Improvements?

[Karel Bata]

Here's my list -

1 - Some kind of Variable Speed Playback to enable preview of different camera speeds

2 - a basic key-ing facility (I assume mixes are on their way)

3 - frame stores that could be used to hold reference frames

4 - an on-screen stopwatch

5 - an on-screen slate/take generator (which could read any relevant metadata)

6 - the 'tags' are nice n quick, but a facility to actually type in search-able text, some of it perhaps on-screen, would be great (even if it's not carried over in the metadata) along with

7 - the ability to alter the actual metadata, and

8 - a capability to export all data (like the slate/takes and on screen text from above) into a text file that could then be emailed or printed.


My 2p. :wink5:

 

[Garth O'Bryan]

1. An ability to import .Exr and .Dpx (I'd love to make a complete round trip to Nuke and back again from Storm... But Nuke can't export r3d. Get Zip 1 scanline compression importing in a usable fashion and I'll call you gods.)

2. Stereoscopic support. (I'm not sure if there is any or not - but I couldn't find any info on it.. I'd love to be able to view one eye, but tag another eye to be edited in sync and written to .exr at the same time as the first eye. I dont really need to edit with both eyes - but an ability to sync them and render in a single .exr would have major benefits.)

..
Answers to Karel
1.. try pressing the play button a few times... the more times you press it - the faster it gets (Nothing that I noticed for slowing it down. not really an accurate tool - but maybe it solves your issue)

 

[Karel Bata]

Cheers Garth. What I mean is when you have, say, a shot of corn-falkes being poured into a bowl, and they'd like to see it at different speeds. You can preview different frame rates with traditional video-assist.

While talking about Storm's rather nice fast-forward facility, I'm a bit skeptical about using this to review shots quickly (I've read of someone using it that way). If you're playing back at 4x speed you really are skipping 3/4 of the information, and any glitches that have been skipped will not be apparent. Not until later. Bad policy methinks.

 

[Karel Bata]

9. An export shortcut button. A button that you would just click, and then a dialog box would pop up with your last settings (compression, size, destination) and you could just hit enter (or pause to alter something) and the clip would be rendered in the background (with a low priority so it doesn't slow you down) and sent to your pre-chosen destination, such as a hard drive, or even the director's laptop connected on a wi-fi network. Or even straight to the editor in some other part of the world! That way he/she could work on proxy QTs until they get delivered the real thing.

Getting a bit futuristic here! :biggrin:

 

[Gunleik Groven]

9. An export shortcut button. A button that you would just click, and then a dialog box would pop up with your last settings (compression, size, destination) and you could just hit enter (or pause to alter something) and the clip would be rendered in the background (with a low priority so it doesn't slow you down) and sent to your pre-chosen destination, such as a hard drive, or even the director's laptop connected on a wi-fi network. Or even straight to the editor in some other part of the world! That way he/she could work on proxy QTs until they get delivered the real thing.

Getting a bit futuristic here! :biggrin:

I like futuristic...

 

[Quentin Brown]

Some excellent ideas there Karel, I especially like no. 5 and no. 8 is one of the main ones I was going to put forward.

I really miss some of the audio features in RCX. I would like to see an auto match bin feature so you can just autosync a whole bin full of clips to a bin or folder of audio and have them automatically sync.

I imported some files which I had synced before and can't really tell if they have come in with audio or not despite the sync point being saved in the RMD's. There are a lot of audio tools I'd like to see in there. I'll have to post about them another time though.

One minor interface quibble. When I open the looks bin I have to resize the thumbnails to get enough of them to fit nicely but when browsing clips I like the thumbnails bigger to see the content better. Currently if you change one then that change stays when you view the other. It would be great if it remembered the icon scaling and view type settings for any given type of content/folder so you can set up your looks bin how you like then adjust your clips bin independently.

I also really want to see RMD read/write support in there for the standard logging fields that RCX creates (Scene, Slate, Take etc.) I have a number of projects still passing through that I entered these fields for and I would like to use them and have them attached to the Quicktimes I transcode into so they can appear in FCP, Final cut server or other apps that support them.

 

[Karel Bata]

Agree about sound.

"One minor interface quibble. When I open the looks bin I have to resize the thumbnails to get enough of them to fit nicely but when browsing clips I like the thumbnails bigger to see the content better. Currently if you change one then that change stays when you view the other. It would be great if it remembered the icon scaling and view type settings for any given type of content/folder so you can set up your looks bin how you like then adjust your clips bin independently."
​

In theory you can create your own customised workspaces with the layout you want and save them, recalling them later. Would that do the job for you?

 

[Garth O'Bryan]

Also, a form of selective masking for the colour corrections might be nice.
Maybe beziers, soft circles, or an ability to use an externally generated alpha matte to isolate areas of colourcorrection. It's good for a onelight at the moment... but it would be interesting to be able to grade one side green, and the other purple...

Also - I don't know - but is there an audio import function somewhere in Storm?
Maybe I just missed it - It's good if I can import in audio - that would bring Storm up to the level of FCP (I have nuke - Conforming, editing, sound, and unlimited realtime playback are all that eludes me at the moment).
If this can conform R3D, dpx and Exr, splice in audio, export DPX/Exr to nuke (And then hopefully retrieve updated .exr's or Dpx's from nuke) - then I can start to use Nuke and Storm together as a proper finishing tool - that would be cool and useful.

 

[Quentin Brown]

In theory you can create your own customised workspaces with the layout you want and save them, recalling them later. Would that do the job for you?

That might have been a way to fudge it but the workspaces only remember the window layout not the thumbnail size settings within the production tab. Even if you could do it with workspace switching it would seem more intuitive if it just remembered and applied it when switching, a relatively simple bit of code to add. :wink:

 

[Ryan McGregor]

- Have the lift, gamma, gain wheels be automatically applied to all Red material like in RCX. I don't like having to apply it to every clip I grade.

- Frame store is absolutely essential, I like the three in RCX but would use five if they were available.

- Ability to customize the user buttons on control panels, I use the Tangent Wave and would love to be able to copy and paste grades on the panel as well as enable the frame store.

- Timecode and filename burn-in.

 

[Karim Iglesias]

- Have the lift, gamma, gain wheels be automatically applied to all Red material like in RCX. I don't like having to apply it to every clip I grade.

- Frame store is absolutely essential, I like the three in RCX but would use five if they were available.

- Ability to customize the user buttons on control panels, I use the Tangent Wave and would love to be able to copy and paste grades on the panel as well as enable the frame store.

- Timecode and filename burn-in.

I agree timecode and filename burnin for offline editing

 

[Chris Steele]

Thanks for all your input guys.
Just to reassure you - we are definitely listening, even if we don't manage to answer every post. Big meeting yesterday to decide on immediate priorities for the dev team (other than fixing those gnarly bugs). We're very excited about where the product will be in Jan.
In the meantime expect a few updates with bug fixes. One that fixes the effects problems should be posted today or Monday.
Many thanks Storm-chasers!
Chris

 

[James Wilson]

I really miss some of the audio features in RCX. I would like to see an auto match bin feature so you can just autosync a whole bin full of clips to a bin or folder of audio and have them automatically sync.

We have implemented a basic Sync Audio option in the menu bar under tools. This will sync Audio with R3Ds based on Timecode. More Audio manual slipping/tools will be on their way shortly.

One minor interface quibble. When I open the looks bin I have to resize the thumbnails to get enough of them to fit nicely but when browsing clips I like the thumbnails bigger to see the content better. Currently if you change one then that change stays when you view the other. It would be great if it remembered the icon scaling and view type settings for any given type of content/folder so you can set up your looks bin how you like then adjust your clips bin independently.

We were talking about this the other day and we plan to add this functionality very soon. This will enable the users to have different viewing and scaling options per Bin.

I also really want to see RMD read/write support in there for the standard logging fields that RCX creates (Scene, Slate, Take etc.) I have a number of projects still passing through that I entered these fields for and I would like to use them and have them attached to the Quicktimes I transcode into so they can appear in FCP, Final cut server or other apps that support them.

RMD support is currently on our list and this will be supported very soon.

Thanks,

James.

 

[Andrew Ravani]

[feature request]

[feature request]

Feature request - video pass through to Black Magic Design and Kona Devices - it would be very nice to send to a reference monitor even if you don't have a RED ROCKET in the STORM system.

 

[Karel Bata]

Agree with Andrew.

What about 3D capabilty..? I assume that is planned at some point.

 

[Chris Steele]

Agree with Andrew.

What about 3D capabilty..? I assume that is planned at some point.

Certainly planned Karel, but priority is being given to other issues right now, we want to make the user experience as positive as possible before extending into stereoscopic.
All the best,
Chris

 

[Quentin Brown]

We have implemented a basic Sync Audio option in the menu bar under tools. This will sync Audio with R3Ds based on Timecode. More Audio manual slipping/tools will be on their way shortly.

James,

This is great to hear about the planned manual sync & slip tools but reading your reply makes me wonder; does the current feature allow batch syncing? I haven't played with it enough yet but my impression was that you had to select a single pair - clip + audio file to sync then hit the Sync Audio button and you couldn't select a bin full of audio clips and a bin full of R3D's hit that button and have them all autosync based on Timecode.

[FEATURE] Please also add the channel selection tools for output and playback channel selection like RCX.

[FEATURE] Please add audio format output options. - Currently in RCX we are stuck with 32bit floating point output even though our source may be 16 or 24 bit PCM little Endian - for edit compatibility it would be nice if we could choose our output format or have a simple box to check to keep it to source bitrate/format in Storm.

We were talking about this the other day and we plan to add this functionality very soon. This will enable the users to have different viewing and scaling options per Bin.

Yey. Bang on the money!

RMD support is currently on our list and this will be supported very soon.

Thanks,

James.

I really look forward to RMD support (read and write) plus:

[FEATURE] Export support for metadata formats that fit into the various NLE system pipelines so that when it comes to the deeper edit all tags, Scene & Slate no's we spent time creating in Storm are imported along with the clips giving the benefits of search and sort within the NLE. (no small task I know!)

[FEATURE] New Color Science support ASAP!

[FEATURE] Color keying for secondaries

[FEATURE] RCX project import - so we can swap into Storm easily once the new color Science SDK support is in!

Thanks for Listening.

 

[Quentin Brown]

Oh and further down the line I see:

[FEATURE] Integration with iPad dailies and on set streaming sytems like the Teradeck Cube, and integration with proxy recording modules. All proxy ingest and dailies streams recorded matched to camera R3D's on import and tags added via iPad's etc by Director and others from playback and or during recording synced across all versions. Full multi-versioning tracking and management throughout the post process.

[FEATURE] Script & storyboard sync -Clips assigned and linked to script sections for easy review from a shooting script based view.
Network sharing of project database, searchable by tags, shooting script and other methods with full reporting (scenes completed, durations, no of setups completed, remaining setups etc. - producers would love that shit!) Maybe even make it online - handover VFX shots, have clients, investors or producers review from the other side of the world etc. Getting futuristic here but you see where I'm going. Storm could glue everything together, simplifying & streamlining the entire Production and Postproduction chains in a metadata rich, intuitive and searchable interface. Even if this is beyond the cope of what's on the cards for Storm I would want Storm to interface holistically with such systems as they emerge, acting as the Digital Cinema camera's initial interface into this world.

 

[Quentin Brown]

Back to reality though.

My vote for feature update priorities would be:

1. Integrate new Color Science.
2. RMD support & Audio sync tools to at least match those of RCX
3a. Stereo 3D support
3b. Support for Avid & other NLE systems.
4. Color keying on Secondaries
5. Video pass through for AJA, Blackmagic, Matrox etc. for those without RedRockets and to prep the way for:
6. Support for other camera formats. Arri RAW, Alexa LUT's, DNG sequences a la Ikonskop, Aaton Penelope, Phantom, Weisscam, Sony F3, even the humble HDSLR's.


The first 4 would mean that features are on a level with RCX so there is no convincing reason not to use Storm and it's lovely smooth interface, scopes, tags and playback (the current main selling points for me). I put 3D on a level footing with Avid support because I'm not sure which is more important and neither are part of my normal pipeline but they will be common. They both really need to go in there soon.
Next we have the stuff that makes a real compelling argument for Storm and we will never likely see in RCX or any other app. No. 4 will seal the deal for me for onset use with RED. The final two will make a Storm the central tool in my box for every shoot I go on and will make multi-format multi-cam shoots so much simpler to work on!

 

[James Wilson]

Back to reality though.

My vote for feature update priorities would be:

1. Integrate new Color Science.
2. RMD support & Audio sync tools to at least match those of RCX
3a. Stereo 3D support
3b. Support for Avid & other NLE systems.
4. Color keying on Secondaries
5. Video pass through for AJA, Blackmagic, Matrox etc. for those without RedRockets and to prep the way for:
6. Support for other camera formats. Arri RAW, Alexa LUT's, DNG sequences a la Ikonskop, Aaton Penelope, Phantom, Weisscam, Sony F3, even the humble HDSLR's.


The first 4 would mean that features are on a level with RCX so there is no convincing reason not to use Storm and it's lovely smooth interface, scopes, tags and playback (the current main selling points for me). I put 3D on a level footing with Avid support because I'm not sure which is more important and neither are part of my normal pipeline but they will be common. They both really need to go in there soon.
Next we have the stuff that makes a real compelling argument for Storm and we will never likely see in RCX or any other app. No. 4 will seal the deal for me for onset use with RED. The final two will make a Storm the central tool in my box for every shoot I go on and will make multi-format multi-cam shoots so much simpler to work on!

Hi Quentin,

Thanks for all of your feedback, we have noted down all of your comments and feature requests and we have plans to address all of your priorities in due time.

Support for RC2/RG2 will be available in the new Beta3 build. We also have other improvements so please take a look at beta3 when it's released. One of your priorities was Color Keying/Secondaries. We have made a step forward by providing HSL qualifiers for all of our colour tools. Currently were also working on various RMD options at the moment, all of this and other fixes/features will be in Storm Beta3.

Once again thanks for your feedback,

Cheers, James.