Where is the 10-Bit 4:2:2 codec in AE CS3?

[Chris Wright]

Ok, let’s ignore the slight gamma loss from film to smaller codecs for now.

Ok, here’s what you do to calibrate AE for Film stocks. Effects->utility-> color profile converter. Set input to project working space because that is what the color space was encoded at. Then take what AE knows and set output to Fuji or Kodak. It will lighten the image according to the Fuji or Kodak stock you used.

For future digital cinema workflow, use the ProPhoto RGB color space, encoded with a linear gamma (1.0) using 32  bits. or Film stock Kodak 5218 for cineon files if you really care about quality.

Here’s a must read. pg. 10
https://www.adobe.com/designcenter/aftereffects/articles/aftereffectscs3_color_mgmt.pdf

[Jay Lee]

Hi Joey,
AE does see the Blackmagic codecs installed however what it doesn’t see is the 10 Bit Uncompressed 4;2;2 codec that we are using in Final Cut Pro which we assume is a system codec??

Best

J

[Joey Burnham]

Did you uninstall and the reinstall the driver?

[Jay Lee]

Which driver Chris? Can the Final Cut Codecs be re-installed with out re-installing Final Cut?

Best,

J

[Jay Lee]

Good evening Chris,
Thank you for writing. Shall digest and test.
In the mean time what I thought was a very simple question is STILL a mystery. Should the Uncompressed 10 Bit NTSC codec that we see and use in Final Cut be available in AE CS3??

Best,

J

[Chris Wright]

I should clarify, I need to know what the origin of your footage was. Is your original quicktime looking fine but then rendering out dark or is it dark to begin with? Is your monitor calibrated to for a specific color group?

I don’t think your color is cineon because cineon is a white washed grey color.

So, change the output in color converter to the right color output like “example. Apple RGB” (Find out what the origin of the original color management was!)

as for the codec, 10 bit 4:2:2 codecs of windows and macs are still, compression-wise, the same, just the colors aren’t exact. Color manage it through workflow and keep track of what they are encoded at. Professionals leave most things at ProPhoto RGB because the colors don’t change from computer to computer or windows to mac, with properly calibrated monitors.

[Jay Lee]

I think the ‘film’ issue is clouding things some what Chris. Even though this material did originate on film it came to us via 10 Bit QT captures from Digi using a Mac System with Kona. Were are not dealing with DPX, Cineon or other linear formats.
The captured Quicktimes look great and with the SDTV NTSC profile applied in AE the displayed image on the AE time line looks reasonably close to the originals but when rendered are dark no matter what kind of profile (or no profile) is applied. Have tried all permutations of color management settings to no avail however the only 10 Bit YUV codec showing on our system is Black Magic so is this the culprit?
Why is the Apple Uncompressed 4:2:2 codec not available in AE?

Best,
J

[Chris Wright]

Thank you for clarifying, now I can tell you.

Yep, its the color managemnt difference of difference codecs. You need to re-capture with an exact codec that both Kona and AE have. It needs to be perfectly exact.

[Jay Lee]

Need to test further Chris but we have installed the KONA 10 Bit codecs and the initial results are very encouraging. Not only are renders from AE more accurate in regards to gamma and chroma but this codec seems to be much sharper??

Shall assess more and advise.

Many thanks,

J