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SECTION: 6.20 is for some informaton about Workflow issues related to Digital Cinema. See also the program files in the current distribution of my programs, the other parts of this HTML documentation, and the current On-Line version of this Web site for information more specifically about my programs. Any comparisons of my programs or methods to some others is only given as a vague generality of my opinion and is not intended as a recommendation or reference to any particular products, always make your own evaluations and comparisons before taking any action.
Note that de-Bayer programs that adjust to the light values in each frame may change the overall brightness of the image frames in the sequence acting like a kind of AGC, whereas DANCINEC.EXE (tm) was designed to lock the color correction for the length of the shot. If you want changes in the color correction of shots processed in DANCINEC.EXE (tm) mid- way through the shot you can use the lap dissolve process methods in the RGB to RGB "opticals" part of the process methods sub-menu.
Workflow for RED ONE (tm), EPIC (tm), and SCARLET (tm) Digital Cinema cameras is used to make a DI (Digital Intermediate, i.e. computer based replacement for movie film lab work) for a movie that was shot with an electronic Bayer filter sensor RED ONE (tm), EPIC (tm), or SCARLET (tm) Digital Cinema camera. The general system of unique steps for the workflow for RED ONE (tm), EPIC (tm), and SCARLET (tm) Digital Cinema cameras workflow is given below. Steps after the sound has been extracted from the R3D files into WAV files, and the frame images have been converted from R3D files into 48bpp TIF frames is much the same as the Workflow for Movie Film Scans.
Since DANCINEC.EXE (tm) does not de-Bayer (read) R3D files currently, you will need to use the program REDCINE-X (tm) from the camera maker's web site to convert the needed shots from your R3D files into DPX 10bpc or 16bpc (16bpc preferred because they hold 64x as fine tonal detail and reduce scaling errors etc.) or TIF 16bpc. Once you have RGB frame sets, then DANCINEC.EXE (tm) can process them like similar files from other sources. If you are going to be working with DANCAD87.EXE (tm) then you should output TIF from REDCINE-X (tm), or you will need to use DANCINEC.EXE (tm) to convert the DPX into TIF for some editing operations such as the keyframe to use for adjustments in the Grading command control screens.
DANCINEC.EXE (tm) uses dynamic memory allocation and so can work with large image files within the about 2GB of memory that 32bit OS have free. So you should be able to color correct files of 5K or larger, the program should work with "any size" not just fixed sizes. DANCAD87.EXE (tm) has a limit on the width of the images loaded that depends on the file type, I think its one pixel smaller than 8K for TIF maybe. You can reduce the size of the TIF that DANCAD87.EXE (tm) needs to load for the Grading since the image size does not change the Grading adjustments. For other operations in editing where the images are not loaded into DANCAD87.EXE (tm) it may be possible to use frames of 8K or larger for the final edited frame set made. Most DI are done at 2K and a few at 4K so being able to work with larger frames would mostly be to process EPIC (tm) frames at native 5K for VFX and such before reduction to the 4K or 2K (or HD, DVD) size frames used for the filmout or DCP edited frame set. ARRI makes a film scanner that outputs so called 6K frames as TIF and those seemed to work without issues, so the "smaller" frames from Epic (tm) should not be an issue, maybe.
There are two methods of working you can use for editing, one is to export the frames for each shot into its own shot folder in the edit structure, the other is to export many shots into a single shot folder that will not be used in the final edit, then use the "Extract" command in the Pick command to Extract just the parts of that long set of frames making up several shots into shot folders that you will be using in the final edit. The first way is more like film editing where you cut the negative up into parts that you will be using, trim those parts then glue them together in the right order for the final edit, the second way is more like video editing where you "ingest" quite a long bit of "footage" and then copy out bits here and there to temporary media for arrangement into the final edit ordering. You can use both methods of editing on the same project if you want to. The second method requires less work manually trimming the audio if the audio is also recorded in the camera to run the same length as the image frames, because the Extract command in the Pick command copies BOTH the image frames and the audio frames to the new shot folder keeping the audio part in sync with the image frames.
You are not compelled to use any fixed workflow with my programs, you can use them for part or all of the workflow steps needed to get to the finished 35mm release print or frame set for making a DCP with. DANCINEC.EXE (tm) can also process BMP/CIN/DPX/TIF frames for color correction and "opticals" so you can move your image frames between various programs as needed to get any extra processing needed since the image frames are "out in the open" in folders in the project structure.
The unique steps used for Workflow for RED ONE (tm), EPIC (tm), and SCARLET (tm) Digital Cinema cameras in my DI workflow are:
Shoot R3D REDCODE (tm) files in a RED ONE (tm), EPIC (tm), and SCARLET (tm) Digital Cinema type camera.
Download or Copy the R3D files to your computer's harddrive.
If you have not already run DANCAD87.EXE (tm) and made a project directory folder structure with the Files Utilities Kinema Structure command, that gives you folders to put the un-Graded source TIF frames into, usually the I01 resolution level folder in each shot folder in the project structure, do so.
The Project folder structure can also be made using the project structure making command in DANCINEC.EXE (tm)'s Utilities sub-menu.
Run the third party freeware program VIRTUALDUB (tm) with the R3D decode plug-in and extract the audio from the R3D files into WAV files. Use the third party program Magix (tm) or some other audio program to extract portions of the audio for each shot's WAV data such that you trim any un-needed audio samples off the head and tail of the WAV files data so that the WAV files saved for the sync audio for each shot all start with the slate board clap or slate beep tone so that when converted into audio frames in DANCAD87.EXE (tm) the first audio frame, frame zero, for each sync track will be the slate board clap or sync beep tone frame. The image frames will also be edited so that each shots zero frame is the slate board clap or sync beep frame. To extract any audio recorded at the time of shooting from the R3D file you can use the R3D plug in for the third party program VIRTUALDUB.EXE (tm) as mentioned above, or maybe some other programs as you like. To prepare sync audio recorded on external WAV recorders you use the same idea, load the WAV file into an audio editing program like the third party program Magix (tm) and extract the audio for the shot then trim the head and tail to shot length and have the slate board clap or sync beep as the starting samples. You can also check posts on REDUSER (tm) to find other ways to extract audio from R3D files to make WAV files of that audio. The WAV files for each shot will always need to be trimmed so that they start with the slate clap slap or sync beep, or at least start at the same point as the 00000000.TIF image frame for each shot. You can store the WAV for each shot in a track folder in the corresponding shot folder of the project structure.
Run the third party program REDCINE-X (tm) and load the R3D file into it.
Select the trim portion of REDCINE-X (tm) and locate the slate clap board slap closed frame or the beep/flash frame as the first frame of the shot (which will be numbered frame zero later when exported from REDCINE-X (tm)). Then play through the shot and select the last frame you will need's trim point. Then go to the export part of REDCINE-X (tm) and alter the filename output string to "00#6.E" or whatever works to get 8 digit file name numbers in my Padded filename type, like 00000000.TIF, 00000001.TIF, 00000002.TIF, ... 00065523.TIF and such. Do not use any of the color correction adjustments in REDCINE-X (tm), but do select the output type to be un-compressed 16bpc 48bpp TIF file type. You then need to set the output file folder directory to the correct shot folder in the project folder structure used by my programs so that you can avoid having to copy or move the TIF frames into the project structure later which could take a great deal of time. For the output "color space" you should select the current equivalent of REDLOG (tm) brightness and color conversion and maximum quality de-mosaic (de-Bayer) full size in most cases. Do not use the color correction adjustments in REDCINE-X (tm), leave all color controls at their mid-point neutral setting. Once you have REDCINE-X (tm) setup you can have it start conversion, on a single typical computer it might take hours to convert a few minutes of footage. The full path to a TIF frame in the project folder structure might be like C:\P0001\S0001\I01\00000000.TIF, where P stands for the Project number (each movie you work on would have a unique number), S stands for the Shot in the project, in the Edit list you can move the shot pointers around but the data stays in that folder even if you want the shots to play in a different order by way of moving the numbered pointers around, I stands for the Image resolution level, and then comes the padded numbered filename for the TIF frame. You would put each shot into a different Snnnn or Shot folder's I01 folder (if you are going to use the Extract command in the Pick command to "trim out" or "Extract" parts of a long set of shots output from REDCINE-X (tm) to a single "shot" folder then you will be using the alternative workflow and save some time since the audio gets trimmed and extracted automatically when you extract parts of one long shot which is made of one or more shots end to end.)
An alternative method of editing is to convert shots from the R3D all into one long set of frames (up to about 65535 depending on the OS used). Then use the Extract command in DANCAD87.EXE (tm)'s Edit List's Pick command. The Extract command lets you "trim" part of the long frame set and copy that to another shot folder. The advantage of that is that if you can get REDCINE-X (tm) to output the audio that goes with the image frames into one long WAV that corresponds to the image frames, you can have the Extract command also trim and copy the audio automatically so that you don't need to sync each shot manually by trimming the head of each shots audio in an audio editing program.
Once you get the TIF frames into the project structure used by my programs you can make the PIX frame for playback and look at your footage, then do the Key frame Grading and look at what the final result with color correction will resemble, then you can save BMP samples with the View option in the Grading command to show the Director and DP etc. to get feedback on your color correction values. The details of those steps are gone into in the Film Scan Workflow page, see the next step for the link to that page.
The PIX sync speed playback frames can be made in the CAD programs using the Edit List Insert command, or they can be made, maybe faster using DANCINEC.EXE (tm), see DANCINEC.TXT for more information on that issue. DANCINEC.EXE (tm) has a "piggy back" PIX file making option to make the PIX files at the same time as the TIF files to save time since the de-Bayer is done once rather than twice. If you have made TIF you could also make the PIX from the TIF rather than the source DNG to save time since the TIF don't need to be de-Bayered. DANCINEC.EXE (tm) only supports the "SVGA" PIX files for 15, 16, 24, and 32 bit video modes, and those are "windowed" so that only the needed image part of the screen is used to reduce the PIX file size and increase loading speed. If you were using video mode 1280x1024 you could window the PIX files to 1280x720 and such. On most computers you would window the PIX to fit within 680x480 size screen, unless you have a SSD RAID 0 array and a very fast computer and video card that is able to play larger uncompressed frames. The 15 and 16 bit video modes use less disk space and load faster than the 24 and 32 bit PIX frames, but show some grain while in playback because of the tone dithering needed.
Its normal to put the "RAW" source frames into the I01 image level folders in each shot, and the have the Graded copies of those source frames made with DANCINEC.EXE (tm) or DANCAD87.EXE (tm) be output to the I04 image level folders. In the case of the workflow for the RED (tm) cameras, the "RAW" aspect of the TIF frames made is that you use a "low contrast" color space so that REDCINE-X (tm) does not clip the image data, and you have as much tonal detail as possible to manipulate in DANCAD87.EXE (tm)'s Grading command. Because REDCINE-X (tm) does not understand or make my "Divided" frame file numbering system, you are currently limited to making "Padded" frame file numbered frames with REDCINE-X (tm). Some OS versions may limit the number of frames in a single folder to about 65535, if so then that is the longest shot or set of shots you can use for each shot, otherwise the limit would be larger and depend on the "Divided" numbering option selected for the result files which should be maybe 250000 or more (I have not tested that many frames in a single shot or result frame set, and you will probably not need that many, I'm just mentioning the issue of frames per folder.) Normally 35mm movies are organized into reels of about 20 to 22 minutes, so the limits are not reached as the maximum number of frames would be 31680 frames per reel or so.
The remainder of the Steps in the workflow are the same as for the Movie Film Scans workflow in SECTION: 6.20.10.0 so click that hyperlink and read the steps there. That is, once you have copied the 16bit 48bpp TIF frame files numbered from zero for the clap frame into the I01 folder for each shot you need in the project file folder structure the steps to edit shots, Grade the key frames, and mix the sound track are more or less the same no matter what the picture frame images were shot with.
Please see the other example workflows in SECTION: 6.2 for more information.
You can find more information about using my programs for Digital Cinema tasks by looking in the sections that have the text from the program and update documentation files corresponding to the documentation files in the ZIP archive files for the program executables from the Download sections. See SECTION: 3.80.0.0 for information about using DANCINEL.EXE (tm) in a DIY film recorder, see SECTION: 3.85.0.0 for information about using DANCINES.EXE (tm) in a DIY film scanner, see SECTION: 3.90.0.0 for information about using DANCINEC.EXE (tm) to process Cinema frames, and see SECTION: 3.3.7.34 for information about using DANCAD3D.EXE (tm) and DANCAD87.EXE v3.7N+(tm) for motion picture post production and DI (Digital Intermediate) to edit, color correct, and sound mix a feature motion picture. See also any later Update files relating to the programs, and look in the Downloads sub-sections for additional utilities and or programs that may be added that relate to Digital Cinema.