Color Management for VFX pipelines

[jim bachalo]

For linear exrs rendered from Unreal, what is the best color management workflow?

I have been using William Faucher’s non-ACEs linear exr workflow

https://youtu.be/Bo3BvhGdaUo

In Unreal disable tone curve before render and then

Color science > ACEScct

ACES Input Transform > none

ACES Output Transform > Rec.709

And then right clicking clips > ACES Input Transform > Color Space Conversion > sRGB Linear

Would there be any advantage or use for CST nodes instead?

ie https://youtu.be/CtSBVKmHkjU

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Riccardo Luppi]

Hey Jim,

Personally, I tend to use the CSTs when grading because, as a colourist, I like to have full control of the transform functions. That said, it requires a bit more understanding of the said transform functions, as well as a bit more time to set them up correctly. if you are interested in knowing more about the CST, let me know!

one thing that I noticed in Faucher’s process is that he is setting the output to Rec709. You should set it to Rec709 Gamma 2.4 instead.

Finally, I would probably recommend you use the ACES workflow, as that allows for more colour fidelity when moving from one software to the other. This last part, though, is not mandatory.