NEWSLETTER
VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6 JUNE 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
Recent Orders
Major software release for Finaliser
Ordered Finaliser as new HD tape-to-tape grading suite for their Geyer facility in Cologne, Germany.
The system will be used primarily on TV dramas and features mostly shot on Super 16 film or in HD.
Ordered 5-hour capacity Scratchbox as part of a project to restore thousands of hours of film and video material forming the ITN news archive. Scratchbox will be integrated with a Cintel telecine and Da Vinci colour corrector.
Ordered Deliverance system to undertake pan & scan and aspect ratio conversion with special emphasis on zooming and cropping rushes as well as Up and Down conversion.
Ordered Finaliser as new HD/SD “television finishing and grading” suite for their facility in central London. Finaliser will be marketed as TSI’s premium grading suite.
Ordered
16-hour capacity Scratchbox to complement their Snell & Wilcox
Archangel video restoration system. The system was also loaded with
Edifis Graduate grading & conforming software allowing the client
to also interface to their telecine areas.
Since its introduction in mid-2004, Finaliser functionality has been continuously refined, with the growing band of users actively encouraged to participate and contribute to making Finaliser the best non-liner, real-time grader on the market.
V2.1 software continues this theme of continuous improvement as well as offering a number of major new features.
The fast motion tracker allows trajectories of objects moving within the image to be tracked automatically. The adaptive correlator system enables trajectories to be optimised by analysing the image on a frame-by-frame basis. The resulting rack can then be used for any number of effects.
Masks can be “locked” to image regions; light source effects can be embedded within the image and textures applied to moving objects. The application of single or concurrent multiple tracks are all performed in real-time with absolutely no negative impact on system performance.
A range of complex dynamic shapes is generated in real-time for steering the application of grade changes and highlight, glow and flare effects. Hyperbolic ripple beams coupled with texture modulation gives a range of natural lighting effects.
Spectacular real-time light burst and flare shapes are trackable and keyframe-controlled to give a renewed sense of realism to the dullest of shots. Textured and distorted bursts buried within the image give eye-catching looks to any scene through the use of luminance keying, noise profiling and bump-mapping.
Starburst Generator – The Sun’s rays…
Dynamic
control of grain size and texture coupled with luminance mapping and
motion seeding makes for a natural film look.
Grain effects
Increased efficiency and ease of use with faster graphical response.
Copious
real-time processing enables users to be more creative. The
post-primary layers all include secondary HSI (Hue, Saturation &
Intensity) as well as traditional transfer curve control.
Each PSGL layer has been expanded to include a wider control range. Saturation controls, which dynamically vary across source level, have been added, allowing 3D tertiary control of the colorimetry.
Tertiary Saturation
A range of soft limiting and black crush & stretch effects are now easily applied. The S-curve split points are independently adjustable in the black & white parts of the curve. This means real-time independent limiting and crush effects can be achieved in just one layer. Having six available real-time layers dramatically increases creative possibilities.
Luminance secondary controls perform additive chrominance processing on high & low luminance areas of the image and a luminance threshold has been added for greater control. The additive process works particularly well on noisy images and is a mechanism to add colour to areas of the image such as sky, without time-consuming keyer configuring.
The timeline system has proved amazingly flexible at controlling the powerful signal processing firmware especially where changes are made incrementally for regions of the timeline. This has been extended to permit regions containing multiple changes, including dynamics, to be globally adjusted. A region of time can be easily selected and all parameter changes are then incrementally applied over that time period, making late changes much easier to live with.
Pre-set files contain lists of parameters with their respective values. Version 1 software applied all parameters across all timelines. Version Two software now permits selective parameters to be saved giving finer control. As an example, a mask shape can be saved without its transparency or accompanying processing. In turn, this enables the full flexibility of copy and paste to be applied between jobs as well as within them.
The new 3D tertiary controls have been used to create a range of filmic styles available as pre-set looks. These can be applied quickly using the new selective pre-set mechanism.
Offers speed benefits to allow the mundane aspects of grading to be quickly accomplished so freeing more time to be creative.
Richard Lilley – Sales Director
Edifis Limited
The Old Bakery, Hyde End Lane
Brimpton
Reading Berks
RG7 4RH
Telephone : +44 (0)118 971 2279
Fax : +44 (0)118 971 2239