HD footage from FCP to AE8 and back: much darker

[Brian Kim]

Did you try checking off the “Match Legacy (etc. etc)” box under Project Settings?
My editor delivers DVCPRO HD footage to me, I do my thing in AE, check off that setting, and when I return it to his FCP timeline it seems to integrate fine.

[Steven Sanders]

Thanks for the post. I did try that, but it made no difference. I did run some more tests though. It seems that the rendered quicktime file is displayed with a darker gamma ONLY in Final Cut Pro. I managed to simulate this by opening the rendered movie with the quicktime player and changing the settings of the color compatibility with final cut studio. So it has something to do with the way FCP, MY FCP anyway, displays this piece of rendered footage. So, what’s the difference between the captured file and the AE modified file? Well, the first is captured with a Blackmagic card, the other is not. I now may sound like an idiot, but could it be that these clips have a different color profile?
Maybe this has become a post for the FCP dudes.
Thanks for your time though. Suggestions are still welcome.

[Steven Sanders]

Well, after a few more experiments I think I found the solution to all of this. It’s really a workspace issue within AE8. When you have a mac, you have to set your project to Apple RGB. Interpret the footage the same way and render the whole thing out in Apple RGB.
After importing it back into FCP, colors and luminance were the same.
I can’t say I fully understand the whole mechanism behind it, but for now it seems to work for me. If you, however, wish to render a movie out of after effects to be used in a different app, or to give to a client for normal quicktime viewing, this working method is not the preferred one. Your rendered movie will appear lighter than it should. In that case you better choose a different workspace. So it’s all about choosing the right workspace for the right kind of platform/application. Trial and error, I guess. But at least I know now which buttons to push.
Cheers.

StvN

[Steve Roberts]

Thanks for posting your solution. Not everyone does. 🙂

[Steven Sanders]

Happy to be of service, and o, I forgot to ad: don’t forget to check the Match Legacy box in the project settings, otherwise you’ll have that darkening effect again.
By the way, is there anybody who can open up his brain and shine a light on the technical side of these issues? I would very much like to understand why exactly this solution is working.

Thanks in advance!

StvN

[Robbert-jan Van der does]

Hey Oredano,

thanks for posting this solution.
I ran into the same problems working with XDCAM IMX 50 footage.
I will describe the workflow.

– In AE CS3 project settings I turned Color Management on and selected the SDTV PAL profile

– Imported a IMX50 625/50 file and interpreted this footage to have a SDTV PAL color profile

– Dropped the footage in a 16 bit comp

– Rendered out to IMX50 625/50 with SDTV PAL color profile

– Reimported the rendered clip in AE CS3

– Placed the clip in the same comp as the original

– RESULT: no difference

– Imported the clip in FCP6 together with the original

– RESULT: the rendered clip from AE was way too dark. I could match it reasonably well with a gamma correction of 0.84 in FCP, but although the mids seemed ok, the blacks and whites were off.

– Then I repeated the whole process using your workaround. So I changed all the color profiles to Apple RGB and switched the Match Legacy option on.

– RESULT: there was no difference anymore between the two clips. They matched perfectly!!!!

So, for anyone working in SD PAL, this seems the only way round for now.

Thanks again,

you saved my day.

regards
Robbert-Jan van der Does

[Steven Sanders]

That’s super,

By the way, it also seems to work for me when I just check the preserve RGB box in combination with the color management box. Give that one a try as well.

Veel plezier,

StvN

[Robbert-jan Van der does]

Nope,

this doesn’t work for me, so I’ll stick to the Apple RGB colorspace.

thanks and veel plezier too.

Robbert-Jan

[Robbert-jan Van der does]

UPDATE:

I ran throug some different options and it seems that it only has something to do with the “match legacy” checkbox in the project settings.
In my last test I had the footage interpreted as SDTV PAL,
Project settings SDTV PAL as color profile.
Match Legacy checkbox on.
Export settings SDTV as color profile.

This seems OK, although I can see a slight difference on the fcp waveform monitor. Not on my TV monitor though.

Regards,
Robbert-Jan

[Steven Sanders]

You are absolutely right,

I must have been typing my previous post while I was listening to the director, cuz that color management thing does not even excist I think, what I ment was match legacy. Sorry for the “verwarring”.

StvN