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  • Adobe After Effects

    workflow problem

    Posted by Jef Huey on November 22, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    Hi All,

    I am doing some workflow testing for a large HD project and have hit a snag. Sorry in advance for the long post, but the devil is in the details.

    First my system specs: Mac 2×2.8 Quad Core, OS 10.5.8 10G ram.
    AE 8.0.2.27
    QT 7.6.2
    FCP 7.01
    Avid MC 4.0.2

    Ok, on to it. I want to test color accuracy and quality for elements created in AE and passed to other systems.

    To start I created a 1280×720 29.97 16 bit color comp (not color managed to start) with a black solid onto which I placed the basic 4-Color Gradient. I put a small scaling move on it.

    I rendered this out with several codecs and brought them back into AE for comparison. The codecs were as follows:

    dnx145
    dnx220x
    avid1-1x
    prores
    proresHQ
    tif image sequence

    To compare, I placed the imported files on separate layers above my original image. A rectangular mask was placed on the imported layer in the middle 50% of the image to allow a quick visual comparison. An adjustment layer was placed at the top of the comp with a curves effect set to crush the gamma to amplify any differences. I also did a difference matte comparison between the imported and original element.

    The results were disappointing at best. In order of good to bad with respect to levels the list was:

    tif image sequence – imperceptible level difference, perceptible banding increase on some areas.

    avid1-1x – imperceptible level difference, much greater banding increase on the whole image (almost as if it were not 10bit).

    dnx220x – perceptibly darker overall, banding similar but in different areas than original.

    dnx145 – perceptibly darker overall, banding a bit more severe.

    proresHQ and prores – significantly brighter overall (something must be wrong!), could not tell banding difference to due brightness increase.

    Looking at the difference matte showed some interesting results, but as I am not totally comfortable in what it is telling me yet, I will ignore that for now.

    But to the heart of the matter. Why are the ProRes levels so far off? I did some web searching and based on that I turned color management on to Rec 709 for the project and interpreted all imports as Rec 709. No difference.

    I feel I must be doing something wrong in my workflow here. Any insight?

    Thanks,

    Jef

    Mark Walczak replied 16 years, 9 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
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