COMPOSITION
DESIGN
COLOR
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FXGuide – ACES 2.0 with ILM’s Alex Fry
Read more: FXGuide – ACES 2.0 with ILM’s Alex Fry
https://draftdocs.acescentral.com/background/whats-new/
ACES 2.0 is the second major release of the components that make up the ACES system. The most significant change is a new suite of rendering transforms whose design was informed by collected feedback and requests from users of ACES 1. The changes aim to improve the appearance of perceived artifacts and to complete previously unfinished components of the system, resulting in a more complete, robust, and consistent product.
Highlights of the key changes in ACES 2.0 are as follows:
- New output transforms, including:
- A less aggressive tone scale
- More intuitive controls to create custom outputs to non-standard displays
- Robust gamut mapping to improve perceptual uniformity
- Improved performance of the inverse transforms
- Enhanced AMF specification
- An updated specification for ACES Transform IDs
- OpenEXR compression recommendations
- Enhanced tools for generating Input Transforms and recommended procedures for characterizing prosumer cameras
- Look Transform Library
- Expanded documentation
Rendering Transform
The most substantial change in ACES 2.0 is a complete redesign of the rendering transform.
ACES 2.0 was built as a unified system, rather than through piecemeal additions. Different deliverable outputs “match” better and making outputs to display setups other than the provided presets is intended to be user-driven. The rendering transforms are less likely to produce undesirable artifacts “out of the box”, which means less time can be spent fixing problematic images and more time making pictures look the way you want.
Key design goals
- Improve consistency of tone scale and provide an easy to use parameter to allow for outputs between preset dynamic ranges
- Minimize hue skews across exposure range in a region of same hue
- Unify for structural consistency across transform type
- Easy to use parameters to create outputs other than the presets
- Robust gamut mapping to improve harsh clipping artifacts
- Fill extents of output code value cube (where appropriate and expected)
- Invertible – not necessarily reversible, but Output > ACES > Output round-trip should be possible
- Accomplish all of the above while maintaining an acceptable “out-of-the box” rendering
- New output transforms, including:
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Black Body color aka the Planckian Locus curve for white point eye perception
Read more: Black Body color aka the Planckian Locus curve for white point eye perceptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-body_radiation
Black-body radiation is the type of electromagnetic radiation within or surrounding a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, or emitted by a black body (an opaque and non-reflective body) held at constant, uniform temperature. The radiation has a specific spectrum and intensity that depends only on the temperature of the body.
A black-body at room temperature appears black, as most of the energy it radiates is infra-red and cannot be perceived by the human eye. At higher temperatures, black bodies glow with increasing intensity and colors that range from dull red to blindingly brilliant blue-white as the temperature increases.
The Black Body Ultraviolet Catastrophe Experiment
In photography, color temperature describes the spectrum of light which is radiated from a “blackbody” with that surface temperature. A blackbody is an object which absorbs all incident light — neither reflecting it nor allowing it to pass through.
The Sun closely approximates a black-body radiator. Another rough analogue of blackbody radiation in our day to day experience might be in heating a metal or stone: these are said to become “red hot” when they attain one temperature, and then “white hot” for even higher temperatures. Similarly, black bodies at different temperatures also have varying color temperatures of “white light.”
Despite its name, light which may appear white does not necessarily contain an even distribution of colors across the visible spectrum.
Although planets and stars are neither in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings nor perfect black bodies, black-body radiation is used as a first approximation for the energy they emit. Black holes are near-perfect black bodies, and it is believed that they emit black-body radiation (called Hawking radiation), with a temperature that depends on the mass of the hole.
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OpenColorIO standard
Read more: OpenColorIO standardhttps://www.provideocoalition.com/color-management-part-11-introducing-opencolorio/
OpenColorIO (OCIO) is a new open source project from Sony Imageworks.
Based on development started in 2003, OCIO enables color transforms and image display to be handled in a consistent manner across multiple graphics applications. Unlike other color management solutions, OCIO is geared towards motion-picture post production, with an emphasis on visual effects and animation color pipelines.
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Types of Film Lights and their efficiency – CRI, Color Temperature and Luminous Efficacy
Read more: Types of Film Lights and their efficiency – CRI, Color Temperature and Luminous Efficacynofilmschool.com/types-of-film-lights
“Not every light performs the same way. Lights and lighting are tricky to handle. You have to plan for every circumstance. But the good news is, lighting can be adjusted. Let’s look at different factors that affect lighting in every scene you shoot. ”
Use CRI, Luminous Efficacy and color temperature controls to match your needs.
Color Temperature
Color temperature describes the “color” of white light by a light source radiated by a perfect black body at a given temperature measured in degrees Kelvinhttps://www.pixelsham.com/2019/10/18/color-temperature/
CRI
“The Color Rendering Index is a measurement of how faithfully a light source reveals the colors of whatever it illuminates, it describes the ability of a light source to reveal the color of an object, as compared to the color a natural light source would provide. The highest possible CRI is 100. A CRI of 100 generally refers to a perfect black body, like a tungsten light source or the sun. ”https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-color-rendering-index/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index
Light source CCT (K) CRI Low-pressure sodium (LPS/SOX) 1800 −44 Clear mercury-vapor 6410 17 High-pressure sodium (HPS/SON) 2100 24 Coated mercury-vapor 3600 49 Halophosphate warm-white fluorescent 2940 51 Halophosphate cool-white fluorescent 4230 64 Tri-phosphor warm-white fluorescent 2940 73 Halophosphate cool-daylight fluorescent 6430 76 “White” SON 2700 82 Standard LED Lamp 2700–5000 83 Quartz metal halide 4200 85 Tri-phosphor cool-white fluorescent 4080 89 High-CRI LED lamp (blue LED) 2700–5000 95 Ceramic discharge metal-halide lamp 5400 96 Ultra-high-CRI LED lamp (violet LED) 2700–5000 99 Incandescent/halogen bulb 3200 100 Luminous Efficacy
Luminous efficacy is a measure of how well a light source produces visible light, watts out versus watts in, measured in lumens per watt. In other words it is a measurement that indicates the ability of a light source to emit visible light using a given amount of power. It is a ratio of the visible energy to the power that goes into the bulb.FILM LIGHT TYPES
Consumer light types
Tungsten Lights
Light interiors and match domestic places or office locations. Daylight.Advantages of Tungsten Lights
Almost perfect color rendition
Low cost
Does not use mercury like CFLs (fluorescent) or mercury vapor lights
Better color temperature than standard tungsten
Longer life than a conventional incandescent
Instant on to full brightness, no warm-up time, and it is dimmableDisadvantages of Tungsten Lights
Extremely hot
High power requirement
The lamp is sensitive to oils and cannot be touched
The bulb is capable of blowing and sending hot glass shards outward. A screen or layer of glass on the outside of the lamp can protect users.Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide lights
HMI’s are used when high output is required. They are also used to recreate sun shining through windows or to fake additional sun while shooting exteriors. HMIs can light huge areas at once.Advantages of HMI lights
High light output
Higher efficiency
High color temperatureDisadvantages of HMI lights:
High cost
High power requirement
Dims only to about 50%
the color temperature increases with dimming
HMI bulbs will explode is dropped and release toxic chemicalsFluorescent
Fluorescent film lighting is achieved by laying multiple tubes next to each other, combining as many as you want for the desired brightness. The good news is you can choose your bulbs to either be warm or cool depending on the scenario you’re shooting. You want to get these bulbs close to the subject because they’re not great at opening up spaces. Fluorescent lighting is used to light interiors and is more compact and cooler than tungsten or HMI lighting.Advantages of Fluorescent lights
High efficiency
Low power requirement
Low cost
Long lamp life
Cool
Capable of soft even lighting over a large area
LightweightDisadvantages of Fluorescent lights
Flicker
High CRI
Domestic tubes have low CRI & poor color rendition.LED
LED’s are more and more common on film sets. You can use batteries to power them. That makes them portable and sleek – no messy cabled needed. You can rig your own panels of LED lights to fit any space necessary as well. LED’s can also power Fresnel style lamp heads such as the Arri L-series.Advantages of LED light
Soft, even lighting
Pure light without UV-artifacts
High efficiency
Low power consumption, can be battery powered
Excellent dimming by means of pulse width modulation control
Long lifespan
Environmentally friendly
Insensitive to shock
No risk of explosionDisadvantages of LED light
High cost.
LED’s are currently still expensive for their total light output -
The Forbidden colors – Red-Green & Blue-Yellow: The Stunning Colors You Can’t See
Read more: The Forbidden colors – Red-Green & Blue-Yellow: The Stunning Colors You Can’t Seewww.livescience.com/17948-red-green-blue-yellow-stunning-colors.html
While the human eye has red, green, and blue-sensing cones, those cones are cross-wired in the retina to produce a luminance channel plus a red-green and a blue-yellow channel, and it’s data in that color space (known technically as “LAB”) that goes to the brain. That’s why we can’t perceive a reddish-green or a yellowish-blue, whereas such colors can be represented in the RGB color space used by digital cameras.
https://en.rockcontent.com/blog/the-use-of-yellow-in-data-design
The back of the retina is covered in light-sensitive neurons known as cone cells and rod cells. There are three types of cone cells, each sensitive to different ranges of light. These ranges overlap, but for convenience the cones are referred to as blue (short-wavelength), green (medium-wavelength), and red (long-wavelength). The rod cells are primarily used in low-light situations, so we’ll ignore those for now.
When light enters the eye and hits the cone cells, the cones get excited and send signals to the brain through the visual cortex. Different wavelengths of light excite different combinations of cones to varying levels, which generates our perception of color. You can see that the red cones are most sensitive to light, and the blue cones are least sensitive. The sensitivity of green and red cones overlaps for most of the visible spectrum.
Here’s how your brain takes the signals of light intensity from the cones and turns it into color information. To see red or green, your brain finds the difference between the levels of excitement in your red and green cones. This is the red-green channel.
To get “brightness,” your brain combines the excitement of your red and green cones. This creates the luminance, or black-white, channel. To see yellow or blue, your brain then finds the difference between this luminance signal and the excitement of your blue cones. This is the yellow-blue channel.
From the calculations made in the brain along those three channels, we get four basic colors: blue, green, yellow, and red. Seeing blue is what you experience when low-wavelength light excites the blue cones more than the green and red.
Seeing green happens when light excites the green cones more than the red cones. Seeing red happens when only the red cones are excited by high-wavelength light.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Seeing yellow is what happens when BOTH the green AND red cones are highly excited near their peak sensitivity. This is the biggest collective excitement that your cones ever have, aside from seeing pure white.
Notice that yellow occurs at peak intensity in the graph to the right. Further, the lens and cornea of the eye happen to block shorter wavelengths, reducing sensitivity to blue and violet light.
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Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?
Read more: Photography basics: Why Use a (MacBeth) Color Chart?Start here: https://www.pixelsham.com/2013/05/09/gretagmacbeth-color-checker-numeric-values/
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-color-checker-tool/
In LightRoom
in Final Cut
in Nuke
Note: In Foundry’s Nuke, the software will map 18% gray to whatever your center f/stop is set to in the viewer settings (f/8 by default… change that to EV by following the instructions below).
You can experiment with this by attaching an Exposure node to a Constant set to 0.18, setting your viewer read-out to Spotmeter, and adjusting the stops in the node up and down. You will see that a full stop up or down will give you the respective next value on the aperture scale (f8, f11, f16 etc.).One stop doubles or halves the amount or light that hits the filmback/ccd, so everything works in powers of 2.
So starting with 0.18 in your constant, you will see that raising it by a stop will give you .36 as a floating point number (in linear space), while your f/stop will be f/11 and so on.If you set your center stop to 0 (see below) you will get a relative readout in EVs, where EV 0 again equals 18% constant gray.
In other words. Setting the center f-stop to 0 means that in a neutral plate, the middle gray in the macbeth chart will equal to exposure value 0. EV 0 corresponds to an exposure time of 1 sec and an aperture of f/1.0.
This will set the sun usually around EV12-17 and the sky EV1-4 , depending on cloud coverage.
To switch Foundry’s Nuke’s SpotMeter to return the EV of an image, click on the main viewport, and then press s, this opens the viewer’s properties. Now set the center f-stop to 0 in there. And the SpotMeter in the viewport will change from aperture and fstops to EV.
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About color: What is a LUT
Read more: About color: What is a LUThttp://www.lightillusion.com/luts.html
https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/how-use-luts-color-grading
A LUT (Lookup Table) is essentially the modifier between two images, the original image and the displayed image, based on a mathematical formula. Basically conversion matrices of different complexities. There are different types of LUTS – viewing, transform, calibration, 1D and 3D.
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Björn Ottosson – How software gets color wrong
Read more: Björn Ottosson – How software gets color wronghttps://bottosson.github.io/posts/colorwrong/
Most software around us today are decent at accurately displaying colors. Processing of colors is another story unfortunately, and is often done badly.
To understand what the problem is, let’s start with an example of three ways of blending green and magenta:
- Perceptual blend – A smooth transition using a model designed to mimic human perception of color. The blending is done so that the perceived brightness and color varies smoothly and evenly.
- Linear blend – A model for blending color based on how light behaves physically. This type of blending can occur in many ways naturally, for example when colors are blended together by focus blur in a camera or when viewing a pattern of two colors at a distance.
- sRGB blend – This is how colors would normally be blended in computer software, using sRGB to represent the colors.
Let’s look at some more examples of blending of colors, to see how these problems surface more practically. The examples use strong colors since then the differences are more pronounced. This is using the same three ways of blending colors as the first example.
Instead of making it as easy as possible to work with color, most software make it unnecessarily hard, by doing image processing with representations not designed for it. Approximating the physical behavior of light with linear RGB models is one easy thing to do, but more work is needed to create image representations tailored for image processing and human perception.
Also see:
LIGHTING
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Simulon – a Hollywood production studio app in the hands of an independent creator with access to consumer hardware, LDRi to HDRi through ML
Read more: Simulon – a Hollywood production studio app in the hands of an independent creator with access to consumer hardware, LDRi to HDRi through MLDivesh Naidoo: The video below was made with a live in-camera preview and auto-exposure matching, no camera solve, no HDRI capture and no manual compositing setup. Using the new Simulon phone app.
LDR to HDR through ML
https://simulon.typeform.com/betatest
Process example
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Capturing the world in HDR for real time projects – Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Read more: Capturing the world in HDR for real time projects – Call of Duty: Advanced WarfareReal-World Measurements for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
www.activision.com/cdn/research/Real_World_Measurements_for_Call_of_Duty_Advanced_Warfare.pdf
Local version
Real_World_Measurements_for_Call_of_Duty_Advanced_Warfare.pdf
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Ethan Roffler interviews CG Supervisor Daniele Tosti
Read more: Ethan Roffler interviews CG Supervisor Daniele TostiEthan Roffler
I recently had the honor of interviewing this VFX genius and gained great insight into what it takes to work in the entertainment industry. Keep in mind, these questions are coming from an artist’s perspective but can be applied to any creative individual looking for some wisdom from a professional. So grab a drink, sit back, and enjoy this fun and insightful conversation.
Ethan
To start, I just wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time for this interview!Daniele
My pleasure.
When I started my career I struggled to find help. Even people in the industry at the time were not that helpful. Because of that, I decided very early on that I was going to do exactly the opposite. I spend most of my weekends talking or helping students. ;)Ethan
That’s awesome! I have also come across the same struggle! Just a heads up, this will probably be the most informal interview you’ll ever have haha! Okay, so let’s start with a small introduction!Daniele
Short introduction: I worked very hard and got lucky enough to work on great shows with great people. ;) Slightly longer version: I started working for a TV channel, very early, while I was learning about CG. Slowly made my way across the world, working along very great people and amazing shows. I learned that to be successful in this business, you have to really love what you do as much as respecting the people around you. What you do will improve to the final product; the way you work with people will make a difference in your life.
Ethan
How long have you been an artist?Daniele
Loaded question. I believe I am still trying and craving to be one. After each production I finish I realize how much I still do not know. And how many things I would like to try. I guess in my CG Sup and generalist world, being an artist is about learning as much about the latest technologies and production cycles as I can, then putting that in practice. Having said that, I do consider myself a cinematographer first, as I have been doing that for about 25 years now.Ethan
Words of true wisdom, the more I know the less I know:) How did you get your start in the industry?
How did you break into such a competitive field?Daniele
There were not many schools when I started. It was all about a few magazines, some books, and pushing software around trying to learn how to make pretty images. Opportunities opened because of that knowledge! The true break was learning to work hard to achieve a Suspension of Disbelief in my work that people would recognize as such. It’s not something everyone can do, but I was fortunate to not be scared of working hard, being a quick learner and having very good supervisors and colleagues to learn from.Ethan
Which do you think is better, having a solid art degree or a strong portfolio?Daniele
Very good question. A strong portfolio will get you a job now. A solid strong degree will likely get you a job for a longer period. Let me digress here; Working as an artist is not about being an artist, it’s about making money as an artist. Most people fail to make that difference and have either a poor career or lack the understanding to make a stable one. One should never mix art with working as an artist. You can do both only if you understand business and are fair to yourself.
Ethan
That’s probably the most helpful answer to that question I have ever heard.
What’s some advice you can offer to someone just starting out who wants to break into the industry?Daniele
Breaking in the industry is not just about knowing your art. It’s about knowing good business practices. Prepare a good demo reel based on the skill you are applying for; research all the places where you want to apply and why; send as many reels around; follow up each reel with a phone call. Business is all about right time, right place.Ethan
A follow-up question to that is: Would you consider it a bad practice to send your demo reels out in mass quantity rather than focusing on a handful of companies to research and apply for?Daniele
Depends how desperate you are… I would say research is a must. To improve your options, you need to know which company is working on what and what skills they are after. If you were selling vacuum cleaners you probably would not want to waste energy contacting shoemakers or cattle farmers.Ethan
What do you think the biggest killer of creativity and productivity is for you?Daniele
Money…If you were thinking as an artist. ;) If you were thinking about making money as an artist… then I would say “thinking that you work alone”.Ethan
Best. Answer. Ever.
What are ways you fight complacency and maintain fresh ideas, outlooks, and perspectivesDaniele
Two things: Challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone. And think outside of the box.Ethan
What are the ways/habits you have that challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and think outside the box?Daniele
If you think you are a good character painter, pick up a camera and go take pictures of amazing landscapes. If you think you are good only at painting or sketching, learn how to code in python. If you cannot solve a problem, that being a project or a person, learn to ask for help or learn about looking at the problem from various perspectives. If you are introvert, learn to be extrovert. And vice versa. And so on…
Ethan
How do you avoid burnout?Daniele
Oh… I wish I learned about this earlier. I think anyone that has a passion in something is at risk of burning out. Artists, more than many, because we see the world differently and our passion goes deep. You avoid burnouts by thinking that you are in a long term plan and that you have an obligation to pay or repay your talent by supporting and cherishing yourself and your family, not your paycheck. You do this by treating your art as a business and using business skills when dealing with your career and using artistic skills only when you are dealing with a project itself.Ethan
Looking back, what was a big defining moment for you?Daniele
Recognizing that people around you, those being colleagues, friends or family, come first.
It changed my career overnight.Ethan
Who are some of your personal heroes?Daniele
Too many to list. Most recently… James Cameron; Joe Letteri; Lawrence Krauss; Richard Dawkins. Because they all mix science, art, and poetry in their own way.Ethan
Last question:
What’s your dream job? ;)Daniele
Teaching artists to be better at being business people… as it will help us all improve our lives and the careers we took…
Being a VFX artist is fundamentally based on mistrust.
This because schedules, pipelines, technology, creative calls… all have a native and naive instability to them that causes everyone to grow a genuine but beneficial lack of trust in the status quo. This is a fine balance act to build into your character. The VFX motto: “Love everyone but trust no one” is born on that.
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Sun cone angle (angular diameter) as perceived by earth viewers
Read more: Sun cone angle (angular diameter) as perceived by earth viewersAlso see:
https://www.pixelsham.com/2020/08/01/solid-angle-measures/
The cone angle of the sun refers to the angular diameter of the sun as observed from Earth, which is related to the apparent size of the sun in the sky.
The angular diameter of the sun, or the cone angle of the sunlight as perceived from Earth, is approximately 0.53 degrees on average. This value can vary slightly due to the elliptical nature of Earth’s orbit around the sun, but it generally stays within a narrow range.
Here’s a more precise breakdown:
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- Average Angular Diameter: About 0.53 degrees (31 arcminutes)
- Minimum Angular Diameter: Approximately 0.52 degrees (when Earth is at aphelion, the farthest point from the sun)
- Maximum Angular Diameter: Approximately 0.54 degrees (when Earth is at perihelion, the closest point to the sun)
This angular diameter remains relatively constant throughout the day because the sun’s distance from Earth does not change significantly over a single day.
To summarize, the cone angle of the sun’s light, or its angular diameter, is typically around 0.53 degrees, regardless of the time of day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter
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