Nx 3-Strip

Key Features

Wratten Spectral Separation Mathematically un-mixes the broad overlapping channels of a digital sensor to approximate the narrow-band Wratten filter capture of a real three-strip camera. Cleaner primaries, truer color separation — before the dye stage even begins.

Beer-Lambert Dye Absorption Three spectrally-derived CMY absorption coefficients — calibrated against archival IB print measurements. Saturated colors darken rather than bloom. Exactly as dye-transfer physics demands.

Imbibition Trapping Dyes transfer in order: Cyan → Magenta → Yellow. Each successive layer encounters gelatin already partially loaded by the previous one. The Langmuir adsorption model simulates this resistance — producing cool shadows and warm highlights not as a grade, but as a chemical consequence.

Bipack Halation Per-channel halation computed from the actual bipack optical path: Red record scatters most (rear of bipack), Green scatters least (direct path). Applied in the exposure domain before the film response curve, so it interacts with negative contrast exactly as real halation did. Warmth emerges from the physics, not from a tint.

IB Print Acutance + Gelatin Softness Two controls that work in opposite directions simultaneously. Acutance adds edge snap and midtone depth before dye processing. Gelatin Softness diffuses fine surface texture — skin, fabric — while leaving edges intact. Together they recreate the three-dimensional quality unique to real imbibition prints.

Density Coupling + Midtone Dye Boost Density Coupling links saturation to luminance the way dye mass does — heavier color means darker image. Midtone Dye Boost concentrates color richness exactly where real gelatin matrices concentrated it. The result is vivid, dimensional color without neon highlights or muddy blacks.

Authentic Lens Optics Petzval field curvature with a protected center radius. Longitudinal chromatic aberration with per-channel focus differences. Lateral chromatic aberration with radial color fringing. Based on the Mitchell/Century cameras and Baltar/Cooke Speed Panchro lenses used on the original three-strip productions.

Matrix Key Extracts high-frequency detail from the Green record — sharpest of the three due to its direct prism path — and applies it as neutral density in the shadows. Deeper blacks. Crisper edge definition. No retained silver. Accurate to how Process IV actually worked.

Silver-Free Grain Engine Technicolor IB prints contained no silver. Grain is applied to dye concentration, not RGB output — Beer-Lambert physics then naturally compresses it in highlights and preserves it in shadows. The result is the neutral, organic gelatin texture of real IB prints, not chromatic digital noise.

15 Input Formats Native support for ARRI LogC3/LogC4, Sony S-Log3, Canon C-Log 2, RED Log3G10, Panasonic V-Log, ACEScct, DaVinci Intermediate, Cineon, and all major display-referred formats. Log decode, gamut conversion, OOTF, and filmic tone mapping handled internally. Always outputs Rec.709 / Gamma 2.4.

14 Diagnostic View Modes Wratten Separation, Lens Optics Map, Separation Negatives, Halation Map, individual CMY dye layers, Dye Response Curves, Inhibition Trapping, Imbibition Buildup, Grain Map, and more. The same diagnostics you would use to calibrate a real imbibition printer.

Archive-Grade Physics Built forwards from documented historical sources — not backwards from a scan. Absorption spectra, bipack geometry, adsorption constants, Wratten primary coordinates, the white point of a 1940s carbon-arc projector. Every coefficient traces to a physical property.