Hello Colleagues and Friends,

We’re happy to introduce this exciting new technical support area of our website - The CineForm Tech Blog. It’s a new centralized location where you can find all the latest news and information regarding CineForm technology, products and workflow solutions.

Over the last few years we’ve watched our Frequently Asked Questions, Tech Notes and Knowledge Base pages grow larger. But our old infrastructure wasn’t as flexible as we wanted, nor was it easily searchable.  Now, we’ve consolidated all of our support information into our new Tech Blog for quick and easy access. Some of the advantages are:

Advanced Search Features: Using the navigational links on the right-hand side of this page, you can now search for topics based on Products, Applications and Technology. 

For example, if you own Neo Scene and want to see all of the related Tech Notes, simply click on the ‘neo scene’ link and then click on the ‘tech notes’ sub-link. Viola! A new page opens up showing all the Neo Scene related Tech Notes. If you want to know the latest News about our Active Metadata technology, click on the ‘active metadata’ link and then click on the ‘news’ sub-link. Then a page opens with all the News articles about our Active Metadata. Simple, right?

User Feedback: Since every FAQ, Tech Note, News item and Update Log found here is in the format of a blog-post, you are able to make comments on each article. We hope this will be a way for you to give feedback about a particular topic and to share your thoughts with us and the rest of the CineForm community.

We are very excited about the potential of this new Tech Blog and we hope it will become a valuable resource in providing you with the most accurate and up-to-date CineForm information as possible.

The Tech Blog is new, and it still has some navigation idiosyncrasies to iron out.  We also have some ideas about how to evolve the site, and if you have some comments or ideas for us - please let us know.  By the way, try the search feature at the upper right - it seems to be a fast way to get directly to specific information.

Best Regards,
The CineForm Staff

 
I-J2K Suite (Windows) Summary

For editing: Converts 10-bit Infinity J2K files to 10-bit CineForm Intermediate AVI or MOV files
   - converted files retain spatial resolution and frame rate of source files
   - converted AVI files are compatible with all DirectShow Windows applications
   - converted MOV files are compatible with all QuickTime applications on Windows or Mac
 

For shot review: Rewraps Infinity J2K files to CineForm J2K (C-J2K) files with an AVI wrapper
   - rapidly copies Infinity MXF files to a new AVI-wrapped J2K file compatible with Windows Media Player and other
     DirectShow applications

Prospect HD/4K or Neo HD/4K must be installed on Windows prior to installing I-J2K Suite
 

NOTE: HD Link includes the Trial version of I-J2K Suite for converting Infinity media.  All converted media will have a watermark until the non-watermark version of I-J2K Suite is purchased and installed. I-J2K Suite can be purchased from the CineForm online store.
 

INTRODUCTION

 
CineForm’s HD Link (included with Prospect and Neo) Rewraps and Converts Infinity J2K-MXF Media

I-J2K Suite enables two features -– conversion and re-wrapping -– to support Infinity’s J2K-MXF content. 

• “Conversion” transcodes Infinity’s 10-bit J2K format into 10-bit CineForm Intermediate AVI files of the same spatial resolution in preparation for editing. 

 • “Rewrapping” replaces the MXF wrapper surrounding the Infinity MXF files with an  AVI wrapper.  Rewrapped AVI files, even though they contain J2K video essence, will now play in Windows Media Player or other DirectShow applications.  Rewrapping creates a new AVI file at the location specified and leaves the source file intact.  Rewrapping is very fast - about the speed of a file copy, and is a great technique to use for shot review.

Editing: For best editing performance it is recommended that you transcode Infinity J2K files to CineForm Intermediate files.  Your new CineForm files will become your new digital master source for your online workflow.  File conversion is performed prior to beginning post-production by running CineForm’s HD Link*.  After conversion you’ll have a a real-time workflow within Adobe Premiere Pro on Windows plus compatibility with all DirectShow applications.  The original J2K-MXF files can then be stored for archive. 

*Note: HD Link ships with a fully-functional Trial version of I-J2K Suite.  Converted files will contain a watermark until the non-watermark version is purchased and installed.

Shot Review: In a production environment that requires quick review of material, we recommend re-wrapping J2K-MXF media into CineForm J2K (C-J2K) AVI files.  Re-wrapping is very fast (faster than real time) as it doesn’t disturb the underlying J2K compression.  After re-wrapping, all DirectShow-compatible Windows applications can decode the C-J2K files when I-J2K Suite is installed, with performance dependent on your hardware.

NOTE: Prospect HD/4K or Neo HD/4K must be installed on Windows prior to using I-J2K Suite

CineForm Visual Fidelity: Transcoding J2K-MXF media to CineForm Intermediate files is extremely high quality with no loss of visual fidelity. For more information about CineForm compression quality, see our Quality Analysis pages.

WINDOWS Workflow for I-J2K Suite

Step 1a - EDITING: Convert J2K-MXF Files to CineForm Intermediate AVI or MOV 

As is consistent with a CineForm post-production workflow, the first step is to convert source material into CineForm Intermediate files using HDLink.   This remains the case for Infinity’s J2K-MXF content.  HD Link makes quick work of converting Infinity J2K-MXF files as outlined below. 

First, select your desired settings in HDLink by opening the “Prefs” window.

a) Select the directory where you want the converted files to be placed. Make sure to check the “Use Capture Location for converted files” box. (Highlighted in red).
 

b) Choose your desired destination format (AVI or MOV), quality, and image processing settings.  (Highlighted in blue). Normally you will choose AVI if you intend to use the converted files on Windows and MOV if you intend to use them on Mac.
 

c) Set “Convert to CFHD” in the Infinity Controls window at the bottom of the Prefs window (Highlighted in green below).  Also select whether or not you want your clip chunks concatenated1 at the time of conversion.

NOTE1: The conversion source can be the REVPRO or CF media used to record Infinity files.  You do NOT need to copy J2K-MXF media from the REVPRO or CF media prior to conversion. 

¹ Concatenation: The Infinity camera allows recordings to be automatically broken at user-specified time or file size intervals.  When selected, you may end up with multiple “chunks” for every clip.  With the “Concatenate Chunks” option enabled, your resulting CineForm file will compile all of the chunks back into one clip.  With the option disabled, you will get one CineForm file for every source chunk.  This option also impacts how the “Select Folder” function works in the “Convert” tab.  More on that in the following section…

Jump to Step 2….
 

Step 1b - SHOT REVIEW: Rewrapping J2K-MXF Files to J2K-AVI

Rewrapping J2K-MXF files through HD Link allows clips to be rapidly converted into a format for shot review and selection.  Rewrapping preserves the underlying J2K compression, but replaces the MXF wrapper with an AVI wrapper, allowing playback using Windows Media Player or other DirectShow-compatible viewers.

The Rewrap process is performed by HD Link with I-J2K Suite installed using the settings shown in the “Prefs” window. 

a) First, select where you want your re-wrapped files to be stored. Make sure to enable the “Use Capture Location for converted files” checkbox. (Red)
 

b) Select “Re-wrap to CJ2K” in the Infinity Controls box.  You also have the option to concatenate1 the clip chunks during re-wrap. (Green)
 

Playback performance will be largely dependent upon your hardware. 

NOTE1: The conversion source can a mounted disk including the REVPRO or CF media used to record Infinity files.  You do NOT need to copy J2K-MXF media from the REVPRO or CF media prior to conversion. 

¹ Concatenation: The Infinity camera allows recordings to be automatically broken at user-specified time or file size intervals.  When selected, you may end up with multiple “chunks” for every clip.  With the “Concatenate Chunks” option ENABLED, your resulting CineForm file will compile all of the chunks back into one clip.  With the option DISABLED, you will get one CineForm file for every source chunk.  This option also impacts how the “Select Folder” function works in the “Convert” tab.  More on that in the following section…

Continue to Step 2….

Step 2 - HD Link Convert Tab
 

Once you have specified your desired function (Conversion or Rewrapping) and the corresponding settings, you will now select the files that you wish to convert.

First, select the Convert tab in HD Link.
 

Step 3 - File Selection for Batch Conversion
 

The next step is to select your source file(s) - there are two ways to do this.

a) The “Select Files” function will allow you to select individual files to convert or rewrap.  Use this when there are specific clips or chunks you wish to process.
 

b) The “Select Folder” operation should be used when you wish to process an entire (nested) directory or drive.  Simply select the top-most directory, and all of the clips will be recursively added to the conversion queue.
 

NOTE: The “Concatenate Chunks” option affects the behavior of “Select Folder”.  When ENABLED, only the first chunk of each clip will added to the “SourceClips” queue in HDLink’s “Convert” tab.  The subsequent chunks will automatically be concatenated.  When “Concatenate Chunks” is DISABLED, every chunk will be added to the queue.  When using “Select Files”, only select the first chunk of each file if you wish to concatenate.  If you want to only convert/re-wrap individual chunks, disable the “Concatenate Chunks” option.
 
 

c) Once you have all the clips you wish to convert added to the queue, click “Start”.  Just like with any other HDLink conversion, you will see the completed conversions and re-wraps added to the “Converted Clips” list, with corresponding file sizes.  The progress bar will also accurately represent how much of any given chunk (or clip) has been completed.

NOTE: For correct frame rate information to be recorded into your resulting files, and for accurate progress reporting, the file and naming structure from your source RevPro disk MUST remain unaltered.  Specifically, the corresponding XML file(s) for each clip must be preserved in the same directory as the clips.

d) Once processing is complete, you can play your converted or re-wrapped files in Windows Media Player  or your player of choice if I-J2K Suite is installed.  Your converted files are ready to be edited in real-time within your editor of choice. 

 
Accelerating Playback Performance of J2K-AVI Files
 

Wavelet algorithms - both CineForm and J2K - have an interesting property that allows you to play back the file at full resolution, or at selected sub-resolutions such as “half” (half horizontal and vertical resolution), or “quarter” (quarter horizontal and vertical resolution).  Sub resolutions require less CPU horsepower for playback, thus increasing the frame rate of playback.
To accelerate playback performance of J2K-AVI files, CineForm offers three playback commands for the decoder that define the spatial resolution the file shall be decoded to.

These commands are located in Start Menu –> CineForm –> IJ2K Tools and are called

J2K Playback - Full Quality (highest resolution, lowest frame rate playback)
J2K Playback - Half Resolution (medium resolution, higher frame rate playback) and
J2K Playback - Quarter Resolution (lowest resolution, highest frame rate playback)

Once selected the setting is “sticky” - it remains in place for ALL calls to the CineForm J2K decoder, whether by Windows Media Player or other DirectShow applications.  So if you later need Full Quality remember to change the setting!  You will find these controls quite handy if you are doing shot review on J2K-AVI files on a slower CPU or laptop.  It is easy to select a specific resolution for playback, then observe the different playback performance offered by Windows Media Player.

CineForm is working with Avid to enable compatible workflows for CineForm media within Avid Media Composer and DS.  The first level of this support, available today, is the ability to import CineForm AVI and MOV files through MetaFuze into Avid DNxHD files as indicated in the diagram.

Currently, imported media does not retain timecode information. Additional tools will be provided in the future to assist with timecode retention.

Importing Media through MetaFuze:

Download and install the Windows version of CineForm’s free Neo Player onto the workstation on which you will be ingesting footage through MetaFuze.  MetaFuze will use the CineForm decoder installed by Neo Player during the import process.

Follow the instructions for MetaFuze available on Avid’s website for importing MOV or AVI files.

Creating CineForm Media: It is currently not possible to create CineForm media within Avid products.  To otherwise create CineForm media, any of CineForm’s editing-related products for Mac or Windows can be used.  CineForm files are cross-platform (Windows / Mac) compatible, and regardless of origination can be imported through MetaFuze.

Links:
Avid Home Page
MetFuze Landing Page

A Beta release of Neo HD/4K on Mac is now available in which ReMaster now includes DVCPRO HD as a destination format.

See the Neo HD/4K update log for more update details: http://techblog.cineform.com/?p=897

Good news has arrived regarding the poor playback performance of CineForm files in Vegas Pro 9.0 - Sony has posted a fix!  This had been an acknowledged problem in Vegas when playing CineForm files in Half or Quarter size.  We’ll point you to the Sony knowledge base for the full details.  This solution is only needed until Sony posts Vegas Pro 9.0a.

Using progressive 1080p images in Sony Vegas Pro does not always give you the high resolution results that you may have expected.  This is due to the AVI defaults within Vegas that assumes all HD sources are Upper Field first interlaced. Vegas then deinterlaces the image to be compatible with the progressive project — resulting in the loss of your vertical resolution.

The simple solution is to right click on the imported clip and bring up the properties panel, changing the “Field Order” to progressive.  This works fine, yet you have to do for every clip manually.  To make these change occur for every new imported clip, bring the first clip into the project, setting the properties to progressive and then click on the “Save Settings” icon before closing the properties panel.  Each new imported clip that shares the properties of the first (resolution and frame rate) will automatically receive the corrected settings. Your full resolution is now preserved.

Neo Scene Mac Feature Summary

•  Converts most HDV and AVCHD files to CineForm files
   - converted files retain spatial resolution and frame rate of source files
   - converted files are compatible with all QuickTime applications including Final Cut Pro

•  Supported Camera Formats:  HDV, AVCHD, Canon 5D Mk II, Lumix GH1, and more.  HDV tape formats must be ingested first using a tape capture application like QuickTime Pro prior to CineForm conversion. 

•  Preprocessing options:

- telecine removal to extract 24p from 60i sources or from 24p-embedded-in-60i sources
- deinterlacing performs a linear light blend of the two fields to maintain the highest resolution, while preserving much of the smooth motion look of 60i. 

•  ProRes Export:When Apple Pro Tools are installed with the ProRes codec, ProRes is an optional destination format as an alternative to CineForm files. 

File Conversion Using Neo Scene Mac

Step 1: Launch Neo Scene.

Step 2: Navigate to the folder where the files exist that you want to convert. 

After selection they will show up in the work queue as shown.

NOTES:

The Size field represents both the number of frames and the length of time in seconds for each clip.

During conversion the characteristics of the source clip are preserved; e.g., spatial resolution, frame rate, interlace/progressive, etc.

The Description field shows various clip information including timecode.

TIP: If you want to add more clips to the work queue prior to conversion, select File-Open (or Command-O).

Step 3:In the work queue (above) select the Parameters arrow (bottom right) and the panel to the right will appear.  Currently PROCESSING and OUTPUT are the only operational panels. PROCESSING is where you find controls for spatial resampling, telecine removal, and deinterlacing.  OUTPUT allows you to choose the encoder, the CineForm encoder quality and destination folder for converted files.  

Step 4: Select the PROCESSING tab and the panel will show the processing options, as seen to the right.

Pulldown Removal and Deinterlace:These settings change how interlaced material is handled in the conversion. Note: You should not select both deinterlace and pulldown removal at the same time. The following sections of a frame show how these change the image. The source footage is HDV material recorded at 24p. The camera used records the 24p (23.98) in a 29.97p video stream. It could also have used a 59.94i, the frames look the same when viewed on the monitor. 

The image on the right demonstrates how an interlaced image looks on a progressive monitor when there is motion between fields.  The “jaggies” result from the fact that a progressive monitor displays the two fields simultaneously even though they were recorded with a time shift of 1/60 of a second. The image to the right shows how deinterlacing changes the image. The deinterlacing algorithm performs a linear light blend of the two fields to maintain the highest resolution, while preserving much of the smooth motion look of 60i.

How do you choose? If you know the camera recording was chosen as 24p and the resulting clip shows up in the source window as 29.97p or 59.94i, choose the pulldown removal option. If you do not know what the settings were, use QuickTime to single step some motion that has neither pulldown removal or deinterlacing applied. Interlaced source material will have jaggies on every frame where something moved. Telecine material with the most common 3:2 pulldown, will have 3 frames of no jaggies followed by two frames with jaggies.

Limit YUV (Canon 5D):
To preserve full dynamic range use this control to restore luminance levels to the level most video tools are expecting to see.

Fix Chroma (Lumix GH1):
When doing pull-down,  sometimes you get cross-talk in the chroma. Selecting this option will fix that.

Step 5: Select the OUTPUT tab and the panel will show the output options, as seen to the right.

Encoder Quality:For further information about about CineForm encoder quality levels, see the following Tech Note on CineForm Quality Settings. (The panels shown in the Tech Note are for Windows, but the discussion of Quality Levels in the Tech Note is not specific to Windows).

If you are encoding to Apple ProRes HQ, the Quality Level cannot be changed, and is set to High quality.

As a rule of thumb, for pre-compressed material like HDV and AVCHD, you should use “High”.  There are occasionally reasons to use Med or Low. For example, if you need to preserve hard drive space or if your final export will be lower than HD resolution.

Output Format: For most video sources you should use “CF 422″ for the output format, also known generically as YUV.  If you have Apple’s Pro tools installed, you will also have the option of converting directly to ProRes HQ. Just select “ProRes HQ” from the pop-up menu.

Output Folder: Leave blank to have your destination file(s) written to the folder you choose when you click the “Convert” button.  Type a name to create a subfolder within that folder.

Note about file naming: Your destination file will intentionally have the same name as the source file.

- Replace: The destination file will replace the existing file if it has the same name.
- Rename New: The destination file will have a new name if a file of the same name Already exists.
- Rename Old: The existing file will be renamed if the destination file has the same name.

Step 6: After you click the “Convert” button on the main panel, and if you have selected to “Replace” a source file with the to-be converted file, you will get a dialog at the right that forces you to double-confirm.

Step 7: During conversion the work queue will update progress as shown.

Halting Conversion

If you want to halt an in-progress conversion, click the “Stop” button.  The stop dialog will ask to confirm.

Note: Converting HDV Using Neo Scene Mac

ReMaster does not include HDV tape capture capability.  To convert HDV files to CineForm (or ProRes) files you need to first capture your footage using an external capture tool such as QuickTime Pro.  After capture the files can be converted using ReMaster.

First Light is CineForm’s non-destructive image development application.  Adjustments to images are stored as Active Metadata™ alongside your CineForm media.  All CineForm media is supported: 4:2:2, 4:4:4, and RAW.  First Light is resolution independent, support up to 4K spatial resolution.

For use of First Light for 3D projects we recommend first reading this tutorial, then reading the First Light 3D tutorial here: http://techblog.cineform.com/?p=1109.

First Light Overview

First Light is designed to be used alongside your editorial application like Final Cut Pro.  As you adjust image development parameters in First Light, those changes are immediately visible in Final Cut Pro when you scrub or play your CineForm media.  Because you are adjusting Active Metadata, and not flattening the adjustments into your media, you can adjust parameters at any time during your project workflow.

Note: All media must be converted to CineForm files prior to importing into First Light.  You can use ReMaster to convert media that is not already in CineForm format.  First Light does not support non-CineForm file types.

When you launch First Light, the main Active panel is displayed as in the image below.  Notice on the upper right there are three visible tabs labelled: Active, 3D, and Passive. (Click on the image below to enlarge).

Active: Main panel for adjusting Active Metadata on either 2D or 3D material.

3D: When adjusting color on 3D material the 3D panel allows adjustments on individual eyes.  This panel is also where convergence adjustments are made.  The 3D panel is greyed out on Neo HD and Neo4K products.

Passive: The Passive panel shows passive metadata attached to your clip(s).  The Passive panel will be expanded in the future to allow modifications to Passive Metadata.

Active Panel Overview

The Active Panel is the main panel for adjusting image development parameters.  On the right side bar are adjustments for white balance, saturation, gain control and black offset, and gamma controls.  You may also flip images vertically or horizontally, change the decode curve, or apply a 3D LUT.  Compatible 3D LUTs obey the Iridas .Look format.

Note1: All adjustments made in the Active panel are stored as “Active Metadata” with your CineForm media, and are never flattened into your files unless you choose to render in your host application (such as Final Cut Pro).

Note2: Enabling or disabling a particular Active Metadata parameter in the right-side bar affects only the active clip in the bin.

A Note About LUTs:

LUT Compatibility: LUTs compatible with First Light obey the Iridas .Look format.  LUT size is up to 64×64x64.
Registering a LUT: Simply double-click on the .Look file.    Once registered, the LUT is visible in the “Look” drop-down box in the Active panel.

DeBayer Drop Down Selection: The DeBayer drop-down is used for selecting the DeBayer (demosaic) filter applied to CineForm RAW files during rendering in Final Cut Pro, After Effects, or other calling applications.  It is during these render operations that a high-quality demosaic algorithm is necessary.  During preview playback a bi-linear demoaic is applied.

Global Controls (All Clips): Above the preview windows are Global Controls to turn ON or OFF specific Active Metadata parameters (and as shown in the detail image below).  Global controls are applied to ALL CineForm clips, not just the active clip in the preview window.  These same controls also appear in the System Preferences pane for the CineForm codec.

Note: Turning global controls ON or OFF does not change the Active Metadata in the database, it simply toggles the control for playback and rendering purposes.

Clip Bin: The clip bin is exposed by clicking on the “Side Bar” icon in the upper right of the panel, which is shown in detail mode below.

3D Panel Overview

For Neo3D installations, see the following Tech Note for further description of color and convergence adjustments located within the 3D panel: http://techblog.cineform.com/?p=1109.

First Light Projects

First Light Projects: An important point to realize is First Light is Project oriented.  A project can be a single video clip on which you make adjustments, but often a project consists of a collection of video clips.  A collection might be (for example) a particular scene in a film project which in which the same Active Metadata adjustments are applied to all clips.

The File drop-down is shown at right.

New: Open a new Project
Open: Open an existing project
Open Recent: Open a Recent project
Close: Close Project without saving
Save: Save Project saves the collection of clips into a previously-named Project.
Save As…: Same the current Project with a new name.
Revert to Saved: Restore the previously-saved Project parameters.

Import…: Import one or more video clips into the bin.  You may also drag clips into the bin.
Export: Reserved for future use

The File-Import command opens a standard dialog box (below) that allows you to select clips you want to move into the clip bin.  Alternatively you can open the bin and drag files into the bin.

First Light Workflow Hints

The most efficient way to work is to have First Light open with the clips you need visible in the Clip Bin, and switch between FirstLight and your NLE/Effects program.

To make adjustments to a clip, select the clip in the bin.  It will be displayed in the main window.  Move the sliders to adjust the desired color parameters.  Notice options for selecting different decoder curves and to apply 3D LUTs.  Neo HD / 4K / 3D ship with sample look files which will be visible through the Look drop-down.  When you select a LUT it will be immediately applied to the clip.

It is important to remember that any adjustments made to images in FirstLight appear immediately in any other application that uses the clip.  This includes QuickTime, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, After Effetcs, and even iMovie.  All Active Metadata adjustment are immediately applied to the clip and stored in the color database, regardless of whether you Save the Project or not.

When you close the window, or quit First Light, you will be asked to save the Project.

Choose a name from the “Save” dialog

And the project will be saved.

When you open a previously saved project, First Light will show the last clip, and all clips will remember the last location that you viewed.

CineForm Enhances and Simplifies End-to-End Post-Production Workflows….

CineForm software simplifies the work of editors and effects artists through post-production by converting myriad camera and file formats into CineForm’s compressed Digital Intermediate (“DI”) AVI or MOV format that offers visual fidelity equivalent to using an uncompressed workflow.

After conversion, CineForm software (Neo or Prospect families) are used with your favorite post-production software on Windows or Mac to obtain new features, achieve higher performance, and improve visual fidelity for your post workflow that is otherwise unavailable.

The result of using a CineForm-based post workflow is higher visual quality for your finished project, yet with reduced investment in labor and equipment.

Using a CineForm workflow:

Step 1 – Capture/Convert: “Normalize” virtually all camera, tape, streaming, and file formats into CineForm AVI or MOV files which become your new digital master – your original footage can be archived.

CineForm files are visually indistinguishable from using uncompressed files – except smaller – and are an excellent choice for long-term archive. Signal-to-noise ratio performance exceeds the respected HDCAM™ SR tape format.

Up to 4K spatial resolution, 12-bit precision, plus 4:2:2, 4:4:4(:4), and Raw chroma formats

Remove telecine (24p from 60i), de-interlace, spatial resampling, plus many more pre-processing features can be performed during conversion.

Create CineForm 3D files using Neo3D for your online 3D editorial workflow

Converted files are cross-platform (Win and Mac) and cross-applications compatible with virtually all QuickTime (MOV) or DirectShow (AVI) applications.

Step 2 – Online Post-Production: Post-production is always “online” meaning you edit your CineForm master files with your favorite post-production software tools – no proxy files, no conforming, and no specialized hardware.

With one of CineForm’s Neo (Win or Mac) or Prospect (Win) family of products installed, you are ready to begin online post-production using Premiere Pro/After Effects, Final Cut Pro/Motion, Combustion, Vegas, Speedgrade, and many other industry-standard software products.

CineForm software works in complement with your favorite editing or effects software, offering real-time video engines, effects processing, reversible color manipulation, 3D processing, and other features

Using First Light you can adjust image development parameters (white balance, color matrix, 3D LUTs, and many more) for your files non-destructively based on CineForm’s Active Metadata processing engine. Color adjustments are immediately visible in your editing or effects without rendering.

Step 3 – Distribution/Archive: For archive it is best to retain your CineForm files as their visual fidelity is generally higher than for any other compressed format.

For recording to tape through HD-SDI you can playout your CineForm project using Prospect HD/4K with Adobe Premiere Pro plus an AJA Xena card on Windows, or on Mac using Final Cut Pro plus an AJA Kona card.

For electronic distribution you simply render from your CineForm master files to your preferred distribution format (such as MPEG2, Blu-Ray, etc) using your NLE or effects software.  CineForm also provides exporters to DPX files for compatibility with applications that don’t support streaming AVI or MOV files.

For best visual fidelity for digital projection you should project directly from CineForm files unless your projection requires DCI compliance.

Video file formats use standard wrappers like AVI, QuickTime (MOV), or MXF to ensure broad playback compatibility with numerous video applications. Within the AVI or MOV wrapper, the underlying file might be compressed (or uncompressed) using various codecs, all of which guarantee compatibility with a calling application through OS-recognized AVI or QuickTime interfaces. The primary function of a codec is to ensure that the decoded image best represents the original uncompressed source – within the inherent constraints of the chosen codec and the parameters selected during the encode (or compression) operation.

Traditional Codec (Encoder-Decoder) Functions

Codecs designs are many, as are the resulting visual fidelity and CPU requirements that result from various designs. As a general rule, most codecs have been designed for either acquiring images or video inside a camera (JPEG, DV, DVCPRO, AVCHD, DNxHD) or for distribution (MPEG, h.264).

CineForm has taken a different approach with its compression engine – instead designing a compression subsystem specifically optimized for the needs of post production, and with the inclusion of many system features. To be clear, there is a codec at the heart of CineForm’s compression subsystem, but the codec is surrounded by additional processing engines that operate underneath the AVI/MOV interface layers through which calling applications access compressed data. This allows CineForm’s compression subsystem to perform myriad system-level features difficult to otherwise implement.

CineForm Compression Subsystem Architecture

Following are the major component pieces in a CineForm compression subsystem:

CineForm Wavelet Codec: The design goals for CineForm’s codec were:

1) Maintaining extremely high visual fidelity through a rigorous multi-generation post-production workflow, including high bit precision yielding high signal-to-noise ratio.

2) Offering extremely fast performance on Intel architecture CPUs such that multiple streams can be processed in real time without the need for specialized hardware.

The design characteristics of CineForm’s codec are the following:

Transform: Full-frame Wavelet. “Full-frame” means the entire image is transformed without breaking the image into “blocks” which are the basis for DCT-style transforms (JPEG, MPEG, AVCHD, etc), and which provide the ubiquitous artifacts often visible in complex image sequences. CineForm’s full-frame Wavelet transform cannot suffer from these DCT image degradations.

Chroma Formats and I/O Bit Depth: 10-bit YUV, 12-bit RGB(A), and 12-bit CineForm RAW

Spatial Resolution: Unrestricted

Bit Rate: Variable (constant quality)

Encoder Quality Settings: 6 (user selectable)

Symmetry: Symmetric (similar speed for encoding and decoding)

Multi-Resolution Decoding: Wavelet algorithms offer a valuable feature for use in playback or other post-production applications – the ability to decode a full-resolution image to a lower resolution. Specifically the ability to decode to ½ or ¼ resolution in each dimension is allowed, while using less CPU load compared to a full-resolution decode. CineForm software takes advantage of this characteristic dynamically during editorial.

Performance: Function of CPU speed and memory bandwidth, but below are representative examples run on a 3.2GHz Intel Corei7 (single chip quad core):

Relative Performance versus JPEG2000: CineForm compression ranges from around 5X to 10X faster than JPEG2000. In other words, compression performed by CineForm in an hour may take up to 10 hours for JPEG2000 to perform on the same imagery.

Visual Quality (versus HDCAM SR): CineForm visual fidelity routinely exceeds that of the respected HDCAM SR format which is a mainstay in professional production and post-production. Read additional quality analysis versus HDCAM SR on StEM test footage….

Visual Quality (versus HDV and DVCPRO HD): CineForm visual fidelity substantially exceeds that of most camera compression formats such as HDV, DVCPRO HD, AVCHD, etc….

Temporal/Spatial Transform Engine: The Transform Engine allows source and output formats to be different than the compressed format, in either spatial resolution or chroma format.Spatial Transforms:

Spatial Transforms: CineForm spatial processing is essentially unrestricted, but practically transforms spatial resolutions between standard resolutions. For instance 1440×1080 (HDV) is converted on the fly to 1920×1080, or 960×720 (DVCPRO HD) is converted on the fly to 1280×720.

Color Space Transforms: Color space transforms can move images between RAW, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma in real time. Transforms are always performed using floating-point arithmetic to preserve color accuracy. When decoding from CineForm RAW sources, CineForm’s demosaic algorithms are performed in real time.

Active Metadata Processing Engine: CineForm’s Active Metadata Processor allows numerous non-destructive operations to be performed on image frames after decompression including color processing (white balance, gain/offset, gamma, saturation, RGB matrix controls, 3D LUTs and more), image flip, 3D processing, and more. Please read separate Tech Notes that discuss Active Metadata and 3D processing in more detail.

Video file formats use standard wrappers like AVI, QuickTime (MOV), or MXF to ensure broad playback compatibility with numerous video applications. A calling application requests frames from AVI/MOV files which are in turn decoded and presented to the calling application similar to the diagram below. Within the AVI or MOV wrapper, the underlying file might be compressed (or uncompressed) using various codecs, all of which guarantee compatibility with a calling application through OS-recognized AVI or QuickTime interfaces.

Traditional request by a calling application to “play” (or decode) a compressed file.

Using its Active Metadata™ architecture CineForm extends traditional codec-only capability into a full-featured image development subsystem, including:

Combining “active” processing of decoded images with metadata based on user-established rules. Active processing allows non-destructive image development including color (White Balance, color matrix, 3D LUTs, etc), 3D editorial and playback, stream-specific information, and future use

Metadata storage is inside the video essence within user data fields compatible with AVI/MOV files

Active Metadata is compatible with all CineForm file types: 10-bit YUV, 12-bit RGB, 12-bit RAW, and stereo (3D)

Cross-platform (Win / Mac) and cross-applications compatibility. Active Metadata is transparent to a calling application because all Active Metadata processing occurs within the CineForm Image Development Subsystem, prior to presenting the images to the calling application.

When a CineForm AVI or MOV file is created, active and/or passive metadata may be inserted into the file. In all cases a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) is inserted into the file, plus the encoder curve used when the file was created. Timecode, if available, is written into a Passive Metadata field.

The GUID provides a lookup address into the CineForm Active Metadata Database file used during playback.

The encoder curve is included to establish the inverse curve necessary to return to linear light upon decode.

The following are a few examples of Active Metadata insertion into CineForm AVI/MOV files:

When recording to disk during live capture using a Silicon Imaging camera, white balance and 3D LUT information is written into the CineForm RAW file.

When performing disk-based conversions from Red R3D files, white balance information from the Red metadata fields is extracted from the Red SDK and written into the CineForm file (YUV, RGB, or CineForm RAW) as Active Metadata.

When a stereo (3D) CineForm file is created, the second stream is stored as Active Metadata, plus other optional fields.

CineForm’s First Light application allows for:

Modifying Active Metadata. Active Metadata created at source file origination always resides inside the file and can never be modified. Modifications to Active Metadata are stored in CineForm’s Active Metadata Database file. First Light allows a user to revert to the source metadata regardless of future metadata modifications within First Light.

Setting Global Playback controls. You can define for playback that all, none, or only a portion of the Active Metadata should be applied upon decode. A couple examples of when this is useful:

During editorial with CineForm files the editor may have used Active Metadata color to establish look-intent. But when rendering from a CineForm file to DPX files a choice might be made to only apply white balance and not apply the color look-intent used during editorial with Active Metadata.

During 3D playback, global playback controls allow the user to choose whether to play a CineForm stereo file as 2D (either Left eye or Right eye), or as one of four different 3D presentation formats (side-by-side, over-under, field interlace, or anaglyph).

Defining the rules for applying CineForm’s numerous demosaic algorithms for CineForm RAW content during playback or rendering.

When a calling application requests playback of a CineForm file, the Active Metadata processor computes the final output based on user-defined global playback rules plus individual Active Metadata fields.