After Effects Rendering Non-Broadcast Safe Colors

[Wes Plate]

a) Your assumption is incorrect.

b) 254, 254, 252 would not be broadcast safe anyway

c) You can tell the difference between 254, 254, 252 and 255, 255, 255?

d) You’re sure the white in the comp is different than what is in the rendered file?

e) Maybe your codec is doing the change?

— Wes Plate
Automatic Duck

[Scott Stone]

Man, that was spot on! I did a quick test render of a straight white solid with different codecs and found that the Sorenson Video 3 codec was creating the difference. I appreciate the quick response, Wes.

Thanks,

DaChavez

[Mike Clasby]

As an aside, you might want to click on the Camo Hat (Aharon) and scroll to, “Working with Broadcast-Safe Colors” to get his take on Broadcast Safe.

[Tamanegi65]

Just a note to add to the thread to clarify.

AE doesnt’ do anything by default for broadcast safe colors. I usually use the video broadcast filter set to ‘key out unsafe’ to see where I have problems, but use hue/sat to correct them.

[Jimmy Brunger]

I usually render out at 0>255 from AE or Photoshop and then when a final digibeta master is made it goes through our house clipper/legaliser to bring everything within safe.

Is this an OK way to go? Or should I sort it out earlier in the process…I’ve wondered about this recently. Only problem is – if I set a levels adjustment layer in PS/AE as suggested by many to be the best way to ensure broadcast safe it means (especially in PS) that my mattes are not totally right, as they wouldn’t be pure white or pure black and so the editor has a pain keying them.

Thoughts?

*AE 5.5 Pro – *PS CS1 – *Combustion 3
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[Tamanegi65]

For me I don’t want any automated process to mess with my colors – It can be a pain at times, but I’d rather tweak them myself. You basically have 3 options to fix a non-broadcast safe color: reduce saturation, reduce luminance, shift the hue. Each of these has a totally different look (esp w/ reds and yellows.) Sometimes I do a combination of all three using a hue/sat filter to get a color I’m still happy with, but is now broadcast safe.

This could be on an adjustment layer – but it shouldn’t mess with your alpha? You can also only change specific colors in hue/sat to only make adjustments where really needed. Other times I just put a filter on every individual layer that is causing bad colors and fix them one by one.

[Aharon Rabinowitz]

Like Yikes said, I have a tutorial on making everything broadcast safe – it’s not a perfect solution, but it ensures that you will stay within color safety.

I also want to mention that the sorenson codec brings reds up a lot. So I’d suggest that everything you bring into AE be brought in uncompressed. Only your final output should be compressed, and even then, only if it’s going to the web or a sample you’re puting on CD.

BTW – Animation compression is a lossless comnpression so colors stay exactly the same.

—————————————-
Aharon Rabinowitz
aharon(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
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Creative Cow Master Series DVD
particleIllusion Fusion Volume 1
available @ http://www.pIllusionFusion.com

[Scott Stone]

Thanks Aharon. I have read the posts and watched your tutorial, but ulitmately, my question was not about broadcast-safe colors but more about why the color on render was not accurate to the comp. The title of my post was based on the fact that I had no idea why it was being modified on render, but now know that the answer lies with the Sorenson Video 3 Codec.

Thanks,

DaChavez