User manual APPLE SHAKE 4 - NEW FEATURES

Shake 4 New Features Apple Computer, Inc. © 2005 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Under the copyright laws, this manual may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Apple. Your rights to the software are governed by the accompanying software license agreement. The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Use of the keyboard Apple logo (Option-Shift-K) for commercial purposes without the prior written consent of Apple may constitute trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Apple Computer, Inc. is not responsible for printing or clerical errors. Apple Computer, Inc. 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014-2084 408-996-1010 www.apple.com Apple, the Apple logo, Final Cut, Final Cut Pro, FireWire, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS, Nothing Real, QuickTime, Shake, and TrueType are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Exposé and Finder are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Inc. Cineon is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company. Maya, Alias, Alias/Wavefront, and O2 are trademarks of SGI Inc. 3ds Max is a trademark of Autodesk Inc. Softimage and Matador are registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. Times is a registered trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, available from Linotype Library GmbH. Other company and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Mention of third-party products is for informational purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the performance or use of these products. 1 Contents Preface 5 5 6 9 9 11 11 12 12 12 13 19 20 23 23 24 29 31 36 38 42 47 47 51 58 69 About the New Features in Shake 4 Changes to the Shake Documentation Summary of New Features Interface Enhancements Saving Favorite Views Enable/Disable Local File Paths Directories Saved to the Favorites List Are Permanent Locking Parameters A Next Button to Create Additional Local Variables The Console Tab New Global Parameters Resizing the Node Overview New Ways of Adding and Connecting Nodes Cloned Node Naming Monitor Calibration With Truelight Updated Onscreen Controls for Transform Nodes Major Features and New Nodes Using Shake With Final Cut Pro 5 New Adaptive Method for Retiming Remastering Media Options in the FileIn Node The Cache Node New Parameter in the Mask Subtree of Nodes New Features for RotoShape Nodes The SmoothCam Node The AutoAlign Node The LensWarp Node Chapter 1 Chapter 2 3 Chapter 3 73 73 75 81 82 88 94 100 105 Compositing With the MultiPlane Node An Overview of the MultiPlane Node Using the Multi-Pane Viewer Display Connecting Inputs to a MultiPlane Node Using Camera and Tracking Data From .ma Files Transforming Individual Layers Attaching Layers to the Camera and to Locator Points Parameters in the Images Tab Manipulating the Camera 4 Contents About the New Features in Shake 4 This document covers all of the new features and enhancements introduced in Shake 4. If you are already familiar with previous versions of Shake, this document lets you focus on the extensive new enhancements and additions. Note: All of information in this document is duplicated from the Shake 4 User Manual included in your Shake box and available in PDF-format from the Shake Help menu. Changes to the Shake Documentation The print and onscreen (PDF-format) documentation has been completely reorganized and expanded from prior versions. User Manual The user manual has been divided into more chapters to make topics easier to find in the table of contents and in the bookmarks drawer of the onscreen PDF. In addition, the documentation of many prior features has been expanded. Node Reference Guide Scripting and variables documentation for each of Shake's functions, previously located in the user manual, has been moved to a new document: the Shake 4 Node Reference Guide, accessible from the Shake Help menu. The Cookbook The Cookbook--a popular collection of tips and techniques for improving your workflow in Shake--has been relocated from the tutorials book to to the last chapter of the user manual. What's more, content from the Cookbook has been integrated into the rest of the manual, where appropriate, to make these topics more accessible. Preface 5 Summary of New Features This section summarizes the new features that appear in this document. Topics in Chapter 1 · You can open two scripts at once using the Shake graphical user interface. · You can save and restore favorite views in each Shake interface area. · You can enable the ability to use relative paths in the File Browser. · Favorite directories in the File Browser are now saved automatically. · There are now lock controls for each parameter. · There is a new "next" button when you create local variables, which makes it easier to create many variables at a time. · A new console tab lets you view the contents of the console from within Shake. · New global parameters provide additional ways to control new features. · An enhanced Node View provides options for visualizing animated nodes, expression links, node concatenation, and noodle color coding and stippling. · You can now resize the node overview. · There are four new ways of adding and connecting nodes to a node tree. · Cloned nodes are now named differently. · Truelight monitor calibration software is included, which also provide a new Viewer lookup table (VLUT) option for the Viewer. · The onscreen controls for transform nodes have been updated, with additional hot keys. Topics in Chapter 2 · Shake now supports the OpenEXR format. · There is new support for clips and sequences sent from Final Cut Pro 5 to Shake 4. · New adaptive retiming options in the FileIn node use optical flow technology to create smooth motion retiming. · New remastering options in the FileIn node use optical flow technology to deinterlace, change frame rates, and rescale images for high-quality format conversion. · A new Cache node lets you specify key points to be cached in your node tree. · A new clampMask parameter in the mask subtree of nodes lets you clamp mask image data to a value between 0 and 1. · The RotoShape node has new features, including: · The ability to copy and paste shapes between compatible nodes. · The ability to cut and paste rotoshape keyframes. · Controls to retime shape keyframes · New commands for attaching trackers to individual shape control points. · The ability to import and export shape data. · The SmoothCam node automatically smooths or locks camera motion in a shot. 6 Preface About the New Features in Shake 4 · The AutoAlign node uses advanced image processing to align up to three input images with one another, automatically. · The LensWarp node provides calibration tools to correct for lens distortion, or to match the lens distortion from one shot in another. Chapter 3 · Chapter 3 contains complete documentation for the MultiPlane node, which provides the ability to do the following: · Composite background or foreground elements against a moving background plate using 3D camera tracking data. · Arrange multiple layers within a 3D coordinate space for easy simulation of perspective, parallax, and other depth effects. Preface About the New Features in Shake 4 7 1 Interface Enhancements 1 This chapter covers general enhancements throughout the Shake interface. Opening Two Scripts at Once Shake is designed to have only one script open at a time. Typically, each script is used to create a single compositing project, with a single frame range and a single node tree. Although Shake supports multiple independent node trees within the same script, all trees share the same duration, defined by the timeRange parameter in the Globals tab. If necessary, it is now possible to open two scripts simultaneously in two separate interface windows. In this case, what you're really doing is launching two instances of Shake at once. This is primarily useful if you need to copy information from one script to another. Important: When you open Shake twice, the first instance of Shake is the only one that is able to write to and read from the cache. Saving Favorite Views If you find yourself panning back and forth within a particular area to the same regions, you can now create a Favorite View within that area. The Favorite Views apply to the following areas of the Shake interface: · Node View: You can save several views in your node tree where you'll be making frequent adjustments. · Viewer: If you're doing paint work on a zoomed-in image in the Viewer, you can save the position and zoom level of several different regions of the image. · Curve Editor: You can save several different pan, zoom-level, and displayed-curve collections that you need to switch among as you adjust the animation of different nodes in your project. · Parameters tab: You can save the parameters being tweaked, as well as the node being displayed in the Viewer. 9 Once you've saved one or more Favorite Views in each interface area, you can instantly recall the position, zoom level, and state of that area by recalling the Favorite View that you saved. You can save up to five Favorite Views. To define a Favorite View: 1 Pan to a position in an area that contains the region you want to save as a Favorite View. If necessary, adjust the zoom level to encompass the area that you want to include. 2 Depending on the area you're adjusting, you can save additional state information particular to that area. Make additional adjustments as necessary so that you can recall the desired project elements: · In the Node View, you can save the state of the nodes that are currently loaded into the Viewer and Parameters tabs. · In the Viewer, you can save the node that's currently being viewed. · In the Curve Editor, you can save the curves that are currently loaded and displayed. · In the Parameters tab, you can save the parameters that are being tweaked, as well as the node displayed in the Viewer. 3 To save a Favorite View, move the pointer into that area and do one of the following: · Right-click anywhere within the area, then choose Favorite Views > View N > Save from the shortcut menu (where N is one of the five Favorite Views you can save). · Press Shift-F1-5, where F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 correspond to each of the Favorite Views. Restoring Favorite Views Once you've defined one or more Favorite Views, you can restore them in one of two ways. Simply restoring the framing results in the current contents of that area being panned and zoomed to the saved position. Restoring the framing and state, on the other hand, results in the restoration of additional state information that was adjusted in step 2. To restore the framing of a Favorite View, do one of the following: · Right-click in the Viewer, Node View, or Curve Editor, then choose Favorite Views > View N > Restore Framing from the shortcut menu (where N is one of the five Favorite Views you can save). · Press F1-5, where F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 correspond to each of the Favorite Views. That area is set to the originally saved position and zoom level. 10 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements To restore the framing and state of a Favorite View, do one of the following: · Right-click in the Viewer, Node View, or Curve Editor, then choose Favorite Views > View N > Restore Framing & State from the shortcut menu (where N is one of the five Favorite Views you can save). · Press Option-F1-5 or Alt-F1-5, where F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 correspond to each of the Favorite Views. Depending on the area, the originally saved position and zoom level are recalled, as well as the following state information: · In the Node View, the node or nodes that were loaded into the Viewer and Parameters tabs when you saved the Favorite View · In the Viewer, the node that was viewed when you saved the Favorite View · In the Curve Editor, the curves that were loaded and displayed when you saved the Favorite View · In the Parameters tab, the parameters that were being tweaked, as well as the node that was displayed, when you saved the Favorite View Enable/Disable Local File Paths The Relative Path control, to the left of the Add to Favorites control in the File Browser, gives you the option to enter a relative file path into the File Name field. Enable local file paths. Disable local file paths. Relative file paths can take one of two forms: · ./myDirectory/myFile/ · ../myDirectory/myFile/ Directories Saved to the Favorites List Are Permanent If there are one or more directories with content you frequently need to access, you can add them to the Favorites list. The Favorites list is a customizable list of directories that you can add to at any time. As of Shake 4, entries you add to the Favorites list are permanent. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 11 To add an entry to the favorites list: 1 Open the File Browser. 2 Click the Bookmark button. The currently open directory is added to the Favorites list. All favorite directory paths you add are saved in the favoritePaths.h file, located in the $HOME/nreal/settings/ directory. To remove favorite directories, delete them from this file. Locking Parameters Most parameters now have a lock button next to the Autokey button. This control lets you lock that parameter so that it can't be modified. When you lock a parameter, its value field turns red to indicate that it's locked. Locked parameters cannot be edited, but if they contain keyframes, an expression, or a link to another parameter, these values continue to animate that parameter. A Next Button to Create Additional Local Variables When you create a local variable using the Local Variable Parameters window, you can click OK to create the variable and go back to your project, cancel to close the window without creating a new variable, or next to continue creating new variables. The Console Tab The Console tab displays the data that Shake sends to the OS while in operation. It's a display-only tab. Two controls at the top of the Console tab let you change the color of the text, and erase the current contents of the Console. The maximum width of displayed text can be set via the consoleLineLength parameter, in the guiControls subtree of the Globals tab. 12 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements New Global Parameters The following new parameters have been added to the Globals tab: consoleLineLength The maximum line length of information displayed in the Console tab. This defaults to 120 characters. textureProxy The proxy level at which texture-rendered images that are used by the MultiPlane node's hardware-rendering mode are displayed in the Viewer. This is similar to the interactiveScale setting, in that the proxy level that's set here is used to generate onthe-fly Viewer images. multiPlaneLocatorScale Affects all MultiPlane nodes within the script. This parameter scales the depth of the virtual space used to distribute the locator points that are displayed in the Viewer (which represent 3D-tracking data clouds that are imported from .ma files). This parameter allows you to expand or compress the relative distance from the camera to the tracked background plate. Adjusting this parameter lets you more easily position layers in space when camera tracking data comes from a subject that's either very far away, or very close. This parameter is for reference only, and has no effect on the data itself. The default multiPlaneLocatorScale value is 50. noodleColor Lets you change the base color of noodles in the Node View. Noodles are white by default, but you can use the Color control to change this to anything you like. noodleColorA, -BW, -BWA, -RGB, -RGBA, -Z, -AZ, -BWZ, -BWAZ, -RGBZ, -RGBAZ When noodleColorCoding is turned on (in the enhancedNodeView subtree), noodles are color coded and stippled (see "Noodle Color Coding" on page 16), based on the bit depth and number of color channels being propagated by each noodle in your node tree. When turned off, noodles appear using the default NoodleColor. Different combinations of color channels are represented by different colors, and this group of parameters lets you customize the color used for each representation. Using the Enhanced Node View The enhancedNodeView subtree in the Globals tab provides additional display options for the Node View. These options can be turned on all together, or individually, to make it easy to spot image bit-depth at different parts of the tree, animated nodes, node concatenation, and expressions linking one node to another. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 13 Unlike most other guiControls parameters, which are either off or on, these parameters--showTimeDependency, showExpressionLinks, showConcatentationLinks, and noodleColorCoding--have three states. This allows you to toggle all three parameters using the enhancedNodeView command from within the Node View. The three states are: · off: Always off, regardless of whether or not enhancedNodeView is turned on. · on: Always on, regardless of whether or not enhancedNodeView is turned on. · enhanced: On when enhancedNodeView is on, and off when enhancedNodeView is off. To toggle enhanced node view off and on: 1 Before turning on enhanced Node View, make sure the proper subparameters are turned on in the enhancedNodeView subtree of the Globals tab. 2 Move the pointer over the Node View, and do one of the following: · Right-click, then choose Enhanced Node View from the shortcut menu. · Press Control-E. · Open the Globals tab, then click enhancedNodeView. 14 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements Enhanced Node View Parameters There are seven parameters in the enhancedNodeView subtree. showTimeDependency This parameter, when turned on, draws a bluish glow around nodes that are animated. This includes nodes that consist of FileIn nodes that reference a QuickTime movie or multiple-image sequence, nodes containing keyframed parameters, or nodes utilizing expressions that change a parameter's value over time. In the following screenshot, the alien FileIn node is highlighted because it is a multi-frame animation. The Stabilize1 node is highlighted because it contains motion-tracking keyframes. The Ramp1 node is not highlighted because it's only a single image, and the Rotate1 node is not animated. showExpressionLinks Turning this parameter on draws a light purple line connecting nodes that use expressions to reference other nodes. An arrow pointing from the linked node toward the referenced node indicates their relationship. In the following screenshot, the Move2D1 node contains expressions that link it to both the Rotate1 and Pan1 nodes. Note: When you clone a node by copying it and then pasting it with the Paste Linked command, the resulting cloned node displays an expression link arrow when showExpressionLinks is turned on. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 15 ShowConcatenationLinks When this parameter is turned on, a green line connects a series of nodes that concatenate. For example, three transform nodes that have been added to a node tree in sequence so that they concatenate appear linked with a green line connecting the left edge of each node. As a result, nodes that break concatenation are instantly noticeable. In the following screenshot, the Rotate1, CameraShake1, and Pan1 nodes are concatenated. Note: As is often repeated, node concatenation is a very good thing to take advantage of. You are encouraged to group nodes that concatenater whenever possible to improve the performance and visual quality of your output. Noodle Color Coding Turning on Shake's noodle color coding parameters provides an additional way to visually distinguish the bit depth and channel information of the image data flowing down your node tree. With color coding turned on, you can see where in the node tree the bit depth is promoted or reduced, which noodles contain RGBA channel data versus BW data, and so forth. Note: The Node View redraw speed of extremely large scripts may be reduced with noodleColorCoding turned on. There are two kinds of coding used to identify the image data that noodles represent. 16 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements stipple8Bit, stipple16Bit, stipple32Bit The stipple pattern of a noodle indicates its bit depth. In the following screenshot, three renamed Bytes nodes output 8-, 16-, and 32-bit float data respectively. The stippling indicates each bit depth at a glance. noodleColor Coding Different combinations of color channels being propagated down the node tree are represented by different colors. In the following screenshot (showing four renamed Reorder nodes), the first node is disconnected from any incoming image data, while the next two are respectively propagating BWA and RGB channels. The color channels represented by each noodle are clearly distinguishable (this screenshot is viewable in color via the onscreen help). Customizing Noodle Color Coding In the noodleColors subtree of the colors subtree, there are 12 different parameters for noodle color coding, corresponding to each possible combination of color channels in Shake. Each combination has a color control you can use to set up whichever color scheme makes the most sense to you. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 17 The top parameter, noodleColor, lets you change the base color of noodles in the Node View. Noodles are white by default, but you can use the color control to change this to anything you like. Customizing Noodle Stippling You can customize the stipple patterns of noodles in the enhancedNodeView subtree of the Globals tab. You can also customize the colors used to identify noodle bit depth in the noodleColors subtree of the colors subtree of the Globals tab. 18 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements In the enhancedNodeView subtree, the stipple8Bit, stipple16Bit, and stipple32Bit parameters each have five different stipple patterns you can choose from, for maximum clarity. Creating Custom Stipple Patterns Different stipple patterns can be set in a .h preference file. Each stipple pattern is defined by a four-byte hex number that, when converted to binary, provides the pattern of the line drawn for each bit depth--each 1 corresponds to a dot, and each 0 corresponds to blank space. For example, 0xFFFFFFFF is the hex equivalent of 1111111111, which creates a solid line. 0xF0F0F0 is the hex equivalent of 1111000011110000, which creates a dashed line. The default settings are: gui.nodeView.stipple8Bit = 0x33333333; gui.nodeView.stipple16Bit = 0x0FFF0FFF; gui.nodeView.stipple32Bit = 0xFFFFFFFF; Resizing the Node Overview The overview can be resized, making it easier to see. To resize the node overview: Drag the upper-right corner, the top, or the right of the overview. m Default size After resizing Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 19 New Ways of Adding and Connecting Nodes There are several new ways of working in the Node View. To add one type of node to multiple nodes in the Node View: 1 Select two or more nodes in the Node View. 2 In the Tool tabs, right-click the node you want to add, then choose Insert Multiple from the shortcut menu. The new node is inserted after each selected node. To connect one node to another by Shift-clicking: 1 Select the first node you want to connect. 20 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 2 Move the pointer over the second node you want to connect so that the knot is visible, then Shift-click the knot to connect both nodes together. You can also use this technique to connect a group of nodes to a single multi-input node, such as the MultiLayer, MultiPlane, or Select node. To connect several nodes to a multi-input node at once: 1 Select all of the nodes you want to connect to the multi-input node. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 21 2 Shift-click the plus sign input of the multi-input node. All selected nodes are connected. To insert a disconnected node between two existing nodes: 1 Drag a node directly over a noodle so that both its knots appear highlighted. You can select which input of a multi-input node to insert by dragging the node to the left or right, so that the desired input knot is highlighted. 2 When you release the mouse button, the node is automatically inserted. 22 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements Cloned Node Naming Cloned nodes are automatically named OriginalNode_CloneN, where N is the number of clones that have been made. You can clone a node as many times as you want, and all cloned nodes are linked to the original node. In the following screenshot, the Gamma1 node has been cloned twice, in order to apply an identical gamma correction to the other two images in the tree. The links between cloned nodes can be viewed by turning on ShowExpressionLInks in the enhancedNodeView subtree of the Parameters tab. (and then turning on enhancedNodeView). Monitor Calibration With Truelight Shake includes Truelight, a color management system that lets you simulate on your Shake preview monitor, as closely as possible, the image that will eventually be printed to film or displayed on a high definition monitor or projector. This simulation is based on calibration data acquired from a variety of film stocks, film recorders, monitors, digital projectors, and film projectors, and on calibration profiles that you can generate yourself. There are three parts to the Truelight tools: · TLCalibrate, in the Other tab, is a utility node that you can use to accurately calibrate your monitor's color characteristics. This node allows you to create a calibration profile by eyeballing adjustments to a series of ten images using the controls within this node. Once you've made your adjustments, you can save this profile for future use. Note: This node also allows you to use calibration profiles generated by a Truelight Monitor probe. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 23 · The calibration profiles generated using TLCalibrate can then be used by the Truelight VLUT (Viewer lookup table) control in the Viewer shelf. The Truelight VLUT lets you previsualize the image in the Viewer as it will look after being output from a film recorder, or displayed by a high definition monitor or projector. You can use the Load Viewer Lookup command to make adjustments to the Truelight VLUT parameters in the Parameters tab, choosing which device profile you want to emulate. · A second node in the Color tab, Truelight, performs the same function as the Truelight VLUT, except that it can be added to the node tree. The Truelight node has parameters that are identical to the Truelight VLUT that let you specify the device profile, current display profile, and color space for the preview. Additional controls let you fine-tune the preview. Important: The Truelight functions are intended for previsualization only. They are not intended for use as color correction operations. For more information on using the Truelight plugins, see the Truelight documentation, located in the Documentation folder on the Shake installation disk. Updated Onscreen Controls for Transform Nodes The pan, scale, and rotate onscreen controls have been updated, and have additional keyboard shortcuts for transforming an image without having to position the pointer directly over it. 24 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements Pan The pan controls provide two ways to move the image within the Viewer. Drag anywhere within the image bounding box to reposition the image freely. Drag the vertical arrowhead to restrict position changes to the yPan parameter. Drag the horizontal arrowhead to restrict position changes to the xPan parameter. You can also press Q or P while dragging anywhere within the Viewer to pan an image without having to position the pointer directly over it. Scale Drag any of the corner controls to scale the entire image up or down, affecting the xScale and yScale parameters. Drag the top or bottom controls to scale the image vertically, affecting only the yScale parameter. Drag the left or right controls to scale the image horizontally, affecting only the xScale parameter. Drag the center control to move the point about which scaling is performed, affecting the xCenter and yCenter parameters. There is an additional method you can use to scale images in the Viewer. To scale an image in the Viewer without using the scale handles: 1 Select an image. 2 With the pointer positioned over the Viewer, press E or I. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 25 3 When the dimension pointer appears, drag in the direction you want to scale the image. The colors in the dimension pointer correspond to the pan controls. When you drag, the dimension pointer turns into an axis arrow, indicating the dimension in which you are scaling the image -- horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Rotate Drag the blue rotate control to rotate the image about the center point, affecting the angle parameter. Drag the white center control to move the center point itself, affecting the xCenter and yCenter parameters. To rotate an image without positioning the pointer directly over it, press W or O, then drag in the Viewer. The dimension pointer appears, allowing you to to rotate the image in any direction. 26 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements Move2D The Move2D node combines the onscreen transform controls for the Pan, Scale, and Rotate nodes into a single, all-purpose transformation node. After an image is rotated with the Move2D node, the horizontal and vertical panning controls (arrowheads) lock movement to the new orientation of the image. Move3D Similar to the Move2D node, the Move3D node adds three colored dimensional angle controls to control xAngle (red), yAngle (green), and zAngle (blue) parameters. This lets you simulate 3D transformations with 2D images. Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 27 As with the Move2D node, when an image is panned with the Move3D node, the horizontal and vertical panning controls lock movement to the new orientation of the image, instead of the absolute orientation of the Viewer frame. There are keyboard shortcuts (identical to those used within the MultiPlane node) that you can use to manipulate images without having to position the pointer directly over them. Note: Unlike similar controls available for layers connected to the MultiPlane node, the constrained pan controls do not move the image forward or back if the yAngle is tilted. To manipulate images within a more fully featured 3D environment, connect them to a MultiPlane node, and use the available controls. 28 Chapter 1 Shake 4.0 Interface Enhancements 2 Major Features and New Nodes 2 This chapter covers major new features, and new nodes that have been added to Shake 4. Support For the OpenEXR Format OpenEXR (.exr) is an extremely flexible, cross-platform file format developed and maintained by Industrial Light & Magic. Key features of the OpenEXR format include support for the efficient storage of high dynamic-range image data using the 16-bit float "half" format, and support for auxiliary image data channels. OpenEXR 16-bit float and 32-bit float data channels can be read directly into Shake's RGBAZ data channels. In addition, OpenEXR 32-bit unsigned integer channel data can be read into Shake's Z data channel, although Shake's image processing nodes cannot process this data. Note: 32-bit unsigned integer channel data will only be useful to custom plug-ins with built-in logic capable of processing the data within the Z channel. A major feature of the OpenEXR format is its ability to support an extremely wide dynamic range. Thanks to its floating-point support, a contrast range of up to 30 f-stops can be supported with no loss of precision. Color resolution in 16-bit float ("half") files is 1024 steps per f-stop. Another advantage of the OpenEXR format is support for any number of additional auxillary data channels, in addition to the standard RGBAZ channels. For example, additional channels can be written to store luminance, surface normal direction channels, velocity channels, and even individual lighting passes written from a 3D rendering application. 29 Shake Support for Auxiliary OpenEXR Data Channels Internally, Shake only supports the processing of RGBAZ channels down the processing tree. However, the FileIn node provides channel remapping options in the Image tab of a FileIn node's parameters. Each channel that Shake supports has a corresponding popup menu. Each menu presents a list of every compatible channel within the referenced OpenEXR file. Color channels that correspond to Shake's supported channels are mapped by default. FileIn channel pop-up menus for two files with different image channels To remap any image channel: 1 Load a FileIn node that references an OpenEXR file into the Preferences tab. 2 Choose a new channel to map to from any color channel pop-up menu. Channel remapping has the following restrictions: · Any 16-bit or 32-bit float channel can be remapped within the RGBAZ channels. · 32-bit integer channels can only be remapped to the Z channel. Note: If you want to access multiple 32-bit integer channels within a script, duplicate a number of FileIn nodes equal to the number of channels you want to access, then remap each 32-bit integer channel to a Z channel of one of the duplicate FileIn nodes. Support for Data Compression The OpenEXR format supports several codecs, with options for either lossless or lossy compression. Compression ratios range from 2:1 to 3:1. Note: By default, FileOut nodes set to output OpenEXR images default to the Piz codec. The following codec information appears courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic: · none: No compression is applied. · RLE: (Lossless) Differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are run-length encoded. This method is fast, and works well for images with large flat areas. But for photographic images, the compressed file size is usually between 60 and 75 percent of the uncompressed size. 30 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes · ZIP: (Lossless) Differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are compressed using the open source zlib library. ZIP decompression is faster than PIZ decompression, but ZIP compression is significantly slower. Photographic images tend to shrink to between 45 and 55 percent of their uncompressed size. · PXR 24: (Lossy) After reducing 32-bit floating-point data to 24 bits by rounding, differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are compressed with zlib, similar to ZIP. PXR24 compression preserves image channels of type HALF and UINT exactly, but the relative error of FLOAT data increases to about 3°--10-5.This compression method works well for depth buffers and similar images, where the possible range of values is very large, but where full 32-bit floating-point accuracy is not necessary. Rounding improves compression significantly by eliminating the pixels' eightleast significant bits, which tend to be very noisy, and difficult to compress. · Piz: (Lossless): This is the default compression method used by Shake. A wavelet transform is applied to the pixel data, and the result is Huffman-encoded.This scheme tends to provide the best compression ratio for typical film images. Files are compressed and decompressed at roughly the same speed. For photographic images with film grain, the files are reduced to between 35 and 55 percent of their uncompressed size. OpenEXR Proxy Handling Shake can read both tiled and scanline OpenEXR images. Scanline files contain a single image at a set resolution, but tiled files hold several versions of the same image at a variety of resolutions, for use as proxies in supporting applications. Shake's proxy mechanism does not take advantage of tiled images. As a result, Shake defaults to reading in the highest available tiled resolution. For More Information More information about the OpenEXR format can be found at http:// www.openexr.com. Using Shake With Final Cut Pro 5 A new command in Final Cut Pro 5, Send to Shake, provides an automated way to move media back and forth between both applications. Using the Send to Shake command in Final Cut Pro 5 exports one or more selected clips into a Shake script, opening it immediately in Shake while Final Cut Pro 5 is running. When you do this, a placeholder is created in the originating Final Cut Pro 5 project file that automatically corresponds to the media that will be output from Shake. Note: Each exported clip from Final Cut Pro 5 is brought into the Shake script using individual FileIn nodes. This is true even if two or more clips originate from the same master clip in the original Final Cut Pro 5 project. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 31 For example, you can use Final Cut Pro 5 to superimpose a group of clips that you want to turn into a single composite using Shake. Final Cut Pro 5 makes it easy to set the In and Out points of each clip, and how they overlap. You can then send the media to Shake along with each shot's edit decision information, freeing you from having to reconstruct the media arrangement within Shake. You can also move an entire sequence of clips into a Shake script. For example, you might do this to add operations to each individual clip in that scene to perform color correction, or keying. Once you're finished in Shake, you can render the FileIn node that was automatically created when you used the Send command from Final Cut Pro 5, and easily relink the resulting media in the original Final Cut Pro 5 project. How Sent Clips Are Arranged in Shake Regardless of how you move Final Cut Pro 5 clips into Shake, how they're assembled in the newly created Shake script depends on whether they were sequentially arranged within a single video track, or vertically superimposed using several video tracks. Imported Final Cut Pro 5 clips are arranged within the node tree using Select and MultiLayer nodes: · Clips edited sequentially on the same video track in Final Cut Pro 5 are connected to a single Select node when exported to Shake. The Select node switches between clips at their In and Out points, reflecting the editing decisions made on the track in Final Cut Pro. If the clips were originally superimposed across multiple video tracks, each video track that contains a clip results in a corresponding Select node being created in the Shake script. All clips that were edited into the same video track are connected to the same Select node. Note: The actual edit points for each FileIn node attached to the Select node are stored within the branch parameter. The data stored within this parameter is not intended to be editable; any attempt to do so will disrupt the edit points of the affected nodes. · All the Select nodes are connected to a single MultiLayer node, which determines which clips are in the foreground of the composition, and which are in the background. Their arrangement reflects the arrangement of video tracks in the original Final Cut Pro sequence. For example, if you used the Send to Shake command on the following three sequentially edited clips: Sequentially edited clips in Final Cut Pro 32 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes The result would be the following Shake script, with one Select node and one MultiLayer node. Resulting arrangement in Shake If you used the Send to Shake command on the following superimposed clips: Sequentially edited clips in Final Cut Pro 5 The result would be the following Shake script, with three Select nodes, and one MultiLayer node: Resulting arrangement in Shake While it is possible to slide footage within edits by adjusting the placement of imported clips in Shake's Time View, you are better off making these adjustments in Final Cut Pro and re-sending the media to Shake. Shake's Time View makes it difficult to determine whether there is sufficient underlying footage to prevent gaps in the sequence. Warning: Audio clips and tracks from the original QuickTime files are not imported into Shake. Any timing changes you make in Shake will result in the adjusted clips going out of sync with the audio in the originating Final Cut Pro 5 project file. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 33 Unsupported Media and Effects Since QuickTime is the file format used for all media exchange between Final Cut Pro 5 and Shake, the following media and settings are not imported into Shake from Final Cut Pro 5: · QuickTime audio tracks · Standalone audio files · Still image files · Generators · Composite modes · Transformations (referred to in Final Cut Pro 5 as motion effects) · Filters Sending Clips From Final Cut Pro 5 If you want to send one or more selected clips (or a single sequence), from Final Cut Pro 5 to Shake, you should use the Send to Shake command in Final Cut Pro 5. To send one or more clips from Final Cut Pro 5 to Shake: 1 Clean up your project timeline, so that you are able to select only the clips you intend to send. 2 Do one of the following: · Select one or more clips in the Timeline or Browser. · Select a sequence in the Browser. 3 Do one of the following: · Choose File > Send > Send to Shake. · Control-click (or right-click) the selected clips or sequence, then choose Send > To Shake from the shortcut menu. 34 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 4 When the Send to Shake dialog appears, select the appropriate options: · Resulting Sequence Name: Type a name for the sequence that you've selected, prior to sending the media to Shake. · Save as Shake Script: Type a name for the Shake script to be created, then click Choose to pick a location on disk to save it to. · Save Placeholder QuickTime movie (FileOut) to: Type a name for the placeholder QuickTime movie that will correspond to the FileOut node in the newly created Shake script, then click Choose to pick a location on disk to save it to. 5 Check the Launch Shake box if you want to automatically open the newly created Shake script and start working on it. 6 Click Export. When you click Export, four things happen: · A duplicate sequence appears in your Final Cut Pro 5 project, containing duplicates of the selected media. · A Shake project is created on disk. · A placeholder QuickTime file is created on disk. · The placeholder QuickTime file appears in a new video track that is created as the topmost track in your sequence (the original media remains where it was). Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 35 The placeholder QuickTime clip in your Final Cut Pro 5 project corresponds to the media that will eventually be rendered out of Shake--specifically, from the FileOut node appearing at the end of the generated Shake script. The TimeRange of Scripts Generated From Final Cut Pro 5 The timeRange Global parameter in the Shake script that's created by the Send to Shake command is automatically set with the appropriate range of frames for the media it references. Important: Clicking the Auto button to update the timeRange is not recommended. This can result in many more frames being referenced than expected, depending on the total duration of the source media files that are referenced. Sending Media Back to Final Cut Pro 5 When you're finished working in the Shake script that was generated from Final Cut Pro 5, all you have to do is render the originally created FileOut node. The newly rendered media file takes the place of the original placeholder QuickTime file, ready for use by the original Final Cut Pro 5 project. When you reopen the originating Final Cut Pro 5 project file containing the original placeholder QuickTime file, you'll need to use the Reconnect Media command to relink the clip in your Timeline to the media that was rendered out of Shake. New Adaptive Method for Retiming The retiming options in the FileIn node now accomodate high-quality adaptive interpolation of in-between frames. This option is available from the retimeMode popup menu. 36 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes Adaptive This option in the retimeMode pop-up menu uses advanced image analysis to generate new in-between frames, creating seamless slow and fast-motion effects. Selecting Adaptive reveals additional parameters. Fast versus Best Settings for Adaptive Retiming When setting up an adaptive timing operation, you might be tempted to simply choose Best across the board for every parameter. This would probably be a mistake--producing dramatically longer render times in exchange for a potentially undetectable increase in quality, especially at higher resolutions. That said, every clip`s requirements are different. One group of settings is unlikely to produce equal results for shots with widely different subjects and movement. You're encouraged to do some limited tests prior to committing yourself to a particular group of retiming settings. As you experiment with different settings, be sure you always compare output from the Fast settings to that from the Better or Best settings, to make sure that it's worth committing yourself to the more computationally intensive Best settings. · Motion: Two options determine the trade-off between image quality and processing time--Fast and Best. Fast makes motion interpolations using a mesh warp, and works well in most situations. Best, the most processor-intensive mode, uses motion vectors to track each pixel from frame to frame, interpolating new frames. · DeInterlacing: Similar to the Motion parameter, two options let you determine the trade-off between image quality and processing time--Fast and Good. These settings represent two levels of mesh warping used to interpolate data from both fields of each frame. Here are some tips for using the DeInterlacing parameter: · Good is actually a better setting for frames without any moving subjects. · If you're working with standard definition video, there is no difference between using Fast or Good. · The DeInterlacing operation can also be used to improve clips that were poorly deinterlaced in other applications prior to importing into Shake. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 37 · AlwaysInterpolate: With AlwaysInterpolate turned off, the final result of a retiming operation is a mix of original, unprocessed frames, and interpolated frames. For example, setting the speed to 0.5 to slow an image sequence down by 50 percent results in an alternating series of original frames and interpolated frames. In cases where there is a significant visual difference (softening, for example) between the unprocessed and reprocessed frames resulting from a retiming operation, the image sequence may appear to flicker. Turning on AlwaysInterpolate forces Shake to process every single frame in a retimed sequence, resulting in a series of frames with consistent visual quality. If the Motion parameter is set to Best, three additional parameters become available: · BackwardFlow: Turning on BackwardFlow evaluates the flow of images in both directions in order to generate interpolated in-between frames. This mode is usually visually superior, but significantly slower. · FlowSmoothness: Higher or lower values may improve the quality of interpolated frames, depending on the shape of the subject in the image. · Use low values to improve the quality of subjects in the frame that change shape, like a person or animal that's running or jumping. · Use high values to improve the quality of static objects that don't change shape, such as trees, buildings, or cars. · FlowPrecision: This is the last parameter you should adjust, after obtaining as much quality as possible with all of the above settings. Increasing the value of this parameter increases the overall precision of the Adaptive retiming operation by increasing the resolution at which the optical flow is estimated. A value of 0 is fine for most situations. Remastering Media Options in the FileIn Node The Convert option of the reTiming parameter provides a method for converting media from one format to another using advanced image processing to deinterlace, rescale and retime the incoming media. For example, if you have a high definition image sequence that you want to convert into a standard definition image sequence, or a PAL clip that you need to change to NTSC, the Convert option provides the tools to do so. Choosing Convert reveals a series of parameters within the FileIn node that allow you to change the frame rate, resize the output resolution, anti-alias and sharpen the resulting image, and deinterlace the media being referenced by that FileIn. These options provide the highest-quality means of resizing and deinterlacing available in Shake, with results that are superior to the transform nodes that are available from the Tool tabs. These options are only available within the FileIn node. You can use these options to convert individual shots that you're compositing within Shake, or you can read in an edited sequence from an application like Final Cut Pro 5 for format conversion using Shake. 38 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes Important: If you're converting a clip from a video frame rate to that of film with the intention of adding 3:2 pulldown back to the video (to achieve a film look for video), render the 24 fps conversion first. Add 3:2 pulldown to the shot in another operation by processing it in a second script, or by adding 3:2 pulldown with a command-line render. Fast Vs. Best in Remastering Parameters When setting up a remastering operation, you might be tempted to simply choose Best across the board for every parameter. This would probably be a mistake-- producing dramatically longer render times in exchange for a visually undetectable increase in quality, especially at higher resolutions. That said, every clip`s requirements are different. One group of settings is unlikely to produce equal results for shots with widely different exposures, grain, and camera movement. You're encouraged to do some limited tests prior to committing yourself to a particular group of mastering settings. As you experiment with different settings, be sure you always compare the output from the Fast settings to that of the Better or Best settings, to make sure that it's worth committing yourself to the more computationally intensive Best settings. Automatic Scene Detection for Multiple Shots If you're reading in a sequence of pre-assembled shots, the remastering operators in Shake use automatic scene detection to eliminate artifacts at the frame boundaries between shots. This edge detection works well for cuts and dissolves. but other types of transitions may produce unwanted artifacts. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 39 Convert Parameters The Convert mode has the following parameters: InputFrameRate Specify the original frame rate of the input media here. This parameter is also a subtree with two additional subparameters. InputFrameInterlaced If the input media is video, enable this parameter if it's interlaced. InputFrameDominance If the input media is interlaced, specify the field dominance here. OutputFrameRate Specify the output frame rate here for format conversion. This parameter is a subtree with two additional subparameters. OutputFrameInterlaced If you want interlaced video output, turn this parameter on. Leaving it off results in Shake outputting progressive-scan (non-interlaced) media. OutputFrameDominance If OutputFrameInterlaced is turned on, specify the field dominance of the output image here. 40 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes OutputRes Two fields where you enter the horizontal and vertical output resolution you want to convert the media to, to scale it up or down. Scaling an image sequence using the OutputRes parameter of the Convert options results in higher-quality output than using Shake's Transform nodes. Recursive Turning this parameter on enables a different resizing method, which can be sharper when enlarging some kinds of images. Try it on one or more representative frames to see if it helps. Note: The recursive setting may also enhance unwanted noise, depending on the image. AntiAlias Turning this parameter on improves the quality of conversions when you're scaling media up. For example, when converting standard definition video to high definition, turning on AntiAlias smooths out jagged edges that might appear in the image. Details A built-in sharpening control that lets you add detail back to an image being enlarged. Unlike other sharpening operations, the details setting is able to distinguish between noise and feature details, and generally doesn't increase unwanted grain. Increasing this parameter may introduce jagged edges, however, which can be eliminated by turning on the AntiAlias parameter. Motion Two options determine the trade-off between image quality and processing time. Fast makes motion interpolations using a mesh warp, and is generally the only setting necessary for purposes of remastering. Note: Best, the most processor-intensive mode, uses motion vectors to track each pixel from frame to frame to interpolate new frames, and should only be necessary when doing retiming. For more information on the parameters available for the Best setting, see page 37. DeInterlacing Similarly to the Motion parameter, two options let you determine the trade-off between image quality and processing time--Fast and Good. These settings represent two levels of mesh warping used to interpolate data from both fields of each frame. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 41 AspectRatio This parameter is a multiplier that allows you to convert pixels of one aspect ratio into another aspect ratio--for example, from NTSC to PAL, or from high definition (square) to NTSC. The default value of 1 makes no change to the output. The following table contains common conversion values: Operation Square to NTSC (4:3) Square to PAL (4:3) NTSC (4:3) to Square (4:3) NTSC (4:3) to PAL (4:3) PAL (4:3) to Square PAL (4:3) to NTSC (4:3) Conversion Value 0.9140, or 1 if Fit is set to Resize 1.1111, or 1 if Fit is set to Resize 1.1111, or 1 if Fit is set to Resize 1, set Fit to Resize .9375, or 1 if Fit is set to Resize 1, set Fit to Resize Note: In some conversion cases, AspectRatio may be left at 1 if the Fit parameter is set to Resize, which rescales the image horizontally and vertically to match the new OutputRes. Fit The Fit parameter determines how an image fits into the new frame that's determined by the OutputRes parameter if the aspect ratio of the FileIn image is different than that of the final resolution set by the OutputRes parameter. There are two options: · Fit: Enlarges the image until either the vertical or horizontal resolution of the image matches that of the outputRes, depending on which is greater. This option maintains the original aspect ratio of the image, enlarging it as much as possible and leaving black to fill in the resulting gaps at the sides, or the top and bottom. · Resize: Rescales the vertical and horizontal resolution of the image so that it fits within the entire frame of the OutputRes. The image is stretched as necessary to fit the new resolution. The Cache Node The Cache node lets you tell Shake to cache image data at specific points in the node tree. This gives you explicit control over which parts of the node tree require rendering while you work. For example, if there is a processor-intensive branch of your node tree that you're no longer working on, you can insert a Cache node in between the last node of that branch and the section of the node tree in which you're now working. Afterwards, the currently displayed frame is immediately cached. If you want to cache a range of frames in order to pre-render that branch of the node tree, you can use the Render Cache Nodes command. All cached image data is stored within the same cache, in memory or on disk. Note: Cache nodes cache image data at the currently set proxy resolution. 42 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes From that point on, Shake references the cached image data within that node, instead of constantly reprocessing the nodes that precede it, unless a change is made to one of the preceding nodes. This section of the node tree is cached by the selected Cache node below. This Cache node caches the image generated by the nodes above it. Important: Using a Cache node crops the image to the current image size, eliminating data from the Infinite Workspace from that point in the node tree on. When the Cache Becomes Full Cache nodes that can't be cached appear red in the Node View. This node is able to cache. This node is unable to cache. There are two possible situations when a Cache node won't be able to actually cache: The input image size is larger than the maximum allowable cache file size. You can easily tell if this is the case by opening the indicated Cache node into the Parameters tab, then checking to see if the value of the imageSize (an input image's Bitdepth * its Width * its Height) is larger than the value of the imageSizeLimit. If this is the case, you need to either increase the value assigned to the diskCache.cacheMaxFileSize global plug, or change the size of the incoming image. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 43 The total cache memory limit has been exceeded. The second possibility is that the amount of memory needed by all the Cache nodes in your script exceeds the memory assigned to the cache by the diskCache.cacheMemory global plug. In this case, no additional Cache nodes may be cached without increasing the diskCache.cacheMemory global plug. Caching and Updating Frames The Cache node updates whenever the playhead moves, caching additional frames if necessary because of changes that have been made in the preceding nodes. If necessary, you can also render one or more Cache nodes and cache a range of frames in advance using the Render Cache Nodes command. If you later make changes to one or more nodes in a section of the node tree that's been cached, the affected cached frames are discarded, and can be re-cached. To use the Cache node: 1 Insert a Cache node after the last node of a section of the node tree that you want to cache. 2 Load the Cache node's parameters into the Parameters tab. 3 Select an option from the forceCache parameter. The disk+memory option is the default forceCache setting, and is almost always the preferred setting to use. 4 If you want to immediately cache that section of the node tree for a specified duration, choose Render > Render Cache Nodes. 5 The Cache Render Parameters window appears, which automatically updates the timeRange to the Global timeRange. 6 Click Render to render the Cache node. A Flipbook appears, allowing you to view the progress of the render, and play through the cached image sequence. 44 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes Parameters in the Cache Render Parameters Window The Cache Render Parameters window has the following parameters: renderCacheNodes If you have multiple Cache nodes in the node tree, you can select one or more of these and render them simultaneously by setting renderCacheNodes to Selected in the Cache Render Parameters window. Or you can render all Cache nodes in the node tree by setting renderCacheNodes to All. timeRange If necessary, you can change the timeRange to cache a different frame duration. useProxy Images are cached using your script's current proxy setting. You can manually override the proxy setting in the Cache Render Parameters window, but those cache files won't actually be used by Shake until you change the script's proxy setting to match. This gives you the option to render multiple sets of cache images to match each proxy setting you plan on using. sequential Turning sequential on causes each Cache node to process the tree above it for each frame before allowing the next Cache node to process. When sequential is turned off, all Cache nodes are rendered simultaneously. This is more efficient in cases where Cache nodes share upstream nodes/trees. However, if there are too many processes running at the same time they will compete for CPU and memory resources, which may cause the overall processing time to increase. Parameters in the Cache Node The Cache node has the following parameters: Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 45 cacheStatus This is a display-only parameter that shows whether the input image has been cached or not. · not cached: Nothing has been written to the cache. · in disk cache: Input image data has been moved to the disk cache. This is a result of the memory cache becoming full, or cache images having been saved after exiting a previous Shake session. · in memory cache: The input image data has been written to the memory cache. · in transient memory cache: The input image data has been written to the transient memory cache. forceCache This parameter lets you set how cached image data is stored when you update the cache with the Render Cache Node command. The selected forceCache behavior bypasses the Global cacheMode caching behavior. There are two options: · disk+memory: The input image is written to the memory cache whenever the cache node is updated, and then transferred to the disk cache when the memory cache is full. All frames in the memory cache are moved to disk when Shake quits. In most cases this is the preferred behavior. · memory only: Moves the input image into the memory cache every time the Cache node is updated, but never writes cache data to disk. Internal Cache Parameter Display The Cache node also displays the following parameters: imageSize The size (in megabytes) of the input image. The imageSize is determined by the following formula: Bit-depth * Image Width * Image Height imageSizeLimit The maximum allowable size of the input image, in megabytes. This is set with the diskCache.cacheMaxFileSize global plug. The default value is 32 MB. Note: The imageSizeLimit display lets you easily spot situations where a Cache node is not rendering because the imageSize is greater than the imageSizeLimit. totalCacheMemory The total RAM (in megabytes) available for caching to memory. This is set with the diskCache.cacheMemory global plug. The default value is 128 MB. 46 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes New Parameter in the Mask Subtree of Nodes A new parameter has been added to help you manage mask input. clampMask Turning this parameter on clamps mask image data to a value between 0 and 1. New Features for RotoShape Nodes RotoShape nodes, and other nodes that use shapes, have additional features. Copying and Pasting Shapes Between Nodes There are several nodes that use shapes besides the RotoShape node. These include: · LensWarp · Morpher · Warper Shapes can be copied and pasted between all of these nodes, so that a shape drawn in one can be used in any other. Animated shapes are copied along with all of their keyframes. Note: You cannot copy shapes from RotoShape nodes that were created in Shake 3.5 or earlier. To copy a single shape: Right-click the transform control, outline, or any point of the shape you want to copy and do one of the following: · Choose Copy Shape from the shortcut menu. · Press Control-C. m m To copy all visible shapes: Right-click anywhere in the Viewer, then choose Copy Visible Shapes from the shortcut menu. Note: Since this command only copies visible shapes, you can turn the visibility off for any shapes you don't want to copy. To paste one or more shapes into a compatible node, do one of the following: Right-click anywhere within the Viewer, then choose Paste Shapes. Move the pointer into the Viewer, and press Control-V. m m Cutting and Pasting RotoShape Keyframes You can copy and paste rotoshape keyframes from one frame of the Time Bar to another. Whenever you copy a keyframe, you copy the entire state of that shape at that frame. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 47 To copy a keyframe: 1 Move the playhead in the Time Bar to the frame where you want to copy the current state of the shape. 2 Right-click the transform control of the desired shape, then choose Copy Keyframe of Shape from the shortcut menu. Note: You can copy the state of a shape at any frame, even if there is no keyframe there. Simply position the playhead anywhere within the Time Bar and use the Copy Keyframe command. That data can be pasted at any other frame as a keyframe. To paste a keyframe: 1 Move the playhead in the Time Bar to the frame where you want to paste the copied keyframe. 2 Right-click the transform control of the desired shape, then choose Paste Keyframe of Shape from the shortcut menu. Shape Timing Three parameters within the timing subtree of the RotoShape parameters allow you to modify when a rotoshape starts and ends. An additional retimeShapes control lets you retime all keyframes that have been applied to that RotoShape node, speeding up or slowing down the animation that affects the shapes within. timeShift Offsets the entire rotoshape, along with any keyframes that have been applied to it. This parameter corresponds to the position of that rotoshape in the Time View. inPoint Moves the in point of the rotoshape, allowing you to change where that rotoshape begins. This parameter corresponds to the in point of the rotoshape in the Time View. outPoint Moves the out point of the rotoshape, allowing you to change where that RotoShape ends. This parameter corresponds to the out point of the rotoshape in the Time View. Retiming RotoShape Animation The retimeShapes button, within the timing subtree of the RotoShape Parameters tab, lets you retime all of the keyframes that are applied to that rotoshape. Using this command, you can compress the keyframes that are animating a rotoshape, speeding up the changes taking place from keyframe to keyframe, or expand them, slowing the animation down. 48 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes When you click retimeShapes, the Node Retime window appears. The retimeShapes command has two modes, Speed and Remap, which affect a RotoShape node's keyframes similarly to the Speed and Remap options found within the Timing tab of a FileIn node. Speed Adjustments The default Operation, Speed, lets you compress or expand all of the keyframes within the RotoShape node by a fixed multiplier. Suppose you have the following group of keyframes: Using the default Amount value of 2.0 and clicking apply contracts the keyframes proportionally--resulting in the following distribution: invert Turning on the Invert button expands the keyframes by the Amount value, instead of contracting them. This has an identical effect to setting Amount to a decimal value between 0 and 1. Remap Adjustments Setting Operation to Remap provides a way for you to use curve expressions to retime the current keyframe distribution. This lets you apply a retiming curve from a FileIn node to the keyframes of a shape that you've already animated to rotoscope that image. Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes 49 Note: If you want to create a curve specifically to use with the Node Retime command, you can create a local variable within the RotoShape Parameters tab, load it into the Curve Editor, and create a curve expression which you can then copy and paste from the local variable into the Retime Expr field. Attaching Trackers to Individual Control Points You can attach separate trackers to each of a shape's individual control points. You can attach as many trackers to as many separate control points as you like. To attach an existing track to a single control point: 1 Select a shape control point in the Viewer. 2 Right-click the selected points, then choose a tracker from the "Attach tracker to selected CV's in current shape" shortcut submenu. The selected tracker now animates the position of that control point. The offset between the position of the track and the original position of the shape control point is maintained as the point is animated along the path of the tracker. You can also create a new Tracker node that is referenced by a specific control point. To create a new Tracker node attached to one or more control points: 1 Select one or more points in the Viewer. 2 Right-click one of the selected points, then choose "Create tracker for selected points" from the shortcut menu. 3 Attach the new tracker to the image you want to track, and use the tracker's controls to track the desired feature. 4 The control point you selected in step 1 automatically inherits the tracking data. To remove a tracker from one or more control points: 1 Select one or more shape control points in the Viewer. 2 Right-click one of the selected points, then choose "Remove tracker reference on selected points" from the shortcut menu. 50 Chapter 2 Major Features and New Nodes