Setting PreferencesThe Chalice Preferences menu enables you to change the default settings in Chalice. This menu is described generally in chapter 10, "Main Menu Bar ." However, the Preferences menu also enables you to access a series of panels in which you can change the defaults for various categories of functionality in Chalice. These panels are explained in detail in this chapter:
Saving Changes to Preference SettingsTo save new settings in preferences panels for the current session and subsequent sessions (when you restart Chalice), click the Accept button. To dismiss the panel without changing any settings, click the Cancel button. Monitor PreferencesYou access the Monitor Preferences panel from the Chalice Preferences menu. This panel enables you to set default states for Chalice node monitors and work monitors.
![]() User Interface ConfigurationThis section features checkboxes that enable you to change the default configuration of the user interface for Chalice monitors. Simply check the boxes of the monitor interface elements that you want to activate by default. For example, you can specify that monitors always open with the Inspect panel displayed by checking the "Inspect" box. Monitor Display SettingsThis section enables you to reset the default values that Chalice applies to the High , Low , and Gamma display parameters, which appear across the bottom of the monitor toolbar. A menu allows you to set the defaults for displaying 8-bit, 16-bit, and floating point images. You can key values directly into the Low, High, and Gamma parameters, or you can use the associated popup menu either to select preset values for these parameters, or to select a LUT that overrides these parameters. If you are setting the defaults for 16-bit images, an additional parameter, Icon Display Shift , will appear. This parameter applies only to node icon image display in the node's Frame Icon, and only to nodes containing 16-bit images. The default value of 8 is best for viewing most 16-bit imagery in icon view. The exception is Cineon Linear imagery, which will appear indistinct or black.
Monitor OptionsThis section enables you to set defaults for various monitor options. Node MonitorsNode monitors are the standard Chalice monitors that are accessed by selecting Monitor Full, Medium, or Low from the local node menu of a node. Monitor ModeThis menu sets the default mode for monitor operation: Multiple Monitor or Single Monitor mode. In Multiple Monitor mode, which is the factory default, you can keep multiple monitor windows open simultaneously to display imagery at various stages of processing. Select Single Monitor mode to view all your imagery in one monitor, if you prefer. Refer to chapter 8, "Monitors and Flipbooks ," for a complete description of how to use monitors in each mode. Monitor Auto UpdateCheck to specify Auto Update as the default state for any node monitors that you open. When Auto Update is on in a monitor, the image is updated each time you change a parameter setting.
Slices to UseThis field enables you to reset the default monitor slicing level, which is 1 (that is, no slicing). Slicing can improve the speed of rendering and updating large monitor images by processing the image data in slices, where each image slice appears in the monitor as it is computed. The popup menu associated with this field enables you to select a recommended number for various image resolutions, or you can key in a specific number of slices. Work MonitorsWork monitors feature enhanced, node-specific functionality. They are accessed by clicking a plus icon in the node panel of those nodes that offer work monitors. Monitor HandlesA number of work monitors provide drawing, cropping, and other tools superimposed over the monitor image. The Monitor Handles menu enables you to improve the visibility of these tools based on the overall brightness of your imagery. You can select "dark handles, for light images" or "light handles, for dark images." Work Monitor Auto UpdateCheck this option to specify Auto Update as the default state for any work monitors that you open. When Auto Update is on in a work monitor, the image is updated each time you change a parameter setting. Flipbook PreferencesYou access the Flipbook Preferences panel from the Chalice Preferences menu. This panel enables you to set default states for Chalice flipbooks. ![]() User Interface ConfigurationThis section features checkboxes that enable you to change the default configuration of the optional toolbars, menus, and panels in the flipbook interface. Simply check the boxes of the interface elements that you want to activate by default. Playback Control SettingsThis section enables you to change default settings for the following playback control options in flipbooks:
Disk Playback ConfigurationThese parameters are used to change defaults for saving flipbooks to disk to enable the fastest possible playback performance. Bytes / PixelThe "Bytes/Pixel (3 or 4)" parameter is set automatically by Chalice, based on the type of hardware being used. For example, some older SGI machines will run flipbooks faster when set to 4; newer systems, when set to 3. To ensure that a flipbook created on a newer SGI system would run well on an older system, however, you might reset this value accordingly. Disk ArraysWhen you are striping data across a disk array, it is essential that you enter the number of drives into this parameter field. Chalice will use this information to segment the data properly for faster playback. BlocksizeThe default value in this parameter field is 4096, which is the IRIX default. The correct block size is essential to enable Chalice to write flipbooks to disk in a form that will provide optimal playback speed. If your disks have been formatted at a different block size, change this parameter to match. Write LocationUse this parameter field to change the default location to which flipbooks will be written. Node PreferencesThis panel enables you to reset the following defaults for new nodes.
![]() Node SizeSelect Small, Medium, or Large for the size of new nodes; the default is Medium. Use Radial MenusCheck this box to make the Radial Menus option the default for displaying node popup menus. When checked, any menus accessed from a node in the workspace will appear in a radial layout. Otherwise, Chalice will display a traditional, single-column menu. Show Icon ImageThis item enables you to specify whether you want to create new nodes with the frame icon visible. The frame icon displays a thumbnail version of the image that would appear in the node monitor. Turn it off to create new nodes without a frame icon to save room in the workspace. Auto Update Node IconCheck this option to update the thumbnail images in the frame icons for any affected node each time you change a parameter setting. Proxy PreferencesThis panel enables you to change the definition of "medium " and "low" resolution when opening monitors in Chalice. Full resolution always represents 100 percent of the image size at a particular node. Full resolution cannot be redefined. Medium and Low represent fractions of 100 percent, and these fractions can be changed in the Proxy Defaults panel. ![]() The size of Medium and Low monitors is usually changed when you are using file proxies for some or all of your source imagery. To take best advantage of the availability of file proxies, the medium and low monitor resolutions should be redefined, if necessary, to match the file proxy sizes so that Chalice does not have to scale the proxy inputs up or down a little to match the monitor size requested. (Refer to "Using Proxies in Chalice " in chapter 12 for more information.) Proxy LevelsThe factory default is that Medium represents 50 percent of full, and Low, 25 percent of full. Two methods are provided for changing these values:
Reference ResolutionsThese parameters are provided for convenience, when you know that you want a monitor proxy to match a specific resolution, such as NTSC (720 x 486). Rather than getting out a calculator to figure out what fraction 720 x 486 is of, say, 2048 x 1536, you simply select the appropriate resolutions from the popup menu, or key in exact pixel values for the X and Y fields. Chalice updates the Proxy Level parameters for Medium and Low. Aspect RatiosIn addition, the aspect ratio of each resolution is displayed so that you can avoid using resolutions with different aspect ratios, if need be. Data Format PreferencesThis menu item enables you to access the Data Preferences panel, in which you can set default values to match the type of data you will be working with most often, so that the nodes you create will reflect these preferences in their parameter settings. ![]() For example, if you specify a default image resolution of 640 x 486, any new Color node you create will adopt this default size. If you specify that most of the image data is premultiplied, any Mcomp node you place will use this as the default setting in each layer. The Data Preferences panel enables you to specify the default values to use for
By default work with the data in this form:A popup menu enables you to select one of the following forms of data as the default form to work with: Cineon, 16-bit linear, 8-bit linear, 8-bit NTSC, 8-bit PAL, float linear, or float Cineon. For example, there are three different 8-bit linear options that you can specify as the default data form: 8-bit linear, 8-bit NTSC, and 8-bit PAL. The difference among them is the luminance function that will be pre-selected in any nodes that use Luminance. This means that if 8-bit linear is the selected default form and you place a Channel Swap node, the Luminance menu in the Channel Swap node panel will be preset to Film; if 8-bit NTSC is the default, however, the Luminance menu would be preset to NTSC. The default image resolution will be:You can enter a numerical value for each dimension in the data entry fields to specify a default resolution for image data, or you can use the associated popup menu to choose a resolution from the resolution list. For example, if you select 2K film resolution as the default, the Resolution parameter of any new Color node you create will default to 2048 x 1536. The default monitor resolution will be:This menu enables you to change the default resolution in the "At Resolution" parameter menu that accompanies every Work Monitor button. The default is to open work monitors at Full resolution, however you can select Medium or Low instead. Most of the image data:This popup menu enables you to specify the default alpha status of RGBA image data: premultiplied , not premultiplied , or Ultimatte . Every Mcomp, Zcomp, Atop, Inside, Outside, or Over node that you create will use the selected option as the default state for every layer. (Mcomp, Zcomp, and Over offer all three options; however, Atop, Inside, and Outside only offer the choice between premultiplied and not premultiplied.) For more information about the significance of premultiplication to compositing, see "About Premultiplication " in chapter 15, "Composite Nodes ." Autosave PreferencesAutosave is a Chalice feature that automatically saves a copy of the currently open grail file at regular intervals. The Autosave panel enables you to turn autosave on and off as well as specify how your grail files will be autosaved. To access an autosaved grail file, use the Revert command. Revert can be found under the Chalice File Menu , which is described in chapter 10, "Main Menu Bar ." ![]() Autosave OnWhen the Autosave on box is checked, the autosave feature is enabled. Seconds Between SavesYou can use the Seconds between saves data entry field to change the default setting, which will save the current file every 60 seconds. Saves to KeepAutosave creates a cache of incremental saves of the current file, up to the maximum number that you specify. The default is 20 autosave files. To change the maximum, type a new value into the Saves to keep data entry field. After the maximum number of saves is reached, Chalice deletes the oldest version when a new file is added. Days to KeepAutosaved files are not deleted automatically whenever you quit Chalice. To avoid the accumulation of unnecessary files on your hard disk, however, Chalice will delete all autosaved files older than the value specified in the Days to keep field. The default value is 7 days.
Autosave DirectoryThe files are saved into the directory specified in the Autosave Directory data entry field. The default location is $HOME/.chalice; you can specify a different directory by typing a new pathname into the field. |