Sound Forge Pro for the Mac

Sony Creative Software has been the home for an innovative set of audio and video editing and mixing tools originally developed by Sonic Foundry. These include Vegas Pro, ACID and Sound Forge, which have traditionally been tightly integrated with the Windows operating system. On the other side of the fence, Mac OS has enjoyed a wide range of creative tools, especially for audio production and post. Until recently BIAS Peak had been go-to, two-track audio editor and mastering tool for Mac-based audio engineers; but, the company has apparently withdrawn from the market, leaving an opening for some new blood to step in. Enter Sony’s Sound Forge Pro for the Mac.

Sound Forge has been the tool of choice for Windows-based audio production and now Sony has made a strong entry into the Mac creative universe. Sound Forge Pro Mac 1.0 is a comprehensive tool for audio analysis, recording, editing, processing and mastering. Although it is thought of as a two-track editor, it can deal with multi-channel files with as many as 32 embedded channels, sample rates up to 192kHz and bit depths up to 64-bit float. Since most users are going to be limited by their I/O hardware, they will likely work with 24-bit, 48kHz stereo files. To be clear, it’s designed to edit and master single files and is not a multi-track digital audio workstation application for mixing.

Sound Forge can be used as a recording application if you have an input device on your system, such as the Avid/Digidesign Mbox2 Mini that I use. Sound Forge sports a clean user interface that will appeal to the professional. It might look a tad Spartan to some, since it bucks the current trend of dark, dimensional interfaces. In other words, it’s devoid of unnecessary “chrome”. The operation is very easy to learn, thanks to a tabbed window layout, easy-to-understand controls and menus and a good user guide.

Sound Forge Pro Mac comes with a set of Sony plug-ins, as well as the iZotope mastering suite filters. In addition, Sound Forge will support many third party VST and Mac Audio Units plug-ins. I have a set of Focusrite Scarlett filters, the Waves OneKnob series and Waves Vocalrider plug-ins installed on my Mac Pro, which all show up and work properly within Sound Forge. The iZotope set is superb, so for pristine audio quality, Sound Forge is as good as it gets. I applied a Declicker noise reduction filter to an old recording from a vinyl LP. This filter did one of the best jobs I’ve heard to remove and/or reduce the record pops and clicks without adding negative artifacts to the file.

Audio filters can be applied as a processing step – meaning the filter is set and previewed and then applied to alter the file. Sound Forge also includes a real-time plug-in chain. Stack up a series of filters in the chain window and tweak the adjustments. The order can be changed and saved as a preset for later use. Simply listen to the file in real-time with the filter chain applied. If you like the result, apply these settings in a “save as” function and the file will be rendered in a faster-than-real-time “bounce”. Some filters, like Timestretch can only be applied as an effects process and won’t function as part of a real-time plug-in chain.

As an editing tool, Sound Forge lets the editor get down to the sample level. You can redraw waveforms with a pen tool in addition to the usual keyframed changes to parameters like the volume envelope. Unlike other audio editors, where volume and pan are part of the basic track window, Sound Forge gives you several ways to adjust volume. One way is to add a specific volume filter where you apply any audio keyframe adjustments. Another way is to create an event (a section of timeline) and drag the volume level up or down.

The audio editing tools are quite simplified. Selected a range you want to remove, hit the delete key and you’ve made the edit. There’s even an edit preview function so you can hear what the edit will sound like before committing. To add space, insert silence. This methodology is a bit foreign to video editors used to the way NLEs handle audio tracks. Once you make an edit in Sound Forge this way, there’s no segment in the track or cut marks on the clip indicating where the edit had been made. If you split the track into events, however, then track segment appear more familiar and you have the ability to trim, edit, slip clip segments and add crossfades at overlaps.

You can also mark up the file into regions, which may be separately exported. In the example I cited earlier of the old vinyl LP, I recorded each complete side as a single audio file. After audio clean-up in Sound Forge, the file would be broken into regions for each song on that LP side. These would finally be exported as separate regions to result in a new digital file for each individual song.

There are some missing elements in this 1.0 version. For example, Sound Forge doesn’t recognize most video files. I was able to open the audio track from an MP4 file, but not a QuickTime movie. There is no JKL transport control and no scrubbing. You can loop playback, but you cannot shuttle through the track with the mouse and hear either an analog or digital-style scrubbing sound. It’s real-time playback or nothing. The application is a good file conversion utility. If you need to generate high-quality MP3 files for clients, Sound Forge is definitely useful. Unfortunately there’s no batch conversion function. Another curious omission for an audio-centric tool is the lack of CD track layout and burning tools. I realize that we work in a file-based world, but when Adobe dropped the same tools from Audition, they ended up having to add them back in Creative Suite 6. Obviously users still feel that there’s a need for this.

Audio engineers and mixers can see the obvious benefit to another great audio tool for the Mac – especially with the demise of BIAS Peak and the end-of-life of Apple’s Soundtrack Pro. For video editors, it might be a bit more questionable. I find Sound Forge Pro to be a solid tool when you need to focus on audio-only tasks, like dialogue clean-up, noise reduction and voice-over recordings. Clients often request radio versions of the TV commercials I edit. Here again, working in a tool that’s optimized for the task is the right way to go. The lack of video support is a wrinkle, but it’s easy enough to export a WAV or AIF file from most NLEs. Then open that file in Sound Forge and work your magic.

Sony’s Sound Forge Pro Mac 1.0 is a solid first step to bring this application to Mac users. I haven’t had any hiccups with it, in spite of the fact that it’s a 1.0 product. If Sony expands on some of the missing items, this will become the go-to professional audio tool for Mac users, just as it has been for Windows.

Originally written for DV magazine / Creative Planet Network

©2013 Oliver Peters

PluralEyes 3

The concept of synchronizing clips by sound seems so obvious in retrospect, but when Bruce Sharpe showed his first version of PluralEyes at a small NAB booth, it struck many as nothing short of magic. The first version was designed to sync multiple consumer and prosumer video cameras by aligning their sound tracks in the absence of recorded timecode. With the unanticipated popularity of the HDSLR cameras, like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II in late 2009, PluralEyes gained a big boost. It became the easiest way to sync 5D clips with double-system audio recorded using low-cost devices, such as the Zoom H4n handheld digital audio recorder. PluralEyes expanded from a plug-in for Final Cut Pro to add the standalone DualEyes, used to sync double-system sound projects. In a very short time period, PluralEyes went from an unknown to a brand name synonymous with a product or process, much like Coke or Kleenex.

Now that Sharpe’s Singular Software products are part of the Red Giant Software family, PluralEyes is available as the new and improved, standalone PluralEyes 3 (currently in version 3.1). It encompasses all of the features of both the original PluralEyes and of DualEyes. This means that PluralEyes 3 supports two basic processes: a) synchronizing camera files with external audio, and b) synchronizing multiple cameras to each other or to a common sound track. This is all done by comparing the audio tracks against each other without the use of timecode, clapsticks or other common reference points.

PluralEyes 3 analyzes and matches audio waveform shapes to accomplish this, so without belaboring the obvious, all camera files have to include an audio track recorded in the same general environment. Since PluralEyes uses very good audio analysis tools and audio normalization to aid the process, the camera audio does not have to be pristine. The most common scenario is a high-quality audio recording as a separate digital audio file and camera audio that was recorded solely with the onboard mic. Naturally the cleaner this onboard recording is, the more likely that synchronization will be successful.

The new features of PluralEyes 3 include a brand new user interface, faster synchronization, NLE round-tripping support (Apple Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro) and direct exporting of new, synchronized media files. To synchronize double-system projects, simply drag your camera files into the interface’s camera section and the audio tracks into the audio section. PluralEyes 3 lets you create multiple bins as tabs across the top of the interface for use in organizing your files. For instance, you might want a separate bin for each camera or shoot date or location.

As you add the camera and audio clips to these sections, they will be lined up in ascending order within the lower timeline window. Once the timeline is filled, click “synchronize” and watch PluralEyes 3 do its magic. If the audio recording is low, you can opt to level the audio (normalization) during this process. That will make it easier for successful matching, but it’s an extra step, so the total synchronizing process will take a little longer. Part of PluralEyes 3’s new interface is a 2-up view, which makes it possible to see how the audio tracks align. This view will aid you in adjusting sync if needed.

When synchronization is complete, PluralEyes 3 offers several export options. If you are sending these files to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Pro X, simply export the appropriate XML version. You can choose to replace the camera audio tracks with the audio file’s track as part of this step. Then import that XML into the NLE you selected. When I ran this test with FCP X, the export options let me send two new Events (synchronized clips plus synchronized clips with replaced audio) and a new sequence (Project) representing the PluralEyes timeline. This timeline had both sets of audio channels turned on, so you’ll have to mute the camera tracks first if you intend to use this timeline.

A new feature is the ability to export new media files. For instance, if you want new clips where the high-quality audio has replaced the camera’s reference track, PluralEyes 3 will export these and write new media files. The advantage is that this approach is independent of your NLE choice, making the self-contained, synchronized files easy to migrate between systems.

PluralEyes 3 can also sync multiple cameras for a multi-camera edit session. First, start in the NLE by building a timeline with the clips for each camera placed on a separate video track. Video 1 = camera 1, video 2 = camera 2 and so on. Multiple broken clips from the same camera angle should be placed back-to-back on the same track. In the case of FCP X, group multiple clips from the same camera into a single secondary storyline, before proceeding to the next camera. Once you are done, export an XML file for that sequence. For Avid Media Composer projects, export an AAF file with the media linked and not embedded.

The XML or AAF file is then imported into PluralEyes 3. You’ll end up with a timeline that is populated with the different camera angles corresponding to your NLE sequence. Next, click “synchronize” and watch as PluralEyes realigns the camera clips by referencing the sound tracks against each other. The 2-up view is handy to compare two cameras (as well as their audio tracks) against each other, in case you have any question regarding their synchronization. Once this process is done, export a new XML or AAF from PluralEyes. Import that file into the NLE and you will have a timeline with camera clips rearranged in sync. This would represent what editors typically call a “sync map”. In the case of FCP X, the PluralEyes 3 export settings offer the option of exporting new events, as well as multicam clips. These can be used in FCP X’s standard multicam editing workflow. Open the FCP X angle viewer for access to editing between camera angles.

Red Giant’s PluralEyes 3 is a major advance over the original concept. It’s no longer tied to a single NLE, but is useful both in standalone and NLE-specific workflows. As editors deal with an ever-increasing, diverse spectrum of media sources, a tool like PluralEyes is an essential part of the kit. It was a no-brainer on day one, but even more so in this new and improved version.

Originally written for DV magazine / Creative Planet Network

©2013 Oliver Peters

AJA Video Systems T-Tap

Thunderbolt is the latest protocol for peripherals used by Apple on its computers to carry audio, video, data and power over a single cable. The protocol combines Apple’s DisplayPort technology and PCIe into a single connectivity path. The technology can be used to daisy-chain numerous devices, including storage, monitors and broadcast I/O hardware. Thunderbolt ports are currently available on Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and iMac computers. Manufacturers, such as AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design and Matrox, have embraced Thunderbolt technology and produced a number of specific capture and output devices designed to be used with it.

The newest Thunderbolt unit to hit the market and start shipping is the T-Tap from AJA. The T-Tap follows AJA’s previously released Io XT, which places much of the power of AJA’s popular KONA cards into a Thunderbolt-enabled external unit. In spite of the fact that Io XT packs a lot of punch into a small, lightweight unit, there was a need for an even smaller product. Thus came the T-Tap, a small, robust, external adapter designed only for broadcast output and monitoring. Without input electronics, the size of the unit could be reduced to a palm-sized, metal-enclosed adapter. It is ideal for the editor who just needs to connect his laptop or iMac to an external monitor or recording deck.

The AJA T-Tap is a bus-powered, end-of-chain Thunderbolt product. This means it has to be last in a series of Thunderbolt devices. For example, if you used a Thunderbolt-enabled Promise Pegasus storage array, the T-Tap could be connected to the Pegasus’ looped Thunderbolt output port. Both storage and T-Tap would be connected in a serial path from the single port on a MacBook Pro. In the case of an iMac with dual Thunderbolt ports or the use of FireWire, USB3 or internal storage, the T-Tap would be directly connected to the Mac. Neither type of connection significantly impacts the performance of getting video out through the T-Tap due to Thunderbolt’s bidirectional 10Gbps throughput. Full bandwidth, uncompressed audio and video are sent over the single Thunderbolt cable to the T-Tap. In turn, it can be connected to any gear with SDI or HDMI connections (or both simultaneously). The T-Tap is capable of passing 10-bit, uncompressed SD, HD and even 2K (2048 x 1080) video with up to eight channels of embedded 24-bit digital audio.

Setting up the T-Tap configuration

I did my testing connecting the AJA T-Tap to an Apple 17” 2.2GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro running OS 10.8.2. The unit was directly connected to the laptop’s Thunderbolt port with Apple ProRes LT media playing from an external G-DRIVE mini. This was connected to the laptop and bus-powered using the FireWire 800 port. The T-Tap’s SDI output was connected to a TV Logic monitor, while the HDMI was simultaneously connected to a Panasonic plasma display.

Currently the T-Tap works with a variety of editing hosts, including Avid Media Composer/Symphony/NewsCutter (6.5/10.5), Apple Final Cut Pro 7/X and Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. AJA does not employ a unified installer, so the basic driver software package that you download enables the unit to work with Apple products. Use with Adobe or Avid systems requires the download of additional plug-ins. The package also includes a number of AJA utilities, such as software to output QuickTime media files through the T-Tap without launching any other NLE application. T-Tap does not work with Autodesk Smoke 2013, yet, nor does it work with DaVinci Resolve, since Blackmagic Design restricts output to their own products.

Set-up of the T-Tap is controlled through the AJA Control Panel. If you’ve used AJA’s other products, like KONA cards, then you’ll be familiar with its use. I did my testing with FCP 7 and FCP X. Under the “legacy” version of Final Cut Pro, you have quite a lot of direct control over video output using FCP’s pulldown menu for playback and viewing. With FCP X, you have to set the desired format that matches your editing timeline in the AJA Control Panel, before launching FCP X. The T-Tap is intended for monitoring and synchronous output only, so there is no VTR control port on the unit. You can certainly “roll and record” a deck on-the-fly, but there is no software control for frame-accurate output from any of the NLEs to a recorder.

The T-Tap supports all of the popular video frame rates, as well as true 24, 30 and 60fps. Video can be interlaced, progressive or progressive segmented frame (PsF) and the HDMI output supports both YUV and RGB video (host software-dependent). Generally the video is simultaneously played through both the SDI and HDMI ports, but some frame rate/scanning combos, such as 23.98 PsF, will not be compatible with HDMI and will display only on the SDI output.

Working with projects

I found that some settings in the AJA Control Panel would sort of override the host NLE’s setting. This is especially true of FCP X. For example, I was playing a 23.98 timeline, but had the T-Tap set to 29.97i output. It did display as a 1080i signal, but with a 2:2:2:4 rather than the proper 2:3:2:3 pulldown cadence added. However, when I played the same media in FCP 7 using a 1080p/23.98 sequence, but with the playback set to 29.97i in the FCP menu, the output and display used the correct pulldown cadence. This has less to do with the capabilities of the T-Tap and more to do with what the host software allows or takes advantage of. Although there is no secondary format (upconverted or downconverted) output, as with the KONA cards, you can set the primary playback to be downconverted from within the NLE software. Testing the same 1080p/23.98 sequence in FCP 7, I was able to change the playback settings to 720p/59.94 (downsampled and cadence inserted) and the T-Tap performed beautifully, just like a standard PCIe card.

A few other niceties are worth noting. You can add timecode overlays from the sequence’s timecode (“burn-in” windows) to the output. HDMI protocol can be set for HDMI or DVI, when using an adapter for a DVI display. The RGB range can be set to full (0-1023) or SMPTE (64-940) levels. Settings can be saved or recalled from a Presets window.

Scrubbing, skimming and playback performance was very responsive with either of the Final Cut applications. Running this hardware combo and Apple ProRes LT media felt no less agile than running on a MacPro with fast storage and a PCIe card, like a KONA.

Overall, I found the T-Tap to be  great little unit, but there are a couple of things to make note of. First of all, the T-Tap doesn’t include its own Thunderbolt cable. This is typical of most manufacturers, but you’ll need to factor in another $49 (Apple) for a cable. The T-Tap is also very warm to the touch. There’s a lot of processing going on, of course, but it was considerably warmer than the G-DRIVE sitting right next to it. The AJA Io XT that I tested a few months ago felt cooler, but it is larger and uses a hard plastic case. A Thunderbolt device carries up to 10 watts of power, so metal was used in the smaller T-Tap to dissipate heat.

Sizing up the competition

I would be remiss if I didn’t address the competition. Both AJA Video Systems and Blackmagic Design often compete head-to-head by offering similar products. Usually the AJA products are a little more expensive and that’s just as true here. The T-Tap lists for $295, which is pretty low to start with, but of course, the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini Monitor is less. The relative difference may sound like a lot, but it really isn’t, as both cost so little to start with. Both companies make great products, but if either of these products are on your radar, then make sure you compare them as apples-to-apples with the features that are most important to you. The AJA T-Tap does include some notable features that you may need. There’s 2K output, RGB support to an HP DreamColor display and a 3-year warranty. As someone who has dealt with AJA over the years on a few minor support issues, I can certainly attest to the fact that their customer response is one of the best in the business. That alone may be worth paying a few bucks more for.

As productions move into a file-based world and smaller, more capable computers can handle the load, we become less dependent on cards that you have to install into a workstation just to monitor your video. Yet, the need to provide broadcast quality monitoring and real-time output to recorders, routers, servers and switchers has not been diminished. AJA has been a key part of this migration with the right products to serve video professionals. The T-Tap continues as part of the legacy. It’s small and robust, yet packs a punch where it counts.

Originally written for DV magazine / Creative Planet Network

©2013 Oliver Peters

Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle

The video industry has been moving towards complete file-based workflows, but that doesn’t replace all of the functions that traditional videotape recorders served. To bridge the gap, companies such as AJA, Blackmagic Design, Convergent Design, Sound Devices and others had developed solid state recorders for field and studio operation. I recently tested Blackmagic Design’s HyperDeck Shuttle 2, which is touted as the world’s smallest uncompressed recorder.

Blackmagic’s HyperDeck series includes the Shuttle and two Studio versions. The latter are rack-mounted VTR-replacement devices equipped with dual SSDs (solid state drives). The Shuttle is a palm-sized, battery powered “brick” recorder. A single SSD slides into the Shuttle enclosure, which is only a bit bigger than the drive itself – enough to accommodate battery, controls and internal electronics. To keep the unit small, controls are basic record and transport buttons, much like that of a consumer CD player. You can operate it connected to an external power supply, on-board camera power or battery-powered. The internal, non-removable, rechargeable battery holds its charge for a little over one hour of continuous operation. The purchased unit includes a 12-volt power supply and a kit of international AC plug adapters.

The HyperDeck Shuttle includes 3Gb/s SDI and HDMI for digital capture and playback. Recording formats include 10-bit uncompressed QuickTime movies, as well as Avid DNxHD 175x or 220x in either QuickTime or MXF-wrapped variations. At the time I tested this device, it would not record Apple ProRes codecs. In November, Blackmagic Design released a free software update (version 3.6), which added ProRes HQ to the uncompressed and DNxHD options. It also added closed captioning support to all HyperDeck models.

Since the unit is designed for minimal interaction, all system set-up is handled by an external software utility. Install this application on your computer, connect the HyperDeck Shuttle via USB and then you’ll be able to select recording formats and other preferences, such as whether or not to trigger recording via SDI (for on-camera operation). The unit has no menu, which means you cannot alter, rename or delete files using the button controls or the software utility. There is a display button, but that was not active in the software version that I tested.

Solid state recording

The SSD used is a standard 2.5” SATA III drive. Several different brands and types have been tested and qualified by Blackmagic Design for use with the HyperDeck units. These drives can be plugged into a generic hard drive dock, like a Thermaltake BlacX Duet to format the drive and copy/erase any files. The SSD was Mac-formatted, so it was simply a matter of pulling the drive out of the Shuttle’s slot and plugging it into the Duet, which was connected to my Mac Pro tower. This allowed me to copy files from the drive to my computer, as well as to move files back to the SSD for later playback from the Shuttle. (At IBC, Blackmagic also announced ExFAT support with the HyperDeck products.) The naming convention is simple, so recorded files are labeled Capture001, Capture002 and so on. Unfortunately, it does not embed reel numbers into the QuickTime files. Placing a similarly named file in the correct format (more on that in a moment) onto the drive makes it possible to use the Shuttle as a portable master playback device for presentations, film festivals, etc.

My evaluation unit came equipped with an 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD. This is an off-the-shelf drive that runs under $200 at most outlets. By comparison, a Sony 124-minute HDCAM-SR videotape is now more expensive. It’s amazing that this SSD will sustain extended 10-bit uncompressed 1080i/59.94 recording and playback, when even most small drive arrays can’t do that! In practical terms, a 240GB drive will not hold a lot of 1080i 10-bit uncompressed media, so it’s more likely that you would use Avid DNxHD 220X or Apple ProRes HQ for the best quality. You could easily fit over 90 minutes of content on the same SSD using one of these codecs and not really see any difference in image quality.

In actual use

I tested the unit with various codecs and frame rates. As a general rule, it’s not a good idea to mix different flavors on the same drive. For example, if you record both 1080i 10-bit uncompressed and 1080p/23.98 Avid DNxHD clips on the same drive, the HyperDeck Shuttle will only be able to playback the clips that match its current set-up. The Shuttle does auto-detect the incoming frame rate without the need to set that using the utility. It did seem to get “confused” in this process, making it hard to access the clips that I thought it should have been able to play. The clips are on the SSD, though, so you can still pull them off of the drive for use in editing. For standard operation, I would suggest that you set your preferences for the current production and stick to that until you are done.

Blackmagic Design sells a mounting plate as an accessory. It’s easy to install by unscrewing the HyperDeck’s back panel and screwing in the mounting plate in its place. I loaned the unit to a director of photography that I work with for use with a Canon C300.  Although there are common mounting holes, the DP still ended up having to use Velcro as a means to install both his battery and the Shuttle onto the same camera rig. The recordings looked good, but the SDI trigger did not properly stop the recording, requiring the DP to manually stop the unit with each take. Another issue for some is that it uses Mini-BNC connectors. This requires an investment in some Mini-BNC adapter cables for SDI operation, if you intend to connect it to standard BNC spigots.

Overall, the unit performed well in a variety of applications, but with a few quirks. I frequently found that it didn’t respond to my pushing the transport control buttons. I’m not sure if this was due to bad button contacts or a software glitch. It felt more like a software issue, in that once it “settled down” stepping forward and backward through clips and pushing the play button worked correctly. The only format I was not able to playback was 24p media recorded as MXF. Nevertheless the MXF formatting was correct, as I could drop these files right into an Avid Mediafiles folder on my media hard drive for editing with Avid Symphony.

HyperDeck Shuttle as a portable player

If you intend to use a HyperDeck Shuttle as a master playback device, then there a few things you need to know. It can capture interlaced, progressive and progressive-segmented-frame (PsF) footage, but it will only play these out as either interlaced or progressive via the SDI connection. Playing PsF as progressive is fine for many monitors and projectors, but the signal doesn’t pass through many routers or to some other recorders. Often these broadcast devices only function with a “true” progressive signal if the format is 720p/59.94. This means that it would be unlikely that you could play a 1080p/23.98 file (captured as PsF) and record that output from the HyperDeck Shuttle to a Sony HDCAM-SR video recorder, as an example.

It is possible to export a file from your Avid NLE, copy that file to the HyperDeck’s SSD using a drive dock and play it back from the unit; however, the specs get a little touchy. The HyperDeck Shuttle records audio as 16-bit/48kHz in the Little Endian format, but Avid exports its files as Big Endian. Endianness refers to how the bytes are ordered in a 16-, 32- or 64-bit word and whether the most or least significant bit is first. In the case of the Shuttle, this difference meant that I couldn’t get any audio output during playback. If your goal is to transfer a file to the Shuttle for duplication to another deck or playback in a presentation environment, then I would recommend that you take the time to make a real-time recording. Simply connect your NLE’s SDI output to the HyperDeck Shuttle’s SDI input and manually record to it, on-the-fly, like a tape deck.

The HyperDeck Shuttle is a great little unit for filling in workflow gaps. For example, if you don’t own any tape decks, but need to take a master to a duplication facility. You could easily use the Shuttle to transport your media to them and use it for on-site master playback. It’s a bit too quirky to be a great on-camera field recorder, but at $345 (plus the SSD), the Shuttle is an amazing value for image quality that good. As with their other products, Blackmagic Design has a history of enhancing the capabilities through subsequent software updates. I expect that in the future, we’ll see the HyperDeck family grow in a similar fashion.

Originally written for DV magazine / Creative Planet Network

© 2013 Oliver Peters

FilmConvert

With the proliferation of digital video cameras, everyone has been trying to make them look more like film. Assuming that your camera shoots at the right frame rate and offers film-like motion blur and highlight handling, the rest gets down to grain and colorimetry. That’s where various software tools and filters come in. A new film stock emulation application is FilmConvert, from New Zealand-based developer, Rubber Monkey Software. They are best known as one of the early developers of processing and rendering software for the RED One camera, but have now expanded that expertise into tools designed for a wider appeal.

FilmConvert is available as a standalone application and as plug-ins for Adobe After Effects/Premiere Pro (Windows or Mac), Photoshop and Apple Final Cut Pro X/Final Cut Pro 7/Motion. The standalone FilmConvert Pro goes beyond just film emulation to include a powerful three-way color corrector and render management. The software works with QuickTime files and native RED .r3d files from a RED One or EPIC. It also supports roundtrips between FilmConvert and your NLE using XML and EDL files.

(Click any of these images for expanded views.)

Film stock emulation

At the time of this writing, only the film emulation module is available in the plug-in versions. (Rubber Monkey plans to add color correction to the filters in the near future.) To create the film stock emulations, the developers analyzed scans from a variety of color and black-and-white motion and still photo stocks made by Kodak, Fuji, Ilford and Polaroid. By shooting color charts with these various stocks, they were able to engineer custom color curves that enabled them to produce digital camera images, which closely resemble the same appearance as these scans. That color science forms the basis of each film stock preset.

FilmConvert Pro and the FilmConvert filters work slightly differently from each other. The standalone version allows you to set the initial color profile of the image as either a default sRGB or as StatusM Log – a flat setting similar to ARRI Log-C, BMD Film or RedLogFilm. If your camera file was already encoded with a flat gamma profile, then leave the viewer set to sRGB, so you don’t apply a log curve twice. Thanks to their work with the RED cameras, native .r3d files can be imported and are automatically detected, so that the “as shot” metadata may be applied. Native Canon and other specific digital cameras (GH2, Alexa, C300 and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera) are currently being profiled by Rubber Monkey engineers. The After Effects plug-in includes a pulldown menu to select the camera profile as a starting point for any adjustments, but log-to-video conversion must be done with other filters. There are no camera profiles in the FCP X version of the filter, yet.

The film emulation module itself includes the same controls for all versions. These break down to exposure and color temperature sliders, the film stock selector and a percentage slider for how much of the emulation colorimetry to apply. Grain is added by adjusting a percentage slider for the amount of grain and selecting the film type that determines grain size. 35mm Full Frame would be the finest level of grain, while 8mm would be the coarsest. You can zoom the viewer for a 1:1 pixel view, which will give you a better sense of how the grain will actually look on your image.

Color correction tools and RED in FilmConvert Pro

FilmConvert Pro includes a color correction toolset as part of the standalone application. The color correction module includes color balance wheels and luma sliders for shadows, midtones and highlights. There’s a saturation slider and a levels pane for black, mid and white points. Between the color corrector and levels, you get much of the same horsepower as the primary grade settings available in any high-end color corrector. FilmConvert comes with a series of presets, like “70s Home Movies” or “Matrix”, but you can also create and save your own. Any of these may be applied to clips on your timeline.

You won’t find the typical RED color science and debayer settings seen in Redcine-X Pro or some of the RED SDK importers. Rubber Monkey explains their approach this way, “For extract settings with .r3d, we choose the best extract settings for our emulation. If the user changes the extract settings then the starting point will be different and it will throw out the film emulation. If our film emulation is applied at 100% you get an sRGB film emulation, not a variation of a RED colorspace – so the actual input color space is not quite significant in this case. The .r3d debayer always uses the size that is greater than (or equal to) the size being rendered. So if you are rendering to 1080p, then we will render at 1/2 debayer. Basically we made it so that we are always scaling down, never up, but also going with the fastest debayer that would not sacrifice quality.” FilmConvert Pro also supports the RED Rocket card for hardware-accelerated rendering of .r3d files.

Render management

The FilmConvert filters work like any other plug-in, where the host application controls how the media is sent to the plug-in and then the subsequent renders. The standalone version includes its own render management tools. Render options include QuickTime (H.264, MPEG-4, ProRes or uncompressed) and image sequences (DPX or TIFF). The default export sizes can be up to 2048×1152 (or larger custom sizes) with fit width/fit height/stretch controls. This is great for RED projects that are rendered into HD or 2K formats.

There are two workflows to handle renders. The first is to simply import one or more clips into FilmConvert Pro, apply the look you want for each clip and set these up to render as complete, individual clips. The other option is to edit the footage first without effects in an edit system and then export an XML or EDL file for the completed sequence. FilmConvert Pro will import the file and locate the clips. In the case of RED camera files, you can choose to link to .r3d files instead of QuickTime .mov files that may have been used for edit proxies. Each clip is loaded onto FilmConvert’s timeline with markers for each section of a clip that was used in the edited sequence. Unfortunately, you can only apply one setting to the full clip. If it was an outdoor shot and you used a portion that was overcast and then a later section of the same clip where the sun came out, there is no way to split the clip in order to have two different adjustments.

When you render these clips as QuickTime movie files, the complete duration of the file is rendered, but images are only rendered for the sections that show up in the EDL or XML file. The rest of the file appears with a placeholder graphic. Rubber Monkey took this approach to maintain one media file when multiple portions are used in the edit – rather than to render separate, shorter clips for each portion. A single media file keeps the same file name and is easier for applications to relink. New, multiple media files require an additional naming convention – such as appending a numeric suffix to the file name, like .001, .002, .003, etc. – in order to preserve unique file names. The latter method is how Resolve, SpeedGrade and Baselight handle such renders. This requires the generation of new EDL, AAF or XML files so that the media can be correctly relinked in the roundrip back to the NLE.

Rubber Monkey promotes its render prowess and speeds were good on my 8-core 2.26 GHz Mac Pro. I don’t have a RED Rocket installed, so a 4K 16:9 RED file (exported as a 1920×1080 ProRes file) took about 20 minutes for a clip of 4933 frames (about 3.5 minutes of footage). By comparison, 1080p QuickTime files rendered at near-real-time speeds – some faster, some slower. In most color correction applications, you can specify the length of render “handles”, where the clip gets with an additional second or two of media at the head and tail of the exported clip. It appears that FilmConvert adds five frames to the head and six at the tail (24fps clips), but there’s no place to increase that or to set a custom length.

FilmConvert Pro doesn’t support i/o hardware like AJA or Blackmagic cards, so you are making color correction judgments by viewing the interface on your computer screen. By eye, I would say that the display within the FilmConvert interface looked a bit “warmer” and more saturated than an exported file viewed in QuickTime Player X (not surprising), but also as compared with FCP X. It tended to look closest between FilmConvert and FCP 7. If issues such as SDI monitoring and clip control are critical for your workflow, then one of the NLE plug-ins might be a better option than the standalone application, especially once this plug-in gains color correction controls.

I’m sure as the application matures, some of these missing features will be addressed – along with better documentation. Rubber Monkey is also working on an OFX plug-in to cover Vegas, Scratch and Nuke users. Whether a plug-in or the standalone version is right for you depends on your need. Do you just want to augment a few shots or build a pipeline around this look? The film stock looks are spot-on and if you want something vintage, then the Polaroid emulation is really nice. If you want your digital media to come closer to the look of film, FilmConvert is definitely worth the investment.

Originally written for Digital Video magazine.

© 2012 Oliver Peters