Silverstack Lab 8.x FCL Alpha

Pomfort currently develops new features for Silverstack Lab targeted to the needs of DI facilities.

WHAT IS NEW IN THIS ALPHA OF SILVERSTACK LAB?

Silverstack Lab is extended with functionalities for transcoding to OpenEXR and to customized parameters in RAW development.

DOWNLOAD THE LATEST ALPHA OF SILVERSTACK LAB

Please get the Silverstack Lab 8.x FCL Alpha here:

  • Download Silverstack Lab 8.x FCL Alpha:
    https://download.pomfort.com/develop/daily/silverstack_lab_8x_fcl_alpha/Silverstack_Lab_8x_FCL_Alpha-1.2-9279-2022-09-21-b9256a0.dmg
    (System requirements: macOS 11 or newer)

If you don’t have a valid license key you can use the 10 days trial to evaluate the beta:

  1. Download the applications above (can be used in parallel with the official Silverstack versions)
  2. In the starting window select “Try Silverstack beta” (More information about the trial version here )

Limitations and Known Issues

  • Incompatible with released versions of Silverstack, Silverstack XT or Lab. Therefore a separate folder is created for project data of the alpha version.
  • The clip library sync feature to share your clip library via ShotHub is not supported, yet.
  • Not compatible with Arri Alexa 35, yet.
  • Current Limitations for EXR transcoding
    • EXR Preview and playback not working yet
    • EXR Exports are not re-ingested in Silverstack library (will be later for full traceability in Reports, ShotHub, synced Silverstack, etc.)
    • Only few metadata is written to the created EXR files (will be extended with clip metadata)

Your Feedback

We are happy for any feedback! Please send an e-mail to: support@pomfort.com

Custom RAW Development in Silverstack

In the right side bar you find a new RAW icon that reveals controls to influence the development parameters for the currently selected RAW clip. Each of the supported formats allows to influence ISO, White Point and Tint. Furthermore there are format specific controls available, that allow to sharpen edges or bring out details.

Currently Supported Formats

  • ARRIRAW (pre Alexa 35)
  • REDcode
  • Sony X-OCN
  • Canon Cinema RAW Light

How It Works

Per default, Silverstack falls back to the current behavior which is using an automatic RAW development mode. This mode is defined by the camera vendors’ SDKs, which usually use the clip’s metadata to set the development parameters.

Ticking the Custom Settings checkbox initializes all controls in the new Silverstack RAW settings UI with the values read from the clips metadata. You can now adjust all parameters to you needs, either by dragging the sliders with your cursor or by clicking on the value and typing in the value with the keyboard.

The result of your custom settings is immediately displayed in the playback view and thumbnail. The changes you make are also used as input for your (optional) grading pipeline and for making still exports and transcodes.

You can always go back to the automatic RAW development mode by unticking the Custom Settings checkbox (custom settings are still stored but not applied). Also, you can reset each control individually to the clip default settings with the arrow symbol – or reset all controls with the Reset to Clip Defaults button at the end of the tab. Custom Settings for ISO, White Point and Tint will override the corresponding clip information in the main table, general info and reports.

Furthermore it is possible to apply all or some of the current settings to other clips (of the same RAW format) with the Apply to Other Clips button.

OpenEXR Transcoding

In the presets section of the right sidebar, it is now possible to add an OpenEXR transcoding preset that can be used with the transcoding wizard to convert supported OCF formats to OpenEXR.

Currently Supported Formats

  • ARRIRAW (pre-Alexa 35)
  • REDcode
  • Sony X-OCN

How It Works

The OpenEXR transcoding preset can be used for exporting OpenEXR just like any preset for transcoding in Silvertack. As OpenEXR exports image sequences, the files are automatically put inside a separate folder (named like clip name) at the destination specified in the transcoding wizard.

In contrast to the Silverstack’s “traditional” transcoding presets, you have different possibilities of configuring your exports:

  • Color Space: Camera Native (e.g. ARRI Wide Gamut), ACES
  • Compression: Uncompressed, PIZ, B44A
  • Inject Metadata (should camera and lens metadata be injected into the OpenEXRs – not supported in the first version of this alpha)
  • Handle Length (if you selected to limited to In/Out points, you can add a few frames of handle length to be added before and after)
  • Framecount in File Name: adjust the frame numbering to your needs – not all features are already supported in the first version of this alpha)

Performance

Silverstack’s EXR transcoding engine supports a high degree of parallelization. The grade of parallelization can be configured in the application preferences (Copy&Jobs tab → Graphics API → Parallel EXR Writers). Besides the CPU and GPU of your system, please also consider the writing performance of the export destinations. On powerful machines with fast RAIDs we suggest to set the parallel writers to 4 or higher.

INCOMPATIBILITY WITH OFFICIAL RELEASE VERSIONS

This alpha version is for evaluation only. It will not be possible to migrate projects from this version to current or upcoming official versions of Silverstack, as a different structure of the project library is used. In order to automatically isolate your production projects from the ones created with this alpha, a separate folder on your system is created to store the library.