Some time has passed since our first report on “The Element” – at least in the fast-moving world of software. But now version 2.0 is available for download – and here is an excerpt of the latest features – whether it was worth the wait or whether you should simply switch your asset management to this system now is up to you.

Together what belongs together!

The outstanding feature of the 2.0 release is that the element now brings together all parts of a 3D asset – not just the geometry, but also textures. In everyday life, this means that searching for textures and their maps is now done in seconds.

Even if assets from other sources are used, they can be organised and found in a clear standard – and nobody has to try to assign sloppily named folders any more! But not only textures – render layers, normals and roughness files are also combined, categorised and made searchable.

And just to remind you: the element manages, indexes, analyses, searches and presents images, icons, image sequences, 3D assets, 3D SceneFiles (Houdini, Maya, Blender …), project files (Nuke, After Effects, Photoshop …), HDRI images, 360° videos and even PDFs.

Infinite scroller

In principle, there are not “too many assets” – but it can be difficult to find them. The new element offers a corresponding view for this: In the “infinite window” you can simply browse through everything without distraction – also good if you don’t know exactly what you want yet and just want to have a look at what’s available in the library.

As everything is AI-based nowadays, the element naturally also includes this – here in the variant that similar assets are found – be it to tidy up the database, for variations of a shot or simply because you can’t get enough of a motif, it’s up to you!

Users who have footage and plates with different elements that are similar in their initial state – I’m just saying explosions – will find the new video player handy. Within the element, you can see what happens beyond the preview frame – and rotate, flip or fold the image with just one click – and see whether the plate is suitable for the special “upside down” application.

Anyone who collects HDR spheres – and let’s be honest, who doesn’t – needs a preview where you can see exactly what is happening – which is why there is now an exposure slider for quickly adjusting the brightness. Handy for everyday use, but why don’t the other tools have this too?

Other features, such as an enhanced ingest for all possible formats, a tidier (or customisable by you!) interface, as well as better error descriptions for ingest and pipeline, and lots of bug fixes and minor adjustments are of course also included.

If you’re feeling nostalgic or want to get an overview, you can download the first article from DP 22:02 as a free PDF here . And if you want to give it a try, have a look here: das-element.com

The post A new element is here! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: Blackmagic raw files (.braw) can now be transcoded natively via the cloud with Alteon.io. This was recently announced by the developer Alteon.io. The new feature should save creative professionals many hours of work. The manufacturer is advertising further time savings if users utilise the free Alteon Accelerate application. Alteon.io is described on the manufacturer’s website as an all-in-one hub solution for creative professionals, but also as a content management system. Alteon.io works with cloud storage, Web3 integration – and places a high value on security. In addition to .braw, Alteon.io also supports .mxf, .avi, .mov and .mp4. Support for the .r3d and .ari file formats is planned for the future. Once files have been uploaded to Alteon.io, users can access either transcoded proxies or the original files.

Further information: The company Blackmagic Design, which offers 12K cameras at an attractive price-performance ratio, has become an important hardware provider in the broadcasting sector in recent years. Alteon announces that it wants to follow Blackmagic Design’s example of offering equipment for content producers at affordable prices. Matt Cimaglia, co-founder of Alteon, notes overlaps between the users of Blackmagic Design and Alteon, and emphasises an awareness of cost-conscious budgeting, while at the same time taking into account the quality of productions, as a unique selling point for the clientele of Blackmagic Design and Alteon.

Click to continue: all further information on alteon.io One of the cameras that delivers high-resolution (moving) images, whose users could benefit from Alteon.io, is the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 (Digital Production reported on 4 July 2022). Another relevant camera from Blackmagic Design is the Ursa Mini Pro 12K (see our report from 29 October 2021 and our corresponding product test “Eye to eye with the pixel monster” by Prof. Uli Plank on page 92 of issue DP 06 : 2021). For this report, we have used a corresponding online entry on provideocoalition.com. We would like to thank our colleagues there.

The post Off to the cloud with Blackmagic raw files? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: According to a recent press release, version 1.1.4 of the Munich-based management software “das element” has now been released.

What is “das element”? The developer describes “das element” as a VFX library (library software) that allows you to set and organise your visual effects assets using a keyword system. The software is designed to work across platforms and provide VFX studios with exactly the tools they need to organise complex, effects-driven productions. Artists should find it easy to familiarise themselves with the software and keep everything in order.

What does version 1.1.4 offer? According to the press release, the features that await you with element 1.1.4 are summarised below:

• Improved user interface
• The software is now even more stable in operation than before
• You can now customise the thumbnail images of your files. With the new function, a meaningful thumbnail is created based on the respective file, thanks to which you should be able to recognise which file it is at first glance
• The range of file types that you can enter and edit has been expanded. For example, you can now also import PDFs, but you can now also edit templates and (project) files from Nuke, After Effects, Illustrator and InDesign
• A file-based database can now be used on servers. This should reduce the need for IT support. It should also make it easier to install “the element” on systems
• The new rating system allows you to group components of your projects even more meaningfully.

Click further: Anyone looking to get started with “das element” can follow the detailed video tutorials on the software ‘sYouTube channel . It can also be useful to browse through the corresponding documentation . You can find the official website at das-element.com.

Read on: By the way: In our latest print issue, DP 02 : 2022, you can look forward to an in-depth interview with Jonas Kluger, the founder of “das element”. You can find the article entitled “Element-ares Asset Management” on page 10.

The post Version 1.1.4 of “das element” released! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

Game developer Activision releases USD Shell Extension – a source-free software solution that allows Windows users to view and format USD files directly in Windows File Manager. The architecture of USD Shell Extension is designed to cope with large assets. According to Activision, the majority of software tasks run asynchronously and outside of the file manager. This should prevent performance losses.

With the USD Shell Extension Manager, VFX and game artists working with Pixar’s Universal Scene Description can edit their files directly in the Windows file manager. By default, the 3D viewport renders with UsdView, the native USD viewer. Alternatives such as Arnold or Karma can be used without any problems.

You can find out more about USD Shell Extension on Activision’s GitHub – or you can download the latest version there directly.

The post USD Shell Extension | Release first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

This article originally appeared in DP 04 : 2020.

We first reported on the Lesspain programme in 2016, when it was still very young. Back then, we particularly missed the support for RAW files and the transfer of metadata to DaVinci Resolve. Both have changed, but a lot has also been added. Currently, we are particularly interested in the support of Blackmagic Design products, but of course Kyno also works with other professional editing programmes.

Support for raw data from RED cameras has been available for some time now. Version 1.8 (which we were still testing as a beta) now also includes BRAW from Blackmagic Design cameras. Unfortunately, only DNG sequences from the earlier Blackmagic models are not recognised as films. Professional video production often requires support for older codecs that are based on the 32-bit Quicktime framework. However, these are no longer supported by Apple as of Catalina (Mac OS 10.15). Kyno fills the gap here with a Final Cut Legacy MediaFilter and supports conversion to current formats (not only for Final Cut Pro, of course) and, since version 1.7, hardware acceleration when playing back H.265 on suitable computers.

One function in the output since version 1.7 is likely to be of great interest to Resolve users: ProRes on Windows. This is not based on software from the grey area, but is certified by Apple so that no customer can complain. Although it has been available for others for some time, Resolve on Windows still does not offer an output of this important professional codec.

The codec is already available in the cheaper standard version. For professionals, the premium version now also supports the MXF container for all suitable codecs in addition to MOV, and not only for re-encoding, but also as a very fast re-wrap. The optional filters have been extended for Premium, including the ability to set the temporal noise filter separately for Luma and Chroma.

Not only the long lists of DNxHD and DNxHR codecs are offered (Premium), but also XDCAM and Cineform (already in Standard). The latter is almost an insider tip, as this little-noticed codec is ideal as an intermediate format for editing H.264/265 on somewhat weaker hardware due to its good quality and low computer load. In reduced resolution, it is also well suited as a compact proxy codec. In 720p at 422 and 10 bit, it only requires around one thirtieth of the space compared to a file in BRAW from the Blackmagic Pocket 6K at 3:1 and is therefore of the same order of magnitude as ProRes LT. ProRes runs slightly better under Mac OS, but under Windows Cineform has the edge. Visually, it is often a little nicer because, as a wavelet codec, it does not tend to form blocks with too much detail like the DCT codecs.

Of course, distribution formats are also offered, in addition to H.264 and H.265 (aka HEVC) even WMV HQ or Flash Video. Kyno is very efficient when encoding HEVC, all of our computer’s cores were running at full speed, and despite double the bit rate compared to the standard output in Resolve, Kyno was even around 5% faster. The speed is not even that important: unlike in Resolve, the entire batch processing in Kyno runs in the background while you can continue viewing quite smoothly. Even VP9 for WebM, which is very CPU-intensive in terms of compression, is supported, albeit very slowly depending on the hardware. Resolve can’t get to grips with this without the help of native hardware.

Kyno can also handle pure audio data, but still without waveform display. It converts MP2 and MP3 to PCM (also vice versa, but this is not very useful for further processing) or packs audio files without video into MOV. When playing back or transcoding video, you can also use a LUT so that a viewing copy is created directly from a log recording. The “Export marker as image file” function can quickly do something that is much more complicated in Resolve, namely output still images of marked positions as JPEG or PNG.

Media and data backup

Support for the workflow is just as important as a comprehensive range of codecs. This starts with localising the files. Kyno helps here with its drill-down concept, which searches folders or storage media at any depth with a single click and brings to light everything that contains video, audio or photos. This means that no ingest is necessary as with typical media management, but Kyno does not remember everything it has ever seen. In the workspace, on the other hand, Kyno can memorise media or folders and automatically reactivate their display when they are reconnected. It would also be desirable to be able to permanently mark a folder for drill-down

If media from a camera has been freshly connected, data backup is of course the first step. Kyno is professionally equipped here, as it can create copies with checksums (in Premium on up to four media simultaneously). The incremental backup saves time, while a check for damaged files and their automatic replacement takes a long time, but can save a project in an emergency. Backing up to additional tape storage with Archiware P5 can be done directly from the programme, so that all film backup requirements are met.

Sampling

Only when the data has been saved should it be viewed and evaluated, even if Kyno does not write anything to the original files. It saves its metadata in an invisible .LP_Store folder in XML format so that it can also be read in plain text. This folder is always located in the same directory as the video and audio material.

These small files can be exchanged or updated very quickly for a remote workflow in a cloud service, while the corresponding film files only need to be uploaded once.

This is an essential feature in times like these when you don’t have a very fast upload connection. In this way, sharing samples or transferring metadata requires little effort. Lesspain has even entered into a partnership with Dropbox. Markers and subclips can be transferred. They end up in DaVinci Resolve, including the description.

Viewing is supported by a versatile player in which the material can also be assigned a LUT. LUTs that you have saved as a CUBE file with the same name as the film file are automatically used by the player. Of course, playback can be controlled via JKL or a slider, and slow motion or fast motion from one tenth to four times the speed is also possible here. Rotation or mirroring of the image is also available. Subclips can be set and labelled, as can markers (with a defined duration if required). Playback with reduced resolution makes it possible to play back high-resolution ProRes, BRAW or R3D on slow hardware.
The evaluation and labelling in several fields for metadata must be used in a differentiated manner: while everything is transferred when sending to Premiere or Final Cut Pro thanks to XMP or XML, this is not the case with Resolve. Tags become keywords, but Resolve does not understand stars. The description, scene and setting arrive, but the recording (take) does not, nor does any data about the camera or the angle of view. The very important “Tape” field, on the other hand, is transferred as “Reel”. In this way, Kyno enables round-tripping with material from amateur cameras or mobile phones, where this data is often missing, by generating a timecode during transcoding if necessary. Markers and subclips are transferred correctly, including title and description. The integrated function for differentiated renaming of files and moving them to another folder should also be mentioned.

Transcoding

In addition to pure repackaging, transcoding is one of the programme’s strengths, as it does far more than just convert highly compressed material into intermediate codecs suitable for editing or create proxies for teamwork and offline editing. Kyno can add any missing timecode from the time of creation and include this and other information in the image. The frame rate can be changed or even converted, but only with the simple crossfade or nearest, called “omit/duplicate” here. Metadata for entire folder structures can be transferred via copy and paste and can even be reconstructed if the reference is lost. A drop folder whose contents are automatically converted would also be desirable here.

All these operations are also possible for subclips, so that a selection can be made immediately if the filming ratio is high. Unlike Resolve’s media management, the metadata is retained, as is the folder structure when transcoding. In addition, existing clips are skipped – ideal for daily viewing copies (dailies). If incomplete clips are suspected (e.g. due to a power failure or a disconnected cable), Kyno can check the existing clips and replace them automatically if necessary. The “Combine” command combines several clips or subclips into a rough cut. However, as clips cannot be arranged using drag-and-drop, the desired editing sequence must be determined using suitable metadata, filters and the sorting order.

Operation and versions

Kyno is available in German, English, French and Spanish. Context help and several video tutorials make a manual in the conventional sense largely superfluous, as operation is quite intuitive. There is a standard version for 159 euros and a premium version for 349 euros. This includes updates for one year. After that, however, the programme does not stop working: It will just no longer be supplied with new functions. The versions differ primarily in terms of the range of supported formats, fine-tuning of filters and assistance for larger productions.

Comment

Even if a few functions overlap, Kyno is an ideal complement to DaVinci Resolve. This applies not only to the improved handling of metadata during consolidation, but above all to the hardware and software requirements. Resolve can be a real pain on inadequate hardware, whereas Kyno also runs on much weaker computers and older operating systems. It can also do all the transcoding in the background while Resolve is out of action. It is also well suited for final conversion into all common distribution formats for teamwork and the Internet if you have simply output a master file in a high-quality intermediate format in Resolve instead.

The post Kyno as an editing assistant for Resolve first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Uli Plank.