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Atomos Monitors Guide

August 3, 2020

Atomos Monitors Setup guides for Shogun Inferno, Shogun Flame, Shogun Studio, Ninja Flame, Ninja Assassin Introduction

Calman takes advantage of the internal 3D LUT feature of the Atomos Shogun Inferno, Shogun Flame, Shogun Studio, Ninja Flame, and Ninja Assassin monitors to calibrate the monitor with a 33x33x33 16-bit 3D cube lookup table (LUT). Atomos monitors support 3D LUTs in the industry-standard .cube format and provide multiple LUT memory slots. The Atomos monitors provide an internal test pattern generator that can be controlled by Calman.

Calman automatically creates an optimized monitor calibration 3D LUT and saves it to a computer file in a user-selected location. The LUT file can then be manually loaded into the Atomos monitor.

This setup guide assists you in calibrating an Atomos monitor with the Calman Color Cube workflow.

Calman Required Software

  • Version 5.7.2 or later
  • Calman Ultimate or Calman Studio can be used to create 3D LUTs for Atomos monitors.

Calman Required Workflow

  • Color Cube (3D LUT)

Atomos Monitor Control Port

USB to Serial Cable Device Driver

  • Available from Atomos re-sellers

Calman 3D LUT Monitor Calibration

Follow this procedure to create an optimized software 3D LUT calibration file, ready to be loaded into an Atomos monitor.

Color Cube (3D LUT) Workflow

The Color Cube workflow in Calman is used to create monitor calibration 3D cube LUTs. In the Calman main menu, select Open Workflow Template / Color Cube (3D LUT). Proceed through each step of the Color Cube workflow in a normal fashion, using the following notes for Atomos monitor specifics.

Initial Setup section

In the Initial Setup section of the Color Cube workflow, step through the following pages:

Session Setup – Meter Connect

  1. Connect your color meter to the Calman computer.
  2. On the Session Setup page, click the Find Meter button to connect your meter.
  3. On the Find Meters dialog, select your meter if it is listed, then click Search. If your meter is not listed on the Find Meters dialog, just click Search.
  4. Under the Target Display Type drop down, for a colorimeter, select “LCD (LED White).” For a spectrophotometer, no special selection is required.

Session Setup – Source Connect

  1. On the Session Setup page, click the Find Source button.
  2. On the Find Source dialog, under Manufacturer, select ‘Atomos.’
  3. Under Model, select ‘Atomos – Shogun (9600 baud).’

Session Setup – LUT Device Setup

  1. On the Session Setup page, click the Find 3D LUT Device button.
  2. On the Find Display dialog, under Manufacturer, select ‘SpectraCal.’
  3. Under Model, select ‘SpectraCal – Cube Generator (3D LUT).’
  4. Click Connect.

Display Pre-Test section

You can measure the performance of an Atomos monitor before you calibrate it, on the pre-test Gamma & ColorChecker page.

If the Performance Analysis page then indicates any red pass/fail lights for the monitor’s native performance, you can proceed to the Display Optimization section of the workflow to optimize the monitor’s internal picture controls before performing the 3D LUT calibration. A few minutes spent optimizing the monitor’s native performance typically yields a more accurate 3D LUT calibration. The degree of improvement depends greatly on the individual monitor.

If you skip display optimization at this time and the final calibration validation indicates less than the desired improvement, you can easily return to the Display Optimization section to optimize the internal display controls and then repeat the 3D LUT calibration by clicking the Optimize Display button on the final calibration validation page.

On the Performance Analysis page:

  • To proceed first to the workflow Display Optimization section, click the Optimize Display button.
  • To skip directly to the Display Calibration section, click the Calibrate Cube LUT button.

Display Optimization section

To optimize the monitor’s internal picture controls before creating a 3D calibration LUT, advance through the control adjustment pages in the Display Optimization section of the workflow.

Display Calibration section

In the Display Calibration section of the Color Cube workflow, there are provisions for calibrating both a 1D RGB LUT (1D Ramp LUT page) and a 3D cube LUT (3D Cube LUT page). When we are calibrating a Atomos monitor with a 3D LUT, we will skip the 1D Ramp LUT page (1D RGB LUT) and use only the 3D Cube LUT page.

1D Ramp LUT page

Skip over this page when creating a 3D LUT file for an Atomos monitor, as the Atomos monitor does not support a correction 1D LUT.

3D Cube LUT page

  1. On the 3D Cube LUT page, click the AutoCal button (rotating arrows) at the right end of the meter action buttons. The AutoCal Setup dialog then appears.
  2. On the popup AutoCal Setup dialog, under File Format, select “Atomos – LUT (.cube)” (creates a 33x33x33 16-bit 3D LUT .cube format file).
  3. Also on the AutoCal Setup dialog, under File Path, select a convenient location for the LUT file that Calman will create. Name the .cube file to identify the monitor and the date.
  4. On the AutoCal Setup dialog, under Calibration Type, select the desired type of 3D LUT calibration process.
    1. IR Profile (time based): Creates the best quality display calibration 3D LUT possible in the selected period of time. You select how much display quality you have time for, from 30 minutes to maximum display quality (6,000 points max). Uses Intelligent Resolution Profiling to search out the most nonlinear color space areas and correct those first.
    2. IR Profile (point based): Creates the best quality display calibration 3D LUT possible with the selected number of measurement points (1,000 – 10,000 points). Uses Intelligent Resolution Profiling to search out the most nonlinear color space areas and correct those first.
    3. Lightning LUT: Creates a display calibration 3D LUT in five minutes or less. Produces a very high quality result on professional displays with moderate linearity. Displays with significant nonlinearity may produce marginal results.
  5. Click OK.

Upon completion of the AutoCal 3D software LUT calibration process, Calman automatically writes the optimized LUT calibration data into an Atomos format .cube file in the selected drive location.

Atomos Monitor LUT Load

When Calman completes its automatic 3D LUT calibration, the created software 3D LUT file is ready to be loaded into the Atomos monitor. To load the software 3D LUT calibration file into your Atomos monitor:

  1. Copy the 3D LUT .cube file from your computer to the SSD/HDD in your Master Caddy II.
  2. Select the desired LUT slot, press on the blue file icon, and select the OFF DISK option.
  3. Navigate through the disk file system to the LUT file to be uploaded, press on the file name to highlight/select the LUT, then press again to import the LUT.
  4. Wait for the LUT loading progress bar to complete. The name of the currently selected 3D LUT will be displayed at the top of the display menu panel.
  5. Press the Monitor LUT Icon once to apply the LUT to 50% of the image, to allow a comparison of the image with and without the LUT.
  6. Press the Monitor LUT Icon again to apply the LUT to the entire image.
  7. Press the Monitor LUT Icon a third time to turn off the LUT.

DONE! – Atomos monitor 3D LUT calibration and setup is complete.

Tags:  3D LUTatomos