Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dark Energy For After Effects UserGuide v1.2.9462
Dark Energy For After Effects UserGuide v1.2.9462
Dark Energy For After Effects UserGuide v1.2.9462
9462
Manual Update: Oct. 11, 2012
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights reserved 2012,
When and why would I use Dark Energy Matter ................................................................ Matter? .............................................. 24 Dark Energy Matter ................................................................................................ ................................ ........................................................... 25 Load Configuration ................................ ................................................................................................ ........................................................ 25 Save Configuration................................ ................................................................................................ ......................................................... 25 Controls ................................................................................................................................ ................................ ......................................... 26 Dark Energy Matter Getting Started ................................................................ ................................................................ 27
This guide may or may not be distributed with software that includes an end user agreement; however, the premise in which however this guide is furnished may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Cinnafilm End User accordance License Agreement (EULA), and all content in this guide are protected under copyright law. Usage of Cinnafilm software requires acceptance of the Cinnafilm EULA. Except as permitted by any such license, no part of this guide may be reproduced or license, transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from Cinnafilm, Inc. The content of this user guide is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Cinnafilm, Inc or Digital Film Central. Cinnafilm, Inc. and Digital Film Central assume no Inc. . responsibility or liability for errors, omissions, or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
Introduction to Dark Energy Anti-Matter and Matter plug Energy lug-ins for After Effects.
Congratulations on choosing the Dark Energy Anti-Matter / Matter plug-in set for After Effects. You osing in have purchased the premiere motion picture industry professional Texture Management tool previously only available in stand-alone high-end image processing products like ARRI Relativity and stand end Dark Energy Professional. The same technology you have in your hands now has been used to restore, de de-noise, de-grain, and manage texture on countless feature films, television series and commercials throughout the world. Now you have the power to remove and manage grain and noise from your film and video images like a pro producing almost any desired image texture you prefer for the final look of your media project.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
You can also use Dark Energy Matter to manage different textures for different deliverables intended Matter for various final display mediums such as Blu Ray, DCPs (Digital Cinema Prints), or broadcast masters. Blu-Ray, Often each deliverable requires a unique texture, suitable to the display medium, compression suitable considerations and physical size and resolution of that medium. Dark Energy products are the result of a joint venture of skills and experience between Digital Film Central of Vancouver, Canada; a world world-renowned and innovative Digital Intermediate facility, and nd Cinnafilm of Albuquerque, NM; a world leader in software engineering known for it its unparalleled GPU accelerated motion estimation and image processing technology. Dark Energy Anti-Matter and Matter plug-ins for After Effects represent the pinnacle of design and performance used by professionals across the globe to manage texture on their final products.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
The nature of noise and grain removal means that some of the frequencies of the detail are slightly altered. This robust sharpening tool helps to restore some of those frequencies to their original state.
temporally Using its unique Power-Spatial approach, Dark Energy Anti-Matter engages proprietary temporallyinformed spatial filtering algorithms to automatically build a Noise Profile of your footage. Because the vast majority of the filtering is done spatially, your images can be virtually 100% free of temporal artifacts commonly found in temporally based noise reduction techniques on the market today.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
The Controls
Dark Energy Anti-Matter has two modes: Simple Mode (default when launched) and Advanced Mode. We will begin by talking . about the Simple Mode first.
Simple Mode Although it is possible to achieve excellent results with most footage using Simple Mode as you get to know the tools and approach of the Dark Energy Anti-Matter plug-in you will undoubtedly (at some point) in want to use the Advanced Mode to refine the amount of noise you can remove and the amount of detail you wish to retain. In Simple Mode, the plug-in launches and in appears as in Figure 2.
Load Configuration Used for loading a pre-saved Denoise Setting Files(.den files). A .den file contains all the settings for a saved single noise reduction set-up, previously saved by the user. Denoise Setting Files can be used to load up, settings for a previous camera de noise setup, or a particular film stock the user has already worked on. de-noise Save Configuration Saves all the current settings to a single .den file. Hitting the Save button opens up a browser and asks you to save the file in a specific location for later recall. Analyze Current Frame Generates an automatic noise profile of the current image in the timeline. In the display, three colored boxes will appear, representing an ideal noise profile from each of the three color channels of RED, GREEN and BLUE.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
Figure 3: Analyze Current Frame: In this step, smart auto-analysis algorithms seek out analysis ideal, uniform areas of the image, for each color channel of RGB. This resulting noise profiles are used for the initial Spatial filtering; separating image noise from image detail. (Cineon converte added as a viewing LUT only.) converter
IMPORTANT ANALYZE NOTE 1 Because the spatial analysis of the image is temporally informed, you will need to select a frame within your footage range that is not the first or the last frame of your sequence. IMPORTANT ANALYZE NOTE 2 Before analyzing a frame, please see Process In below and choose the correct color processing for your footage. Process In This is the color space that the images are processed in. It is very important to choose the appropriate processing space for Process In for your footage.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
IMPORTANT Select correct setting for processing. For video / digital source cameras that are NOT RAW or LOG color, (e.g.: Rec. 709, video gamma, etc.) please select LINEAR. For all other RAW types of footage . (e.g.: film log, RED Log, ARRIRAW, etc.) you should choose LOG.
Enable Temporal master on/off switch (check box - default - off) Master Intensity Sharpen Adjusts Temporal filter for all color channels (percentage) Adjusts aggressiveness of temporal filter (percentage - default is 50%)
Enable On/off for Sharpen effect (check box) Master Denoise Refinement Adjusts all currently active Spatial, Temporal and Sharpen effects simultaneously. Intended to be used after all Spatial, Temporal and Sharpen filters have been applied. (collapsible drop down menu) Master Adjusts the overall Denoise Refinement (percentage default is 100%) Adjusts overall sharpen effect (percentage default 50%) ef
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
10
TOOL TIP: It is very important to set yo your working resolution ("resolution / ( down sample factor") to "FULL" before analyzing the FULL", image for a noise profile. profile Lower working resolutions than FULL will cause inaccurate noise profiles.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
11
Figure 4: Noise Profile Boxes Each box represents a sample of noise from one of the three color channels of RED, GREEN and BLUE generated from the auto-analysis function (Analyze button). auto Analyze
8. You should see the following Noise Profile Sample Boxes appear in your After Effect display window. (see Figure 4) 9. You now have an automated noise profile and spatial filtering effect based on the frame you automated have chosen in your timeline. The spatial filtering however may still need to be refined to balance detail and de-noising. noising. 10. Using the After Effects channel viewer, choose either the RED, GREEN or BLUE channel to view the color channel separately (in monochrome black and white). A colored border around the display area indicates the color channel you are isolating. (ALT + 1, 2 or 3) (see Figure 5)
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
12
Figure 5: Viewing the color channels individually using After Effects color channel view channels (selector indicated in yellow), allows for greater refinement and adjustment of the de-noising ctor de filters on a channel-by-channel basis. The color surrounding the display window indicates channel what color channel you are currently viewing.
11. Manually Refining the Noise Profile boxes: The auto-analysis algorithms in the Analyze function are generally very good at finding uniform analysis areas for each color channel that represent only the noise in the image. Depending on the complexity of your image however Analyze may have a hard time discerning a uniform sample of pure noise. You may wish to refine the starting point for your Spatial filtering by manually w manipulating the Noise Profile boxes. There is an easy way to do this: a. Start by viewing a specific color channel in the monochromatic channel view mode as described in step 10 above. b. In the After Effects display window, click and grab a corner of the colored Noise Profile box that corresponds to the color channel you are viewing in the monochromatic display window. c. While holding down the click, drag the box to an area of the image that has as little tha actual image detail as possible. Good places to look for are flat or out of focus surfaces like walls in the background, the sky, etc. Avoid skin tones, hair, distinct lines or patterns, areas of high contrast transitions (lines) and areas of complete blackness or full white.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
13
Figure 6: Manually adjusting Noise Profile boxes: While viewing the corresponding color channel, try moving the Noise Profile box around to different uniform areas of the image to see if you can improve the balance between de-noising and detail.
d. When you have found an ideal area, release the mouse and drop the box into the new position. Your new filtering results for that channel will be instantly updated. Note whether you see an improvement to the noise filtering and fine detail in the image. (see Figure 6) e. Repeat this process until you find a good balance between filtering and detail for each color channel. Dont forget to switch your display view to the specific color channel you are adjusting. You are now ready for further refinements if necessary. 12. In the Simple Mode you have the following overall Spatial controls: MASTER RED GREEN BLUE Adjusts the overall spatial filtering effect. Adjusts the spatial filtering effect of the RED color channel only Adjusts the spatial filtering effect of the GREEN color channel only Adjusts the spatial filtering effect of the BLUE color channel only
It is a good idea to continue to view the individual color channels in the monochromatic display view for the next refinement steps. This will help enormously in isolating noise from detail on a t color channel basis and help achieve a more effective de noise with as little actual detail loss as de-noise possible.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
14
a. While viewing a specific color channel, turn off and on the enable buttons for each of enable the corresponding Spatial filtering color channels. You should notice a big difference if there is any amount of visible noise prior to filtering (Figure 7). 7)
Figure 7: Turning on and off the enable switches for a filter in monochrome view helps you clearly see the filtering in each channel.
b. Adjust each color channel Spatial amount separately while viewing the corresponding color channel in the display viewer. You can adjust the sliders or the percentage adjusters by clicking and dragging left or right. (Use CTRL + drag to do fine adjustments). c. Too see whether you are achieving good results, turn on and off the overall Spatial amount using either the enable for the color channel or the master amount. Remember to zoom into areas of fine detail to judge the results of your adjustments. oom Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal 15
d. Once you have achieved a good balance of de-noising and detail for each color channel, de noising you can then turn on (enable) the Temporal and Sharpen filters. ( e. Adjust the Temporal Intensity and Master controls to reduce residual noise left behind from Spatial filtering. f. Adjust the Sharpen filter until you have restored the feel of the detail to its original state deta before filtering. 13. Return the display back to the full color RGB combined view to check your results. Turn the overall effect on and off to see if you have a good balance of detail and noise reduction.
At this point you can render a preview of your de-noise / de-grain project. Check for any possible de grain undesirable residual noise. Make refinements as necessary. To have finer control over Spatial filtering, refinements please see the Advanced Mode description.
TOOL TIP: TIP For best performance results, make sure drop down menu in "fast previews" (represented by the lightening bolt icon in the display window area) is set to "OFF". "
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
16
Figure 8: In the Advanced Mode there are many more Spatial controls in the expanded toolset allowing for better refinement of noise filtering by both noise frequency (coarseness) and color.
In this next description section, we will not repeat the controls already covered previously in this manual for Simple Mode. Please refer to the previous documentation for Simple Mode for the description of controls not covered here. Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal 17
The fundamentals are the same for the Advanced Mode, only now, in addition to the individual color , channel control, you also have an expanded range of control over four frequency bands: Low, Medium, High and Hi-High. Combining frequency band control with color control makes for an incredibly . powerful spatial filtering tool allowing you to remove even more noise and reveal even more detail in your image than you perhaps ever thought possible.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
18
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
19
Hi-High frequency drop down menu (for fine to very fine noise) High Overall hi-high frequency on/off switch (check box) high Overall hi-high frequency adjuster (4 decimal places) high Hi-High frequency adjuster for RED channel (4 decimal places) gh Hi-High frequency adjuster for GREEN channel (4 decimal places) High adjuster Hi-High frequency adjuster for BLUE channel (4 decimal places) High
Temporal Filtering Temporal Collapsible Temporal drop down menu Enable Master R G B Sharpening Sharpen Enable Master Radius Threshold Overall Temporal on/off switch (check box) Overall Temporal filter adjuster (as a percentage) Temporal adjuster for RED channel (as a percentage) Temporal adjuster for GREEN channel (as a percentage) Temporal adjuster for BLUE channel (as a percentage)
Collapsible Sharpen drop down menu men Overall Sharpen on/off switch (check box) Overall Sharpen filter adjuster (as a percentage default 50%) Width of sharpening effect adjuster for Sharpen filter (default is 1.0) Width Threshold adjuster for coarseness of sharpening (as a percentage)
Denoise Refinement Denoise Refinement Collapsible Denoise Refinement drop down menu Enable Master R G B Overall Denoise Refinement on/off switch (check box) Overall Denoise Refinement filter adjuster (as a percentage) Denoise Refinement adjuster for RED channel (as a percentage) Denoise Refinement adjuster for GREEN channel (as a percentage) Denoise Refinement adjuster for BLUE channel (as a percentage) 20
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
Figure 9 Detailed view of the Advanced Spatial controls in Dark Energy Anti-Matter Matter
12. Use the monochromatic black and white display view of After Effects to view a single color channel of your choice. 13. Zoom into an area of your image that represents fine detail. (e.g.: fine hairs, freckles, skin blemishes, fine graphic patterns in walls or clothing etc.). 14. Starting with the Low frequency band Enable switch, toggle the Low Enable on and off repeatedly, carefully observing the filtering for that band and color channel. Look for any loss of detail or lack of filtering. You should immediately notice that the type of noise you are seeing is a different than the overall noise you were seeing in Simple Mode. That is because you are isolating erent a certain size (frequency) of noise particles using the bands.
Figure 10: Toggle a frequency band on and off repeatedly to get a better idea of how re that frequency is working to balance noise filtering and detail retention. (Example shown: Low frequency of the BLUE channel - disabled.)
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
21
15. If you are happy with the balance between noise reduction and detail retention for the Low frequency filtering for that color channel, move up to the next frequency band of Medium and ncy repeat the same procedure of turning off and on that frequency band, until you find a band that needs adjusting. 16. When you feel you have found a frequency band that requires adjustment, grab the frequency requires slider that corresponds to the color channel you are currently viewing in the monochrome viewer of After Effects. 17. While holding down CTRL, click and drag mouse left and right over the corresponding color channel slider (e.g. Low and BLUE) until you are happy with the balance between noise reduction and detail. (Figure 11) HINT: Work on one color channel at a time and remember what color channel you are currently viewing. viewing
Figure 11: While zooming in on an area of detail, adjust the corresponding color channel being viewed in the monochrome display mode of After Effects. Dragging your mouse left or right will decrease or increase the filtering effect for that frequency and color channel only. Observe the results and stop when you have a good balance between detail and de noising. (For fine level de-noising. control, hold down CTRL button while dragging.)
, 18. Continue to move up to High and Hi-High, while observing areas of fine detail and making adjustments as you go. 19. When you have completed all the adjustments for this color channel, switch your viewer to the ou next color channel and repeat steps 12 12-17 for the next color channel. 20. After all color and frequency bands have been adjusted to your liking, switch on the Temporal and Sharpen filters and make the appropriate adjustments.
Keep in mind that the Temporal, Sharpen and Denoise Refinement controls in Advanced Mode are greatly expanded allowing you to adjust things like aggressiveness, and the effect on specific color channels. We encourage you to experiment with all of these controls to help yield better de-graining nels. de and de-noising results. The more you use and understand the tool, the more effective you can be at noising removing noise and grain from your project. Thank you for ch choosing the Dark Energy Anti-Matter plug-in for After Effects
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
22
Figure 12: Dark Energy Matter for After Effects It is recommended to always use Dark Energy Anti-Matter to de-noise or de-grain your images prior to applying a Anti grain new texture with Dark Energy Matter. Starting with a textureless image ensures complete control of the final image texture.
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
23
Post-production finishing today requires you to manage the texture appropriate to the final display shing devices and file formats you are delivering to; whether a mobile phone or a full sized cinema screen or anything in between. Each display format and file type nowadays requires a slightly different texture, requires depending on the physical size, resolution and compression attributes for that display format. In general you will want to use Dark Energy Anti-Matter to first remove any existing noise from all your footage. Next you will use Dark Energy Matter on your final master sequence to create a texture designed specifically for your final display mediums and file types (deliverables). By creating a clean master first using Dark Energy Anti-Matter you can then use Dark Energy Matter to render virtually any number of different textures each custom designed for the display format and file type you are targeting.
Figure 13: You can use Dark Energy AntiMatter to first remove all the grain and noise from your footage, and then apply a completely controlled texture using Dark Energy Matter
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
24
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
25
Controls Overall amount of texture for all three color channels (default=100%) Amount Channel Amount (Collapsible menu for color channel amounts) ollapsible R G B Texture Size The size of the texture (1-100, default = 25) (1 Intensity The coarseness of the texture (0%-100%) (0% Channel Intensity (Collapsible menu for color channel Intensity) llapsible R G B Chroma Process In Controls RED channel coarseness only (0% 100%, default=100%) (0%-100%, Controls GREEN channel coarseness only (0%-100%, default=100%) (0% 100%, Controls BLUE channel coarseness only (0% 100%, default=100%) s (0%-100%, Controls the overall saturation of the texture particles Drop down menu for Linear or Log processing of texture Controls RED channel amount only (0% (0%-100%, default=100%) Controls GREEN channel amount only (0% (0%-100%, default=100%) Controls BLUE channel amount only (0% (0%-100%, default=100%)
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
26
Copyright 2012, Digital Film Central, Cinnafilm, Inc. All Rights Reserved tal
27