What's New in 2017 Extension 1

Welcome to Autodesk Flame 2017 Extension 1. This release introduces many new creative features, performance and workflow enhancements, and other user-requested improvements. Make sure to check http://www.autodesk.com/vxf for the latest Flame documentation (including Installation Guides, Release Notes, and other documents). Also, many new feature videos (as well as other workflow videos) are available at https://www.youtube.com/user/FlameHowTos. This Learning Channel is updated frequently, so be sure to subscribe or bookmark the page. Links to specific 2017 Extension 1 videos are also provided in this What's New topic, denoted by this icon: .

Note: For 2017 features, see What's New in 2017.

Follow these links to navigate to the sections below:

What's New in Project Management

What's New in Colour Management

This release introduces a more active approach to colour management. All media is now tagged to identify its colour space and this information is used to drive an automated new viewport system. In addition, Thumbnails, and the Sparks and Stabilizer viewports are now colour managed.

See Tagging Clips with a Colour Space.

For more details, see this extensive Colour Management video series from the Flame Learning Channel:

What is New in Supported File Formats

Import

Support for XF-AVC files from the Canon EOS C700:

  • Supports both AVC-Intra and Long GOP
  • Spanned clips
  • SD/HD/UHDTV/4K in 8-, 10-, and 12-bits

Updated RED support to RED SDK 6.2.1:

  • Support for RED HELIUM sensor (8K/S35)
  • New REDWideGamutRGB.colorspace
  • New Log3G10 Gamma Curve
  • Lens Metadata in the Metadata tab of MediaHub

Updated ARRIRAW support to ARRIRAW SDK 5.3:

  • Support for the ALEXA mini and AMIRA cameras
  • Support for new colour spaces:
    • Video ITU2020
    • Video DCI D60
    • Video DCI D65
  • Supports new processing version 5.0 (SW & HW)
  • Supports anamorphic ratio 1.25

OpenEXR

  • Tape Name is now read from the OpenEXR header. The default import option is now set to Tape Name from File Header, instead of Tape Name from Directory.
  • Keycode data is now read from the OpenEXR header.
  • Support for Data & Display windows. The new Pixel Space Window option allows you to import an OpenEXR using either the Data or the Display window. Available in Format Specific Options > OpenEXR > Image. See Pixel Space Window.

Support for Panasonic AVC-Intra LT formats from Varicam LT cameras:

  • The AVC-Intra LT format is encoded to half-height resolution to reduce the data rate.
  • A new import option, Scale To Full Resolution, debayers AVC-intra LT media to its full resolution. This option is enabled by default. Available in Format Specific Options > Panasonic > Image .

Improved Pixspan Support

  • Flame now supports the latest Pixspan release, which includes support for GPU-accelerated decoding.

Open Clip

    You can now create multi-version open clips where each version has a different number of channels.

Note: To improve browsing speed, media files without proper filename extensions are no longer recognized by the MediaHub.

Enhanced Multi-Channel Support

In previous versions, a multi-channel file would be imported as a Matte Container where each RGBA layer was itself wrapped in a Matte Container. The only way to import and keep the multi-channel structure of a clip was through Batch's Read File node. The Read File node allowed for keeping the multi-channel structure but at the cost of not being able to archive, cache, proxy, or wire the media.

This release enhances multi-channel clip support through the following changes:

  • New import options in the MediaHub.
  • Improvements to the Conform, Timeline FX, some Tools, and Batch FX worlkflows to improve support for multi-channel clips.
  • New Import node in Batch and Batch FX, which behaves like any other media in the schematic. Read File node is now deprecated, and only included for backward compatibility.

See About Multi-channel Clips.

Export

Miscellaneous improvements

  • Media encoding speed has been improved when source content is located on a network file system.
  • Tape name and Keycode data is now included in exported OpenEXR files.
  • Backburner Monitor now displays the jobs that are part of a Sequence Publish as a sequence name/segment name pair. This makes it easier to identify background jobs related to the sequence publish. Only applies to background export jobs.
  • MXF XDCAM 422 exported by Flame are encoded based on Sony's XDCAM format, and all start with a full Group of Pictures (GOP). Some broadcasters use a different flavour of XDCAM 422, where the media start with a short GOP (starting on an I-frame). You can meet these encoding requirements by setting an environment variable. See Exporting Clips and Sequences.
  • You can now use the command line tool flame_export to export contents from an opened project. See Exporting from the Command Line.

What's New in MediaHub

Open Clip new import options:

OpenEXR improvements:

Previewer improvements:

What's New in Conform

Miscellaneous Improvements

Connected Conform Workflow

Miscellaneous Improvements

  • There is a new preference: Preferences > Timeline FX / Batch /BFX > Ignore in Publish/Conform. When disabled, the Batch Group created with the Create Batch Group option starts at a frame matching the source frame number of the background element. When enabled, the Batch Group will start at frame 1. The preference is disabled by default.
  • Head and Tail of clips are now unrolled if they do not visually modify the rendered range of a Batch Group created in a Connected Conform Workflow.

New Workflow: Sources Connections

It is now possible to create Sources Connections. The Segment Connection creation introduced in 2017 allowed you to enable Segment Connection on a segment, which could then be duplicated but remain connected to the original segment. The new Source Segment Connection allows you to set Connected Segment from a source to instances of this source within the same Reel Group.

See Connecting Sources.

What's New in Connected Colour Workflow

What's New in Batch and Batch FX

The Write File Node Clip Version button is now an option box with 3 options:

The information displayed below a node in Batch, Batch FX and Modular Keyer is now more legible:

The Clip node now displays the Clip Info and Metadata sections, to the right of the Clip Channels User Interface. Extended View for Multi-Channel clips now displays the following information:
  • Type: This column displays the Channel Type, as derived from the Channel Rules configuration file.
  • Name: The name of the channel.
  • Colour Space: The resolved colour space, based on the Channel Type.

There is a new preference: Preferences > Timeline > FX > Batch > BFX > Ignore in Publish/Conform, disabled by default. When disabled, the Batch Group created from a Shot Sequence or Publish starts at a frame matching the source frame number of the background element.
 When enabled, the Batch Group will start at frame 1.

Expressions / Keyframes

Expression / Keyframes indicators are now displayed above a Batch, Batch FX and Modular Keyer node. The indicators appear when the node contains at least one Expression or one Keyframe. See: Keyframe Indicator Reference.

Batch Schematic Cleanup

It is now possible to clean up a Batch, Batch FX and Modular Keyer Schematic using the Clean Up Branch Upstream and Clean Up Schematic functions:

  • Clean Up Branch Upstream is available on all nodes and is accessible from the Contextual menu. All the nodes upstream are re-organized when this option is selected.
  • Clean Up Schematic is available from the Contextual Menu when you click in the Schematic background. All nodes in the Schematic are re-organized.
  • These operations are undoable.

Improved Batch or Batch FX Setup Portability

A Batch or Batch FX setup now contains the paths to the media files referenced by the clips in the schematic, making it easier to move Batch or Batch FX setups between Creative Finishing workstations. See Clips, Media, and Batch Setups.

Elbow Node

The Break Link feature has been replaced by the Elbow node. See: Creating Break Points in Node Connections.

Compass Node

The Compass node is a node that can be used to define and identify an area in the Batch, Batch FX and Modular Keyer schematic, by encompassing the nodes of your choice in your process tree. See: Using the Compass Node.

Batch Setup Start Frame

It is now possible to modify the Start Frame of a Batch setup, using the numeric field located above the Current Frame field. See: Batch Setup Start Frame.

Miscellaneous Batch or Batch FX Improvements

  • Import Node in Batch or Batch FX: The Import Node allows you to import content from File System to the scene. The result creates clips in the Batch Group. These clips can then be cached or proxy generated (using the contextual menu from clips in the Batch Reels). Use the Import Node instead of the Read File node when you want your content to be part of an Archive.
  • The Batch Read File Node Absolute Frame Offset preference also affects content imported using the Import node.
    Note: This does not apply to content that was already in the application. It only applies to new content imported in Batch.
  • The Import keyboard shortcut adds an Import node to the Scene and the imported media is placed at the cursor position in the Batch canvas.
  • Nodes are now pasted under the cursor when the Paste shortcut is used while the cursor is over a Schematic view.
  • Branch layouts are now preserved when you use the Explode FX, Convert to 3D Comp, Explode One, and Explode History functions. The nodes are also displayed where the exploded clip is now located rather than their original location.
  • The following improvements have been made to Notes:
    • The Expand / Collapse status is now persistent and saved within the setup. A note’s size is now persistent and saved in the setup.
    • Notes are now expanded by default when added from the Node bin.
  • The current version number of a Write File node is now displayed within the Render List under the Version column.
  • Disabled is displayed for a Write File node where the Clip Version button is disabled.
  • The version number is displayed and can be edited when the Clip Version button is enabled in the Write File node.
  • The Step rendering function has been moved from Batch's primary user interface to the Render List sub-menu. The setting is still global and is applied to all the Render and Write File nodes present in a Batch Group.
  • Hidden Links connected to a MUX node are now visible when the upstream / downstream nodes are selected. The links are also visible when you connect a node to a MUX node that has the Hide Links function enabled.
  • It is now possible to perform a N-click to only propagate a Node name to the Name layer in Burn-In Metadata.
  • Starting Flame with Shotgun, using a Batch setup that includes a Write File node, now appropriately sets the correct version to render.
  • The name of the tagged colour space is written under the clip when the Resolution option is selected in Batch or Batch FX Prefs.
  • The Batch FX Schematic view now automatically fits the viewport when you enter Batch FX the first time.

For more details, see these Batch and Batch FX videos from the Flame Learning Channel:

What's New in Action

Camera and Viewport Improvements

  • You can now create a camera on demand. Use the keyboard shortcut Spacebar+C you create a camera object that contains the viewing settings of the camera used in the current viewport. This allows you to navigate a scene using Working Cam or rendering camera and create new cameras as you look for creative angles.
  • You can now easily frame the contents of the viewport or the Action schematic using keyboard shortcuts. See Framing Views.
  • New keyboard shortcuts allows you to use a 3-button mouse or the tablet pen to orbit, dolly, or track the viewport. See Modifying the Camera.

Object Manipulations Improvements

Improved Selection

  • Faster picking: Work has been done to improve picking in the viewport, making it more precise and faster than ever.
  • Holding Shift as you click an object selects that object and every other object behind it (Z-depth picking).
  • You can now multi-select objects using Ctrl+click directly in the viewport. You can also do the same thing in the Action schematic.
  • The selection mechanism in Action's viewport and schematic now matches that of Batch or Batch FX. It now properly supports all Copy/Cut/Paste/Delete operation of a multi-selection scheme.
  • You can enable multi-node editing with the Spacebar+M keyboard shortcut to display the multi-axes tab.
  • You can now lock the selection in the viewport. See Locking Selection.
  • See Selecting Objects in Action.

Improved Manipulations

  • The new Axis widget provides an easy target for selection in 3D space, while preventing accidental edits by being clearly different from the new manipulators.
  • New, 3D-inspired, manipulators for Move, Scale, Rotate, and Center (Pivot) replace the old axis widgets. See Action: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects.
  • You can now use the manipulators in new Object, World, or Camera coordinate spaces. See Camera Space, Object Space, World Space.
  • A new preference sets the size of the Axis widgets. In Action Preferences > Display > Axis Scale field.
  • The icon visibility setting contains a new option (Group Off), allowing you to remove the icons of objects contained inside of a group. This displays an All icon mode without the objects contained inside a group, improving the usability of the F4 scene view .

Miscellaneous Action Object Improvements

  • Double-clicking a Surface, 3D Text, Light, or Camera node in the node bin now adds that object to the front of the currently selected object.
  • A new keyboard shortcut, Spacebar+H, toggles between displaying or hiding texture-related axes. Use this keyboard shortcut to reduce the number of axes displayed in the viewport, making it easier to pick the correct axis to transform an object.
  • Action widgets can now be affected by Z-depth occlusion. Use the keyboard shortcut Spacebar+O to toggle Z-depth occlusion on or off.
  • Two new selection indicators are now available: Wireframe and Outline. The traditional Bounding Box is still available. Switch between indicators with the keyboard shortcut Spacebar+I.
  • The Viewport bar displays three new preferences for quick access: Icons Visibility, Space Selection, and Z-depth Widget Occlusions.

See Action: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects

Image-Based Lighting (IBL) Enhancements

  • IBL maps are now working properly with PBS Material, using the Shader node in Physically Based mode. The IBL now provides the exact diffuse reflection result based on the Roughness level of the material. When a material is not PBS, it behaves like before, so the same IBL can be used for both types of material.
  • Ambient lights now work properly with a PBS material.
  • Four new default IBL images are available.
  • External textures are now supported for all Action map types. For IBL textures, the default location is /presets/action/ibl.

See Relighting: Image-Based Lighting IBL.

Physically Based Shading

  • A new Action texture map node is available: PBS map. This node allows you to have a single map with all the map types that can be used in a PBS workflow: Anisotropic, AO, Base Color, Metallic, Opacity, Roughness, Subsurface scattering, Specular levels, and Specular tint. There is also a Custom box that gives you access to 10 map IDs to use in custom Lightboxes. Similar settings are available in the Shader Node when you select Physically Based as the Shader Type, but by using the PBS Map, you can affect the shader on a per pixel basis instead of as a global value for the whole object)
    Note: On a Mac system, you are limited to Base Color, Roughness, Metallic, AO, and Opacity shader types.

    See PBS Mapping.

  • Use the new Substance PBR (Physically Based Rendering) node to create physically based textures based on real world presets. Many Substance PBR preset assets are available. See Substance Textures and Substance PBR.

Action Geometry Import/Export Improvements

Importing FBX and Alembic files:

  • You can now see the data structure of imported FBX and Alembic files. You can edit the content by connecting the soft-imported data structure to native Action objects using parenting, mimic link, lighting link, or GMask link, similar to the new Group node workflow.
  • You can change some global geometry controls from the FBX Scene or Alembic Scene node UI. You can also locally cache the content by using the Cache button, which allows you to archive the data.
  • New Maya hypershade assets have been added to the list of provided FBX files.

    • See Working with FBX and Alembic Scene Nodes.

Exporting FBX:

  • You can now export FBX files from an Action setup. You have the choice of doing this from all supported objects in the scene, or only the selected objects. Supported objects are Surface, Geometry, Axis, Camera, Light, and Point Cloud. The textures are only exported for the current frame, as well as animated extended bicubics. See Exporting FBX Geometries.

Other Action Import Improvements:

  • You can now access the Import browser through the right-click contextual menu in the Action schematic. The Import browser has also been updated to fix various issues.
  • A new global preference is available to set the default import path (located by default in ~/presets/models). A new python hook is also available to set this default path.

Action Miscellaneous Improvements

  • Group nodes in Action have been improved. The Group node is now an object with a UI and has a schematic view (similar to the Batch Group) that can be edited. See Grouping Objects.
  • You can now specify external media to be used by any Action texture map. If the media you want to use resides elsewhere on your filesystem, you can use the Read File tab of the map menu to load the texture, and then decide if you want the texture to be managed by Action, or not. See Working With Textures in Map Nodes.
  • A new mode in the Action Software Anti-aliasing Setup menu Preferences section (AA N Samples) allows you to choose the number of samples in the corresponding Samples field. This allows you to have an arbitrary amount of Software AA values and animate them over time.
  • Action Lens Flare nodes now allow you to save and reload presets containing animation channel expressions. Note that only animation channel expressions found inside the setup will reload properly (Lens Flare nodes and its children). Also keep in mind that node names need to be unique for expressions to resolve properly (if you load the same Lens Flare setup twice, you'll have an expression resolving clash).
  • Multi-Render Target (MRT) allows Action outputs to be much more efficient when used by the Camera FX pipeline. Depending on the Rendering settings, the scene is rendered only once or twice instead of as many times as there were output passes in the past, leading to a significant speed increase in the case of Camera FX requiring many input connections. See Rendering Camera FX.

For more details, see these Action videos from the Flame Learning Channel:

What's New in Viewing & Viewports

Colour Sampling

It is now possible to sample a pixel’s colour inside a Viewport (Player or Tools) to get its RGB values. See: The Colour Picker.

Player

  • A Fit button is now available next to the Home button in all Players and Viewers that support multi-views. Ctrl-Clicking on the Zoom % button no longer performs a Fit. It resets the zoom value to 100%.

    For more details, see this video from the Flame Learning Channel: The Viewports - Home and Fit.

  • The Sequence Viewer is always displayed, even if the current sequence is located under the current Folder / Reel being shown in the Freeform view. The Sequence Viewer border is thicker so it can be differentiated from the other clips.
  • Each Batch or Batch FX Group now has its own multi-view settings. The layout and its content are persistent between sessions and are saved with a setup. The layout is recalled when you load a setup.
  • Modifying the Pan / Zoom of a Batch or Batch FX Schematic no longer persists when other Batch or Batch FX are loaded to the schematic. Improvements have been made to the Freeform view Sequence Viewer.

Action

  • Some Action views now have their own Zoom / Pan settings that are not altered by the views that use the common Zoom / Pan settings. These views are:
    • Perspective view
    • Front view
    • Top view
    • Side view
    • Working view
    • Source Working view
    • Schematic view
    • Group view
    • Object view

What's New in Tangent Panel

Note: This supplied version of Tangent Hub is compatible with any third party application that supports the Tangent panel.

For more details, see this video from the Flame Learning Channel: Tangent Panel Enhancements.

What's New in Wiretap SDK

You can now define or update a project's Colour Policy with the Wiretap API. If you have scripts that use Wiretap API to create projects, you must update your tools to create projects with a Colour Policy.

To define a Colour Policy, the new syncolor node is used. The syncolor node is found under the root node and under each project node.

Project's syncolor node:
  • Only one child node: policy
  • getMetadata can be called on a syncolor node. Displays the path to the shared transform directory.
  • There is no setMetadata for syncolor or policy nodes under a project.
  • A syncolor node can be used as source and destination by the duplicateNode to copy a policy from/to another project. For example, to copy the policy from one project to another using the command line tool: 
    wiretap_duplicate_node -s <src project node>/syncolor/policy
-n <dst project node>/syncolor
Root's syncolor node:
  • Contains one child node: policies child node.
  • The policies node has two children nodes, also known as policy category nodes:
    • Autodesk : Policies from the installed build.
    • Shared : Policies from the SynColor repository location.
  • Each policy category node contains policy nodes where the node's name is the policy name.
  • getMetadata can be called on syncolor node. It displays the path to the shared transform directory.
  • setMetadata can be called on the syncolor root node to change the path of the repository
  • A syncolor node can be the source node to set a policy on a project. Doing this using the the command line tool: 
    wiretap_duplicate_node -s "/syncolor/policies/Autodesk/ACES 1.0" -n
<dst project node>/syncolor

If you were to create a project without a Colour Policy, the Flame application will show an error message when starting the project. You will then need to do the following to assign a Colour Policy to the project:

  1. Start the application with the project
  2. When the error message about Colour Management Rules missing, press Cancel.
  3. Enter the Project Management Edit menu.
  4. Select a Colour Policy and save the project. Note: This is a known issue, the release will default to the Legacy policy.

Miscellaneous Features and Enhancements

InfiniBand

Remote connections and network transfers over InfiniBand have been revisited to take advantage of multi-threading, which should translate to faster data transfers. This should also improve playback over an InfiniBand network.

Backburner

On completion of a render job, the job can be left in the queue, it can be archived or it can be deleted a given number of days after job completion. Job handling can be set per application, per manager, or per job. See Backburner Monitor in a web browser.

Archiving

Located in the MediaHub's Archive Options, the new Silent Mode button allows the application to skip errors when archiving content. Error such as missing media when archiving with Cache On Archive option are skipped, allowing the archive to complete. Encountered errors are still printed to the application log files and to the shell, and a dialog box is displayed at the end of the archiving process if there were errors.

Path Translation

The Path Translation feature can now be used to translate not only media paths for conform sources, but also for clips in the Workspace, and for Batch setups' Clip and Write File nodes.

Media Panel

  • Moving or deleting a shared library now locks the top-level Shared Libraries. This locks prevents other users on the network from editing the hierarchy of the Shared Libraries. Save the project to remove the lock. See Sharing Clips.
  • Collapsed containers (libraries, reels, and folders) no longer expand automatically when you drop something on them.

Player

Use the new RAM Player option in the Player to allow you to cache a range of frames into memory in order to improve playback. This functionality is similar to the Play From Memory feature of pre-Anniversary Edition Flame. See Using the RAM Player to Cache Frames for Playback.

For more details, see this video from the Flame Learning Channel: The RAM Player.

GMask Tracer

The GMask Tracer can now output colour values outside of the 0.0,1.0 range. There is a new Clamp Colours button in the GMask Tracer Setup menu's Rendering section.

Timeline

New keyboard shortcuts are now available in the Timeline: Hard Commit Segment Under Cursor (Spacebar+H for the Flame shortcut profile, undefined for Smoke Classic or Smoke FCP) and Hard Commit Sequence Under Cursor (Alt+Spacebar+H for the Flame shortcut profile, undefined for Smoke Classic or Smoke FCP). All selected items are hard committed when the shortcut is used while one of the selected items is under the cursor. Only the item under the cursor is hard committed if the shortcut is used over an unselected item.

Hard Commit Selection in Timeline (undefined for the Flame shortcut profile, ALT+H for Smoke Classic, Shift+H for Smoke FCP) , is now available. This shortcut affects the selected items, just like the Hard Commit function in the contextual menu on a Timeline segment.

General Workflow & User Interface

  • Flame now starts faster.
  • Thumbnails now look better than ever.
  • You can now define the size of clip thumbnails in the Media Panel and the MediaHub when using the List view. The Default size is set to small, but you can change it using the option box next to the Clip Display box.

    For more details, see this video from the Flame Learning Channel: Resizing the List View Thumbnails.

  • On Linux, Flame no longer overrides the hires monitor's refresh rate.
  • The Rectangular selection workflow has been modified to be consistent throughout the application.
    • Ctrl-Rectangle Lasso selects all elements within the lasso, making them the only selected items.
    • Ctrl-Shift-Rectangle Lasso toggles the selection status of all items inside the lasso while keeping the previously selected items selected.
  • You can once again create a Reel group in Flare Desktop.

What's New in Lustre

Installation

  • When installing Lustre in a dual DVI monitor configuration, you no longer need to manually define the resolution of the Primary monitor in the init.conf file. The installation now handles that.
  • Lustre Users can now create a Lustre-based Flame user profile and control Flame with similar shortcuts as Lustre for navigation, animation editor, etc.

Colour Management

  • This release brings the new automated, rule-based, input colour conversion feature from Flame to Lustre.
  • CTF Plugin: A new GPU plugin, enabling the application of a Colour Tranform or a 1D/3D LUT to a shot on output, is now available. Using this plugin, you can grade native media and view the effect through a CTT or a LUT. This plugin can be use to affect the entire image or parts of the image, using a secondary/shape or a key. You can see this plugin as a shot based output LUT. The location of the plugin in the Lustre grading pipeline is between the Input Primaries and the Output Primaries. This means that you can apply Output primaries color correction on top of the graded content onto which the CTF Plugin is applied. Then the Output LUT is applied, providing a lot of flexibility.
    Note: Since the plugin references the CTF or LUT from its original location, make sure that location is available to remote render nodes or workstation that would use the plugin. If the CTF or LUT location is not available, rendering will still occur but without the plugin.

Multi-Channel Media

  • It is now possible to update clips when external mattes are added from the file system. When you import a clip (locally or via Wiretap Gateway), and Matte media has been added in the Matte or Multi Matte structure, you can hold Shift when loading a Cut or a Grade and the clips and cuts are updated to reflect the newly added channels. This enables the following operations:
    • Converting regular clips to Multi-Channel clips.
    • Adding/Modifying Multi-Channel clips (addition, modification or removal of channels).
    


Flags System

  • New CDL/SDL Import and Change flags.
  • It is now possible to apply the current Flag ([ ]) to the event portion of an EDL. This functionality allows the use of events in an EDL to propagate a Flag to the matched event in the current cut. See: Flagging Shots.

Stereo Decision List (SDL)

  • Aspect Ratio data is now correctly written in the DolbyVision XML file.
The specification of Stereo Decision List (SDL) comments has been changed to reflect the StereoD SDL specification (V0.25, 2016). See: Flagging Shots.

ShotReactor