Setting Preferences

The 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:

Monitor Preferences
Flipbook Preferences
Node Preferences
Proxy Preferences
Data Format Preferences
Autosave Preferences

Saving Changes to Preference Settings

To 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 Preferences

You 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.

  • The upper left section, User Interface Configuration, allows you to control the default display of optional toolbars, menus, and panels.
  • The upper right section, Monitor Display Settings, enables you to set the defaults for displaying 8-bit, 16-bit, and floating point imagery.
  • The lower section, Monitor Options, enables you to set preferences pertaining to monitor operation, for both node monitors and work monitors.

User Interface Configuration

This 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 Settings

This 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.

Note:
Cineon Linear refers to images converted from log space using the optional "insert" method in the Disk Input node, which does not stretch the data across the entire range of the 16-bit colorspace.) Resetting the Shift value to 4 is best for displaying Cineon Linear in the Frame Icon; however, other 16-bit linear imagery will appear blown out.

Monitor Options

This section enables you to set defaults for various monitor options.

Node Monitors

Node 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 Mode

This 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 Update

Check 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.

Note:
You can override the current setting in any monitor by right-clicking on the cook button (eye icon) to toggle to the opposite state.

Slices to Use

This 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 Monitors

Work 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 Handles

A 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 Update

Check 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 Preferences

You access the Flipbook Preferences panel from the Chalice Preferences menu. This panel enables you to set default states for Chalice flipbooks.

User Interface Configuration

This 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 Settings

This section enables you to change default settings for the following playback control options in flipbooks:

  • the frame rate (fps);
  • the type of repeat to use, if any;
  • whether to use double buffering (IRIX only);
  • whether Chalice should initiate playback automatically as soon as the flipbook is available; and
  • whether flipbook data should be written to disk for playback, instead of to RAM, as the flipbook is created.

Disk Playback Configuration

These parameters are used to change defaults for saving flipbooks to disk to enable the fastest possible playback performance.

Bytes / Pixel

The "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 Arrays

When 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.

Blocksize

The 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 Location

Use this parameter field to change the default location to which flipbooks will be written.

Node Preferences

This panel enables you to reset the following defaults for new nodes.

Note:
These node preferences may be changed for any individual node using the Local Node Menu button on the node itself without affecting the default settings.

Node Size

Select Small, Medium, or Large for the size of new nodes; the default is Medium.

Use Radial Menus

Check 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 Image

This 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 Icon

Check this option to update the thumbnail images in the frame icons for any affected node each time you change a parameter setting.

Proxy Preferences

This 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 Levels

The factory default is that Medium represents 50 percent of full, and Low, 25 percent of full. Two methods are provided for changing these values:

  • you can enter a new fraction (in the range of 0 to 1) into the Medium and/or Low Proxy Level fields, or
  • you can use the Reference Resolution parameters to have Chalice calculate a new fraction for you.

Reference Resolutions

These 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 Ratios

In 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 Preferences

This 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

  • the form of the data (i.e., Cineon, 16-bit linear, 8-bit, etc.)
  • image resolution
  • work monitor resolution
  • the premultiplied status of image data

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 Preferences

Autosave 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 On

When the Autosave on box is checked, the autosave feature is enabled.

Seconds Between Saves

You 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 Keep

Autosave 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 Keep

Autosaved 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.

Tip:
To have Chalice delete all autosaved files whenever you quit Chalice, enter 0 as the value in the "Days to keep" field.

Autosave Directory

The 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.




Table of Contents | Index



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