Webinar: RED’s EPIC HDRx Workflow in SCRATCH

Webinar: RED’s EPIC HDRx Workflow in SCRATCH from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

If you missed our FREE Webinar session on RED's EPIC HDRx Workflow in Scratch: You can catch up on our 30 minute Webinar Video. Let us know what you think...

Leandro Marini, founder and DI Producer at Local Hero Post and Blair Paulsen, founder of 4-K Ninjas, demonstrate the best practices for photography and post-production workflows of RED EPIC RAW and EPIC HDRx files with ASSIMILATE SCRATCH.

Red Epic HDRx Test Examples

The last week has been a whirlwind of testing Red's new 5K Epic digital cinema camera, special thanks to Blair Paulsen for lending us his camera, one of the first Epics available. Beyond its high resolution beautiful sensor, the new kid in town is called "HDRx," and is a creative take on something that digital cameras have lacked for awhile: High Dynamic Range.   

Leandro put together a video summing up our tests, check it out on Vimeo:

Local Hero Epic HDRx Test from Local Hero Post on Vimeo.

The Epic sensor without HDRx is already in the 11 to 13 stop range, depending on who you ask.  With HDRx, however, you get an entirely separate exposure, 2 to 6 stops darker than your original capture.  How it works is this:  the camera exposes a proper shutter speed of 1/48 of a second, and then right after takes a quick second exposure at a fraction of that, say 1/96 of a second or shorter.  What you get on your R3D files afterward is a video file that contains two separate video tracks, "A" and "X" of the different exposures: one with better exposed shadows, and one with better exposed highlights.

Red Epic HDRx A track and X track Side by Side, Ungraded

Processing these two separate tracks into something usable is a job for the post process, using a fast system, perhaps a Red Rocket card, and the software that can take advantage of it natively, like Assimilate Scratch.  RedCineX has a nifty little blending mode, where you can slide between the two streams and fade them together until you're happy.  We at Local Hero, however, did a little experimenting on our own to move beyond simple opacity blending, to see how good we could get an HDRx final image to look using more complex techniques.

The HDRx implementation in Scratch is pretty simple.  When you bring in your R3D you have the choice to show either the "A track" 0 or the "X track" 1.  Drag the second track into a scaffold layer, and you can choose how to combine them.

We chose to use a Luma Key, where you lay the X track on top and key out the darker areas of the image, then grade both images so that you can't see where one video track leaves off an the other takes over.  This can come together quickly, or be finessed quite a bit to make an image that you're happy with.  True, the images are slightly different temporally, as well as exhibiting different ammounts of motion blur.  If your shot has a lot of motion and hard edges, then you may see some artifacting.  In these cases there are software solutions to add motion blur back into the X-track to help them blend better. 

Here are some stills (with uncompressed 16 bit TIFF links available) to compare on your own.  They are scaled to 2K, perhaps I can get a full 5K version up in the future.  Down at the bottom are some ProRes 4444 files as well.  

Red Epic Normal Exposure "A Track", Graded

16 Bit Tiff, A track Graded

16 Bit Tiff, A and X track Compared

Red Epic HDRx "X Track', Ungraded

16 Bit Tiff, X Track Ungraded

Red Epic HDRx Composite (Luma-keyed), Ungraded

16 Bit Tiff, HDRx Composite Ungraded

Red Epic HDRx Composite, Graded

16 Bit Tiff HDRx Composite Graded

And now the second test image, first a side by side of the ungraded A and X tracks:

Red Epic HDRx A and X track Comparison

16 Bit Tiff, HDRx A and X track Comparison

Red Epic Normal Exposure "A track", Graded

16 Bit Tiff, A track Graded

Red Epic HDRx "X track", Ungraded

16 Bit Tiff, X track Ungraded

Red Epic HDRx Composite (Luma keyed), Ungraded

16 Bit Tiff, HDRx Composite Ungraded

Red Epic HDRx Composite, Graded

16 Bit Tiff, HDRx Composite Graded

And now the final videos, rendered to Prores 4444 in 2K:

Local Hero Red Epic HDRx Example 1, Quicktime ProRes 4444

Local Hero Red Epic HDRx Example 2, Quicktime ProRes 4444

We hope to post the actual R3D files soon, as soon as we can figure out a practical way to do so.

Thanks for watching, let us know how you fared with your own grading tests in the comments below.

Andrew Wahlquist

Chief Technologist, Local Hero Post

More Assimilate Scratch Tutorials

Below are seven more in-depth Scratch tutorials from Leandro and Andrew on the topics of output nodes, working with the tracker, RED meta data and more.

Using Dissolves to Animate Color Effects

In this tutorial, Leandro demonstrates how to use dissolves to animate color effects instead of traditional keyframing.  Working with a dissolve is often more flexible than keyframing and is ideal for scenes with scaffolds of complex animations. 

SCRATCH Tutorial: Using dissolves to animate color effects from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Paint-out Visual Effects Using Texture Layers

Here Leandro demonstrates how to do paint-out VFX with texture layers by hiding a noticable flag that was left in the shot. By creating and softening a shape, the flag becomes indistinguishable from a nearby tree when blended together.  

SCRATCH Tutorial: Paint-out visual effects using texture layers from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Using Scaffolds to Shape the Lighting of a Scene

In this video, Leandro demonstrates how to work with scaffolds in Scratch to carefully adjust the lighting of a scene.  The flexibility of Scratch allows Leandro to adjust the focus, intensity and shaping of light in the room. 

SCRATCH Tutorial: Using scaffolds to shape the lighting of a scene from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Using Recursive Scaffolds for Creative Effects

In this tutorial, Leandro uses recusive scaffolds for tone mapping.  Recursive scaffolds sit on top of work already done, unlike unrecursive, which deal only with the base layer image.  With a recursive scaffold, Leandro is able to safely tonemap without affecting the highlights.

SCRATCH Tutorial: Using recursive scaffolds for creative effects from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Tracker

Here, Leandro uses the tracker to change the color of our subject's dress as she runs behind and around a fountain.  By using both the tracker and manual keyframing, Leandro is able to turn a dark maroon into a brighter shade of red without affecting anything but the dress.

SCRATCH Tutorial: Tips for getting the most out of the tracker from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

RED Meta Data

In this tutorial, Andrew demonstrates how to adjust the meta data in RED files allowing changes to white balance, gamma curve, gains, color settings and more.  He also demonstrates how to change the meta data in multiple clips at a time in Scratch's Media Browser. 

SCRATCH Tutorial: RED Meta Data from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Assimilate Scratch Tutorials

For an inside look at the Scratch system by Assimilate, check out six new tutorials that Leandro created covering some advanced techniques for color grading and compositing.  Local Hero is partnered with Assimilate, so we help each other out back and forth, which includes putting together the occasional tutorial.  There is some relighting, beauty work, VFX paint-outs and more.

Check them all out here: http://www.assimilateinc.com/tutorials.html

SCRATCH Tutorial: Cleaning up human complexions from ASSIMILATE on Vimeo.

Camera Tussel on Varity

Matt Hurwitz of Variety did a great job summing up the current digital camera wars fighting for adoption in the indie film scene. It's RED vs. HDSLR vs. Alexa. Alexa continues to get glowing reviews, RED continues to have wide acceptance, with a loud faction of detractors, and HDSLR's are often seen as a fast and cheap miracle until you dig in and realize problems like line-skipping and rolling shutter.

A good read for where the industry generally is, but things could quickly change with the introduction of large sensor HD cameras like the Panasonic AF100 and the SONY PMW-F3.

Tech Tussle: Camera Contretemps on Variety