-
Maintaining smooth color gradient
When I shoot landscape scenes where there is a gradual color transition such as the sky or ocean, I have poor image quality when I export. When I edit in Vegas, the colors blend nicely between hues in the preview monitor. However, most videos I render have sharp graduated lines of color & hue. A backdrop such as the sky or ocean looks splotchy and pixelated.
This looks even worse with a current project in standard definition (16×9 SD PAL .mov video) The poor color transitions in the sky shooting hot air balloons look quite noticeable.
Is there a way I can minimize this? In NLE post, I have only applied a small saturation boost (1.1-1.2) and added a small color curve effect to slightly enhance contrast. Even without these effects, I still have the color gradient problem.
Also – anyone have a quick opinion on setting keyframes during a video render? I don’t know whether to go high (30) or low (1) when working with HDV and in particular for this project for exporting to a SD PAL project.
-
3 Replies
-
Steve,
Cross-posting is discouraged;-)
You’re dealing with 8bit video. This is one of the areas in which 10 bit video shines. By adding a gradient and pushing saturation, you’re amplifying an 8 bit issue. Use the 32bit settings in Vegas Pro 8, and watch those gradients smooth out significantly.I don’t understand your question about keyframes on render. To what format are you rendering?
Douglas Spotted Eagle
VASSTCertified Sony Vegas Trainer
Aerial Camera/Instructor -
Thanks Douglas,
Do I simply switch the pixel format in project properties from 8bit to 32 foating bit in the HDV 1080 60i template? Or do I have to alter settings in the chosen output template when rendering?
For this project, I’ve been asked to deliver video uncoded in a SD PAL .mov format with either 720×576 or 1024×576 frame size. Within the Quicktime 7 window, I customize the frame size and other options. When I choose “video” in the video format menu, the compressed depth menu is limited to 16bpp color. Doesn’t look like I can choose 32 bit.
The keyframe issue is just another setting in the same custom template window. Changing the framesize seems to alter the way the “color gradient” problem is perceived. If I leave it at 30, those pixelation lines in the sky or ocean seem to re-establish their position once a second. Set at “1”, the lines
readjust constantly. (Don’t know the technical terms for it.)I didn’t know working with HDV if there was a keyframe setting that generally works best when rendering video – or if it’s irrelevant.
Steve
-
Douglas,
Quick addendum to my reply. If I set the pixel format to 32-bit floating point in project properties, the “composting gamma” menu then opens up. Do I select 1.00 Linear or 2.22 Video?
Steve
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up