Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

The naked truth about the RED Rocket

Tony Lorentzen

Tony Lorentzen

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
2,386
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Website
kinema.dk
Catchy title, I know ;-)

It's been somewhat discussed in the past, but it would be nice to get the full details on the RED Rocket's debayer quality. RED.com says it delivers "full quality realtime 4K". I asked Graeme on Twitter about the Rocket vs. Software debayer and his response was "Rocket v Software is a choice. They look different in "texture". R=sharper. S=smoother.".

My question to all of you that are working with finishing and DI if you're using the Rocket or Software debayering for the final conform?

If anyone knows Michael Cioni from LightIron then I'd be most interested to hear his take on this for the projects they've worked on in the past.

My own experience is exactly that of Graeme's, that the Rocket's output is very sharp - sometimes a bit too "edgy", actually.

Thanks for everyone's input in advance :smile5:
 
Hm...

I have often thought that if I could setup a proper renderfarm, that would be better, but for all practical purposes, the rocket is it...
But I have access to enough machines to do the cluster thing, so I guess in the end the Rocket makes me lazy...

Gunleik
 
How does a deBayer in the new CS5.5 Premiere Pro (set on "high") differ from a deBayer using other techniques?

Thanks.

Stephen
 
Gunleik Groven said:
Hm...

I have often thought that if I could setup a proper renderfarm, that would be better, but for all practical purposes, the rocket is it...
But I have access to enough machines to do the cluster thing, so I guess in the end the Rocket makes me lazy...

Gunleik
Click to expand...

How would you set up a render farm for software rendering of R3Ds? Using Redline in some way, maybe?
 
That is one of my pet peeves about the Rocket, that I have no control over the amount of 'sharpening'. This means I often have to do this as part of an extra step in some other software. I wonder why sharpening controls aren't available in 'rocket-powered' debayering...
 
Forgive the clueless newbie, but why should there be any difference at all? The code is the same, the algorithms are the same (?), the Rocket simply uses dedicated hardware to accelerate the process, I thought?

If the output from a software render is not bit-for-bit identical to an output with all the same parameters, but rendered with hardware assistance, something is wrong - to my way of thinking anyway.

Mike
 
The software demosaic is not the same as the Rocket hardware demosaic. The software demosaic is too complex to run in hardware, but it benefits from being smoother, whereas the Rocket demosaic is sharper. The R3D decode, matrix and LUTs are fully matched between hardware and software.

Jean - there is no sharpening in Rocket, and that's fine because we don't recommend you sharpen until the end, with respect to the desired output format.

Graeme
 
Thanks for the clarification Graeme. We live and learn!

When the Rocket cards show up in the Battle Tested store again, I'll grab one and experiment for myself.

Amongst my toys, I have a deskside SiCortex supercomputer: 72 CPUs, 48GB memory. It would be interesting to see how that would run RED-related codes :-)

Mike
 
I'm sure the SiCortex will keep your office warm!

Graeme
 
Gotta say- if you are doing anything like regular work with the RED- the Rocket is not optional it's essential. That is unless you have a lot of free time (both yours and your clients) to wait for renders.

Noah
 
Graeme, I certainly appreciate the fact that there is no sharpening by default. When I'm working on more important projects the sharpening gets done "in post". But there are times when I just need to get some dailies out 'quick and dirty' using REDCine and certain clients judge the shots as being 'soft'. It's a pain to have to do an extra step every time just to make them look as great as they can be...
 
I hate to ask twice, but how does the deBayer in CS5.5 differ from that obtained via the RR or other means? Is it inferior? Or the same?

Thanks.

Stephen
 
Stephen, they all access the same code through the SDK, so if it uses the Rocket card it'll look the same as the use of the Rocket in REDCine-X, and similarly, if it uses the software demosaic it will look the same as the software demosaic in REDCine-X.

Graeme
 
Okay, great, Graeme. I really appreciate this. So, just for the sake of reiteration into my usually thick skull, the deBayer I'm getting from the CS5.5 set to "high" is the same quality I'd get if I were having the footage processed via a Scratch system or something similar that didn't have a RR card?

Stephen
 
Say you're comparing software to software - they all go through the SDK, they all get the same pixels back for the same settings and R3D going in.

Graeme
 
Graeme Nattress said:
Say you're comparing software to software - they all go through the SDK, they all get the same pixels back for the same settings and R3D going in.
Click to expand...

This is an important point. It should be framed and hung on a wall for all to see :-) One thing to note - though - is that the software apps can have different versions of the SDK implemented, which could give different results.
 
Graeme Nattress said:
I'm sure the SiCortex will keep your office warm!

Graeme
Click to expand...

You jest!

The SiCortex is a wee ATX deskside box. If I need warmth, I fire up much more serious hardware:

attachment.php


:-)

Mike
 
Noah Kadner said:
Gotta say- if you are doing anything like regular work with the RED- the Rocket is not optional it's essential. That is unless you have a lot of free time (both yours and your clients) to wait for renders.

Noah
Click to expand...

You could allways distribute the renders...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top