Rec. 2020

[Boris2016]

Is there a way to control colour space in media encoder?

In AE you can set profiles in 'Output Module Settings' in the 'Colour Management Tab'

Is there a similar option in AME? So far as I can read online it defaults to Rec. 709 and thats it.

[DBowker3D]

The short answer is that at the moment, no there is not the setting to control color space in Media Encoder. I'm not even sure it defaults to rec.709. For all we know it's sRGB.

Part of the point of the Adobe CC Suite is the interconnectedness of all the programs, but they seriously need to do something around unifying how the Color Management works between them all. Plus there's hardly any useful documentation regardless. Like how about some Best Practices with some real-world examples?

• 3D animation file sequences.
• HDTV video.
• HDR video.
• The effect of compression on color spaces?

Currently AE has the most options, from 8-32 bit color spaces and a huge number of profiles to work in. Except that when it comes time to export to Media Encoder, the output color space step is needs an extra "effect" utility applied -and again almost no documentation as to how that actually works.

Premiere has one and only one color space, which is rec.709.

Media Encoder doesn't have any built in, though it does have options to conform your output to certain standards.

[Boris2016]

Thanks for this. AME is definitely Rec.709 not sRGB

The whole thing is crazy, adobe are forcing AE users to export via AME but the workflow is terrible.

For example proxies. if you export a comp via the Render Queue 'Queue in AME' option it pays attention to the render settings currently selected but ignores everything in the output module except the sound options. 

If you export the identical sequence using the File>Export> Add to AME queue. it ignores all settings and defaults to render using proxies and no blur. There is no option to control this.

In addition to all of this the latest AE seems to crash frequently particularly when rendering TIFF Image Sequences something that would be a good workaround.

I had a two month 30-40 email long (mostly going round in circles) conversation with Adobe Support about the proxies defaulting on in AME in the end they gave me 2 months free on my subscriptions and admitted they didn't know the answer. Eventually I worked it out for myself as above

[DBowker3D]

"defaults to render using proxies and no blur"  Wait a minute... what!?

Is this from Premiere that it defaults to these settings, or with AE too? I don't recall seeing that happen via After Effects, which generally is what I end up using for my finishing projects, though I will definitely go and run a test with both programs to verify.

So what was your conclusion at that point, after the email runaround with Adobe? Basically the same as what I mentioned? needing to add in a transform in the output? Or something else?

Honestly, I don't get what the problem is with Adobe and color, but it's the same in Windows as well. There IS an underlying "professional" color system built in, so someone knows how it's built and how it works. But in both cases there is basically zero documentation! And the more you look into how the OS, then the graphics hardware+driver, and lastly color-dependant applications on top of that; like how exactly do they all interact? It's like at that point you've fallen into the rabbit hole.

[Boris2016]

Yeah but it depends how you export to AME from AE.

If choose file File>Export> Add to AME queue it defaults to no blur and uses proxies with no option to specify.

If you add to the AE render queue then choose add to AME queue. then it uses to the options selected in render settings but ignores everything in the output module except sound on or off.

So yes all this is totally crazy and illogical and best of all judging by my two month conversation with adobe that eventually made it to a senior level Adobe themselves don't understand this.

Regarding my conclusion. I guess it's hope and pray an alternative developer emerges with a competitive package so Adobe can no longer afford to be so arrogant and complacent.