Override Media Color Space no longer works with Apple Log ProRes footage in AE 24, but did in AE 23

[BingerM@]

I have two projects set up as ACES 1.2 in both After Effects 23.6.9 and After Effects 24.6.1. When I import the  same ProRes Apple Log clip into each, I am able to override media color space in 23.6.9, but not 24.6.1. I would like to be able to override media color space in AE 24, but can't figure out why this isn't possible. I have noticed that AE 24 recognizes the media color space as Apple Log/Rec. 2020, but AE 23 doesn't recognize it. Perhaps that's related?

I'm using a Mac Studio M2 Ultra, running Sonoma 14.6.1. I've attached a video showing both scenarios. Any advice on how to potentially work around this until it is resolved would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Paul Uu]

Greetings, BingerM

Investigating here. There are definitely cases where some footage types do not let you override the media color space in Interpret Footage as there is essentially only one color correct decode pathway through AE's importers. Allowing the user to change the profile in interpret footage would just produce incorrect results. In these scenarios, using the OCIO Color Space Transform effect is the correct pathway to change your media color space in the context of the Project color working space.

That being said, I am not aware of any reason why you would be seeing different behavior in this regard between 23.6.9 and 24.6.1. That does not seem correct to me. I cannot repro this with any footage types I have available to test with.

Could you possibly upload a small footage clip that reproduces the issue?

Thx!

Paul — AE Engineering 

[BingerM@]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your attention and rapid response! I understand exactly what you're saying about certain files not allowing an override, and how the OCIO CST would be the proper way to address it. That would be fine for me if it didn't work so well in 23, just as you said. It just seems off to me.

I'd be happy to share the file with you, but I'm going to cut it way down to only be about 15 frames so the file size isn't massive. Not sure if I can attach another file to this thread? I will try. I can't figure it out, so I created a Frame io link instead

https://f.io/9B-XQZ_M

[Paul Uu]

I can repro the behavior change with your footage. Now digging in to understand when and why it changed.

Thx!!!

[BingerM@]

Thanks again for your effort!

[Paul Uu]

This appears to be a result of changes made to better support Apple Log footage in the 24.3 release. It affects both OCIO and Adobe color management. 

What I'm not clear on is if this leaves you a path to correctly transform the footage out of log space into your AE composition, or if it leaves you somewhat stuck with color that is correct, but also only in log.

To the extent that your workflow in 23.6.9 was rendering this footage correctly in to an AE Comp, what Override profile were you assgning to it in Interpret Footage: Color?

Thx!

[BingerM@]

Yes, this brings up another issue with Apple's claim that Apple Log is compatible with an ACES workflow, because it seems like it isn't quite. There is no OCIO profile available for Apple Log, which is strange, because Apple was so confident about it. That said, using any of the REDLog input profiles got me close enough to grade from there in 23.6.9. DaVinci Resolve nails it perfectly, but I suspect they designed their own Apple Log profile.

The changes from Adobe's side to make it more compatible make sense, however I wish I could force override the color space as I did before. 

[Paul Uu]

If you have a moment to test this in the current After Effects 25.0 Beta (build 40 or later) I would be curious to hear if your issue is resolved.

It appears so on my end with the test footage you supplied.

[BingerM@]

Yes indeed, it works! Thanks again for your time and attention to this problem. I know it's probably not a common one, so I appreciate it.