Hawaiki Analyzer - Manual

Index

Overview System Requirements Sampling Display

Values & Graph Skin Analysis Loupe Presets

OPERATION OVERVIEW

• Basic Operation - You can find Hawaiki Analyzer in your Titles Browser in FCP, in your Filters library in Motion, and in the Effects library in Premiere and After Effects. Analyzer is designed to be used as an adjustment layer in all of these host applications - apart from Motion where it can be applied directly to any layer or group as required.
  
  
• In FCP drag the Analyzer to the top of your footage in the timeline and it will analyze everything it sees beneath it. Extend the clip for as long or as short as you need it. There is no need to add more than one instance of the plug-in to any timeline, since you can simply move the clip to wherever it is needed. Simply delete or mute it when you have finished with it.
  
  
• In Premiere and After Effects, add an adjustment layer to your project or composition and add the Analyzer plug-in to that layer. It will analyze everything below it. Delete or mute the adjustment layer when you no longer need access to the plug-in.



• Also included in the plug-in is Hawaiki Histogram which provides an onscreen histogram tool for analysing either the entire frame or a selected area for really precise and detailed color evaluation. A separate manual for this module is available.

Important Note - Because the Analyzer is a graphical overlay it will be embedded in your project when you render or export unless you take care to delete or mute it.

New in Analyzer 1.0.3 - support for M1 (Apple silicon) Macs.

System Requirements

macOS: Mojave 10.14.6, Catalina, Big Sur

FxFactory: 7.2.5 +

Apps: Final Cut Pro 10.4 +,  Motion 5.4 +,  Premiere Pro 12 +,  After Effects 15 +

M1 (Apple silicon) Macs: require Final Cut Pro 10.5.3 +

SAMPLING

• Regular scopes give you feedback about the entire frame but with Analyzer you can be very specific about the area you are targeting which makes for far greater precision and ease of use.
  
  Analyzer allows you to sample either a single pixel, a grid of pixels, an area of the frame, or the entire frame. Use the Mode dropdown menu to select the preferred option.
  
  
• Point - samples a single pixel or a grid of pixels (centred on the white Point onscreen control) depending on the your choice in the Point Size menu immediately below it. In the Point Size menu you can choose from 1px, 3x3px, 5x5px, 9x9px, 15x15px, or the Set Point Size option, which brings up a slider that allows you to select the point size you prefer.
  
  (NB. while the slider maximum is 400 a value up to 4000 pixels can be entered.)
  
  A yellow outline guide or crosshair will show around the Point onscreen control in the viewer to indicate the size of the selected grid. You can turn this guide off with the Guide checkbox.
  
  
• Area - Allows you to set a rectangular area to sample. When enabled the black Area onscreen control is activated and a yellow guide outlines the area selected. The two onscreen controls can be moved in any direction to define an area to sample.
  
  NB. At the bottom of the Inspector, there are position controls for both the Point and Area OSCs, which can be used to reset the positions to their defaults.
  
  In Final Cut Pro and Motion holding down the option key while clicking either control will also reset their positions; holding command while moving the mouse will slow the speed of the pointer, allowing for more precise selection; and holding the shift key will constrain that movement to either the x or y axis depending on the initial movement.
  
  
• Frame - Analyzer samples the entire frame.
  
  

• Value - Select the sampled value that Analyzer displays - you can choose to return the Average, Minimum or Maximum RGB values of the sampled area. (NB. when the sample is a single pixel this menu will have no effect.)


• Guide - Turns the crosshair and area guide on and off. (NB. there is a separate control for the guide that appears inside the loupe.)

DISPLAY

• By default, Analyzer shows you two separate displays in the viewer - the numerical display which appears at the top of the viewer by default; and the bar graphs which appear at the left hand side of the screen by default.
  
  
• Size - set the width of the graph, and the size of the numerical display and loupe. The default is medium and the other two views are small and large.
  
  
• Brightness - controls the brightness of the display background for the values and graph and the ring color of the loupe - very useful for improving readability depending on the image being evaluated.
  
  
• Opacity - changes the opacity of the values and the graph. A value of 50% is a nice compromise between seeing the values and graph and the picture content of the entire frame. NB. the opacity of the loupe and the values display swatch is not affected.
  
  
• Grid - turns the background grid on and off for the values and graph.

VALUES & GRAPH

• The numerical display gives a read-out of the red, green, blue, luma and alpha values of the selected area. By default, the numbers show the 0-255 range of values (Integer), but you can use the Mode dropdown to switch to a 0.0-1.0 Decimal view. A small round swatch at the right hand end of the values display shows the RGB value for the currently selected pixel, or the average RGB value when the selection is greater than a single pixel.
  
  The bar graphs represent the values for red, green, blue, luma and alpha in a vertical fashion - when the bar reaches the top of the screen the value is at 100% and when it hits the bottom of the screen the value is at zero. The alpha bar can be switched to show skin tone - see below.
  
  Unchecking the Values and Graph checkbox removes them from display - useful if you’re just wanting to use the Loupe to take a closer look at an area of your clip.
  
  
• Ignore Alpha - by default Analyser returns premultiplied alpha values e.g if you reduce the opacity of your clip then the RGB values displayed also reduce. Checking the Ignore Alpha checkbox disables this behaviour and returns the original RGB values, ignoring any changes you make to opacity or any embedded alpha channel.
  
  NB. Opacity/Alpha must be greater than zero for this to work.
  
  
• Values Position - position the numerical display either at the Top or Bottom of the frame.
  
  
• Graph Position - position the bar graphs either at the Left or Right of the frame.
  
  
• Swatch Fullscreen - enabling this checkbox fills the viewer with the swatch color and disables any other overlays. This is particularly useful if you want to check a value such as skin tone in your yectorscope, as the only colour output to the scopes will be the one you have selected.

SKIN ANALYSIS

• When Skin Analysis is enabled the alpha bar graph switches to a bar representing skin tone. The default white of the alpha bar will change to a flesh tone to indicate that this mode is operative. If your selection is within the accepted tolerance for skin tone, the bar will reach 100% or close to it. The lower the bar the less accurate your skin tones are and you will need to grade your shot to compensate. This tool is extremely useful for dialling in accurate and pleasing skin tones, which are a very good starting point for a great overall color balance.
  
  
• Tolerance - this slider allows you to determine the overall sensitivity of the skin analysis bar graph. Move the slider to the right to accommodate a greater range of skin tone values.

LOUPE

• Enable the Loupe checkbox to bring up a "magnifying glass" in the canvas that helps you focus in on your selection.
  
  NB. the loupe can only be seen when the Sampling Mode is set to Point.
  
  The area within the loupe shows you a close-up of the area around the Point OSC.
  
  
• Guide - enables a guide that shows the sampled pixel or pixels within the loupe view. Useful for fine-tuning a small selection and avoiding sampling edge areas where there is an extreme change in values.
  
  
• Zoom - Adjust the amount of magnification. You can select between 100%, 200%,400%,800%, 1600% and 3200% or select Set Zoom to reveal a slider that allows you to specify the zoom level yourself.
  
  
• Auto Orientation - By default, the loupe automatically changes its position in relation to the Point OSC so it always stays within the viewer. You can turn off this behaviour by disabling the Auto Orientation checkbox. NB. This is disabled when Centre Loupe is on.
  
  
• Centre Loupe - By default, the Loupe is positioned up and to the left of the Point OSC, this allows you to see the area you are sampling at both 100% and whatever zoom level you have set in the Loupe. If you prefer you can centre the Loupe on the Point OSC by enabling the Centre Loupe checkbox.
  
  
• Smooth Zoom - smooths the zoomed image shown in the loupe so individual pixels aren’t visible. This can give a more pleasing result when only zoomed in a tiny amount.
  
  
• Swatch in Loupe - Enabling this checkbox switches the view inside the loupe from a magnification of the selection to a solid colour representing either the selected pixel when Point Size is set to 1px, or the average, minimum or maximum color of the selected area in all other modes. This is the same value as you will see in the swatch in the display bar and when Swatch Fullscreen is enabled.

PRESETS

• The built-in presets allow you to save your preferred display setup. They also allow you to return to a sample using a single instance of Analyzer.
  
  Place a timeline or clip marker at the sample time and save the Analyzer setup with a descriptive name. Later, if you you wish to recall the sample return to the marker and call up the preset.