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FCPX and color correction tools
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[Scott Witthaus] “But why? Is this just for you and your “wants”? I see no reason to make FCPX a color correction tool when viable options exist.”
I don’t think so. I definitely want it too. I find the interface of Color Finale and Chromatic kludgey and inefficient because of the floating window which I can’t find a good place for. And FCP X’s Color Corrector renders so much faster. Presumably that could also be true if it were expanded with more options. Hopefully if Apple does add better color correction tools they would also add a special interface window for it.
I find the color correction tools in Apple Photos to be remarkably powerful. It’s crazy to me that a consumer program has more powerful features than a professional tool.
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Brett Sherman
One Man Band (If it\’s video related I\’ll do it!)
I work for an institution that probably does not want to be associated with my babblings here. -
[Tony West] “I don’t believe Apple changed from wheels to the board just to be different. I think somebody over there figured this out. I’m glad they did.”
I’m not necessarily saying they did either. However, mathematically the exact same process is occurring when you manipulate hue on the color board as when you do it on a wheel. It’s simply a different virtual representation of the same color process. Obviously the Apple designers felt this was more intuitive.
Because it’s simply a different UI model and not a different color process, that should make it relatively easy to add the preference option of flipping between a color board swatch or a color wheel. Clearly I’m in the minority here. I suppose I view this differently, because I do a considerable amount of color correction (generally within the given NLE) for a living.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] “I’m not necessarily saying they did either. However, mathematically the exact same process is occurring when you manipulate hue on the color board as when you do it on a wheel. It’s simply a different virtual representation of the same color process. Obviously the Apple designers felt this was more intuitive.”
Yes. The color board is the Cartesian interpretation of the classic color wheel (normally expressed with a polar coordinate system).
As with any design choice, there are tradeoffs. The board probably makes manipulations with a mouse easier (as the moves are horizontal and vertical), but would be much harder to manipulate with traditional dedicated color controls. The board also oversimplifies color theory: you can express “less blue” on the board, but the wheel also clearly shows why “less blue” brings “more yellow.”
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Oliver Peters] “Clearly I’m in the minority here. I suppose I view this differently, because I do a considerable amount of color correction (generally within the given NLE) for a living.”
And there it is in a nutshell.
The perfectly reasonable desire to protect the value of something you are slready conditioned to see as the “expected” way a process should work.
It’s totally understandable. Perfectly defensible. Who wants to jettison hard won knowledge and expertise unless there is a compelling reason to do so?
And if the present process is working for you why bother?
Those of us who have found extra speed, efficiency and convenience in the Color Board approach can never know if the way X does things will ever meet your needs or preferences.
But the unfortunate history of voices arguing lots of things about X being “sub standard” only to have them proved to be perfectly reasonable changes – changes that actually helped X editors work well – means it’s fair to flip the narrative now.
If three wheels are superior to the Color Board by some demonstrative metric BEYOND historic conditioning and familiarity – it’s on Color Wherl proponents to make that case.
Many, many X editors I communicate with LOVE editing with it. Color board included.
I’m with Ron in that I have Color Finale loaded, but barely use it.
You may think it X itself needs to be more like your other tools.
I might not.
Simple as that.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Bill Davis] “Those of us who have found extra speed, efficiency and convenience in the Color Board approach can never know if the way X does things will ever meet your needs or preferences. “
I think this all comes back to the lack of availability of control surfaces for the FCPX color board.
Trackballs are easily the most natural physical way of manipulating color wheel controls. If you have never used a control surface to see firsthand the “extra speed, efficiency and convenience” in adjusting an image with both hands, never having to take your eye off it to find a UI widget elsewhere, you have no idea how much better the FCPX experience could be.
(Of course, since the board and wheels are really two different representations of the same math, Apple could certainly support wheels on a control surface and translate the inputs to the board, but there’s be a lack of visual coherence between the trackball input and the representation.)
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Bill Davis] “But the unfortunate history of voices arguing lots of things about X being “sub standard” only to have them proved to be perfectly reasonable changes – changes that actually helped X editors work well – means it’s fair to flip the narrative now.”
I think more often than not X users want to alter reality to make FCXP seem like the most efficient NLE ever. You have claimed you want to know how other NLE compare to FCPX. You should watch my extremely short video below to see if FCPX really is much more efficient than any other NLE on the market today. Having said that I like the color board but it would not hurt to have more color correction options in FCPX.
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[Walter Soyka] ” The board probably makes manipulations with a mouse easier (as the moves are horizontal and vertical)”
Well, sort of. If you grab a puck you may be moving it in any direction diagonally, not necessarily horizontal first and then vertically up or down. So effectively that’s the same [or maybe even more travel] as moving a color wheel in any direction away from center. Of course, you can also get there by using the numeric controls.
[Walter Soyka] “The board also oversimplifies color theory”
Not only does it oversimplify, it actually flat out implies the wrong thing. As you know, the color portion of the color board – like most color wheels – is a hue offset control. This means you are changing the RGB color balance of a luma range within the overall image – low, mid, high, overall. So you aren’t reducing red or blue or whatever as a specific color. You are changing the color cast of that image. Therefore, if your midtones appear reddish, moving the red mid puck to minus red doesn’t decrease red. It shifts the balance away from red and towards blue/green. That’s obvious with a color wheel, but not with the color board. Reducing saturation or changing hue of a specific color is a function of secondary color correction though a key or additional process. In that process, it makes a bit more sense.
Of course, you know all this, but I’m not sure many new editors using X understand that at all.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Bill Davis] “It’s totally understandable. Perfectly defensible. Who wants to jettison hard won knowledge and expertise unless there is a compelling reason to do so?”
Just to be clear. I’ve done an awful lot of grading with the color board in X, too. I’m perfectly proficient at it. However, because I also use other tools, I tend to believe that more options and more features would make it a better tool.
Feel free to use my presets ☺
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/fcp-x-color-board-presets/
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] “So you aren’t reducing red or blue or whatever as a specific color. You are changing the color cast of that image. “
Yeah. That’s what I want to do.
I’m doing exactly what you said in your OWN blog……………………
“If you want highlights to be more red, then move the highlight button into the upper red area of the color swatch. This adds red tinting to the highlights of the image. If you want to make the shadows less blue, then move the shadows button into the lower blue region of the color swatch to subtract blue. ”
Do you not remember writing that?
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[Tony West] “Do you not remember writing that?”
Sure I do. Just felt it needed to be clarified that the color board is about balance and cast, not increasing or decreasing a specific color, which is what the UI implies.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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