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Digital Grading
I am running After Effects 6 and FCP 3 (old I know, but can’t afford the upgrades!) on my mac. i was wondering, which is the best for creative colour control? I want to design looks for my short films and have shot them with the digital process in mind (so they are all approaching the particular looks with lighting, but need the fine tuning done in post). I understand the basics of using colour controls to match shots, but how do I get real stylistic looks? Can I do really good colour grading on these programmes, because I certainly can’t afford Discreet Lustre!! Are there any online tutorials about the art of Creative colour grading, better yet are there any good books on the subject people can reccomend?
thanks,
Joe
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10 Replies
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Unfortunately AE and even the CC in FCP are not great. AE has old school Photoshop solutions like curves, color balance, etc for correction which is a joke when it comes to coloring video. FCP has the correct controls for color correction, it’s just that the look of it’s color corrector is terrible.
Color Finesse which is free with AE 6.5 is by far the best look and control you’re going to get. However it’s a complete pain to use with AE. I would say your best solution is to get Color Finesse that plugs into FCP.
As far as looks, it’s really something you have to play around with. Deconstruct what you see in Commercials, music videos, and movies that have been through the DI process.
But something that all major color corrections use that CF lacks but CAN be simulated with some work is what DaVinci calls Power Windows. Which are simple feathered shapes that define areas where more layers of color correction can be done in the same image. It is rare that one color correction is applied to the whole image with out more layers adjusting parts of that image.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
[Chris Smith] “Unfortunately AE and even the CC in FCP are not great. AE has old school Photoshop solutions like curves, color balance, etc for correction which is a joke when it comes to coloring video. FCP has the correct controls for color correction, it’s just that the look of it’s color corrector is terrible.”
How can be curves “a joke” for color correction? Every serious color correction package has curves, as they are the most flexible way of balancing colors. But of course, AE’s GUI is very unproductive for color correction. Combustion is much better for that kind of work.
I personaly find FCP CC very limited. It’s really efficeint for quick adjustements, but for very precise tuning, it’s lacking. For example, you can’t adjust the range betwen Shadows, midtones and highlights. There is no Curves. There is no efficient way to work with masks. There is no track-wide effects.
To answer the original question, I have to say that I’ve never found a book which explains it all. An equivalent to Steve Wright’s “Digital compositing for Film”, but for color correction. In short, you must first understand color and then the tools. Find books on digital photography, and tutorials on color correcting.
here’s a few links…
https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
…hmm, all my other links are outdated… sorry, hehbut go to https://www.mattepainting.org and follow a few tutorials. It’s probably not exaclty what you want to do, but it does show how to get a picture to look good.
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[Le Coyote] “How can be curves “a joke” for color correction? Every serious color correction package has curves, as they are the most flexible way of balancing colors. But of course, AE’s GUI is very unproductive for color correction.”
Sigh. I said it was a joke for color correcting video. Go to a film transfer session and ask the DaVinci artist to use nothing but the curves and see how many more hours you will be billed instead of using the full toolset. My beef with AE is that it is a VIDEO program and not a still program so to only give us levels, curves, and color balance is a joke. No Primary hue offsets, ranges, kilovectors, power windows, and on and on. A joke.
Can you color correct with curves? Of course. Would you WANT to instead of true tools for color correcting video? I doubt it unless you are a masachist.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Thank you both for the tips and suggestions. When I was asking about the book, I was also thinking about an equivilent of the Steve Wright book-it is very good!
Cheers again, I shall continue my search in new directions.
P.S, I am interesting greatly in Compositing and was thinking of investing in ‘Shake’. Do either of you know if it’s colour correction is any good?
Ta, Joe
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Yes, and no.
It’s quality is excellent. However it’s Color Correction node isn’t intuitive. If you do purchase Shake, let me know. I built a custom node that simulates the primary functions of a DaVinci in one maser node. Then I created Power Window nodes that are basically my DaVinci node tied to a radial mask.
Very Powerful.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Thank you for the tip! Very kind. I will let you know if I purchase it.
Joe
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Hey Chris i’m a Shake user and i would really love to get those custom nodes !
Nico
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Here you go. There are a handful of others as well. I made a good 2 color glow for text and particles, simulated 3 strip Technicolor, etc.
Read you manual on how to install them. Have fun.
https://sugarfilmproduction.com/CSShakeNodes.sit
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
thanx a lot !!
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Hello Chris Smith and Encheval I would also love to have a copy of the custom node script for shake. Do they work for shake 4? The link doesn’t work anymore.
thanks nikolmann@yahoo.comYoung, Dumb, and full of
Potential!
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