How to export HDR colorspace files from After Effects

[digitlman]

The short answer is YOU CAN'T...with the Render Button...

The actual answer is you must use Queue In ADOBE MEDIA ENCODER to export HDR content.

I am so frustrated i have been testing and racking my brain trying to adjust colorspace and settings in AFX and no matter what i do all files i export have rec 709 colorspace.
If you google "after effects export hdr" the results are a bunch of old posts of people trying to figure out how to get hdr from afx.
In your after effects online help guide in the color section it talks all about color spaces and never mentions you need to use AME to export.
In your help guide render and export settings section there is no mention at all of HDR or needing to use AME to export HDR.

I just happened to stumble across some 5 minute video on youtube and caught the 5 second section where he says "you must use AME to export HDR in after effects"
Thankfully i found that or i would still be going crazy trying to figure it out.

Why don't you communicate this to the user?

If i create a comp in AFX and go into project settings and choose rec2020 or 2100 color space then i clearly want my project to export this way. You could simply put it right there. A simple if then statement {if colorspace > rec709 then print text "you have chosen a HDR colorspace, you must export with Adobe Media Encoder to output HDR files"}

I work at a Television station with a team of editors that have all been living in adobe premiere and after effects everyday for 10-20 years each and NONE of us knew this.

Honestly though once i discovered this i was impressed with the built in presets you give in AME:

You could also just modify the render buttons and put SDR next to RENDER and HDR next to QUEUE IN AME

Also maybe you could even contact google and tell them that if someone searches for "after effects hdr export" they could just give the one actual answer which is "send to AME"

Hopefully this post will make the search engines and help someone find this answer that needs it.

Thanks

[bob37639483licm]

Just wanted to say this was immensely helpful,  as my attempts of exporting as exr, going to davinci, having to do the color management again there, and then seeing if it worked on youtube, caused weird saturation issues. but doing this (prores 4444 hlg preset) gave me 1:1 or basically 1:1 with what i was seeing in timeline in ae. for anyone outthere, Make sure when you import your hdr clip, to go into interpret footage in the project panel, and enable "preserve rgb" text box, this will force after effects to show you the file for what it is and not enforce any color logic on top of it.  (so make sure the file is ready before bringing it to ae. I used davinci to do that by making davincis color science in project settings to davinci yrgb color managed, then setting color processing mode to HDR, then setting up the output space as HDR HLG, then you can grade the footage/apply a lut and tweak it/do whatever, then export it via quick export, h.265 master, and bring that into ae. Just make sure you are using actual HDR footage shot on a actual hdr capable camera, in my case the blackmagic 4k). Make sure the ae project bitdepth is 32, then go into the project settings, color, and make the working space rec2100 PQ (or you can mess with the other rec2100 options but i found pq gave the best results for me) and everything should look how it should and be true hdr when you render it with that preset. (id imagine others work just as well but this is what ive tried). I was doing it for youtube specific purposes and it worked and got the "HDR" quality setting to show up and didnt cause any issues with output being different then what was seen in the timeline. Sorry for long post, but really just wanted to put that info out there for others in a step by step manner as it took me some time to figure it all out. Last thing, VLC gave me a 1:1 reference to what youtube showed when the quality was in HDR mode on there, when MPC didnt.

[Warren Heaton]

The After Effects user documentation should offer some guidance that's missing.  The limited amount that we have is in the Premiere Pro user guide.

Premiere Pro User Guide > Color Correction and Grading > HDR for Broadcasters

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/hdr-workflows.html

After Effects is capable of HDR without Media Encoder, but Media Encoder provides access to more ProRes options.  For those of us working with HDR in After Effects, Chris Zwar’s series for Provideo Coalition on Color Management is essential reading.

Color Management Part 21: HDR formats, colorspaces and TLAs

https://www.provideocoalition.com/color-management-part-21-hdr-formats-colorspaces-and-tlas/

HDR is far from being standardized and options for approaching HDR are evolving with both Premiere Pro and After Effects.  It's worth subscribing to Karle Lee Soule's YouTube channel for up-to-date information.

2024 Color - Dynamic Link Color Management in Pr and Ae

https://youtu.be/KsmBCwRAitg?si=q3D1M3JVcYLL2R8L