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Output from AE to DVD oversaturated
I’ve had a couple people tell me AE is only for adding effects, and that main compositing should be happening in another program, but I’m doing music videos with hundreds of interacting layers, tons of effects, etc. Really, it’s all about the layers and effects, so nearly everything I need to do is in AE.
Anyway, on my last vid, it was grotesquely oversaturated when I played a dvd from the file generated by AE. Is there some sort of most likely issue about color depth, profile, or some reference to make sure that what I’m seeing on the screen is what actually ends up on output? What’s the first thing you’d look for or most likely culprit?
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3 Replies
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[Greg Sage] “I’ve had a couple people tell me AE is only for adding effects, and that main compositing should be happening in another program”
That’s nonsense. Ae is a perfectly capable compositor.
Of course, some things are quite a bit easier to do in a nodal system like Nuke, but there’s no reason why you can’t use Ae if that’s what you’re more comfortable with.
[Greg Sage] “Anyway, on my last vid, it was grotesquely oversaturated when I played a dvd from the file generated by AE. Is there some sort of most likely issue about color depth, profile, or some reference to make sure that what I’m seeing on the screen is what actually ends up on output? What’s the first thing you’d look for or most likely culprit?”
How are you monitoring your DVD? Do you have a display you can actually trust?
You may be interested in color management. You can start here in the docs:
https://helpx.adobe.com/en/after-effects/using/color-management.htmlI’ve also written about color management issues pretty extensively here on the COW, so a forum search would give you some meaningful results.
Basically, for critical color evaluation, you either want to use Ae’s display color management feature with a high-quality monitor attached to your computer that you have profiled, or you want to use external video with an AJA or BMD card and a calibrated broadcast monitor.
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 -
Thx. Will start by looking at your link. I’m not search averse by any means, and am beginning to familiarize myself with color management issues, but to clarify:
I’ve sunk every dollar I have into other aspects of this project (mac pro, audio equipment, software, etc), so I really don’t have any choice at this point but to work with the tools on hand. I am using a fairly cheap 1080p tv with only very basic color correction tools. There are other hdtv’s, and an ipad handy, but I simply do not have access to a properly calibrated monitor, and need to do what I can quickly with what’s available.
I’ve worked with Photoshop for years,and know my way around Illustrator, but am only recently getting into the video side with AE. I have CS 6, and have been reading up on media encoder, etc.
Specifically, though, even the dvd played back on the same monitor is blown out an grossly over-saturated in comparison to the file being played within AE. I also have been doing some website design, and regularly see images in that screen vs the same image on an ipod, android phone, etc… and am clear that this is not a difference in calibration from screen to screen.
While I’m sure my calibration is far from ideal, I’m seeing something else here. Somehow, between the AE project file and the DVD, it’s getting blown out. It makes me suspect something like too many bits of color being truncated down or something like that which is why I’m asking if there is an immediately obvious thing to check for in this situation.
thx.
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What’s your workflow now? How are you making the files, and how are you making the DVDs?
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
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