TRICKS AND TIPS

Using Curves to Adjust Color and Density from a Cineon File

Cineon plug in filters or Cineon Converter, especially for the PC and the MAC are very limited in the scope of their abilities. They lack the ability to adjust RGB channels separately and since all three channels (depending on the scan) probably have different white and black points, the lowest common denominator has to be achieved or clipping will occur.

Explosions often present a challenge to Cineon scanning because of the heavy densities experienced at the initial point of the explosion.

• Try using CURVES to MAP the color and density of the Cineon files. You have the ability to control all RGB channels as well as a combination of the three.
• It is difficult to inadvertently clip the white or black points on the MAP. However infinite possibilities exist in controlling color and density.
• Beside using CURVES as an adjustment for Cineon 10-bit to 10-bit, CURVES is excellent for converting to 8-bit standard output.

Unadjusted Cineon File	Simple adjustment using curves

Making Alpha Mattes for Pyromania

Not all elements in the Pyromania collection contain Alpha channels or mattes. The ones which are complete are for things like Wipes where you could not key a matte from the background. We don't believe there is a "one size fits all" matte to combine these images against backgrounds. If you are against a space background, you may not need a matte. Try what is generally referred to as a "Lighten Only". If you are compositing against a light background, VCE would recommend the following:

• Try using the Red Channel as the basis for your matte. Since fire and explosions are generally red with red detail, the Red channel offers to clearest image to start with.
• VCE generally uses a Map next to find the darkest and lightest point, then adjust the contrast between the two to get a good matte and avoid potential fringing. You will need to adjust this with the background since the amount of fringing will be based somewhat on the interaction with the background.
• For day shots, I sometimes add a flare on top of the explosion.
  

• To fix this, copy the sequence you wish to use from the Pyromania CD to your Hard Drive. You will need to rename the files (example: the prefix FLAK2 renamed to FLK2-). You can do this by opening the DOS prompt, find the appropriate directory and type:

                  RENAME FLAK2*.* FLK2-*.*

• This will rename the files on your Hard Drive and make them Lightwave-friendly

OLD NUMBER NEW NUMBER FLAK2100.TGA FLK2-100.TGA

Premiere Image Distortion- Import Preferences

Pyromania Pro Tricks and Tips

Pyromania Pro Shockwave tutorial

See Examples Composites using Pyromania!