Working With Cuts			Setting Up the User Interface
Chapter 3, Project Management

Topics on this Page:

Setting Logarithmic or Linear Mode

Creating a Grade for a Cut

Autosave Grades and Cuts

Loading Grades for a Cut

Loading Backup Copies of a Grade

Deleting Grades

Saving and Loading Grades for Single Shots

Saving Timeline RGB Offsets

Setting the Resolution

Setting the Aspect Ratio

Setting the Filtering

Warning: Do not save a grade until you have created at least one scene and one cut.

In the grade file, grade data for each shot is linked to the shot. You can edit the cut, for example, reorder the shots or add cross-fades, and the grade will not be affected. The grade data for a particular shot will still be linked to it after editing.

Save the grade to save all modifications made to your footage in Lustre. When you save the grade, all colour grading, animation, Sparks plugins, and reposition modifications made to the associated cut are saved to a grade metadata file. This file is named grdxx.grade, where xx is the number of the grade file. In addition, any changes made in the Dust menu are saved to a dust metadata file and changes made to the cut (such as trims or dissolves) are saved to the cut metadata file when the grade is saved.

Usually, you save the grade for an entire cut. In some circumstances, it can also be useful to save the grade of an individual shot. See Saving and Loading Grades for Single Shots.

Setting Logarithmic or Linear Mode

Use the Colour Space Architecture options to select between the two basic colour grading modes -- Linear and Log -- for use on the project. These modes configure the system and set certain user interface options specific to the mode.

Generally speaking, a project should consist entirely of either log or linear files. For example, film-based projects are usually graded in Log mode, while video-based projects are usually graded in Linear mode. You should set the architecture to the mode you are planning to work in. If some source files are different from the mode you want to work in, you can convert them before using them. For example, if you are working in Linear mode, and you have a few log files, you can convert them to linear after bringing them into Lustre. To convert a shot from log to linear and vice versa, use the Input LUT menu. See Chapter 11, Input LUTs.

The colour space architecture can be set differently per grade, which may be useful in some circumstances, but typically you should set the architecture for the entire project before beginning. Once you start working on your shots, you should not change the architecture as this affects the images and may create unwanted results.

Note: The colour space setting for rendering also affects images. See Setting Colour Space Options.

The colour grading toolset varies depending on if you are in Linear or Log mode:

• When the colour space is set to Linear, the controls in the Grading menu are customized to reflect the workflow typically used on a video-based project. When set to Log, the controls reflect the workflow of a film-based project. See Chapter 13, Primary Colour Grading.

• Printer lights only appear in Log mode. See Adjusting Printer Lights for Primary Grading.

• In the Input LUT menu, the controls for creating a Log to Lin conversion LUT are only available in Linear mode. See Linear Mode: Creating Conversion LUTs.

• In the Grade menu, enable Log or Linear.

Creating a Grade for a Cut

Save the grade for the cut you are working on to save all your work on the cut. You can save up to 100 grades per cut. Grades are named using sequential numbers, but you can optionally add a text name to the number.

Note: You can also apply a grade to a different cut that contains some or all of the same shots. The grade will be applied to the common shots in the new cut. See Changing a Cut.

1. Create or load a cut for which you want to save a grade. See Working With Cuts.

2. Work on the grade as needed.

3. In the Main menu, click Setup, and then click Grade.

   The Grade menu appears.

4. Indicate the scan type. For film-based projects, enable Progressive. For video-based projects, enable Interlaced.

   

   Note: Interlaced support availability depends on the version of the graphics card installed on your system. See your release notes for details.

5. If working in Interlaced mode, select the dominant field by enabling either Field 1 or Field 2.

   

   The dominant field is rendered first, and is the first field to which animations are applied. By correctly setting the dominant field, you can avoid introducing noticeable jitter that would result if the field recorded earlier in time is displayed after the field that was recorded later in time.

   Note: Field-based projects display a half-pixel downshift on the image's second field when viewed on the data monitor.

6. (Optional) Type a name for the grade in the Grade field and press Enter.

7. Click Save or press S.

   The grade appears in the Grade list under the current scene. It is given a sequential number. If you gave it a name, that name appears in addition to the number. The name of the associated cut appears in brackets to the right of the grade name.

• In the Grade menu, click New Version.

  The current settings are saved to a new grade version, which appears in the list. The new grade is named with a number one above the highest existing number.

Autosave Grades and Cuts

The Autosave feature ensures that the current grade and cut from the scene you are working on are backed up at specified time intervals. Only one grade and one cut per scene can be backed up. To enable the Autosave feature, enter an interval in the Autosave field of the System & Menu tab. See System & Menu Settings.

When you are using Autosave, a snapshot of the current grade and cut appears in the Grade list. The word 'autosave_' is added to the beginning of the grade and cut name and a time stamp of the autosave is added to the end.

Note: The autosave information in the Grade list is not updated according to the Autosave time interval, therefore, you need to press Ctrl+R to refresh the information.

A snapshot of the grade, cut, and all their associated files is captured in the sacc_data folder.

There are certain scenarios where an Autosave is performed before its scheduled time interval. These scenarios include the following:

• After you generate proxies

• When you create a new grade (after performing a change cut or restoring an autosaved grade or cut)

Autosave is suspended if you perform a change cut. See Changing a Cut. If a change cut is performed, you need to load a grade, save a grade, or create a new grade for the Autosave to reactivate.

1. In the Main menu, click Setup, and then Grade.

   

2. Press Ctrl+R to make sure the most current autosave information is displayed in the Grade list.

3. Select the autosaved grade and cut.

4. Click Load.

   Note: The autosaved version of the cut file appears in the cut name list (e.g., autosave_Cut1).

5. Click New Version.

   Note: You cannot click Save because you cannot overwrite a loaded Autosave cut and grade.

   A new grade is saved and associated with the restored cut.

   

   For the cut file, the existing cut file name is used and _restored is added to the end of the name. This is to differentiate between the original cut and the one that is restored by using Autosave.

   

Note: If you are working with Autosave and multiple grades, you need to use the Grade History list for a list of all the backup grades.

Loading Grades for a Cut

When you start a work session in Lustre, switch scenes in a project, or want to revert to an older version of a grade, you can select the required grade and load it. This loads both the grade and its associated cut.

Warning: You must save the currently loaded grade before switching to another grade, or you will lose any changes you have made to it.

1. In the Main menu, click Setup, and then click Grade.

   The Grade menu appears.

2. If it is not already selected, select the scene containing the grade you want to load. See Selecting Scenes.

3. If needed, in the Grade list, click the arrow next to the scene name to display the list of grades associated with the scene.

4. Click the grade you want to load.

   The grade is highlighted in the list.

5. Click Load.

   The grade and associated cut are loaded.

Loading Backup Copies of a Grade

As you save a grade, you can have Lustre save a copy of it each time you click Save. These copies are then available in case you need to revert to a previous version. The date and time of the save is provided to help you identify the version you want to load.

Note: To use this feature, you need to first enable it while configuring the user.

1. Make sure the grade for which you want a backup copy is loaded. See Loading Grades for a Cut.

2. In the Grade menu, click History.

   

   The Grade History list appears.

   

   This is a list of backup copies of the current grade.

3. Click the backup version you want to load.

   The backup grade is loaded.

Deleting Grades

You can delete grades that you no longer need.

1. In the Main menu, click Setup, and then click Grade.

   The Grade menu appears.

   

   Grade list

   
   

2. Display and select the grade you want to delete in the Grade list.

   It is highlighted in light grey. You do not have to load it.

3. Press left Ctrl, click Delete, and then confirm by clicking Delete a second time.

Saving and Loading Grades for Single Shots

You can save the grade for a single shot rather than for the entire cut. This is useful when you want to apply a grade created for a shot in one cut to the same shot in another cut. The shots in the two cuts do not have to be in the same order and can have different edits applied to them. One situation where this could be useful is if you start your project working on a rough cut of a scene, and later are given the final EDL for the scene. You can save the grades created for particular shots on the rough cut and apply them to shots on the final cut.

You can save an individual grade for the current shot or for all the shots in the timeline at once. Similarly, you can load the grade back to the current shot or to all shots in the timeline.

Note: To use the Marry controls, the shots in the two cuts must point to the same original footage. If you want to apply the grade of one shot to a different shot, use the Grade bin. See Grade Bins: Saving, Applying, and Deleting Intermediary Grades.

When you save a grade using the Marry controls, the colour grading metadata is saved separately from the regular grade file; it is stored with the Scans Half Home shot footage or Scans Full Home shot footage in a Marry Grade file. When configuring a project, you can specify the format of the Marry Grade file.

• Binary--When you select Binary and save a Marry Grade file, Lustre saves all grading information (across all channels) to one marry.grade file for each shot. The marry.grade file is in a binary format.

• Text--When you select Text and save a Marry Grade file, Lustre saves only primary grading information to a text file (.dsc). This data is saved as offset in code values for red, green, and blue. The purpose of this option is to be able to transfer primary grading information for individual shots between Lustre and other applications. In order to load this text file, its associated grade file must be loaded already. You can have only one .dsc file per grade. This file is named as follows:

  grd<grade number>.dsc

  (for example: grd11.dsc)

• UID Aware--Every shot has a Unique ID. When you use the Scene Detect function to divide a larger shot into smaller, scene-detected shots, each scene-detected shot is also assigned a Unique ID. When you select UID Aware in the Marry Grade group (see Project menu) and save the grade using the Marry Grade function, Lustre saves all grading information:

  • for a single shot or scene-detected shot to a UID-based Marry Grade file, or

  • for all shots and scene-detected shots in the cut to their respective UID-based Marry Grade files

  The format of this file is binary and is named as follows:

  marry_grade.id<unique ID of the scene>

  (for example: marry_grade.id484D72320000B0)

  Note: If you select Binary format instead of UID Aware, you will not be able to save grading information for individual scene-detected shots through the Marry Grade function. There is only one marry.grade file allowed per shot folder. Saving a grade twice on the same shot using Marry controls would result in only one version of the grade being saved. For more information about Marry Grade configuration settings, see Rendering menu.

  Note: You can find the UID for each shot in the cut file located in your scene's sacc_data folder.

1. In the Main menu, click Setup, and then click Grade to display the Grade menu.

2. If you are saving the grade for one shot, navigate to that shot. See Navigating through Shots.

3. Using the Marry controls, do one of the following:

   • Click Save to save the grade for the current shot.

   • Click Save All to save individual grades for each shot in the cut.

   The grade is saved to the marry.grade file in the location defined during project configuration. See Rendering menu. If the MarryType PrimText keyword was added to the configuration file, then the grade is saved to a .dsc file with the current grade.

1. Load any cut containing one or more shots for which individual grades have been saved.

2. If you are loading the grade of one shot, navigate to the shot.

3. Using the Marry controls, do one of the following:

   • Click Load to load the grade of the current shot.

   • Click Load All to load the grades for all shots in the cut.

   The grades are loaded to the shots. If the cut contains shots for which no individual grades were saved, those shots are unchanged.

Saving Timeline RGB Offsets

You can save the grade for the entire timeline in a file called primary.txt. This file is similar to the .dsc file, except that the information is timeline-based as opposed to folder-based and cannot be loaded back into Lustre. The benefit of saving timeline RGB offsets is that you can exchange primary grading data with other systems.

The following is an example of what the primary.txt file looks like:

GRAO 2

46928774000050 <HOME>/2k/dpx/2048x1556/008_%05d.dpx -64.457 80.586 -16.129

46928774000052 <HOME>/2k/dpx/2048x1556/009_%05d.dpx*-52.922 84.429 -31.507

• Press Shift+G.

  The primary.txt file is generated in the Lustre export directory, e.g. C:\Program Files\Autodesk\lustre 2009\export on Windows, and /usr/autodesk/lustre2009/export on Linux.

The Shift+G hot key has another function. In addition to saving the primary grading data for the timeline, the hot key automatically runs batch scripts. This could be used, for example, by a facility to convert the grading data to a LUT or third-party Color Decision List (CDL).

1. Create a batch script called primexport.bat.

2. Place primexport.bat in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\lustre 2009\export directory on Windows, and /usr/autodesk/lustre2009/export on Linux.

3. Press Shift+G.

   Lustre saves the primary offset RGB values for the timeline in the primary.txt file, and automatically runs the batch script.

Setting the Resolution

You can work on the full-resolution version of shots or proxies. Using proxies speeds up interaction and playback of shots containing many effects. Proxies are also useful for playing to projectors.

You can switch between full and half resolution at any time. Generating and displaying proxies does not affect your original footage in any way. The resolution is independent of the grade metadata and is therefore completely non-destructive to your work. Metadata is applied to footage only when you render it. You specify the resolution you want for the render files at the time you render.

To display proxies, you must first generate them within Lustre or create them outside Lustre and place them in the project directory structure. If you opt to work on proxies, it is recommended that you generate them as soon as the cut is created so that they will be immediately available for use. See Generating and Viewing Proxies and Recommended Directory Structure for Projects.

• In the Grade menu, enable Full or Half resolution.

  

Setting the Aspect Ratio

You can set the display aspect ratio for shots in the project. When you change the aspect ratio, the shots are stretched accordingly.

1. In the Grade menu, enter the aspect ratio in the Ratio field.

   

2. Enable Ratio.

   The shots are stretched to fit in the specified aspect ratio.

Setting the Filtering

The Filtering option allows you to soften your shot so when you zoom in, the pixels are not as sharp or obvious.

If the Filtering option is enabled during playout with GPU acceleration, the filtered image will be played out to tape.

Note: The Filtering option should be disabled when you want to isolate the colour of a pixel so it can be used with the keyer.

• In the Grade menu, enable Filtering.