Using Iconik Player and Frame Sequences
You can open and review image sequences directly in the Iconik Player at full fidelity and frame-rate. The Player plays through the sequence just as you'd expect, giving you an accurate read on your work inside the same ecosystem where the asset lives, rather than exporting to a separate review tool. The Player also supports color profiles via OpenColorIO, allowing you to view the sequence in the intended color space. When the review is done, the sequence can be published back into Iconik: a high-resolution video render can be generated, and a web proxy is generated automatically for the broader team, and all annotations, comments, markups, and color profiles travel with the asset. From there, you can run a synchronized review session where someone on the proxy in Iconik web and someone in the Iconik Player are locked together in real time: same playhead, same moment, different versions of the file.
Image formats supported in Iconik Player
- DPX (Digital Picture Exchange)
- OpenEXR
- Cineon
- TIFF sequences
- JPEG sequences
- PNG sequences
Opening Image sequences in the Player
There are a number of ways to add an image sequence to Desktop Player. You can:
- Use Finder (or Explorer) and drag the folder containing the frame sequence onto the player window.
- Select one file from the frame sequence and drag it onto the player window.
- Use Files → Add Media to select either a single file or the folder containing the frame sequence.
Once the frame sequence has loaded, it can be found under "Local Files" in the sidebar. Playback of a frame sequence works exactly the same as playback for video files.
Annotation tools and commenting work the same way they do for video and image files.
Publishing Image sequences to Iconik from the Player
To publish a frame sequence to Iconik, first select the frame sequences you want to upload. You can either select multiple sequences and use the right-click menu to choose "Upload to Iconik", or click the "cloud" icon on an individual sequence.
The file upload dialog box will appear, containing the sequences you selected. You can queue up multiple uploads, which will be displayed in this window.
In this window you can specify the necessary parameters to generate a video file and upload it to Iconik. The default parameters are usually sufficient, but they can be tailored as required.
Asset Name: By default, the asset name is derived from the file name, but you can change this as required.
File Path: The local path to the frame sequence.
Collection: The collection in Iconik where Desktop Player will create a new asset for the uploaded file. By default, the asset will be uploaded to the root collection, but this can be changed by clicking the collection path and using the collection browser to select a different collection.
Uploaded File Codec: Select which codec to use during the movie file generation process. The default is ProRes, which offers a good size-to-quality ratio. You can change this — MPEG, AV1, and VP9 are also supported.
Note: H.264 file generation is not supported natively in the player, but Iconik will generate a H.264 file automatically.
Uploaded File Storage: Specify which storage to use for the uploaded movie. The default is your domain's default FILE storage, but you can change this to any storage flagged as FILE within your Iconik domain.
Uploaded File Height: Set the resolution of the generated video file. The default value, "Native", will generate a video file that matches the input frames. The width of the video is determined by the video height and its aspect ratio.
Frame Storage: You can decide whether to keep the frame sequence files in place or copy them onto an ISG. With the option "Leave in place" selected, the original files will not be copied. If an ISG is selected, the Frame File Path option will become visible, and files will be copied to the location shown here.
The Frame File Path defaults to the mount point of the selected ISG, but this can be changed either by typing in a new path or by clicking the disk icon. A folder browser dialog will appear, and you can browse to a new location within your ISG.
Note: An error will occur if you attempt to copy files to a location outside the ISG.
Cleanup Files: Once the upload process is complete, you can decide whether to keep or delete any files generated during the upload. By default, all generated files are deleted.
Note: Only files generated by Desktop Player are deleted; other files will not be affected.
Status: Provides feedback on the status of the upload.
Once the uploads are configured, press the Upload button to start the process. The player will work through them one at a time, generating the video file and uploading it to Iconik. If any notes or annotations have been made on the frames prior to upload, these will also be uploaded when the asset is created.
The status of each upload can be found in the Status section. If an error occurs, a message will be displayed in this section; it can be cleared by clicking the cross icon.
If the upload has been configured to copy frames to an ISG, these frames are copied as part of the upload process.