Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product Ramp Preview Controller ARRI
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Ramp Preview Controller 1.0.0 Operations Guide 8/2000.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 2 Tabl e o f Cont ent s Table of Contents .........................................................................................................2 Customer Support & Legal ..............................................
RPC Operations Guide, Page 3 Part 2: Reference Reference Introduction .............................................................................................2 2 The Ramp Editor ....................................................................
RPC Operations Guide, Page 4 The Camera Controller Window .............................................................................3 3 Connect to Camera Button .......................................................................................
RPC Operations Guide, Page 5 View Menu ....................................................................................................................4 4 Connect to Camera ..........................................................................
RPC Operations Guide, Page 6 Cust ome r S uppor t & L egal For technical support, send an email to rpc@arri.com, or contact one of the following ARRI affiliates: Germany Arnold & Richter Cine Technik Türkenstraße 89, D-80799 Munich, Germany Voice phone: +49 (0)89 3809-0, FAX: +49 (0)89 3809-1244 Email: webmaster@arri.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 7 About T he RPC Docum e nt at io n Documentation Overview The documentation for the Ramp Preview Controller consists of the following files which are all in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and can be found on the Ramp Preview Controller CD-ROM.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 8 The combo boxes used in the RPC has another time saving feature. If the number in the text entry field is not in the menu, the first item in the menu can add that number to the menu.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 9 Int rod uc t ion To The RP C A unique feature of the current generation of Arriflex film cameras is their ability to change camera speed while the camera is running.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 10 Part 1: How To….
RPC Operations Guide, Page 11 H o w T o Ge t Help • Read the Documentation provided on the CD-ROM. • Rest the cursor over any item on the screen, and a small explanation will pop up. We call this "Quick Help". Once you are familiar with the RPC and Quick Help starts to annoy you, disable it by choosing Quick Help from the View menu.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 12 H o w t o Ed it a Ramp • Using the “Mode” and “Type” radio buttons in the Ramp Editor, choose a ramp mode and ramp type. If you do not know what those are, choose “Ramp Tutorial” from the “Help” menu. Please note that Internal Ramps are limited to a 100 second shoot time duration.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 13 H o w t o Ca pture Vid eo In order to preview a ramp, some video must have been captured into the computer. The RPC currently does not have any features that allow video capture, so you must use third party software. The ARRI Technical Note “P-1026 RPC Video Capture” discusses this subject in more detail.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 14 2. The Rehearsal Method • Click the Record Triggers button to erase all existing Preview Triggers and play the movie at normal speed. • Once the movie reaches the point where you want the Preview Trigger to occur, click the Set Trigger button.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 15 H o w t o Erase Previe w T rig g ers Preview Triggers can be erased by dragging them down, out of the Preview Timeline. Drag P rev i ew T rigg e r ou t of timeline to era s e H o w t o Limit t h e Previe w To start the preview later and/or end it earlier, move the Preview In and Preview Out flags.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 16 N o t es on Preview T riggers • Preview Triggers can be dragged to a different position at any time. • For Internal Ramps, each new Preview Trigger will affect a reversal in the ramp direction, that is the ramp will bounce back and forth between the two set ramp speeds.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 17 H o w T o Previe w a Pos t - P rodu ctio n Ra mp Sometimes it is preferable to shoot a take at the highest speed available, and to create the ramping effect in post production. This can also be previewed on the RPC: • In the Ramp E ditor, set the Camera and Compensation menus to “None”.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 18 H o w T o Co nn ec t t o a Real C a mera The RPC cable that connects the computer to the camera is identical to the cable used for the Laptop Camera Controller (LCC). They can be used interchangeably. DO NOT use any cables that are not clearly marked "RPC", "LCC" or "WLCC".
RPC Operations Guide, Page 19 H o w T o Co nn ec t t o a V irt u al Came ra A virtual camera will make the computer believe it is connected to a camera, even if it is not. • Choose Connect to Camera from the View menu, or click the Camera button in the Ramp Editor.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 20 H ow t o Execut e a Ramp • Make sure the Camera Controller is open, and connected to a camera. • Make sure the Ramp Editor is open, and that the camera chosen from the Camera menu is the same as the camera you are connected to.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 21 Part 2: Reference.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 22 R eference In t rodu ctio n This part lists all windows and menus of the Ramp Preview Controller with a short description for each item. Th e Ra mp Edit or The Ramp Editor is the RPC’s main window; it allows creating and editing of ramps.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 23 Ramp Menu All ramps stored in the currently open Ramp Archive are listed in this menu. Use this menu to select a Ramp for viewing, editing and previewing. The ramp name can be changed by selecting it and typing a new name.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 24 Camera Menu This menu allows you to set the camera you will be using, which will determine: • maximum and minimum fps, • maximum fps per second (fps/s) limit, • electronic shutter present or not, • internal ramps possible or not.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 25 FAP Button Only enabled when a ramp segment is selected. Click this button to make the selected ramp segment as Fast As Possible, to set it to the minimum ramp time for the camera and compensation chosen. Preview Button Click the “Preview” button to open a movie for preview.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 26 Zoom Controls The zoom controls allow you to increase or decrease the horizontal resolution of the ramp graph. The zoom level shows which of the 7 zoom settings is currently active. Fps & Shutter Fields The fps and shutter fields show the speed of the currently selected ramp point.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 27 The P re vi e w W in dow The Preview window allows you to preview either a ramp or an offspeed. A ramp preview will apply the fps changes defined in the Ramp Editor to a movie, thus allowing you to see what this ramp will look like once it is filmed.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 28 Offspeed Tab Click on the Offspeed tab to preview what the movie would look like if the film camera would have run at a speed other than the playback speed defined in the Preferences. This tab is always available, even when the Ramp Editor window is not open.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 29 Th e Previe w W indo w - Ramp Preview Ramp Tab Make sure the Ramp tab is in the front when previewing ramps. Record Triggers Button Once the Record Triggers button is clicked, all existing preview triggers will be erased, and the movie will play at normal speed.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 30 Preview Timeline The Preview Timeline is where the Preview Triggers and Preview In/Out Flags are set. Preview Trigger define where in the movie a ramp point is triggered.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 31 Th e Previe w W indo w - Of fspee d Previe w P review T im el in e P review I n Fl a g P revi ew Ou t Fl ag P review S tatus O ff s p e e d T a b Offspeed Tab Make sure the Offspeed tab is in the front when previewing ramps.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 32 Play Preview Click the Play Preview button to see what the movie would look like if it would have been shot with a film camera at the speed set in the Shoot fps combo box. The preview will start at the Preview In Flag, and end at the Preview Out Flag.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 33 Th e Ca mera Controlle r W indo w The Camera Controller window allows basic remote control of a connected film camera, including run/stop, activation of ramp mode, camera status display, ramp trigger, phase, changing of fps and shutter angle.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 34 If the value in the field is not in the menu, the first menu item will be “Add XX to the list”. If this item is chosen, the number in the field will be entered into the menu. If the number is already in the menu, the first menu item allows you to remove it.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 35 C am era no t r ea d y b ec au se mo ve me nt i s n ot co m p le t el y cl o se d The A RR I logo is replaced b y a sho r t messa ge ind i c a ting w h y the ca m era i s not ready Please note that different camera models behave differently when a roll out occurs.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 36 Th e Co n ne ct T o Camera W indo w Connect To Menu This menu allows you to connect to a real or a number of virtual cameras. A virtual camera makes the computer believe that it is connected to a camera, even if it is not.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 37 Pref erences S ection Lis t The Preferences are divided into four different sections: General, Ramps, Shortcuts and Alerts.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 38 Pref erences - Ge n era l Autosave Ramp Archives Every XX Minutes When checked, this option will save Ramp Archives to the hard disk in the time interval specified. Saving is suspended while connected to a camera and the camera is running.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 39 Pref erences - Ramp s Change Ramp Points on Graph in XX fps Steps This setting determines in what increments the program will attempt to change fps when you move a ramp point on the graph.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 40 Pref erences - Short cu t s Here you can assign F-Keys and normal keyboard keys as shortcuts for the most common camera control and preview commands.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 41 Pref erences - Ale rt s Some Alerts can be prevented from appearing again with a "Don't Show Again" checkbox in the Alert itself.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 42 File M en u New Ramp Archive When no ramp archive is open, this command will create a new ramp archive. Ramp archives are files created by the RPC that store a number of ramps. Open Ramp Archive… This command will lead to a directory dialog that allows you to open an existing ramp archive.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 43 E dit M en u Undo This command will undo the last action performed. Cut/Copy/Paste/Clear/Select All These are the standard commands found in any program and should be explained sufficiently in your computers documentation.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 44 Vi e w M e nu Connect to Camera This command will either bring the Connect to Camera window to the foreground, or, if it is not open, will open the Connect to Camera window.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 45 Pr e vi e w M en u Open Movie… This command allows you to choose a movie that will open in the Preview window. Record Triggers Choose this command to record preview triggers. Once the Record Triggers command is chosen, all existing preview triggers will be erased, and the movie will play at normal speed.
RPC Operations Guide, Page 46 H elp M e nu Macintosh Only: About Balloon Help & Show Balloons About Balloon Help will show a window with information about, well, Balloon Help. Show Balloons turns Balloon help on. Since the RPC does not use Balloon Help, ignore those two commands.
An important point after buying a device ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device ARRI ARRI Ramp Preview Controller along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
