Apple Shake 4 User Manual

Shake 4

User Manual



Apple Computer, Inc.

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Preface 15 Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

What Is Shake?

Using the Shake Documentation

Onscreen Help

Contextual Help

Apple Websites

Keyboard and Mouse Conventions on Different Platforms

Using a Stylus

Using Dual-Head Monitors

Chapter 1 23 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Opening Shake

Overview of the Shake User Interface

Making Adjustments to the Shake Window

Navigating in the Viewer, Node View, and Curve Editor

Working With Tabs and the Tweaker

Menus and the Title Bar

Script Management

The File Browser

Using and Customizing Viewers

The Parameters Tabs

Using Expressions in Parameters

The Parameters Tab Shortcut Menu

The Domain of Definition (DOD)

The Time Bar

Previewing Your Script Using the Flipbook

Chapter 2 91 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

About Global Parameters

The Main Global Parameters

guiControls

101

Monitor Controls

10 2

Colors

10 2

enhancedNodeView

10 4

Application Environmental Variables

10 4

Script Environmental Variables

Chapter 3 10 7Adding Media, Retiming, and Remastering

10 7

About Image Input

11 0

Using the FileIn (SFileIn) Node

117

Retiming

12 3

The TimeX Node

12 5

Manual Manipulation of Time

12 6

Remastering Media

13 0

Working With Extremely High-Resolution Images

13 2

Using Shake With Final Cut Pro

Chapter 4 13 7Using Proxies

13 7

Using Proxies

13 9

Using interactiveScale

141

Using Temporary Proxies

14 4

Permanently Customizing Shake’s Proxy Settings

14 8

Using Pre-Generated Proxy Files Created Outside of Shake

15 0

Pre-Generating Your Own Proxies

163

When Not to Use Proxies

164

Proxy Parameters

Chapter 5 167Compatible File Formats and Image Resolutions

167

File Formats

17 0

Table of Supported File Formats

17 3

Format Descriptions

17 8

Support for Custom File Header Metadata

18 0

Table of File Sizes

18 0

Controlling Image Resolution

183

Nodes That Affect Image Resolution

18 6

Cropping Functions

Chapter 6 191 Importing Video and Anamorphic Film

191

The Basics of Processing Interlaced Video

19 6

Setting Up Your Script to Use Interlaced Images

200

Displaying Individual Fields in the Viewer

204

Integrating Interlaced and Non-Interlaced Footage

205

Video Functions

209

About Aspect Ratios and Nonsquare Pixels

Contents

Chapter 7 217Using the Node View

217

About Node-Based Compositing

218

Where Do Nodes Come From?

219

Navigating in the Node View

221

Using the Enhanced Node View

224

Noodle Display Options

226

Creating Nodes

228

Selecting and Deselecting Nodes

231

Connecting Nodes Together

235

Breaking Node Connections

235

Inserting, Replacing, and Deleting Nodes

240

Moving Nodes

240

Loading a Node Into a Viewer

241

Loading Node Parameters

243

Ignoring Nodes

243

Renaming Nodes

244

Arranging Nodes

246

Groups and Clusters

251

Opening Macros

251

Cloning Nodes

253

Thumbnails

257

The Node View Shortcut Menu

Chapter 8 261Using the Time View

261

About the Time View

262

Viewing Nodes in the Time View

263

Clip Durations in the Time View

263

Adjusting Image Nodes in the Time View

270

The Transition Node

Chapter 9 277Using the Audio Panel

277

About Audio in Shake

278

Loading, Refreshing, and Removing Audio Files

280

Previewing and Looping Audio

282

Playing Audio With Your Footage

283

Viewing Audio

283

Slipping Audio Sync in Your Script

285

Extracting Curves From Sound Files

288

Exporting an Audio Mix

Contents

Chapter 10 291 Parameter Animation and the Curve Editor

291

Animating Parameters With Keyframes

294

Using the Curve Editor

298

Navigating the Curve Editor

300

Working With Keyframes

316

More About Splines

Chapter 11 323The Flipbook, Monitor Previews, and Color Calibration

323

Cached Playback From the Viewer

323

Launching the Flipbook

324

Flipbook Controls

325

Viewing, Zooming, and Panning Controls

325

Memory Requirements

326 Creating a Disk-Based Flipbook 330 Viewing on an External Monitor

331 Monitor Calibration With Truelight

Chapter 12 333 Rendering With the FileOut Node

333 Attaching FileOut Nodes Prior to Rendering 336 Rendering From the Command Line 337 Using the Render Parameters Window 339 The Render Menu 339 Support for Apple Qmaster

Chapter 13 343 Image Caching

343 About Caching in Shake 343 Cache Parameters in the Globals Tab 344 Using the Cache Node 349 Commands to Clear the Cache 349 Memory and the Cache in Detail 352 Customizing Image Caching Behavior

Chapter 14 355Customizing Shake

355 Setting Preferences and Customizing Shake 355 Creating and Saving .h Preference Files 359 Customizing Interface Controls in Shake 371 Customizing File Path and Browser Controls 375 Tool Tabs 378 Customizing the Node View 379 Using Parameters Controls Within Macros 386 Viewer Controls 392 Template Preference Files 392 Changing the Default QuickTime Configuration

Contents

393 Environment Variables for Shake 400 Interface Devices and Styles 401 Customizing the Flipbook 401 Configuring Additional Support for Apple Qmaster

Chapter 15 405 Image Processing Basics

405 About This Chapter 405 Ta king Advantage of the Infinite Workspace 408 Bit Depth

414 Channels Explained

417 Compositing Basics and the Alpha Channel 421 About Premultiplication and Compositing 437 The Logarithmic Cineon File

Chapter 16 451 Compositing With Layer Nodes

451 Layering Node Essentials 452 Compositing Math Overview 453 The Layer Nodes 470 Other Compositing Functions

Chapter 17 473 Layered Photoshop Files and the MultiLayer Node

473 About the MultiLayer Node 473 Importing Photoshop Files 477 Importing a Photoshop File Using the FileIn Node 478 Using the MultiLayer Node

Chapter 18 485 Compositing With the MultiPlane Node

485 An Overview of the MultiPlane Node 487 Using the Multi-Pane Viewer Display 493 Connecting Inputs to a MultiPlane Node 494 Using Camera and Tracking Data From .ma Files 500 Transforming Individual Layers 506 Attaching Layers to the Camera and to Locator Points

512 Parameters in the Images Tab

517 Manipulating the Camera

Chapter 19 527Using Masks

527 About Masks 528 Using Side Input Masks to Limit Effects 530 Using Masks to Limit Color Nodes 533 Masking Concatenating Nodes 534 Masking Transform Nodes 536 Masking Layers

Contents 9

539 Masking Filters 540 The -mask/Mask Node 542 Masking Using the Constraint Node

Chapter 20 545 Rotoscoping

545 Options to Customize Shape Drawing 546 Using the RotoShape Node 548 Drawing New Shapes With the RotoShape Node 550 Editing Shapes 556 Copying and Pasting Shapes Between Nodes 557 Animating Shapes 562 Attaching Trackers to Shapes and Points 564 Adjusting Shape Feathering Using the Point Modes 566 Linking Shapes Together 567 Importing and Exporting Shape Data 567 Right-Click Menu on Transform Control 568 Right-Click Menu on Point 568 Viewer Shelf Controls 572 Using the QuickShape Node

Chapter 21 579 Paint

579 About the QuickPaint Node 580 Toggling Between Paint and Edit Mode 580 Paint Tools and Brush Controls 583 Modifying Paint Strokes 585 Animating Strokes 587 Modifying Paint Stroke Parameters 591 QuickPaint Hot Keys 591 QuickPaint Parameters 594 StrokeData Synopsis

Chapter 22 597 Shake-Generated Images

597 Generating Images With Shake 597 Checker 598 Color 599 ColorWheel 600 Grad 601 Ramp 602 Rand 603 RGrad 604 Te xt 609 Tile

10 Contents

Chapter 23 611Color Correction

611 Bit Depth, Color Space, and Color Correction 612 Concatenation of Color-Correction Nodes 615 Premultiplied Elements and CG Element Correction 617 Color Correction and the Infinite Workspace

620 Using the Color Picker 625 Using a Color Control Within the Parameters Tab 627 Customizing the Palette and Color Picker Interface 627 Using the Pixel Analyzer 631 The PixelAnalyzer Node 635 Color-Correction Nodes 637 Atomic-Level Functions 646 Utility Correctors 659 Consolidated Color Correctors 674 Other Nodes for Image Analysis

Chapter 24 681 Keying

681 About Keying and Spill Suppression 682 Pulling a Bluescreen or Greenscreen 683 Combining Keyers 687 Blue and Green Spill Suppression 691 Edge Treatment 696 Keying DV Video 702 Keying Functions

Chapter 25 717 Image Tracking, Stabilization, and SmoothCam

717 About Image Tracking Nodes

720 Image Tracking Workflow 728 Strategies for Better Tracking 733 Modifying the Results of a Track 739 Saving Tracks 740 Tracking Nodes 754 The SmoothCam Node

Chapter 26 763Transformations, Motion Blur, and AutoAlign

763 About Transformations 764 Concatenation of Transformations 766 Inverting Transformations 766 Onscreen Controls 775 Scaling Images and Changing Resolution 778 Creating Motion Blur in Shake 783 The AutoAlign Node 794 The Transform Nodes

Contents 11

Chapter 27 807 Warping and Morphing Images

807 About Warps 807 The Basic Warp Nodes 821 The Warper and Morpher Nodes 830 Creating and Modifying Shapes 845 Using the Warper Node 854 Using the Morpher Node

Chapter 28 861 Filters

861 About Filters 861 Masking Filters 864 The Filter Nodes

Chapter 29 895 Optimizing and Troubleshooting Your Scripts

895 Optimization 899 Problems With Premultiplication 900 Unwanted Gamma Shifts During FileIn and FileOut 902 Avoiding Bad Habits

Chapter 30 905 Installing and Creating Macros

905 How to Install Macros 907 Creating Macros—The Basics

914 Creating Macros—In Depth

Chapter 31 935 Expressions and Scripting

935 What’s in This Chapter 935 Linking Parameters 937 Variables 939 Expressions 941 Reference Tables for Functions, Variables, and Expressions 947 Using Signal Generators Within Expressions 951 Script Manual

Chapter 32 963 The Cookbook

963 Cookbook Summary 963 Coloring Tips 967 Filtering Tips 968 Keying Tips 974 Layering Tips 977 Transform Tips 979 Creating Depth With Fog 980 Te xt Treatments 984 Installing and Using Cookbook Macros 985 Command-Line Macros

12 Contents

986 Image Macros 989 Color Macros 993 Relief Macro 993 Key Macros 994 Transform Macros 996 Warping With the SpeedBump Macro 996 Utility Macros

10 01 Using Environment Variables for Projects

Appendix A 1005 Keyboard Shortcuts and Hot Keys

1005 Keyboard Shortcuts in Shake

Appendix B 1015 T he Shake Command-Line Manual

1015 Viewing, Converting, and Writing Images

Index 10 31

Contents 13

14 Contents

Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

Welcome to the world of Shake 4 compositing. This chapter covers where to find help, how the keyboard and mouse work on different platforms, and how to set up Shake for use with a stylus.

What Is Shake?

Shake is a high-quality, node-based compositing and visual effects application for film and video. Shake supports most industry-standard graphics formats, and easily accommodates high-resolution and high bit depth image sequences and QuickTime files (Mac OS X only).

Among Shake’s many built-in tools are industry-standard keyers for pulling bluescreens and greenscreens, a complete suite of color-correction tools, features for high-quality motion retiming and format remastering, motion tracking, smoothing, and stabilization capabilities, integrated procedural paint tools, and a rotoscoping and masking environment that provides complete control over animated and still mattes. Shake also supports an extensive list of third-party plug-ins, and is compatible across both the Mac OS X and Linux platforms.

Preface

Shake is also an image-processing tool that can be used as a utility for media being passed along a pipeline of many different graphics applications. Large facilities can use Shake to process and combine image data from several different departments—for example, taking a project from initial film recording; providing processed images and tools for use by the 3D animation, digital matte, and roto departments; recombining the output from all these groups with the original plates for compositing; and ultimately sending the final result back out for film recording.

Shake’s tools can be accessed in several different ways. While most artists work within the graphical interface, advanced users can access a command-line tool running from the Terminal. Likewise, more technically oriented users can perform complex image processing by creating scripts (the Shake scripting language is similar to C), thereby using Shake as an extensive image-manipulation library.

Using the Shake Documentation

There are several components to the documentation accompanying Shake, including printed user manuals and tutorials, onscreen documentation in PDF and HTML formats, and contextual help available directly from within the Shake interface.

User Manual

The Shake 4 User Manual is divided into two volumes:

• Volume I—The Interface: Explains the basics of the Shake interface and provides

instructions for working with media, file formats, nodes, and so on.

• Volume II—Compositing: Discusses the specific features Shake provides for image

compositing. Part I of this volume covers such topics as image processing, rotoscoping, color correction, and so on. Part II delves into Shake’s advanced functionality, including optimizing, creating macros, and using expressions. This section also includes “The Cookbook,” a repository of useful Shake tips and techniques.

Tutorials

If you are new to Shake, you are encouraged to work through the Shake 4 Tutorials. These interactive lessons provide you with a solid introduction to Shake’s functionality and workflow.

Onscreen Help

Onscreen help (available to Mac OS X users in the Help menu) provides easy access to information while you’re working in Shake. Onscreen versions of the Shake 4 User Manual and Shake 4 Tutorials are available here, along with other documents in PDF format and links to websites.

To access onscreen help in Mac OS X:

In Shake, choose an option from the Help menu.

Note: You can also open PDF versions of the user manual and tutorials from the Shake/doc folder.

Viewing Shake Onscreen Documentation on Linux Systems

To view Shake onscreen documentation on a Linux system, you’ll need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader, then configure the PDF browser path in the Shake application.

To configure the PDF browser path in Shake:

1 Open the Globals tab.

2 Open the guiControl subtree (click the “+” sign).

The subtree expands.

16 Preface Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

3 Click the folder icon next to the pdfBrowser Path parameter.

The Choose Application window appears.

4 In the Choose Application window, browse to and select the Adobe Acrobat Reader

application.

To save your PDF browser settings in Shake:

1 Choose File > Save Interface Settings.

The “Save preferences to” window appears.

2 In the “Save preferences to” window, save your settings to a defaultui.h file.

Contextual Help

In addition to the onscreen help, the Shake interface provides immediate contextual help from within the application. Moving the pointer over most controls in Shake displays their function in the Info field, located at the bottom-right side of the Shake interface. The Info field provides immediate information about each control’s function. For example, moving the pointer over the Warp tool tab displays the following information in the Info field.

In addition to the information available from the Info field, each node in Shake has a corresponding HTML-based contextual help page, available via a special control in the Parameters tab.

To display a node’s contextual help page:

Load a node’s parameters into the Parameters tab, then click the Help button to the right of the node name field.

Note: Contextual help pages are opened using your system’s currently configured default web browser.

Apple Websites

There are a variety of discussion boards, forums, and educational resources related to Shake on the web.

Preface Shake 4 Documentation and Resources 17

Shake Websites

The following websites provide general information, updates, and support information about Shake, as well as the latest news, resources, and training materials.

For more information about Shake, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/shake

To get more information on third-party resources, such as third-party tools and user groups, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/software/pro/resources/shakeresources.html

An useful listserver, archive, and extensive macro collection are accessible at the unofficial Shake user community site, HighEnd2D.com:

ttp://www.highend2d.com/shake

For more information on the Apple Pro Training Program, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/software/pro/training

Keyboard and Mouse Conventions on Different Platforms

Shake can be used on the Mac OS X and Linux platforms. Functions or commands that are platform-specific have been documented whenever possible. This section summarizes the main differences.

• Keyboard: Hot keys or keyboard commands that vary between the Macintosh and

Linux platforms are documented when possible. In most cases, the Command and Control keys are interchangeable. The Macintosh Delete key located below the F12 key is the equivalent of the Linux Backspace key; the Macintosh Delete key grouped with the Help, Home, and End keys is the equivalent of the Linux Delete key.

Important: Macintosh users should remember that the Delete key used in Shake is

not the key located below the F12 key but, rather, the one grouped with the Help, Home, and End keys.

• Mouse: Shake requires the use of a three-button mouse. A three-button mouse

provides quick access to shortcut menus and navigational shortcuts. Shake also supports the middle scroll wheel of a three-button mouse.

Shake documentation refers to the three mouse buttons as follows:

Mouse Button Documentation Reference

Left mouse button Click

Middle mouse button Middle mouse button or middle-click

Right mouse button Right-click

18 Preface Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

Note: This manual uses the term “right-click” to describe how to access shortcut menu commands.

The following table lists the user manual notation system.

Notation Example

Hot keys/keyboard commands To break a tangent handle in the Curve Editor, Control-click the

handle.

Some hot keys/keyboard commands vary depending on the platform. The Mac OS X command appears first, followed by the Linux command. The two hot keys/commands are separated by a forward slash.

In general, the Command and Control keys are interchangeable.

Menu selections are indicated by angle brackets.

File paths and file names appear in italics. Also, directories and file paths are divided by forward slashes.

Node groups (Tool tabs) appear in the default font, followed by the name of the node in italics. A dash appears between the tab and node names.

Command-line functions appear in italics.

Modifications to preferences files appear in italics.

In the Node View, you can press Control-Option-click / Control-Altclick to zoom in and out.

To open a script, choose File > Open Script.

Temp files are saved in the ..//var/tmp/ directory.

In the Node View, select the Cloud node, and insert a Transform–

CornerPin node.

shake -exec my_script -t 1-240

Add the following lines to a .h file in your startup directory:

script.cineonTopDown = 1; script.tiffTopDown = 1;

Using a Stylus

Shake is designed to be used with a graphics tablet and stylus.

To optimize the Shake interface for use with a tablet and stylus:

1 In the guiControls subtree of the Globals tab, enable virtualSliderMode.

2 Set the parameter virtualSliderSpeed to 0.

Preface Shake 4 Documentation and Resources 19

When virtualSliderMode is enabled, the left button always uses the virtual sliders when when you click a value field. Normally, you have to press Control and drag. However, when virtualSliderMode is on, dragging left or right in a value field adjusts the value beyond normal slider limits.

Note: The stylus does not allow you to use your desk space the same way as with a mouse; consequently, you have to enable virtualSliderMode.

Window Navigation Using a Stylus

Shake makes extensive use of the middle-mouse button to facilitate navigation within each tab of the interface. To navigate and zoom within Shake easily using a stylus, you should map the middle mouse button to one of the stylus buttons. Once mapped, you can use that button to pan around within any section of the Shake interface, or Control-click and drag with that button to zoom into and out of a section of the interface.

Using Dual-Head Monitors

You can choose View > Spawn Viewer Desktop to create a new Viewer window that floats above the normal Shake interface. You can then move this Viewer to a second monitor, clearing up space on the first for node editing operations.

Important: This technique only works when both monitors are driven by the same

graphics card.

20 Preface Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

Part I: Interface, Setup, and Input

Part I presents information about the Shake graphical user interface as a whole, with detailed information about all the major interface components.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

Chapter 3 Adding Media, Retiming, and Remastering

Chapter 4 Using Proxies

Chapter 5 Compatible File Formats and Image Resolutions

Chapter 6 Importing Video and Anamorphic Film

Chapter 7 Using the Node View

Chapter 8 Using the Time View

Chapter 9 Using the Audio Panel

Chapter 10 Parameter Animation and the Curve Editor

Chapter 11 The Flipbook, Monitor Previews, and Color Calibration

Chapter 12 Rendering With the FileOut Node

Chapter 13 Image Caching

Chapter 14 Customizing Shake

1 An Overview of the Shake User

Interface

This chapter provides a fast introduction to all aspects of the Shake graphical user interface. It also provides indepth information about navigating the interface, and customizing it to suit your needs.

Opening Shake

When you open the Shake interface, a blank Shake script appears. Shake scripts (otherwise known as project files) are unique in that they’re actually a text document containing the command-line script representation of the node tree that you assemble in the interface. You can open Shake scripts in any text editor to examine their contents, and if you’re a power user, you can make modifications to your composite right within the text of the script itself (this is only recommended if you’re conversant with Shake’s scripting language, covered in more detail in Part III of this book).

Most of the time, however, you’ll likely stay within Shake’s graphical interface, which provides specialized controls for performing a wide variety of compositing tasks (many of which would be far too unwieldy to manipulate from the command line).

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 possible to open two scripts simultaneously into 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 youopen Shake twice, the first instance of Shake is the only one

that’s able to write to and read from the cache. (For more information on caching in Shake, see Chapter 13, “Image C

aching,” on page 343.)

Viewer area

Displays the image at the

selected node in the

node tree.

Tool tabs

All of the available nodes

in Shake are organized

into eight tabs. Click a

node’s icon to add that

node to the node tree.

Overview of the Shake User Interface

The Shake user interface is divided into five main areas: the Viewer, the Tool tabs, the Parameters/Globals tabs, the Node View/Curve Editor/Color Picker/Audio Panel/Pixel Analyzer tabs, and the Time Bar at the bottom.

Node View

One of many tabs that can be displayed here. The Node View displays the node tree, which defines the flow and processing of image data in your project.

Parameters tabs

The parameters of selected nodes appear in the Parameters1 and 2 tabs. The global parameters of your project appear in the

Time Bar area

Lets you navigate among the frames of

your project using the playback

buttons and the playhead.

Images from The Saint provided courtesy of Framestore CFC and Paramount British Pictures Ltd.

Globals tab.

Node View

The Node View is the heart of Shake, and displays the tree of connected nodes that modify the flow of image data from the top of the tree down to the bottom. Every function in Shake is represented as a separate node that can be inserted into the node tree. You use the Node View to modify, select, view, navigate, and organize your composite.

For more information on the Node View, see Chapter 7, “U

sing the Node View,” on

page 217.

Viewer Area

The Viewer area is capable of containing one or more Viewers, which display the image of the currently selected node. You have explicit control over which part of the node tree is displayed in the Viewer—in fact, the ability to separate the node that’s displayed in the Viewer from the node being edited in the Parameters tabs is central to working with Shake. Each Viewer allows you to isolate specific channels from each image. For example, you can choose to view only the red channel of an image while you make a color correction, or only the alpha channel when you’re adjusting a key.

24 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Tool Tabs

The Tool tabs contain groups of nodes, organized by function. Nodes you click in these tabs are added to the node tree. For example, to add a Keylight node, click the Key tool tab, and click the Keylight node. The Keylight node then appears in the node tree. If you right-click a node in any of the Tool tabs, you can choose to insert that node into the node tree in a variety of different ways, using the shortcut menu.

The Tool tabs area can also display the Curve Editor, Node View, or Time View.

The Time Bar Area

The Time Bar area, at the bottom of the Shake window, displays the currently defined range of frames. Three fields to the right of the Time Bar show the displayed number of frames in the Time Bar (not the time range), the current position of the playhead, and the Increments (Inc) in which the playhead moves. To the right of these fields, the Viewer playback controls let you step through your composite in different ways.

Command and Help Lines

Underneath the Time Bar area are two additional fields. The Command Line field lets you enter Shake script commands directly, effectively bypassing the graphical interface. The Info field provides immediate information about interface controls that you roll the pointer over.

Parameters Tabs

The two Parameters tabs can be set to display the parameters within a selected node. You can load two different sets of parameters into each of the two Parameters tabs. The Globals tab to the right contains the parameters that affect the behavior of the entire script (such as proxy use, motionBlur, and various interface controls).

Curve Editor

The Curve Editor is a graph on which you view, create, and modify the animation and Lookup curves that are associated with parameters in the nodes of your script. In addition to adding and editing the control points defining a curve’s shape, you can change a curve’s type, as well as its cycling mode.

For more information on using the Curve Editor, see Chapter 10, “P

arameter Animation

and the Curve Editor.”

Color Picker

The Color Picker is a centralized interface that lets you assign colors to node color parameters by clicking the ColorWheel and luminance bar, clicking swatches from a color palette, or by defining colors numerically using a variety of color models. You can also store your own frequently-used color swatches for future use in the Palette.

For more information on how to use the Color Picker, see “U

sing the Color Picker” on

page 620.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 25

Audio Panel

The Audio Panel lets you load AIFF and WAV audio files for use by your project. Several different files can be mixed down to create a single file. The audio waveforms can be displayed inside the Curve Editor. Sound playback can be activated in the Time Bar playback controls (Mac OS X only).

Note: Because audio playback is handled through the use of Macintosh-specific QuickTime libraries, you can only hear audio playback on Mac OS X systems. You can still analyze and visualize audio in Linux.

For more information on the Audio Panel, see Chapter 9, “U

sing the Audio Panel,” on

page 277.

Pixel Analyzer

The Pixel Analyzer is a tool to find and compare different color values on an image. You can examine minimum, average, current, or maximum pixel values on a selection (that you make), or across an entire image.

For more information on how to use the Pixel Analyzer, see “U

sing the Pixel Analyzer”

on page 627.

Console

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.

Getting Help in Shake

There are three ways you can get more information about the Shake interface:

• As you pass the pointer (no need to click) over a node or Viewer, information for

the node appears either in the title bar of the Viewer, or in the bottom-right Info field. The displayed information includes node name, type, resolution, bit depth, and channels.

• You can also right-click most buttons to display a pop-up menu listing that button’s

options. You can use this to select a function or to find out what a button does.

• The Help menu contains detailed information on how to use Shake, including the

full contents of this user manual, specifics on new features introduced with the current release, and late-breaking news about last-minute changes and additions made to Shake.

26 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Making Adjustments to the Shake Window

As you work with Shake, there are several methods for resizing and customizing the various areas of the Shake interface.

To resize any area of the interface:

Position the pointer at any border between interface areas and drag to increase or decrease the size of that area. If you drag an intersection, you can resize multiple areas at once.

To expand any one area to take up the full screen:

Position the pointer in the area you want to expand, and press the Space bar.

Press the Space bar again to shrink the area back to its original size.

Note: Use of the Space bar is especially helpful in the Curve Editor, when you are working with high-resolution elements or large scripts.

To temporarily hide an area, do one of the following:

Drag the top border of the Tool tab or Parameters tab areas down to the bottom.

Drag the bottom border of the Viewer, Node View, or any other area up to the top.

Before collapsing Tool tabs After collapsing Tool tabs

That area remains hidden until you drag its top or bottom border back out again.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 27

Navigating in the Viewer, Node View, and Curve Editor

The Viewer, Node View, and Curve Editor are all capable of containing much more information than can be displayed at one time. You can pan and zoom around within each of these areas in order to focus on the elements you want to adjust in greater detail.

Important: Shake requires the use of a three-button mouse—the middle mouse

button is key to navigating the Shake interface. If, in Mac OS X, you map Exposé functionality to the middle mouse button, this will interfere with navigation in Shake, and you should disable this functionality.

To pan across the contents of an area, do one of the following:

Press the middle mouse button and drag.

Option-click (Mac OS X) or Alt-click (Linux) and drag.

To zoom into or out of an area, do one of the following:

Hold down the Control key and drag while holding down the middle mouse button.

Control-Option-drag or Control-Alt-drag.

Use the + or - key to zoom in or out based on the position of the pointer.

To reset an area to 1:1 viewing, do one of the following:

In the Viewer, click the Home button in the Viewer shelf.

Move the pointer to an interface area, then press Home.

To fit the contents to the available space within an area:

In the Viewer, click the Fit Image to Viewer button in the Viewer shelf.

Move the pointer to an interface area, and press F.

Saving Favorite Views

If you find yourself panning back and forth within a particular area to the same regions, it might be time to create a Favorite View within that area.

• In the Node View, you could save several views in your node tree where you’ll be

making frequent adjustments.

• 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.

• In the 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.

• In the Parameters tab, you can save the parameters being tweaked, as well as the

node being displayed in the Viewer.

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.

28 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

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.

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.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 29

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

Working With Tabs and the Tweaker

Each area of the Shake window has several tabs that reveal more of the interface. These tabs can also be customized. For example:

To move a tab to another area:

Select a tab using the middle mouse button or Option-click / Alt-click, and then drag the tab into a new window pane.

To detach a tab and use it as a floating window:

Shift-middle-click or Shift-Option-click / Shift-Alt-click the tab.

A good example of this last operation is to detach a Parameters tab, then press the Space bar while the pointer is positioned over the Viewer. You can then tune your image in full-screen mode.

Using the Tweaker

The parameters of individual nodes can be opened into a floating window, called the Tweaker.

30 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

To open a floating Tweaker window:

Select the node you want to tune and press Control-T. A movable, floating Tweaker window for the node appears.

Note: To save your window settings for later use, choose File > Save Interface Settings.

OS Window Functions

Shake responds to OS windowing, so you can resize the entire window, expand it to full screen, or stow it as an icon by clicking the standard buttons in the upper-right corner of the Shake Viewer title bar.

Menus and the Title Bar

This section discusses the Shake title bar and the Shake, File, Edit, Tools, Viewers, Render, and Help menus.

Title Bar Information

The title bar of the full Shake window displays the current version of Shake, the name of the currently open script, and the current proxy resolution in use.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 31

Shake Menu (Mac OS X Only)

The following table shows the Shake menu options. The Shake menu appears only in the Macintosh version of Shake.

Menu Option Description

About Shake Displays the Shake version number and copyright information.

Services Services provide a quick way to perform tasks with several

applications.

Hide Shake (Command-H) Hides Shake. To show Shake again, click the Shake icon in the Dock.

Hide Others (Option-OptionCommand-H)

Quit Shake Quits the Shake application.

Hides all running applications other than Shake. To show the applications again, choose Shake > Show All.

File Menu

The following table shows the File menu options.

Menu Option Description

New Script (Command-N or Control-N)

Open Script (Command-O or Control-O)

Import Photoshop File Imports a Photoshop file. If the Photoshop file contains multiple

Reload Script Reloads the script listed in the title bar.

Add Script Opens the Load Script window. Adds a second set of nodes to

Save Script (Command-S or Control-S)

Save Script As (Shift-CommandS or Shift-Control-S)

Save Selection As Script Saves the currently selected nodes in the Node View as a separate

Deletes all nodes currently in the Node View. (You can also press Command-A or Control-A in the Node View to select all nodes and then press Del.)

Opens the Load Script window. The script selected in the Browser replaces what is already in the Node View. You can also use the Load button in the title bar.

layers, you can import the layers as separate FileIn nodes that are fed into a MultiLayer node, or as a single, composited image by using a normal FileIn node.

those currently in the Node View. The added nodes are renamed if a naming conflict arises. (For example, FileIn1 becomes FileIn2 if FileIn1 already exists.) Global settings are taken from the added script, as is the new script name.

Saves the script without prompting you for a script name (if you have already saved). You can also use the Save button in the title bar.

Opens the Save Script window. Enter the new script name, and click OK to save the script.

script.

32 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Menu Option Description

Recover Script (Shift-CommandO or Shift-Control-O)

Load Interface Settings Opens the Load Preferences From window. Select an interface

Save Interface Settings Opens the Save Preferences To window. This lets you save the

Flush Cache When you choose Flush Cache, all appropriate images are copied

Purge Memory Cache Similar to the Flush Cache command, but the memory cache is

Recent Scripts Lists the last five scripts you worked on. Choosing a script from this

Exit (Linux only) Exits the program. You can also use the standard OS exit buttons in

Loads the last autoSave script and is usually done when the user has forgotten to save a script and quits Shake, or when Shake has unexpectedly quit. The script is found under $HOME/nreal/ autoSave. (The $HOME directory is your personal Home directory, for example, the /Users/john directory.)

If you have environment variables set, you can launch Shake on the command line with the same option using -recover:

shake -recover

For more information on environment variables, see

“Customizing Shake.”

settings file from disk, and click OK to load the file.

various default Shake settings, including your window layout to a file in your $HOME/nreal/settings file.

If you call it defaultui.h, it is automatically read next time you launch Shake. You can save the settings file anywhere, but it is not read automatically unless the file is in the settings directory.

from the memory cache to the disk cache (depending on how the cacheMode parameter is set), but the memory cache is not cleared. This command is similar to what Shake does when you quit (the delay that occurs when you quit is Shake flushing the memory cache to disk).

cleared afterwards. This is useful if most of your RAM is filled with cache data, and you want to free it up to create and play a Flipbook without needing to exit Shake first in order to clear the memory cache.

The cacheMode parameter in the Globals tab controls whether or not images in the cache are used (regardless of whether they are coming from the disk or memory).

list opens it within Shake.

the upper corner of the interface.

Chapter 14,

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 33

Edit Menu

The following table shows the Edit menu options.

Menu Option Description

Undo (Command-Z or Control-Z)

Redo (Command-Y or Control-Y)

Find Nodes (Command-F or Control-F)

Undoes previous commands; up to 100 levels of undo. Layout, viewing, and parameter changes are saved in the Undo list. You can also click the Undo/Redo button.

You can change the amount of undo/redo levels in your ui.h file.

enus and the Title Bar” on page 31 for more information. If

See “M you do an Undo and you have not changed anything, click Redo to go back to your previous settings.

Opens the Select Nodes by Name window that allows you to dynamically select nodes that match your criteria in the search string.

• Select by name. Nodes that match the search string are

immediately activated. For example, if you enter f, FileIn1 and Fade1 are selected. If you enter fi, just FileIn1 is selected.

• Select by type. Select nodes by type. For example, enter Move,

and all Move2D and Move3D nodes are selected.

• Select by expression. Allows you to enter an expression. For

example, to find all nodes with an angle parameter greater than 180, enter:

angle>180

• Match case. Sets case sensitivity.

Tools Menu

The Tools menu provides a menu listing for each of the nodes in the Tool tabs (for example, Image, Color, Filter, and so on). You can also right-click a tab to display the tools list. More information about each of these nodes is available in Part II of this manual.

34 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Viewers Menu

The following table shows the Viewers menu options.

Menu Option Description

New Viewer Creates a new Viewer in the Viewer area, and automatically

stretches it to fill the Viewer area. While in a Viewer, you can also right-click and select New Viewer, or press N.

Spawn Viewer Desktop Launches a floating Viewer window that can be moved

independently of the interface. The Viewer Desktop is ideal for dual-monitor setups.

Render Menu

The following table shows the Render menu options. For more information on rendering, see Chapter 12, “Rendering With the FileOut Node,” on page 333.

Menu Option Description

Render Flipbook Renders a Flipbook of the current Viewer. Opens the Flipbook

Render Parameters window, which allows you to override the Global parameters (if necessary). To cancel the render, press Esc (Escape) when in the Flipbook window.

Render Disk Flipbook Mac OS X only. Launches a disk-based Flipbook into QuickTime.

This has several advantages over normal Flipbooks. It allows for extremely long clips, allows you to attach audio (loaded with the Audio Panel in the main interface), and lets you write out the sequence as a QuickTime file after viewing, bypassing the need to render the sequence again. For more information, see “C

Disk-Based Flipbook” on page 326.

Render FileOut Nodes Renders FileOut nodes in the Node View. In the Node View, press F

to frame all active nodes. You have the option to render only the active FileOut nodes, or all FileOut nodes.

Render Cache Nodes Immediately caches sections of the node tree where Cache nodes

have been inserted. This command lets you cache all Cache nodes in the Node View over a specific duration. For more information on using Cache nodes, see Chapter 13, “Image C

Render Proxies Renders your proxy files for your FileIn nodes, and leaves your

FileOuts untouched. For more information on proxies, see “U

Proxies” on page 137.

aching,” on page 343.

reating a

sing

Script Management

The following section discusses the buttons in the upper-right corner of the Shake interface, which let you Load and Save scripts, undo and redo changes you’ve made, and control when and how the Viewer updates the images generated by your script.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 35

To load or save a Shake script:

Click Load or Save to open the Load Script window, or to save the current script with the same name.

You can also press Command-S or Control-S to save the script quickly. If the script is not yet named, the Save Script window opens.

To save a script with a new name:

Choose File > Save Script As, and enter a new file name in the Save Script window.

To reload the same script:

Choose File > Reload.

The script that appears in the Shake title bar is reloaded.

Customizing AutoSave

A backup script is stored automatically every 60 seconds in your $HOME/nreal/ autoSave directory. The last saved script can be accessed with the File > Recover

menu command (shake -recover in the Terminal), or browsed to under the Directories pull-down menu in the File Browser.

The backup time interval can be changed in your ui.h files in include/startup/ui/ myPreferenceFile.h. Enter the following line (with the desired time interval, in seconds, in place of the “60”):

script.autoSaveDelay = 60;

Four other autosave behaviors can be customized within a .h preference file in the include/startup directory:

• script.autoSaveDirectory: Setting a directory with this declaration overrides the

default behavior of placing autosave scripts in ~/nreal/autosave/.

• script.autoSavePrefix: Defines text to be prepended to autosave script names.

• script.autoSaveNumSaves: Sets the total number of autosave scripts to be saved.

To undo or redo, do one of the following:

Click the Undo or Redo button.

Redo

Undo

Press Command-Z or Control-Z to undo, or press Command-Y or Control-Y to redo.

36 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

By default, there are 100 steps of undo and redo in Shake.

Changing the Possible Levels of Undo

To change the level of undos, enter the following line (with your desired number of undos in place of the “100”) in one of your ui.h files:

gui.numUndoLevels = 100;

For more information, see Chapter 30, “Installing and Creating Macros,” on page 905.

Update

The Update button controls what is updated in the Viewer, and when. The Update button has three modes:

• Always: Updates the Viewer with every change that’s made to a parameter, and

every time you move the playhead in the Time Bar.

• Manual: The scene is not updated until you do one of the following:

• Click Update.

• Click the left side of a node in the Node View.

• Press the U key.

• Release: Waits until you finish adjusting a parameter, or moving the playhead in the

Time Bar, before updating the image in the Viewer.

By default, clicking Manual once toggles this setting to Always. Click and hold this control to see the pop-up menu, from which you can choose Always, Manual, or Release.

Proxy

The proxy button, labeled “Base,” allows you to quickly get to one of your four proxy settings.

Click Base once to toggle to P1. Click and hold the Base button for other proxy options.

For more information on proxies, see Chapter 4, “U

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 37

sing Proxies,” on page 137.

The File Browser

The File Browser is an interactive browser that serves many purposes. It lets you navigate the local volumes (both fixed and removable media) on your computer, or remote volumes over your network. You use it to open or save scripts, load images via a FileIn node, and to load and save lookup files and expressions.

Using the File Browser, image sequences can be listed either as a long list of individual files or as a single object. You can bookmark favorite directories. You can also use it to create and delete directories, and delete files directly in the Browser.

Opening the File Browser

There are several operations that open the File Browser.

To open the File Browser, do one of the following:

Create a FileIn or a FileOut node.

Click the Load Script button, located in the upper-right section of the Shake interface.

Click the Save Script button, located in the upper-right section of the Shake interface.

To open the File Browser from an existing FileIn or FileOut node (for example, if the source media becomes disconnected), click the folder icon next to the file path in the Parameters tab.

38 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The Browser opens. If you’re using Mac OS X, this window appears very different from the standard file navigation sheet, but it has much of the same functionality, and includes additional options that are particularly useful to Shake projects.

Navigating in the File Browser

There are several ways you can navigate to the directory you need using the File Browser:

Using the File List

A list of directories and files appears in the center of the File Browser. You can doubleclick any directory in this list to make it into the current directory. The following list of controls lets you navigate the volumes accessible to your computer.

Icon, Button, or Key Description

Indicates a folder.

Indicates a drive.

Takes you to the last viewed directory.

Takes you up one directory. You can also press Delete (Macintosh) or Backspace (Linux).

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 39

Icon, Button, or Key Description

Up Arrow/Down Arrow key Moves up and down in the list.

Any letter key Once you have clicked in the file listings, press a letter key on the

keyboard to jump to the next occurrence of a file or directory that starts with that letter.

Using the Pull-Down Menu at the Top

The pull-down menu reveals the entire directory tree, including your root directory, the directory you launched Shake from, the $HOME directory, the Shake installation, and any favorite directories you have entered. This menu also automatically lists recently visited directories.

Using a File Path

You can also type an entire path, with or without the file name itself, into the File Name field at the bottom of the Browser.

You can format absolute file paths in any of several styles:

• /my_proj/my_directory/my_file.iff

• /d4/my_proj/my_directory/my_file.iff

• //MyMachine/D/my_proj/my_directory/my_file.iff

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/

Adding Directories to the Favorites List

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. You can explicitly add directories to the list in two ways:

Note: As of Shake 4, entries you add to the Favorites list are permanent.

To add an entry to the Favorites list:

1 Open the File Browser.

40 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

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 username/nreal/settings/ directory. By default, the favoritePaths.h file contains:

• Your home directory

• The nreal directory

• The Shake application directory

When you add more directories to the Favorites, they’re automatically appended to the code in the favoritePaths.h file. For example, if you add following directory to the Favorites:

/Users/MyAccount/Media/

The resulting favoritePaths.h file looks like this:

// User Interface settings SetKey( "globals.fileBrowser.favorites", "/;$HOME;/Users/MyAccount//nreal/;/

Applications/shake-v4.00.0201/;/Applications/shake-v4.00.0201/doc/pix;/ Users/MyAccount/Media/;"

);

Note that each directory path is separated by a semicolon. MyAccount is the name of the user directory.

To remove directories from the Favorites list:

1 Open the favoritePaths.h file (located in the /nreal/settings/ directory).

2 Delete the paths you want to remove from the Favorites list, and save the file.

You can also instruct Shake to look in certain directories when you start the software, using the following ui.h settings. Each listing is for a type of file—images, scripts, expressions, and so on. Note the slash at the end of the path:

gui.fileBrowser.lastImageDir= “/Documents/my_directory/”; gui.fileBrowser.lastScriptDir= “$MYPROJ/shakeScripts/”; gui.fileBrowser.lastExprDir= “//Server/shakeExpressions/”; gui.fileBrowser.lastTrackerDir= “$MYPROJ/tracks/”; gui.fileBrowser.lastAnyDir= “/”;

For more information on a ui.h file, see Chapter 14, “Customizing Shake,” on page 355.

Selecting Files

If you’re selecting one or more files for a FileIn operation, you can select them in several ways.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 41

To select single files, do one of the following:

Double-click the file.

Press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow, then click OK (or press Return).

Press the first letter of the file you want. Press it again to jump to the next file that starts with that letter. Click OK (or press Return).

To select multiple files in the same directory, do one of the following:

To select multiple files, drag to select the files, then click OK.

To select multiple individual files, press Shift and select the files.

To select multiple images in different directories, do one of the following:

Click Next in the Browser to load the current image or images and keep the Browser open to continue to add files. When you have reached the last file, click OK. At any time in this process, the Node View may be accessed to examine FileIn nodes.

Select one or more files, and press the Space bar to add them to an invisible queue of files to be added to your script, without closing the File Browser. Once you click OK, every file in this invisible queue is added to the currently open script.

Viewing Controls

There are several tools to help you identify files in the Browser.

42 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The File List

Click the title of a column to arrange the list according to that type of information. For example, click Modified to list files by creation date. Click Modified again to reverse the order of information.

Toggle Buttons

The following buttons also change what is listed in the Browser:

Button Description

Short Listing Lists only file names, type, and size.

Sequence Listing Toggles the listing of an image sequence as one listing or as

several. To read in the entire sequence, ensure that this Sequence Listing is enabled. These icons signify single or sequence files:

Indicates a single file.

Indicates an image sequence.

Images Only Lists only recognized image types.

Show Exact Sizes Shows the exact file size in kilobytes, rather than rounded off in

megabytes.

Show Full Path Lists the entire path of the selected file.

Filter Filters out information.

Use * and ? as your wildcards:

Wildcard

Example

*.cin *.cin.* *.cin* image.*.tga

Wildcard

Example

?.cin ??.iff a.??? image.????.iff image.???1.iff

Means

Any set of characters for any length.

Lists

a.cin, image.cin, image.0001.cin, ...

a.cin.0001, image.cin.hr a.cin, image.0001.cin,

image.cin.0001 image.1.tga, image.10.tga,

image.0100.tga

Means

Any character in that single position.

Lists

a.cin, 1.cin ab.iff, 01.iff a.cin, a.iff, a.tga image.0001.iff, image.9999.ifff image.0001.iff, image.0011.iff,

image.1111.iff

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 43

Updating the File Browser

Click the Update button to refresh the listing of the current directory in case files have been added or deleted while the File Browser has been open.

Specifying Media Placement

Three buttons let you set the first frame at which new media is placed when it’s read into your Shake script. This affects the timing of the media inside of your script, and can be seen in the Time View tab.

• frame 1: The first frame of media is placed at the first frame of your script.

• seq. start: The first frame of media is placed to the corresponding frame of the script,

depending on its frame number. If you import frames 9-50 of an image sequence, the first frame of media appears at frame 9 of the Time View.

• current frame: The first frame of media is placed at the current position of the

playhead.

Additional Controls for Image Output

When you’re writing out a file using the FileOut node, you also use the File Browser to select a directory and enter the file name for the rendered output. For more information about exporting media from Shake, see Chapter 12, “Rendering With the

FileOut Node,” on page 333.

File Management Controls

There are additional file management controls that are primarily useful when exporting (“writing out”) media.

Button Description

Creates a new directory using the current path.

Deletes currently selected files and directories.

Naming Files for Output

If you are writing out an image sequence, be sure to insert a # or an @ sign where you want the frame number to go in the name. When you are finished, click OK to validate.

44 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The following is a table of examples.

Files Shake Notation

image.0001.cin, image.0002.cin image.#.cin

image.1.tif, image.2.tif image.@.tif

image.iff.0001, image.iff.0002 image.iff.#

image1.tga, image2.tga image@.tga

image.001.tga, image.002.tga image.@@@.tga

image.01, image.02 image.@@

Using and Customizing Viewers

Shake displays the currently selected image for your project in the Viewer, located in the Viewer workspace at the upper-left quadrant of the interface. Additional controls in the Viewer shelf at the bottom of the Viewer workspace let you customize how the image is displayed. For example, you can view each channel of an image individually. You can also change the Gamma of the Viewer to simulate how the image might look on other output devices. Other tools such as the Histogram and Plot Scanline Viewer scripts can help you analyze your image.

Image from The Saint provided courtesy of Framestore CFC and Paramount British Pictures Ltd.

Some nodes feature onscreen controls (which also appear in the Viewer) that let you make adjustments to an image. For example, the Move 2D and Rotate nodes display transformation controls you can drag to manipulate the image directly in the Viewer. Other nodes make additional tools available in the Viewer shelf. For example, the RotoShape node places drawing and editing tools in the Viewer shelf that let you create and manipulate shapes directly in the Viewer.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 45

Using Multiple Viewers

You can create as many Viewers within the Viewer workspace as you need. Each additional Viewer you create appears within the Viewer workspace area, and each Viewer can be set to independently display any image channel from any node in the current node tree. Each Viewer has its own Viewer shelf with its own controls, and each Viewer you create has two buffers that you can use to compare images.

Note: Because each Viewer has two buffers, using multiple Viewers at once can consume a lot of RAM, depending on the resolution of the images you’re working with.

When additional Viewers are displayed, each Viewer is updated dynamically. You can use this capability to simultaneously view the results of a downstream node in one Viewer, while also seeing the image from an upstream node in another Viewer. A good example of this is when you’re refining a key in one Viewer, while watching the effect this has on the finished composite in another.

To create additional Viewers:

1 Position the pointer anywhere within the Viewer area.

2 Do one of the following:

• Press N.

• Right-click, then choose New Viewer from the shortcut menu.

• Choose Viewers > New Viewer to create a new Viewer.

A new Viewer named “Viewer2” is created above Viewer1 in the Viewer workspace. Additional Viewers are numbered in the order in which they’re created.

46 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Note: Each Viewer you create uses additional memory, so you may want to close higher-resolution Viewers when rendering. Also, more open Viewers can slow the display rate due to the increased processing demands of updating each Viewer simultaneously.

To close a Viewer:

Click the Close Window button in the selected Viewer’s title bar.

Close Window button

When you close a Viewer, you release whatever RAM that Viewer was utilizing.

To bring a Viewer to the foreground:

Click anywhere within that Viewer.

When a Viewer is selected, its title bar is highlighted.

This viewer is selected.

To display the image from another node in a Viewer:

1 Double-click anywhere within the Viewer you want to use.

Its title bar becomes highlighted to show that it is selected.

2 Do one of the following:

• Double-click a node in the Node View to display its image in the currently selected

Viewer and to display its parameters in the Parameters1 tab.

• Click the left side of a node to display its image in the currently selected Viewer

without loading its parameters into the Parameters tab.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 47

When a node is loaded into the Viewer, an indicator appears on the left side of the node. Additionally, a number and a letter appear below it, specifying which Viewer and compare buffer that node’s image occupies.

This node is displayed in viewer 2, buffer A

This node is displayed in viewer 1, buffer A

To collapse a node to a minimized state:

Click the Iconify Viewer button in the Viewer title bar to minimize its size.

To expand a node from a minimized state:

Click the Iconify Viewer button of the minimized Viewer to restore it to its original size.

Iconify Viewer button

Minimized Viewers are only as large as the title and the upper-right window controls.

To resize a Viewer, do one of the following:

Drag a Viewer’s left, right, or bottom side.

48 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Drag a Viewer’s bottom-right corner to resize its width and height simultaneously.

To resize a Viewer to fit the image within:

Click the Fit Viewer to Image button in the Viewer title bar.

Fit Viewer to Image button

To lock a Viewer to the full size of the Viewer workspace:

Click the Grip to Desktop button in the Viewer title bar.

Grip to Desktop button

The full-size Viewer now obscures any other Viewers underneath it, and resizes itself to match the total size of the Viewer workspace. To see other Viewers underneath, click the Grip to Desktop button again to release the Viewer, then resize it or move it to make room in the Viewer workspace for the other Viewers.

Note: By default, the first Viewer that was created along with your project is locked to the full size of the Viewer workspace.

To exand the Viewer workspace to the full size of the Shake window:

Press the Space bar.

Afterwards, you can press the Space bar again to reset the Viewer workspace to its original size.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 49

To reposition all Viewers within the Viewer workspace at once:

Click the middle mouse button anywhere in the Viewer workspace outside of any of the Viewers, then drag to move all of the Viewers around the workspace.

To create a separate Viewer workspace for use on a second monitor:

Choose Viewers > Spawn Viewer Desktop. The second monitor must be run from the same graphics card as the primary monitor.

To help prevent accidentally rendering an enormous image (for example, if you enter 200 into your zoom parameter instead of 20), the Viewer’s resolution is limited to 4K. This limit is configurable. The Viewer resolution has no effect on rendered images—it only crops the view in the Shake interface to the set resolution.

Warning: If you get strange Viewer behavior, delete the Viewer (right-click, then

choose Delete Viewer from the shortcut menu), and create a new Viewer.

Looking at Images in a Viewer

To load a node into the current Viewer, click the left side of the node. The green Viewer indicator appears. Double-click the node to simultaneously load the node’s parameters in the Parameters tab.

In the following image, the Grad node is loaded into the Viewer.

Viewer indicator: Click once to display node in Viewer. Double-click to load node parameters.

50 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The information (node name, channels, bit depth, size, and so on) for the selected node appears in the Viewer title bar. When the Grad node is loaded into the Viewer, the following appears in the Viewer title bar.

Viewer title bar

Note: The channels displayed in the Viewer are the non-zero channels. Non-zero channels are not the same as active channels. For example, a Color node set to black (black and white values are zero) displays the alpha channel (A) in the Viewer title bar:

When the Color node is adjusted toward gray (the black and white values are no longer zero), the black, white, and alpha channels (BWA) are displayed:

Every Viewer has the built-in capability to analyze color.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 51

To quickly analyze colors in the Viewer:

Click and scrub with the mouse in the Viewer to display the X, Y, R, G, B, and alpha values in the Viewer title bar.

These values are also displayed in the Info field in the bottom-right corner of the interface. You can also use the Pixel Analyzer and Color Picker windows to analyze this data with more extensive options.

Note: To display the values in the Terminal window that launched Shake, press Control and scrub in the Viewer.

Suspending Rendering and Viewer Redraw

There are two ways you can suspend rendering the node tree. This can help if you’re making adjustments to a render intensive node and you don’t want to wait for the image to render and display in the Viewer every time you make an adjustment.

To immediately stop rendering at any time:

To stop any processing at any time, press Esc.

Rendering is suspended until another operation occurs that requires rendering.

To suspend rendering and redraw in the Viewer altogether:

Change the Viewer’s update mode to Update Off via the Update Mode control in the Viewer shelf.

Rendering is suspended until the Viewer’s update mode is changed to Update On or Progress.

Controls in the Viewer Shelf

The Viewer shelf has many controls that let you customize how images are displayed in the Viewer. These controls can be used directly, but many Viewer controls also correspond to shortcut menu items and keyboard shortcuts with the same function.

52 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

To use the two different click-and-hold button behaviors:

Click the View Channel button in the Viewer to toggle between the RGB and the alpha views.

Click and hold the View Channel button to open a pop-up menu from which you can choose a specific channel view.

Click. Click and hold.

You can override the default channel display progression when the View Channel button is clicked. For example, clicking the button in RGB view displays the alpha view. When you click again, the RGB view is displayed.

To go from RGB to red to alpha channels:

1 Command-click or Control-click and hold the View Channel button, then select the Red

Channel button.

2 Command-click or Control-click and hold the View Channel button, then select the

Alpha Channel button.

When you click the View Channel button, you now toggle through RGB, red, alpha, and back to RGB.

3 To save this behavior, choose File > Save Interface Settings.

Note: You can cycle through some Viewer functions using number keys. Press 2 to cycle forward through the channel views, and press Shift-2 to toggle backward through the channel views. Press 1 to toggle between the A and B compare buffers.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 53

The following table shows the Viewer buttons, the keyboard or hot key shortcuts, and describes the button functions.

Button Shortcut Description

Pointer Drag the pointer in the Viewer to display the X

and Y position values, and the RGBA color values in the Viewer title bar. The values are also displayed in the Info field.

Iconify Viewer Stows the current Viewer.

Fit Viewer to Image

Grip to Desktop

Close Window Right-click menu

Buffer Tabs 1 You can have two different buffers in a Viewer

View Channel R, G, B, A, C;

Update Mode–OnRight-click menu;

Update Mode– Progress

Update Mode– Off

Control-F Fits the Viewer to the image.

Shift-F Fits the frame to the Viewer workspace. When

enabled, the Viewer “sticks” to the workspace. You can then resize the workspace and the Viewer expands to match.

Deletes the Viewer. (A good strategy if a Viewer

> Delete

2/Shift-2 cycle; right-click menu

3/Shift-3

Right-click menu; 3/Shift-3

is misbehaving. Press N to create a new Viewer.)

to compare images. See “U

Buffers” on page 57.

Toggles through the color channels: RGB (color), red, green, blue, alpha.

Update mode that displays a rendered image only after it is finished rendering. This is for relatively fast renders.

Scrolling update mode that displays each line (starting from the bottom) as the image renders. Used for slower renders.

The Viewer does not update. Use this to load an image into a Viewer, then switch to the second buffer (see below) and do some changes. You can then compare it with the original.

sing the Compare

54 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Button Shortcut Description

Incremental Update

VLUT Off Right-click menu VLUTs (Viewer lookup tables) differ from

Truelight VLUT Right-click menu The Truelight VLUT combines monitor

Gamma/Offset/ LogLin VLUT

Viewer DOD Right-click menu Turns on Region of Interest (ROI) rendering

Viewer Script– Off

Right-click menu The Gamma/Offset/LogLin VLUT allows you to

Right-click menu;

4/Shift-4

Updates the changing portion of the image. For example, if Toggle Incremental Update is disabled and you composite a 10 x 10-pixel element on a 6K plate and pan the element, the entire 6K plate updates. When enabled, only the 10 x 10-pixel area is updated. To fix this, turn off the Incremental Update and adjust again—the glitches are corrected. This button has no effect on the output file or batch rendering speed, only on the image in the Viewer.

Viewer scripts in that you can scrub from the unmodified plate. See “V

Scripts, and the Viewer DOD” on page 61.

calibration with the previsualization of film recorders and other output devices. See

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the

“V

Viewer DOD” on page 61.

apply different quick lookups to your image.

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the

See “V

Viewer DOD” on page 61.

(limits your rendering area). See “V

Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the Viewer DOD”

on page 61.

See “V

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the

Viewer DOD” on page 61.

iewer Lookups, Viewer

iewer

Viewer Script– Aperture Markings

Viewer Script– Plot Scanline

Viewer Script– Histogram

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 55

Right-click menu Applies aperture markings. You can also right-

click the Viewer Script button, then choose Aperture Markings. See “V

Viewer Scripts, and the Viewer DOD” on

page 61.

Right-click menu Applies a plot scanline. You can also right-click

the Viewer Script button, then choose Plot Scanline. See “V

and the Viewer DOD” on page 61.

Right-click menu Applies a Histogram. You can also right-click

the Viewer Script button, then choose Histogram. See “V

Scripts, and the Viewer DOD” on page 61.

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts,

iewer Lookups,

iewer Lookups, Viewer

Button Shortcut Description

Viewer Script– Z Channel

Viewer Script– Superwhite/ Subzero

Viewer Script– Frames/ Timecode

Right-click menu Views the Z channel. You can also right-click

the Viewer Script button, then choose ViewZ.

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the

See “V

Viewer DOD” on page 61.

Right-click menu Displays superwhite and subzero pixels. You

can also right-click the Viewer Script button, then choose Float View. See “V

Viewer Scripts, and the Viewer DOD” on

page 61.

Right-click menu Displays frames or timecode in the active

Viewer. See “V

and the Viewer DOD” on page 61.

iewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts,

iewer Lookups,

Compare Mode–No Compare

Compare Mode– Horizontal (Y Wipe)

Compare Mode–Vertical (X Wipe)

Compare Mode–Blend (Fade)

Show/Hide DOD Border

Reset Viewer Home key Centers the image and sets the zoom level to

Fit Image to Viewer

5/Shift-5 Only one buffer is displayed. See “U

Compare Buffers” on page 57.

5/Shift-5 You can also right-click the Compare Mode

button, then choose Y Wipe. See “U

Compare Buffers” on page 57.

5/Shift-5 You can also right-click the Compare Mode

button, then choose X Wipe. See “U

Compare Buffers” on page 57.

5/Shift-5 You can also right-click the Compare Mode

button, then choose Blend. See “U

Compare Buffers” on page 57.

Right-click menu Displays the green DOD (Domain of Definition)

border and the red frame border. It has no effect on processing or the rendered image.

1:1.

F Fits the image to the frame. Be careful, since

you may get a non-integer zoom (for example, instead of 2:1, you get 2.355:1), which may result in display artifacts. Do not use this option when “massaging” pixels.

sing the

56 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Button Shortcut Description

Launch Flipbook

Broadcast Monitor

Renders a RAM-based image player. Left-mouse click: Renders with the current

settings. Right-mouse click: Displays the Render

Parameters window.

Mirrors the selected node in the Viewer on a video broadcast monitor.

The broadcast monitor option is only available in the Mac OS X version of Shake.

For more information, see “V

External Monitor” on page 330.

iewing on an

For a table of additional common buttons related to onscreen controls, see “N

ode-

Specific Viewer Shelf Controls” on page 70.

Using the Compare Buffers

You can use the A and B buffers in the Viewer to load two images at once. The following example uses two images from Tutorial 5, “Using Keylight,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials book.

To load two images at once into the A and B compare buffers:

1 Using two FileIn nodes, read in two images from the “Using Keylight” tutorial.

The images are located in the $HOME/nreal/Tutorial_Media/Tutorial_05/images directory.

2 In the Viewer, ensure that buffer A is open.

3 Load one of the tutorial images into the Viewer by clicking the left side of the node.

The Viewer indicator appears on the left side of the node, and the node’s image is loaded into the Viewer.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 57

4 To switch to buffer B, click the A tab, or press 1 (above the Tab key, not on the numeric

keypad).

The A tab switches to B when clicked.

5 Load the second image into buffer B by clicking the right side of the image’s node.

6 Press 1 to toggle between buffers. You can also click the A and B tabs.

Images from The Saint provided courtesy of Framestore CFC and Paramount British Pictures Ltd.

You can also put the Viewer into split-screen mode to more directly compare two images.

To create a vertical split screen in the Viewer:

Drag the Compare control (the small gray “C” the lower-right corner of the Viewer) to the left.

58 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The Compare Mode button in the Viewer shelf indicates that you are in vertical compare mode.

To create a horizontal split screen:

Drag the Compare control up on the right highlighted edge.

The Compare Mode button in the Viewer shelf indicates that you are in horizontal compare mode.

Alternatively, you can toggle between vertical and horizontal split screens by using the Compare Mode button.

Note: A common mistake is to slide the Compare control all the way to the left or right (or top or bottom)—one image disappears and only the second image is revealed. The result is that changes to a node’s parameters don’t update the Viewer. To avoid this, turn off the Compare Mode to ensure you are looking at the current image.

To turn off split-screen viewing:

Click the Compare Mode button in the Viewer shelf.

The split screen is removed and the button is no longer highlighted.

If the Compare Mode button is set to No Compare and the Viewer is still not updating, make sure that the Update Mode is set to On.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 59

If the Update Mode is not the problem, check to make sure that the manual Update button at the top of the interface is not set to “manual.”

60 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Viewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the Viewer DOD

There are three similar controls that affect how your images are viewed:

• Viewer lookup tables (VLUTs)

• The Viewer DOD

• Viewer scripts

These functions modify the image for efficiency or previsualization purposes, and do not affect the output image. If necessary, it’s possible to apply these settings to a render that is launched from the interface.

The following is an example of using a VLUT with a log image.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 61

When LogLin conversion is enabled in VLUT 2, you still work on the log image in the process tree, but you see the linearized plate. (For more information about logarhtymic-to-linear conversion, see “T

he Logarithmic Cineon File” on page 437.)

To activate the VLUT or Viewer Script controls:

1 Apply your VLUT or script.

2 Right-click the VLUT (Viewer Lookup Table) button and select one of the three Load

Viewer Lookup options.

3 In the designated window or tab (selected in step 2), adjust any necessary parameters.

VLUTs have an additional right-click function to specify whether pixel values are scrubbed from before or after the VLUT. Right-click and hold the VLUT button, and enable (or disable) “Scrub before lookup.”

62 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The following table includes the current default scripts and VLUTs.

Button Description

VLUT: Three options let you turn on or off a VLUT for the Viewer.

• By default, the VLUT is turned off.

• A second option lets you use the Truelight VLUT control, combining monitor

calibration with the previsualization of film recorders and other output devices.

• A third option, VLUT 2, allows Gamma, Add, and LogLin operators to be applied to

the Viewer.

Viewer Script–Aperture: Displays a field chart with safe zones. To load script controls into the Parameters tab, right-click the button, then choose Load Viewer Script Controls from the shortcut menu.

Viewer Script–Plot Scanline: Displays a plot scanline of your image. For more information, see “U on page 674.

sing the PlotScanline to Understand Color-Correction Functions”

Displays pixel values along the horizontal axis (where the light gray line is). The sample image bluescreen is evenly lit. You can view RGB, A, or RGBA, and calculate according to color, luminance, or value.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 63

Button Description

Viewer Script–Histogram: Displays a Histogram of your image. Viewer Script controls (right-click the Viewer Script button to select Load options):

• ignore: Ignores pixels with a 0 or 1 value.

• maxPerChannel: Pushes the values up on a per-channel basis.

• fade: Fades the display of the Histogram.

The colors are squeezed down in a limited range, an indication that this is probably a logarithmic image.

Notice the big healthy chunk of blue near the high end. That is good.

Viewer Script–Z Channel: Displays the Z depth of an image either normalized or between a set range. A very important note: Closer pixels are white, so the image can fade to infinity (black) without a visual discontinuity.

Viewer Script controls (right-click Viewer Script button to select Load options):

• floatZinA: Puts the Z values in the alpha channel to scrub and retrieve these

values. The values are either Off, the Original values, or Distance (normalized between 0 and 1). If you have an object that moves from far away toward the screen over several frames, Original returns your Z values relative to each other; Normalized indicates only the Z values within that frame.

• zNormalize: Indicates whether the render came from Maya or 3ds max. The

subparameter zInfinity sets the limit at which point pixels are considered infinite, and are therefore clipped.

• zRangeSource: Evaluates the original values, or the near/far Input values.

64 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Button Description

Viewer Script–Superwhite/Subzero: Displays pixel values above 1 or below 0 for float images. The alpha channel is also tested.

Viewer Script controls (right-click the Viewer Script button to select Load options):

• view: This parameter controls how the pixels are displayed:

per channel: Sets subzero pixels to 0, sets pixels between 0 and 1 to 0.5, and pixels above 1 to 1. This is applied on a per-channel basis. per image: Turns subzero pixels black, pixels between 0 and 1 gray, and pixels above 1 to 1. This is applied across the entire image, so if any channel is beyond 0 or 1, it is indicated. on Image: Mixes the subzero and superwhite pixels back onto the image. The colors are controlled with the two color controls.

• SubZero Color: Only active when view is set to “on Image,” it indicates the subzero

pixels.

• SuperWhite Color: Only active when view is set to “on Image,” it indicates the

superwhite pixels.

In this example, do the following:

• Read in the saint_bg.@ from the $HOME/nreal/ Tutorial_Media/Tutorial_05/images

directory.

• Apply an Other–Bytes node and a Color–LogLin node.

• Toggle Bytes from 8 to float.

• Apply the Float View Viewer Script. Since LogLin pushes values above 1, the sky

loses its punch when you go back out to Log and you process the image in only 16 bits.

Tree Input Log image LogLin (linear) image

per channel float view per image float view on image float view

The per-channel view indicates that most of the superwhite values are in the blue channel. The per-image view indicates the dark areas more clearly. The on-image view codes the highlights yellow and the darks blue.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 65

Button Description

Viewer Script–Frames/Timecode: Displays frames or timecode in the active Viewer.

To show and modify the frames/timecode display:

• Right-click the Viewer Script button and select timecode, or click and hold the

Viewer Script button and select the Timecode button. By default, timecode is displayed in the Viewer.

• Right-click the Viewer Script button and select Load Viewer Script into Parameters2

tab. The timecode parameters are loaded into the tab.

• Click the mode pop-up menu to choose Frames, Padded Frames, Timecode, or

Timecode Dropped Frame.

• Use the Time Offset subtree to offset by hours, minutes, seconds, or frames.

• Color: Click the color control to change the color of the text display.

• BgColor: Click the color control to change the color of the timecode display

background box.

• BgOpacity: Controls the opacity of the timecode display background box.

• size: Controls the size of the frames/timecode display.

• xPos: Controls the X position of the frames/timecode display. You can also use the

onscreen controls to reposition the display.

• yPos: Controls the Y position of the frames/timecode display. You can also use the

onscreen controls to reposition the display.

More About Using VLUTs

The VLUTs and the Viewer scripts are similar in that they apply an arbitrary set of functions that modify the image. A typical example is a color lookup table to compensate for the display properties of your computer’s monitor.

The key difference is that VLUTs allow you to scrub pixel values from the unmodified image (this feature can be disabled) whereas you always scrub the modified pixel values when using Viewer scripts. For example, you may want to work on Cineon plates in logarithmic space without converting the plates to linear space. However, you want a rough idea of what the images look like in linear color space. To do this, apply a VLUT to convert the images to linear space. The results when scrubbing colors in the Viewer are still derived from the original, unmodified input logarithmic plates, which ensures accurate processing for your output images.

VLUTs are typically used during color correction, and Viewer scripts are typically used for unusual operations—for example, when creating an image for stereoscopic viewing. Both methods let you use any series of pre-made functions.

Shake includes two VLUTs, the Truelight VLUT, and VLUT 2, which can be customized any way you need. You can also create as many additional VLUTs as you need, for different situations. You can only turn on one VLUT and one Viewer script at the same time, but both can be activated simultaneously. To apply multiple color corrections, build your VLUTs and scripts to have multiple controls.

66 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Note: The Truelight VLUT control in the Viewer shelf lets you set the Viewer’s lookup table to use calibration profiles that you can create with the TLCalibrate node, or that are created using Truelight’s monitor probe. Use the Load Viewer Lookup Controls into Parameters1 Tab command to make adjustments to the Truelight VLUT parameters. For more information on using Truelight, see the Truelight documentation, located in the Documentation folder on the Shake installation disc.

Important: Currently there is no version control of the Viewer script. If you extend the

functionality of existing Viewer scripts that may have been saved in existing Shake scripts, you should rename the new version of the Viewer script to something other than the original name.

Using the Viewer’s Domain of Definition (DOD)

The Viewer Domain of Definition (DOD) limits the area of the image that is rendered to the interior of a user-definable rectangle, in order to reduce the amount of unnecessary processing. For example, if you are doing a head replacement, you may want to activate the Viewer DOD and limit the Domain of Definition to a box surrounding just the head, eliminating the need for your computer to render the rest of the image.

When using the Viewer DOD, keep the following in mind:

• The Viewer DOD limits the rendering area on the Viewer, but does not affect the

output image.

• Display DOD displays the green internal DOD box associated with each node and the

red frame boundary (does not affect processing).

The following image has both the VLUT 2 and the Viewer DOD applied.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 67

Right-click the Viewer DOD button to access the DOD control options. For example, using Frame DOD to Viewer (sets the DOD to the Viewer frame), you can zoom in on an area you want to focus on and limit your DOD to that area. Note that the DOD is not dynamic, as it would need to constantly recalculate as you pan. For more information,

he Domain of Definition (DOD)” on page 82.

see “T

Creating Your Own VLUTs and Viewer Scripts

The preset examples are stored in the end of the nreal.h file. To roll your own, you first declare them in a startup directory following the same guidelines as for macros. The following functions do absolutely nothing:

image ViewerLookup1_(image img) {

return img;

}

image ViewerScript1_(image img) {

return img;

}

Next, also in a startup file, hook them into the Viewers:

nfxDefViewerLookup(“Lookup1”, “ViewerLookup1_()”, “default”); nfxDefViewerScript(“Script1”, “ViewerScript1_()”, “default”);

The first argument (“Lookup1”, “Script1”) is the name of the VLUT/Script as it appears in the list in the interface. The second arguments (“ViewerLookup1_()”, “ViewerScript1_()”) are the actual functions they call when activated. These must be declared in a startup .h file. The third arguments are the optional icon files, relative to the icons/viewer directory. It is assumed there is an .nri extension and that you also have a focused version called [icon].focus.nri.

Therefore, if you want to load a button called icons/viewer/vluts/dufus.nri, you also create a focused version called icons/viewer/vluts/dufus.focus.nri. You then use “vluts/ myVLUT” as your icon name. “default” means it is looking for vlut.@.nri, vlut.@.focus.nri,

vscript.@.nri, and vscript.@.focus.nri (@ = 1, 2, 3, etc.). All paths are relative to icons/ viewer. The icons for Viewer scripts are 30 x 30 pixels, no alpha. The standard VLUT

buttons are 51 x 30 pixels, no alpha. See “Other Macros–VLUT Button” in Chapter 32, “The Cookbook.” Other macros required to run the VLUT Button macro can be found in doc/html/cook/macros.

Viewer Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table contains additional Viewer hot keys.

Keyboard Function

NCreate/Copy New Viewer.

FFit Image to Viewer.

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Keyboard Function

Control-F Fit Viewer to Image.

Shift-F Fit Viewer to Desktop.

Alt-drag Pan image.

+ or - Zoom image in Viewer.

Home Reset view.

R, G, B, A, C Toggle Red, Green, Blue, alpha, and Color views.

Also, see the table on page 54 for keyboard equivalents to Viewer buttons.

The Viewer Shortcut Menu

Shortcut menus differ depending on the location of the pointer in the interface, or what function/button the pointer is on. The following table shows the shortcut menu commands available in the Viewer.

Menu Option Keyboard Description

Edit Undo Command-Z or

Control-Z

Redo Command-Y or

Control-Y

View Zoom In/Out + or - (next to

the Delete (Mac) / Backspace (Linux) key

Reset View Home Sets the Viewer ratio to 1:1. The Viewer ratio is

Fit Image to Viewer

Fit Viewer to Desktop

Fit Viewer to Image

Render Render

Flipbook

Render Disk Flipbook

Render FileOut Nodes

Render Proxies Renders proxy images.

FResizes the image to the Viewer boundaries.

Shift-F Fits the Viewer window to the larger desktop

Control-F Snaps the Viewer to the image size.

. (period) Renders a non-permanent Flipbook.

Undo the last operation. Does not work with RotoShape or QuickPaint.

Redo the last undo command.

Zooms in and out by increments. You can also Control-middle drag or Control-Alt-drag to zoom in or out with non-integer increments.

listed in the upper-left corner of the Viewer title bar.

window. Does not change the Viewer zoom; it just helps you when resizing the larger Desktop pane.

Renders a disk-based Flipbook.

Renders FileOut nodes to disk.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 69

Menu Option Keyboard Description

Clear Buffer A/ B

New Viewer N Creates a new Viewer. If the mouse is over a

Delete Viewer Deletes that Viewer. Helps to clear up graphic/

Minimize or Restore Viewer

Viewer Lookups

Viewer Scripts Lets you load Viewer script controls into the

Viewer DOD Lets you load Viewer DOD controls into the

View Channel Like the View Channel button, views the channel

Clears buffer A or B.

Viewer, it clones that Viewer.

refresh problems.

Stores the Viewer as a small bar.

Lets you load Viewer lookup controls into the Parameters1 or Parameters2 tab, or into a floating window.

Parameters1 or Parameters2 tab, or into a floating window.

you select.

Node-Specific Viewer Shelf Controls

Some nodes, mainly transformations, have onscreen controls to help you interactively control your images in the Viewer. These controls appear whenever the node’s parameters are loaded.

When you adjust an active node with onscreen controls, a second row of controls appears in that Viewer, at the top of the Viewer shelf. These controls disappear when you load a different node’s parameters.

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The following table shows the common onscreen control buttons.

Button Description

Onscreen Controls– Show

Displays the onscreen controls. Click to toggle between Show and Hide mode.

Onscreen Controls– Show on Release

Onscreen Controls–Hide Turns off the onscreen controls. To access this mode, click

AutokeyAuto keyframing is on. A keyframe is automatically

Delete Keyframe Deletes the keyframe at the current frame. This is used

Lock Direction–Off Allows dragging of onscreen controls in both the X and Y

Hides onscreen controls while you modify an image. To access this mode, click and hold the Onscreen Controls button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu, or right-click the Onscreen Controls button, then choose this option from the shortcut menu.

and hold the Onscreen Controls button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu, or right-click the Onscreen Controls button, then choose this option from the shortcut menu.

created each time an onscreen control is moved. To enable, you can also right-click, then choose Onscreen Control Auto Key On.

To manually add a keyframe without moving an onscreen control, click the Autokey button off and on.

because controls for functions such as Move2D, keyframes for xPan, yPan, xScale, yScale, and angle are created simultaneously. Delete Key deletes the keyframes from all the associated parameters at the current frame.

To delete all keyframes for a parameter, such as Move2D on all frames, right-click the Delete Keyframe button and select Delete All Keys.

directions.

Lock Direction to X Allows dragging of onscreen controls in the X direction

only. To enable, click and hold the Lock Direction button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu.

Lock Direction to Y Allows dragging of onscreen controls in the Y direction

only. To enable, click and hold the Lock Direction button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu.

Onscreen Color Control Click this swatch to change the color of onscreen

controls.

Path Display–Path and Keyframe

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 71

Displays motion path and keyframe positions in the Viewer. You can select and move the keyframes onscreen.

Button Description

Path Display–Keyframe Displays only the keyframe positions in the Viewer. To

access this mode, click and hold the Path Display button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu.

Path Display–Hide The motion path and keyframes are not displayed in the

Viewer. To access this mode, click and hold the Path Display button, then choose this button from the pop-up menu.

The Parameters Tabs

The controls that let you adjust the parameters for each of the nodes in the node tree, as well as the global parameters of your script, are located in the Parameters tabs. Two Parameters tabs let you load parameters and make adjustments for two nodes at once.

Accessing a Node’s Controls Using the Parameters Tabs

You must first load a node’s parameters into the Parameters1 or Parameters2 tab in order to make changes to them. The Parameters tabs are empty until you load a node’s parameters into them.

To load a node’s parameters into the Parameters1 tab:

Click the right side of the node.

The parameters indicator appears on the right side of the node, and the node’s parameters are loaded into the Parameters1 tab. The node does not have to be selected in order to load its parameters into the Parameters1 tab.

Double-click anywhere on the node to load its parameters into the Parameters1 tab and its image into the Viewer.

To load a node’s parameters into the Parameters2 tab:

Shift-click the right side of the node.

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The parameters indicator appears on the right side of the node, and the node’s parameters are loaded into the Parameters2 tab. The node does not have to be selected in order to load its parameters into the Parameters2 tab.

Loading a node’s parameters into a tab automatically clears out whatever previous parameters were loaded. If necessary, you can clear a Parameters tab at any time.

To clear a tab so that no parameters are loaded into it:

Right-click the Parameters1 or Parameters2 tab, then choose Clear Tab from the shortcut menu.

It’s important to bear in mind that you can load the image from one node into the Viewer, while loading another node’s parameters into the Parameters tab.

Click to load node parameters.

Click once to display node in Viewer. Double-click to load node parameters.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 73

For example, you can view the resulting image from the bottommost node in a tree, while adjusting the parameters of a node that’s farther up in that tree.

The indicator on the left shows which nodes are loaded into Viewers, and the indicator on the right shows which nodes have been loaded into one of the Parameters tabs.

Using Tweaker Windows

You can also open a node’s parameters in a floating “Tweaker” window.

To open a Tweaker window:

Select a node and press Control-T.

The Tweaker window appears, floating above the Shake window.

Global Parameters

You can double-click an empty area in the Node View to open the Globals tab, or click the Globals tab itself. For more information on the global parameters, see Chapter 2, “Setting a Script’s Global Parameters,” on page 91.

Adjusting Parameter Controls

The Shake interface incorporates a variety of parameter controls. Many parameters found in the Parameters tab and Globals tab have subparameters. A plus sign (+) beside a parameter indicates that there are related subparameters. Click the plus sign to open the parameter subtree and access the subparameters.

74 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

Each parameter has several types of controls that you can use to change that parameter’s numerical value.

• Sliders: Move the slider (if available) to modify the parameter’s value.

• Virtual sliders: These sliders—controlled by dragging in a value field—allow you to

increase or decrease a parameter’s value beyond the limits of a standard slider. Drag left or right in a value field to decrease or increase a parameter’s numeric value.

Note: If you are using a Wacom tablet, open to the Globals tab, open the guiControls subtree, enable virtualSliderMode, then set virtualSliderSpeed to 0.

When a parameter has an expression attached to it, a plus sign (+) appears beside the parameter name. (The plus sign is also used to indicate a parameter that has hidden subparameters.) An expression can be an animation curve, a link to a different parameter, or a function. Clicking the plus sign beside a parameter that’s linked to an expression reveals the expression field. To clear a non-curve expression, move the slider, enter a new value in the value field, or right-click and select Clear Expression. For an introduction to expressions, see “U

sing Expressions in Parameters” on page 78.

• Some parameters have associated toggle buttons. You can enter a value in the value

field, or click the toggle button. You can also enter expressions in the value field.

• Press Tab or Shift-Tab to advance or retreat into adjacent value fields.

Keyframing and Curve Editor Controls

Two controls let you load a parameter into the Curve Editor, and enable it to be animated using keyframes.

The Load Curves button (the clock-shaped button to the immediate right of a parameter name) loads parameters into the Curve Editor.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 75

When the Load Curves button is enabled (checked), the parameter is displayed in the Curve Editor. When disabled, the parameter does not appear in the Curve Editor.

The Autokey button enables keyframing for that parameter.

For more information on animating parameters, see Chapter 10, “P

arameter Animation

and the Curve Editor,” on page 291.

Locking a Parameter

Most parameters 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.

Using Color Controls

Some parameters have associated Color controls.

To use a Color control, do one of the following:

Click the Color control (the color swatch)—the Color Picker opens, and you select your color from the Color Picker or Viewer.

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Click the plus (+) sign to the left of the Color control to access color subparameters. The first row in the subtree contains a slider to modify one channel at a time. Select the button that corresponds to the desired channel: (R)ed, (G)reen, (B)lue, (O)ffset, (H)ue, (S)aturation, (V)alue, (T)emperature, (M)agenta-Cyan, or (L)uminance. Move the slider to calculate according to the selected channel, but convert the numbers back to RGB.

Edit the individual channels or add expressions in the subtree.

You can also keep the subtree closed, and use the Color control (the color swatch) itself as a virtual slider. Using the channel buttons as the keyboard guide, press and hold the desired key (R, G, B, H, S, V, and so on) and drag left or right in the Color control. In the following illustration, when G is pressed and the pointer is dragged, the green channel increases or decreases.

Note: To adjust the red, green, and blue color channels at the same time, press O and drag in the Color control (O represents Offset).

Using Pop-Up Menus

Some parameters have associated pop-up menus, such as the font parameter in the Tex t node.

There are two ways to choose items from a pop-up menu:

Click a menu item to choose that item, then close the menu.

Right-click a menu item to choose it and remain in the menu. When you first click the menu item, hold down the left mouse button and move the pointer off of the menu. Then return the pointer to the menu and right-click. This allows you to quickly test different parameters.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 77

Using Expressions in Parameters

An expression is any non-numeric entry, such as a variable or a mathematical calculation. Any parameter can use an expression. Some expressions, such as time, are extremely simple. When you type the expression variable “time” into a value field, Shake returns the numeric value of the current playhead position. For example, if the playhead (in the Time Bar) is parked at frame 1, typing “time” into a value field returns a value of 1 in that field.

Entering an expression consisting of any letter (whether valid or not) activates a plus sign (+) to the left of the parameter name. To edit a parameter’s expression, click the plus sign to open an expression field underneath.

If the parameter has an expression and you make an adjustment to that parameter’s slider, the expression is removed in favor of your numerical change. If the parameter is animated, however, these special expressions are recognized by Shake and are not removed when the slider is adjusted. For more information on animating parameters, see Chapter 10, “P

arameter Animation and the Curve Editor,” on page 291.

Note: You can also remove an expression by right-clicking the field and selecting Clear Expression from the shortcut menu.

You can modify expressions in various ways:

• To load or save an expression, use the right-click menu.

• To create extra sliders to build complex expressions (and still allow interactive input),

right-click the field and select Create Local Variable. To remove a local variable, rightclick and select Delete Local Variable.

For a lesson on using local variables and expressions, see Tutorial 4, “Working With Expressions,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials.

For a list of mathematical expressions and variables, see Chapter 30, “Installing and

Creating Macros,” on page 905.

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Linking One Parameter to Another

You can link any parameter to any other parameter.

To link parameter A to parameter B within the same node:

Enter the name of parameter A into the value field of parameter B, then press Return. A plus sign appears to indicate that the parameter now contains an expression.

For example, in a Move2D node, you would link yPan to xPan by typing the following into the yPan parameter:

xPan

Note: The default state of many parameters is an expression which links them to an accompanying parameter. This is most common for pairs of parameters that define X and Y values. For example, the default argument for yScale is a link to xScale.

To link to a parameter in a different node, preface the link with the following syntax:

nodeName.parameter

For example, to link the red channel parameter of the Add1 node to the red channel parameter of the Add2 node, enter the following expression in the Add1 red channel:

Add2.red

To interactively copy a parameter from one field to another in the same node, do one of the following:

Click the parameter name you want to copy, and drag it to the parameter name (a value or expression) that you want to copy the value to. This copies the value from the first field to the second.

Note: This drag and drop behavior also works when you drag color from one Color control to another.

Select text in a value field and press Command-C or Control-C to copy the information. Go to the second value field and press Command-V or Control-V to paste.

To interactively link two parameters together, Shift-drag a parameter name and drop it onto the parameter you want to link to. This creates an expression linking back to the first parameter by listing its name.

Combining Links With Expressions

Parameter links can be used in conjunction with mathematical expressions as well. For example, to double the value of a link, enter:

Add2.red*2

To link to a parameter at a different frame than the current one, use the @@ signs. For example, to link to Mult1’s red parameter from two frames earlier, use the following expression:

Mult1.red@@(time-2)

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 79

Displaying Parameter Values in the Viewer

You can dynamically display the values of parameters using the Te xt and AddText nodes. To differentiate a parameter name from regular text in the value field, surround it with a pair of braces. For example:

The current frame is: {time}

displays the following in the Viewer:

The current frame is: x

where x automatically updates as each frame progresses.

In another example, if there is a node called Gamma1, and its rGamma value is 1.7, entering the following expression into the text parameter of a Text node:

My red value = {Gamma1.rGamma}

displays the following in the Viewer:

My red value is 1.7

Note: There is a macro called Wedge in the “Cookbook” section of this manual that can be used to print out wedging values for color timing Cineon files.

For a lesson on linking parameters, see Tutorial 4, “Working With Expressions,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials.

Copying and Pasting Script Code in Shake

If you copy a group of nodes from the node tree, open a text editor, and paste the result, you’ll see the actual code that Shake is using to perform the operations those nodes represent. The following screenshots show a simple composite in the Shake interface, and those same three nodes copied and pasted into a text editor.

At times, various script code and expressions are featured in the Shake documentation. Many times, examples and expressions you see presented in a coded format can be copied from the onscreen documentation and pasted into Shake, for immediate use.

80 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

The Parameters Tab Shortcut Menu

The following table lists the options that appear when you right-click the top portion of the Parameters tab.

Option Description

Clear Tab Unloads the current parameters from the tab.

Create Local Variable Allows you to create a variable specific to a given node. Use this

option when you want to link one or more parameters to other parameters. See Tutorial 4, “Working With Expressions,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials.

Delete Local Variable Deletes the local variable for the selected parameter.

Add Notes A dedicated local variable in string format. Allows you to add notes

to any node (to help you remember what you were thinking at the time).

Reset All Values Resets all values in the node to their default state.

The following table lists the options that are available when you right-click a parameter.

Option Keyboard Description

Copy Command-C or

Control-C

Paste Command-V or

Control-V

Load Expression

Save Expression

Clear Expression

Clear Tab Clears the current parameters from the tab.

Create Local Variable

Delete Local Variable

Add Notes A dedicated local variable in string format. Allows you to add notes

Copies the selected nodes onto the Clipboard.

Pastes the Clipboard contents into the Node View. You can also copy nodes from the Node View and paste the nodes into a text document, and copy the text and paste it into the Node View.

Loads an expression from disk. The expression should be in Shake format. You can use this if you have a translator for another package’s curve types.

Saves the current expression as a text file to disk.

Clears the current expression.

Allows you to create a variable specific to that node. Use this when you want to drive one or more parameters off of other parameters. See Tutorial 4, “Working With Expressions,” in the Shake 4 Tutorials.

Deletes the local variable for the selected parameter.

to any node.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 81

The Domain of Definition (DOD)

The Domain of Definition (DOD) is a rectangular zone that Shake uses to bind the significant pixels in an image in order to optimize rendering speed. Everything outside of the DOD is considered as background (black by default), and is therefore ignored in most computations. Proper handling of the DOD is an extremely powerful way to speed your render times.

To examine the efficiency of the DOD node:

1 Create an Image–Tex t node.

2 Ensure that the Display DOD button in the Viewer is on.

The green box that you see around the text in the Viewer is the DOD.

Because of the DOD, nodes attached to this image process in a fraction of the time it takes to calculate the same nodes with an image that fills the frame.

To test rendering times with DOD:

1 Attach a Filter–RBlur node to the Text node, and set the RBlur oRadius parameter to 360.

2 In a separate branch, create an Image–Rand node (to create an entire frame of pixels).

3 Attach a Color–Monochrome node to the Rand node to turn it into a two-channel

image. The Text node creates a BWA (black and white, with alpha) image by default, so you must match the channels to compare rendering speeds.

4 Copy and paste the RBlur1 node into the Node View, then attach the copied node

(RBlur2) to the Monochrome1 node.

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There is a significant difference in rendering speed, even though both images are the same resolution.

Assigning a DOD

All images from disk are automatically assigned a DOD that is equal to the resolution of the image. There are five ways to alter the DOD:

• Images generated in Shake have a DOD. For example, nodes from the Image tab such

as RGrad, Tex t, and RotoShape automatically have an assigned DOD.

• The DOD of an image from disk that is transformed or filtered is automatically

recalculated. For example, the following image is read in (imported) and scaled down and/or rotated with a Move2D.

Also, if an image is blurred, the DOD expands accordingly.

• A rendered .iff file from Shake is embedded with a DOD. When Shake writes an .iff

file, it automatically saves the DOD information. Only the .iff format embeds the DOD. In the following example, the image that was written out in the previous (above) example is read back into Shake.

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 83

• The SetDOD node, located in the Transform tab, allows you to manually assign a DOD

to an image. In the following illustration, a SetDOD node is attached to the building image to limit the effects to the tower.

• You can combine multiple images using a DOD. When you combine two images, the

DODs combine to form a larger rectangle. If, however, you use a node like Inside or IMult, that node takes the DOD of the second node. If the building image is placed Inside of the QuickShape image from above, it inherits the DOD of the QuickShape

node.

Note: When using onscreen controls to edit a shape (for example, a Rotoshape or QuickPaint object) that has control points within the boundaries of the DOD, move the

pointer over the shape inside of the DOD, and then drag to select the points.

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Combining images with a DOD is an excellent way to optimize greenscreen or bluescreen images that need to be cropped via a garbage matte anyway, because it simultaneously removes the garbage areas and assigns an efficient DOD to the image.

The node tree above produces the folowing effect:

Building QuickShape1

Primatte1 Inside1

With a good understanding of the role of the DOD, you can optimize the tree before and after the node in question. The above example not only optimizes any nodes you attach to Inside1, but executes the Primatte and reads in the part of the image that is inside of the DOD, reducing processing and I/O activity.

Keying, Color Correcting, and the Background Color

This section discusses the area outside of the DOD, which is called the Background Color (BGColor).

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 85

The two main keyers in Shake, Keylight and Primatte, recognize the background color, and have a toggle to key the background color in or out. By default, the keyer leaves the background area black in the alpha channel. To turn the background completely white, toggle BGColor on.

Shake processes color correction of the BGColor very quickly, as it recognizes there is a pure correction applied to previously black pixels. If the color correction does not change black, such as Gamma or Mult, it is ignored. If it does affect the black areas, as does Add or Compress, it processes these areas, but understands that they are still the result of a lookup process. Therefore, the DOD does not get reasserted to the resolution frame. This is the same process that is used when the Infinite Workspace kicks in. So, even though the pixels outside of the DOD are not visibly different from the pixels inside, the DOD remains in place. (For more information, see Chapter 7, “U

sing the Node

View,” on page 217.)

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There may be cases, however, where you want to take advantage of the DOD for masking purposes. In this tree, an image is scaled down, and the brightness increased with an Add node. This, however, turns the area outside of the image a medium gray. Since this area is recognized as outside of the DOD, it can be returned to black with a Color–SetBGColor node, which sets the color for the area outside of the DOD.

Building Move2D1

Add1 SetBGColor1

The Layer–Constraint node also limits a process. For more information on masking using the Constraint node, see Chapter 19, “U

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 87

sing Masks,” on page 527.

The Time Bar

The Time Bar, at the bottom of the Shake window, displays the currently defined range of frames, the playback buttons, and the Info field, which provides a brief description of each control you move the pointer over.

The Time Bar is a display of the currently defined time range. It neither limits nor controls the actual parameters that are saved into the script. To set the frame range that renders via a FileOut or Flipbook operation, go to the Globals tab and enter the frame range in the timeRange parameter.

Setting a Script’s Frame Range

The number in the field to the left of the bar is the start frame of the Time Bar, and the number in the field to the right is the end frame. In the above example, frames 1 to 21 are highlighted. This corresponds to an entry in the timeRange parameter of the globals of 1-21.

Time Bar Navigation Values

The Current Frame field indicates the position of the playhead, which is 49. The Increment parameter controls how far the playhead advances when you press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key.

• The default value of 1 means that every frame is played back.

• A default value of 0.5 enables you to see each field when a video clip is loaded into

the Viewer.

• A value of 2 or higher means that Shake skips frames. At 2, every other frame is

skipped.

When you move the pointer within the Time Bar, the frame number that you’ll jump to when you click to reposition the playhead is displayed over the pointer.

If you have already set the timeRange parameter in the Globals tab, click Home in the Time Bar controls to use the timeRange as the Time Bar frame range.

To change the current time and display that frame in the Viewer, do one of the following:

Click or drag the playhead to interactively scrub across the current time range.

To jump to a specific frame, type the frame number into the Current Frame field, and press Return. As with any value field, you can use the virtual sliders—press Control and drag the pointer left and right in the value field.

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To pan across the Time Bar, press the middle mouse button and drag; or Option-click or Alt-click and drag.

To zoom into or out of the frame range displayed by the Time Bar, press Control and the middle mouse button; or Control-Option-click or Control-Alt-click, then drag.

Playback Controls

The controls illustrated below play through the script according to the Time Bar frame range, not the global timeRange.

• To play forward, click the forward arrow button.

• To play backward, click the backward arrow button.

Note: Regardless of the speed of your computer, Viewer playback is now limited to the frame rate specified in the framesPerSecond parameter in the Format section of the Globals tab.

Assuming your composition is cached so that real-time playback is possible, this playback rate is not exact, but may vary by around 10 percent.

• To stop playback, click the stop button, or click the left mouse button anywhere on

the screen.

• Shift-click a playback button to render all frames in the current frame range and store

the frames in memory. The sequence will play back much faster next time.

• Click the keyframe buttons to jump to the previous or next keyframe.

The following table lists additional keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Description

Left Arrow key or Right Arrow key

Up Arrow key or Down Arrow key

.Play forward.

Shift-. Begin cached playback.

Home Fit the current time range into the Time Bar.

TToggle timecode/frame display.

For more information, see Chapter 8, “U

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface 89

Retreat/advance a frame based on the frame Increment setting (works in any window).

Jump to next/previous keyframe.

sing the Time View,” on page 261.

Previewing Your Script Using the Flipbook

You can render a temporary Flipbook to preview your work. Once the Flipbook has rendered into RAM, use the playback buttons (described below) to play back the Flipbook. The Flipbook is available on Mac OS X and Linux systems.

To launch the Flipbook from the interface:

1 In the Globals tab, set the timeRange, for example, 1-50 or1-50x2.

2 Load the node that contains the image you want to preview into the main Viewer.

3 Click the Flipbook button in the Viewer shelf.

A Flipbook window appears, and the specified timeRange is rendered into RAM for playback.

4 When the render is finished, press the period or > key to play the result. When you’re

finished viewing the Flipbook, close the window and it disappears from memory.

On a Mac OS X system, you also have the option to create a disk-based QuickTime Flipbook. For more information on using both RAM and disk-based Flipbooks, see Chapter 11, “T

he Flipbook, Monitor Previews, and Color Calibration,” on page 323.

90 Chapter 1 An Overview of the Shake User Interface

2 Setting a Script’s Global

Parameters

This chapter covers how to set the global parameters within each script, tailoring your script’s properties to fit your needs.

About Global Parameters

When you create a new script, you should customize its global parameters before starting work on your composite. The Globals tab contains parameters that are commonly found in the Project Properties window of other applications. These parameters include a script’s time range, default frame width and height, aspect ratio, proxy settings, global motion-blur controls, bit depth, field rendering settings, and various ways to customize Shake’s controls.

The global parameters also contain a group of guiControl parameters that let you customize how Shake works. Using the guiControl parameters, you can specify whether thumbnails are exposed, how many threads Shake uses on multi-processing computers, the colors used by shapes and noodles, and the sensitivity of shape controls in the Viewer.

Setting Global Variables From the Command Line

Many of the parameters described in this chapter can be set in the command line at the time you launch Shake, so you don’t have to reset them each time you write out a script. For example, your timeRange may be 1-10, but you can modify that when you render on the command line with the -t option:

shake -exec my_script -t 1-240

To access the global parameters, do one of the following:

Click the Globals tab.

Double-click an empty area in the Node View.

Note: The global controls also appear in the Parameters1 tab when Shake is first started, or whenever you create a new script.

The global parameters that can be seen in the Globals tab of the Shake interface are divided into several groups.

The Main Global Parameters

These parameters control the duration and format of the output from your script. While these parameters can be changed at any time, it’s a good idea to set them to the proper values before you begin any serious compositing.

timeRange

This parameter defines the number of frames in your project. This parameter can be changed at any time. The timeRange is generally represented by a starting value and an ending value, separated by a dash. For example, a 10-second clip in a project that’s set to a frame rate of 24 fps would have a timeRange parameter set to “1-240.”

The fastest way to set the timeRange is to open the Globals tab and click Auto, which is located to the right of the timeRange field.

Clicking Auto automatically populates the timeRange parameter by calculating the duration from the earliest frame in any FileIn node to the last frame in any FileIn node.

92 Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

The starting frame does not always have to be set to 1. For example, to quickly trim off the first 20 frames of your project, change the timeRange to “21-240.” Doing this restricts the frame range displayed in the Time Bar and the processing and rendering of your script to only the frames you need.

Here are some more examples of frame ranges you can define in Shake.

Time Range Number of Frames Frames Rendered

1-100 100 1, 2, 3... 100

1-100x2 50 1, 3, 5... 99

1-100x20 5 1, 21, 41... 81

1-20, 30-40 31 1, 2, 3... 20, and 30, 31, 32... 40

1-10x2, 15, 18, 20-25 13 1, 3, 5... 9, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22 ... 25

100-1 100 100, 99, 98... 2

Several parameters and controls in Shake either inherit the timeRange parameter directly, or allow you to assign its value:

• The Home button in the playback controls

• The Render Parameters window

• The Time Range parameter in the Mixdown Options of the Audio Panel

• The Flipbook Render Parameters window

useProxy

A proxy is a lower-resolution image that can be temporarily substituted for the highresolution plates in your script, allowing you to work and see rendered tests faster. Because the images are smaller, you drastically decrease the processing time, memory requirements, and the amount of time spent on reading and writing files as you work. Naturally, the trade-off is that the quality of the image displayed in the Viewer suffers as well, which is why proxies are generally used only when creating low-resolution comps or creating test previews. After assembling a script using proxies, you can return your script to the original, full resolution in order to render the final output.

These controls are linked to the proxy buttons found at the upper-right corner of the Shake interface, and allow you to switch among different resolutions to reap the aforementioned benefits. For more information on using proxies, see Chapter 4, “U

sing

Proxies,” on page 137.

Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters 93

interactiveScale

If the general processing speed for your operations is fine, but the interactivity of processor-intensive operations is slowing you down, you can turn on the InteractiveScale option in the Globals tab to use a proxy resolution only while you’re adjusting parameters. This option does not affect your Flipbooks or FileOut renders. For more information, see “U

sing interactiveScale” on page 139.

motionBlur

In Shake, motion blur can be applied to animated transformation parameters. Each transform node has its own motion blur settings, so you can tune each one individually. The motionBlur parameters in the Globals tab either adjust or replace the existing values within each node in the script, depending on the parameter. You can also set the global motionBlur value to 0 to turn all motion blur within your project off. For more information on using motion blur, see “C

reating Motion Blur in Shake” on

page 778.

The Format Pop-Up Menu

The format pop-up menu provides a fast way of simultaneously setting all the format subparameters found within the format parameter subtree. The format pop-up menu contains many of the most popular media formats.

default

Name

Academy 1828 1332 1 1 24

CinemaScope 1828 1556 .5 2 24

Full 2048 1556 1 1 24

1. 8 5 1 828 1332 1 1 24

HDTV1080i/p 30FPS

HDTV1080i/p

29.97 FPS ND

HDTV1080i/p

29.97 FPS DF

HDTV1080i/p 25 FPS

HDTV1080i/p 24 FPS

HDTV1080i/p

23.98 FPS

NTSC ND (D1 4:3) 720 486 1.1111 .9 29.97

NTSC DF (D1 4:3) 720 486 1.1111 .9 29.97

NTSC ND (16:9) 720 486 .83333 1.2 29.97

NTSC DF (16:9) 720 486 .83333 1.2 29.97

Width

192 0 1080 1 1 30

192 0 1080 1 1 29.97

192 0 1080 1 1 25

192 0 1080 1 1 24

192 0 1080 1 1 23.98

default Height

default Aspect

default ViewerAspect

framesPerSecond

94 Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

default

Name

PAL (D1 4:3) 720 576 .9380 1.066 25

PAL (16:9) 720 576 .7032 1.422 25

PAL (square) 768 576 1 1 25

Width

default Height

default Aspect

default ViewerAspect

framesPerSecond

If the format you need is not in this list, you can always open up the format parameter subtree—by clicking the “+” (plus) icon to the left of the parameter name—and create your own custom format.

These settings are only for Shake-generated image nodes—they have no effect on the resolution or frame rate of media referenced by FileIn nodes. Shake generated nodes, such as RotoShape, QuickPaint, Ramp, and Grad inherit the global resolution.

Click the “+” (plus) icon to reveal the format parameter subtree, which contains the following subparameters:

framesPerSecond

This parameter limits the speed of playback from the Time Bar, and also sets the default playback rate of launched Flipbooks. Three buttons provide the three most common frame rates, Film at 24 fps, NTSC video at 29.97 fps, and PAL video at 25 fps. A value field allows you to enter a custom frame rate to accommodate any other format.

Note: To change the playback rate within the Flipbook, press + and – (on the numeric keypad). The current frame rate is displayed at the top of the Flipbook.

timecodeMode

Sets how timecode is calculated within your script, as 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps drop frame, or 30 fps non-drop frame. This parameter is unrelated to timecode that might be present in a QuickTime movie.

Note: Shake does not import timecode associated with QuickTime movies.

defaultWidth, defaultHeight

The width and height of the frame for Shake-generated images. See the above table for standard frame sizes.

defaultAspect

The pixel aspect ratio used for Shake-generated images. This should be set to match the format of the images you’re reading into your script. For example, since most standard-definition video formats have nonsquare pixels, the aspect ratio of NTSC video is 1.111, while that of PAL video is .9380. Academy ratio film, which has square pixels, is simply 1. For more information on pixel aspect ratios, see “A

bout Aspect Ratios

and Nonsquare Pixels” on page 209.

Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters 95

defaultViewerAspectRatio

This value corrects the aspect ratio of the image displayed by the Viewer to account for images using nonsquare pixels. The defaultViewerAspectRatio parameter is for display only, and has no effect on rendered output.

Changing any format subparameter sets the format pop-up menu to Custom. If there’s a particular custom format that you use frequently, you can add it to the Format popup list. For more information on adding entries to the format pop-up menu, see

ustomizing the Format Pop-Up Menu” on page 96.

“C

defaultBytes

Sets the default bit rate for Shake-generated images. The defaultBytes parameter has no effect on images that are read in via FileIn nodes, nor does it affect the rendered output from your script.

viewerZoom

The zoom level applied to the Viewer. This value has no effect on the output resolution of your script.

viewerAspectRatio

When set to formatDefault, this parameter scales the X axis of the Viewer by the defaultViewerAspectRatio parameter, located within the format subtree. When this parameter is set to custom, you can change it to whatever value you want. This is usually used to compensate for the nonsquare pixel ratios of video. For anamorphic film frames, you typically use the proxyRatio to scale down the Viewer’s Y axis.

Customizing the Format Pop-Up Menu

You can create your own formats in a startup.h file. In $HOME/nreal/include/startup, add a line in the following format:

DefFormatType(“Name”, defaultWidth, defaultHeight, defaultAspect,

defaultViewerAspectRatio, framesPerSecond, fieldRendering)

For example:

DefFormatType(“NTSC (D1 4:3)”, 720, 486, 1/.9f, 0.9f, 29.97,0);

renderControls

These parameters affect how Shake renders material processed by the currently open script.

fieldRendering

When fieldRendering is set to 0, progressive scan/full frames are rendered. When set to 1, the odd field takes precedence, meaning it is the first line at the top. For more information on setting up your script to render fields properly, see “T

Processing Interlaced Video” on page 191.

96 Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

he Basics of

quality

When this parameter is set to lo (0), anti-aliasing is disabled. This results in poorer image quality, but improved render speed.

maxThread

Set the maxThread to the number of available processors you want to use for rendering by Shake.

cacheMode

The cache is a directory or precalculated images with script information attached. When Shake evaluates a node tree at a given frame, it compares the tree to the cache to see if it has rendered that frame before. If it has, it calls up the cached image rather than recalculate the entire tree in order to save time. Shake keeps track of how many times each cached frame has been viewed, eliminating the least viewed frames first when the cache runs out of room.

You can set the cacheMode to one of four states:

• none: Cache data is neither read from nor written to.

• read-only: Preexisting cache data is read, but no new cache data is generated.

• regular: The cache is both read from and written to, but only nodes with non-

animated values are cached.

• aggressive: The cache is both read from and written to, and nodes with animated

and non-animated parameters are cached.

When setting the cacheMode, consider the following guidelines:

• In most circumstances, the regular cacheMode setting should be used.

• Consider setting the cacheMode to aggressive when you are constantly scrubbing

back and forth between two or three frames (for example, when tweaking tracking or shape control points).

• You should only set cacheMode to none if you are using Shake on a system with

extremely limited RAM and disk space. By setting the cacheMode to none, Shake is forced to re-compute each image that you select to view, which is the least efficient way to run.

For more information on Shake’s caching system, see Chapter 13, “Image C

aching,” on

page 343.

macroCheck

If you open or load a script on your system, and the script does not appear, the script may contain macros that are not on your system. If this is the problem, a message similar to the following appears in the Console tab:

line 43: unknown function MissingMacro

MissingMacro1=MissingMacro(Keylight_1v41);

Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters 97

To open or load a script that contains a missing macro:

1 Click the Globals tab.

2 Expand the renderControls subtree.

3 Set macroCheck to one of the following options:

• abort load: does not load the script

• sub. with text: substitutes a Tex t node in place of the missing macro

• sub. no text: substitutes a MissingMacro node

4 Open/load the script.

To set the default macroCheck behavior to substitute a MissingMacro node, include the following in a .h file:

sys.useAltOnMissingFunc = 2

For more information on .h files, see “Creating and Saving .h Preference Files” on page 355.

guiControls

The parameters within the guiControls subtree allow you to customize the functionality and display of controls in Shake’s graphical user interface. These settings are individually saved by each script you create.

displayThumbnails

Turns all thumbnails in the Node View on and off. For more information on customizing the thumbnail display, see “C

ustomizing Thumbnail Display” on page 253.

displayThumbnails has three subparameters—thumbSizeRelative, thumbSize, and thumbAlphaBlend.

thumbSizeRelative

Scales all thumbnails to the same size, or leaves them at different sizes relative to the original sizes of the images. By default, all thumbnails are displayed at the same width. To display thumbnails at their relative sizes, turn on thumbSizeRelative.

thumbSize

Lets you adjust the size of thumbnails in the Node View. If thumbSizeRelative is turned on, all nodes are resized relative to one another.

thumbAlphaBlend

Turns thumbnail transparency on and off. When thumbAlphaBlend is on, moving one thumbnail over another results in a fast look at how the nodes might appear when composited together in the Viewer. More usefully, it gives you an instant view of which images have transparency in them.

98 Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

virtualSliderMode

When this parameter is turned off, dragging within any parameter’s value field in Shake results in an edit bar appearing and the contents of that field being selected. When this parameter is turned on, dragging within a parameter’s value field results in that parameter being modified as if you were dragging a slider. This mode is very useful when using Shake with a graphics tablet. You can also use these virtual sliders in the value fields simply by dragging with the mouse.

virtualSliderSpeed

Adjusts the speed of the virtual slider. When using a stylus, it is recommended you set this parameter to 0.

noodleTension

Lets you adjust how much “slack” there is in the way noodles are drawn from knot to knot. Higher values introduce more slack, and noodles are more curved. Lower values reduce the slack, and noodles are drawn in more of a straight line.

shapeControls

These subparameters allow you to customize the spline-based shape drawing and editing behaviors and transform controls in the Viewer. You can change these parameters to make it easier to use Shake’s controls for your individual needs.

rotoAutoControlScale

An option which, when enabled, increases the size of the transform controls of shapes based on the vertical resolution of the image to which the shape is assigned. This makes it easier to manipulate a shape’s transform control even when the image is scaled down by a large ratio.

rotoControlScale

A slider which allows you to change the default size of all transform controls in the Viewer when rotoAutoControlScale is turned on.

Note: You can also resize every transform control appearing in the Viewer by holding the Command key down while dragging the handles of any transform control in the Viewer.

rotoTransformIncrement

This parameter allows you to adjust the sensitivity of shape transform controls. When this parameter is set to lower values, transform handles move more slowly when dragged, allowing more detailed control. At higher values, transform handles move more quickly when dragged. A slider lets you choose from a range of 1-6. The default value is 5, which matches the transform control sensitivity of previous versions of Shake.

Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters 99

rotoPickRadius

This parameter provides the ability to select individual points on a shape that fall within a user-definable region around the pointer. This allows you to easily select points that are near the pointer which may be hard to select by clicking them directly. A slider allows you to define how far, in pixels, the pointer may be from a point to select it.

rotoTangentCreationRadius

This parameter lets you define the distance you must drag the pointer when drawing a shape point to turn it into a Bezier curve. Using this control, you can make it easier to create curves when drawing shapes of different sizes. For example, you could increase the distance you must drag, to avoid accidentally creating Bezier curves, or you can decrease the distance you must drag, to make it easier to create Bezier curves when drawing short shape segments.

gridWidth, gridHeight

Specifies, in pixels, how wide and tall each rectangle of the grid is. The gridHeight is locked to the gridWidth by default, although this expression can be changed. This default is 40 x 40 pixels.

gridEnabled

Lets you control the grid’s effect on the nodes that you create. There are two settings: on and off. This parameter also toggles the background grid pattern in the Node View if gridVisible is turned on.

gridVisible

Displays the grid as a graphical background in the Node View. This graph is only displayed when gridEnabled is turned on.

layoutTightness

This parameter affects the Layout Arrangement commands described in “A

Nodes” on page 244. It lets you specify how closely nodes should be positioned to one

another when they’re newly created, or whenever you use one of the arrangement commands. This parameter’s default is 40 pixels.

consoleLineLength

The maximum line length of information displayed in the Console tab. This defaults to 12 0 characters.

100 Chapter 2 Setting a Script’s Global Parameters

rranging

Apple Shake 4 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Shake 4 Documentation and Resources

What Is Shake?

Using the Shake Documentation

User Manual

Tutorials

Onscreen Help

Viewing Shake Onscreen Documentation on Linux Systems

Contextual Help

Apple Websites

Shake Websites

Keyboard and Mouse Conventions on Different Platforms

Using a Stylus

Window Navigation Using a Stylus

Using Dual-Head Monitors

Part I: Interface, Setup, and Input

Opening Shake

Opening Two Scripts at Once

Overview of the Shake User Interface

Getting Help in Shake

Making Adjustments to the Shake Window

Navigating in the Viewer, Node View, and Curve Editor

Saving Favorite Views

Working With Tabs and the Tweaker

Using the Tweaker

OS Window Functions

Menus and the Title Bar

Title Bar Information

Shake Menu (Mac OS X Only)

File Menu

Edit Menu

Tools Menu

Viewers Menu

Render Menu

Script Management

Customizing AutoSave

Changing the Possible Levels of Undo

The File Browser

Opening the File Browser

Navigating in the File Browser

Adding Directories to the Favorites List

Selecting Files

Viewing Controls

Specifying Media Placement

Additional Controls for Image Output

Using and Customizing Viewers

Using Multiple Viewers

Looking at Images in a Viewer

Suspending Rendering and Viewer Redraw

Controls in the Viewer Shelf

Using the Compare Buffers

Viewer Lookups, Viewer Scripts, and the Viewer DOD

Using the Viewer’s Domain of Definition (DOD)

Creating Your Own VLUTs and Viewer Scripts

Viewer Keyboard Shortcuts

The Viewer Shortcut Menu

Node-Specific Viewer Shelf Controls

The Parameters Tabs

Accessing a Node’s Controls Using the Parameters Tabs

Using Tweaker Windows

Global Parameters

Adjusting Parameter Controls

Using Expressions in Parameters

Linking One Parameter to Another

Combining Links With Expressions

Displaying Parameter Values in the Viewer

Copying and Pasting Script Code in Shake

The Parameters Tab Shortcut Menu

The Domain of Definition (DOD)

Assigning a DOD

Keying, Color Correcting, and the Background Color

The Time Bar

Setting a Script’s Frame Range

Playback Controls

Previewing Your Script Using the Flipbook

About Global Parameters