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N
NRowe
Known Participant
October 21, 2022
Question

Create a preview file of Rec.709 project for PC playback

  • October 21, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 537 views

So here is my requirement -

I have a Rec.709 project in After Effects and I want to send my client a preview file that they can playback on their PC.

Problem is -

I cannot find a way for media encoder to convert to a sRGB color space for h264 export and to my knowledge all native players on a PC are not color managed. Only way is to export a ProRes from AE with an sRGB output profile (not exactly a preview file)

 

What am I missing!

Many thanks N,

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
October 21, 2022

I still fail to see your point. If you want to preview on a plain PC with a standard player none of this matters. Outside that the workflow doesn't change: Set project to Rec.709, check footage interpretation, use sRGB for Comp preview and output or apply a "hard" convcersion with a color profile converter effect. AME will honor that. And as of AE 23 you can output an MP4 directly from the render queue again, so consider updating.

 

Mylenium

N
NRoweAuthor
Known Participant
October 21, 2022

Maybe one day you will see it.

But this 'AE 23 you can output an MP4 directly from the render queue again' is brilliant news! about time. And as long as we can still assign output profiles then its job done.

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
October 21, 2022

Just applying a profile would do nothing. You need to handle color space conversions correctly in AE and then the info is simply "baked" into the final output file, which AE and AME will do automatically once the CM settings are instated correctly. Again, outside professional editing programs none of this fancy talk about Rec.709 and so on does matter. VLC doesn't care and neither does Windows Media Player and unless your client calibrates his monitor, the colors will deviate one way or the other.

 

Mylenium

N
NRoweAuthor
Known Participant
October 21, 2022

AME will only apply the working space profile in this case Rec.709, which leads to incorrect gamma and flickering blacks when viewed back on standard PC player as it will assume sRGB.

AE lets you set an ouput profile which solves the issue as I can apply sRGB, AME does not allow this. I want to use AME as AE has no h264 output.

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
October 21, 2022

Gamma has no relevance for playback. You are encoding a plain MP4, after all, and that will scrunch up your black levels one way or the other. The rest is just color management stuff, but as I said, nohne of this matters if your clients don't view your file with calibrated tools.

 

Mylenium

N
NRoweAuthor
Known Participant
October 21, 2022

Please don't keep telling it doesn't matter, if that is your answer I don't think you understand the question. It is nothing to do with callibrated monitors this about either a proper color managed viewer, or applying a color profile in media encoder. I know this can be done in AE but I would like a simple way to create a h264.

Does anyone else have a workflow solution other than my suggestion above (which is a bit of a pain)? 

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
October 21, 2022

Rec.709 is basically sRGB. So unless you totally overcranked the value ranges, the result would be identical. The rest doesn't matter. If your client doesn't view the file on calibrated equipment, the colors will never be correct regardless of what color space or profile you work with.

 

Mylenium

N
NRoweAuthor
Known Participant
October 21, 2022

Colour maybe but the gamma is quite different and creates issues in the blacksespecially with CG content.

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