Exercise: Working in Batch
Click on the icon for a quick preview of the exercise and the final result.

Download an archive that contains the footage as well as the setups used in this exercise.
Put these files in your Flame system: for example under the /usr/tmp directory.

To learn how to load material into the Flame Library, see the exercise:
“Loading a Flame archive”

Images are subject to copyright: please read the disclaimer at the end of the tutorials.

Start in Batch.
Note: In Flame, you access Batch from the Desktop, under the PROCESSING menu.
1. Drag the Library node to the Batch schematic.
2. Select the Building_Reflection shot and press Load.

It is easier to add text and position it onto a straight plate than try to add it in perspective. In order to straighten the plate for easier compositing, we’ll use a Lens Distort node using Perspective mode. We’ll restore the perspective in a later step.

1. Drag the Lens Distort node into the Batch schematic.
2. Connect the Building_Reflection clip to the front input of the Lens Distort.

3. With the Lens Distort node selected, display the Front view, press F1.
4. Zoom out a bit, Ctrl+Space drag in the viewer or drag the zoom field.
5. In the Lens Distort properties, enable Perspective mode. Crosses appear in the corners of the image.
6. Drag the corner crosses to the edges of the window.
Make sure to do this in Front view, as doing it in result view will cause the image to distort.

7. When the crosses are properly positioned, switch to Result view, press F4.
The image is distorted further.
8. To cancel out the distortion instead of emphasizing it, toggle from Distortion mode to Rectification.

Now that we temporarily have a straight backplate we will position some text on top.

1. Display the Batch schematic, swipe left.
2. Drag the Text node into the Batch schematic and connect it after the Lens Distort node.

In the Text module, the only visible parameter is Edit.
3. Zoom out the viewer to see the entire image.
4. Click Edit to enter the Text module.
5. Click in the viewer to create a text layer.
6. Type “FOR RENT INQUIRE WITHIN”
7. Press the Esc key to toggle to Move mode
8. Use the Axis controls to reposition the text.
Note: You can also modify the font, the fill color and other text attributes to your liking.
Remember that you need to highlight the characters first and that you need to be in Edit mode to do so.

9. When you’re satisfied with the text, press the RETURN button to exit back to the Batch schematic.

To toggle from Move to Edit mode inside the Text module, press ESC. To select all characters at once, press Alt A.

We just added straight text on a backplate with the perspective removed. Now we need to do the opposite to add the perspective distortion back to the text so it fits precisely on our original backplate. Since we are using the Batch effects environment, it is easy to rearrange nodes without having to start over from the beginning.

1. Drag a Logic Op node to the batch schematic.
This node allows us to combine sources using different logical operations (also known as blending modes).
2. Connect the nodes according to the following illustration.
Remember that you can drag across a connector to disconnect it.

Here you can see that the text is now on a separate branch in relation to the backplate. It is distorted, then composited on top of the backplate, which enters the Logic Op via its back input.
3. Display the result of the Logic Op, press F4.
The text has the wrong orientation.
4. In the Lens Distort node, toggle from Rectification to Distortion.
The proper angle is set on the text.
5. Check the result of the Logic Op. You can see that the composite looks convincing.
Feel free to experiment with different Logical Operation methods.

One of the advantages of working in batch is that you can edit a node while viewing the batch result downstream in the tree. This is called Context view, we will try it now.

1. Select the Logic Op node. Click Set Context.
A green dotted line appears around the node. This will be the node we will monitor when we make changes to the text.
2. Select the Text node and press Edit in the properties.
3. In the view menu, toggle between Result (the result of the text module) and Context 1 (the result of the Logic Op).
4. Change the text to “FOR SALE INQUIRE WITHIN”. You can view the change interactively in Context view.
5. Press Return to go back to the Batch tree.

There are two possible context views in Batch. The shortcut to set a context view is to hold = (equal) while clicking on the node or clip that you want to use as a context. The shortcuts to toggle to the two context views are 1 and 2.

We need an Output node to process the final result to the Clip Library. In Batch, you can use several output nodes and render a result at any part of the Batch tree.

1. Add an Output node at the end of the process tree.
2. To automatically adjust the output format to match the source, select the Output node, hold T and click the Building_Reflection input in the Batch tree.

3. In the node name field, give the output clip a name.
4. Choose Library as the destination.
5. Press Process.
6. To take a look at the result, access the Clip Library, select the clip and press Go To Player.
You can also Play the latest render in Batch by pressing the Play button.

Before exiting the Batch module, you should always save the setup. A setup is the recipe for an effect or an entire batch tree. This is very useful if you need to make changes to the clip at a later time.

1. Expand the Batch Save button and choose Save Setup As.
2. In the browser that appears, name the clip at the bottom and press enter.
This will save your setup in the home folder of the project.
3. To reload a Batch setup, expand the Load button and choose Load Batch.

To start a new Batch session from scratch, press Load, New Batch. You can load and replace the current setup, or append to it.

If you want to know more about the interface and the functionalities covered in this exercise, watch the following overview:

To continue practicing with the next exercise, click on the following link: