Magic Bullet Looks

Tool Chain

The Tool Chain is the heart of Magic Bullet Looks, with various controls and parameters you can use to adjust various aspects of your shot.

How it works

Tool Chain: Tools are processed from left to right and can be applied from any of the Tool's categories, following the same path as light through a real-world cinematography workflow.

Delete a tool: To remove a tool from your Look, just drag the tool icon below the Tool Chain. When you release the tool, it gets deleted. If a tool is selected, you can also use the Delete (Del) or Backspace key to remove the tool. You can also right click a tool and choose to delete it.

Pin a tool: Sometimes you may want to apply an adjustment before browsing the presets. In order to be sure your tool does not get removed when viewing presets, you can pin it to the toolchain. To do this, Right click on your chosen Tool and select "Pin".

Input / Output: Automatically select both the Input and Output fields and open the Color Management panel where you can then select the type of the clip you are working with.

You have two choices of modes: 1D Color Handling and OpenColorIO – ACES.

• • 1D Color Handling: Employ 1D Lookup Table to accurately map the tone curve of your clip. However, the color primaries will stay in the original source color space.
• • OpenColorIO – ACES: Use ACES standardized transformation to accurately map the color and contrast of your clip. Using ACES, you can convert your clip from what the camera saw into what your display can reproduce accurately.

Use the Lookup button on the top info bar to change the preview between your input and output stages. To manage how you want to preview your clip, go to Color Management panel by selecting either the Input or Output.

Reset: This control will remove all the tools in your Tool Chain. Letting you start fresh.

Save Look: Clicking the “Save Look” icon will bring up a dialog that will allow you to save your current Tool Chain as a Look (Preset). It will allow you to custom name your Look and select a Custom Folder to store it in.

Bypass on/off switches

You can enable or disable the tools in the Tool Chain area by clicking the Tool Bypass icon. This icon is called the Tool Bypass Switch because it tells Magic Bullet Looks to 'bypass', or ignore, tools that are loaded in the Tool Chain. When a tool is Bypassed, the icon will turn red. Clicking on the red icon, will turn the tool back on.

Main Bypass: Turn on/off the entire Tool Chain with the Tool Chain button to the left of the Strength control. Turning the chain off shows a preview without any tools. The Main Bypass will not affect your "Input Is" or "Output Is" settings.

Tool Bypass: Turn on/off the individual tools with the Bypass switch at the top right of each tool chip. Turning off the icon shows a preview without that tool applied

Keyboard shortcut: The '' key is a new helpful shortcut for toggling the Main Bypass on and off. This keyboard command saves a lot of time when previewing your look.

Strength: The strength control allows you to adjust the global strength of all the tools in your toolchain. This control has a special link with the strength slider that is located outside of the Looksbuilder, allowing you to adjust it again once you return to your host.

Cancel: Clicking on the "X" icon or pressing "Esc", will close the Looksbuilder without applying any of the corrections that have been made during the current session.

Apply: Clicking on the "Checkmark" icon or pressing "Enter", will close the Looksbuilder and apply the current look to your footage.

Add Tools to the Chain

There are a few ways to add a tool to the Tool Chain. When you drag a tool from the Tool Drawer over the Preview Area or Tool Chain, that tool will appear in the Chain with overlays and controls ready for editing.

• One, when you double-click a tool in the Tools Drawer, it will automatically load into the Chain.
• Two, you can drag-and-drop a tool from the Tool Drawer to the Tool Chain area.
• Three, you can drag-and-drop a tool from the Tool Drawer to the Preview Area and it will load in the Chain.
• Four, when you click a Look Preset in the Looks Drawer, the related tools will load into the Chain.

Tools are automatically positioned in the chain wherever it would normally get processed in its left-to-right processing, but you are free to move it anywhere in the chain.