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Broadcast safe?
Hello from beneath a pile of manuals. I’m working in FCP 6 and using Motion 3.0 for some special effect work. I’ve noticed a color change compared to the original video footage in the exported motion file. It’s as if the Motion program is applying some broadcast safe filtering on my video footage muting some of the better color vibrance prior to the export. The original footage goes out as a quicktime movie file DV/DVCPRO NTSC and “by the book” comes back that way too, but the coloring is muted. This is seen on an output video monitor and not noticeable on the cinema displays. When I compare the file properties of the original captured footage and that of the exported file created in motion, they look identical (by the numbers) but visually the motion file is now muted. I’ve noticed too the muting takes place in the motion program even before the export. I’ve tried a lot of attempts to correct this but so far no dice. Any help?
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9 Replies
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Hi Andy, No in all my efforts to trouble shoot I haven’t tried that one. I am used to exporting a self contained QT movie to work on in Motion and then export it back out as a self contained QT movie from Motion. I have tried importing the Motion file (which contains an original correctly colored clip) into FCP but with the same results, diminished luminance. As soon as any clip is put in the Motion program it immediately affects the coloring. By “correctly colored clip” I mean one that has a more vibrant color. I’ve been able to mimic the behavior in FCP by either throwing on a broadcast safe filter or exporting a DVCPRO50 422 file. These both will show me the same muted color schemes In FCP like I see when I’m in Motion. Again I only notice the shift in color on my video output monitor. Thanks for getting back with me.
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Well, you’re creating new media twice (once by exporting out of FCP, and a second time by exporting out of Motion). There’s a lot of potential for the compression to alter the color, gamma and other aspects of the clip.
I would definitely try the Send to Motion command, and then importing the Motion project instead of exporting out of Motion and see if that yields better results.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Hi Andy, True I’ve not gone about the use of the programs very efficiently and there is the possibility of a slight compression interference. However that is not what is occurring here. Case in point, I open a FCP project and install a clip on it’s time line. I open Motion and install the same clip on it’s time line. I then import the motion sequence into the FCP time line. Now the same original clip is on the FCP time line twice. So far the clip from Motion has not been exported it’s just being supplied from Motion to appear in the FCP time line. I now view the “two” clips on my video out monitor. The FCP clip is vibrant the same clip coming through Motion is less vibrant. Just by sitting in the Motion time line, the clip is being affected. The original source file is not changed but when it is viewed in Motion and or consequently exported it loses some color intensity. Also I can view the clip unaltered on my video out screen from Motion and the same thing occurs. Again just by having the clip viewed from the Motion interface the original vibrant clip becomes diminished. Is there some sort of preset in the preferences I’m overlooking? Thanks
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There’s no preset, unless you count the computer display setting that allows you to use FCS colorspace or something like that (either way, that setting shouldn’t affect output to a monitor). And I can’t recreate your issue because, using your test of placing the same clip in an FCP and Motion project and then viewing both on an FCP timeline, I saw no difference in the two clips.
I’m not sure what’s causing your problem, but whatever it is, seems constrained to your system.
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Thanks Andy for checking up on this coloring issue. It could be that my original footage shot on an XL-1s was a little more vivid than it should be however the colors should not be bothered by the programs and it perhaps is just isolated to my configurations. Did you happen to view the clips side by side as seen through a fire wire external video out monitor? That’s part of my configuration I do my color corrections based on a regular Sony studio CRT monitor fed out from the computer via fire wire. It’s only on this third monitor I see the color change. Viewing on the cinema displays does not reveal the change. Again it isn’t a comparison from the cinema display to the CRT either. I view both clips on the CRT one image is better than the other. Thanks again though for helping me out.
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Yes, I viewed both clips as you did: side by side through firewire to an external monitor. I saw no change in the clips, and the waveform and vector scopes looked identical as well.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Thanks Andy for your checking this item out. I’m glad it’s not a wide spread problem in the Motion program I’ll look at a few things I can change in the configs etc. to hopefully clear up the matter. It sounds like a case of the severely complex computer language disagreeing with itself.
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Hey Andy, Today I found a nifty button that allowed me to see the “parade’ vector scope which revealed a portion of the problem with the coloring/luminance. The original clip shows a wider spectrum of the luminance pattern from 0 up to 109. The same clip coming through Motion has the luminance clamped down at 100 It’s like anything above 100 is squished down to the 100 level. So my original clip goes to 109 as a normal range and looks better than the clamped 100. Did your study clip have a luminance above 100? In the FCP Project properties there is a setting to use the extra white ( 110 mode ) but I’m just using the standard white ( 100 ) configuration. Thanks again, please let me know what things I might look for to understand what’s happening.
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