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Grading and compositing R3D Footage and ignoring source settings
Hi There
I am grading and compositing RED 4k green screen portrait shots in after effects. Its a Harry potter style gallery of talking paintings for a visitors centre. I have not been using R3d source settings dialogue box to grade the footage at all. But rather just using the “as shot profile” which is relatively flat. I can already hear the disapproval! The reason for this is it seems to be yielding good results just compositing and grading up the footage within after effects. I find the second layer of accessing r3d source settings a pain in the neck. So I add on my curves and adjustments in after effects and work away. Is this going to introduce artefacts and noise by ignoring source settings?
David O’Sullivan
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7 Replies
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[David O'Sullivan] “Is this going to introduce artefacts and noise by ignoring source settings?”
I think this may depend some. If you’re only ignoring the color correction and white balance and you’re working in a high bit depth (32bpc preferred) then I don’t think there will be a problem.
Darby Edelen
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Thank you for that Darby. Briefly: In after effects I am applying keylight. Then applying AE curves and AE exposure and colour correcting with various filters to get the look, including Magic Bullet Looks and using Neat video denoiser to smooth out any noise (they are supposed to be paintings). I have been working in 8-bit colorspace and exporting to 1080 PNG sequence. 5 minutes is taking 10 hours to render and thats one of the reasons I am not working in 32. The final delivery format will be HD mpeg 2 or Mp4.
The results are nice but there seems to be a bit of noise and thats why I’ve been using Neat video denoiser – it also seems to lend to a painterly look. I am worried about noise and this is what is making me reconsider source settings.
I would like to use 32bpc but is it going to make any difference with an Mp4 delivery?Thanks Again
David -
I don’t blame you for wanting to avoid the Ae RED source settings screen, but you might consider doing a quick correction pass in REDCINE X.
If you are outputting 1080p but had recorded a higher resolution, you might speed things up by precomping the footage and handling the scaling inside the precomp, then applying effects to the precomp layer in the main comp.
Otherwise, if you are working on the footage directly at its native resolution, you are processing a lot more pixels than required for your output.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
If I were you I’d run a couple of short tests. Make some duplicates of your R3D footage item in the project panel and play with the debayer and denoise settings on the duplicates. Compare the quality of the footage with various settings and then compare render times. It’s possible that you might be able to either get better quality or achieve better render times without much loss to quality.
Darby Edelen
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For us/me it depends on the workflow.
We always do first light in RCX but some days the deadline is so tight that the original R3Ds are sent to post work or wherever.
So no chances at doing any base work.
As long as you like and the client approves IMHO.
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Thank you Walter
Yes I see, So maybe apply key light in 4k comp, then grading and effects in 1080 comp?
Sounds good. -
Darby
I tested some adjustments in source settings mainly just quickly adjusting the curve, exposure and denoise setting and then moderating some of the Grade settings in AE. Just looking at it straight away I can see much less noise. And I can save the setting in source settings to apply to multiple shots. Overall we are looking much cleaner. Will render and test. I will post any interesting changes in render times etc.
Great advice folks
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