Tutorial 1

Davidm

Description

The Basics, Part 11About this TutorialThis tutorial is designed to give you a general overview of how Chalice works. You willbe introduced to the workspace, nodes, and other basic elements of the interface.You will learn how to view images and how to connect nodes into a dataflow networkto create a shot.Specifically, you will learn how to load images into Chalice, increase the brightness ofan image, and save the image out to disk.You will need the following image file for this tutorial: “stars.rgb.” If you do not havethis image, refer to “Where to find the tutorial files” in the Introduction.ObjectivesLoad an image into ChaliceView and brighten the imageRender the imageNodes UsedDisk InputBrightnessDisk OutputExecStep A: Become Familiar with the Chalice InterfaceThe first thing you will see when you launch Chalice is the Chalice Screen Layout. It iscomposed of several main parts:No.1: The Basics, Pt.1T1.1Chalice TutorialsThe Chalice menu bars run across the top of the screen. MThe ain Menu bar featuresfairly typical menus such as File, Edit, and Preferences, which provide commands andoptions for working with grail files (Chalice work files). The Node Menu bar is usedto select nodes, which represent the operations performed on the imagery.The Workspace is the large area where you build your dataflow network. Once you se lect the type of node you desire from the Node Menu, you place it in the workspaceand connect it to other nodes to form a ...

Informations

• Publié par: Shoep
• Nombre de lectures: 31
• Langue: English

Extrait

Chalice Tutorials

T1.1

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

The Basics, Part 1

1

About this Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to give you a general overview of how Chalice works. You will

be introduced to the workspace, nodes, and other basic elements of the interface.

You will learn how to view images and how to connect nodes into a dataflow network

to create a shot.

Specifically, you will learn how to load images into Chalice, increase the brightness of

an image, and save the image out to disk.

You will need the following image file for this tutorial: “stars.rgb.” If you do not have

this image, refer to “Where to find the tutorial files” in the Introduction.

Objectives

Load an image into Chalice

View and brighten the image

Render the image

Nodes Used

Disk Input

Brightness

Disk Output

Exec

Step A: Become Familiar with the Chalice Interface

The first thing you will see when you launch Chalice is the Chalice Screen Layout. It is

composed of several main parts:

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.2

Chalice Tutorials

The Chalice menu bars run across the top of the screen. The

Main Menu bar

features

fairly typical menus such as File, Edit, and Preferences, which provide commands and

options for working with grail files (Chalice work files). The

Node Menu bar

is used

to select nodes, which represent the operations performed on the imagery.

The

Workspace

is the large area where you build your dataflow network. Once you se-

lect the type of node you desire from the Node Menu, you place it in the workspace

and connect it to other nodes to form a network.

The workspace contains all nodes currently in the network; however, for a com-

plex shot the dataflow may be too large to display in its entirety without scrolling.

Click and drag the workspace, use the scroll bars, or click and drag the Radar Map to

navigate through large node networks.

The

Node Panel

area is located at the left side of the Chalice screen and displays pa-

rameter options for whichever node is currently selected. (The node panel area will be

blank until the first node is placed in the workspace.)

The

Local Frame Control Panel

is a frame navigator for the currently active node. It

controls the frame for both the node parameter data and the node monitor display.

The

Radar Map

provides a macroscopic view of the entire grail network. When your

network is larger than the visible workspace, a bounding rectangle appears in the

Radar Map to designate the portion currently visible in the workspace. You can click

and drag this rectangle to center any part of the network in the workspace.

The Radar Map also provides system activity information: the node icons in the map

flash yellow and green to indicate that data is being sent, received, or processed, and a

red node icon indicates an error.

Step B: Create a Disk Input Node and Load an Image

The

Disk Input

node

enables you to load source imagery from your hard disk or from

a remote directory on a shared volume. The Disk Input node is accessed from the

I/O

node menu,

which contains nodes used for input and output operations.

1. Select a Disk Input node from the

I/O

menu and place it in the workspace:

• Pull down the I/O menu and select “Disk Input” from the list of nodes.

• Release the mouse button and then move the mouse into the Workspace.

(A white outline of a box will appear under the cursor.)

• Click anywhere in the Workspace and the Disk Input node will appear.

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.3

Chalice Tutorials

2. Note that the Disk Input node parameters are now displayed in the Node Panel

area of the interface.

Each node includes a set of parameters. The parameters for the currently selected node

appear on one or more tabbed panels (like a set of file folders) in the Node Panel.

You can display any parameter tab by clicking on a tab icon. The Disk Input node

features parameter tabs named

Disk

,

Swap

,

Dpx

,

Fido

,

YUV

, and

Info

, which

contain parameter controls and information related to the node.

For this tutorial, only the “

Disk

” tab will be used.

3. Go to the Node Panel and click on the

Source (+)

button in the Disk tab.

This will bring up a

Choose File

dialog box,

which will enable you to select an

image file for input.

4. Use one of the navigation options in the dialog box to go to the location where

the tutorial images have been stored.

You can type in the name of the directory you wish to access or click on the direc-

tory entries (

Jump

and

Up

) to navigate through your file system.

If you need more information about using the Choose File dialog, refer to “Im-

porting Image Files” in the Disk Input node description in chapter 9 of the

Chalice User Guide (p. 9.5).

Note:

If you do not have the images provided with these tutorials, refer

to the “Introduction to the Chalice Tutorials” to find out how to

get them.

5. Select the file “

stars.rgb.

”

You can click on the

Accept

button at the bottom of the Choose File dialog, or

simply double-click on the filename. The dialog box will close and the path and

filename of the image will appear in the Source text box of the node panel.

6. Click in the

Frame View

(center) of the Disk Input node to view the icon image

of “stars.rgb.” In a few seconds the image will appear.

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.4

Chalice Tutorials

Step C: Use a Monitor to View the Image

To view imagery in Chalice, Monitors are used. A

Monitor

is a window that you open

at various sizes to display the imagery, one frame at a time, at its current stage of pro-

cessing. You can bring up a monitor from almost every node in a Chalice network to

view the imagery as it appears at that point in the shot you are building.

1. Click and hold the

Local Node Menu button

on the Disk Input node to display a

list of options.

The menu can be used to display the image in various resolutions, along with

other node options that are not used in this tutorial. For more information about

these other menu options, refer to “Overview of the Node Layout” in chapter 5 of

the Chalice User Guide (p. 5.9).

2. Select

Monitor Full

from the Local Node menu to view the source image at

full resolution.

3. Review some of the viewing options available in the

Monitor Toolbar

:

• Try using the

Zoom

arrows to zoom in and out of the image (the Up arrow

zooms in, the Down arrow zooms back out).

• You can move the image around by holding down the middle mouse but-

ton on the image (the cursor will turn into a hand) and “dragging” the

image in the monitor.

• Also, note the location of the

“Cook” button

(the eye icon), which you will

be using in another monitor later in this tutorial.

N

o

t

e

:

Any changes to these toolbar options affect the current view of the

monitor image only. They do not alter the actual image data that is

output from the node in any way.

4. Close the monitor by double-clicking in the upper left corner of the monitor window.

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.5

Chalice Tutorials

Step D: Adjust the Brightness of the Image

Altering an image requires networking the Disk Input through a series of nodes de-

signed to carry out specific changes. In this example, you will use the Brightness node

to increase the brightness of the source image.

1. Pull down the

Filter

node menu

and Select a

Brightness

node

.

Be sure to let go of the mouse button as you slide the mouse over to the

workspace. Then click in the workspace to the right of the Disk Input node and

the Brightness node will appear.

2. Connect the two nodes together:

• Click on the

Output Connector

of the Disk Input node and let go of the

mouse button.

• As you slide the mouse toward the Brightness node, a white connector line

will appear, attached to the cursor.

• Click on the top

Input Connector

of the

Brightness

node to connect

the nodes.

You may have noticed that the Disk Input node does not have an input connector.

This is because you cannot feed data from other nodes into a Disk Input node,

which is used to access source imagery to be processed in Chalice.

Note:

To disconnect the nodes, you would click on the input connector of

the Brightness node, then click anywhere in the workspace.

Try this a few times to get used to the feel, being sure to connect the

two nodes before continuing the tutorial.

3. Click on the Frame View in the center of the Brightness node to view the

icon image.

4. Bring up a full-size monitor using the

Local Node menu

of the

Brightness

node.

Notice that the level of brightness has not yet changed. You must specify the ex-

tent of the changes in the

Brightness Node Panel

.

5. Select the Brightness node, if it is not already selected, by clicking the

node titlebar.

The titlebar of the currently selected node is always highlighted in blue. The

Brightness node must be the active node in order to see its parameter tabs.

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.6

Chalice Tutorials

The default value of the brightness is 1, signifying no change. Values of less than

one will darken the image, while values greater than one will brighten it.

6. Increase the brightness value to 1.75.

You can type the number into the text field of the

Brightness parameter,

or you

can use the mouse to drag the dial next to the text field.

This type of parameter control (the combination of a data entry field and dial) is

referred to as a “

tuner.

” For more information, refer to “Setting Tuners” in chap-

ter 5 of the Chalice User Guide (p. 5.25).

7. Update the image by clicking on the “

Cook

” button (eye icon) in the

Monitor Toolbar

.

Also notice that the icon image in the Brightness node has not updated to reflect

the new brightness value, but now there is a red outline around the icon image.

This indicates that a process has taken place and the image needs to be updated.

(Simply click on the icon image if you want to update it.)

8. After viewing the brightened image, close the monitor.

9. Save your work by selecting “

Save

” from the

File menu

on the Main Menu bar.

Remember, save and save often!

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.7

Chalice Tutorials

Since this is a new, untitled grail file, the Save command will bring up a

“Save to”

dialog box

very similar to the Choose File dialog. For more information about

saving, naming, and opening grail files, read the section “Working with Grail

Files” in chapter 5 of the Chalice User Guide (p. 5.5).

Step E: Create a Disk Output Node and Set Image Output Parameters

The

Disk Output

node allows you to specify how your final imagery should be writ-

ten to disk or other storage device, including the file name, location, format, and

compression options.

1. From the

I/O

node menu, select a

Disk Output

node.

Place the Disk Output to the right of the Brightness node.

2. Connect the output connector of the Brightness node to the input connector of

the Disk Output node.

3. Be sure that the Disk Output node is selected (titlebar highlighted blue) so that

the Disk Output node panel is displayed.

Disk Output features a number of parameter tabs for specifying options relating

to different file formats. (Some of these options vary according to the operating

system on which Chalice is running, because not all of the same file export

options are supported on IRIX and NT.)

For now, you only need to use the

Output tab

, which should be displayed by de-

fault.

N

o

t

e

:

There are more tabs in the Disk Output node than can be displayed at

one time. To access a tab not currently displayed, click the

Tabs popup

menu

, which lists every parameter tab available. Select a tab from the

menu list and release the mouse button.

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.8

Chalice Tutorials

4. Locate the

“File”

field in the Output tab to set the directory path and name the

file for output.

You can either type the complete pathname into the

File

text field, or click the (

+

)

button to the right of the text field to open a Choose File dialog box.

5. Click on the (

+

) button to bring up the Choose File dialog.

Make sure the “Directory:” path is set to the location in which you want the

file saved.

6. Type the name “

tutorial1.tiff

” in the

File field

at the bottom of the dialog box,

and then click the

Accept button

.

The other Disk Output parameters can be left at their defaults for this exercise.

Note:

By default, Disk Output specifies the directory path as “$JOB/$OP/”

and the filename as “$F4.tiff.” For a definition of these variables, refer

to the “Disk Output Node” description (p. 9.13) in chapter 9 of the

Chalice User Guide.

Step F: Execute the Network to Write Image to Disk

1. Pull down the

Tool

node menu and select the

Exec

node.

The

Exec

node is the main process control function for the Chalice system. It

instructs the system to begin processing a Chalice network and specifies which

frames to process and the order in which to process them. In other words, the

Exec node “executes” a Chalice network.

2. Connect the output connector of the Disk Output node to the input connector

of the Exec node. (Be sure the Exec node is selected in order to view the Exec

node panel.)

No.1: The Basics, Pt.1

T1.9

Chalice Tutorials

Each time you connect an input to an Exec node, Chalice creates an entry in the

Exec parameter tab that enables you to specify the sequence of execution for the

frames referenced by the network.

3. Specify the starting and ending frames and an increment value in the Exec node

panel entry.

For this tutorial the output image is only a single frame, so the start, end, and in-

crement values should all be set to 1.

4. Press the

Validate

button

on the Exec parameter tab.

The Validate button allows you to verify that all files referenced by the nodes in a

Chalice network are present and accessible to the system. During the validation

operation, no data will be calculated or processed.

5. After the validation is complete, press the

Execute

button

on the Exec pa-

rameter tab.

This will execute the command to process the image data in the network con-

nected to the Exec node and write the image file(s) to disk as specified in the Disk

Output node.

This is what your grail network should look like:

END OF TUTORIAL 1