Previewing Effects

 
 
 

As you create effects in the FxTree, you can preview them at any step in the process using the Fx viewer. The Fx viewer allows you to see an image's component channels individually and get color information about the image.

Image courtesy of Ouch! Animation

A

Switch viewers A and B

H

Show/Hide Image Compare Area button

B

Split viewers A and B

I

Update Image Compare Area button

C

Channel Display buttons

J

Node being viewed

D

Alpha Overlay button

K

Node being edited

E

Display Mix with Merge Source button

L

Navigation Control

F

Reset Pan and Zoom button

M

Image Compare Area

G

Fit to Viewer button

N

RGBA and XY values of the pixel under the mouse pointer

To preview an operator

  1. Select the desired viewer, A or B.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Double-click the operator in the FxTree. This displays the operator in the Fx Viewer and opens the operator's property editor.

      Alternatively, you can right-click the operator and choose View & Edit from the menu.

      or

    • Move the mouse pointer over the operator to display the View and Edit hotspots. Click the View (blue) hotspot to preview the operator in the Fx Viewer. This allows you to view one node while editing another.

      Once clicked, the View hotspot remains visible (although slightly smaller) on the operator as long as the operator is displayed in the Fx Viewer. This lets you keep track of which operator is currently displayed in the viewer.

      Alternatively, you can right-click the operator and choose View from the menu.

To preview two nodes side by side

  1. Preview one node in viewer A and another one in viewer B.

  2. Click one of the split icons at the top of the Fx Viewer: Split Vertically or Split Horizontally.

    You can drag the small splitter bar at the bottom or side to wipe between the two images.

    To display a single image again, click the splitter icon at the top again to turn it off.

Clearing the Fx Viewer

You can clear the Fx Viewer at any time by choosing View Clear Viewer from the Fx viewer menu (or pressing Backspace).

Scaling Images for Previewing

To speed up the process of building effects, you can scale your images down to lower resolution proxy versions. Because Softimage Illusion is resolution independent, effects are scaled to match the current scale of your images. This speeds up the rendering process considerably when you play back an effects sequence. Each open Fx viewer can have its own image scale setting.

To set image scale

  • From the Fx Viewer menu, choose Scaling (scale). Images are displayed at that scale in the Fx Viewer.

 

Scale=1:1

 

Scale=4:1

 

Scale=8:1

Playing Back Sequences

You can use the Fx Viewer as a kind of flipbook for your effects sequences. Use the playback controls in the playback panel to control how the sequence is played.

The first time that you play back a sequence, it will probably be slow and choppy. This is normal because Softimage has to process and cache the effects in each frame. Subsequent playbacks should play normally, though it depends on the complexity of the effects and the amount of available memory. The sequence remains cached until you close the Fx viewer.

NoteIf you have the Fx Viewer open in a viewport, switching the viewport's view will flush any cached sequences.

Displaying Color Channels

You can display an image's red, green, blue, or alpha channels individually in the Fx Viewer.

To display an image's channels individually

  • Do one of the following:

    • In the Fx Viewer toolbar, click the Show Red Channel, Show Green Channel, Show Blue Channel, or Show Alpha Channel button.

      or

    • From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Display Channel [channel]

Displaying the Alpha Channel as an Overlay

If you want to see which parts of the image are covered by its alpha channel, you can display the alpha channel as an overlay on top of the image. By default the overlay is red, but you can change the color from the Fx viewer properties dialog box.

 

Full image

 

Alpha channel

 

Alpha channel as overlay

Image courtesy of Ouch! Animation

 

To display an image's alpha channel as an overlay

  • Do one of the following:

    • In the Fx Viewer toolbar, click the Show Alpha Channel as an Overlay button .

      or

    • From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Alpha Overlay.

Setting the Alpha Overlay's Properties

You can change the alpha overlay's color and blend weight from the Fx Viewer Preferences dialog box.

To set the alpha overlay's properties

  1. From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Viewer Preferences.

  2. From the Viewer Preferences dialog box, choose Alpha Overlay from the Viewer Colors list. The color box changes to the alpha overlay's color.

  3. Click the color box to open a color picker. Choose a color using the color picker and the click Close to close the picker.

    The alpha overlay will now be displayed in the new color.

  4. To adjust the overlay's blend weight, set the Alpha Overlay Blend value. The higher the value, the more strongly the alpha overlay is blended in with the image in the viewer.

Mixing Images in the Viewer

You can use the Paint Merrge Source Display Mix button to display the current image in the Fx viewer mixed with another image at a specified blend weight. Although this tool is intended for merge painting (see Merging and Cloning), it can be equally useful when previewing other effects.

The image that gets mixed with the current image is the output of whichever operator is identified as the merge source.

   

Merge Source

Current image

   

Mixed display of the merge source and the current image.

 

To display an image mixed with the merge source

  1. Preview the operator that you want to see mixed with the merge source by clicking its View (blue) hotspot.

  2. In the FxTree, right click the operator whose image you wish to mix with the current image and choose Use as Paint Merge Source from the menu.

    Once you do this, the operator selected as a merge source is displayed with a special icon.

  3. From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Paint Merge Source Display Mix.

Changing the Mix Amount

You can change the FG/BG Display Mix percentage from the Fx Viewer Preferences dialog box.

To change the BG/FG display mix amount

  1. From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Viewer Preferences.

  2. From the Viewer Preferences dialog box, set the FG/BG Display Mix value. The higher the value, the more strongly the merge source is blended in with the current image in the viewer.

Using the Image Compare Area

The image compare area is a resizeable rectangular region that displays the corresponding portion of one image while you're editing another image. This is useful for seeing one operator's effect on another. For example, if you color correct an image, you can store the original in the image compare area while previewing the color correction operator.

The image compare area is being used to compare an image before and after color correction. The original image is the source for the compare area, while the color correction operator is being previewed in the viewer.

 

A

Image compare area. Click and drag anywhere in the area to move it.

B

Drag any handle to resize the compare area.

It's important to note that the image compare area isn't a moveable snapshot of a part of its source image. It's more like a moveable window that you can use to look through the current image and see the same region of the compare area's source image.

To compare two operators

  1. Preview the operator whose image you want to compare with another image.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • In the Fx Viewer toolbar, click the Show/Hide Image Compare Area button .

      or

    • From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Show Image Compare Area.

    The image compare area is displayed in the Fx viewer.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • In the Fx Viewer toolbar, click the Update Image Compare Area button.

      or

    • From the Fx viewer menu, choose View Update Compare Area.

    The current image is set as the source for the image compare area. It remains the source until you update the compare area again.

  4. Preview the operator whose image you wish to compare to the compare area source.

To reposition/resize the image compare area

  • Do either of the following

    • To reposition the compare area, click+drag it to any part of the image. The compare area is updated with the corresponding portion of its source image.

      or

    • To resize the compare area, click+drag any of its resize handles.

Probing Pixels for Image Information

The pixel probe is a useful tool that lets you display information about images that you preview the Fx Viewer. When you move the mouse pointer over any pixel in the image, the pixel's color and component values are displayed in the viewer toolbar, while its position along the X and Y axes is displayed below the operator name.

You can also get color information about a selected region of the image. Colors are displayed in swatches in the Fx Viewer toolbar. The color component values of the selected swatch's color are displayed as well.

Image courtesy of Ouch! Animation

 

A

Mouse pointer position

B

This swatch displays the color of the pixel currently under the mouse pointer.

C

When you drag the mouse over a region of the image, the region's Min, Avg, and Max color values are displayed, left-to-right, on these swatches.

D

As you move the mouse around the viewer, its position is displayed here. When you drag over a region, the delta is displayed instead.

E

The color and alpha values for the currently selected swatch are displayed here. Click the RGB icon to change the displayed color mode and/or bit depth.

To activate the pixel probe

  1. From the Fx Viewer menu, choose View Pixel Probe Mode. The Pixel Probe tools are displayed.

  2. Commence probing.

To get current pixel color information

  1. Click the Cur color swatch in the Fx Viewer toolbar.

  2. Move the mouse pointer over the image.

    The swatch takes on the color of the pixel currently under the mouse pointer, while the color component values are displayed to the right of the color swatches.

To get minimum, average, or maximum pixel color information

  1. Click the Min, Avg, or Max color swatch in the Fx Viewer toolbar.

  2. Drag the mouse pointer over a region of the image.

    The Min, Avg, and Max swatches take on the Min, Avg, and Max colors in the region, while the color component values of the selected swatch's color are displayed to the right of the color swatches.

To change the color mode or bit depth

  1. Click the color mode icon (marked RGB in the image below) in the Pixel Probe tools. A menu appears.

  2. From the menu, do one of the following:

    • Choose a color mode: RGB or HSV. Color values in the Fx Viewer toolbar are now displayed for the selected color mode.

      or

    • Choose a bit depth: 8-bit, 16-bit, or float. Color values in the Fx Viewer toolbar are now displayed at the selected bit depth.