Cyber-D’s Image Sequence Viewer: Quick Start Guide

Mastering Cyber-D’s Image Sequence Viewer: Tips & Shortcuts

Overview

Cyber-D’s Image Sequence Viewer is a tool for loading, reviewing, and annotating ordered image frames (e.g., time-lapse, rendered sequences, or frame-by-frame VFX). This guide focuses on practical tips and shortcuts to speed navigation, improve inspection accuracy, and streamline export/annotation workflows.

Navigation & Playback

• Keyboard play/pause: Use the spacebar to toggle playback — faster than clicking UI buttons.
• Frame step: Left/Right arrows move one frame; Shift + Left/Right jumps 10 frames (useful for long sequences).
• Looping: Enable loop mode for continuous review; pair with a short play speed to inspect motion artifacts.
• Playback speed control: Reduce speed to 0.5x or 0.25x when checking subtle changes between frames.

Loading & File Handling

• Sequential import: Drag the folder containing numerically named frames to auto-load as a sequence.
• Frame padding recognition: Ensure filenames use consistent padding (e.g., 0001, 0002) — viewer detects sequence ranges automatically.
• Proxy usage for high-res: Create and load lower-resolution proxies when working with very large images to keep playback smooth.

Inspection & Comparison

• Onion-skin / overlay mode: Use onion-skin to compare adjacent frames and detect jitter or flicker.
• Difference/blend modes: Toggle difference or blend blending to highlight pixel changes between frames.
• Split-view: Use side-by-side comparison for original vs. graded frames.
• Zoom shortcuts: Ctrl/Cmd + mouse wheel or double-click to zoom to 100% for pixel-level inspection. Use fit-to-window for context.

Annotation & Notes

• Frame tagging: Tag problematic frames (e.g., “artifact”, “needs-grade”)—export tags as a list for review.
• Frame-range notes: Attach notes to ranges (e.g., frames 120–145) to record sequence-level issues.
• Hotkeys for markers: Assign hotkeys to common markers to speed up QA passes.

Color & Exposure Tools

• Temporary LUTs: Load a LUT to preview intended color grading without altering source frames.
• False-color/exposure overlay: Use false-color to spot clipped highlights or crushed shadows quickly.
• Color-sampling: Use an eyedropper and histogram overlay to track problematic exposure shifts across frames.

Export & Delivery

• Export selected frames: Export only flagged frames (or ranges) to reduce review package size.
• Create review movie: Export a compressed review file with burn-in frame numbers and markers visible.
• Embed metadata: Include frame tags and notes in sidecar files (e.g., JSON or XML) for downstream tools.

Performance Tips

• GPU acceleration: Enable GPU decoding if available for smoother playback of large formats.
• Cache frequently used sequences: Use the viewer’s cache feature for repeat passes on the same shots.
• Close unused panels: Hide side panels (scopes, annotations) when you need maximum playback performance.

Troubleshooting Quick-fixes

• Missing frames: Rename frames to consistent padding and reload the sequence.
• Playback stutter: Switch to proxies, lower playback resolution, or enable GPU decoding.
• Color inconsistency: Confirm the viewer’s color-management profile matches source color space.

Suggested Hotkeys (assumes common defaults)

• Space — Play/Pause
• Left/Right — Step frame
• Shift + Left/Right — Jump 10 frames
• I / O — Set in/out for range export
• M — Toggle marker on current frame
• Ctrl/Cmd + S — Save session or annotations

If you want, I can generate a printable one-page quick-reference card with only the hotkeys and essential steps.