Chaos Group Releases New Version of PDPlayer 1.0.4

Improved Audio Support

Audio is now being read from AVI and Quicktime movies (subject to the limitation that the movie must be no longer than 30 minutes, or the audio will not be loaded). Exporting an AVI or a Quicktime movie will now save an audio track, if an audible one is present.

Important note: Quicktime and most AVI codecs are 32 bit, and Pdplayer 64 cannot access them. To play back (or export) compressed AVI movies and Quicktime movies, please use the 32 bit version of Pdplayer; you can install both side by side.

Text Fields

The text in text layers may now contain embedded fields of the form {object:property}. Such fields are replaced with their values before the text is displayed. For example, {timeline:frame} is replaced with the current frame, and {4:timecode} is replaced with the embedded timecode of layer 4. This is useful for burn-ins when creating previews and dailies. For more information about the syntax, install Pdplayer 1.0.4 and consult the file pdplayer.textfields.txt in the installation directory.


You can download a composition that illustrates an example burn-in template. It has been scaled down a bit to keep the file size manageable, but is otherwise almost identical to the composition we used to produce the above screenshot. Please note that the images are copyright 2010 Filmmaker, LLC and are used with their permission. Filmmaker, LLC reserves all rights over these images.

Improved 3D LUT Precision

The interpolation of 3D look-up tables has been improved, providing more accurate color reproduction. This allows Pdplayer 1.0.4 to convert between radically different color spaces by using an appropriate 3D LUT. For example, it can now show Digital Cinema Initiative X'Y'Z' gamma 2.6 images with the help of the supplied DCI_XYZ.cms lookup table, found in the LUTs subdirectory of the installation directory.


You can download a sample composition that illustrates the ability to view DCI XYZ images with a 3D LUT.

RED SDK 3.0

The RED SDK has been upgraded to version 3.0, with support for the new FLUT color science, including the new REDcolor and REDgamma color spaces.

Improved Flipbook Integration with Nuke

The included menu.py Nuke flipbook integration script that adds the "Review Selection in Pdplayer" command to the Render menu has been enhanced to support stereo compositions.