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Steve Shaw

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    England

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    http://www.lightillusion.com

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  1. UK based colour management specialist Light Illusion has developed a new application for its MatchLight IMS (Image Matching System) to guarantee the viability of long-term film based archiving for digital images. With the explosion in digital cinematography capture, and the associated difficulty in providing guaranteed long-term archiving of the images, Light Illusion was asked by a number of clients to look at possible long-term archive solutions based on the use of standard film stocks, as film has unquestionably the best long-term archiving qualities of any storage medium presently in use. The problem with the use of film has been guaranteeing the accuracy of the recovered digital image due to the variable nature of the recorded film image and setting within the film transfer scanner or telecine. Light Illusion’s solution overcomes these problems completely. Kodak have recently released their Color Asset Protection Film, but without associated guarantees for the level of colour accuracy, range, linearity, etc., required for true accurate archiving, making the stock less than ideal as it stands for real-world archiving and later digital image recovery. Therefore, the requirement was to develop a process for film based archiving that automatically retains the digital image in as near perfect state as the original when the image is recovered (scanned) from the archive film, combined with the image being recorded to film in a standard human visible form, via existing standard film recording systems. Light Illusion had the core component for this process already in the Light Illusion tool-box - MatchLight IMS (Image Matching System) - which has already proved it’s worth matching on-set and dailies workflows, as well as ACES workflows for VFX operations. MatchLight IMS is a system that auto-generates a LUT from two versions of the same image (or string of images) - basically a before/after comparison, with the difference between the two being converted into a LUT for use within any colour based system, or via Vulcan, Light Illusion’s ultra fast and scalable command line application for large volume batch image processing. The use of MatchLight IMS means that by applying a short string of 'technical images' before each and every archive it is possible to guarantee the recovered image integrity after re-scanning, with the original technical images and the re-scanned versions of the same images being used within MatchLight IMS to auto generate the required calibration LUT to return the scanned images to their original colour, dynamic range, and contrast, generating a near perfect clone of the original images. The results using Kodak Intermediate stock have proven to be very, very accurate - to the point where visually the match is perfect, with just small variations being seen when technically assessing the images at a pixel level. With the need to provide reliable and true long-tern archiving for the global film and TV industry MatchLight IMS provides a perfect and guaranteed archive workflow for any film lab with film recording and film scanning capability.
  2. Art Adams - DoP, LA, USA - is one of the biggest users of Light Illusion's various Gamma Curves, and in the following links talks about a number of recent Canon EOS 5D shot projects: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/canon_5d_shoots_kids_for_t-mobile/ "As usual I used Steve Shaw’s Light Illusion gamma curves for the 5D and 7D. I much prefer these curves to any of the looks I get out of the 5D’s built-in curves. Those work in a pinch, but Steve’s curves really make the camera look its best." http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/anatomy_of_a_spot_t-mobile/ "I used one of Steve Shaw’s Light Illusion gamma curves, probably #1. (Light Illusion curve #1 is great for low contrast situations as it adds a bit more “crunch” to the look. Curve #2 is better for high contrast situations as it flattens things out a bit. I haven’t found a use for curve #3. You can get all three, plus a new flatter log curve, for a very reasonable price at the Light Illusion website.)" http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/aadams/story/blue_nile_shines_thanks_to_the_canon_5d_and_apple_color/ "I should point out that the reason I was able to push the footage around as much as I did has much to do with Steve Shaw’s excellent Canon 5D gamma curves." For info on the actual Light Illusion curves see here: http://www.lightillusion.com/canoncurves.htm Cheers, Steve
  3. Additional information on LUTs, Digital Film Workflows, Calibration, and more can be found on the Light Illusion website: www.lightillusion.com Demo versions of all Light Illusion LUT and calibrations software can also be downloaded from the website, as well as an array of White Papers dealing with Digital Film workflows from Scene to Screen, as well as Digital Intermediate operation. With the calibration tools provide users can also avoid the pitfalls and problems associated with attempting to use generic LUTs for accurate calibration. Full calibration services are also provided. Please feel free to ask questions. Cheers, Steve
  4. A bit late to this thread, but the only way to calibrate any display accurately, and especially to match multiple displays, is via profiling software, a probe and 3D LUTs. The is explained in some depth on the Light Illusion website. Feel free to have a read, and ask questions if needed. www.lightillusion.com Cheers, Steve
  5. While not books (although you can print and bind the pdfs ;o) these documents may be of interest... They have been written by Steve Shaw (me!) of Light Illusion. Hope that are of help. Sign up for download here.
  6. With Alexicc you can directly burn-in LUT into the QT based images generated via RED, using a MAC with QuickTime Pro7. Alexicc batch processes clips with LUTs converted to ICC profiles. For more info see: http://www.lightillusion.com/alexicc.htm Cheers, Steve Steve Shaw LIGHT ILLUSION steve@lightillusion.com +44 (0)7765 400 908 www.lightillusion.com Skype: shaw.clan THE ART & SCIENCE OF DIGITAL IMAGING
  7. For those looking for LUT management for dailies and offline on Avid and FCP we can now supply that via the conversion of 3D LUT into ICC profiles. ICC profiles can be use directly on FCP, and via Light Illusion provided software tools for Avid. A video for Avid use can be seen here: http://homepage.mac.com/lindsayellis/dusty2.html And for FCP ICC profiles can be used via Effects>Video Filters>Quicktime>Colorsync. You can also "burn" them into clips in the "export>using quicktime conversion" window, or from within Quicktime Player 7, under Export>Video>filter>Adjustments>Colorsync. Contact me directly for further info. Steve Steve Shaw LIGHT ILLUSION steve@lightillusion.com +44 (0)7765 400 908 www.lightillusion.com Skype: shaw.clan LUTs, CUBEs + GAMMA CURVEs
  8. It simply isn't true - all monitors can have their calibration improved if the process I outlined is followed. To not attempt this - and grade and be damned - is a joke. I won't be responding further.
  9. I'm seriously hoping the majority of people on this forum are not going to agree with you here... It is not at all difficult to 'best match' any monitor to the final delivery display format with a LUT, and get the best you can. To simply say 'this will never match' and not even try is a joke. A light box with a selection of good on-aim prints is a good way to start, and then build a LUT to get the best match possible. There are also a number of free LUTs available HERE to get you started. There really is no excuse for not having the best calibration you can for the given equipment to have.
  10. The answer is yes, but to be honest the compression and chroma reduction used is a bigger problem than 8 bits. With an 8 bit image with no compression and a 4:4:4 signal it would be virtually impossible to see any difference to a 10 bit image...
  11. One of the biggest issues is calibration and matching the image you are viewing to the final deliverable. I've used a lot of different monitors/projectors for grading, but spend a lot of time making sure the calibration is accurate first - and some monitors just can't be calibrated accurately to the final deliverable format - which is still 'film' in many cases. Have a look here: http://www.lightillusion.com/usingluts.htm I also have found that single 'dark chip' projectors can be a near perfect match to the larger D-Cinema ones, and use them a lot for DI grading - I especially like the ProjectionDesign ones... Steve
  12. If the keying is done well there is no reason for the edges to look any different in the final print that to the rest of the image. However, HDcam is 4:2:2, so has less colour detail which may cause the keying to be less than ideal, although I've done a lot of HDcam keying work with no problems - depends on the kit you use. Actually, HDcam is a lot less than 4:2:2 due to the nature of the recording format... see the info on my website (linky below) As for flickering - that's down to the way film is projected, and the 'shutter angle' used on the camera when capturing (but that's 'strobing' rather than flickering). There is very little you can do to stop this. Steve
  13. Thought you might like to know that 'Highlander - The Source' has just started shooting in Lithuania with Viper Cameras provided by MotionFX. This follows 'Silenec Becomes You', shot by MotionFX earlier in the year - which some of you may have seen at the recent technology screening, VUE theatre Leicester Square. There are 4 Viper cameras being used in Filmstream mode, recording to S.two DFRs. The output from the cameras are being monitered via Digital Praxis LUTs, which are also being used for dailies deliverables for the offline. These LUTs provide balenced images under daylight/tungsten conditions, while the raw data is captured unaffected. Digtal Cinematography is starting be a serious motion picture technology, with Fincer shooting Zodiac the same way. Others are also using the technology, but not in Filmstream mode for some reason. Steve Steve Shaw Digital Praxis www.digitalpraxis.net
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