@QuickHitRecord, @swinxx, @Jbowdach and all..
Sorry for the lack of updates. I/We really are working flat out. It's mostly just myself and occasionally an engineer who helps me with testing and knows his way around a film scanner.
As I said in my previous post, I'm not one for making excuses. I know how frustrating it is to wait for things but I also know the complexity of this process and the unexpected pitfalls along the way. Time really is my enemy at the moment (OK, and my earlier over-optimistic estimates on delivery have made it much worse - for which I am solely responsible and I again apologize for!) , there just are not enough hours in the day. I will deliver on all that is promised but please remember, I'm working alone most of the time and Cinelog is not yet big enough to employ another member of staff, let alone one who has the required knowledge.
Anyway, to try to shed a little light on what I'm doing, here is a status update on Cinelog-C (not including the website update and LutBank which is being done in parallel by myself and a currently absent web designer).
Cinelog-C will work with any color/editing app that can support luts and/or ICC profiles either natively or via plugins.
An important feature of the new Cinelog-C lut pack (not yet released) is reconfiguring everything to work with OpenColorIO. We have built application specific OCIO configurations which you can use with free OFX plugins in After Effects, Premier Pro, Resolve, Nuke (native support), Natron, Sony Vegas and others. OpenColorIO is a frame work that lets us use variables and matrices for getting to and from colorspaces which means accuracy and efficiency. In some cases this also allows for GPU acceleration and exporting of custom transform luts (you choose what goes in and what comes out and it will generate a lut for you). Alongside logspace transfer functions you will also be able to transfer to/from their colorspace counterparts. This means if you want to convert Magic Lantern Raw to Slog2/3 it will output not only Slog gamma but also S-Gamut/S-Gamut3/S-Gamut3-Cine wide gamut RGB. All these transforms/transfers are invertible and transferable, even after rendering - if you ever work with a colorist they will love you for this!
We have also added our new film emulation luts to the configurations to ensure the correct colorspace is always used. There are multiple variations (looks) in these 'presets' using ASC CDL files, RGB matrices and luts to show what can be achieved when processed through a PFE lut. All you need to worry about is making sure your white balance is correct for REC709/sRGB.
BTW, We will be redistributing the OCIO plugins (where the license permits) on our new website along with installers or installation instructions (i.e. how to set environmental variables etc). These will be free to download for everyone. Along with the default log transfers already available through OCIO we will include a basic custom config that includes some of the freely available 'log' luts (i.e. VisionLog, Cinestyle) and pseudo-Canon picture styles. The free version will also have de-log functions for all the log curves offered with MLRawViewer. The commercial version has extra OCIO configs making use of our custom luts.
If you don't want to use OCIO all the various configs will be available as high resolution 1D/3D and/or shaper luts (initially in Iridas .cube format) . Lut conversion to any unsupported format is free of charge on request, as are updates/upgrades. Cinelog-C that was sent to current customers is a pre-release upgrade. We don't currently sell this but wanted to give current users a preview pack after it was requested numerous times. With hindsight I probably should have held back until everything was complete. The full release is more extensive.
As with the original Cinelog, Cinelog-C will also be available for Adobe Camera Raw. There are new optimized camera profiles for ACR that are set-and-forget (you only adjust white balance). We have decided to keep things simple and include all supported cameras for each manufacturer in one pack (i.e. all Canon DSLRs or all Blackmagic Cameras etc). The OCIO configuration is slightly different than for other apps as it has additional transfer functions designed to get from the new ACR profile(s) log output to Cinelog-C colorspace before rendering.
Although Cinelog-C is a proper mathematical wide gamut log colorspace (i.e. based on RGB primaries, white point (D65) and a log formula, convertible using a 3x3 RGB matrix), the biggest challenge we have faced is getting a unified output from the myriad of different color grading apps that are available. You would think that a professional NLE would adhere to defined standards but unfortunately this is not always the case! Blackmagic for instance, have never published the formula for BMD Film colorspace so we have had to blindly reverse engineer it to a color matrix and log formula that produces an almost identical output (+/- 3%). We needed to do this because simple color matching using something like Matchlight can only really work on a shot by shot basis and is pretty much limited to the shot you are matching. There are restrictions/limits when debayering ML Raw using Resolves REC709 colorspace (and the current V11 beta has debayering noise issues) but Cinelog-C does have a new ACES transform and we are working on camera IDTs. This part is of course irrelevant if you work exclusively in one NLE or grading app but we do have users who are VFX artists, working in Nuke or AE and who work with colorists who are grading 5D Mark III ML Raw footage on a Baselight or Resolve system. We need to make sure color critical information is always passed between apps.
To give you an idea of the scale of what I/we have had to do (and are still doing), involves testing luts, ICC profiles, OCIO configs etc on 13 different color grading and NLE apps (some I have had to learn the fundamentals of) on multiple platforms plus now some of the lut supporting raw converters (i.e. MLRawViewer) and 2 beta apps that are under NDA. I don't own all these and have to rent software or rent time in grading suites for testing. We also had to rent/borrow several cameras to be sure we are getting consistent results so that when we say that your 7D ML raw footage can be transformed to Alexa Log-C, it actually will be Log-C (as per the Arri white paper) and be comparative to what Log-C from the Alexa actually looks like (within limits, i.e. excluding the differences in sensor, dynamic range and saturation control etc that you get with the Alexa and the debayer quality of the host app).
I also offer detailed email support and have built very technical luts for several of the bigger cameras and poorly supported raw recorders (i.e. FS700/Convergent Design Odyssey) - this is a very small business so I have to take on additional work if it comes in. I'm not saying this to moan, because I genuinely enjoy my work, but purely to offer an explanation of why things can take time. Things will get better!
@Jbowdach re: ETA on release/VisionLog etc
The luts are finalized, the OCIO configurations are built for most apps (about 80% finished - it's a lot of code), the new ACR profiles are finished. I'm still working on documentation - I'm going to limit the written instructions to the absolute basics and do the rest in video tutorials. I still need to build/test the new installers before a final check on all setups that will be supported plus the website needs updating - the new site is actually built but there is quite a bit of content to add. My web helper is ill atm so that part is stalled as I have to focus on the final product push.
re: VisionLog - Yes VisionLog ACR profiles are free and they also provide a BMD to VisionLog lut free, but as you said, you still pay for their other luts and they cost more (I can't express a view on the Impulz or Osaris packs as I don't own them). Also, upgrades? future products etc - will they be free to customers? TBH, without being too technical the VisionLog profile is not, to my knowledge, based on a math formula. It's more of a log 'look' which means dynamic range will take a hit. There is a reason these things should be done with math
but if it works for some users then I wont argue.
