A Look At The Details
Before the library starts to roll out, I thought it best to make a proper introduction. Welcome the new Frame Details.
For the sake of explaining (and to keep the real fun under wraps until tomorrow) I have put a generic ‘test’ image through the system. The image in this case isn’t particularly important, but it is nice to have a variety of colour to show how the tool works.
IMAGE
The largest and most obvious portion of the new layout is the image. Front and center, where it should be. This was one of my bigger concerns with the old layout. While it was nice to see the information - the image is still the most important thing here, and so it should also be clear and visible.
PALETTE
Directly underneath the image (or in the case of images with a 1.78 aspect ratio, split left and right of the image) is the new colour palette. In the previous iteration of FrameDetails the colour palette was generated from a single pixel line extraction from the middle of frame. The problem with this was that large blocks of colour in upper or lower regions of the image were completely ignored. Instead this version uses a hue sorting algorithm to rearrange the image, all ‘warm’ hues such as reds, oranges and yellows are moved to the right of the image, while cooler tones are rearranged to follow. The pixel values are then averaged in order to get a better general representation of light and dark shades before 8 colour patches are extracted. So far the colour palette results have generated much better results.
VECTORS
Bottom left of the image are newly designed ‘vectorscopes’. While I refer to this as a vectorscope, those that are familiar working with vectorscopes will note these are not the same as the much more accurate implementations found in colour suites throughout the world. These are designed purely as a visualisation tool. For those not familiar with a vectorscope; a quick explanation. Vectorscopes can be used to judge the hue and saturation of colours. The centre of the circle represents no saturation, while the outer ring represents full saturation. The further from the centre a pixel is, the more saturated it is. The angle of the pixels around the circle shows the hue, in this case - corresponding to the colours shown in the ring. In the previous version of FrameDetails only one vectorscope was used and it showed colour information for all pixels from bright to dark. The three vectorscopes used here are instead split into different brightness regions - Low, Mid and High. This is particularly useful to judge tinted shadows, or coloured highlights - something that is more often utilised in feature films that other mediums. I have included small markers for saturation targets, but again, these do not reflect the same targets used professionally and are purely indicative points for where highly saturated colours might fall.
PARADE
Bottom right of the layout is an RGB Parade. For those familiar with a parade, you can skip this but for those wanting to know more, read on. The concept that digital images are made up of a mix of red, green and blue values should be no surprise - this chart shows exactly that makeup. Left to right of each coloured section of the parade corresponds left to right with the image. The parade shows a solid colour baseline which represents zero and the further up from this baseline the higher the concentration of red, green or blue vlaue there is in mixing to create a colour. The parade can also be used to judge brightness of an image. In this example you can see three peaks of distinct heights, which relates to the three circles getting brighter as they move from left to right.
LOGO
And finally a small touch which is just for fun. Heavily saturated colours with bright luminance ffrom the frame will influence the colour of the word ‘FRAME’. This doesn’t tell you anything particularly new or interesting, but it just adds a bit of fun to it.
I hope this explaination allows you to better understand Frame Details, and that you find it useful. If there is anything that is not clear, or even suggestions for making the library better, leave a comment.