Blue Barn Pictures XL2 Presets Manager discussion thread at DVinfo.net

Chris Hurd · July 25th, 2005, 03:35 PM

In case you haven't seen it yet, check out the XL2 Presets Manager software (free to registered DV Info Net members). Sorry but it's for Windows XP at this time; expect a Mac version to follow soon.

Now that you've downloaded it and played with it for awhile, what do you think about it?

Tim Durham · July 25th, 2005, 09:59 PM

How's that Mac version coming?

I'd be interested in trying some of these out. Thanks

Stephen Duke · July 25th, 2005, 10:50 PM

Tim,

I havent received the kit for the mac yet. When I do, I'll create the same thing.

steve

Greg Boston · July 25th, 2005, 11:42 PM

Ok, the cat's out of the bag. Hats off to Steve Duke for making this application available to us. I am honored to have been allowed to test the software ahead of time.

So come on fellow XL-2 owners, show us your presets!

regards,

-gb-

Jay Gladwell · July 26th, 2005, 05:07 AM

Thanks, Steve! You, too, Chris. Excellent article!

Jay

Patrick King · July 26th, 2005, 05:28 AM

Steve did a great service for all XL2 users! And you will recognize a couple of the clips on the Blue Barn Pictures website. Check them out and show Steve your appreciation for so many long hours of programming to provide us a FREE utility to make our XL2 lives easier.

I've loved using this program during testing. The great features Steve put in it are the capability to:
1. Load presets stored in your camera
2. Create presets on your computer
3. Save presets to your computer
4. Save presets to your camera

Chris included all the Presets I had captured from various threads on this forum here: XL2 Presets

Since these are simple text files save in a specific format the XL2 Manager recognizes, just post a preset in the XL2 Presets forum like listed below and anyone can copy it to Notepad and 'Save As..." to name it with a ".bbp" extension and then open in their XL2 Presets application.

[Presets]
Preset Name = TechniC
Gamma = 1
Knee = 1
Black = 2
NR = 0
VDetail = 0
Color Matrix = 1
Color Gain = 4
Color Phase = 0
Red = 2
Green = 3
Blue = -2
SetupLevel = 0
Sharpness = 0
Coring = 0
MasterPed = 0
Description = Barry Green SuperPolarized Technicolor Dream:

Don't bother typing all this out, just create the preset in the utility, open the preset you save to your computer in Notepad, copy the text and paste it into your post. Life is good!

Kudos Steve Duke and Blue Barn Pictures!!! Chris, thanks for hosting this!

Matthew Cherry · July 26th, 2005, 12:34 PM

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please......

Greg Boston · July 26th, 2005, 02:48 PM

Ok Matthew, we get the idea. Did you not read Steve's comment about not having the OSX SDK yet? See, that's why I have both platforms in my house. I get the best of both worlds.

-gb-

Chris Hurd · July 26th, 2005, 11:04 PM

For those of you who are using the software, how do you like it?

Robert Luke · July 26th, 2005, 11:48 PM

i might be retarded, slow, or missed a read, but what is this preset?

Declan Smith · July 27th, 2005, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

For those of you who are using the software, how do you like it?

It's excellant. Just the preset renaming alone is a great feature, being able to assign a meaninful title to a preset. This software now means that any setup can be saved & loaded at ease and be able to see the actual numbers rather than the slider presented on the camera itself.

Future feature maybe, being able to store the rest of the camera settings (even if this is just meta data stored in human readable form) such as frame mode, aspect ratio, shutter, etc so you can maintain a list of camera setups. I know we all do this anyway :)

Good work.

Patrick King · July 27th, 2005, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Luke

i might be retarded, slow, or missed a read, but what is this preset?

Robert,
Do you have an XL2? On the XL2, Canon has provided the capability to store and recall three "Presets". Each "Preset" contains the user selectable values for 15 camera parameters, such as Gamma, Knee, Black, Color Matrix, Coring, and ten others. Until now, XL2 owners had to create and maintain their "Presets" in the camera, possibly writing them down for future use if they wanted to create/use a new one. Steve's application permits us to have our computer read and store the "Presets" so that we can maintain an entire library of "looks" available to download to the camera to suit our needs. "Presets" are discussed on pages 66 through 72 of the XL2 user manual.

Chris Hurd · July 27th, 2005, 07:37 AM

Great description there, Patrick! And in case anybody missed it the first time:

Marty Hudzik · July 27th, 2005, 09:55 AM

I have used it and love it.

I am curious how the XL2 responds when in Ext. Ctrl mode. I had the software connected through firewire and also had the XL2 connected to the production monitor via S-video. It appears that in EXT. CTRL mode acts like it is in auto mode. I played with changing settings on the fly and updating the presets and the camera would update and reflect the changes as I submitted them from the software.

However the XL2 defaults to 4x3, 60i and autogain and who knows what color balance.. The changes I made looked different when I went back to manual mode. Unfortunately this makes on the fly adjustments impossible from the software, unless someone else has an idea to work around this.

Other than that it is a great tool.

Chris Hurd · July 27th, 2005, 10:08 AM

That's a fair comment, Marty. That's why I've tried to position this software as a management tool more than a creative tool. You're still much better off actually creating the preset in the camera. The Presets Manager application is a great solution for maintaining and updating a library of favorite presets.

July 25th, 2005, 03:35 PM	#1
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	Blue Barn Pictures XL2 Presets Manager discussion thread In case you haven't seen it yet, check out the XL2 Presets Manager software (free to registered DV Info Net members). Sorry but it's for Windows XP at this time; expect a Mac version to follow soon. Click here to go to the software download page. Click here to read the XL2 Presets Manager software article. Now that you've downloaded it and played with it for awhile, what do you think about it? __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 25th, 2005, 09:59 PM	#2
Tim Durham Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Silver Spring, MD Posts: 36	Mac version? How's that Mac version coming? I'd be interested in trying some of these out. Thanks

July 26th, 2005, 05:28 AM	#6
Patrick King Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Enterprise, AL Posts: 857	Steve did a great service for all XL2 users! And you will recognize a couple of the clips on the Blue Barn Pictures website. Check them out and show Steve your appreciation for so many long hours of programming to provide us a FREE utility to make our XL2 lives easier. I've loved using this program during testing. The great features Steve put in it are the capability to: 1. Load presets stored in your camera 2. Create presets on your computer 3. Save presets to your computer 4. Save presets to your camera Chris included all the Presets I had captured from various threads on this forum here: XL2 Presets Since these are simple text files save in a specific format the XL2 Manager recognizes, just post a preset in the XL2 Presets forum like listed below and anyone can copy it to Notepad and 'Save As..." to name it with a ".bbp" extension and then open in their XL2 Presets application. [Presets] Preset Name = TechniC Gamma = 1 Knee = 1 Black = 2 NR = 0 VDetail = 0 Color Matrix = 1 Color Gain = 4 Color Phase = 0 Red = 2 Green = 3 Blue = -2 SetupLevel = 0 Sharpness = 0 Coring = 0 MasterPed = 0 Description = Barry Green SuperPolarized Technicolor Dream: Don't bother typing all this out, just create the preset in the utility, open the preset you save to your computer in Notepad, copy the text and paste it into your post. Life is good! Kudos Steve Duke and Blue Barn Pictures!!! Chris, thanks for hosting this! __________________ Fear No Weevil!

July 26th, 2005, 11:04 PM	#9
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	For those of you who are using the software, how do you like it? __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 27th, 2005, 07:37 AM	#13
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	Great description there, Patrick! And in case anybody missed it the first time: Click here to go to the XL2 Presets Manager software download page. Click here to read the XL2 Presets Manager software description article. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

July 25th, 2005, 10:50 PM	#3
Stephen Duke Booth Monkey Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York Posts: 30	Tim, I havent received the kit for the mac yet. When I do, I'll create the same thing. steve

July 25th, 2005, 11:42 PM	#4
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	Ok, the cat's out of the bag. Hats off to Steve Duke for making this application available to us. I am honored to have been allowed to test the software ahead of time. So come on fellow XL-2 owners, show us your presets! regards, -gb-

July 26th, 2005, 05:07 AM	#5
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	Thanks, Steve! You, too, Chris. Excellent article! Jay

July 26th, 2005, 12:34 PM	#7
Matthew Cherry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Stamford, CT United States Posts: 212	MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! MAC VERSION! please......

July 26th, 2005, 02:48 PM	#8
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	Ok Matthew, we get the idea. Did you not read Steve's comment about not having the OSX SDK yet? See, that's why I have both platforms in my house. I get the best of both worlds. -gb-

July 26th, 2005, 11:48 PM	#10
Robert Luke Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 45	i might be retarded, slow, or missed a read, but what is this preset?

July 27th, 2005, 09:55 AM	#14
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	I have used it and love it. I am curious how the XL2 responds when in Ext. Ctrl mode. I had the software connected through firewire and also had the XL2 connected to the production monitor via S-video. It appears that in EXT. CTRL mode acts like it is in auto mode. I played with changing settings on the fly and updating the presets and the camera would update and reflect the changes as I submitted them from the software. However the XL2 defaults to 4x3, 60i and autogain and who knows what color balance.. The changes I made looked different when I went back to manual mode. Unfortunately this makes on the fly adjustments impossible from the software, unless someone else has an idea to work around this. Other than that it is a great tool.

July 27th, 2005, 10:08 AM	#15
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	That's a fair comment, Marty. That's why I've tried to position this software as a management tool more than a creative tool. You're still much better off actually creating the preset in the camera. The Presets Manager application is a great solution for maintaining and updating a library of favorite presets. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!