Linear Color Workflow in AE7, Part 5

Holy crap, film! Try this:

1. Download Marcie.
2. Import her into a new After Effects 7.0 project.
3. Set the project to 32 bits per channel (float)
4. Set your Project Working Space to Linear Adobe RGB
5. Select Marcie and File > Interpret Footage > Main
6. Click on More Options
7. Under Conversion Method, select Kodak 5218 ICC Profile
8. Hit OK
9. Hit OK
10. Drag Marcie to the Create Comp button
11. With the new comp's View active, View > Proof Setup > Kodak 2383 Theater
12. Select View > Proof Colors (switch it from unchecked to checked)

You're now working with a Cineon file in linear, scene-referred float, and accurately previewing how your work will looked filmed out on Kodak Vision film stock.

When you want to output back to log:

1. Create an output comp that contains your linear Marcie comp
2. Set Proof Colors to Unmanaged for this comp's view (Proof Colors should be checked)
   
3. Apply the Color Profile Converter effect to the layer
4. Leave Input Profile set to Project Working Space
5. Set Output Profile to DPX Scene - Standard Camera Film
6. Very important: Set Intent to Absolute Colorimetric

Output this comp to a Cineon sequence and it should match the original Marcie source.

You've now fully round-tripped a color managed, linear floating point film compositing pipeline. I don't know of any other compositing application that ships with this capability, "high end" or not!

But wait, there's more! Want to bake this film-look LUT into some NTSC video dailies?

1. Add linear Marcie to a video output comp (NTSC res)
2. This comp should also have Proof Colors on and set to Unmanaged
   
3. Select Layer > New > Adjustment Layer
4. Apply the Color Profile Converter effect to the layer
5. Leave Input Profile set to Project Working Space
6. Set Output Profile to DPX Scene - Standard Camera Film
7. Very important: Set Intent to Absolute Colorimetric
8. Apply a second Color Profile Converter
9. Set Input Profile to DPX Theater Preview - Standard Print Film
10. Set Output Profile to SMPTE-C

Smoove. Don't believe me? Download the project file (316kB zip). This workflow is compatible with Part 1 and, of course, Part 2.

Comments

[Salvador Zalvidea]

Hi Stu,

Thanks again for this very interesting post. Things start to be less confusing for me.
Just to be sure : when outputing to standard cineon files or PAL, I guess DPX settings you set are OK for both compositions.
When outputing to NTSC, why do you set your profile to SMPTE-C and not NTSC ?

[Stu]

Hi Salvador. My understanding is that the SMPTE-C profile is a more up-to-date representation of NTSC than the NTSC (1953) profile. There is a PAL/SECAM profile that seems the logical choice for PAL output. Glad you found the article interesting!

[Chris Cox]

Yes, the NTSC profile includes the original 1953 primaries with the "far out" green phosphor that hasn't really been used _since_ 1953.

SMTE-C is a more recent attempt to standardize broadcast television color, updated to include the "not quite so yellow and not so saturated" green phosphor in common use today.
SMPTE-C almost identical to what you get on a calibrated NTSC display. (quit laughing Stu - they do exist in the studio, and maybe Byer's house).

[Jon Francis]

Hi Stu,

Thanks for the immensely helpful posts. Are there any output module settings to be aware of when rendering to Cineon files out of a linear color space (logarithmic vs. linear vs. Kodak 5218 ICC, etc.)?

[Stu]

Hi Jon,

With the workflow described above, you should be using the Full Range preset for Cineon output.

As always, you know it worked when you can round-trip a Cineon through the pipeline without changing its values.

[jim read]

Stu,

weve enjoyed major headaches with film title projects that are simple type over scene designs. With your workflow, does After Effects consider a live type layer to automatically be in Project Color Space? or do we Profile convert it from sRGB to Project Space?

[Mike Curtis]

A-ha! Quite timely! I'll link this into the article I sent you.

-mike

[goFabi]

Hello Stu!
first thank you a looot for posting all the usefull information about "log lin".
i am from switzerland, working in a small post. we have to do our first job in "log" files.
but it seems that here is knowbody around with expierience in this area....
i have read the book from your friend "AE Studio Techniques" it helped me really a lot about this chapter!

but there is still a question :)
when i apply a log2lin conversion, the highlights are overbright. (it was shot outside with a high range of light), thats not a surprise. (no clipping in the negative, only
on my display)

my question is, if i do a composite, can I first squeeze the image`s brightness range, so that all information from the cineon file can be displayed on a monitor (0.0 - 1.0).
the same way if we would do it with the spirit telecine, make a flat grading with no clipping.
because the image after the conversion dont look so nice, that it would be able to composite.
the higlights are clipping pretty hard, even if in float point availible, how can i do a composite (we do only little ones ) :) with still images and 3D render that have only a brightness from "0-1"

...and, if i would squeeze it to the monitors range and then convert it back to log for the
baselight, the background wouldnt be the same as the one from the scanner,right?
if then the colorist and the DOP makes a grading they like, do someone take care about?
or is this a way not acceptable?

and my last question, sorry... do you get "log" files direct from the scanner, or is it usual to make some adjustments in a baselight or something and then first render it as a cineon sequense for may be compositing?

if you could help me it would be very nice! i feel like a lost young guy in little switzerland :)
(sorry for the german-english )

best regards

fabi