Package
includes the Raylight Plug-in for Sony Vegas, the Raylight codec for Windows, RayMaker—an
application that converts MXF files into AVI files, P2 Maker—an application
that converts Raylight AVI into MXF files, and a
control panel for the Raylight codec.
The
license also includes DVFilm Maker, which is only needed to convert non-HVX200
formats like HDV to Raylight AVI. The download for
Maker can be obtained at dvfilm.com/update
Added support for Vegas Pro 11. Improved memory usage on long renders.
Vegas 9 or later
plug-in now supports direct P2 Export with smart
rendering (“Suppress Recompression”). See section 11.
Fixed
problem in Vegas 10 or later with Image Stabilizer
Power Pack versions available for faster AVC-Intra playback and
direct AVC-Intra P2 Export. See dvfilm.com/PPI and dvfilm.com/PPII for details.
Now recovers from decoding errors with AVC-Intra formats, and fixed bug with systems having more than 8 processors or more than 4 processors with hyperthreading.
Adds AVC-Intra support for MXF files. Automatically builds proxies for
real-time AVC-Intra editing when importing the MXF files into Vegas.
RayMaker
can now make AVC-Intra AVI files (32-bit systems only). RayMaker
3.6 has improved pulldown removal for Variable Frame
Rate video, and is also capable of making ½-size as well as ¼-size proxy AVI’s.
Ultra
1.2 fixes memory usage problems and sub-clip problems in the Vegas 9 plug-in.
Ultra
1.2 displays the P2 UserClipName in the Vegas
Explorer window.
Ultra 1.2 Supports Windows 7 32- and 64-bit versions as well as
older Windows systems.
Vegas 9 or later and Raylight Ultra Known Issues—see section 14.
The Raylight codec has been rewritten for fast playback but
still has the same excellent quality of the original Raylight
“Blue” mode.
Metadata
“Slates” are available with the Vegas plug-in.
Up to 4
audio tracks are importable into Vegas.
Some
metadata are translated to “Tape Name”, “Version” and “Comments” viewable in
Vegas Edit Details, clip properties, or Vegas Media Manager.
Requires a Pentium 4, Athlon 64, or
compatible processor.
The processor must have the SSE2 instructions. See Intel.com or AMD.com for
details. Raylight checks and warns you if you don’t
have the necessary processor. 1.8GHz speed or higher is recommended. For editing
AVC-Intra, a fast dual-core or quad-core processor is recommended. Operating
system must be Win 2000, Win XP 32/64, Vista 32/64, or Windows 7 32/64.
No disk
speed requirements if you want to edit in Raylight
Red, the low-quality mode, however a dedicated drive for video data is
recommended. The throughput requirement for running Raylight
Red is about ½ as much as editing DV.
No
requirements for DirectX, Quicktime, or other special
system software.
No
special requirements for the video editing software, except that it must
support video for windows, and if you are editing 24P movie files, the
capability to set the timeline to 23.976 frames/sec.
Raylight
Ultra has been tested with Vegas Pro 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0 and 11.0. The Vegas plug-in
requires Vegas 6.0 or later version. Raylight Ultra
will also work with Sony Vegas Movie Studio.
The Matrox and Panasonic codecs are
no longer required for Raylight and the DVCPROHD,
DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO formats (PAL or NTSC).
If you
have any existing installations of Raylight remove
them with the UnInstall icon and remove any remaining
copies of Raylight applications including the old RayMaker.
Copy the
RaylightUltraSetup.exe file to the desktop or any folder and double-click the
file to install the application. Raylight now
installs into the Windows Start Menu, DVFilm program group.
Then you
are ready to drag your MXF files into Vegas.
Remember
to re-install Ultra if you ever re-install or upgrade Vegas.
Vegas
users can enjoy the direct import of MXF files into the timeline. In Vegas use
File->Open or File->Import->Media Files.
Select an MXF file and click Open. Or
drag the MXF file directly from the Vegas file browser into the timeline. The sound track will automatically be imported if it
is located in an adjacent AUDIO folder or the same folder as the video MXF
file.
The
plug-in will recognize native frame size and set aspect ratio correctly if the
“Use Native Frame Size” option is chosen in the Raylight
Configuration Screen.
You can
also use the default square pixel format by leaving the option off.
Metadata
“Slates” are available with the Vegas plug-in. Either the first or second frame
of the clip is overwritten with a slate containing metadata from the .xml file
in the CLIP folder of the P2 card or card image. The defaults slate includes ProgramName, UserClipName, SceneNo.,
TakeNo, CreationDate, StartTimecode and Pulldown.
Or you
can opt to have no slate. The slate never appears on MXF files that are a
continuation of a spanned clip. The slate is customizable for experienced
users. To customize your slate, download this file, unzip it, and read the
instructions included:
dvfilm.com/raylight/ultra/CustomSlateHelp.zip
Up to 4
audio tracks are importable into Vegas. If you import a file with the “Import
Tracks 1&2” option, and later decide you need tracks 3&4 instead, or
all 4 tracks, then change the option in the Raylight
configuration panel, and then remove the clip from the timeline and drag it
back in from the media pool. If you had different in- and out- points selected
you may need to re-trim the clip. If you are editing a project where Tracks
1&2 are not used solely and consistently, you may need to use the “Import
All 4 Tracks” option and delete unwanted tracks after dragging them into the
timeline. Changing between the track import options in
the middle of a project may cause unexpected results.
The plugin will properly skip over 2:3:3:2 pulldown
frames from 1080i60/24PA, or 2:3 pulldown frames from
720p60, or 2:2 pulldown from 720p50, if you have a
valid CLIP folder and XML file for the clip. It cannot remove redundant frames
from variable speed footage recorded in 720p60 or 720p50. Ultra cannot remove
3:2 pulldown from 1080i60 format. For removing VFR or
3:2 pulldown we recommend Raylight
MXFX (dvfilm.com/MXFX).
From
Vegas 8 you may export a Raylight AVI and use P2
Maker to author P2 cards. Non-recompressed editing of MXF files requires that
you enable the “Suppress Recomp” option in Raylight Configuration. Audio MXF files do not import
separately. If you need access to tracks 3&4, use the “Import All 4 tracks”
options on the Raylight configuration panel.
For Sony
Vegas 7 before version 7.0d, the Sony MXF file reader interfered with the Raylight MXF reader, so you must load the free upgrade to
7.0d available from Sony before installing Raylight.
For Vegas 6 there was no Sony MXF reader.
For Vegas 8 and later versions the Sony MXF and Raylight
MXF readers are compatible.
However
if for some reason you need to disable the Sony MXF file reader, either because
some MXF files are not being recognized by Vegas+Raylight
or there is an excessive delay in opening MXF files, here is how to disable it:
1) Exit Vegas, 2) on your system drive open the \Program Files\Sony\Vegas ...\FileIO Plug-ins folder, and rename the mxfplug
folder inside it to mxfplug2. Then restart Vegas. DO not rename or remove the
Sony MXF plugin if you need to import MXF files from
a Sony camera.
AVC-Intra
files are importable starting with Ultra 1.2. Only the Vegas 9 or later plug-in has this
feature.
In either case for
AVC-Intra, a proxy for real-time editing is created automatically if the “Use
MXF proxies in Plug-in” option is selected on the “Proxy Options” tab of the Raylight configuration dialog.
Here’s how
it works: when Vegas is started the Raylight control
task (purple or red ball in the Windows task bar) is started as well. When you
import or drag an AVC-Intra file into the timeline, a message is sent by the
plug-in to the Raylight control program to start
creating the proxy. The proxy file is a video MXF file in the DVCPROHD format.
The frame size of the proxy is the same as the frame size of the AVC-Intra
file. A progress dialog appears on your screen showing the progress of the
conversion. For AVC-Intra 50 Mbps formats, the conversion is approximately
real-time for fast, dual-core processors. For the 100mpbs formats the
conversion is two times slower. You may continue editing while the proxy is
being made. You may import or drag other clips into the project and the plug-in
will queue up the files to be converted. You can scrub through the clips,
change in and out points, do all normal editing while the proxies are being
made, but playback may not be very smooth depending on the speed of your
computer system. If you do not want to see the progress dialog, dismiss it by
clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog. You have the
option of clearing the file queue when you do that by answering Yes to “Clear Proxy Queue?” Answer “No” if you want the
proxies to continue to be made, but without the progress dialog.
As soon as
the proxy is completed, you will then notice smoother playback for the
AVC-Intra clip. The Raylight plug-in will start using
the proxy immediately. If the make proxy option is turned off when you start a
project, and then during editing you turn the option on, you may need to
re-open the project to get the proxies made.
There
are two rules to remember on switching the proxies on and off during editing.
There is one rule for the 10-bit YUV mode (see section on 10-bit YUV mode) and
one for normal mode:
The
proxy is used only when the Raylight Quality Ball is
red. Otherwise the AVC-Intra original is used. The Vegas Preview quality
setting has no effect in this mode. In this mode, we strongly suggest that the
“Mark Proxy” option be turned on. This will warn you if a file is rendered in Raylight Red.
In this
mode, with 10-bit YUV turned off, it is the Vegas preview setting that controls
the proxy usage. If Vegas is in Preview ½ mode, or in
the lesser size modes, the proxy will be used. In Preview Full, the original
AVC-Intra file will be used. However, you can force the plug-in to use the
proxy in all preview modes by setting the Raylight
quality to red.
With the
“Mark Proxy” option turned on, the video will be burned with the word PROXY in
the left-hand corner. This is a good way to let you know if the proxy file is
being used. When you render a final cut of your project, setting the quality to
Raylight Violet will prevent this mark from appearing
in your exported video.
The
proxy files are normally stored in the PROXY folder of your P2 card image. If you are editing directly from P2 cards,
you may wish the proxy files to be stored somewhere else. In this case, click
the Browse button in the Raylight config
panel, Proxy
Options tab, and select and/or create the folder.
If you
ever change the Use MXF Proxy or MXF Proxy Output Folder options in the middle
of an edit, you should save your work, kill Raylight
Control (right-click on the ball in the
task bar and select “Exit...”) and restart Vegas.
A proxy
will be remade if you delete it. To force an existing proxy file to be remade,
save your work and quit Vegas. Delete the file using windows explorer. Kill Raylight Control and restart Vegas.
If you
use the proxies for AVC-Intra editing, keep in mind that the proxy is created
from the entire clip, not just the trimmed clip or the portion of the clip used
in the timeline. Read section below on using the UserClipName
features in Raylight to make this process more
efficient.
It is
more efficient to pause and un-pause the camera between takes, and use the UserClipName feature with
Panasonic P2 Viewer or P2 CMS to name your scenes and takes before editing,
rather than leaving the camera recording continuously while shooting multiple
takes. You can also use the “Type 2” metadata to automatically increment the UserClipName between takes (see camera manual for details).
Ultra
1.2 now has a feature where the UserClipName is
displayed at the bottom of the Vegas Explorer window. This make it easier to
find a selected take assuming that your takes have been labeled beforehand
using P2 Viewer or P2 CMS. These programs are free downloads from the Panasonic
website.
Also,
once the clips are imported into your project, the UserClipName
is displayed in the “Tape Name” column of the project media window, detailed
view. You can drag the “Tape Name” column to the left. You can also sort the
list of clips alphabetically by the UserClipName, or
by timecode, or by the metadata date and time, which
appear in the “Comments” column.
For
After Effects, Windows MovieMaker, older versions of
Premiere, or other programs that cannot use the direct MXF file import feature,
you must convert the MXF files or the CONTENTS folder from the HVX200 camera to
Raylight AVI files on your video project hard
drive. Start RayMaker
and drag the CONTENTS, or VIDEO folder to RayMaker’s screen. Click options
to
configure your choices for the Raylight files. In
particular choose:
Configure
Raylight: this opens the Raylight
Configuration screen.
Select
the output folder for Raylight system files.
Choose
60Hz (American) or 50Hz (Euro) system.
Select
self-contained AVI’s (not recommended for new users).
Select
optional native frame size (not recommended for new users).
If you
have never used Raylight before, stick with the
defaults.
Note: Raylight AVI’s always use tracks 1&2 from the MXF
files. The “Import tracks 3&4” and “Import All Four Tracks” options are
used by the Vegas plug-in only. Also the Slate options are ignored by RayMaker. Raylight AVI’s will not
contain metadata slates.
These
choices above must be made before you make any Raylight
AVI’s and the choices can be undone only by remaking the AVI’s.
The
other options including the Quality level, burn-in, 180 rotation etc, can be
changed during playback and do not affect the format of the raylight
AVI’s.
Raylight
AVI’s will not work in 64-bit Vegas 9.0 or later, see section 14.
Select
Always Remove if you are shooting in the 1080i/24PA format (2:3:3:2 pulldown). RayMaker cannot remove
pulldown from 1080i/24P format (3:2 pulldown). Do not use 3:2 pulldown
if you want to edit at 24P. Use 24PA (advanced or 2:3:3:2) pulldown.
Select
Always Remove if you are shooting at variable frame speeds or with 720/24P over
60 format.
Note:
720/24PN (native) format is recommended for shooting 720P/24. This is the most
efficient format and no frames need to be removed. If you always shoot
720/24PN, select Never Remove.
Select
Ask Each Time if you have a mix of formats.
For
silent footage (usually time lapse or slow-motion) the playback rate can be
hard set to a fixed frame rate, usually the same rate as you will use in editing
(for example 23.976 for 24P editing). So for example footage shot at 720/60P
can be slowed down to create a 720/24P Raylight AVI.
Normally
the Raylight AVIs will be stored in the same folder
as the MXF files. If you want to put the Raylight
AVIs into a different location, choose this option. Click browse to create
and/or select the folder.
¼-size
is the old proxy size and is selected by default. The new ½-size proxy is
recommended for AVC-Intra AVI proxy file editing with faster single- or
dual-core processors. It can also be used with DVCPROHD format. Note that ½ size and ¼ size refer to the encoded frame size, not the
file size. File sizes will vary and for AVC-Intra format the ½-size proxy AVI
is often larger than the original file. The proxy nevertheless will play back
smoother than the original.
Click OK
to save the options.
You can
convert one MXF file alone by dragging it into the RayMaker
window.
Once the
Raylight AVI’s are created, DO NOT DELETE, RENAME, OR
MOVE the MXF files unless you are using self-contained AVI’s (see options).
Self-contained AVI’s are more portable and allow the MXF files to be deleted, however they prohibit the use of the Raylight Red mode which is necessary for slower computer
systems or computer systems with single (non-RAID stripe) disk drives.
Again,
DO NOT REMOVE the MXF files. If you do need to change
the location of the files, or rename the folder or disk drive in which they
reside, then new Raylight AVIs must be created with RayMaker to replace the old ones.
For
720P24/720P25 MXF files, the audio track is taken from the Audio MXF files.
These must be located in an adjacent AUDIO folder, or
in the same folder as the video files.
You will
notice that for ordinary DVCPROHD Raylight AVI’s, the
file size is about 1/5th the size of the MXF file. This is because
the AVI contains a lo-res proxy (proxy means temporary substitute) for the
original frame data. The AVI also contains an invisible link in each frame to
the original frame data in the MXF file. When you playback in Raylight Violet mode, the low-res proxy is not used, and
the frame data always comes from the MXF file. In Raylight
Violet there is zero quality loss. However the file size of the Raylight AVI does not reflect this high quality because the
links don’t take any space on the drive.
When
playing back in Raylight Red, only the proxy data is
used. The quality is roughly ¼ of the original, but the data rate is much lower
and the playback is always smooth, even on a very low-cost computer.
For
self-contained Raylight AVI’s the file size is almost
exactly the same size as the MXF file, less any pulldown
or redundant frames that have been removed by RayMaker.
For
AVC-Intra files at ¼ resolution, the proxy AVI is
about the same size or slightly larger than the MXF file. For ½-size
resolution, the proxy AVI is larger than the MXF file, since the compression
method is less efficient than AVC (but plays back faster).
Raylight
Ultra 1.2 may not play back Raylight AVIs from DVFilm
Raylight 3.0. Those AVI’s must be remade. AVI’s from
older versions of Ultra are OK.
The old
4-button Raylight control panel is available for
users of DVFilm Raylight 3.0. The other quality modes
that were used in the old system are still functional if you need them. Raylight Green is functional in Win XP and Vista 32 only
(if the Panasonic P2 Viewer is installed). Green does not work for AVC-Intra.
RayMaker
will also convert audio-only MXF files into WAV files so you can access the multitrack recording capability of the camera.
RayMaker
will also convert DVCPRO50 DVCPRO and DV MXF files into self-contained AVI’s.
Normally
the Raylight codec is used to play back those AVIs, however you also have the option of using the Matrox codec for DVCPRO50, DVCPRO and DV, if the “Use Raylight Codec for non-HD formats” option is deselected in RayMaker. Get the Matrox codecs by completing the form at
http://www.matrox.com/video/en/support/digisuite/downloads/softwares/codec/
For the
demo version of Raylight Ultra, AVIs using the Matrox DV, DVCPRO or DVCPRO50 format will have a pattern of
gray squares over the image. Purchase the release version of Raylight and remake the AVIs to remove the squares.
The Raylight AVI’s can be played with any AVI movie player
including Windows Media Player. To control the playback speed/quality settings,
double click the Raylight Control application. This
small pop-up can be used to change the codec settings while using your editing
software. Quality setting can be changed during playback. There will be a 2
second delay before the setting takes effect.
The
Quality settings are:
Violet -
used for full frame examination and final rendering
Red- ¼ resolution, using
the low-resolution proxy in Raylight AVIs. This mode
must be used on lower-end systems like single CPU’s with slower disk drives,
especially when editing 1080/24P/30P. The CPU/disk speed requirement for Red is
similar to editing DV.
Note: Red
is not available for direct MXF import into Vegas, however if you render AVI previews
from your rough-cut MXF timeline at high quality, you can then switch to Red
and continue editing in Red.
Set your
editing system software to use the following settings:
60i
projects (not for transfer to film and not for 24P-DVD)
Frame size
1920 x 1080
Frame rate
29.97
Field order
upper field first
50i
projects (not for transfer to film and not for 24P-DVD)
Frame size
1920 x 1080
Frame rate
25
Field order
upper field first
30P projects
(not for transfer to film and not for 24P-DVD)
Frame size
1920 x 1080
Frame rate
29.97
Field order
“None”
25P
projects (transfer to film, HDCAM-25P or 25P-DVD)
Frame size
1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720
Frame rate
25
Field order
“None”
24P
projects (transfer to film, HDCAM-24P or 24P-DVD)
Frame size
1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720
Frame rate
23.976
Field order
“None”
For more
details see the Raylight Tutorial at dvfilm.com/help.
Import the clips and edit as you would normally. Older, slower computer systems
will need the lowest or Raylight Red setting.
In any
case, the highest quality, or Raylight Violet setting
is necessary for rendering uncompressed full-frame output, suitable for
conversion to another format (like NTSC for broadcast), or for examining/stepping
through individual frames for quality or visual effects work. The Raylight Violet setting may not work in real time on older
computer systems.
If you
have problems getting full speed playback do one or more of the following:
1. Change Raylight
speed setting to Raylight Red.
2. Use a smaller size monitor window. 50% or 25%
normal size are recommended. Smaller is faster. In
Vegas use Preview Quality.
3. Make sure your Raylight
files are on a clean non-fragmented drive used only for media. It may help to
put the MXF files and AVI files on different drives if you use Violet.
4. Make sure no other processes are running.
5. Edit at 24P if you shot 24P, the data rate is
20% less than 30.
1. Make sure the display settings are
32-bit “True Color” or 24-bit (“Millions” or “16M” color). Do not use 16-bit
(“high color”) or 8-bit 256 colors.
2. Change Raylight
speed setting to Violet
In Sony
Vegas, changing the preview quality from Preview Auto to Preview Full and back
to Preview Auto is sometimes necessary to get best performance from Raylight after changing the Raylight
quality level.
With
Vegas, Raylight will create preview files to show
dissolves, color correction filters etc. at high resolution. Even though the
previews are made with high resolution, you can view them in the lower quality
modes.
Make
sure the project settings are 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 before using Raylight previews.
In Vegas
the setting for the previews are in Tools->Selective PreRender
Video. Remember to configure Raylight’s output folder
and select Raylight Violet before using PreRender Video with Raylight.
Raylight
can export a P2 MXF file by using the File->RenderAs feature in Sony Vegas 9 or later.
Select the type (P2 Card Image Format *.mxf) from the dropdown list in the RenderAs dialog. Then select
the template for the P2 format you wish to export. Raylight Ultra can export
all DVCPROHD 1080-line and 720-line formats, at all legal frame rates, as well as DVCPRO50. The dropdown list shows
either 60Hz or 50Hz formats depending on the 60Hz/50Hz setting in the Raylight Ultra control panel.
File NamingThe name you choose for the output file (for example MyMovie.mxf) will be used in three places. A P2 card
image will be created in a new subfolder called MyMovie, and also MyMovie will be inserted into the
P2 MXF file's UserClipName metadata field. Ultra will also create a shortcut in your destination folder
called MyMovie.mxf, that points to the video MXF file. Note that if you open this shortcut, you will get video
playback only. Open the MXF file created in the MyMovie/CONTENTS/VIDEO subfolder to get video, audio,
and metadata for the exported clip. Note: Ultra does not presently span clips across the 4GB boundary.
It will automatically create additional MXF files in the P2 folder for long clips, and the clips will play
back-to-back seamlessly on a P2 camera, but they will appear to be
separate but contiguous clips if you import them into a P2-capable editing system. In this case, the clips should be
group-selected in alphanumerical order, and then dragged together into the timeline.
P2 Export with Suppress Recompression
With the Suppress Recompression option turned on in the Raylight control panel, Raylight Ultra will export
non-recompressed P2 MXF files from a cuts-only, or mostly cuts-only edit of P2 MXF file media. This means the
export takes place much faster, and there is no loss of quality in the exported files. To work, the project properties, input
and output format (compression format, frame size and frame rate) must be exactly the same. Suppress Recompression
will not work for frames that have filters or transitions applied, those frames will be recompressed. To tell if
Suppress Recompression is working, use the Vegas vector scope display to examine the original and exported clip
above and below in two different tracks. The clips will have precisely the same vector scope readouts. If the footage was recompressed,
there will be a slight but noticable difference.
Raylight
can be used to export an HD-sized Raylight AVI for
playback on the camera. Select export settings of 1920
x 1080 or 1280 x 720 as appropriate, square pixels, DVFilm Raylight
compression. Configure Raylight for Ultra Violet.
Start P2
Maker and drag the resulting Raylight AVI into P2
Maker and select your output folder options. You can also select to write
directly to the P2 card. If you write directly to the card, make sure you are
using a USB 2.0 connection (not Firewire or USB 1.x)
to avoid IO errors.
The MXF
files can also be played back with the Panasonic P2 Viewer.
Set the Raylight Control to Raylight
Violet setting. In the case of a cuts-only edit the higher quality settings do
not matter and just make the rendering process slower. Be sure the output frame
size setting is 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 as appropriate. Raylight
cannot change the frame size. Use Raylight compression or Windows Media 9 compression.
Export a
Low-res Movie (faster)
Set the Raylight Control to Red setting. In the case of a
non-recompressed output, the higher quality settings do not matter and just
make the rendering process slower. But if you have a lot of effects or filters,
and you don’t care about seeing full resolution, using Raylight
Red will make the rendering process much faster. Note that if you playback a
movie rendered with Raylight Red, but playback at
Violet setting, the frames will appear black with a text error message, since
hi-res frames are not created under Raylight Red.
Set the
render format settings in Vegas as follows
Best Quality
File type
Microsoft AVI
File format Raylight Ultra
1920 x 1080
or 1280 x 720 frame size
Field order
as same as project settings
Frame rate same
as project settings (29.97, 25, or 23.976)
Create AVI
2.0 Open DML AVI
Audio
settings 48,000 Hz 16-bit Stereo uncompressed
The
render of the output movie should be very quick, faster than real time, for a
cuts-only edit. For effects rendering under Ultra Violet, expect rendering
times of about 4-20 frames/sec (for 720-24P). Rendering is about 30-50% faster
with a dual core CPU. You can also recompress to another format such as HD,
NTSC, or PAL, DVD, anything supported by your editing system. Make sure the
Ultra Violet quality setting is used in this case for best results. See the Raylight Tutorial for info on exporting HD DVD (HD WM9)
format.
Raylight
Ultra cannot export AVC-Intra format.
The
advanced configuration options in the Raylight
Configuration pop-up should be used by experienced users only. Some of these
options have unexpected results if you are not familiar with them. Here is a
description of each one and some explanation on their use and possible
advantages.
For
self-contained AVI’s there is no lo-res proxy built, and you cannot use Raylight Red. All the video data from the MXF file, minus
the pulldown or duplicate frames, are copied to the
AVI file, and you can then delete the MXF file if desired. The advantages of
this method are that the AVI’s are portable from one system to another wihtout copying the MXF files, they are made by RayMaker much more quickly, and playback may be slightly
faster in Raylight Violet. Potential problems with using
this options are:
1. Your computer disk drive is not fast enough
to play Raylight Violet in real time
2. You mistakenly removed pulldown
and then deleted the MXF file. The missing frames
can not be recovered unless you made a
backup of the MXF file.
3. The AVI file becomes corrupted due to a
hardware fault and you did not save the
MXF
file.
If you
decide to use self-contained AVI’s, be sure to make a backup copy of the MXF
files.
Native frame
size means the DVCPROHD frames are stored 960 x 720 with the 720-line format,
1280 x 1080 for the 60Hz 1080 line format, and 1440 x 1080 for the 1080- 50Hz
line format. This frame size is pixel for pixel the same as the internal DV
format encoding. and these are the frame sizes used by
Final Cut Pro on the Mac for example.
However
some potential problems may occur with this option. The SMPTE spec for
DVCPRO-HD specifies a standard hi-pass filter, and your editing system is
unlikely to apply this filter when the output is converted to square pixel
format (1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080).
Also,
native frame size requires that non-square Pixel Aspect Ratio be used. Many
editing applications like Vegas do not set the PAR correctly for AVI’s and you
must either edit with squeezed appearance or manually set the PAR.
Native
Frame size is ignored with AVC-Intra files. AVC-Intra files are always played
at native frame size.
If you
edit with native frame size AVI’s, there are Vegas scripts, which can change
the PAR for all your clips at once. Contact DVFilm Support for more info.
This
option draws a red border when using Raylight Red. No
border is drawn in Raylight Violet. This options
serves to mark rendered material that was not done at best resolution,
therefore any output which has the borders present is flagged as ad hoc or
preliminary material.
This
option rotates the image 180 degrees (flips it around) for material shot with a
35mm lens adaptor.
This
option burns the timecode into the screen for offline
editing. Do not use it for a final render unless you are rendering a low-res
copy for offline editing. The timecode displayed is
always the original timecode from the source file, so
the count will jump on cuts or recompressed frames (such as dissolves).
Note
that burn-in timecode does not work in Raylight Red.
This
option burns in the pathname of the source file on each frame. Use it to show
you where the source material is located for the original MXF files.
Note
that burn-in source file does not work in Raylight
Red, or with self-contained Raylight AVI’s.
Creates non-recompressed Raylight AVI’s
from either AVI’s or MXF files. The codec calculates a checksum or signature on each frame handed
to the editing system. On compression of frames when rendering a raylight AVI, the codec recalculates the checksum to see if
it has changed. If it has not, then it uses a saved copy of the compressed
frame (the original camera data). This speeds up processing because the
compression step is skipped, and it also improves image quality because
unnecessary recompression is eliminated.
How do
you tell if it’s working? The timecode burn-in of the
rendered section will be the same as the original camera timecode.
Otherwise, if the section is recompressed (for a dissolve for example) the timecode will start at zero.
Suppress
Recompression is not needed when editing from Raylight
AVI’s. Supress Recompression does not work with DVCPRO50,
DVCPRO, or DV MXF files. Supress recompression does
not work with exporting AVI files with versions of Vegas after 8.0. It does work with
exporting P2 MXF files directly from Vegas 9 or later with Ultra 1.3 or later versions (see Section 11).
This
mode features higher quality for both DVCPROHD and AVC-Intra files. The quality
difference is subtle and may not be apparent unless you have very fine
gradients such as with cloudless skies or smooth walls with brightness increase
during color correction. This mode can be turned off for backward compatibility
with older projects. You may notice a very slight difference in contrast between
10-bit YUV and the original (RGB) mode. Some features of the plug-in do not
work with 10-bit YUV mode: Metadata slate, Raylight timecode burn-in and image rotate. You can still use the
Sony Vegas timecode and image rotate features.
Raylight
AVI’s do not use the 10-bit YUV mode.
Creates a watermark in the YUV mode so you can check if it’s
working.
See section on AVC-Intra editing for the use of these options.
Use this option for color rendering that matches the 10-bit YUV mode. Do not use this option with
projects created in older versions of Ultra or DVFilm Raylight. This option will yield
brighter images and less saturated color than the "classic" Raylight Ultra look. It is appropriate, though, for broadcast work or when switching between Ultra's 10-bit YUV and normal rendering modes.
Use this option to prevent the Ultra Control Panel from opening when Sony Vegas is run
for the first time since a computer restart.
If the DVFilm watermark appears then you are running the demo version of the program. Purchase the release version and reinstall to remove the watermark.
The Demo version of the Raylight Vegas plugin has an issue when run under Windows 7. You must have User Access Control (UAC) turned off in order for it to work properly. In general, when Using Windows 7, make sure UAC is turned off.
Any Raylight files exported from your editing system will have
to be re-exported. Files made with RayMaker will be
OK, as-is.
The demo
version of P2 Maker also inserts tiny grey squares, some with the word “rayLight” in the frame. Purchase the release version,
install (run setup.exe) and remake the MXF files to remove the watermark.
DVFilm
is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of this
program.
Make
sure you try the demo version and test it with your editing system before
purchasing.
·
Raylight
AVI’s cannot be imported or exported into Vegas 9.0 or later with 64-bit Windows. A
direct P2 export method will be provided for Raylight
Ultra later in 2010.
·
Raylight
Ultra does not support the Consumer PAL-DV format with 64-bit operating
systems. If you use Vista 32 or XP 32, you can use PAL-DV format but first
contact DVFilm Support.
·
The
10-bit YUV mode does not support some features: Metadata slate, Rotate and timecode burn-in.
·
When
you save a project and select the option in Vegas to store the project media,
Vegas will only save the video MXF files, and not the audio MXF files, nor the
XML files that are used by the plugin. This feature
should not be used with P2 MXF files because if the saved project is opened,
you will not get any audio and no pulldown will be
removed. To backup your P2 project you should instead make a copy of all the P2
folders used in the project, and the Vegas project file, and any other files
used in the project.
·
The
Metadata slate will appear to have no data with AVC-Intra MXF proxies that are
stored in the User-defined proxy output folder. Blank out the output folder
option if you use Metadata slate with AVC-Intra proxies, so that the proxies
are stored in the PROXY folder in the P2 card image.
·
With
some video cards and Windows XP, you may notice a slight contrast difference
between Raylight AVI’s exported from Vegas and the
original footage.
c. 2010
DVFilm