Firstlight Database questions

[Mike Harrington]

I converted some RED Epic files to cineform, so an avid house I work with can edit them...
during the conversion, the rc2f makes the files a little bit dark(must be wrong default encoding curve)

Anyway, i did a quick pass in firstlight....saved the db to a portable drive, and handed them over the footage.

To my surprise the clips did not respect the color correction done in first light, on a different computer.
I had always thought the metadata traveled with the individual clip. I did however save the database to the portable drive just in case.

How can my client apply the changes within the db on the portable drive....when they do not have cineform.
(this happened before, and i got them to get a trial of cineform which has long since expired)
we did try on the gopro studio application, but it would not open the 4k files

is there a db file on there system they can delete, or swap with the one i saved?

[David Newman]

If the are running Neo/Neo/Premium or Proffesional, they only need to double click on the .cdb to register the new database (then select that within Studio/FirstLight.) For end users of NeoScene/Studio or just he free decoder package, it is a little more complex, because their user interface don't offer database control, nor expect you to install them.

Before I go on:
1) We don't preserve the source red curves as that is destructive (in our way of thinking), so we decode to linear 16-bit and reencode that with our own optimal curves.
2) GoPro CineForm Studio can handle 4K file fine, it is the same code for all our systems, maybe the user's GFX Card can't. I just played 4K by 2K in studio to confirm. Note: the GoPro Hero2 timelapse sequences are 3.8K by 2.8k, so they are bigger than RedOne files. Have the use set playback to half res.

Rather than too many hoops to have you friend jump through, here is a beta of the free GoPro CineForm Studio that does support database installations. Install this and send the database renamed to db.cdb. Studio (free) only supports the one database called 'db'. Now your user only need to double click on db.cdb and all the color will be instantly developed to your liking.

http://software.gopro.com/beta/GoPro...-1.1.3.102.zip

Please report back on how this works.

[Mike Harrington]

Thanks David,

couldn't ask for better customer service then that....

I will let you know as soon as we test it

BTW what I meant about the gopro studio, is a little bit of glitchiness....
I dont blame cineform, as I really need to do a complete windows reinstall....but when trying to load a file into studio premium...the 1080p cineform proxies worked fine....but when it came time for the 4k stuff it just would hang on loading, then crash

Like I said...probably my system...

Thanks for the help

[Mike Harrington]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Before I go on:
1) We don't preserve the source red curves as that is destructive (in our way of thinking), so we decode to linear 16-bit and reencode that with our own optimal curves.

I agree with you on this...and was always curious as to how this was handled....
Would it be possible to do the decoding and reencoding the way you described...but to have metadata corrections automatically added after conversion to match the look of the Red file?


It would be nice to have the look the same as when the DOP set it...right outta the box

[David Newman]

That would be nice, but not possible. Red doesn't document the image processing they apply, so they is no way to match it.

[David M. Cole]

I guess I should know this as I'm very heavily relying on Cineform at this point, but, is there a way to bake-in the metadata edits to a clip for archival or sharing (without a transcode penalty)?

Thanks.

[David Newman]

We don't bake metadat into the file (for a number of reasons), but it is straight forward to export the sidecar file or the whole database that describes the changes.

[Mike Harrington]

Originally Posted by David Newman

That would be nice, but not possible. Red doesn't document the image processing they apply, so they is no way to match it.

not surprised...