color space and color grading

[Sanjin Švajger]

Okey, I get it. I just calibrate my monitor so that it shows the correct image. Then in AE I set my project to REC709 and when rendering out I also set project management to rec709 and that’s it. Right?:)

[Walter Soyka]

[Sanjin Švajger] “Okey, I get it. I just calibrate my monitor so that it shows the correct image. Then in AE I set my project to REC709 and when rendering out I also set project management to rec709 and that’s it. Right?:)”

Almost. You PROFILE the monitor so that Ae’s color management system knows what it has to do to the image (for display purposes only) to make it look on your specific monitor as it would look on an ideal Rec. 709 monitor.

The idea is not to make your monitor match Rec. 709; the idea is to figure out how to display colors so they appear to be the same on your monitor as they would appear on a Rec. 709 monitor (even though these may have different actual RGB values).

So profile, set the working space to Rec. 709, use Display Color Management, and you’re good to go.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Sanjin Švajger]

Okey, great! So just to be clear the image in AE will look the same as it will when it’s going to be broadcasted? I mean…am I going to survive without an I/O and a broadcast monitor? 🙂

There’s also the ting with the luma levels. I’ll be exporting or linking actually (using automatic duck) from Media composer 6 to AE6 DVCproHD material. That’s Y’CbCr material 16-235 and I think it has super whites… Is there maybe a new document about how AE handles luma levels? I’ve got a rather nice document (haven’t read it yet though…) from CS4.

[Walter Soyka]

[Sanjin Švajger] “So just to be clear the image in AE will look the same as it will when it’s going to be broadcasted? I mean…am I going to survive without an I/O and a broadcast monitor? :)”

Your color will be as accurate as your display and probe allow.
Some caveats still apply: you still need a nice display that’s actually capable of reproducing the Rec. 709 gamut. If the monitor cannot physically produce a specific color, there’s no way to profile around that.

You will also not be able to evaluate interlacing with a computer monitor.

[Sanjin Švajger] “There’s also the ting with the luma levels. I’ll be exporting or linking actually (using automatic duck) from Media composer 6 to AE6 DVCproHD material. That’s Y’CbCr material 16-235 and I think it has super whites… Is there maybe a new document about how AE handles luma levels? I’ve got a rather nice document (haven’t read it yet though…) from CS4.”

You have some control over how Adobe handles video range and full range (via the Rec 709 and Rec 709 16-235 profiles). Be sure to work in 32bpc to preserve superwhites and render with AME. See Darby Edelen’s post here:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/4808084

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Sanjin Švajger]

Okey, I’ll check that thread out. Looks like there’s some learning ahead for me:)
Thanks for the help so far!:)

[Sanjin Švajger]

Walter do you know maybe what gamma AE uses in rec709? 2.22 or 2.35 or 2.5?

[Walter Soyka]

[Sanjin Švajger] “Walter do you know maybe what gamma AE uses in rec709? 2.22 or 2.35 or 2.5?”

Rec. 709 is scene-referred, not output-referred, so its own gamma makes an assumption about the display system’s gamma. When these two gamma adjustments have been made, you’ll get the effective gamma for the system as a whole. I don’t know which precise value for this total gamma Ae is targeting — and to make matters worse, there is no standard here that I am aware of.

That said, I think you could design a test that would show you what this gamma value is. I’m curious what you would do with this number if you had it.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Sanjin Švajger]

AE adjusts the image accordingly to the ICC profile, I get that yes. My screen is 2.3 so if my broadcaster uses 2.5 I should actually calibrate my screen to 2.5 is that it? I just basically want to see what the material is going to look like when broadcasted…