Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Setellite - VFX Supervisor IPad App



All:

Recently I tested the new "Setellite" VFX Supervisor's App for the IPad from Planet X FX.  I was able to use it in the field on a small horror film entitled, Neron.  Here are my thoughts and experiences when using Setellite.


With all VFX Supervisors, who have worked in Visual Effects for many years, we end up developing our own on set tech sheets designed in Word, Excel or Filemaker Pro.  Mine are in FMP.  This is always done with the directive of helping us save time while organizing our shoot data within a fast and furious production environment.  Because of this, if it does not save us time, then we lose out on getting the proper data recorded for either additional shooting or post work later on. It can also slow us down and prevent us from acquiring everything we need to get done when on the shoot.

So the question is, did Setellite help me to be more efficient while shooting?  I would say yes it did.  And I say this because the app is laid out cleanly and intuitively. Am I faster with pencil and paper? Probably.  But Setellite has so many features that it helps you to cover all of the bases to ensure that you stay on top of the data you need recorded. 

Once I became familiar with the app’s interface, I began to move quickly.  After setting up my show’s specs under Gear for cameras, lenses and filters as well as Template for popups and other useful time savers for using the app, I then created my first slate or as I think of it “record” for the scene I was about to shoot. 

Within each slate, there are a series of five tabs to help you navigate through the app’s features and to control and organize your data.  The choices are; Summary, Main, Camera, Takes/Plates and Reference.  I began in Main setting up my scene’s info and then moved onto Camera. Camera allows you to enter the entire technical profile of the gear and type of shot you are about to shoot. Then you switch to Takes/Plates.  Here you can create takes to each camera setup and input information unique to each take. You can then add new plates as well by switching to the Plates button should there be additional shooting or passes on the same shot needed.  Again, notes can be entered within plates as well. It’s very easy.  I’m quite fond of my printed and bound booklets but my notes section is a box along the right margin where I write down in pencil and later on have to transcribe them back into Filemaker Pro. I also have to re-enter the same data over again when repeating passes on the same setup and enter directions back to the original record. With Setellite, I don’t have to do that.  I can duplicate slates and plates with the push of a button. The notes don’t duplicate but everything else does.  While I still would like a way to import Setellite data into my FMP shot tracking system, you can print out all of your slates or selected aspects there of as either a PDF or CSV file.  CSV seems to translate across to Excel possibly. I have not used the CSV function yet but have used the PDF and it worked perfectly.

Another enjoyable feature to Setellite that I found very handy was the camera function inside the Reference tab.  It was very cool to stand next to camera and place my IPad right up against the lens and shoot a reference photo straight into Setellite.  Once the image is there, then I was able to assign it to the slate so I could have a thumbnail reference. Each image you take for each pass can be assigned to that element. While I love my 5D Mark II, using it like this requires more work than I’d like regarding capturing a reference image for my notes. I like that I can sort, organize and assign all the images to my slates.  It also creates a reference library for your images that is easily called upon and organized as you like. 

The only aspect that slowed me down a bit and has nothing to do with Setellite but more with IPad itself.  You can’t type like you can when using a real keyboard.  So I’m kind of typing / quasi hunting and pecking on the keys since I’m using one hand to hold the unit and the other to type while moving around the set.  While I can type super fast, IPads just aren’t built for that kind of typing.  Writing with pencil is very fast.  Maybe I’ll purchase a Bamboo Stylus and find some sort of lightweight platform to hang around my neck that I can set my IPad on to free up both hands?

The only obvious “Tab” I feel is missing is one for HDR photography.  I input a lot of data when shooting HDRI’s so I find that this tab not being present in this version is something that should absolutely be there in the next release.

Setellite is an extremely powerful and helpful app that I will continue to use on my productions.  Once its interface becomes second nature to its user, it becomes a huge time saver and organizer of your on set notes and data.   I am thrilled that Setellite’s has entered the Visual Effects scene. My only other thought is, what took so long?