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.

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