Manual for Version 2.2 Table of Contents Getting Started LiveGrade - User Interface Overview The Grade Library 4 5 Grading Modes Grading Modes in LiveGrade Using the CDL Grade mode in LiveGrade Using the ALEXA Looks mode Using the ACES Grading Mode File Grading 8 9 10 11 12 HD-SDI Device Management Device Manager HD-SDI setup for LiveGrade DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort setup for LiveGrade Setup Pluto for LiveGrade PRO Legal and Extended - SDI-Signals and LUTs in LiveGrade IS-mini licensing process Supported HDLink models Supported Pluto Devices Sending looks to Panasonic Varicam 14 15 17 19 21 22 23 24 25 Exporting grades and workflows Export multiple Grades as 3D LUTs Supported LUT formats for export Using automatic naming schemes when exporting grades CDL Server Workflow with Alexa XT & Others Export LUTs for the AJA LUT-box Exporting grades to Scratch via ALE 29 29 31 33 38 39 Dailies workflow with LiveGrade and Resolve Dailies workflow with LiveGrade and Scratch 40 43 Grading Panel Support Tangent Element setup 47 Tangent Wave setup Avid Artist Color setup 51 53 Advanced features LiveGrade PRO iOS Remote False Color mode in LiveGrade 57 57 User Interface Dimming Color management with ICC profiles in LiveGrade LiveGrade - Curve Editor 59 60 62 LiveGrade's "Cube-o-Scope" 63 2 Install of Latest Pluto Firmware 64 Troubleshooting Migrate a license from one computer to another How to reset LiveGrade’s Library and Preferences Can I convert ASC-CDL, Alexa Looks, and LUTs 65 65 66 Avoiding Bending Artifacts with ICC profiles in LiveGrade Troubleshooting connecting with Pluto 68 69 Trouble shooting HDLink devices in LiveGrade 70 3 LiveGrade Pro Manual Getting Started Getting Started LiveGrade - User Interface Overview In Figure 1 you can get an overview of LiveGrade’s main window and its different groups of controls. Figure 1: LiveGrade PRO’s Main window With the Project Manager you can switch projects. With projects you can manage grades independently. In the Grade Library you can save, recall and manage grades in groups. A list of preset grades is available. For more information see The Grade Library. The Grade History stores applied Grades and your modifications for later re-use. If you want to return to previous grading settings just select the appropriate item in the History panel and click the “Apply” button. The grade settings within the grading window will be reset to the according state without directly affecting any grade in the Grade Library. The Slot Selector lets you manage up to three devices together (LiveGrade Pro version). These devices can be configured in the Device Manager. Each slot displays the grade currently applied to it. In addition, it’s possible to show the original signal, by-pass color and apply False Color with the buttons in every slot. The Mode Selector lets you chose between the CDL, Alexa Looks and ACES grading modes. Depending on the grading mode, the Grade Controls as well as the filtering of the image will change. For more information see Grading Modes in LiveGrade. The Grade Controls allow to interactively and creatively manipulate the colors of an attached SDI stream. They can be resized by dragging the separation bar between the Grade Library and Grade Controls. The Grade Controls consist of: filter panels with Color Controls and filter Order Controls (CDL Grade mode only) The Toolbar lets you enable and disable certain image filtering steps and access to additional tools such as the Cube-o-Scope. 4 LiveGrade Pro Manual Getting Started The Sunglasses button is used to activate the Low Brightness UI. This is a useful feature for on-set low light environments. The brightness of this mode can be adjusted in the Preferences panel. This feature is only available with LiveGrade Pro. The Grade Library Keeping your grades organized in LiveGrade is easy with the Grade Library. These are the main parts: Projects Projects can be named to display the name on the top of the UI. figure 1: Manage Projects popup Groups Grade Groups are the items which directly store grades. You can create them with the «Add» button and remove them with «Delete…». figure 2: grade groups Main Library panel 5 LiveGrade Pro Manual Getting Started figure 3: library panel Here you can manage the grades individually: name them, add a description, camera, scene… and more information which help in their identification and post production matching. To choose choose which information fields are shown in the Grade Library, click on the gear button in the bottom right corner: figure 4: grade information fields Load and Save grades It’s possible to load ASC-CDL grades and ALEXA Looks created with a different software into LiveGrade’s library. To get a closer look on how to use them, please check the following articles: Using the CDL Grade mode in LiveGrade Using the ALEXA Looks mode In addition, the grades saved in the library can be exported as .cdl files for ASC-CDL grades and .xml files for ALEXA Looks by clicking on the «Save» button. Create, Update and Apply buttons 6 LiveGrade Pro Manual Getting Started figure 5: Create, Update and Apply The Create button saves the current color and 3D LUT settings into a new library grade. The Update button takes the current color settings and applies them to the selected grade on the library. Apply takes the currently selected grade from the library and puts it into the selected Device Slot. In addition, users have the option to create a new grade and add relevant information at the same time: figure 6: New Grade and enter information… When this option is selected, a popup window opens to enter the information: figure 7: grade information editor The information added to the grades can be used to name exported grades with wildcards or to export grades to Scratch via ALE. 7 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes Grading Modes Grading Modes in LiveGrade Figure 1: The LiveGrade Grading Panel The LiveGrade Grading Panel consists of controls for manipulating the signal filtering. Grading mode selector: Here you can switch between CDL Grade mode and Alexa Look mode. Grade type and name: LiveGrade shows the name of the currently applied grade and the grade mode type. Grade controls: Here you find all controls for a certain grading mode such as color balls, LUT manipulation controls etc.. Filter order: by dragging the handles of a control slot, you can reorder the filter order (only in CDL grade mode) Clear buttons: You can clear either the entire look or just the color manipulation (and not LUTs or tone mapping curves) Filter configuration: You can temporarily bypass color or show the original signal (no filtering at all) or enable the false color mode. Grading Modes LiveGrade supports different grading modes designed for specific camera setups and workflow environments. A grading mode contains: Controls for manipulating color and Input and Output file formats for color settings You can change the grading mode using the selector (figure 1) above the grade controls. Filter Panels Each grading mode contains filter panels. To change the order of filter panels, drag the colored tabs on the right of the color controls. The order of filters in image processing determines the resulting image transformation. The corresponding filters are applied on the SDI image in a top-to-bottom order. Note: Not all grading modes allow the reordering of filters panels. Alexa Looks More information in the article Using the ALEXA Looks grading mode. 8 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes CDL Grade More information in the article Using the CDL Grade mode. ACES grading mode More information in the article Using the ACES grading mode. This mode is only available in the LiveGrade Pro version. Additional Options Furthermore there are some additional functions to be found at the bottom of the grading panel (figure 1) Using the «Neutral» button you can reset all settings to a «neutral» state. Using the «Reset Colors» button you can reset the color settings to a “neutral” state. The command «Bypass Color» allows you to bypass the undertaken settings in the color controls and show the image from your input device with only the 1D/3D LUT (CDL Grade mode and ACES mode) or the Alexa tone mapping (Alexa Grade mode) applied. By selecting the «Show original signal» checkbox you can replace the graded image displayed on you monitoring device by the original image coming from your camera device. The Show False Color command allows you to display the false colors within your image on the monitoring device. Using the CDL Grade mode in LiveGrade The CDL Grading Mode (figure 3+4) offers ASC-CDL controls for the use in a wide range of workflows. CDL Grade can be used with Rec.709 signals. To be used with other signals LiveGrade allows to import 3D LUTs of choose from 3D LUT Presets e.g. for custom log-to-video conversions. There is also the possibility to edit a custom tone mapping 1D LUT in the curve editor. In order to support workflows that apply CDL in log gamma as well as in video gamma, the order of LUT and CDL filters can be changed. The color controls for “CDL Grade” consist of: ASC-CDL controls (figure 3) RGB Shadows, Mid-tones and Highlights (figure 3 #1+2) A Saturation scale (figure 3 #3) Import of 3D LUT(figure 4): The grading mode “CDL Grade” can import 3D LUTs and CDL files and can export ASC-CDL files. 3D LUT Import options with averaged curve displays for each channel 1D LUT Creation for manipulating and applying a curve Figure 3: CDL Grade mode – CDL controls 9 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes Figure 4: CDL Grade mode – LUTs For more information about the curve editor see LiveGrade – Curve Editor. Use cases Some example use cases for camera/workflow setups: Use case A: CDL support for Rec.709 camera Setup: Input for LiveGrade – Rec.709 signal from camera. Filtering: ASC-CDL is applied on SDI-signal in video gamma. Workflow: Export of ASC-CDL XML files for exchange with dailies system or post. Use case B: Predefined look with 3D LUT Setup: Input for LiveGrade – Signal from camera, 3D LUT with predefined LUT loaded in 3D LUT panel from colorist / post. Filtering: Look refinement with ASC-CDL controls. Workflow: Export of refined 3D LUT file for exchange with dailies system or post. Use Case C: Creating a custom tone mapping 1D LUT Setup: Input for LiveGrade – Signal from camera Filtering: Creating a 1D LUT with the curve editor. Workflow: Export as 3D LUT Use case D: Alexa Log-C with CDL support (log – or video-workflow) Setup: Input for LiveGrade: Log-C signal from ARRI Alexa; load ARRI Log-C to Rec.709 LUT in LUT panel of CDL Grade mode. Always use the “EE” variants of 3D LUTs from the ARRI LUT Creator. Filtering: Depending on the order of filter panels the ASC-CDL is applied on SDI-signal either in Log-C or in video gamma. Workflow: Export of ASC-CDL XML files or combined 3D LUT for exchange with dailies system or post. Use case E: Sony S-Log with CDL support (log – or video-workflow) Setup: Input for LiveGrade – SLog signal from Sony camera (e.g. PMW-F5/F55); load Sony SLog to Rec.709 LUT in LUT panel of CDL Grade mode. Filtering: Depending on the order of filter panels the ASC-CDL is applied on SDI-signal either in SLog or in video gamma. Workflow: Export of ASC-CDL XML files or combined 3D LUT for exchange with dailies system or post. For more information about grading modes of LiveGrade, please see “Grading Modes in LiveGrade”. Using the ALEXA Looks mode The grading mode “Alexa Looks” (figure 2) offers the color controls as specified by ARRI for the Alexa 10 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes camera. It is designed to be used with Log-C SDI signals coming from an Alexa camera. The color controls for the grading mode “Alexa Looks” consist of: RGB Printer Lights applied in Log-C (figure 2 #1) A Saturation scale (figure 2 #2) Editable Tone Mapping curve from Log-C to Rec.709 (figure 2 #3) RGB Shadows, Mid-tones and Highlights applied in Rec.709 (figure 2 #4+5) The Alexa Looks grading mode can import and export Alexa Look XML files. Note: The Alexa mode doesn’t have a completely neutral setting. A “neutral” Alexa Look Log-C to Rec709 is always applied by default. For more information about Alexa Looks please visit ARRI’s website on Alexa Looks. figure 2: LiveGrade grading panel – Alexa mode Using the ACES Grading Mode figure 1: ACES grade controls The ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) grading mode has been introduced with LiveGrade PRO 2.0. Two different versions of the ACESlog workflow are available from the Preferences panel: version 0.2.0 and version 0.7.0 (figure 2). These two versions have different IDTs (Input Device Transform) and ODTs (Output Device Transform). Please, make sure that the ACES version used in LiveGrade PRO matches the one used in the post production process. 11 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes figure 2: preferences panel The controls displayed in the ACES mode are divided in two parts: ACES color transformation panel CDL controls Before starting to create your grades, select the correct IDT (matching your camera system) and the ODT (matching the output display color space) from the color transformation panel. LiveGrade PRO currently offers the following set of IDTs and ODTs: ACESlog v. 0.2.0 IDT Alexa Sony ODT Rec. 709 DCI-P3 ACESlog v. 0.7.0 IDT Alexa Canon EOS CinemaGamut(A) D55 v1.1 Canon EOS CinemaGamut(A) Tungsten v1.1 Canon EOS DCI-P3+A D55 v1.1 Canon EOS DCI-P3+A Tungsten v1.1 Sony F35 Sony F55 Daylight Sony F55 Tungsten ODT Rec. 709 DCI-P3 The CDL controls behave the same way as in the CDL Grade mode and can also be exported as usual from a saved grade. ACES grades can also be exported as 3D LUTs, including the CDL values, IDT and ODT. File Grading LiveGrade Pro 2.0 allows you to open JPG, TIFF and DPX files and extract frames from MOV clips to interactively preview grades on the computer monitor. 12 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Modes Figure 1: File Grading window To use this feature navigate to File> Open Image Figure 14: File menu A window will open showing the image selected. In order to grade the image select a slot directly from the window. This way the grades applied to that slot will affect the image. The image can also be saved for future reference by pressing the «Save Image As…» button. Custom Thumbnails In addition, if a grade is saved or updated to the Grade Library while grading a file, LiveGrade Pro 2 will take image as a thumbnail. This is a useful way to create custom thumbnails for your grades. 13 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management HD-SDI Device Management Device Manager For a successful and satisfying work with LiveGrade it is important to know how to manage all those devices involved in your workflow. To simplify that task LiveGrade has a Slot Selector (figure 1). You will be able to use it to apply grades to multiple devices at the same time (LiveGrade Pro). Open the Device Manager (figure 1 #1) in the lower left corner of the LiveGrade application window to manage the connected devices. In addition, the Slot Selector displays useful information such as the applied grade (figure 1 #3) and the device connection status in green/orange for online/offline devices (figure 1 #4). Finally, the image filter buttons (figure 1 #5) will let you switch each slot to the graded signal, original signal, bypass color or False Color. figure 1: LiveGrade User Interface – slot selector The Device Manager recognizes the devices connected to your computer (figure 2) and lets you group them into different slots. It’s possible to name each slot to easily recognize it in the Slot Selector. Slots can be created with the «Add Slot» button (figure 2 #6) and deleted with the «Delete Slot» button (figure 2 #7). To add a connected device to a slot you can just drag&drop it. Click on the «Add Device» button (figure 2 #1) to add a CDL server or setup a Pluto device . To set device specific options click on the «Config…» button (figure 2 #2). Each device can be color managed with ICC profiles (figure 2 #8) or specify if the in- and outgoing signals need to be converted to Legal or Extended (figure 2 #5). To refresh the ICC profile list click on the «Refresh ICC Profiles» button (figure 2 #3). 14 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management figure 2: LiveGrade Pro Device Manager By clicking the «Blink» button (figure 2 #9) you can recognize which device in the Device Manager refers to each input device. A click on that button causes a simple visual signal to your output device. With the buttons at the bottom of the Device Manager (figure 2 #4) you can refresh the application for recognizing new connected devices and new ICC profiles. HD-SDI setup for LiveGrade To properly setup your HD-SDI viewing environment with LiveGrade there are some things to consider depending on your setup. The following figure shows an example of a setup with a HD-SDI signal coming from a camera going to a monitor with HD-SDI input: Figure 1: HD-SDI setup with Pomfort LiveGrade The orange “Legal or Extended” labels indicate that cameras and monitors can be configured with different settings for HD-SDI input/output: Legal Range: Code values for luminance range from 64 to 960 in a 10bit (0…1023) signal. This is the common setup and usually the default setting for HD-SDI signals. Extended Range: Code values for luminance range from 0 to 1023 in a 10bit (0…1023) signal. 15 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management This is a special setting useful for certain workflows. HD-SDI signal sources and destinations can usually be configure to output / expect legal or extended range code values. Figure 2: HD-SDI output configuration in the ARRI Alexa menu structure Depending on these settings LiveGrade has to be configured accordingly to handle incoming and outgoing signals. You can set the Legal / Extended range settings for each attached device in the Device Manager screen. Figure 3: HD-SDI setup in LiveGrade’s device manager If the code value ranges of signal source (e.g. camera) and signal destination (e.g. HD-SDI monitor) don’t match, you can even use Pomfort LiveGrade to convert one code value range into another. For example to convert an Extended range signal coming from a camera to a Legal range signal for a HD-SDI monitor, set the HD-SDI settings as follows: Figure 4: Converting code value ranges from Extended to Legal 16 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Important Note: To see the color transformations made by LiveGrade on SDI-Out, please make sure, that the “Send to all video outputs” checkbox is set in the BlackMagic HDLink Utility (the software comes with the devices). Without this checkbox checked HDLink will only display modified colors on the DisplayPort, DVI, and HDMI ports. Figure 5: Setting up the SDI-Out of HDLink for color transformations from LiveGrade For more information about compatible HDLink devices, see Supported HDLink models. DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort setup for LiveGrade To properly setup your viewing environment with a monitor connected via DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort there are some things to consider depending on your setup. The following figure shows an example of a setup with a HD-SDI signal coming from a camera going to a monitor with DisplayPort input: Figure 1: DisplayPort setup with Pomfort LiveGrade 17 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management The orange “Legal or Extended” labels indicates that cameras can be configured with different settings for HD-SDI output: Legal Range: Code values for luminance range from 64 to 960 in a 10bit (0…1023) signal. This is the common setup and usually the default setting for HD-SDI signals. Extended Range: Code values for luminance range from 0 to 1023 in a 10bit (0…1023) signal. This is a special setting useful for certain workflows. HD-SDI signal sources and destinations can usually be configured to output legal or extended range code values. Figure 2: HD-SDI output configuration in the ARRI Alexa menu structure The orange “ICC Profile” label in Figure 1 indicates that regular computer monitors with DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort inputs usually don’t have standardized calibration profiles (in contrary to most monitors with SDI-IN which conform to the Rec.709 profile). With LiveGrade the color processing in the LUT box can be adapted to an available ICC profile for the used monitor. You can set the Legal / Extended range settings for input as well as the output ICC profile for each attached LUT box in the Device Manager screen. For more information about using ICC profiles and color management please see Color management with ICC profiles in LiveGrade. 18 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Figure 3: Setup for HD-SDI input and ICC profiles in LiveGrade’s device manager Note: If you experience bending artifacts in the image while using ICC profiles you can limit the use of ICC profiles to display curves in the preferences. You can find more info and examples in Avoiding Bending Artifacts with ICC profiles in LiveGrade. For more information about compatible HDLink devices, please refer to LiveGrade: Supported HDLink models. Setup Pluto for LiveGrade PRO Important Before running LiveGrade PRO with Pluto, please make sure that you are using the latest Pluto firmware. Check out the knowledge base entry Install of Latest Pluto Firmware for more information. Connecting with your Pluto Device 1. Open the Device Manager and create a new grading slot: figure 1: empty grading slot 2. Hit the «Add Device…» button (figure 1) and select the option «Add Pluto»: 19 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management figure 2: adding a Pluto device 3. The Pluto Device Configuration window will appear. Here the IP Address has to be introduced, and in case of dual head mode choose the desired side. Choose the «Default Slot» where the Grade should be uploaded on your Pluto device (this is optional and only used when “permanently storing grades”). Figure 3: “Pluto Device Configuration” 4. Press Connect to establish a connection. The Pluto will become active if the connection was successful, and you are ready to grade: Figure 4: Pluto device connected LiveGrade PRO Setup The following scheme (see fig. 5) shows an example of a setup with a HD-SDI signal coming from a camera going to a monitor with HD-SDI input. Please refer to the article HD-SDI setup for LiveGrade for more information. 20 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Figure 5: HD-SDI setup with Pomfort LiveGrade Legal and Extended - SDI-Signals and LUTs in LiveGrade HD-SDI signals Devices supporting HD-SDI (YCbCr) signals can be configured to carry either legal range signals (which is a standard use case for most of all HD-SDI signals) or extended range signals (which is only used in special, rare use cases). A 10-bit digital signal can theoretically carry code values from 0 to 1023. A legal range signal only uses code values 64 to 940 (for the Y channel) while an extended range signal uses code values 4 to 1019 (for the Y channel). 3D LUTs 3D LUTs are applied on RGB images. In post production systems, RGB images are usually using all the code values available – so for example a 10-bit RGB image uses code values 0 to 1023. This means that lookup tables made for post production systems expect that code values 0 to 1023 should be transformed with that LUT. Processing chain in LiveGrade To be able to compute color manipulations in a defined code value range, LiveGrade converts incoming signals so that code values 0 to 1023 are used (see Figure 1). So the processing chain of LiveGrade simulates a post-production pipeline for color processing. This means that LiveGrade’s CDL mode always will expect regular, “extended-range” lookup tables (3D LUTs). Please note that the order of CDL and LUT can be changed. Please see KB 435 for more information about the CDL grading mode. 21 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Figure 1: Color processing in Livegrade The HDLink device doesn’t know what kind of signal is coming in (legal or extended), so LiveGrade takes care about this and converts the signals accordingly as part of the color processing – depending on what is set in the device manager. So as long as you properly specify in the device manager which kind of signal you’re feeding in, the look (e.g. CDL and and imported LUT) will always be applied correctly. See KB 238 and KB 216 for more information about the device manager. Another example shows a situation, where the input signal is an extended range SDI signal, LiveGrade (as always does the color manipulations in RGB (“full range”) and converts the signal in a way that the HDLink device sends it out as a legal-range SDI signal (Figure 2). Figure 2: Color processing with Extended-IN and Legal-OUT settings NOTE: A situation where you would use a “legal range” 3D LUT is when you want to load it directly into HDLink with the HDLink Utility application for use with legal SDI signals. Then the LUT will have to be suited to the signals coming in. In LiveGrade only “full range” 3D LUTs are used, as in most post production tools. IS-mini licensing process 22 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management figure 1: IS-mini device Since LiveGrade 1.4 has been introduced support for the Fujifilm IS-mini device, all the features previously available in LiveGrade PRO are ready to work with this device. The licensing process using an IS-mini device is slightly different. Now, in addition to the LiveGrade PRO app license key, an IS-mini device license file is needed. figure 2: IS-mini device licensing The IS-mini device license file is provided by Fujifilm Corporation, but you can acquire it through LiveGrade PRO. To start the process connect your IS-mini to the computer and open the Device Manager. The IS-mini device should appear in one of the slots with an orange dot: figure 3: unlicensed IS-mini Click on the «Config…» button and then on «Buy Device License File for IS-mini…» as shown in figure 2 #1. This will redirect you to Fujifilm’s store to purchase the license for your device. You may need the device identifier (figure 2 #4) in order to purchase the license file. Please be aware that the licensing process can take from a few minutes to several hours due to time zone differences. Once you receive the IS-mini device license file from Fujifilm, click on “Install License File” (figure 2 #2) and navigate to the location of the file. Load it and LiveGrade will check it. If the License File is valid, the connection status light should turn green with the message “Licensed”. The “Manage Installed devices” button (figure 2 #3) will let you copy or delete the stored IS-mini device license files. The IS-mini device will be supported only by the PRO version of LiveGrade. Supported HDLink models 23 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Blackmagic-Design’s HDLink devices had a major update over the time. Due to their different technical capabilities, only the latest models are supported by LiveGrade. You can easily distinguish the models by their housing: Different model families of HDLink devices Note: The displayed devices are only examples, there are different models within the family of HDLink devices. All models of the latest series of HDLink devices are supported by LiveGrade. Supported Pluto Devices LiveGrade PRO supports all models (e.g. 19″ rack model or rugged model) with a NID Chip firmware higher or equal to 38.16 and for the A065 Chip at least the version 2.35. All installed licenses on your Pluto device don’t matter to LiveGrade Pro. Our support for Pluto works independent from your installed licenses.So you don’t need a CDL license for the CDL grading mode in LiveGrade PRO. So no extra license fees for you with using LiveGrade PRO! Where to find your Firmware No. 1. To find out the actual firmware of your “Pluto” device please open up your Pluto Software.2. Click in the Pluto Menu on “Node” and select (see fig. 1) “Firmware” (see fig.2) to open up the information. figure 1: “Pluto Node Menu Node” 24 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management figure 2: “Pluto Firmware Window” figure 3: “Pluto Node Menu Window” For more information how to connect your Pluto see Setup Pluto. Sending looks to Panasonic Varicam Since version 2.2 LiveGrade PRO comes with support for the new Panasonic Varicam 35. LiveGrade PRO can send CDL values and 3D LUTs that are applied on the live image and recordings in the camera using a network connection (LAN and WiFi depending on camera hardware and setup). Setting up the camera In order to receive look information from LiveGrade PRO the Varicam needs to have a working network connection with the Mac where LiveGrade is running on. The grading mode on the Varicam 35 has to be enabled. SETUP NETWORK Go to Varicam Menu -> Peripheral -> Network Sel. Choose Lan or Wlan depending on your setup Go to Varicam Menu -> Peripheral -> Lan Property to see the IP Address if using DHCP or set an IP Address if DHPC is disabled (see Picture) Note the IP Address. We will need it later in LiveGrade 25 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management figure 1: Varicam 35 network settings ENABLE GRADING From the home screen press the Color button (upper middle) The final settings are shown in figure 2 Set the main color to V-Log by pressing the upper left button until Main Color reads V-Log Turn on grading by pressing the Grading SEL (upper middle) button until it reads On If CDL grading is Off, enable CDL grading by pressing the CDL button (lower middle) and pressing the upper right CDL button until the title reads On => go back to the color view. Set the 3D Lut setting to V-709 (for other setups see advanced Lut modes below) by pressing the lower left button. In the 3D Lut view press the upper left button 3D Lut Sel until it reads V-709 Back in the grading view press Mon Set (lower right) to configure on which output you want to see the graded image instead of the log image. For example to see the graded image on the Mon Out 1, press the Mon Out 1 (upper left) button until it reads Graded figure 2: enabling grading on the Varicam 35 26 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management ADVANCED LUT MODES There are three 3D LUT modes you can use. 1. Off: no LUT is applied to the V-Log image (not recommended) 2. V-709: the default log to video LUT is applied by the camera (recommended) 3. Loaded File: the LUT can be configured in LiveGrade (more flexibility but slower) figure 3: Advanced LUT modes on the Varicam 35 The LUT mode you want to use depends on your workflow and needs to be specified in the LiveGrade PRO device configuration: figure 4: Varicam 35 settings Setting Up LiveGrade PRO figure 5: Device Manager Open the device manager Click on the “Add Device” button and choose “Add Varicam…” Enter the ip address of the Varicam as well as user name and password Optional: choose the LUT mode if you want to use an advanced LUT mode 27 LiveGrade Pro Manual HD-SDI Device Management Click on “Add Varicam” figure 6: Varicam 35 configuration LiveGrade will check the connection and show a green “connected” message if the camera was successfully added. You can now use the CDL grading mode of LiveGrade to control the live image of the Varicam Mon Out 1. While using the default LUT workflow option the 3D LUT section in LiveGrade shows the default V-709 LUT applied by the camera. If you want to use a custom LUT or want to add a custom curve you will have to set the camera to loaded file and change the setting using the device manager. 28 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Exporting grades and workflows Export multiple Grades as 3D LUTs If you want to export multiple grades as 3D LUTS or CDL/Alexa Looks, you can batch export these looks with LiveGrade in one step. 1. Mark multiple Grades (see fig. 1)with the Shift and/or CMD key on your keyboard. Figure 1: Selecting multiple grades 2.Under the Menu “File” select either “Save selected Grade As…” to export the selected Grade(s) as either CDL files or Alexa Look XML files. “Export selected Grades as 3D LUT…” to export the selected Grade(s) in a specific 3D LUT format. “Export LUT package of selected Grades…” to export all available LUT formats for each selected Grade. Figure 2: File “Export LUT package of selected Grades…” Supported LUT formats for export 29 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Currently, LiveGrade can export looks (independent of grade mode) to the following formats: DaVinci Resolve (33x33x33 3D LUT, .dat file) Speedgrade (32x32x32 3D LUT, .cube file) Filmlight Baselight (32x32x32 .cube file) Autodesk Lustre (33x33x33 .lut file) Assimilate Scratch (32x32x32 .3dl file) DigitalVision Nucoda (17x17x17 .cms file) Colorfront OSD (17x17x17 .3dmesh file) You can export now multiple grades in LiveGrade (since ver. 1.1) . 1. Just simply mark multiple “Grades” (see fig. 1)with the shift key on your keyboard.You can also make your selection without using your keyboard. Simply hold down your left mouse button and make selection. Figure 1: Selecting multiple grades 2.Under the Menu “File” select “Export Selected Grades as 3D LUT…” (see fig. 2) or you can use Shift+Command+E as keyboard shortcut. Figure 2: File “Export Selected Grades as 3D LUT…” 30 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows 3. Select your desired export format (see fig. 3) for further usage. Figure 3: Choose desired export format… 4. Choose your desired destination on your hard-drive and hit “Save”. Using automatic naming schemes when exporting grades Different metadata information can be added to each grade through the Grade Library panel. Adding this information can be helpful to identify your grades and to automatically match them to clips using Assimilate Scratch. When these grades have to be exported, LiveGrade offers the possibility to name them using a combination of the metadata fields. This way, grades can be easily identified along the post workflow. The naming schemes are also available when saving grades or exporting the LUT package. In order to export a grade as a 3D LUT, go to File > Export selected Grades as 3D LUT. 31 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 1: exporting a 3D LUT A dialogue will open showing the destination options, LUT format options and Naming Scheme: figure 2: wildcard setup Some wildcard presets are shown (figure 2), but you can create a custom file naming scheme by clicking on «Custom» in the drop down menu. Then, the naming scheme editor window will appear: 32 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 4: naming scheme editor Here you can edit the naming scheme by replacing the original wildcards by the available ones. Simply drag and drop them on the «Name» box to create the custom name. However, have in mind that LiveGrade can only use information already added to the grades, otherwise a placeholder will be written in its place. You can see if a grade has a certain information in the «Availability» column. Note: wildcards are usually separated by an underscore sign «_». In addition, a forward slash «/» can be used to create a folder structure. Here you can see an example: figure 5: result of using an underscore sign figure 6: result of using a slash sign CDL Server Workflow with Alexa XT & Others Overview Some onBoard Recorders such as the CODEX M, or cameras like the ARRI Alexa XT family with the integrated XR module have an integrated CDL capture that stores ASC Color Decision List in metadata. 33 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Figure 1: “Codex Workflow with LiveGrade PRO” These devices can be connected via Ethernet to LiveGrade and then give you the ability to capture CDL (color decision list) values at the time of recording. These settings then travel via metadata with the image files and can then be applied to your deliverables via the Codex Virtual File System (VFS). The above scheme shows a typical setup on set. Setup a CDL Server Using a CDL Server, LiveGrade can provide CDL values for a CODEX recorder. When configured, the recorder will automatically use the CDL values to apply the grade to the recorded clips. You are able to set up to three different servers simultaneously in each LiveGrade grading slot. To connect a Codex Recorder with a CDL Server follow this steps: Setting up LiveGrade 1. Start LiveGrade PRO. 2. Open the Device Manager and create a new grading slot: figure 1: empty grading slot 3. Click on «Add Device…» and choose the «CDL Server» item (figure 2) to setup a CDL Server. figure 2: adding a CDL server 4. Once the virtual device has been added, click on «Config…». Here you can define and enter your port if you are considering to setup a different port than default value “6666″. The allowed port range is from 1024 till 65535. Alexa XT cameras only accept the default 6666 port. 34 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 3: CDL server configuration figure 4: running CDL server Once a CDL server is running on a slot it is automatically locked (figure 4) and you cannot switch back into the Alexa or ACES grading modes. figure 5: CDL mode locked Configuring and connecting the CODEX recorder Set Codex to receive CDL values 1. Connect your running LiveGrade PRO machine with the CODEX recorder via Ethernet. Make sure a connection is established. You can use for e.g. the CODEX UI Tool 2. Telnet to your Codex recorder via the Terminal command line. 3. Insert the line “FilmlightCDLEnabled” in /etc/codex/sysconfig On the Codex recorder 1. Set in the menu of your CODEX device the IP address and port 6666 from LiveGrade (e.g. “192.168.2.218:6666″) as the CDL server address in the System menu. 2. You are ready to record a clip and the current grade of the configured slot in LiveGrade PRO is written to the recorded clips. Multiple CODEX CDL server With LiveGrade you are able to set up to 3 different CDL servers using CODEX recorders. If you want to have different CDL values for each recorder, please configure different ports in the Codex CDL Server configuration, but please note that this can’t be done with the Alexa XT. The Alexa XT will always connect at port 6666. 35 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 6: multiple CODEX CDL servers Error Handling If you are having trouble connecting to your CODEX device make sure it is set-up properly. For more information on how to do that, please refer to the chapter “Enabling the Codex machine for CDL Data recording” of the CODEX manual available under: http://codexdigital.com/support/mediastations If you are using a port number that is not allowed, the «Start» button will be greyed out. If you assign a server to a slot which is currently in Alexa or ACES grading mode LiveGrade will ask you to switch to CDL mode. This warning appears so you have the chance to save your current Alexa gradings before switch to CDL mode. 36 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 7: “Warning Alexa Mode to CDL Mode” Setup the Alexa XT Using a CDL Server which ships automatically with the Alexa XT while recording in ARRI Raw, LiveGrade can provide CDL values for the camera. When configured, the recorder will automatically use the CDL values to apply the grade to the recorded clips. After setting up LiveGrade. to connect a Alexa XT in RAW Mode with a CDL Server follow this steps: Configuring and connecting the ARRI Alexa XT Set Alexa XT to receive CDL values 1. Switch the Alexa to record in ARRIRAW Mode, and make sure the Alexa XT is connected with the Ethernet port and the same sub net mask of your computer with LiveGrade PRO. 2. You can check if the network connection between the computer with LiveGrade PRO and the Alexa camera works by typing «ping [IP Address Of Alexa]» (for example: ping 169.254.2.10). If you get replies, the connection works. 3. In the Alexa User menu press the Color Button of the User Interface and then as shown in figure 5 press the “Set Look” option 4. There you can set your IP address for the CDL Server (in that case the IP address of the computer running LiveGrade PRO) like in figure 6 5. Press the Save button in the lower left corner of the camera user interface 6. The User Interface menu will jump back to the previous menu, there you can activate the CDL mode 37 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Error Handling The most common issue connecting to your ARRI Alexa XT is a wrong network configuration. Make sure you are using the same network range and set the same IP address of both Alexa XT and your mac accordingly. You can use the Network Utility tool to figure out the IP address of the computer running LiveGrade. You will be notified if you are using a port number that is not allowed. Export LUTs for the AJA LUT-box Due to the design of the AJA LUT-box LiveGrade is not able to use it for real time color grading. However a 3D LUT can be created with LiveGrade and exported and uploaded onto the AJA LUT-box. In order to be able to upload a LUT into the AJA LUT-box, you have to export it from LiveGrade into a specific format. To do so select it form the Grade Library and go to File > Export selected Grade as 3D LUT: figure 1: exporting a 3D LUT Then on LUT format, you have to select «AJA LUT Box» on the drop down menu: 38 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows figure 2: LUT format selection Once the format has been selected, the LUT export wizard will display the format specifications. Now you only have to save the grade to the specified location. figure 3: AJA LUT Box format Finally, the LUT has to be uploaded into the AJA LUT-box device using the MiniConfig software downloaded along with the hardware drivers. figure 4: MiniConfig software UI To upload a LUT the user needs to select “3D-Lut” from the main menu and the choose the slot he wants the LUT to be written on: figure 5: Mini Config menu Then an open dialog is shown where the LUT that has been exported from LiveGrade has to be selected. Exporting grades to Scratch via ALE LiveGrade offers the possibility to transfer CDL grades to Assimilate Scratch through an ALE file. This feature will help you to match the grades with each clip automatically using their metadata information. In addition, there is the advantage of having all the grades in one single ALE file. As long as camera and scene information are entered for each grade in LiveGrade, the exported ALE file will transfer the metadata along with the CDL values to automatically apply the grades to each clip in Scratch. 39 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows There are some considerations to have in mind when using this feature: it only applies to grades created in the CDL or ACES grading mode the 3D LUT information is not included (i.e. a LogC to Rec.709 LUT). Only the CDL information and the LUT name is transferred. The same LUT has to be applied down the post workflow camera and scene information has to be properly set on the grades In order to start the ALE export, you have to select the Grade Group from the LiveGrade library. Then select File>Export grade Group for Scratch (ALE) as shown in figure 1. figure 1: exporting grade group as an ALE file This will bring you to a save destination dialogue: figure 2: save destination selection Once the ALE file has been saved, you can load it into Assimilate Scratch to match the grades with the clips. Dailies workflow with LiveGrade and Resolve Using look information from set for the creation of dailies saves time and communication efforts. Blackmagic Design’s “DaVinci Resolve” (http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve) is a powerful and widely used software to create dailies on or near set. This article shows how color information from LiveGrade can be used to save extra grading time in Resolve by using the looks created in LiveGrade. 40 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows CDL Grade mode LiveGrade’s CDL-Grade mode lets you export ASC-CDL files of current color settings in LiveGrade. These CDL files can be used in various dailies and post-production tools. To transfer ASC-CDL files to Resolve or Resolve Light follow these steps: 1. Export ASC-CDL file from LiveGrade Make sure that your are in “CDL Grade” mode in LiveGrade. Do so by switching the grading mode above the color controls or apply a grade from the grade library of the type “CDL Grade” Choose “File” -> “Save current Grade as…” or “Save selected Grade as…” and save the .cdl file. You can open this file with a text editor and see the typical ASC-CDL XML syntax. Hint: To simplify matching of the CDL files with the clips you can use an automatic name scheme when exporting. 2. Import ASC-CDL file in Resolve In Resolve go to the “Color” room. In the “Stills” panel right-click and choose “Import”. Select “CDL files (*.cdl)” at the bottom of the Open Dialog and navigate to the CDL files just saved in LiveGrade. A new “Still” with the name of the CDL file will appear in the “Stills” panel. Select a one or multiple clips in the timeline that you want the CDL apply to. Right-click the new Still and choose “Add correction” in the context menu. You should see the controls in 3-WAY COLOR of the selected clips be set according to the CDL 41 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows values initially coming from LiveGrade. 3.Applying a lookup table (3D LUT) If you are using a 3D LUT in the LUT panel of the CDL grading mode in LiveGrade (for example as a preview LUT for log-material), make sure that this LUT is also used in DaVinci Resolve. Depending on the order of filter panels in LiveGrade you might configure Resolve for Loading a “3D Input Lookup Table” or a “3D Output Lookup table” in the “Config” room. If in LiveGrade the CDL controls are in the upper slot, the LUT is applied after the CDL values and you need to set the LUT in Resolve as output LUT. If in LiveGrade the CDL controls are in the lower slot, the LUT is applied before and you need to set the LUT in Resolve as input LUT. Learn more about LiveGrade’s CDL grading mode. Alexa Look mode Resolve doesn’t support the import of Alexa Look files (xml) directly, but you can instead export a 3D LUT in LiveGrade and import that on a per-clip base into Resolve. 1. Export 3D LUT from LiveGrade Make sure that your are in “Alexa Look” mode in LiveGrade. Do so by switching the grading mode above the color controls or apply a grade from the grade library of the type “Alexa Look” Choose “File” -> “Save current Grade as 3D LUT…” or “Save selected Grade as 3D LUT…” and save the look as a “DaVinci Resolve” .dat file. Hint: To simplify matching of the LUTs with the clips you can use an automatic name scheme when exporting. 2. Install .DAT files for Resolve In Finder navigate to /Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/LUT/Arri Copy the created .DAT files into this folder. Either restart Resolve or click on “Update Lists” in the “LUTS” tab of the “Config” room. 3. Choose 3D LUT 42 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows In Resolve go to the “Color” room. In the “Clip” panel right-click the node and navigate to the right LUT Dailies workflow with LiveGrade and Scratch Using look information from set for the creation of dailies saves time and communication efforts. Scratch is a powerful and high performance software tool that helps you out to create dailies, additionally primary and secondary grading, sound syncing and much more. For additional information take a look at www.assimilateinc.com This article provides you with information about how to transfer your pre-grades made with LiveGrade on set to Asssimilate Scratch, to save you some extra time with creating dailies by the end of a hard day on set. Note: There are various approaches to apply a LUT & CDL grades in general, accordingly also in Assimilate Scratch. The steps below describe a typical DIT workflow, which we also recommend. This article describes a manual matching process, if you want to match grades in Scratch automatically you please see: Exporting grades to Scratch via ALE Using an automatic name scheme when exporting CDL or 3D LUT files CDL Grade mode LiveGrade’s CDL-Grading mode lets you export ASC-CDL files of current color settings in LiveGrade. These CDL files can be used in various dailies and post-production tools. To find out more about CDL please take a look on the ASC Society Website. To transfer ASC-CDL files to Assimilate Scratch follow these steps: 1. Export ASC-CDL file from LiveGrade Choose “File” -> “Save current Grade as…” or “Save selected Grade as…” and save the .cdl file. You can open this file with a text editor and see the typical ASC-CDL XML syntax. Hint: To automate matching of the CDL files with the clips you can use an automatic name scheme when exporting. 2. Export log-to-video LUT separately 1. 2. 3. 4. Set your grade to neutral (see figure 1.) Choose a camera preset or load a custom log-to-video 3D LUT Select “Export current Grade as 3D LUT” . In the “Save To” dialog menu choose “Assimilate Scratch LUT” as the desired format. 43 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Figure 1: “Set Look Up Table to Neutral” Order of Operations Note: To receive the desired result it is necessary to keep the same order of operations in LiveGrade and Scratch. In our example the CDL Grade is applied before an Alexa Neutral 3D LUT camera preset like in figure 2. In this article we illustrate how to create this same order of operations in Scratch. Figure 2: “Order first the CDL Grade then the 3D LUT” Import ASC-CDL file in Scratch At first you will apply a CDL look for every clip. Then you can add the log-to-video LUT in an Output Node for your whole construct, assuming you used the same 3D camera preset LUT in LiveGrade. If you have different LUTs applied for different scenes you must apply the 3D LUT separately to every clip. Therefore you can use the copy & paste tool from Scratch. You can also apply a CDL to every clip in you scratch construct by simply copy paste. Set Color Settings with CDL file Switch to your matrix tool set inside your desired CONstruct Load the exported CDL from LiveGrade by clicking load… Select “CDL files (*.cdl)” at the bottom of the Open Dialog and navigate to the CDL file just saved in LiveGrade. Figure 3: “Select CDL” Set 3d LUT if you use a 3d LUT Presets for log-to-video in output node Switch from the Timeline to the Output mode like in figure 4. Add a “Single Output” and enter the new node Under the “FX Ctrls” hit “Insert” and add a new Plugin From the “Plugin” Dialog choose your desired dailies output format Switch to the “Matrix” with a right click Load the exported 3d LUT or Camera preset from LiveGrade by clicking load like in Figure 6 44 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Set “3d LUT Formats” filter at the bottom of the Open Dialog Select the desired .cube” file from LiveGrade and press “Load”. Hit the “Add to Queue” and switch back to your construct to start the Queue process by hitting the “Process” button to start the rendering of dailies figure 4: “Output mode” Figure 5: “Output Node View” Figure 6: “Load exported .3dl file from LiveGrade” Alexa Look mode Scratch does not support the import of Alexa Look files (xml) directly, but you can instead export a 3D LUT in LiveGrade and then import it on a per-clip base into Scratch. More information about the LiveGrade’s Alexa Look grade mode. Export 3D LUT from LiveGrade Make sure that you are in “Alexa Look” mode in LiveGrade. Do so by switching the grading mode above the color controls or apply a grade from the grade library of the type “Alexa Look” Select all the grades you want to export to Assimilate Scratch. Choose “File” -> “Save current Grade as 3D LUT…” or “Save selected Grade as 3D LUT…” and save the grades as a “Scratch LUT File” file. 45 LiveGrade Pro Manual Exporting grades and workflows Hint: To simplify matching of the 3D LUTs with the clips you can use an automatic name scheme when exporting. Import LUT to Scratch Switch to your matrix tool set inside your desired CONstruct and navigate to a certain clip Load the exported LUT in Scratch by selecting “(*.3dl)” at the bottom of the Open Dialog and navigate to the LUT file which you just saved in LiveGrade. Apply to all your clips by using the Copy Paste Feature If you use the same baked LUT for more than one clip you can use the copy/paste feature as follows in Figure 7 and 8. Figure 7: “Load Baked Alexa 3D LUT from Livegrade” Figure 8: “Copy Paste Feature to apply baked 3D Lut to other clips” 46 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support Grading Panel Support Tangent Element setup Tangent Element LiveGrade allows you to connect hardware grading panels, including the Tangent Element, to precisely and physically manipulate your grades. The Tangent Element offers a variety of controls, ranging from Color Balls, Color Wheels, Command Keys to Precision Knobs. The controls utilized by LiveGrade are depicted below. The “element-Tk” control panel figure 1: Tangent Element tk. 1. The Page Button allows you to cycle through different configurations of the Color Wheels. Depending on the grading mode and active the page, the wheels/balls control different aspects of your grade. 2. The Status Display shows which values can be manipulated using the respective controls. 3. The Color Balls manipulate the Hue and Saturation values of their respective color ranges. 4. The Color Wheels manipulate the Level value of their respective color range. 5. The Ball/Wheel Reset buttons reset the values of the Ball/Wheel right next to it. The “element-Mf” control panel 47 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support figure 2: “Tangent Element Mf” 1. The Status Display shows which values can be manipulated using the respective controls. 2. The first row Command Keys perform the following commands from left to right: New Grade, Update Grade and Apply Selected Grade. New Grade: Adds a new grade in your LiveGrade Grade Library Update Grade: Updates your current adjustments to the selected grade in your library Apply Selected Grade: Apply the selection from your Grade Library to your actual grade. 3. The second row Command Keys perform the following commands from left to right: Bypass Color, Show Original Signal and Enable False Color. 4. The third row Command Keys perform the following commands from left to right: Set To Neutral, Next Device, Previous Device The “element-Kb” control panel 48 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support “Figure 3 : ” Example Tangent Kb in CDL Mode” 1. The Precision Knobs each (depending on the grading mode) manipulate one specific aspect of your grade, such as ‘Saturation’, ‘Shadows (RGB channels)’, ‘Midtones’, Highlights or in Alexa Mode also the ‘Printer Lights’. 2. The Page Buttons allow you to cycle through different configurations of the Precision Knobs. Depending on the Grading Mode, the knobs control different aspects of your grade. 3. The Status Display shows the meaning and value of multiple controls. It is split into three rows and three columns. Depending on grading mode the first line is either empty(Alexa Grading Mode) or setup with Saturation. Saturation is on the first page in both grading modes, only one knob is assigned to saturation. The second line displays the meaning and value of the respective Precision Knob above, such as ‘Shad R’ for ‘Shawdows Red’ or ‘Mid R’, standing for ‘Midtones Red’ and so on. The “element-Bt” control panel 49 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support The Tangent “element Bt” panel got the same functionality like the “element Mf” Connecting your Element Please follow these steps to get LiveGrade up and running with your Tangent Element panel: 1. Connect the Tangent Element panel to your Mac. 2. If you did not installed your Tangent Element Device Driver yet, then this would be a good moment. You can find on Tangent Support website. 3. Start LiveGrade. 4. Wait until the panel is recognized, indicated by a blue glow at the lower left of the main window. (see below) 5. You are ready to grade! Preferences for your Tangent Element Device 1. Choose “Preferences…” from the “LiveGrade” Menu Bar (see fig.5) or use the keyboard shortcut “⌘+,” figure 5: “Preference Selection” 2. You can customize the level of sensitivity for your panel by using the slider depicted below . 50 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support figure 6: “General Preference” figure 7: “Hardware Panels Sensitivity” Tangent Wave setup Tangent Wave panel LiveGrade allows you to connect hardware grading panels, including the Tangent Wave, to precisely and physically manipulate your grades. The Tangent Wave offers a variety of controls, ranging from Color Balls, Command Keys to Precision Knobs. The controls utilized by LiveGrade are depicted below. 51 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support Tangent Wave 1. The Precision Knobs each manipulate one specific aspect of your grade, such as ‘Saturation’ or ‘Midtones Red’. 2. The Page Buttons allow you to cycle through different configurations of the Precision Knobs. Depending on the page, the knobs control different aspects of your grade. 3. The Status Display shows the meaning and value of multiple controls. It is split into two lines and nine columns. The first line displays the meaning and value of the respective Precision Knob above, such as ‘Saturation’ of ‘Mid R’, standing for ‘Midtones Red’. The second line displays the meaning of the respective command button below. 4. The Command Keys perform the following commands from left to right: New Grade, Update Grade, Apply Selected Grade, Bypass Color, Show Original Signal, Enable False Color and Set To Neutral. 5. The Color Balls manipulate the Hue and Staturation values of their respective color ranges. 6. The Color Wheels manipulate the Level value of their respective color range. 7. The Wheel/Ball Reset buttons reset the values of the Wheel/Ball right next to it. Connecting the Tangent Wave panel Please follow these steps to get LiveGrade up and running with your Tangent Wave panel: 1. Start the LiveGrade software 2. Connect the Tangent Wave panel to your Mac 3. Wait until the Artist Color panel is recognized, indicated by a blue glow at the lower left of the main window. (see below) 4. You are ready to grade! Preferences for your Tangent Wave Device 52 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support 1. Choose “Preferences…” from the “LiveGrade” Menu Bar (see fig.5) or use the keyboard shortcut “⌘+,” figure 5: “Preference Selection” 2. You can customize the level of sensitivity for your panel by using the slider depicted below. figure 6: “General Preference” figure 7: “Hardware Panels Sensitivity” Avid Artist Color setup 53 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support Avid Artist Color panel LiveGrade allows you to connect hardware grading panels, including the Avid Artist Color, to precisely and physically manipulate your grades. The Avid Artist Color offers a variety of controls, ranging from Color Balls, Soft Keys to Precision Knobs. The controls utilized by LiveGrade are depicted below. Euphonix Artist Color 1. The Precision Knobs each manipulate one specific aspect of your grade, such as ‘Saturation’ or ‘Shadows Green’. 2. The Page Change buttons allow you to cycle through different configurations of the Precision Knobs. Depending on the page, the knobs control different aspects of your grade. 3. The Knob Display shows the meaning and value of multiple controls. It is split into two lines and six columns. The first line displays the meaning of the Color Balls and Wheels, such as ‘Midtones L’. The two left columns represent the left Color Wheel and Ball and so forth. Once you turn a Wheel or Ball, it’s value is displayed instead of its meaning. The same holds for the second line, which displays the meaning and value for the corresponding Precision Knob below. 4. The Soft Keys perform the following commands from left to right: New Grade, Update Grade, Apply Selected Grade, Bypass Color, Show Original Signal, Enable False Color and Set To Neutral. Please read section ‘Configuring the Soft Keys’ below, on how to change the default assignment. 5. The Color Balls manipulate the Hue and Staturation values of their respective color ranges. 6. The Color Wheels manipulate the Level value of their respective color range. 7. The Wheel/Ball Reset buttons reset the values of the Wheel/Ball right next to it. Connecting the Avid Artist Color panel Please follow these steps to get LiveGrade up and running with your Avid Artist Color panel. Please refer to the Euphonix Artist Color User Guide on how to connect your Artist Color panel to your Mac. 1. 2. 3. 4. Connect the Artist Color panel to your Mac Start the EUControl software Start the LiveGrade software Click the refresh button at the lower left of the LiveGrade main window (see below) 54 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support 5. Wait until the Artist Color panel is recognized, indicated by a blue glow. 6. You are ready to grade! Configuring the Soft Keys The Avid Artist Color is equipped with nine Soft Keys (see screenshot). The commands performed by these Soft Keys can be freely assigned by you. Please follow these steps to configure the Soft Keys according to your needs: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Start the LiveGrade software Start the EUControl software Switch to the ‘Soft Keys’ tab The EUControl software should show LiveGrade as the active application and should display the default Command / Soft Key mapping (see screenshot below) Select any of the Soft Keys Click the ‘Command…’ button In the command window select the command you want to assign to the selected Soft Key Close the command window Once you’re done, click the ‘Save’ button EUControl LiveGrade Commands Preferences for your Avid Artist Color 1. Choose “Preferences…” from the “LiveGrade” Menu Bar (see fig.5) or use the keyboard shortcut “⌘+,” figure 5: “Preference Selection” 2. You can customize the level of sensitivity for your panel by using the slider depicted below. 55 LiveGrade Pro Manual Grading Panel Support figure 6: “General Preference” figure 7: “Hardware Panels Sensitivity” 56 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features Advanced features LiveGrade PRO iOS Remote Along with LiveGrade PRO 2.0, the LiveGrade PRO Remote iOS app has been released. This app will let you use any iOS device to remotely control basic functions like applying grades form the library, showing original signal, by-passing color and showing False Color while away from the computer. figure 1: iOS Remote In order to use the remote, open LiveGrade’s Preferences panel and check the «Enable LiveGrade Remote Access» check box as shown in Figure 2: figure 2: Remote preferences At this point, any iOS device with the LiveGrade PRO Remote app connected to the same wireless network will be able to control LiveGrade PRO. For this reason, we recommend to set a password in the Preferences panel. The LiveGrade PRO iOS Remote is available from the App Store. False Color mode in LiveGrade LiveGrade has two False Color modes, which show areas of a certain brightness with different colors. These modes are called «Ranges» and «Gradient». To switch between both False Color modes, users have to modify LiveGrade’s preferences as shown in figure 1: 57 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features Figure 1: False Color Mode preferences With the Ranges mode, LiveGrade displays four different colors: Blue: Colors near black clipping Green: Colors around 18% medium grey Pink: Colors around one stop over 18% medium grey (Caucasian skin) Yellow: Colors near white clipping All other areas are shown in black and white for better perception of the highlighted areas. The Gradient mode shows a continuous range of video brightness levels from 0 to 100 IRE. The range starts from blue for clipped shadows (0 IRE) to white for clipped highlights (100 IRE). NOTE: These values are chosen to help determine the exposure of an ARRI Alexa Log-C image. For other cameras with other response curves there might be deviations. An example can be found in Figure 2: 58 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features Figure 2: False Color with LiveGrade showing the «Ranges» and «Gradient» modes You can enable the false color mode in the bottom bar of the LiveGrade main window: Figure 3: Enabling False Color mode in LiveGrade. User Interface Dimming The user interface has been refined with LiveGrade PRO 2.0 to meet the needs of on set low light environments. 59 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features figure 1: sunglasses icon In addition to the darker interface, users are able to enter the Low Brightness mode by clicking on the Sunglasses icon (figure 1). This will decrease the brightness of the entire user interface to the setting defined in the preferences panel. figure 2: preferences panel To modify this value, simply use the Dim Mode slider under the UI Appearance section. Color management with ICC profiles in LiveGrade For a color managed workflow for displaying digital images on a monitor, the color profiles of the source image data as well as the display device must be known. Source images Images sent as SDI Signals usually conform to the Rec.709 color space. So for example the Alexa’s output can be set to Rec.709 directly or the LiveGrade application converts the Log-C signal from an Alexa to a Rec.709 signal. 60 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features Display devices Reference monitors with SDI inputs usually come with their own calibration tools so that they always conform e.g. to Rec.709. When you use the HDLink devices to transform an SDI signal to HDMI, DisplayPort or DVI, you will have a monitor attached, that is most probably not calibrated to the Rec.709 color space. Color management For computers color management takes care about the proper transform of image data so that it is displayed properly on a certain device. So for example on Apple’s OSX the ColorSync system transforms the image before it sent to the monitor in according to the monitors characteristics. This is done by using ICC profiles to characterize image sources such as QuickTime clips as well as display devices such as monitors. LiveGrade LiveGrade can use the ICC profiles available for a certain monitor to do the same color management. For more information on how to set up the ICC profiles in the device manager see the article http://kb.pomfort.com/?p=238. In figure 1 you can see the color pipeline for ARRI Alexa that LiveGrade sets up to apply it to images going through a HDLink box: Figure 1: Color pipeline for Alexa with LiveGrade ICC profiles for your monitor There are two possibilities for getting the right ICC profile for use in LiveGrade. Either the ICC profile comes with the display or is downloaded from a database of such profiles (e.g. http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/icc_profiles.htm ), or you create it yourself by using a color probe and a profiling software. To give you an idea, here are the basic steps needed to create an ICC profile for example with the I1 Display Pro probe by X-Rite: 1. Attach the DVI/DisplayPort/HDMI monitor that you want to use with LiveGrade and HDLink later to your computer. 2. Start the profiling application (e.g. the i1Profiler application that comes with the i1 Display Pro probe). 3. Attach the color probe to your monitor. The probe is a small device that measures the colors displayed by the display. 61 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features 4. Perform the profiling. The profiling application will display a bunch of colors on the monitor, the probe will measure these colors and from this information an ICC profile is created. 5. Save the resulting ICC profile for the monitor. 6. Remove the monitor from your computer and attach it to the HDLink box. 7. In LiveGrades open the device manager and load the freshly created ICC profile for the attached monitor / HDLink. Note: If you experience bending artifacts in the image while using ICC profiles you can limit the use of ICC profiles to display curves in the preferences. You can find more info and examples here http://kb.pomfort.com/?p=303. Conclusion The resulting color reproduction will be much closer to what you would see on a reference monitor as without the profile. Computer monitors come with all kinds of “wide gamut” and “super contrast” panels that are far away from the way smaller color space and gamut of Rec.709. Your image will in almost any case look way too saturated and crunchy without the ICC profile. This can finally be corrected by using ICC profiles for HDMI/DisplayPort/DVI monitors with LiveGrade. LiveGrade - Curve Editor The curve editor allows you to precisely grade your footage. To add a point just click on the curve, and in order to modify it’s value just drag and drop. To remove a point simply move it out of the curve editor’s window. When you move your mouse over the curve editor, the graph shows you the value of the exact point where it is. In LiveGrade you can find two types of curve editors: CDL mode curve editor: Figure 1. CDL mode curve editor 62 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features It lets you modify all points freely You can change black and white points Alexa mode curve editor: Figure 2. Alexa mode curve editor Fixed black and white points Template curve with Alexa’s default tone map “Approximate Curve” button to reset your modifications LiveGrade's "Cube-o-Scope" LiveGrade offers an unique visualization of the resulting lookup table (3D LUT) of all color transformations. It assists in interactively manipulating colors of an SDI signal and visualizes the changes in code values. The Cube-o-Scope displays entries of a 3-dimensional lookup table in their source color and their destination position. So for example if you change the highlight values to a more greenish color, you will see all corresponding color values move to the green corner; if you change the saturation, the color values will move the central, neutral position of the 3D cube. The visualized 3D LUT includes all color transformations of the SDI signal such as: Legal / extended range SDI settings (if applied), ICC profiles (if applied), and the color transformation of the current grading mode. 63 LiveGrade Pro Manual Advanced features Cube-o-Scope has two display modes: It can display in an RGB cube (figure 1) and in an HSV cylinder (figure 2). Use the selector buttons (yellow rectangle in figure 1+2) below the visualization to change the display mode. To inspect all aspects of the lookup table properly the visualization (cube or cylinder) can be rotated around by click-dragging on the visualization. figure 1: The visualization of a 3D LUT in LiveGrade’s Cube-o-Scope panel – RGB figure 2: The visualization of a 3D LUT in LiveGrade’s Cube-o-Scope panel – HSV Install of Latest Pluto Firmware ** Please note that this article targets only LiveGrade PRO users ** In order to get a good performance and experience with LiveGradePRO and Pandora Pluto it is necessary to have the latest firmware update on your Pluto device. In order to get that you need to install the latest Pluto software that checks automatically for the latest firmware. You can find that software on the Pandora Support Website or by clicking on this link to download version 1.27 for Mac which is required as a minimum. If you have any further question please contact [email protected] we are pleased to help. 64 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Migrate a license from one computer to another You can move a license of a Pomfort product from one computer to another. This may be useful if you move from an older Mac to a new model. There are two activities involved: Unregistering the license from the old computer and registering the license on the new computer. Please note, that you need an internet connection for the following steps. 1. Unregistering the license from the old computer You now have to perform the following steps: Open the License Panel by choosing “Licenses…” from the application menu. Click on ”Deactivate License”. The Pomfort application will stop working on this machine and the license is free to use on another machine. 2. Registering the license on the new computer Let’s assume you already have the application installed on your new computer. You now have to perform the following steps: Open the program, the License Panel will appear. If not, choose “Licenses…” from the application menu. Click on “Add License…” and insert the license key you received after purchase. How to reset LiveGrade’s Library and Preferences In the unusual event that LiveGrade is not able to launch, you will have to reset its Library and Preferences. Warning: This can’t be undone, deleting the library will delete the grading history, preset grades and grade groups. Reset LiveGrade’s Library To reset the Library, please follow these steps: 1. Close LiveGrade app 2. In Finder press ⌘⇧G and copy&paste the following line in the dialog box: ~/Library/Application Support/Pomfort/LiveGrade2 3. Rename the LiveGradeMaster.psdb file to LiveGradeMaster_old.psdb and delete it afterwards. All the grading history, preset grades and grade groups will be backed up in the old database. 4. Open the LiveGrade app again, automatically creating a new library. 65 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting Reset preferences In order to reset LiveGrade’s preferences, open a Terminal window. Then copy and paste the following line: defaults delete com.pomfort.LiveGrade2 Press “return” and the preferences will be reset. Now LiveGrade should start as usual. Can I convert ASC-CDL, Alexa Looks, and LUTs This article tries to clarify the conceptual differences between LUTs, ASC-CDL and Alexa Look files and answers the question if and how these formats can be converted between each other. Parameter files: ASC-CDL and Alexa Look files ASC-CDL and Alexa Look files contain parameters color transformations specific to each format. Behind both color transformations there stands a well defined mathematical formula. Both ASC-CDL files and Alexa Look files store the parameters in a custom XML format. ASC-CDL For example the formula for CDL consists of some multiplication, addition and power functions and a saturation function. Figure 1: Formula for CDL The notations is read as follows: F is the name of the formula, with the followinng intput values: t is the input RGB triple o is the offset or “shadows” values for each color channel p is the power or “midtones” values for each color channel s is the slope or “highlights” values for each channel, sat is the saturation value, t’ is the output RGB triple, and F Saturation is the formula for saturation. Alexa Looks The formula for Alexa Looks is a bit more complex, it consists of several functions such as matrix, a curve and also similar elements as the CDL formula. The formulas of ASC-CDL and Alexa Looks are different in a way that you can’t convert the parameters for the ASC-CDL color transformation to Alexa Look values or vice versa. Lookup tables: LUT files A LUT file is a representation of a color transformation. Such a color transformation can be any modification of colors. So a LUT can represent for example a simple color transformation such as an 66 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting overall slight rise in brightness as well as a much more complex transformation with a luma key that desaturates the blacks. To create a LUT the given color transformation is applied to a fixed (usually large) set of colors. In the following example (figure 2) we apply a brightness transformation to a very small, fixed set of 27 colors. Figure 2: Creation of a simple LUT from a brightness transformation The left color patches are the fixed set of input values, the resulting LUT contains the color values of the right color patches. A typical LUT doesn’t contain just 27 values but usually tens of thousands of values to cover more different colors. To apply a LUT to an image, the color of each pixel gets looked up in the set of input colors (in the example the patches on the left) and is replaced by the corresponding color of the LUT (in the example the patches on the left). If a color can’t be found in the input colors, the resulting color has to be interpolated between similar colors. For LUT files several proprietary formats exist, but all consist on a huge set of numbers. Transforming ASC-CDL and Alexa Look files into LUTs Both ASC-CDL and Alexa Look files can be transformed in to LUT files. Figure 3 illustrates that with an example 3x3x3 (27 element) LUT. A typical (33x33x33) LUT would contain much more (35.937) elements. Figure 3: Creating LUTs from example ASC CDL and Alexa Look Transforming a LUT into Alexa Look or ASC-CDL values ? The way back from a LUT file to Alexa Look or ASC-CDL values is generally not possible. As an example figure 3 shows a LUT that leaves all colors the same – except that it replaces the green color by a medium blue. 67 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting Figure 4: There is no generic method for deriving a color transform and parameters from a LUT This given example LUT can’t be represented by a ASC-CDL or a Alexa Look color transformation. Even if a LUT might not include such “exotic” color transformations as in our example, you cannot find parameters for the ASC-CDL or Alexa Look formulas that matches a given LUT. Depending on the software and the color controls that created the given LUT, you can’t even get close. The only exceptions are LUTs that already have been create from an Alexa Look or ASC-CDL – but even then there is no common algorithm to get these parameters back. Avoiding Bending Artifacts with ICC profiles in LiveGrade For use in the HDLink box LiveGrade transforms ICC profiles into 3D LUTs together with all other look processing. Due to the limited number of nodes in the HDLink’s 3D LUT support (17 x 17 x 17 nodes), some ICC profiles may produce colored bending when used in LiveGrade. Figure 1: Sample images of colored bending when using ICC profiles. You can limit the use of ICC to display curves, which in most cases avoids bending artifacts. You can set that in the Preferences dialog of LiveGrade: Figure 2: Configuring ICC processing of LiveGrade 68 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting Switching this setting on has the cause that only the response- or gamma-curve of the ICC profile is applied, but the matrix for the primary colors is skipped. Troubleshooting connecting with Pluto ** Please note that this article targets only LiveGrade PRO users ** In case you have trouble connecting to your Pluto device you can try one of the following steps: Restart your “Pluto Device Manager” application and LiveGrade PRO. Restart your Pluto Device. Check if your device is connected via Ethernet. Open your Pandora “Pluto Device Manager” again and check if your Pluto device is listed. Please be aware that it might take a while till the list “Pluto Device Manager” refresh. To make sure your network connection to your Pluto device is still alive you can use the command line tool to prove that. Steps: 1. Open a Finder window and hit Cmd+Shift+U on your keyboard 2. Open the Terminal application 3. Type in the command line tool “ping” and the IP address of your Pluto Box e.g. “ping 192.168.2.50″ 69 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting 4. If you receive a similar screen like above you should check, Ethernet connections on the device, the network cable, network hubs and other possible cause of defect. 5. Try to restart the Pluto device. Please remember that the Network controller of the Pluto takes a little bit longer to boot, than the signal processor. If that solved the problem your screen should look like the screen below. If your problem still exists try to restart LiveGrade PRO and send us a detailed bug report (Menu -> “Help -> Send Bug Report…”). We are pleased and do our utmost to fix the problem. Trouble shooting HDLink devices in LiveGrade 70 LiveGrade Pro Manual Troubleshooting LiveGrade is made to control multiple HDLink devices. With LiveGrade you can switch between attached devices, manage them in the device manager, and control the selected one with the color controls independently. If you read “No devices found, device simulation mode” below the “Manage Devices…” button, no HDLink device could be found. Press the Reload button besides the “Manage Devices…” button to search for devices. If you still have troubles with controlling HDLink devices, please check the following things: Restart (power-cycle) all devices Make sure the latest firmware is installed on the HDLink devices.You can download and install firmware on the HDLink devices through the HDLink Utility provided by Blackmagic Design: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/support/ Can you control each of the devices alone (without the others attached via USB)? You can check this either with LiveGrade or the HDLink utility from Blackmagic. Do this to rule out the possibility of a broken USB cable etc. Can you blink each of the devices from LiveGrade? Open the device manager and press the “Blink” button for each of the attached devices. The monitor should blink in a sequence of red, green, and blue. If yes, LiveGrade detected and properly controls the device. Is each of the devices connected to a label in the device manager? Make sure each device is attached to a label with the green draggable lines and that you can select each one of the devices in the device selector from the main window. To control each device independently, you have to select it with the device/label buttons on the left of the color controls in the main window before controlling it. NOTE: If the LUT isn’t applied to SDI-out at all, you might have an old firmware installed on the HDLink device. Some older firmware versions don’t allow LUTs on all outputs. Please make sure your HDLink device is running the latest firmware. For more information about the operation of HDLink devices please see the HDLink Manual at blackmagic-design.com There are rare occasions where the HDLink comes into a state where it’s recognized by LiveGrade as well as by the HDLink Utility, but color changes in LiveGrade as well HDLink Utility have no effect on the image. In this case it may help if you create a random grade, send that to the HDLink’s NVRAM by choosing “Store Grades in HDLink’s NVRAM…” from the file menu, and power-cycle the HDLink (remove power and all other cables for more than 10 seconds). 71
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