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Perfect broadcast safe white?
Hi!
I am looking for a safe white “color” that wouldn’t cause any trouble once broadcasted in various situation (TV, projection, ect…). I make animations on white backgrounds and I had a few bad surprises in the past. Once the white won over the shapes erasing almost evrything.
Is there a reference white (obviously some off-white shade) that would be broadcast safe?THANK YOU
nicolas
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8 Replies
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If you don’t have a hardware scope to confirm, use R235,G235,B235.
Steve
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Technically there is no “perfect” white but it is generally accepted that 230-235 is as bright as you can go with a solid screen and simple overlay text of minimal contrast, or maybe 220-225 if you have a higher contrasting overlay color like black or deep blues and browns. Venturing outside of this has been shown to cause some problems with standard NTSC sets, especially those with built-in contrast enhancement.
On the other hand, many of the new plasma and LCD screen sets are impervious to both super-black and 255 white allowing for a far greater contrast within an image. Thankfully, HDTV will do away with a great deal of these limitations.Michael Munkittrick
Managing Creative Director
Evolve Media SolutionsForum COWmunity leader for:
Sony DV
Magic Bullet -
Just my 2 cents but I use Test Gear for my software meters, as well, I always finish off by applying an adjustment layer with a Broadcast Safe filter over the whole project.
Sean Cusson
Q media design
sean@qmediadesign.ca -
I’d be careful with the broadcast safe filter; it can sometimes do harsh things to your image while bringing it down to legal specs. I’ve found that it’s particularly bad with yellows; it wants to make them muddy green every time.
It certainly takes more time, but I like to manally adjust only the aspects of the image that are causing problems after checking it on a software scope. For instance, if the scope is reading that the cyans in the image are too saturated, I”ll go in and only bring the saturation down on just the cyans so the rest of the image is untouched. Filters like broadcast safe alter the entire image, which can lead to less than stellar results.
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I agree. I keyframe a hue/saturation filter throughout my whole piece,….only adjusting colors down when they are illegal, then back up………I also use a levels to floor my blacks and ceiling my whites……
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The best way to use broadcast safe is with the “key out unsafe” option. You place it in an adjustment layer, switch it on, and scan through the comp for any keyed out bits. If you find any, adjust hue/sat or levels until they come back, then switch off the Broadcast Safe effect for rendering.
Make sure your comp’s background colour is something bright that you can see, at least for this test.
As for yellows, to make them safe, use hue/sat to make them a little more orange. Tip from Frank Capria.
Steve
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All good points. I admit that I should have thought my response out a little better before hitting “Post Direct”. I mostly use “Key Out Unsafe” as well, as I like the visual feedback I get. I have to admit that I’m not that great at reading a vector scope so I like this option of seeing unsafe colors.
Sean Cusson
Q media design
sean@qmediadesign.ca -
Here’s a trick I’ve used successfully in controling safe colors, which may help here…
At the top level of you final comp, create 2 adjustment layers.
#1 -On the 2nd layer (not the top one), applya alevels effect and then apply the following settings:
In Black: 16
In White: 235#2 – On another adjustment layer on top of that, use the same effect with the following settings:
Out Black: 16
Out White: 235You can skip #1 if it looks better – but #2 is crucial to get rid of hot colors. The point of using this is to get rid of hot colors – you will see a difference on the computer screen- things get a bit duller, but you will barely see a difference on the TV, and the untrained eye will not notice a thing.
It’s not ideal, but it does work.
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