Category: TIFFs for DCPs

Macbeth – 2020 Variations Experiment

The GretagMacBeth chart is part of a long and great history, bringing a standard for comparing an input with an output. It is now ‘owned’ by the Colour specialist company x-rite.It seems to have come from the printing world and migrated into photography, then into the 709 HD world. Take a shot during production and you have a comparable standard when you get to post.

Cool.

DSC Labs has several more modern charts applicable to these modern days of 13 stops (Webinar: Test Charts for Production) – but that isn’t the reason for this experiment. Just a learning process, and now, needing comments to improve it.

In this case, imagine a MacBeth chart being made today. Row 3 is easy – crank up the primaries and secondaries to 100%, and go for those greys on the 4th row at exact percentages. (I must admit that the first version I made an attempt at 18% in the penultimate position, but now it is just the boring original percentages.

Rows 1 and 2 were more difficult. The original patches are in the bottom right hand corner and it seems unbelievable that these are sky blue and whatever else they are named. There is a screenshot of the RGB slider positions – the attempt was that each was at some 25% notch, excepting the skin colors which are “Who Knows?”

This chart is designed in the 2020 color space and in 16 bits. There is a 2nd slide that places an original chart behind to validate that the patches are correct. They were derived from L*A*B* colors. But transferring color spaces and white points may be illegal in your country, so be cautious.

Download Passcode: QA_b4_QC

For the sake of learning and discussion of the science, the attached file here is a study of colors – more corresponding to the descriptions of the colors than the ones chosen to represent them in the smaller color space.

This download document is a 16-bit 2020, 4096 x 2160  TIFF file. It was made with Affinity Designer, the file of which is included in the zip.

The details on the right of the images says: Conceptual Art and Science

For all the lawyers out there:
Not for profit. Merely an educational experiment.

Ideas Wanted – [email protected]

Variations on MacBeth

Radial JND

You need to add a widget, row, or prebuilt layout before you’ll see anything here. 🙂

We begin this piece looking at the standard depiction of colors, provided to us in 1931 by the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) – a horseshoe created by bending the linear scale of light’s wavelength. The outside colors are the spectral colors and in the ‘center’ – known as the whitepoint – is the color white. In between are shades of white blended with the spectral colors. 

To skip the Lessons for the Non-Technical Cinema Employee and just download – The download password for the drawings is the same as always: QC_b4_QA

CIE 19313 Color space

Why do this twist? The more easily accessible chart of colors given linearly – from the lowest wavelengths of light that the eye can see, or the frequencies of light (inversely proportional to the speed of light). The reason to make the horseshoe is because there are a few mechanisms that can be achieved by such construction.

For example, a line starting from the extremes of red or green or blue can be drawn through the white point will land on the secondary colors – Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. In the additive world of light, that is, light given from an emissive source (the sun or a TV screen, for example), the combination of R, G and B turns white. In the subtractive world the sum of C, M, and Y (reflected light from a page on a book for example) the combination will give something close to black …it should be black if the dyes used were perfect, but since they rarely are, a printer for example, will add black ink to the mix.

Frequency (top row, right to left)and Wavelength (bottom row, left to right) of Light Spectrum
On the horizontal, Frequency (top row, right to left)and Wavelength (bottom row, left to right) of Light.

We think of these different uses as color spaces. They define mathemematically what could be if the monitor were ultimately capable, or if inks were full range and perfect. The first thing that we learn though: there is no achieving perfect red and perfect blue or perfect green with our lights or inks.  So, often, when we see the horseshoe there will be triangles inside, with the R, G and B points inside the grand horseshoe. The line through the white point will still go to the opposite color, but we don’t get all of the shades of colors. The colors that a mechanical device can provide are called its gamut.

What neither this color space of the CIE or the presentation of the gamuts inside show are the spectral colors going to black. Does that matter, and would an image having that give us any superpowers of being able to draw lines through the white point to another color? Probably not, or someone would have done it before. And no one has. Until now.  

The download button on this page will give you a set of slides with all the colors of what is called the 2020 color space as defined by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) as Recommendation BT.2020 and commonly called Rec 2020. Rec 2020 brings the green point much higher in the horseshoe, and extends the blues closer to the spectral point and the reds deeper toward Infrared. It also brings TVs into the world of 10 and 12 bit colors, though there are few 10 bit screens and 12 bits is still only the domain of cinema. 

Another benefit of twisting the frequency of the light scale to a horseshoe is that we can pinpoint a color and give it a number by looking to the scales on the bottom (the ‘x’ scale) and the scale on the left (the ‘y’ scale). In the cases of the color space on the CIE drawing, the white point is x=0.3127/y=0.3290. What is that good for? Well, it is good for specifying what every projector in the cinema universe should have as the white point, and, as well, it is good for specifying the exact R, G and B points.

Imagine if the director worked extremely hard to get all the different shades of green in the Italian vista shot, and the green in the colorist room was off. It would not be reproduced the same in your cinema auditorium. 

Let’s be clear though. We are in the middle of a transition. In the same way that sound can be more immersive, the on-screen picture has a big moment in front of it. And that moment is …drum roll please~! after 10 years of “any minute now”, lasers are actually making a move into the next layer of acceptance.

Which brings something called High Dynamic Range. This “HDR” is the ability to put more light on the screen and more darks. Simply put: The fold on the pant legs under the table will be more subtle and the diamonds will have more sparkle.   

But more to this topic, they will be able to deliver more colors, closer or exactly to the specification of Rec 2020. Which is the color space that these slides are in. 


These are a 2nd way to put all the colors of the spectrum into view at the same time. The training slides of Frequency and Wavelength do similar, but from top to bottom.

22 Slides. 2 Pairs, Scope and Flat. All in the 2020 space, excepting a few for publishing and trying on in a Display PC device like the iPad over there.

These are called JND because they are, yet another science experiment. If a 709 version of this slide were put onscreen, it would show what colors were available in the 709 color space since the P3 projector can create these colors. The primary colors would not be so brilliant or deep. They would edge out to black more quickly and there wouldn’t be as many colors toward the white either. The same would be true of P3 in comparison to the 2020 slides played on a 2020-capable projector.

The grid on top of them will help. In the 709 example, 3 or more squares might look all the same. In the P3 example, only two squares might look the same.

In the 2020 example on screen, the eye should be able to see that every square has a different shade of color.  

This ability to notice colors changing is called Just Noticeable Difference, or JND. It works with sound as well. 

So, this is an attempt to help a group be able to judge what they see over time. If we can see the change from every two squares, then 3 months later every 3 squares, something is degrading. Or maybe it is just popcorn butter on the port glass. Whatever it is, a tech should be told.

There are many variations in this set. One set is white to black and the other is black to white.

Eventually we will make the same thing in 3840 x 2160, but for now these are all in Cinema 4K, 4096 x 2160.

The passcode seems to be the same as always:

QC_b4_QA

Please let me know how these work out in the real world. I’m a little like Beethoven in this case, unable to see the finished product because no one has sent me a 2020-capable projector to try. …or a dark dark room.

black center to white edges - scope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut and Paste…should. be. Cut and Destroy – Don’t read any

There are 4 slides in this set. 2 are were created and saved as TIFFs in the 2020 color space and 2 were created and saved in the DCI-P3 color space.

[To be clear for those not in the cinema world, DCI-P3 has a different white point and a 2.6 gamma curve, while many people’s television sets are now getting Display P3, a variation that Apple has converted to an international standard.

The pairs are composed of all colors in each space in a radial pattern, plain and with a grid overlaid.

The color radials are composed with the center being white and the outside edge being black.

Each Radial is 4096 x 2160. The P3 image presents itself as smaller even though the design and the mask are identical – one guesses that this is because the mix of black is going to the same edges, but begins more quickly in the P3 space (???). You can also see differences between the P3 version and 2020 as the monochromatic colors go to white as well.

And, no, there is no reason that these couldn’t be done in a circle – it is just that the screen is a rectangle and that is how the design started. If you want a circle or several circles, ask.

Anyway, these will next be shoved into FCPX to create a PQ 300 nit version for each, but that is a ways away.

VisibleSpectrum 2020 wFreq 25pct 1

Freq Wavelengths

These slides are all about the Speed of Light. We all know about the speed of light, right? …Oui?…Si? (“…no, just plain ‘c’, jokes the pretend engineer”).

[To just download the slides, click the blue button to the left, put in the passcode QC_b4_QA.]

A fun trick is to take the Frequency of the color Orange in hertz (or Hz or actually …what is that science number for trillion? Terahertz – meaning 12 zeros)) and multiply that frequency by the Wavelength of Orange (in meters, though so small that it is a zero, a decimal point then nine zeros – the science number is that hip number ‘nano’ – the total is, 500 Terahertz multiplied by 600 nanometers, which equals 300,000,000 meters per second.

Another example is Blue. Multiply the Frequency by the Wavelength: 666 x 1012 x 450 x 10-9 = 3.00 x 108 meters/second (that is 3 with 8 zeros, or again, 300,000,000 meters per second.)

299,792,458 is the exactly correct number for “Speed of Light”, but we can use approximate numbers since …why not? …it is memorable. …and since they (the different frequencies) all change slightly in different circumstances. Some of the variables include defining exactly “What is Blue?” and what material is the light going through? …the vacuums of empty space or a glass prism or water? …so 300 thousand kilometers a second is good number to use for the Speed of Light …and memorable. (A kilometer is, of course, 1,000 meters, so 300,000,000 meters equals 300,000 kilometers. So, yes, the ‘c’ in Einstein’s famous formula for Energy (E=mc2, that is, the Energy of an object in motion is  the mass of the object times the square of the speed of light. We can look into what mass and energy are in another discussion.)

Sometimes you will see the chart going one way, with the size of the wave ascending (the wavelength getting larger – like this one does) and sometimes you will see it with the frequency of the wave ascending shown increasing from left to right. In this case, the the speed the wave – the frequency or cycles per second – are fastest on the left, and slower on the right, which also translates to more energy on the left and less on the right). No matter which direction, frequency and wavelength will correspond to each other in the inverse – one set of numbers increasing and one set of numbers decreasing – and always tied to the speed of light. The science (or math) term for this type of relationship is “inversely proportional”. (Bonus points for anyone who can work that into a love song to their significant other.)

As a sidenote before the technical specs of the slides, the frequency of the tuning note on a piano – the “A” note above middle “C” – is 440 Hz. The word “Hertz” isn’t used because it comes from some ancient civilization that studied light or sound or ripples in water. Hertz is the family named for a clever scientist who figured out a lot of different things.

In his honor the word “Hertz” was chosen to represent “Cycles per Second”. The abbreviation is Hz. A thousand cycles per second is noted as kHz. …or 1 kHz, with a space between the digit and the term.

A frequency does not have to be “per second”. For example, the frequency that we travel in a car is kilometers per hour.

In simple terms, sound is a wave and a pure tone is a pure wave. If a wave is going through water (so you can see it) instead of air (which you cannot see), and you measure the top of the peak of one wave to the top of the peak of the next wave, that measurement is the Wavelength.

If you count how many of those peaks go by a certain mark every second, that is the Frequency. A simple example is to look at or lightly touch the strings of a piano or guitar as they vibrate back and forth. On the low notes you can see the motion, or feel the motion distinctly with your finger.

Back to our “A” above middle “C” – which is too fast to see, actually – it is interesting to compare those musical waves with the waves in light. Are the number of cycles per second of a particular frequency of light a thousand times more than the cycles per second of the note on the piano? …a million? …a billion? 

if we multiply this 440 cycles per second – by

[ ] 1,000 times – that is, a thousand times – that number is too small

[ ] 1,000,000 times – that is, a million times – still too small of a number

[X] 1,000,000,000 times – that is, a billion times – yes, the correct amount~!

[ ] 1,000,000,000,000 times – that is, a trillion times – OK; a bit too much

…the total of that multiplication would be the frequency of red light as it transitions to infrared light. 440 x a billion cycles per second. Or, to avoid counting the zeros, the science people say 440 times 1012. (440 times 10 to the 12th power – or for my simple mind, 440 followed by 12 zeros.)

The sensors called our ‘eyes’ almost can not see it. The sensors of our skin might sense it as heat. But the point is that the frequency of the middle notes of the piano are a billion times lower than the frequency of red light.

By the way; the Frequency and the Wavelength of Sound are also tied to each other – but it is different. There are more things to consider. Light doesn’t care much if it travels through the vacuum of space or glass or water …a little bit of change, but not much – and when it gets in the clear again, it goes back to its original speed. With sound, it really matters what it is going through. It is just as fascinating. I remember my first lesson; with low frequencies, all you get to affect it with is mass and distance. And that is what makes it a great topic for another time.


The TIFF files here are 4K, 4096 (not 3840) x 2160, 16 bit RGB in the 2020 color space.

This zip file is composed of 4 slides;

  • the lower layer with the colors in their full monochromatic variation (without white or black added, though it should be noted that since the slide has an alpha channel that allows the background to leak through, that there is also a white layer below them – figuring that this would be shown on a white screen anyway. [in fact, in this version the background is black],
  • one slide of a gradient black on the bottom to white on the top which, when laid over in Hard Light mode (not Screen) creates the variation of the color space (presuming that the white point is declared, which is D65),
  • one with the numbers and
  • one with the title.
  • UPDATE: Each slide now has a twin with a light grid overlay to assist in the Just Noticeable Difference Quest. 

Hope you learn or teach and have as much fun using this as I had making it.

About those little numbers on the center line…

The passcode is QC_b4_QA

VisibleSpectrum 2020 wFreq 25pct 1
VisibleSpectrum 2020 wFreq 25pct 1

 

About those little numbers on the center line…

There is one more story on this graphic, which tells of the amount of energy that goes flying off when the electron associated with the photon changes its orbit. This energy is greater on the left side, where the wavelength is shorter and the cycles per second are greater – you can just imagine that the potential amount of energy increases, similar to when the revs of your car increase. Let’s talk about that.

The car is measured in revolutions per minute, or RPM. …usually thousands of RPM. Usually, this RPM increases as the speed of the car increases – at least, that is what it seems like. Actually, the driver increases the RPM, getting more energy from the engine – and the speed of the car increases. The potential of the car’s speed is in the energy source – the gas and the explosion inside the engine that converts the energy in the gas (or battery) into the motion of the wheels. 

Light has many properties and making electrons appear is part of their magic. It is actually a conversion, like heat from an oven turning into bread – if the other ingredients are in the right place and time as well.

In any case, this power in the light that converts to electrons is measured in eV – for electron Volt – which is a unit of energy that indicates the potential of the conversion to do things. The shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum is, of course, in the violet side. We know that as the waves get shorter and go invisible to the eyes of humans, they slip into the area called x-rays and gamma rays and others that we now know are actually very destructive to human tissue. But this is all, yet again, a different story – like tangents in rain.

Energy in eV

Violet (limit) 

3.10
Blue 

2.75

Cyan 

2.48

Green 

2.25

Yellow 

2.14

Orange

2.06

Red

1.91
Red (limit)  1.77

The following experiments in the attempt to put the entire color space onto a flat display spins the colors in a radius instead of a linear line. Since it is designed to fit a movie screen, it is wider than high. …and was a lot of fun to make. The idea includes an optional overlay that gives the eye a bit of a clue on how to see Just Noticeable Differences as the shades of where you are looking go toward another color.  There are also versions with white in the center going out to black.

Radial JND

black center to white edges - scope

For a complete look at all of our color slides for cinema, see:

DCP TIFFS

Primary and Secondary color dials

Macbeth – 2020 Variations Experiment

The GretagMacBeth chart is part of a long and great history, bringing a standard method for comparing an input with an output, allowing adjustments to be made objectively (before later making them subjectively). It seems to have come from the printing world and migrated into photography, then into the 709 HD world. Take a shot during production and you have a comparable standard when you get to post. It is now ‘owned’ by the Colour specialist company x-rite.

Cool.

DSC Labs has several more modern charts applicable to these modern days of 13 stops (Webinar: Test Charts for Production) – but that isn’t the reason for this experiment. Just a learning process, and now, needing comments to improve it.

In this case, imagine a MacBeth chart being made today. Row 3 is easy – crank up the primaries and secondaries to 100%, and go for those greys on the 4th row at exact percentages. (I must admit that the first version I made an attempt at 18% in the penultimate position, but now it is just the boring original percentages.

Rows 1 and 2 were more difficult. The original patches are in the bottom right hand corner and it seems unbelievable that these are sky blue and whatever else they are named. There is a screenshot of the RGB slider positions – the attempt was that each was at some 25% notch, excepting the skin colors which are “Who Knows?”

This chart is designed in the 2020 color space and in 16 bits. There is a 2nd slide that places an original chart behind to validate that the patches are correct. They were derived from L*A*B* colors. But transferring color spaces and white points may be illegal in your country, so be cautious.

Download Passcode: QA_b4_QC

For the sake of learning and discussion of the science, the attached file here is a study of colors – more corresponding to the descriptions of the colors than the ones chosen to represent them in the smaller color space.

This download document is a 16-bit 2020, 4096 x 2160  TIFF file. It was made with Affinity Designer, the file of which is included in the zip.

The details on the right of the images says: Conceptual Art and Science

For all the lawyers out there:
Not for profit. Merely an educational experiment.

Ideas Wanted – [email protected]

Variations on MacBeth

2117 Test Files 20May2020 – TIFFs

These TIFF files are the proposed set of Flat and Scope slides/drawings for use with the RP 2117 document and DCPs.

You will need a password that is being told to members of the committee. Join SMPTE and the Standards Community so you can entertain the whole family with ideas for the future of Entertainment Technology!

There are a couple of dimension drawings still to be attached. If this note disappears, that means that they are in this tar file. Send a note to [email protected] if you would like to be notified when they are added, or when the DCPs created from these are added.

Dials For Contrast – The TIFFs

The purpose of these TIFFs for Contrast is similar to the Vertical Meters for Contrast.

Can a person check the level of colors and contrast without a meter, then compare them to the readings of another day as they diminish or stay the same?

This one .tar file explodes into 32 TIFF files. There are 8 of each of R, G, B and Grey…one with and one without the meter tic marks of 6% – 0%, 4.5% – 0%,   3%% – 0%, and to test those million to one systems, 1.5% – 0%.

Let us know if we need to make more. Let us know if the meters are too light to be usable for the standard 2000:1 projector, or too bright on the 1,000,000:1 projectors.

Thanks~!

Oh, the Passcode, as always, is: QA_b4_QC

Return to DCP TIFFs

Go to the Dial DCP page.

A dial with tic marks to find contrast...in this case, green

Vertical Meters…RGBK 5 and 2.5% TIFFs

There are 3 TIFFs in this download. The first is 5 and 2.5 of each color and Grey. The 2nd is 2.5% and 1%. The third is 1 and point 1…I can’t wait to see that in a dark room with a 108 and 300 nit display system.

The original idea was to find a way that a non-technical person could look at a single file and tell whether their system has changed for the worse since the last evaluation. The problem is that a P3 system in a room with a lot of stray light may not even get a good reading with 5% bars while it will be too easy for a sophisticated room…but will Point One be useful there?

We would like to get feedback on what combination of different percentages for different colors would be best, and if you notice, which order…for example, should the grays be on the outside? …or the greens never near the blues?

Thanks~!

Oh, the Passcode, as always, is: QA_b4_QC

(Amazing how little the compressed 8 bit PNG file below shows nothing of the nuance of what is in the 16 bit TIFF. Go for it~!

A DCP with these TIFF files are at: Vertical Meters DCP

Vertical meter of each primary color and black at 2 different luminance.