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'Apocalypse Now' Experimental Series 1 Thread - BOOM, Intravenus - cbrandin/driftwood AN Soft/Cinema
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  • LPowellLPowell

    @Mirrorkisser "Pseudo-444" is the term Nick initially used to describe Chris Brandin's 3x3 matrix. As Chris described it, his concept was to simulate a 4:4:4 color space by degrading the resolution of the luma channel down to a level similar to the low resolution of the chroma channels in the GH2's 4:2:0 encoding. In other words, he was trying to simulate what a 4:4:4-sampled 960x540 video mode would look like. My hunch was that it would produce results more akin to a 3:3:0 color space. But if you prefer a soft, low-resolution effect, Apocalypse Now may be what you're looking for.

  • mozesmozes

    @LPowell oke thx for clear that up.

  • artiswarartiswar

    Quick little test with soft I believe.

  • MirrorkisserMirrorkisser

    @lpowell: Pseudo sounds rather negative. Do you think its a success or do you think its impossible to simulate 444 on a gh2?

    I would also be curious about the outcome of a possible test you do with the sharp2 matrix.

  • LPowellLPowell

    @tinbeo I haven't tried out Nick's recent "sharp2" matrix. I was interested to see what kind results Chris Brandin's "pseudo-444" matrix would produce. From what I've seen, it does appear to soften the details as he predicted.

  • plasmasmpplasmasmp

    I love the GOP 6 Apocalypse + Brandin Soft Setting. I can finally use Panasonic lenses again without all that nasty sharpening.

  • tinbeotinbeo

    @Lpowell, all this number:
    004 004 004 005

    004 006 005 006

    004 005 005 168

    005 006 168 255
    a joe guy like me no care.. So what is your opinion to use Driftwood's setting?

  • LPowellLPowell

    @mozes The original pairs of "sharp" and "soft" Apocalypse Now variants contain Chris Brandin's pseudo-444 matrix. The recent "sharp2" Apocalypse Now variants contain Nick's flat-style matrix listed above.

  • ValentinDeluyValentinDeluy

    @oscillian Than-kyou-ve-ry-much ! :) Ils sont de Marseille, France.

  • mozesmozes

    @LPowell for sofar i can see it, is the scaling table in soft and sharp exact the same.
    but the deblocking tables are different.

  • LPowellLPowell

    The concept behind crafting a "pseudo-444" matrix is intriguing, with a single reservation. Here's how Chris Brandin described it to me in a PM last July:

    "To produce the smoothest gradations possible... we can make detail the same at all angles using a 3x3 matrix:

    004 004 004 255

    004 006 005 255

    004 005 006 255

    255 255 255 255

    Detail is softened somewhat, producing a level of detail somewhere between 1080p and 720p when used with 1080p encoding... Seeing as chroma macroblocks are 1/2 the detail of luma ones in each dimension, why not keep luma at 3x3, and use this matrix for chroma:

    004 004 004 004

    004 006 005 005

    004 005 006 005

    004 005 005 006

    At that time, we agreed that cutting down the resolution of the luma components would likely make the chroma components relatively more prominent. However, I suspected that using a 3x3 luma matrix would produce soft images more akin to a 3:3:0 color space than a "pseudo-444" resolution.

    The new "sharp2" Apocalypse Now matrix abandons Chris' 3x3 concept in favor of a more traditional flat-style matrix, with resolution reduced only at the lower right tip of the matrix:

    004 004 004 005

    004 006 005 006

    004 005 005 168

    005 006 168 255

    This should definitely produce sharper results than Chris' "pseudo-444" matrix.

  • Diffusion33Diffusion33

    @LPowell This is adding to confusion!!!! Need to clear up which patches are what!!!

  • blaisejadoulblaisejadoul

    @Tobsen I'm afraid I won't be able to try anything before tomorrow. Sorry ! BTW how do you shoot 25p ? Just Pal and HBR ?

  • oscillianoscillian

    @ValentinDeluy Ge-ni-al! Dites, ces ceums viennent du quel bled perdu? Les merguez=supercool!

  • LPowellLPowell

    @driftwood - "The original matrix is the Soft variation."

    So the Chris Brandin matrix used in the original versions is the:Soft variant of Apocalypse Now:

    6 GOP Nebula 444 - seti

    6 GOP Nebula 444 soft - setd

    12_15 GOP 444 sharp - setc

    12_15 GOP 444 soft - setf

    If we don't want soft video, it sounds like you recommend abandoning Chris' "pseudo-444" matrix in favor of the new "sharp2" matrix used in the following Apocalypse Now variants:

    6 GOP Nebula 444 sharp2 - seti

    12_15 GOP 444 sharp2 - setc

  • TobsenTobsen

    @blaisejadoul second span test with Valkyrie 444 soft in HBR mode stopped recording after 3rd 4,3gb file. What did you find?

  • jakepowelljakepowell

    @driftwood could you explain AN setting and how to get set it up to this version? sorry if this is obvious...

  • TraumManufakturTraumManufaktur

    @driftwood Nick, I shot some footage today with the new AN Nebula sharp 2, Smooth -2,-2,-1,-1 on a Sandisk 64. Mbs95. Love the look, however I had some problems. On several clips there were digital dropouts when importing into FCPX and using Clipwrap. When playing the MTS raw files in mplayer, it choked and stuttered.

    When you got a chance, could you take a look? I uploaded the file to the shared skintones dropbox folder that you have access to. Happy trails on your travels.

    Edit> Got a 5DtoRGB transcode to work, not sure what was up. I'll continue to test AN and develop a good workflow. Thanks

  • TobsenTobsen

    @konjow yep.

  • blaisejadoulblaisejadoul

    @konjow Yes indeed, that's what I did !

  • konjowkonjow

    @Tobsen and @blaisejadoul thanks for info. I presume you both tested Pal on 64gb 95mbs?

  • blaisejadoulblaisejadoul

    @Tobsen Thanks for the info. I'll certainly try and keep you posted !

  • TobsenTobsen

    @blaisejadoul @Bkmcwd did you try Bkmcwd's Valkyrie 444 soft? In my first tests 24p and 25p HBR both spanned across several files. Worth a shot! Please try as well and report. Better safe than sorry, right?

  • ValentinDeluyValentinDeluy

    @DeShonDixon Thank you ! :) And very good question ! Only one small reflector that was a bit too far away, but that did not made the lightning. In fact we used nothing, the trick isn't there !

    • Exposed to the highlights, night WB and gamma +2 (Even if your screen looks terribly dark)

    I made a PR preset to recover the day WB if you are interested in testing :)

  • DeShonDixonDeShonDixon

    @ValentinDeluy amazing footage man!! What did you use for lighting?

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