Andrea - Film Simulator
Brenda - Colour Grader

A plug-in for the camera RAW image processing program Bibble 5.
by Sean M Puckett

What does Andrea do?

Andrea gives digital images a film look by simulating traditional chemical films such as Tri-X, Kodachrome, Velvia and so on. Andrea also simulates familiar papers such as Portra, Multi-Contrast and others. It is the successor to the Bibble 4 plug-ins Andy & AndyPRO and improves upon them by supporting colour films and papers.

Free Version Included with Bibble 5

Please provide feedback at the Bibble support forums under "3rd Party Plug-ins".

Purchase Andrea Full Version Now

Suggested pricing is in effect for this plug-in! You can choose from a range of prices during check-out. There's no difference in functionality. All I ask is that you choose a price that is fair and reasonable for you.

No kidding, no catch!

TO BUY: login to plug-in manager.

Sample Images

Click to zoom. Sim: Fomapan 100 / Pro Image II / Pseudocolour
Image (c) 2010 Sean M Puckett

Click to zoom. Sim: Kodak Imagelink HQ / Fomaspeed Filter 0
Image (c) 2010 Sean M Puckett

Click to zoom. Sim 1, Kodak Tri X Pan, D76, 7 min / Fomaspeed Variant III, Filter 3
Sim 2, Fomapan 100, Microphen, 11 min / Agfa Brovira Speed, 2 Special (pseudocolour)
Image (c) 2010 Frank Stefani photoArt

Click to zoom. Sim: Fomapan 100, 11min / Brovira-Speed Soft (pseudocolour)
Image (c) 2010 Sean M Puckett

Click to zoom. Sims: Fuji Neopan 400 / Agfa Brovira-Speed Hard; Kodalith pseudo-colour; Kodachrome 40 with filtration.
Image (c) 2010 Sean M Puckett

I'd like the screenshots here to be from users. So, folks, if you're using Andrea, and you're keen on sharing your awesome pictures, get in touch with me. I'll give you full photo credit and link to your site if you wish. I need a "before" picture and an "after" picture, basically one image with Andrea disabled then same image again with Andrea enabled.

Shooting Video?

Take a look at FxAndy - Film Simulation for Final Cut -- Andrea's technology, now available for Final Cut Pro and Express!

Andrea Theory of Operation

Andrea simulates the exposure of film in a camera, plus optionally a second exposure of film in a darkroom. Much effort is made to simulate this accurately while still providing adjustments we are accustomed to in the digital world.

Please understand that there's a lot of gibberish in this description that, generally, only very old people will understand. Words like "latitude" and "emulsion" and "slides" which date from the age when film cameras roamed the earth, flapping their loaders and consuming disposable income almost as quickly as iTunes.

Step by Step

Here is how Andrea processes your image, and which controls affect each stage:

1. Digital image data converted to adjusted linear luminance values (Raw DR)
2. Camera stock selection and preparation (Camera Stock, Variant, Film Latitude)
3. Colour filtration applied to luminance data (Filtration C-R, M-G, Y-B)
4. Camera exposure adjustment (Camera)
5. Image data "exposed" onto camera stock
6. Print stock selection and preparation (Print Stock, Variant, Print Latitude)
7. Camera-to-print stock exposure balancing (internal calculation)
8. Darkroom exposure adjustment (Print)
9. Camera image "exposed" onto print stock
10. Print exposure final adjustment (Final, Density)
11. Conversion back to digital image data

When you get confused, and you will get confused down below, just refer back to the list above to see which control does what. Then, after you've read it for the fifth time and are starting to get dizzy, you can scream and pull your hair out and say Mornington Crescent and boom just like that you win. It's so simple.

Get the Best out of Andrea

Here are some tips for getting the best images out of Andrea.

1. No autolevels. Very important: Andrea's output is distorted when using Autolevels.
2. Good white balance. Starting with good colour allows you to use Andrea's filter for special effects, instead of correcting bad balance.
3. Good exposure. It is better to use Bibble's exposure control to correct a dark image than to use Andrea's camera control. Again, this lets Andrea's controls be used creatively instead of for correction. (However, do not crush away any highlight detail.)
4. Maintain highlight headroom. An important characteristic of film is preserving highlight detail. Use Bibble's highlight recovery if necessary to restore any lost detail in your shot before using Andrea.

Simulator Control Reference

Refer to the screenshot to the right for a visual key to these controls.

Top Group

Enable Checkbox

Controls whether Andrea affects the image. Turning this checkbox off disables Andrea without altering any other settings. If you adjust any settings in Andrea while Andrea is disabled, it will be enabled automatically.

Reset Button

Returns all sliders and settings in Andrea to standard values. Does not reset choice of film and print stocks, however.

? Button

Shows version and author of the plug-in.

Camera Stock Group

Chooses a film stock to simulate. The full roster of film stocks is shown at the end of this page.

The number in parenthesis is the technical input dynamic range of the stock, measured from just under peak dMAX to just over unexposed. Technical dynamic range is not usable dynamic range, which varies according to the curves and sensitivity of the stock. In general, assume usable dynamic range of a stock to be 2-3 stops less..

Variant

Some film stocks have variations available. The variation describes the different behaviour of the stock under different circumstances, i.e. development time, chemical or temperature. Generally the variants have similar looks but more or less contrast. (Similar adjustments in contrast can be made on all films by using the Film Latitude control.)

Print Stock Group

The second stock is the "second exposure" that is made in the darkroom. Light is shone through the developed camera film onto the raw print stock, which is then developed.

Generally print stocks are paper, but for motion picture films you can print from transparency to transparency to create differing looks from the same base exposure. (Transparency print films are not yet included in Andrea, but will be soon.)

Variant

As above, variations of the selected print film type. For traditional paper media, different grades or filters may be available, which control the final contrast. Lower numbers are softer (low contrast).

Exposure and Control

These sliders adjust the simulator directly by adjusting how light passes through it.

Raw DR - Raw Dynamic Range

Specifies the contrast of the source material in stops from deep black to white. Should be realistically set for your capture device. In general, the following chart applies:

• Point & Shoot camera, high ISO, night/indoors - 5-6 (five stops)
• Point & Shoot camera, low ISO, daylight outdoors - 6-7 (six stops)
• Micro 4/3 or other mirrorless compact, 6-8 (six to eight stops)
• Consumer DSLR, 7-8 (seven stops)
• Pro DSLR, 8-10 (eight to nine stops)
• Digital Back, 9-11 (nine to eleven stops)
• Film scanner raw data, 12-16 (twelve to sixteen stops)

Do not overestimate the capabilities of your capture device. Doing so will cause unpleasant banding and speckles in the shadows. When in doubt, underestimate or perform real world tests to determine the capabilities of your device and compression scheme. The best simulation begins with the most carefully captured and considered data.

AndyPRO note: To emulate the appearance of AndyPRO, set Raw DR to 16

Camera

Controls the brightness of the scene sent to the simulated film, in stops. Increase to make the image brighter. Decrease to darken it.

Print

Controls the brightness of the scene sent to the simulated print stock, in stops. Increase to make the image brighter. Decrease to darken it.

Final

Controls the illumination of the final transparency or paper. Increase to make the image brighter, decrease to darken it.

Combine camera underexposure with push/pull overexposure for alternate contrast effects.

Density

Sets the contrast level of black vs. white in the final output. Should be left at 5 except when you specifically want to expressly simulate the not-really-black levels of traditional media.

Since typical projection & presentation methods introduce their own not-really-black issues, this is typically not necessary to get a good simulation. However, it can produce very authentic looking results if you are specifically going for an antique film look.

Filtration

Adds a colour filter in front of the virtual camera lens. The filtration happens in linear space, so some colours can seem oversaturated compared to those chosen from the colour pickers.

When Color Process is turned off, the colour filter applies before the spectral condenser and thus may be used to create various levels of spectral sensitivity. In other words, a red filter will cause blue objects to appear dark, while a blue filter will cause blue objects to be light and red objects to be dark.

In order to make Andrea easier to use, filter values are normalized so that you will not need to make a compensation adjustment to the camera exposure. This is non-traditional but much less annoying.

Andrea simulates the spectral response of traditional B&W films behind the scenes; the filtration is additive to this effect. This differs from AndyPRO.

C-R

Cyan - Red filtration. Move to the right to add varying degrees of red filter. Move to the left to add a cyan filter.

M-G

Magenta - Green filtration. Move to the right to add a green filter. Move to the left to add a magenta filter.

Y-B

Yellow - Blue filtration. Move to the right to add a blue filter. Move to the left to add

Latitude Adjustments

Adjusts the contrast of the simulated film and print stocks without significantly altering their individual character.

Film

Adds or removes exposure latitude (contrast) across the film response curve.

Print

Adds or removes exposure latitude (contrast) across the print response curve.

Options

These small settings have major effects!

Show Clip

When enabled, the image is modified to show you both over-exposure and under-exposure in the processing chain. Do not inadvertently leave this option enabled when you perform final renders!

Print

Controls whether the second simulation happens. That is, Andrea always runs one simulation: camera. If you are simulating a negative film, you'll probably want to print that negative onto a stock that can produce a positive, recognisable image. Similarly, if you're simulating a positive film (i.e. slide film), you don't really need a print -- the slide is the finished product.

Andrea turns print off and on automatically for you, depending on which film stock you select so that you get a positive image final result. You can override this by clicking print after making your film choice. In this case, you may see a negative image if you haven't chosen an appropriate print media.

Colour

When Colour Process is enabled, all three colour channels are treated separately according to the specific rules of the simulated film and/or print stocks. Note that if either film or paper is a monochromatic (B&W) emulsion, its spectral response will be honoured but each colour channel will be processed individually through the monochrome path causing a full colour output. In this way, you can use the response characteristics of a B&W film for creating colour output. (This is "pseudocolour" in Andrea; AndyPRO had the same option but it was called "RGB".)

If you don't want full colour output, turn off Colour Process. When off, incoming colour channel data is condensed according to the spectral response of the film/paper, modulated by the colour filter, and then summed to a single monochromatic value. Note that, even if Colour Process is off, if you are using colour sensitive film/paper, you may get colour tinted output anyway as the response curve of that film/paper might not be identical across the spectrum.

Simulation Roster

In the roster, simulations shown in Bold appear in the free version of Andrea. To access all simulations, please purchase the full version of Andrea, available soon.

The current release of Andrea does not yet have colour negative film (e.g. Kodacolor) simulation. However, you can use the Colour checkbox to enable pseudocolour results from B&W films that are then printed on colour paper. Colour negative film is on the way.

See important trademark notice at the bottom of this page.

Camera Stock

Black and White Negative

• Adox 25 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Adox 50 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Adox 100 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Agfapan 25 in Refinal
• Agfapan 100 in Refinal
• Agfapan 400 in Refinal
• Fomapan 100 in Microphen (3 variants)
• Fujifilm Neopan 100 in Microfine (4 variants)
• Fujifilm Neopan 400 in T-MAX (3x), D-76 (3x), SPD (3x)
• Fujifilm Neopan 1600 in SPD (3x), D-76 (3x), Fujidol (3x), Microfine (3x)
• Ilford FP4 in Ilfotec HC
• Ilford PANF in Ilfotec HC (4 variants)
• Ilford Delta 3200 in Ilfotec
• Kodak HS Infrared Unfiltered in D-76 (very strong blue response), and filtered in D19, D-76 and HC-110 (note the simulation does not attempt to fabricate infrared light -- you get the red channel only)
• Kodak Imagelink HQ in Prostar
• Kodak Kodalith in Kodalith developer (1 variant) and D-11 (3 variants)
• Kodak TechPan in HC-110 (3 variants), Technidol (3 variants), and Dektol
• Kodak Tri-X in T-MAX (4 variants) and D-76 (3 variants)
• Kodak Verichrome Pan in HC-110 (3 variants) and D-76 (3 variants)

Colour Transparency (i.e. slide film)

• Agfa Agfachrome RSX II
• Fujifilm Velvia 100T
• Fuji Eterna-CP 3521
• Fuji Eterna-CP 3513
• Kodak Ektachrome 100D / 7285
• Kodak Ektachrome 64T / 7280
• Kodak Kodachrome 40 / 7268

Print

Black and White Paper

• Agfa Brovira-Speed in all six grades (0-5)
• Agfa Multicontrast Premium with all six filters (0-5)
• Agfa Record-Rapid in all four grades (1-4)
• Foma Fomaspeed, four grades (soft-hard)
• Foma Fomaspeed Variant III, six filters (0-5)
• Forte Fortezzo in Hard, Normal and Soft
• Ilford Multigrade IV Fiber, seven filters (00-5)
• Kentmere Art Classic
• Kentmere Art Deluxe in Grade 2 and Grade 3
• Kentmere VC Select seven filters (00-5)
• Kodak AZO in Grade 2 and Grade 3
• Kodak Polymax II RC in Dektol, six filters (0-5)
• Kodak Portra in RA-4 (just one variant)

Colour Paper

• Fuji Crystal Archive SP
• Kodak Pro Image II
• Kodak Ultra Endura
• Kodak Portra Endura
• Kodak Endura VC

Important Trademark Notice

Company and product names used on this page and within the Andrea plug-in may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks. Use of these terms does not constitute endorsement. The use of these terms in the context of describing the transformation of a digital image is not intended as infringement -- it is an indication of homage and respect. In no way can a digital image manipulation be mistaken for the behaviour and appearance of traditional films, papers and chemicals. Thank you for 150 years of beautiful imagery.