Inspiring

Question

Colour/Gamma Shift Bug

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
May 12, 2021
3 replies
11448 views

I have discovered that when exporting from AE to ME using H.264 my final output colours/gamma doesnt match my AE viewport.

However, if I export to DNxHD directly from AE then the colours match. What's strange is that if I then take this DNxHD and convert it (with the exact same settings) using ME, it also correctly matches!

So why the shift when going straight to ME from AE?

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R Neil Haugen

Legend

"Don't overthink" is something my colorist buds are always telling their clients. Set up correctly and get to work, essentially.

So when it works, work. Confusing as it all is. I've been through I really don't know how many hours of presentations and discussions on CM. Done it on my own machines hours at a time for years. And it's still freaking a mess.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

N

Nick2049Author

Inspiring

But this is what I am trying to do,
I am trying to set it up correctly, but which method is correct? The results are so varied and this wasn’t even an issue in previous versions.

Why does ‘no working space’ respect sRGB and seemingly automatically accurately convert this to Rec709 when sent to ME, but when specifying a working space (either sRGB or Rec709) it does not!?

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R Neil Haugen

Legend

If in testing on your system, no CM in Ae works and matches all other sources ... then use it.

The differences one system to another have so many freaking variables. It takes colorists highly experienced with years of doing this at times days to sort out what happened when suddenly some of their CM ain't working right. Once something works, it ... works. Use it.

And when a colorist with a $5,000 spectroradiometer, a $12,000 spectro, a $5,500 Flanders FSI monitor for SDR and a $32,000 Flanders for HDR, running Colourspace or Lightspace or Calman pro calibration software who is also fully DolbyVision certified and does the training for DolbyVision company tells me "You're fine, just go with it" ... I learned to just go with it when it all works through the system.

In years past I had a pro portrait studio, we were so dang picky the pro labs that only did pro portrait work kept dis-inviting us to use their services as we returned too many prints for color/tonal/black-levels issues. So we set up our own lab as an additional business entity providing high-end color printing to our own facility and other studios. I set up all the spendy calibration gear and trained all the employees.

And especially at the beginning, I'd tell them just ... do what you're told. Don't even try to understand because most of the color corrections and even processor trims are so freaking counter-intuitive you wouldn't believe me if I told you.

They'd still want to contest things. Naw ... just do what you're told. And after a few weeks, they'd finally say ... you know, none of this works like I thought it would. Would you please tell me what the hay is actually going on here?

And at that point, they could start the process to learn how color print corrections and processor control trims actually worked. It still took years to get good and fast for most people.

I shared this with a group of colorists at NAB ... and they all went ... wow, that's us talking with new employees and clients! Ha.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

R Neil Haugen

Legend

In Ae, set the project settiungs Color tab to depth of 32 bit float, and the working space to HD TV Rec.709.

That should take care of things.

Occasionally, people do need to turn off the linearize color spaces option.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

N

Nick2049Author

Inspiring

Hi Neil

Not really sure why I would need to do this.
My working space is 8bit sRGB and my delivery is 8bit sRGB. Also my display is sRGB.

Why is it that first exporting to directly from AE to DNxHD and then converting to H264 using ME seems to respect the colour space. But exporting to ME from AE does not and the shift occurs?

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R Neil Haugen

Legend

Because that sets the ciomplete and proper Rec.709 color management up. Which is what you need.

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

R Neil Haugen

Legend

What are the complete color management settings you're using in Ae?

And what in Me?

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...

N

Nick2049Author

Inspiring

Hi Neil,

Sorry, I did intend on including those. Here you go:

AE: 8 bpc, sRGB, colour management on

I don't see any setting in ME, it's just the default H.264 set to same as source. I tried a preset like Vimeo 1080p but this resulted in the same issue.

Thanks,

Nick

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