• Log in / create account

 

• Article
• Discussion
• Edit
• History

From PlugInFinder

Contents 1 The Stats 2 WalkerFX Alpha Tool is part of WalkerFX Plug-ins 3 Download 4 Description

The Stats

• Developer: Digieffects (acquired from WalkerFX, December 2007)
• Version: 1.0
• Host Applications: Adobe After Effects
• Platforms: Mac, Windows

WalkerFX Alpha Tool is part of WalkerFX Plug-ins

Download

• Super Histogram

Description

Super Histogram is a new free plug-in providing a great way to inspect image and layer data. This tool allows you to freely pan and zoom in a full color histogram with support for all major color models, individual channel viewing and useful statistical information.

The histogram works perfectly in 16 bit and 8 bit color depths and is an invaluable tool for checking your work, assessing color corrections and investigating problems with color banding.

The custom designed user interface provides all the interaction you would wish for in a histogram viewer including panning and zooming, selecting data ranges and getting key statistical information about the image data. Also the interface scales automatically to fit the view of your Effect Controls Window giving you the ability to make the histogram view as wide as you like.

Posted by Stephen Walker to the AE-List:

A histogram presents an alternate view into the data that makes up an image. It helps you make judgments you can't make with your eyes alone. The histogram clearly shows the darkest black value and the brightest white value in an image. It also shows the distribution of color in each component channel. If one color value is really prominent in an image, there will be a corresponding spike in the histogram.

Why this information is important depends on the type of work you are doing. Many people do not pay any attention to color ranges while they are working and they only go by how it 'feels', which is fine. But others have work that is much more sensitive to color. When working with film output, for example, certain color ranges may be more sensitive than others. If you care about the final quality, you have to pay careful attention that you do not step on the color and crush certain ranges. Otherwise you could end up with terrible banding or a flat looking image. Working in 16 bit the problem is far more pronounced because you are working with a large amount of image data that you cannot see with your eyes.

I also built some features into Super Histogram that makes it more useful than a normal histogram. The ability to select ranges of values gives you the opportunity to explore image channels for the purpose of building mattes and even doing green/blue screen work.

In the end Super Histogram is designed as an informative tool. It offers a way of diagnosing problems, but offers no direct way of fixing them. Super Histogram is not a magical plug-in that is suddenly going to make everyones work better, and it may not even be useful to everyone. However, to a few it can be quite helpful. It is up to the user's discretion to find the best color correction tools to fix (or avoid) problems they discover and to ensure that they get the best output quality.

Lastly, the online documentation explains more on how to read the histogram and how to use all the features. At the bottom is a tip also about the difference between 8 and 16 bit data.