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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

QT Export better in RCX (?)

Tobias Straka

Tobias Straka

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Hey guys, I'm having a hard time figuring out the best settings to export a high quality ProRes HQ from Storm v. 1.0.2. Compared to the exports from RCX, Storm is definitely worse, but maybe I'm missing something here.. Things I see are jagged lines and more/different noise structures. Here's an example:

Crop from 1920x1080 export. Exact same settings.
stormvsrcx.jpg

Top image: Storm
Bottom image: RCX

Export settings:
- Decoding Quality: Full
- ProRes 422 HQ @ 1920x1080
- Filtering: Lanczos3

Any thoughts?
 
Here's another crop - noise is very different...

stormvsrcx2.jpg

(right click, show graphic for a larger view)
Left: RCX - Right: Storm
 
Did you try 16 bit depth in the advanced tab? Debayer set to high on the red look?
 
No to 16bit, but maybe that's because that's only possible with ProRes 4444? I'm trying to get the same result with a ProRes HQ, and I haven't seen an option for 16bit there... Decoding set to Full, yes...
 
I think you can set 16 bit with prores HQ
 
Enable advanced mode in Storm preferences then in the export window you will find the option to change the bit depth.
storm_preferences.jpg

storm_export.jpg
 
Aw man, stupid me... :) Always check the preferences, right? Thanks Luca.

BUT... looks pretty much the same. As soon as motion kicks in, there's a considerable amount of jagging...
 
I'd have exported some examples and sentto Storm Support. They are very responsive.
Document your settings and send the same frMes of the raw file along. My guess is that reports like this will be much apprechiated.

Cheers and thanks.

I'll have a look with Rocket if I get around.

Cheers
Gunleik
 
Ok, in case you want to try it on your system, you can download some stuff from my server (111 MB total) :

- the original R3D
- Exports from RCX and Storm (.mov)
- Settings (screenshots) from RCX and Storm

LINK: http://www.straka.ch/storm/storm_export_issue.zip

Right now, I run both programs on a MBP 17-inch 2.2GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD startup volume and 500GB internal disk, newest model available, no Rocket. OS X 10.6.7. Haven't had a chance to test on a different machine...

(also sent to Storm Support)

Cheers guys
 
I exported the same file (not your file) with rcx and with storm (both rocket enabled) and they look identical. The only difference is storm is slower. I'll try with your file on my system.
 
The thing that I found helped me out was changing the filtering settings during export. I think they default the worst scaler possible. I don't even know why they bother though because it generate footage that looks awful. Mind you, anything to save computational resources, huh?

[Edit] NM, just did some more testing. Still looks horrendous. This is weird...

[Edit 2] Just trying out some more stuff now, I get pretty good results. When I get home I'll post my settings.
 
Thanks guys. Alex, I agree the filter is not ideal, but it's strange to me that the RCX output looks better with the same filtering applied... Looking forward to your settings.
 
Tobias, I tried with your file and even with the rocket Storm output is wrong but I tried with other files and the outputs are fine and identical. I noticed your file is a redcode 28, maybe is this the reason? I don't have redcode 28 files here, only 36 and 42, except the file that you have uploaded. I'm sure Storm support team will find out.
 
Thanks for trying Luca. Yeah that file definitely was one of the worst shot footage files, but still - outputting from RCX looks just fine. So I don't think RC28 can be the problem. If it was with both programs I'd settle, but this way, something is definitely not working properly on my system with Storm.
 
Also in my system your file is wrong in storm and good in rcx but other files are right.
 
I did a little more testing, and I get good results as soon as I'm using the "Box" scaling filter. "Lanczos3" definitely sucks in Storm on my machine. I also tried other footage from different shoots, same result.

So - I'm ok really, but it still seems weird to me that RCX does exports with Lanczos3 just fine and Storm doesn't.

Another question: what is the equivalent of the "Box" scaling filter in RCX? Cubic-bspline?

And one more observation assuming that Cubic really is the equivalent: I still see differences in the footage. Subtle, but they're there. RCX seems to produce richer blacks and noise characteristics are a little different.
 
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