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Inspiring
May 12, 2021
Question

Colour/Gamma Shift Bug

  • May 12, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 11479 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?

 

Results attached

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3 replies

R Neil Haugen
Legend
May 19, 2021

"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 ...
Nick2049Author
Inspiring
May 19, 2021
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
May 20, 2021

I don't mean to sound rude Neil but why are you adding PrPro into the equation? I am not usine Premiere at all. I am using AE and that's it.

If working space is set to none in AE then what does it assume? sRGB? REC709?


It helps to triangulate what's going on between apps. That's why I brought in PrPro. It gives confirmation. If you're getting identical results in all three, you're set properly. And why is that useful? Because then anything else will see it properly also.

 

From my understanding, if you don't set something in Ae ... and there's nothing showing in the CM panel for Ae ... then it only works with images in their original space. So an sRGB image would be 'left' in sRGB.

 

And although "the web" is sRGB, that's just a definition of the color primaries. Video uses the sRGB primaries but also has other standards like a specific gamma. Which is why one needs to know what the video standards are.

 

Neil

 

 

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
R Neil Haugen
Legend
May 12, 2021

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 ...
Nick2049Author
Inspiring
May 12, 2021
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
May 12, 2021

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
May 12, 2021

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

 

And what in Me?

 

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
Nick2049Author
Inspiring
May 12, 2021

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