path.

6. Set the duration of the clip to 90.

7. A Curve appears.

8. Select and drag the curve middle point down.

9. Switch to Edit mode.

10. At frame 1, change the Offset value to -300.

11. Go to frame 90., change the Offset value to 600.

12. Scrub through the effect to view the animation.

13. Switch to move mode.

14. Add a point to the curve (A+SPACE) and animate the curve at different point in time. Move the point with the move operator or use (M+SPACE).

Load an Existing Path From the setup menu you can load an existing saved path • The directory is: /usr/discreet/<flame_version>/path .

You can animate the Text inside the new path by using the Offset control.

• You can create a custom path in the GMask node from Batch or Modular Keyer. Create a garbage mask and export it as raw. You can reload this shape in Text as a Custom Path.

Align Layers You can use the number pad for aligning a text layer by using Alt + Z + the number for the position. It is important to note that the center numbers (8, 4, 6, 2) will work once you've already centered the text (alt+z+5).

Then just type the desired position. For example: Type alt+z+5 and then alt+z+8, this will put the text on the upper middle part of the screen

Page | 38

Text: Slate and Logo Text Module Text Layers Font Sizes and Attributes

Grouping Layers Using Logos

▼ WB_Graphics ▼ 2D_Text > cup > autodesk_logo > fill_color_1

This exercise demonstrates how to create a slate and add a logo along with the text.

Create the Slate • • •

• • • •

• • • •

Enter the text module with the “slate_template” clip as ‘back’ and delete all.

From the font style menu, use the default font or click to choose your own font from the browser.

Click New Layer “ALT+N” (or click once on the screen to add the first layer of text). Set the font size to 30 and type the word “today”.

Add a second nNew Layer “ALT+N” and type “text module”.

Add a New layer and type “English”. Add a New Layer and type “30 minutes”.

CTRL+Click on each layer and set the Fill color to yellow.

With all layers selected, add the Shadow and Blur Shadow attributes to the layers (Preview needs to be enabled in order to see the Blur Shadow attributes).

Select all layers one by one while holding CTRL. Horizontally align the word “today” with the word “Date:” on the background clip.

Click once on the screen to deselect and click on “30 minutes”. Holding shift, drag it down to align it with the word “Duration:” Shift+Click “text module”, move down an align with “Show:” - then align “English” with “Versions:” Once the layers are properly positioned, you can select them all with “CTRL+Click” and create a group of layers which allows for easier manipulation.

Add a Logo •

• • • • •

.

Add another layer (ALT+N) to load the Autodesk logo and align it with the safe title area. Click “Load Logo” and select: - the fill_color_1 as front , the Autodesk_logo clip as a matte.

Set the font size for this layer to about 150.

Turn on the “Grid” mode and select “Safe Title”, exit the Grid mode.

Hold the SHIFT key and slide the logo to the bottom right of the safe title.

Set the duration for the slate at the end of the time bar and hit Process.

Save the text setup as “my_slate”. Next time you load a Text preset, you will displayed in the browser Process the clip and EXIT. The rendered clip is placed on the desktop and named according to the setup name.

see it

Cascading Text Animation ▼ None Text Animation Safe Action & Title Grid

Animation Channels and Tracks Interpolation Methods

This exercise describes text animation techniques,interpolation methods and the Channel Editor.

Set up the Text Layer • • • • • •

From the Desktop, enter the text module with a setting of None (note that you can change the default resolution of the canvas with this setting).

Press Grid and enable Action & Title and Exit Grid.

Click anywhere in the canvas to start a layer and type “FALLING”.

Select the text “Alt+A”. Increase the text size so the word fills the screen width. You can change the font and text attributes if you like.

Change the Timeline duration to 60 frames.

Switch to Characters Mode.

The Characters mode translates single characters away from their original position instead of moving the entire layer itself. If you want to view the pivot axis of each character, enable Show Axis.

Animate the Characters • • • • • •

• • •

Make sure Auto Key is on.

At the first frame, drag the Y Position slider until the text is outside the upper edge of the frame.

At frame 40, drag the text until it almost touches the edge of the safe area at the bottom of the screen.

Expand the Animation Menu and swipe the side edge of the screen to display the large animation channels editor.

In the Cannels “Tree” View, expand paragraph1/ 001_<A>/transformations/translation to see the animation channel for the letter A. Select Translation and press Frame Channel.

With the channel displayed, experiment with the different interpolation settings (Hermite, Linear, Constant, etc). Replay the different results – you will see the letter A react differently from the other letters. Make sure all the letters are set to Linear interpolation.

Switch to Tracks and Frame all channels Move the each letter’s track so they form a “V” pattern. The outside letters will appear to be falling first.

Experiment with different track positions and scaling.

Notes: Paint Brushes About working with the Paint Module in Flame or Smoke.

Use Desktop Paint to : • • • •

remove film scratches, retouch an image, rotoscope mattes, create special effects.

Customize Your Brushes

To access the Paint menu, click Paint in the Effects menu on the EditDesk and select the clips that you want to use.

You can enter paint with the “none” option. This gives you a default black frame at any resolution you select before clicking the destination.

• • • • •

Click Paint in the Effects menu.

Choose the None option.

Enable Brush 4.

Click Edit.

Select the first brush in the set.

•

Tip: You need to scroll the set.

Set the following brush parameters.

• •

Attribute: Value: Mapping: Size 30 Constant Rate 100 Constant Pressure 100 Pressure Jitter 100 Off Direction 100 Off Roll 100 Off Click Save.

Select Brush in the Save Options box.

• • •

Name and save the brush.

Enable Brush 5 and click Edit.

Select the star brush.

•

Tip: Scroll the brush strip.

Set the following brush parameters:

Useful Hotkeys Hotkey: Spacebar Q drag in image window S +drag in image window

Does: Pan Smoke -Resize brush Flame - Resize brush

Brush Attributes You can set various brush attributes and attribute modes that determine how paint is applied to the image. You use the Preference menu to affect the way paint is applied to the image.

Use the Custom Brush menu to create your own brush.

Attribute: Size Rate Pressure Jitter Direction Roll

To display the Custom Brush menu, double-click one of the brush icons in the Brushes window. An enlarged view of the selected brush appears in the editing panel.

• • •

Value: 70 100 100 40 100 100

Mapping: Constant Constant Pressure Constant Direction Off

Click Save.

Select BrushSet in the Save Options box and name and save the brush set.

Paint: Creating a Matte Setting Brush Size Viewing Mattes Picking Colors

Desktop Paint Working with Mattes

▼ WB_Graphics ▼ Paint > make_matte > matte_canvas

This exercise shows how to draw a matte on an image and use this matte for painting or compositing.

Create a Matte To create a paint matte in the desktop Paint Module you must enter the module with a clip and a black canvas for the matte output.

• Select the option front/matte and enter paint with the proper clip.

• • •

Enable “Matte” to draw a matte instead of ordinary brush strokes.

To set the brush size, hold the “Q” (Smoke) or “S” (Flame) and drag on the screen to set the right brush size in context.

Draw a circle on the eye itself. By default the matte is showing at 50% opacity, you can adjust this percentage with the show option.

Tip: To erase a bad paint stroke on the matte, invert the matte, paint the opposite way and invert the matte again. When using the mouse, as opposed to a tablet, click on “ALT+S” or the right button to draw with a full sized brush.

To start a matte over, use “Wipe” and invert the result.

Paint with a matte • • •

Once the matte is complete you can exit Paint and find the matte on the source area. You can use the matte for color correction or other composites.

To use this matte as a stencil directly in paint, do not exit the module. Click on the invert button and enable “Use”.

Select a green color from the “Pot” selection and set the opacity to 25%.

When you draw on to image, the brush strokes will be limited to the matte area. When you exit the module you get both the painted clip and a matte of the painted area.

Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Color Correction Primary / Secondary ColourCorrect Module CC: Color Balance CC: Color Match

44 45

Colour Warper Colour Warper: Color Balance Colour Warper – Manual Match Colour Warper – Color Match

46 47 48

Secondary Color Correction Colour Warper – Selectives

49

Page | 43

CC: Color Balance Color Correct Module Overall Color Balance

Color Sampling Color Wheel Curve Editor

▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Balance > Lobby (Hall)

This exercise illustrates how to color balance a shot using the Colour Correct Module.

To correct the blue tint on this image, load the “hall” clip into the Color Corrector module with Front only and “Reset All” to clear any previous setup.

With “Master” selected, we will balance the overall blue tint of this shot.

• First sample a section of the blue concrete floor in the lower part of the image. Click in the Front RGB color box and hold “CTRL” to sample an average color of the floor.

A dot will appear in the color wheel, expressing the hue and the strength of the blue tint we want to remove.

•

To cancel out the blue color cast, click inside the color wheel and move slowly towards the opposite color (yellow). Target a value of approximately 37, both for Hue and Gain. You can modify the exact tint with the Balance values afterwards.

•

Once the blue cast has been removed, add about 30% of RGB Gain, 5% of contrast overall.

Finish the shot by using the gamma curves. Select the Add Key mode (space+A) and click on the RGB curve to add points to fine tune the gamma curves as you like.

•

Page | 44

CC: Color Match ▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Match > eye_1 > lollipop_girl

Color matching Curves Crop Box and Reference Bar

This exercise shows how to match a shot using a front and back source in the color corrector. This procedure allows you to match an average color selection on the front image to the color tone sampled on the background image..

This exercise can be accomplished in the ColourCorrectModule(CC) Module on the desktop, with a CC node in Batch or by using the CC in the Action media menu.

Note: that there are slight differences when performing a match via a soft effect in the Timeline • Access the Colour Correct module or node with “Front Back”. Load the” eye “as the front and the “girl” as the back reference. Reset all (bottom right).

• Enable the Splitbar in the View menu or use Ctrl + B. Set the reference to R:Back.

• To sample the front,click in the front sample box to select an average sample of the skin tone.

CTRL+drag a box over the skin.

Note that if you click in the sample box the cursor becomes a picker. If the cursor is in default mode ctrl drag will createa crop box.

• Sample the back (i.e. the image to match to): You can zoom in the player to get a more accurate selection of the girl’s skin tone. Click the back sample box to pick and CTRL+Drag, to pick a sample below the girl’s eye with.

• The girl’s skin tone is slightly browner than the eye. To match these images open the Curves Tab. Click on the Match button to match the front color selection to the back, the RGB curves will be adjusted accordingly.

Although you could match multiple times (for example the shadows, highlights and gamma) it is often best to match the Mid tones once or match whites and blacks and then use the other settings to finish the color correction.

Tips: To view how much the color change has affected the image you can toggle before and after correction using F1 (front) and F4 (result) or use the split bar to wipe between front and result • You may finish this color match using the highlight settings to lower the saturation to 70% and the gain to 90.

Hotkeys for using the reference buffer: reference bar ON/OFF Hide line Reset the result view

CTRL+B

grab

CTRL+G

CTRL click on bar CTRL Click the pvot point

grab next see preview ref

CTRL+SHIFT+G CTRL+SHIFT+PAD4,

see next ref

CTRL+SHIFT+PAD6

Page | 45

Colour Warper: Color Balance ▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Balance > eye_2

Colour Balance Colour Sampling Vectorscope and Histogram

This exercise illustrates how to color balance a shot using the Colour Warper.

Correcting Color Balance In this exercise use the Colour Warper to improve color balance in an image. The reference source and split bar let you view the original clip and the result of your color corrections in the image window at the same time.

• Access the Colour Warper – note that in the desktop module and the Timeline softFX you have to toggle the CC button to CW • Use the Split bar to view the original Front as a reference.

Remove the Color Cast In this image, the yellows are too strong. Using the position of the color in the 2D vectorscope as a reference, you can use the trackballs to apply color correction and eliminate the color cast. By moving the sampled color towards the centre of the scope, the colors in the image are automatically balanced.

• Click Plot and CTRL drag a sample box over the lightest area in the image which should be a neutral highlight. Tip: Try the eyeball. A red dotted circle appears in the vectorscope, showing the position of the average color.

Tip: Disable Src and Dst in the Histogram panel to see only the selected colour.

• Position the cursor at the centre of the Highlights trackball and drag away from the yellows. This moves the plotted color towards the centre of the 2D vectorscope.

• Click Plot and sample the darkest area in the image. Tip: The center of the iris is a good spot.

• Drag the Shadows trackball until the red dotted circle is positioned in the •

middle of the 2D vectorscope Use the split bar to compare the result to the original. If you are unhappy with the result, you can drag a trackball back to apply a counter-correction, or click C to clear the changes.

Adjust the Black and White Level: To improve the contrast in the image, plot the current black and white levels and use the histogram to make adjustments.

• From use the plot tool to sample an average of white pixels (eye highlight).

• A red line shows the location of the plotted value in the histogram, indicating the position of the color in relation to pure white (the right edge of the histogram).

• Drag the White level field to the right to move the red line towards the right edge of the histogram.

• Monitor the image as you make the adjustment: brighten the image without losing too much detail in the highlights.

• Click a dark area in the image to determine the current lowest value for the blacks (middle of the iris).

• Drag the Black level field to the left to move the red line towards the left edge of the histogram while monitoring the result to make sure you do not lose detail in the shadowy areas.

Page | 46

Colour Warper: Manual Match Colour Warper Colour matching - Manual Split Bar Reference

▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Match > CW_Clock >City_4

This exercise shows how to match a shot using a front and back source in the ColourWarper. This match sets an average color selection on the front image to match the color tone sampled on the background image If you want more control when matching colors, you can manually match plotted and reference colors by using the trackballs and aligning the colors in the histogram. Using the trackballs modifies the chroma values of the image, while using White and Black level controls affect only the luma. You need to adjust both chroma and luma values to match the colors between two clips.

• Set the reference view to Back to see the back clip CW_Clock Use the split bar to view the clips to match at the same time.

Match the values in the image's highlights: • • •

You can use the Ref representation as a target and the Plot as the moving representation.

Move the Plot representation closer to the Ref representation in the vectorscope and 2D luma histogram. In the vectorscope.

Plot is represented by a red circle around the plotted color and Ref is represented by a yellow circle around the reference color. Plot is represented by a red bar and Ref is represented by a yellow bar in the 2D luma histogram.

• Click Plot, press CTRL and drag a selection box over the lightest area in the CW_Roof clip. A red dotted circle appears in the 2D vectorscope, showing the position of the average color. Try the pale wall on the last building.

• Click Ref, press CTRL and drag a selection box over the lightest area in the reference image CW_Clock. A yellow dotted circle appears in the 2D Vectorscope, showing the position of the average color. Try one of the light triangle shapes in the clock.

• Position the cursor at the centre of the Highlights trackball and while monitoring the 2D Vectorscope at the same time, drag the red circle on top of the yellow circle.

Adjust White Level •

•

In the previous step you sampled a highlight - Look at the Histogram; the red line shows the location of the plotted Luma value, while the yellow line represents the reference value.

Drag the WhiteLv field to the right to move the red line near the yellow line position to match the luma values in the image's highlights.

Match the shadows Repeat previous steps to adjust the Shadows and the Black Level. Sample a dark area in the image CW_Roof. The center of one of the window works well. Then sample the reference image CW_Clock. Tip: Try the dark edge of the clock.

•

In the 2D vector scope, line up the red circle over the yellow circle with the Shadows trackball.

Adjust the Black Level value • • •

Look at the 2D Luma Histogram, and drag the BlackLv field to the left to move the red line close to the yellow line position to match the luma values in the image's shadows.

Move the split bar to compare the result to the original.

If you are unhappy with the result, you can repeat the previous steps again until you are satisfied, or click C to clear the changes. You can also use the Undo history to go back to a specific step.

Page | 47

Colour Warper: Color Match ▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Match

Colour Warper Color matching Split Bar Reference

> eye_1 > lollipop_girl

This exercise shows how to match a shot using a front and back source in the ColourWarper. This match sets an average color selection on the front image to match the color tone sampled on the background image .

• Access the Colour Warper with ‘Front Back’. Load the ‘eye_1’ as the Front and the ‘lollipop_girl’ as the Back (i.e. the reference clip).

•

Note: If you are using the desktop module, press CC (Colour Correct’) to toggle to CW (ColourWarper).

• Set the Reference to R: Back.

Press CRTL+B to enable the Split Bar and set it to split the viewer between the Front (the image to match) and the Back (the image to match to).

• •

Press Select (Match), you are prompted to sample an area of the Front.

Click+Drag a box to sample an average of the skin tone on the eye_1 image

•

A cyan highlight box appears on the Select button confirming your input.

•

Press the Select button again to sample the Back (the image to match to): you can zoom in the player to get a more accurate selection of the girl’s skin tone.

Sample below the girl’s eye with Click+Drag. The match is performed.

The girl’s skin tone is slightly browner than that of the eye clip. The match has had little effect on the white of the eye. To make an isolated correction to the eye color, use a selective.

•

Page | 48

Colour Warper: Selectives ▼ WB_ColorCorrection ▼ Color_Match

Colour Warper Selectives Diamond Keyer

> eye_1

This exercise shows how t0 restrict color correction to changing only a specific color.

Create the Matte • Under the Work On heading choose Sel 1 from the pop-up menu. Select Pick Custom to sample the color of the eye (this enables Selective 1). Use small samples to pick the tolerance and take care to avoid the deep blacks and the bright reflection of the light source.

• Switch the Selective View to Matte and continue to add to the key values.

• If you sample too much you can modify the tolerance region (grey trapezoid) in the diamond of the keying cube display. Switch from Move to Zoom and scale the display for •

greater accuracy.

Set the X and Y blur values and turn on G for Gaussian which blurs the matte like this:

Change the Selected Color • •

•

•

Once you are satisfied with the key, select Warp from the pop-up menu to modify the color.

Press the Src (=source) color pot in order to sample the iris area of the picture to define the source color to be modified. Press the Src pot again to set the color.

Drag on the Warp Trackball and make use of the pressure sensitivity as you drive the ball toward the desired color vector. You can make additional adjustments in any direction.

Select Gamma and brighten the mid-range luminance by dragging the mid point control on the curve toward the upper right

Page | 49

Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Keying Luminance Key Master Keyer Channel Keyer YUV Keyer

52 53 55 56

Page | 51

Luminance Key ▼ WB_Keying ▼Luminance_Key > Tex_Water > Flame Icon

Luminance Key Text module Action or Timeline

This exercise shows how the Luminance Key can be used to quickly composite semi transparent textures likeclouds, water or glass reflections over in to a scene.

Our goal is make a graphic element appear as if surrounded by water like in the picture to the right. You can use any graphic element like the Flame Icon or you can create a text element. The composite may be done in Action or in the Timeline.

Set up the Composite in the Timeline •

•

L1: water – this serves as the background L2: the fill for the graphic or text element here we are using white. Use a matte container to load the matte (this provides an automatic luma key).

L3: water – to key over the graphic in a moving water pattern Add an Axis SoftFx to the Water element and access the Keyer via the axis editor

Set up the Composite in Action •

•

Load the source clips into Action: Back: Water; Media L1: the graphic or text fill with its matte. This will automatically be a luminance key; Media L2: water as F+M –Add both media to the Scene either as DVE or image objects; make sure that the priority of the Water layer is above the graphic element In the media list, double click the ‘K’ column of layer 2 to access the Keyer for the media of the water layer.

Set up the Luminance Key • • •

Click Luminance in ‘Keyer’ menu to apply a Luminance key for this layer.

Adjust ‘Tolerance’ and ‘Softness’. Use the Matte View (F3) to see what happens to the matte and ‘context’ view to see the action result.

Set the Tolerance to [ 4 ] and Softness to [ 23 ]. Click ‘Return’ to go back the Axis Editor or Action.

The result seems to be ok, but if you view or process the clip, you will find the water of the top layer looks a bit strange. Because we are using a luminance key on the top water layer we are keeping the highlight area of the water- but in the real world, the highlight area should be transparent, so you can see the object in the water. Let’s fix this.

• Re-enter the Keyer, enable the ’Invert’ option in the ‘Matte’ tools (in the right portion of the screen). Also adjust tolerance to 10 and softness to 32. You will see how the image changes.

And enable Blur with a value of about 10 on the X and Y. This evens out the effect of the grain on and some artifacts in the black areas.

• Return to Axis/Action, process clip. It looks more realistic.

Note: if you are using pre-multiplied graphics with soft edges, enable the Divide option in the Action media list to avoid black edges Note: If your project is PAL and you use NTSC sources, adjust the axis scale to 119%.

Page | 52

Master Keyer Master Keyer Patches Color-Correct Front Tool

▼ WB_Keying ▼ Chroma_ Key > Entrance_Front > Entrance_Backplate RSZ

This exercise shows how to key out a greenscreen element with the Master Keyer andhow to colorcorrect the front to match the background.

Load the clips This exercise can be accomplished in the Keyer module, on the desktop, in the Timeline using the Axis effect or in Action • Enter the Keyer with the Entrance_Front as the Front., the Entrance_Backplate RSZ as the Back and Entrance_Front as the Keyin to create the matte.

The image has a few problems: the green screen is unevenly lit, it is rather dark and there is little separation between the green and the object.

Each keyer will react a little differently to the sampled key color and will require different matte adjustment methods Let’s start with the Master Keyer

Create the Matte • •

•

Choose “Master Keyer”.

Click on one of the grey color swatches next to the Mix value and drag across the green screen area to sample from a dark shade of green to a very lighter shade of green.

Alternately, you can sample two specific color values by click in the left and right colorpot separately.

This automatically generates a key.

From the view menu, choose Matte (F3) to fine-tune the key in matte view.

In a perfect key would be completely black in the transparent areas and completely white in the opaque areas. The edges in-between would have subtle grey values and show very little aliasing. We can see that this matte is not optimal yet.

Adjust the Matte •

Drag the Mix slider left and right to find a setting for the best initial key.

To further adjust the luminance of the matte, we will use the onscreen matte sliders: • With Matte select din the sampling menu, hold ALT while moving across the image until you find a combination with multiple variables.

• Make adjustments to the different sliders – TIP: you can toggle between matte and result view with F3 anDF4

Set-up Patches Next we can patch unwanted grey values – the plotted color values are replaced by white or black • From the Sampling menu choose Patch 1. Ctrl+Drag little patches of light grey that you want to force to pure white.

• Set the sampling to Patch 2. Ctrl+Click the dark grey areas in the image to force them to black.

• Switch back to Result view to preview the key.

You can see that this is much better than what we had before, except that there’s some grey fringing around the gladiator and the walls. Note that AutoCC was enable automatically to suppress the green spill.

Page | 53

Master Keyer

•

Enable the Shrink tool in the Matte Tools. Increase the Width value to expand the transparent areas into the opaque areas. Be careful not to lose any of the fine detail, such as the chains on the side.

Color-Correct the Foreground There’s still an issue with the color of the walls in the foreground; they do not match the color of the background. To tweak the foreground’s colour, you can use the Colour Warper available in the Keyer.

• Click the CCF button to “Colour Correct the Front”. Switch to the Colour Warper.

• Go to the last frame, because this is the frame at which the gladiator is actually walking into the light. Click the Plot button to define a sample colour from the source. Ctrl+drag an area of bluishgrey walls in the foreground. A red circle appears in the vectorscope.

• Switch to view the Back, click the Ref button to define a destination colour. Ctrl+drag a lightcoloured brick area in the background. A yellow circle appears in the vectorscope.

• •

•

•

You can disable the Source and Destination buttons to unclutter the vectorscope.

Drag the mid-tones trackball towards orange. You can see that the plotted circle in the vectorscope moves accordingly. Aim to line up the plot and ref circles in the vectorscope. Depending on your samples, you may find that the result is somewhere between the two circles.

To increase the color separation, boost the Saturation somewhat. Add a bit of contrast by lowering the Black Point slightly.

This is a manual match of the hue and does not affect the luminance. You can see that the foreground and the background are matching much better, both in terms of contrast and color.

Return back to the keyer and process.

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Channel Keyer Channel Keyer Matte Histogram Colour Curves

▼WB_Keying ▼ Chroma_ Keys > Entrance_Front > Entrance_Backplate RSZ

This exercise shows how to key out a greenscreen element with the Channel Keyer and adjust color spill with the color curves.

•

Select “Channel” and “Green” for the key color. View the matte (F3).

The elements are clearly outlined but it is far from a high contrast matte because the channel key provides a high degree of initial softness

Adjust the matte • • •

•

Select the histogram tab and move the left input slider to the right past the medium grey values – this defines these grey values as black Adjust the whites by moving the right input slider towards the left past the light grey values.

View the result (F4) and zoom in to check the edge (CTRL+SPACE and drag), it is still smooth but there is some green spill on the edge You can adjust the size of the green line by adjusting the blacks a little more.

Check the matte over the duration of the shot, you will find that everything is well until the end when the gladiator steps into the light. There are unwanted light grey areas on the edge of his left arm. You can animate the histogram adjustments.

• Set a keyframe at the last good frame of the Matte - K +click in the white input value field.

• Go to the last frame and make small adjustments to the white input slider to introduce more black to the area on the arm.

• If you had Autokey enabled, you already set a keyframe, otherwise K +click in the input value field.

Correct color spill • • •

•

•

There are several ways to correct color spill. In this example we will use the Colour Curves.

Select “Colour”, enable “Curves” and click the “Supp” (Suppression) button -it is normally enabled by default.

Zoom in a bit and click Plot and sample the green color on the edge-or hold the lower pen button to start plotting. The resulting red line in the curves menu represents the sampled spill color.

Grab the nearest point and drag the suppression curve downward to about 25%. The spill color in the image turns grey but is s a little too light to blend well with the background.

Enable “Luminance” and lower the luminance in the same green area to make the fringe darker.

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YUV Keyer ▼WB_Keying ▼ Chroma_ Keys > Entrance_Front > Entrance_Backplate RSZ

YUV Keyer AutoCC Blend tool

In this exercise we key out a greenscreen element with the YUV Keyer and adjust spill with auto suppression and blending.

Create the Matte •

Select YUV. Click the grey color pot and sample the green key color.

This selects one pixel of green, represented by the white lines, and some softness, represented by the yellow lines. Since the green screen is not very even, we need to increase the tolerance.

• Switch to Matte view (F3). Click the “+” button next to the Tolerance (“Tol”) Button and drag the pen over the remaining green area ( can draw a line around the gladiator) Now we have a pretty good key but there are still some unwanted grey areas in the black and white of the matte.

Adjust the Matte • Sample some more tolerance by holding CTRL and draw small squares over the grays in the black part of the matte • To address the grey on the wall, click “Plot” and CTRL sample the grey. Red lines in the YUV ranges show the sample value.

• Lower the R-Y softness value in the right side control by ALTSPACE dragging the value until outside the yellow line meets the red sample line.

• Repeat for B-Y until the wall is solid white.

Adjust the Spill • • •

Enable Auto CC. Lower the Blend Luma value until the grey edge appears darker and blends better with the background.

Enable Erode to soften the edge a bit.

You can also use the color curves as described in the Channel Key exercise

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Smoke/ Flame 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Stabilizing and Tracking 1 1-Point Stabilizing in the Stabilizer Module 1-Point Stabilizing in the Smoke or Batch Timeline 1-Point Tracking in the Smoke or Batch Timeline 2-Point Tracking in Action Color Correction and Gmask Tracking Four Point Tracking

58 59 60 61 62 64

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1-Point Stabilizing in the Stabilizer Module Stabilize Module 1-Point Stabilizing

Fixed Reference Off Cropping Methods

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼ Stabilize > Texas_Tower

This exercise shows how to stabilize and reposition an unsteady shot using one reference tracker.

Use one-point tracking when the framing of the shot doesn’t significantly change and there is no camera rotation.

• •

• Load the Texas_tower clip to the EditDesk/Desktop. Enter the Stabilizer module with the Texas_tower clip.

Play the clip or scrub the timebar to find a distinctive reference pattern, one that does not change over time and does not get obstructed.

Hold CTRL and slide the Tracker to the middle of the antenna on the left.

It is a good idea to analyze your clip from the first frame forward or from the last backward. If you forget, it may be easier to reset the tracker and start over.

When tracking, a reference is set for the entire shot. In this shot, the sky changes and becomes darker.

• Disable Fixed Reference. The system will then analyze the current frame with a reference pattern from the previous frame instead of the first frame of the shot.

• Once the tracking is complete, click Result to view the stabilization.

• Note: A black edge creeps into the frame. To remedy this, we can use one of the pre-defined cropping methods.

• In this case, the cropping method can be switched from Shift to Crop Edges. This automatically repositions and scales the shot.

• Save the stabilizer setup, return to the beginning of the clip and press Process. EXIT to the Desktop.

The rendered clip assumes the setup name.

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1-Point Stabilizing in the Timeline Axis Soft effect 1-Point Stabilizing

Fixed Reference Off Reposition with Offset Axis

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼ Stabilize > Texas_Tower

This exercise shows the workflow for stabilizing and repositioning a shot with camera movement using one reference tracker.

Use one-point tracking when the framing of the shot doesn’t significantly change and there is no rotation of the camera

• Drag down the Texas_tower clip on the record area, and open the Timeline (F5).

• Click on the Texas_tower clip to highlight it in the Timeline and add a soft Axis to the segment. Enter the editor (E).

• Set the Stabilizer options to 1-point tracking by changing “Track” to “Stabilize”. Keep Rotation and Scale off, as these options are used for 2 point tracking. Enter the Stabilizer.

• Play the clip to find a distinctive reference pattern, one that does not change over time and that does not get obstructed.

• Hold CTRL and slide the tracker to the middle of the antenna on the left.

Always analyze your clip from the first frame forward (or-backward from the last frame). If you forget, it is often easier to reset the tracker and start over.

When tracking, a reference is set for the entire shot, but the sky changes and becomes darker toward the end of the shot, and the reference from the first frame may not find a match.

•

Set the “Fixed” reference to off. The system will then analyze the current frame with a reference pattern from the previous frame instead of the first frame of the shot.

• Once the tracking is complete, click ‘result’ to view the stabilization before returning to the Axis.

• After the stabilization, the shot needs to be scaled to about 120% to fill the screen. To do this go to the last frame of the clip, select the offset Axis and set the scale proportionally to 120%.

•

Exit to the Timeline, select the progressive mode from the quick menu and process the shot.

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1-Point Tracking in the Timeline Timeline 1 point Axis Tracking Tracking Video Footage Change the Tracker Reference

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼Track > Smoke_sign > Smoke_sign matte > gorilla_1

This exercise shows how to track a layer onto a background that has a tracking reference that is not the same from beginning to end. Use one point tracking when there is no zoom or tilt of the camera

• •

Drag the gorilla shot to the record area and open the Timeline view F5. Place the positioner at the beginning of both shots (A) and make sure “snap to positioner” is activated.

Insert a new layer (L2) by pushing L+. Drag down and release the sign clip to the right of the focus point.

• Select the sign clip and add a soft Axis to the segment. In the quick menu, click matte and select the matte clip – This will create a Matte Container. Enter the Axis editor • For one-point tracking, set the stabilizer menu to : Track / Rotation off /Scale off.

Enter the Stabilizer • When tracking video footage, make sure to set the tracking to Interlace.

• Before you position the tracker, turn on Add mode. Because the shot evolves over time, you will have to set a new reference once the first reference exits the frame.

• While on the first frame, hold the CTRL key down and slide the first

• • • •

tracking reference onto the tree. Do not analyze the shot yet, position the shot to the frame at which the tree is about to exit and move the tracker box to the leaves above the gorilla.

Go back to frame one and analyze the shot.

If the tracker does not create a nice continuous path, try again by repositioning the tracker slightly.

Exit back to the Axis when done.

Once the track is completed, return to the Axis editor and position the clip at middle of the shot. Use the offset Axis to reposition the sign in context. The layer contains the tracking data so you must use the Offset Axis in order to resize the smoke sign in context. Avoid inserting more than one keyframe on the offset Axis as the animation would affect the tracking.

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2-Point Tracking in Action Two-Point Tracking Fixed Reference Off Offset Axis

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼Track > guitar > guitar_matte > ship

This exercise explains how to contextually track a layer onto a background that has rotation and scale.

• • •

Access Action with front (‘guitar’)/back(‘ship’)/matte (‘guitar_matte’).

Add an image object for the media and select axis1 in the schematic view rename it “Track_Axis”.

Hold Shift and drag a new axis from the object bin and insert it between the image and the track axis, Name this new axis “offset_Axis”

The track_axis node will be used for the tracking and the offset_ axis will be used for repositioning the media in context.

• Select the Track_Axis and in the object menu set rotation and scale parameters to ‘On’ to enable the calculation of rotation and scaling from the second tracker point.

Collect the Tracker Data The first tracker will set the X and Y positions and the second tracker will set rotation and scale.

• Enter the Stabilizer in ‘Track’ mode • Scrub the clip back and forth to find a good position for the trackers For better tracking accuracy, try and set the trackers as far as possible from each trackers are too close, possible tracking errors may be amplified in the result.

• Go to the first frame, Hold CTRL and move the first tracker to the back of the boat near the inside edge.

• Click on “Tracker 2” to select and activate it (the second tracker is not enabled by default). Hold CTRL and move Tracker 2 on a detail on the front of the boat. Analyze from the first frame and return to Action.

other. If the

The Guitar is positioned in the initial tracker 1 position and needs to be repositioned and resized. However, the Track_axis contains the tracking information (which is positioning, z rotation and scaling), and you would affect the tracking data if you were to use this Axis for repositioning. Instead we will use the offset axis: • Select the offset_axis • Move the time bar to the end of the clip (CTRL+S) to reposition the guitar on the water set the offset_L1 axis X and Y values around -330.00. You may also add a Z Axis rotation of 20 degrees and a 20% transparency to get a better effect. Process the clip and play.

Optional: Do the same exercise in the Timeline Axis soft effect –the Ship (background to track to) on layer 1, the logo in a matte container on layer 2.

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Color Correction and Gmask Tracking Timeline Creating Shapes in the GMask Advanced Gradient Shapes

2-Point Tracking Creating Containers

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼Gmask_Track >Xball_to_editTL_V4 >Gladiator_for_CC

This lesson demonstrates the steps needed to do a shape-based color correction..

The Gladiator_for_CC shot lacks a bit of contrast, and the talent’s face could use be a little lighter to stand out a bit more. We will to isolate the talent’s face and color correct only the masked area

Isolate the Face •

•

Select the Gladiator_for_CC shot and duplicate the shot on top of itself- The duplicate layer will be used: Add another layer by clicking L+ and F-drag the shot directly up.

Select the topmost level clip and make sure the focus point is also at this level.

• Enable the Wipe Soft Effect. Click the Editor Button.

A wipe soft effect is the easiest way to create a mask as a soft effect. The default behaviour for the wipe effect is a basic leftto-right wipe but we need a custom shape.

• Choose Selected from the selection box and click

• •

Delete and Confirm.

Add a new shape by clicking Add (next to Geometry). Make sure you’re at the first frame. Draw a shape by clicking main shape points around the gladiator’s face.

Fine-tune the shape; use the Move point (Spacebar+M), Delete point (Spacebar+D) and Add point (Spacebar+A) tools to modify the existing shape.

If you’re getting a black shape, this is probably the preview mode is set to No Preview (which will not show the result of the current effect by default. If this is the case, switch the preview mode to Preview FX.

Soften the Shape Check the matte you created - it is a very hard edged matte and would probably make the borders of the color correction very visible.The next step is to soften the matte.

• From the View menu, choose Matte (F 3). Drag the Offset value to the right.

Offset applies a uniform amount of softness, either inside or outside of the shape. To customize areas of softness we will use “Advanced Gradient” instead.

• Undo the offset (backspace). Display the Result View (F4) • Switch from Softness to Advanced Gradient. This enables you to make some areas of the falloff wider and some areas narrower.

• Choose the Scale tool. Ctrl-drag a box to select the topmost points.

• Drag the outer row to the right to offset the points closer to the center. Then drag the inner row closer to the center. You can see that you get a more defined edge along the helmet.

• Toggle the Matte (F3) and Result (F5) views to preview the matte.

• Ctrl-drag a box around the bottom points (along his chin). Make the falloff wider so that we don’t see a hard edge on the neck.

• If necessary, select the Move mode again (Spacebar+M) and fine-tune the shape.

• Toggle the Matte (F3) and Result (F5) views; we can see that we’ve got a wide gradient at the bottom and a harder edge at the top.

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Color Correction and Gmask Tracking

Track the Shape The shape does not follow the motion of the gladiator. We will use the Stabilizer in Track mode to animate this shape.

•

Set the Rotation and Scaling parameters of the Axis Stabilizer to On. Enter the Stabilizer module.

By enabling these options we enable Two Point Tracking. Since the talent moves his head and rotates it, these options will make sure that we have the most accurate tracking possible.

• •

• •

On frame 1 Tracker 1 is selected. Reposition it (by Ctrl-dragging next to it) and drag it on the edge of his eye (A magnifying glass effect helps you in properly positioning the tracker).

Select Tracker 2 and Ctrl-drag it to the edge of the other eye.

• Select Gang to make sure both trackers share the same parameters.

• Increase the Track parameter’s width and height.

• Disable Fixed, which means that the trackers will update their targets at every frame.

• Click Analyze. The trackers step through every frame and create two tracking paths.

Return to the Wipe effect and scrub the shot. We can see that our shape precisely follows the talent’s face.

Exit the Wipe effect and display the Player.

Color Correct the Talent’s Face •

• • • • •

With the clip selected, enable Colour Correction by clicking the CC soft effect and enter the editor. Switch to the Colour Warper.

Adjust the contrast of the talent’s face: Lower the Black point, and raise the White point.

Drag the Midtones trackball about ten units towards Magenta. This removes some of the green tint stemming from the original green screen shot.

Raise the Saturation to strengthen the skin tone.

Press Exit. The face now shows much better.

In the Timeline, move the positioner’s focus point up and down (up and down arrow); this toggles the Colour Warper’s result on and off.

Feel free to color correct the background layer.

Create a Container and Process the Shot (Timeline only) It would be nice is if we could collapse both of these layers into one, in order to simplify our Timeline.

• Make sure that the focus point is on the topmost layer.

• Ctrl-click both clips and click on Container. This will place both selected clips into a virtual container and collapse them into one clip.

• Select the clip and click Process.

• Press T to replay the shot.

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Four Point Tracking Action Bilinear Surfaces

Corner Pinning Offset Corners

▼WB_Stabilize_Track ▼Track > big boy > stuff > white

This exercise demonstrates how to replace a label using a bilinear shape and 4-pointtracking.

Unlike 1 and 2 point tracking which rely on an axis, 4 point tracking uses a bilinear shape.

This exercise may be completed in the Action module from the desktop or batch or in an Axis soft effect in the Timeline.

To perform a 4-corner pin enter Action with the front, back and matte.

•

To perform a 4-corner track, change the surface of the image from flat to a bilinear shape or delete the Object from the schematic and replace it with a bilinear image node instead.

When a bilinear shape is selected, the stabilizer menu can be selected from the Param2 menu. As you enter the stabilizer, the 4 trackers will be automatically assigned onto the corresponding corner.

• Enter the stabilizer with “track” selected.

• Make sure the positioner is on the first frame, Hold CTRL and slide the first tracker (red) to the top left extremity of the logo to replace.

• •

• •

To help you remember the order in which to work, think of the “Z” in Zorro: 1- Top left, 2- top right, 3- bottom left, 4- bottom right.

The second tracker needs to be placed at the top right position. This is important as each tracker works on a preassigned corner of the image. Select Tracker 2 (green), hold CTRL and position Tracker 2. Position Tracker 3 (blue) and 4 (cyan) the same way.

To track, click “analyze” but before you do this, make sure that the module source mode is set to progressive to match the background attributes.

Return to Action.. Each corner of the replacement logo has been repositioned on the tracker. Go to frame one and process

Note: You can use the offsets channel to reposition the corners independently, or use the link option to offset them proportionally.

• To link the channels together, select and open the image_L1 offsets animation channel. Select the offsets upper left x field and click on the copy button, hold CTRL, select the upper left y field, the upper right, lower right and left field in the animation channel and click on the link button. Use the Up Left x field to offset the corners proportionally Note: you can also do this exercise in the axis soft effect in the Timeline

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Compositing: Action Introduction Notes: Action Media Workflow Overview Notes: Action Media List Notes: Action Media List Effects Notes: Action DVE Object Notes: Action Schematic Action Compositing: Bird Cage Action Animation: Fish Bowl Action Animation: Butterfly Action Compositing: Bullet Time

66 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 76

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Notes: Action Media Workflow Overview These notes provide an introduction to the concepts of Action.

Media Menu When footage is loaded into action, it is first loaded into the media menu as ‘media’. The material is considered to be in a “bin” or “loading area” and this means that the images/media are ready to be used in the 3D compositor. This could be in various forms such as a surface texture, 3d object texture or a displacement map. Media has to be loaded in the media menu in order to be available in the composite

Media Manipulation In the media menu, the images can also be keyed, colorcorrected, blurred, slipped and cropped before they are added to the Action Scene

Action - 3D Compositor Once the media has been loaded in the media menu, the media can be applied to various surfaces or objects in the 3D compositor.

Priority Editor The Priority Editor menu controls the order in which the surfaces/objects are drawn in 3D space within the 3D compositor.

(Swipe down from the media Menu to see the Priority Editor)

Starting Action Enter Action

With front/back/matte

Load several layers at once

Hold CTRL as you select the fronts and mattes. Release CTRL as you select the background

Load media but clear setups

Press the ALT key as you click on the white cursor destination

Clear media and setups

Holding ALT as you select the Action module

Return to the same setup

Select the “S” (same) option or Ctrl click action twice before selecting the destination reel.

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Notes: Action Media List Tips on managing media in Action

Media List Overview The clips loaded into Action are listed into a media list as a duo of front and matte that can be used to create a “Scene” and applied to different types of surfaces. The same source can be used by other objects in the scene.

Media is loaded as front and matte combinations. Front and matte must have the same resolution for each set of source media created, but each media item in Action can be of different resolutions.

Loading and replacing media Double click on the new media button to add media into Action.

Double click on the media to replace the media.

To replace several media hold CTRL to select a selection of fronts or mattes to be replaced, and then still holding CTRL; double click on the last media to be replaced.. The media clips are selected from the desktop in their order of appearance Hotkey Tip

Press F1 F2 F3

ESC

to view the front back matte schematic view

Viewing and selecting the media

Click on the front to select only the front of the media Click on the layer box to select both front and matte Click on the matte to select only the matte

Managing the Media List When managing a lot of media, you can hide the matte from the media list with the f key (like:“front“).You can also set this behavior initially with the Action setup menu ‘Front Only’ option.

Deleting Media You can delete multiple media clips from the list by selecting them with a CTRL Click and by pressing the delete button. Media with deleted front or matte is replaced with a white frame.

If the media is assigned to a DVE object, you must delete the DVE object from the schematic view before deleting the media.

Other Options in the Media List •

Turn Front, Matte or Back off to disable media.

When the Back or Front is turned off, Action will treat them as black. When a matte is turned off, Action will generate an internal white matte making the front layer opaque.

• Select how the media is processed with the “as Input”, “Progressive” or “Field”

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Notes: Action Media List Effects Tips on working with Media Effects to prepare media before you add it to the scene.

The Media List allows you to easily add and edit effects to your clips, such as Color correction, Keyer and Cropping. These effects are applied to the media before it is added to the scene which means that all instances of this media source in the scene is affected.

ALT drag CTRL click CTRL+ALT click

Proportional X and Y blur Slip both front and matte Proportional crop value on all sides Mute/ unmute Return to default values

Copy Media Attributes With the copy button you can copy your current media settings to any other media. When copying, all parameters of the current media are copied; you can paste one or more of these effects to other media: • Select the media containing the effect to copy then click the copy button • Select the destination Media and hit paste To copy only one effect of several from media1 to media2: • Highlight the effect selection of media2 and hit the paste button.

Or -to copy multiple but not all media attributes of a media to another: • Select the media to copy from. CTRL click to deselect each attribute you do not wish to copy. Click copy.

• CTRL click to select one or many destination media, and click paste.

You can also use SHIFT click to select a range of continuous layers.

When multiple attributes are selected, CTRL clicking to add or deselect a field that is already selected will also affect fields of this type in other selected media layers.

To switch views SMOKE: Press the ESC key to toggle between the result and the schematic view. Or press “5” for schematic and “Shift + 1” to go back to result view.

FLAME: press “~” to toggle between the result and the schematic view. Or press “5” for schematic and “Shift + 1” to go back to result view.

• You can also combine this action with the use of the split view (ALT+2) to display both views on the screen. Separating the views is the most efficient way to work in the new Action where the schematic view allows you to select the media /scene elements, and the result view displays the result of your actions in another viewport at the same time.

• You can view up to 4 viewports with ALT+2, ALT + 3 and ALT+4. Click to select and highlight a viewport, change the display to any available view.

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Notes: Action DVE Object These notes show how a DVE object works in Action

How DVE Objects are created: •

by adding a DVE object node

•

when loading media into Action using the AUTO-DVE option

•

when converting a soft-axis to an Action node in BatchFX

Use of DVE Objects in ACTION The DVE object is a single self-contained object inside the Action Schematic that contains axis, offset, front, matte, image and shadow controls.

Only one DVE object per media list entry.

Reasons to use the DVE Object • Quick manipulation using one object menu • Can be instanced like other action axis • Timeline Soft-Axis converts to a DVE Object in action • Selectable through TABs • Assists Smoke users moving from DVE to Action

Expanding the DVE Object A DVE object can be expanded to component nodes. It cannot be regrouped as a DVE object – use undo to revert to the DVE object.

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Notes: Action Schematic These notes provide a hands-on introduction to the use of the Schematic View in Action

Nodes and Branches The relationship between objects is referred to as a parent-to-child relationship where the parent object passes its animations down to its child object. The structure of one parent and one or more child objects is referred to as a branch.

When you add an image node to a scene, it is automatically parented by an axis.

Toggle to the schematic view Add an Axis Parent

Reverse parent Un-parent Insert a node between two Extract a node from a branch Reposition a branch

Zoom Pan

Smoke: ESC Flame: “~” key Double-click the axis node in the node bin or drag the axis node to the schematic Draw a line from the edge of the parent node and to the child node Hold the SHIFT key and drag the parent node over one or more child nodes. (“Kissing”).

Hold SHIFT+ALT while dragging a node Cut a parenting link by drawing a perpendicular line Hold SHIFT when dragging the node into position, then release the pen to insert the node ALT+CTRL Click on the node Hold ALT as you move the parent node CTRL+SPACE+Drag SPACE+Drag

Managing Nodes The tools at the bottom right of the interface let you hide, copy, delete and reset any nodes and branches in the schematic.

Making Selections

•

Hold CTRL and drag a selection box directly in the schematic view. Add or deselect objects with SHIFT+Click.

Deleting and Resetting Nodes

• • • • •

Drag any object in the schematic below the timebar to delete.

ALT+Drag a parent node to trash an entire branch of nodes “All” and Reset, resets all nodes to their default values.

“All” and Delete deletes all nodes from the schematic view but keep the media loaded You can also make a selection of nodes from the schematic.

To reset all and clear all, including the media, go to the setup menu hold CTRL and click on the on reset all button. Use ALT+CTRL+Click to bypass confirm.

Hide/Solo

•

For example to hide or solo a node, change the mode to selected, pick the object and press hide (or solo). To unhide click hide again

Small Schematic From the node bin, swipe down to display the small schematic. You can use the small schematic as a viewing aid instead of using the larger schematic in the image window..

• CTRL+SPACE+Drag to zoom.

• SPACE+Drag to pan.

• Select and Drag down any object to delete from the schematic view.

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Action Compositing: Bird Cage Loading / Deleting / Hiding Layers Master Keyer

Top View Z Space Camera Animation

▼ WB_Compositing ▼Action_Bird_Cage > cat > cage > bird > room

This exercise shows how to use the Z space in a 4-layer composite. You creates a shot of a cat looking at a bird in a cage and use camera movement to add depth to the shot

• Load up the “bird cage Z space” reel. Select Action with the Front/Back/ Matte option.

Loading Media on Starting Action •

•

If you access Action from the Desktop, you can load all 4 media in the order as they will appear in the Scene, hold CTRL, select each media as front and matte (red and blue cursor) in sequence, starting with the room, the cat, the cage and finally the bird Release CTRL to select the background (the room – green cursor) and hold ALT as you click the white cursor to reset any previous Acti0n settings.

If you start Action in Batch, add 4 media input nodes ( Ctrl click ADD from within Action)

The media will automatically be added as either DVE objects or Image objects to the Schematic/scene depending if “AutoDVE” or “AutoImage”is enabled in the Setup Menu. For this example, we proceed with image objects as scene elements.

Prepare the source clips in the Media List • In Action, select the background “Bird room” and turn it off or delete it. In this composite we will not need the background because all elements of the composite must interact with the camera animation.

• Select Media1 (the Room) and turn the matte off. You can also delete the matte for this media if you prefer.

• To view the front of each layer click F1, then select the media to monitor. From the media list. Press “F4” to go back to the result view.

Key the Media Elements •

•

Set the bird key, from the Media list, double click on the Media4 keyer “K”, choose the MasterKeyer and plot a blue sample.

Monitor the matte (F3) and fine tune the key. To simplify the task, go to the matte menu and use the black and white inputs in the matte histogram to clip the dark and grey / white parts of the matte. Return to Action.

•

Enter the cage layer’s keyer (Media3), and use the Master Keyer to key the cage. Return to Action when finished.

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Action Compositing – Bird Cage •

Select Media2 (the cat) and enter the keyer.

This image is a bit tricky to key (time to practice keying in the Master Keyer!)

• Use the Master Keyer tools, like sampling Blend, to deal with the cat’s hairs. Create a reasonable key and return to Action.

•

To adjust the cat key in context with Image 1 (the room), you can select and hide the branches for Axis 3 and 4 in the schematic view, before entering the keyer, and use the “context” view F6, you can now see only the cat and the room.

Animate the Camera: You are now ready to add camera movement to the shot: • Set the view to TOP (Smoke “4”, Flame: Shift+4) and zoom back the viewer. Use the top view of the camera to set the layers in Z space. Go to the first frame.

• Select Axis1 (the room) and set the axis layer Z position to “-300”.

• While still monitoring the top view, drag the scale proportionally to 180% – just enough to cover the camera perspective view.

Toggle the view between Top and Perspective view (Smoke: “4”and “1”; Flame “Shift+4” and”Shift+1”) You can also display both views side-by-side. Press ALT+2 and select the view you need in each window.

• Select DVE_L2 (the cat) and set the following axis settings: Z position -200, scale 160%.

• Set Axis 3 (the cage) to Z position -100, scaling 140%.

• Scale Axis 4 (the bird) to 110%. And set the y position to 15 to hide the wooden stick on the top.

The layers are now in position.

• Select the camera from the schematic view to call up the camera menu.

• With Auto Key on, use the “orbit” control the move the composite. Set the perspective so that the bird hides the cat on the first frame and reveals the cat’s face toward the end of the shot.

• Reposition the action using the “dolly” and “track” controls.

• When satisfied with the result, Save the setup and process the shot in progressive mode.

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Action Animation: Fish Bowl Action Animation Channels Using Autokey Motion Blur

▼ WB_Compositing ▼Action_Fishbowl > fish > fish_mt > fish_bowl

This section shows you how to integrate and animate composite layers over a background and use motion blur to match the movement of the background plate.

The task is to animate the fish in a way that it looks like it is being thrown out of the fish bowl: Load the fish elements to the source area and enter Action with Front / Back / Matte. We assume that “AutoDVE “is enabled and the Fish is added to the scene as a DVE Object. The exercise may be completed with either DVE objects or image nodes.

• Go to the 5th frame of the clip: Drag the positioner in the time bar or set the left frame counter box to frame 5.

At Frame #5 •

Make sure Autokey is enabled and axis_L1 is selected. Scale the axis to about 30% proportionally. Switch to Translate mode (Smoke: SPACEBAR+T – Flame : T), grab the Axis and move the fish over to the center of the bowl.

Frame #8 •

CTRL+Click the scale Y and position Y parameters to reset them to the default zero values.

Set position X to -100.

Frame #9 •

Turn off the proportional option and set a Y scale factor of 80 to make the fish bounce on the floor. Lower the Y position Axis to -50.

Click “I” to set a keyframe.

Frame #12 •

Set the Y scale value to 110%.

Frame #20 •

Enable Translate mode to grab the Axis and move the fish out of the frame at the top right.

Frame #4 – again •

Reset the X & Y position with CTRL+Click. Turn on “proportional” and set the scale value to “0”.

The fish animation is now complete. To view and modify keyframes, select and ALT click the DVE_L1 / Axes / axis_L1 field in the channel editor. Use frame (bottom left of the editor) to view the entire animation of axis_L1.

• From the setup menu, enable Motion Blur and set the samples to 8 and the shutter to a value of about 0.25 to match the scene. Then click Preview. The motion blur will not show unless you activate it from the setup Accumulation menu and press the “Preview” button.

• Once the Motion Blur has been established, go back to the first frame and set the process to “Progressive” mode before rendering.

• Save the setup!

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Action Animation: Butterfly Action Import PSD

Axis Animation Motion Path

▼ WB_Compositing ▼Action_Butterfly or File: Hudie. PSD

In this introduction to Action we build and animate a butterfly as an example of using graphic elements in broadcast or commercials This exercise may be completed with the Desktop Action module or in Batch

•

•

Import the Hudie PSD file with the “all layers” and “RGBA” options and load the resulting elements to the Desktop (btw.

‘Hudie’ means Butterfly in Mandarin) Or use the prepared media reel

Set up the Butterfly Elements in the Scene When accessing the Action Module from the Desktop use the “none” option FLAME: from the Desktop (Effects Menu) or Batch SMOKE: Action Module on the EditDesk • In the Action setup menu, turn “Auto image”or “AutoDVE” off and reset all.

• Add the source clips to the media menu: The green background and the body and the two wings of the butterfly with their respective mattes to media layers 1,2 ,3 • Change to Schematic view (Smoke: ESC, Flame: ~) • Select all three layers ( Shift Click) and add them as image objects to the scene (double click the image object icon - the elements will load in the zero point of the scene) • Use the image axes to reposition the wings in “x” so they attach to the body • Depending on your project’s default resolution you may have to scale all three layers (aproxmately 25% prop scale for NTSC or PAL) Note: These elements may also be imported as a complete PSD file using the import node in Action, in this case the green image would be a media layer Note: if you import the PSD directly into action, any position information of the elements will be maintained.

• Check the Priority Editor (swipe down from the media menu) – if the elements overlap slightly you can adjust their priority Body on top, Wings below)

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Action Compositing – Bullet Time

Animate the Wings of the Butterfly • • • • • • • • •

Set the timebar to a duration of 100 frames From the Action Schematic view select axis2 which is connected to the image of the right wing. This will bring up the axis2 parameters in the Object menu Change the Centre point of the wing to the edge nearest to the body Use the top and side view views to check the positions Now rotate the wing in Y and check the result With “Autokey” enabled, set the wing rotation to 45 at frame1, and to -45 at frame 8.

Scrub through this animation to check the movement and see the colored keyframe indicators in the numeric fields.

In the animation editor, set the extrapolation function to “Rev+Cycle” Do the same with the opposite values to the other wing.

Animate the flight path The flight path can be animated explicitly by setting axis values or implicitly by setting up a motion path – a motion path represents X, Yand Z positioning data. In this example, we will use the motion path to create a flight path • Add an additional axis to the scene and parent it to the 3 elements (Shift drag and touch -i.e. “shift kiss”), this will allow you to move all three elements together.

• Select Axis 4 and enable motion path in the Object Menu by clicking the “path” button • On the first frame drag the axis coordinates to the start position • At the last frame drag the butterfly to a new position the motion path appears.

You can manipulate the curvature with the Bezier handles and add in between positions. In the Channel Editor the animation of the motion path is represented by a “Speed” curve, which allows you to adjust the speed at which the object travels between the set positions.

• Use the top or side view to set the Z position, to make the flight path a little more irregular.

Rotation is not part of the motion path - Rotate the butterfly to align the z-direction and set the key frame of the position Z from 500 to -1000 at the end of the animation

Before rendering •

•

•

Z-buffer should be enabled in the setup menu, if the wings do not have the right drawing order when the clip is rendered, run ”analyse” in the priority menu to update Z priority.

In the setup menu set anti aliasing sampling to 8 and enable motion blur and set Samples to 10 and Shutter to .5. Go to frame 20 and click Preview to check the rendered result for that frame.

Save the Setup, render and playback

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Action Compositing – Bullet Time

Action Compositing: Bullet Time Loading clips in Action Keying and Garbage Masking Copying Sub-Module Setups

Different Resolution Clips 3D surfaces (Bicubics) Animating Virtual Cameras Editing into TL

▼ WB_Compositing ▼Action_Bullet_Time >Leap_Backplate >Leap_Red >Leap_Black

This Action exercise illustrates the workflow of compositing in Action and shows how to simulate a bullet time camera composite, with two men jumping in mid-air and the camera moving around them.

Load the Media in Action • Click on the Action button. Choose the Clear All option to make sure Action is reset to its default settings.

We’ll actually load the backplate as a layer because we want this layer to be deformed and move in 3D space.

• Click 3X on the top of the Leap_Backplate clip to load it as Front (Red Cursor) /Back (Green) /Matte (Blue). The Back will not be used in this case, but still needs to be selected.

• The white cursor prompts you to choose a destination location for the result clip.

Click in the empty space on the Source Area.

• In Action, display the Media menu.

Double-click New Media to add another layerfrom the Source Area.

• Choose the Leap_Red clip as the Front and Matte.

• Double-click New Media again • Choose the Leap_Black as the Front and Matte.

The layers look a little strange right now, but that’s because the default luma-key behaviour is turned on. We’ll address this issue in a later step.

In the Timeline, the composite is only one frame long. This is because Action inherits its duration form the background clip. We used a still frame, hence the one frame duration. Let’s change the duration of the composite.

• Set the Timeline duration to 48 frames (two seconds long).

Disable the Media Elements Since the Background does not participate in a 3D composite, we need to disable it.

• In the Media menu, set the Back to Off. Now the Backplate looks dark – that’s because it is performing a luma key onto itself. Remember that we used the same image for both the front and matte.

•

Select the Leap_Backplate layer and set the Matte to Off. Now the brightness has been restored.

Perform the Keys • • • •

Select the Leap_Red media strip. Double-click the K field to access the Keyer sub-module.

Select the Master Keyer and click the color picker to define a key color.

Drag from a dark green to a light one in the image.

From the View menu choose Matte (F3). Drag the Mix value; find the value where the Matte looks best.

Set the Sampling to Patch 1. Ctrl+Drag little areas of dark grey to force them to black. If necessary, use Patch 2 to force light greys to white.

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Action Compositing – Bullet Time •

Shrink the matte if necessary.

Now this looks good, but the greenscreen does not fill the frame. To fix this, we’re going to use a garbage mask.

• Click GMask., Click Add Geometry.

• Shift+Drag to create a freehand shape around the gladiator.

• Click on the initial point to close the shape, or click the Close button.

The mask’s default behaviour does not protect the correct area: Instead of filling the outside with black, it’s filling the inside with white. Let’s fix that.

• Enable the Outside button to fill the outside of the mask.

• Drag the Colour value from 100% (white) to 0% (black). Now our gladiator is the only visible object in the shot.

• Click on the Return button to go back to the Action module.

We also need to key out the Black Leap gladiator. Instead of redoing the entire key, we can copy the keyer setup from the previous shot.

• Select Leap_Red’s media strip and click Copy to copy all effects on the strip. Select the Leap_Black’s Key field and click on Paste.

This copies all aspects of the Keyer setup including the Gmask Because these two shots were filmed with the same camera using the same background, the key works for both. If you need to tweak anything, remember that you can double-click the K icon to access the keyer module to make adjustments to the key.

Position the Layers in 3D Space Next we need to position the gladiators – but not just in 2D space. We’re actually going to push the background further and the gladiators closer in 3D space, to introduce depth. Then, when we animate the camera, we’ll feel the perspective shifting.

• Press Alt+2, to display the 2-up view. Click in the left view to select it (yellow highlight). Set it to Top View. You can zoom out both views to get an overall view • Select the Leap_Background layer (DVE_L1) in the layer tabs. The thumbnail updates in the image node on the right hand side, so you can see which layer you’ve selected.

•

• • •

• Click on the Object menu. Object is where you reposition, scale and rotate your objects. This is also where you can apply blending modes and other image attributes.

• Drag the Z Position slider towards the left to push it back in the scene.

Increase the Scale value until the layer fills the entire screen and then some.

Now the background looks pretty much the same as what we had before, except that it’s further away and larger – this will add some realism. Let’s position the gladiators.

Select DVE_ L2, which is the Leap_Red gladiator.

Drag the Position sliders to move the gladiator so we feel like they’re aiming at one another.

Do the same for DVE_L3 (Leap_Black). Move him forward and to the left. Tweak the position until he looks properly positioned.

Now if we were to animate the virtual camera around the scene, we would quickly realize that these objects are flat and they don’t actually have any depth. We’ll compensate for this by curving the backplate.

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Action Compositing – Bullet Time

Curve the Background •

• • •

Select DVE_L1 (Leap_Backplate). In the Image parameters, change the surface type to Bicubic..

Dragging one of the corners of a Bicubic surface will deform it in 3D space, using curved segments between the corners.

Select the middle handles by Ctrl+dragging a box around them.

Push the handles back in the top view to give the surface a concave roundness (like a curved movie theatre screen).

Tweak the position of the points until there are no empty areas in the viewer.

Animate the Virtual Camera • Select the virtual camera. It becomes highlighted in yellow.

• Enable Path in the camera options. This is a visual representation of the path that the camera is taking when animated.

• Go to frame 1. In the Camera properties, manipulate the parameters until you zoom in and frame the two gladiators.

• •

Go to the last frame.

Dolly the camera back. Zoom out and frame the gladiators from the left. Make sure that there isn’t any black in the frame.

The camera has been animated. This created a path – a dotted line where each segment is a separate frame. You can actually manipulate this path – just make sure you’re in Move mode.

Right now the camera starts off slowly, speeds up and then stops. This is due to the default Hermite interpolation. This seems unrealistic as usually you’d be cutting in the middle of the camera motion.

• Enable the Animation menu. Select the Camera item.

Set the Interpolation to Linear.

Now if you scrub, you can see that this feels like a crane shot looking at our two gladiators and it actually looks like they’re frozen in mid-air while jumping in a coliseum.

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Action Compositing – Bullet Time

Set the Rendering Options The final render should look as realistic as possible. Let’s tweak the rendering options to improve the result.

• Step out of Animation and go inside Setup. The Setup menu contains all the preferences for the current Action session.

• Enable Motion Blur. This will render intermediate samples between each frame and blend them together to create the illusion of motion blur.

• Set a Shutter Speed of 1.5. This will exaggerate the impression of speed.

• Increase the Samples to about 10 -These settings will increase rendering time • Got to the first frame, click on Process. This processes each frame and creates a finished clip in the Source Area.

• Click on the Player button that has just appeared.

• Play back the result. We can see that the motion blur creates the illusion of speed. We can also feel the perspective shift between the two gladiators.

• Exit the Player and exit the Action module.

The rendered result clip of the Action session is now in the Smoke Source Area or the Flame the Edit Desk or (or if you rendered from Batch in Flare, in your library).

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Smoke 2010 Level 1 Workbook

Timeline Compositing - BatchFX (Smoke advanced) Notes: Batch Introduction Notes: Batch FX PreBFX: Vertical Composite Post BFX: Multi Layer Composite Post BFX: Promote Layers to Action BFX: Color Look

82 83 84 86 88 90

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Notes: Batch Introduction A brief introduction to Batch nodes

About Batch FX Use BFX to assemble a series of tasks such as color correction, keying, multilayer composites with animation, and re-graining where the result of each task serves as the source for the next one.

colors for Front, Back, and Matte when selecting clips from the reels. The yellow tab on the node's right is called the Result tab. On a Keyer or Action node there will also be a small blue tab under the yellow result tab to output a separate matte

Connecting nodes: SHIFT+drag ALT+drag CTRL+ALT Click+=

Automatically connects Node to closest tab.

Moves an entire branch Detach a node without breaking other links Set Context

Clip nodes and Media tools

Note: The BATCH pipeline always flows from left to right As you create a complex effect, you can preview the intermediate results and monitor the effects further down in the pipeline. You process the clip only at the end, and this will use any pre-rendered frames stored in the cache to speed up rendering.

Batch supports mixed resolution clips, supports multiple view-ports, a universal channel editor, and integrates module menus directly in the Batch interface.

About Batch Nodes: The flame tools and modules that you use in Batch are the node bins. You can organize tools you use for specific tasks in customizes bins. You can also save custom nodes in the user and project bins Use Batch to assemble a series of tasks where the result of one task is used as the source for the next task.. Each operation in the process tree is performed by a process node which corresponds to one of the commonly used modules in Flame or Smoke.

The source tabs correspond to the cursor Node Input Colors RED = Front / Fill GREEN = Background BLUE = Matte / Alpha Node Output Colors YELLOW= Result BLUE = Matte / Alpha

Image nodes have multiple editing menus that let you • edit audio, • resize the image, • view a Timeline for the image, • edit the LUT for the image, • set the basic parameters for the clip.

Basic The Basic menu provides many controls for the current image. You can mark in and out points for a clip and have those attached to the clip if you process it from a node.

You also set Timeline preferences for the clip using controls in this menu.

Timeline You can view and edit source Timelines for the selected clip, and build record Timelines to edit sequences. Having access to Timelines in Batch provides some of the following advantages: • Splice sequences together without having to exit Batch.

• Trim shots, add dissolves, timewarps, softFX and Batch FX. • Mark in and out points in Batch, providing visual cues for the timing of your shot.

• Create multiple versions of a program by using a Record Timeline and replacing shots as required.

• View and edit multi-layer Timelines created in Smoke • Apply segment effects to events LUT You can apply a LUT directly to any image node, so color space conversion is uncommitted until processing. This is also useful to color correct floating point clips in Batch.

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Notes: Batch FX About working with BatchFX in the Timeline.

Methods of Creating a BatchFX Segment.

A BatchFX is a self-contained segment in the Timeline which can contain a tree-based node compositing workflow Post Batch FX A soft effect remains at the top Timeline level and the source material is moved into the BatchFX segment Select a single segment.

Select a single segment with a soft effect A Pre-BatchFX segment shows a light grey icon and it can be copied to another segment

Post-Batch FX The soft effect and the source material are moved into the BatchFX Segment.

Select a single segment with a soft effect, Select multi-layered segments.

Select multi-layered segments with effects Select a virtual gap segment A Post- BatchFX segment shows a dark grey icon and it cannot be copied to another segment.

Navigation Tips for Batch in the Smoke Timeline: Toggle the Batch schematic view Node bar menu Set context View Context 1 or 2 View the Front/Back/Matte View Result / Output Matte Channel editor Move a node Move a branch Delete a node

Ctrl ESC Swipe left = + click 1 or 2 F1 / F2 / F3 F4 / F4 again F5 or Swipe right Click and drag in Move mode (M) Alt drag the branch in Move (M)

Delete a branch Delete All

Enable Branch and click the Delete button Enable ALL and click the Delete button

D click the node (then click M to return to Move mode) Enable Selected and click the Delete button Drag the node down and off the lower UI edge

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PreBFX: Vertical Composite Timeline PRE Batch FX Keying with the Color Warper

Stabilizing Timeline Batch PRE effect ColorWarper as keyer.

▼WB_TLCompositing_BFX ▼BFX > Molson_30_v2

This exercise shows how to composite using PRE Batch effects and multiple layers in the Timeline and combine these with soft effects. Students learn about the logic and processing order of Batch pipe lines.

This exercise assumes that the student is familiar with the Timeline, the use of soft effects, keying and color correction as well as viewing option in the Timeline and modules.

Create a Pre-BatchFX to prepare a shot for keying • Load the “Molson_30_v2” clip to the Record Area and switch to the Record Timeline View (F5).

We will apply a selective color correction to the bright green carpet so that it looks more like the surrounding green area.

This will simplify pulling a chroma key for this image.

•

•

• •

Go to SHOT 17 where two green screen clips need to be composited over the background of the water gushing on the freeway. Move the focus point to “shot_17_KEY1” and select PRE to launch a BFX Level for the windsurfer segment.

Add a ColourWarper from the node bin.

This is easily done by holding SHIFT while dragging the node and dropping it onto the link between the clip node and the BFX node to make an auto connection.

Use Selective 1 to create a matte for the bright green carpet under the surf board. Match the bright green area to the color of the larger (darker) green screen cloth.

Process and Return to the Timeline. The PRE BFX icon appears on the segment This is somewhat similar to a clip which was pre-processed with a desktop module before being edited to the Timeline. The PRE BFX settings can be copied or modified.

•

To pull the key, enable an Axis soft effect and launch the Keyer- Key the clip as you normally might for Timeline-based compositing. Process and return to the Timeline.

Note: With the Pre function you can enter a BFX level with a single segment's source, leaving its soft effects intact on the Timeline one level up. A Batch FX is applied to the source before anything else affects it.

Use a pre-BatchFX to pull a key with a combination of batch nodes • Move the Focus point up to “shot_17_KEY2” and select PRE to launch Batch to work on the second green screen shot.

We will build a customized pipeline of nodes to pull a key on this shot.

In this case we will use a Color Curve Node in the Front path to correct for Color spill. You can also use ColourWarper or Master Keyer nodes for suppression – or in Smoke 2010 you can use the Modular Keyer node -Batch is extremely flexible In a second path we will create the matte which will connect to the Matte input of the BFX nod. We will use a ColourWarper to pull a key and an Edge and a Gmask node to complete the matte.

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PreBFX – Vertical Composite

• • •

• Add Colour Curves to the Batch Schematic and connect to the red BFX front tab.

To create the matte, add ColourWarper, Edge and Gmask nodes and arrange them as shown:The output of the edge node serves as front and matte input on the Gmask node.

Connect the output of the Gmask node to the blue matte input on the BFX node..

• Select the Colour Warper node to enable its controls. Use Selective 1 to develop a key for the green screen area that remains but leave the Selective View set to “Matte”to pipe out a matte to the next node.

In the Gmask node, create a mask that isolates the edge of the bridge railing. Allow room for the surfer’s movement and animate the shape points.

Process the Batch and Return to the Timeline.

The segment is now keyed. Note the BFXA icon on the segment showing that the Batch FX provides an alpha channel (matte).

Fine-tune the position of the windsurfer within the Axis SoftFX The surfer is not positioned correctly in the composite and it was shot with a camera movement which does not really work in this composite.

•

• •

Enter the Axis editor on the windsurfer shot (key 1), and apply a 2 point stabilization on the layer axis. The resize and reposition on the offset axis.

Process.

Rename the clip as “Molson_30_v3” and Save it to the Library.

Note: Although you can also create soft effects on the Batch Timeline, their order in the pipeline is fixed. As well, you can apply soft effects to only one segment.

Batch FX give you access to more effects modules than soft effects. Creating soft effects is useful when you want to remain on the Timeline and do not need to be in a modular pipeline environment. If you started with soft effects on your Timeline and later decide you need the flexibility of the Batch pipeline, you can convert the soft effects to nodes.

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Post BFX: Multi Layer Composite Timeline Matte containers

POST Batch level Action Media Node

▼WB_TLCompositing_BFX ▼BFX > Molson_30_v2

This exercise shows how to add a camera effect to a multi layer composite by using POST Batch FX in the Timeline. Students learn about the logic and processing order of Batch pipe lines.

To apply a Batch FX to segments and their soft effects, you enter a BFX level with the Post option. You can enter with a contiguous selection of horizontal or vertical segments.

Bringing in multiple segments is useful for continuing FXwork that was done in context of the record Timeline or for bringing a selection of segments into the same Batch FX level.

Prepare the composite in the Timeline • Load the “Molson_30_v3” clip to the Record Area and switch to the Record Timeline View (F5). Go to SHOT 08 where 4 layers are required to build the expressway composite. The corresponding mattes are lined up on video track 2 (V2)

•

•

Match (/) the “MATTE” shots from layers 1-3 on V2 to the Source Area.You can shift or ctrl select all three segments and hit /.

On V1 select the segments for Layers 2-4 and add an Axis SoftFX. Again you can select the three elements to add an Axis at the same time.

•

Use the Matte button in the desktop tool bar and supply the appropriate matte clip. This will create a matte container on each layer. A default linear (luminance) key reveals

the background layer on V1/L1.

Tip: If you have selected the element and see that the Axis is enabled but you do not see the axis controls in the toolbar, enable Editing mode Note: You can click on the white triangle to collapse video layers on the matte track (V2).

The Post BatchFx •

•

Select all four segments for SHOT 08 (V1) and press Post to enable a Batch effect. You are launched into Batch with a simple schematic which shows you the result of the Timeline composite as a source clip and a black BFX node with a black icon signifying that we are using a ‘Post BFX’.

Double-click the source clip (image node) to see the clip controls, enable Timeline - you see that the four segments have

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Post BFX – MultiLayer Composite Layer Composite

•

been collapsed into the image node. You can still adjust the Timeline by trimming or editing the segment; enable Editing to see the Timeline controls. The Timing view will give you at this point the same representation and allow you to easily slip and trim your clips.

Press Return to see that a black BFX icon appears on a collapsed segment on V1.L1 of the Timeline which is purple.

A Batch FX is created by bringing a selection of Timeline segments into a BFX level. You enter a BFX level from the EditDesk record Timeline or from the Timeline of the clip in the current BFX level. You can bring segments with their soft effects into a BFX level.

Batch FX are applied on top of the segments and their soft effects.

If you enter Batch with more than one layer, the layers are collapsed into one segment on the bottom layer of the original selection. The segment takes on the length of the original selection or the length defined by the selection's in and out points.

The BFX icon is black to indicate that removing it would be destructive, since it contains the sources for the expressway composite.

As with a Timeline container, you could apply an Axis soft effect to create a camera move for the entire composite. A better choice is to take advantage of node based workflow in Batch Batch Hotkeys in Smoke

~ (tilde) Shift ESC or Left swipe Ctrl ESC ESC Right Swipe

Exit Batch Toggle between menus of Batch and selected node Toggle between schematic of Batch and selected node Toggle between last view and action schematic Bring up large Channel editor

Apply a camera move to the scene •

Double click the BFX icon to re-enter a Batch. Level Select the clip node to reveal the Batch Timeline.

The four layers can be matched or promoted separately for more expansive effects creation using any number of nodes. In this example we will use the collapsed clip as a source clip for an Action node. Please go to the exercise “Post Bfx PromoteSoftFX” for a more advanced use of the layers in the source clip.

• Swipe or press CTRL+ESC to reveal the Batch node bins. Double click the Action node or drag it up to add it to the Schematic.

• In this case Shift dragging to drop on the existing line would connect the clip to the Back input tab of the Action node • Double-click on the node to see the Action controls. The Media menu is empty, Ctrl click +Add to create a layer socket. Connect the clip node to the red (Front) tab only. Media 1M is set to INTERNAL as if supplied with a 100% white matte.

• Animate the camera controls to create a move. For instance, you could scale the layer axis up by 10%, orbit the camera at the first and last frame and set the keyframe interpolation to linear.

• Remember that you can use a 2-up view to see the result and the schematic at the same time The Batch set-up will stay as metadata with the clip in the same way as soft effects do.. The metadata can be recalled any time by clicking on the BFX icon, and will be saved and archived with the clip.

However, it is a good habit to Save the Batch set-up before returning to the Timeline.

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Post BFX: Promote Layers to Action Post BFX Split, Split+Action Duplicate

▼WB_TLCompositing_BFX ▼BFX > Molson_30_v2

This exercise shows how to Promote Timeline layers to Action nodes in Batch. Students learn about the logic and processing order of Batch pipe lines.

Prepare the Timeline layers Creating a camera move will add interest and production value on this simple composite of 4 still images.

• Load the “Molson_30_v2” clip to the Record Area, switch to the Record Timeline View (F5).

• Advance to SHOT 08There are four layers to composit..

• Select all layers on V1. Enable the Axis soft effect and reveal the Axis Toolbar.

• Match (/) the “MATTE” shots from V2 (layers 1-3) to the Source Area and apply each to its appropriate layer in V1 (this will result in matte containers).

• •

Select the Clouds layer on V1 and animate it in Axis – scale it up a little and animate the layer axis - to create the impression of cloud movement Select the four segments for V1 and press Post to launch into Batch. Switch to Batch Timeline. The BFX View Batch Schematic contains a clip node and the BFX node

About Post Batch FX The Post BFX translates the Multi-Track TLcomposite to where you can split the layers of the clip into single from the clip’s Timeline. When you ctrl drag a soft effect corresponding Batch node and connected to its clips.

The Split Layers function will provide separate clip nodes composite. You may then add any nodes. Use the Action The Split+Action function will provide separation and that it does not translates the mattes from the matte containers) To quickly convert all layers you can simply select and ctrl drag the soft FX from the bottom layer to the schematic view; this converts all layers (in our case providing nodes for all clips piped to one Action node).

the node based environment of Batch sources as well as extract the soft effects into batch, it is automatically converted the for each layer but does not initiate a node for x, y, or z translation. combine the layers in an Action node (Note

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Post BFX- Promote Layers to Action Complete the composite in Action • Ctrl+drag the Axis effect on the lowest layer (Clouds) to extract the Timeline elements into an Action node.

Promoting the layers creates a DVE object for any existing Axis SoftFX and image nodes for all other layers. They assume an ascending layer prioritization.

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• To create a more dynamic camera move, you can exaggerate the perspective by bending the surfaces with a Bicubic: Choose the Param2 menu of the surface controls for the cloud layer and switch to Bicubic . Go to TopView and Ctrl click+drag a selection box over the four inner bicubic control points and then move them back in Z-space to create a hollow curvature.

• Now the Cloud DVE layer but you need to replicate the Bicubic settings to the others. This could be accomplished within the Channel Editor by using Copy and Paste or expressions linking but the Duplicate function can streamline this process.

Switch to the Action Schematic view (ESC), Choose Duplicate from the pull-down menu. (or: Space W) Click+drag duplicate connections from one DVE object to each of the others to link the setup.

The control variables for the linked objects are represented by one single set of controls. Changes made to any one will affect all other linked DVE objects. Duplicate links can only be made between like objects.

The Duplicate link can be removed at any time and the inherited settings will persist until specifically modified.

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BFX: Color Look Creating a “Post” BatchFX Adding Nodes to the

BatchSchematic Viewing Effects in Context Saving Clips

▼WB_TLCompositing_BFX ▼BFX >TL_with_Action

This exercise shows how you can apply a “look” to multiple consecutive shots in the Timeline by using Post Batch FX. Students learn about the logic and processing order of Batch pipe lines.

Please note that BatchFX is only available in Smoke Advanced.

The Timeline exhibits somewhat of an HD video look. We should improve the “look”. Let’s use BatchFX to create a color effect that will brighten it and give a more “sunny” look.

Create a Post BatchFX • • •

Press Home to frame the entire contents of the Timeline.

Select the first shot “Entrance_Back” and Shift+Click the “Action result” clip. This selects the entire row.

Ctrl+Click Entrance_Front to add to the selection; we’re not selecting the logo, the subtitle or the flare because we do not want to affect these.

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Build the basic “look” with effect nodes • •

Click the Post button beneath BatchFX. The BatchSchematic is displayed.

Make sure the node bin is displayed (swipe the left side if it isn’t).

A BatchFX tree will always have two nodes by default: the source clip and the Batch FX Output.

Any effect connected between these two is going to be applied to the result. Also, note that nodes may have a Front, a Back or a Matte tab, represented by Red, Green or Blue tabs on the left side of the Node.

• Drag an RGB Blur node to the BatchSchematic.

• Connect the RGB Blur between the source clip and the BFX output (using its front tab).

• Double-click on the RGB Blur node to display its properties.

• Press Ctrl+Esc to view the resulting image.

• Blur this image by dragging the Width and Height parameters. We can see the blur result in the viewport.

• Press Ctrl+Esc again to return to the BatchSchematic.

• Press Alt+2 for 2-Up View. This will split the viewport into two sections: the BatchSchematic on the left and the Result view on the right.

• Add a Logic Op node after the RGB Blur. Logic Op can be used to combine clips together, using different blending operations. If you Shift+Drag the Logic Op node on top of the connector, it automatically connects the Front tab.

• Connect the result of the source clip to the Back (Green) tab of the Logic Op. The Logic Op node will mix the front and back images together.

• Double-click the Logic Op node to bring up its parameters.

• Raise the Transparency slider to 50% or so. You can also experiment with different blending modes.

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BFX – Color Look Tone down the luminance with a Colour Warper The luminance on the result is a little high. We can use a Colour Warper to tone it down. However, we don’t want to clip the highlights of the result, therefore we will add the Colour Warper node before the Blur node to lower the luminance before the Blur is applied.

• Select the Color Warper node and Shift+Drag it onto the connector between the clip and RGB Blur node.

• Disconnect the connector going into the green back tab of Logic Op and replace it with an output of the ColourWarper.

• Double-Click the ColourWarper to display its properties.

In Batch we can preview effects without processing and better yet, we can view changes made in any node erly in the pipeline in context. If you want to change the color of the clip, but want to view the result of the entire tree, not just the output of the ColourWarper, use Context View.

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Select the Logic Op node and click Set Context. A dotted highlight appears around the Logic Op node, as well as a “C1” in the node description. The Logic Ops’ result will always be displayed regardless of which node is selected.

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Highlight the right viewport and change its view mode to Context 1.

• • • • • • •

• • • • • •

Double-click the Color Warper to display its properties.

Alt+Drag the RGB Gamma and lower the value until you are pleased with the result (Alt+dragging will affect all linked parameters).

You can also make the image slightly warmer by dragging the Midtones trackball towards yellow.

Exit BatchFX. A clip named BFX replaces the original clips.

This is somewhat similar to a container and you can go back into the Batch FX to alter the effect or the Timeline.

Select All (/ on the numeric keypad). Process. Play the result (V).

Optional: Save the result Let’s rename and save the result clip. Right now it’s named “Entrance_Front” because this is the first clip that we used to create the Timeline.

• Switch to Collapsed view (F3).

• Select Clip from the Item menu.

• Highlight the clip name.

• Press Esc to clear the field.

• Name the clip “Final” and press Enter.

• Drag the Final Clip onto the Clip Library box. A message appears informing us that the clip has been saved successfully.

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