HOT MIX 12 SILICON GRAPHICS, INC.

Alias | Wavefront


Introduction

Composer is a visual effects and compositing software product used to create image and audio sequences for use in video production, motion pictures, and electronic game development.

Composer is available for use on general-purpose Silicon Graphics workstations, from the entry-level Indy, to the deskside Onyx, to Challenge servers.

Composer has been designed to work with smaller configurations, and optimized to work with multiple CPUs.

This presentation will focus on:


User Interface

Indigo Magic User Interface

Composer's interface provides users with a look and feel consistent with other Silicon Graphics applications. It follows SGI schemes for Indigo Magic desktops. A Motif- based interface allows users to customize various parts of the program, including font, color, and other standard Motif items.

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Programmable Toolbar and Icons

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Color icons on the toolbar eliminate cumbersome searching through nested menus for frequently used operations. Icons can be created for user-defined macros and placed into the toolbar or toolbox for site-specific applications!


Tear-Off Menus

Users can turn each of the main menus into floating panels which can be placed anywhere on the screen. They can even be placed outside of the main menu area. This greatly improves the usability of the system.

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Mac-like Hotkeys and Shortcuts

With this interface, users can completely customize the hotkeys and can re-program the function keys on the SGI keyboard. This capability is well-known to Macintosh users and appreciated by high-end power users because it dramatically speeds up Composer work sessions.

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Drag and Drop Pictures & Pixel

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Images are located using this window that searches by image file type. Users can select from many various numbering and naming conventions to accommodate all image generation programs. Once selected, the image can be dragged to the timeline and viewed interactively.



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The Pixel Information window can be resized and gives info on X,Y,Z including the HSV and RGB of any given area. The value can then be 'dropped' into any event.

There is no need to type long filenames. Just select an image from disk and drag its name to the timeline. It is added to the session immediately. Use the Pixel Information tool to select colors and locations of individual pixels directly from any image.


Direct Manipulation of Images

The ability to manipulate images directly on screen gives users greater control over their final sequences. Effects such as Move3D benefit from this very intuitive way to move the image around the screen. Combinations of hotkeys give the user great flexibility to the on-screen controls.
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Automatic Keyframing of Effects

With automatic keyframing and curve creation, 2D animation has been greatly simplified. Anything can be animated by either moving it to a new location in time, or by changing any one of an event's attributes. The system creates the motion or color data for the intermediate frames automatically.

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NEW FOR 3.5


Swatch-Image Toggle

This new tool, Toggle, lets animators load two different images into one swatch, creating a comparison image. A vertical or horizontal slider lets users compare any part of the image with the altered pixels of the background image. Toggle adds dramatic new functionality for subtle color correction tasks.

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Color Chooser

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This color chooser makes it easy to pick colors and assign them to events. If an event requires a color, click the color tile in the event editor to display the color chooser. This single tool eliminates the guesswork from color editing. Precise editing and control of matte opacity is possible too.


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NEW FOR 3.5

Audio Tracks

Creating Audio Tracks

Now users can import AIFF audio files for creating background sound effects, or to synchronize composited graphics to audio sound effects. Users have complete control over an unlimited number of audio tracks. The waveform display lets animators isolate specific sound events for accurate registration.

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NEW FOR 3.5

Audio Playback and Mixing

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  • This close-up of the interface shows a new piece of the timeline. The yellow area shows the portion of the audio track that will be played back. You can select a portion of the audio to playback, or scrub to give you real-time control of the playback.
  • Temporary limits can be positioned on the timeline using the Alt key, to select areas for closer scrutiny and analysis.

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    The Mixer tool gives every audio track its own control over level and pan, and provides an easy interface to animate level or pan settings.


    
    
    Audio is a key component of multimedia presentations. Now users can import AIFF files and edit them, animate them, and save them directly from Composer. Audio tracks that are stored in Avid OMF files, QuickTime files, and Silicon Graphics Movie files can also be used within Composer's audio interface.

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    Special Effects

    Move3D - Digital Video Effects

    This effect puts the functionality of a high-end post-production studio in the user's hands. It allows for complete 3D motion of a sequence of images. Images can be easily laid-back, rotated, scaled, and spun around the screen. Move3D uses high quality filtering for great anti-aliasing.
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    AdjustHSV - Color Correction

    Using this tool in conjunction with the Pixel Information tool and the on-screen palette, users can easily alter the Hue and Saturation of an image, from a single pixel to a range of pixels. This effect can be duplicated so that many visual effects can be layered on top of one another.

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    Convolve - Image Processing

    This collection of filtering tools allows for the creation of most of the popular image processing effects. Sharpening, blurring, embossing, and other effects are easily produced. Special filters can be saved and recalled each time Composer is used.

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    NEW FOR 3.5

    AutoStar & AutoHalo

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    Displacement Layering

    This layering technique is how experienced digital effects artists are able to get heat-wave effects, refraction effects, and other natural-looking images. Any image can be used to alter the position of the color or pixels of another image. Displacement layering is an important tool for compositing.

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    ChromaKey - Bluescreen

    Any color can be `keyed' or removed from the scene. This provides a great deal of user control over saturation and density of the remaining color. It also simplifies the task of complex bluescreen removal. Because it is easily animated, ChromaKey is a very flexible matte-creation tool.

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    Reduce - Palette Creation Tool

    The Reduce tool adds an important capability to Composer. With it, users can build special palettes from 1 to 64 bits of color information. This is especially key for GameWare users who will be taking the resulting image sequences down to video game devices, Macs, and PCs.

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    NEW FOR 3.5

    Masking

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    Interlacing Effects - Fields

    The Deinterlace and Reinterlace effects are directly related to Composer's ability to interpret and render to fields. This gives users greater control over fast-moving foreground motion elements. This technique resolves problems of doing full- frame image effects on every other scanline.

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    NEW FOR 3.5

    New Special Effects and Tricks


    More Special Effects and Tricks

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    Support for Industry Standards

    NEW FOR 3.5

    Movies - Image Compression

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    Image Formats


    NEW FOR 3.5

    New Image Formats

    Formats added in 3.5:



    Video Devices

    Device support:

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    Power-User Options

    Additional Enhancements

    Power Additions:

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    Closing Thoughts

    You will notice that Composer's new look is at once compelling and attractive. The time spent adding and implementing feature and enhancement requests that we have received from our users has been satisfying. We have focused on new ways of speeding up routine, day-to-day tasks.

    We are often asked how Composer compares to other compositing programs. Composer is not a still-frame tool like Photoshop, or a hardware-specific tool like Flame. Instead, it is an optimized tool that can be used with any 3D animation software, including Alias, Softimage, Prisms, and will offer important time-saving capabilities, whether it is used for creating high-resolution film frames, broadcast video images, or creating the next best-selling video game.

    Have Fun! And send us your images! And comments! Or send us electronic mail to composer@wti.com.