I can not darken a simple png file in a comp in After Effects.

[Letty2019]

4 days and counting.  Seriously.

This problem is so weird, for you it might be simple, PLEASE  HELP!

I cut out and darkened a chair in photoshop, made the png, and imported into AE comp timeline.

The chair looks like this in the timeline:  nice and dark, the way I want it. (very dark scene)

I export the comp out of After Effects, using ProRes , then import that into PPro.  Looks great also in PPro, a dark scene with a dark chair. No problem.

Burn it to disc, play it on the HDTV, and the scene looks great, EXCEPT:

The chair in the scene now looks like this:

I have tried multipe tests for days:

1) lower opacity

2) darken

3) change the AE project bit (currently 16bit) , tried 32.  photo is 32 bit, I even changed it to 8 bit, same results.

4) lowered the black levels

5) lowered the exposure

6) deleted, reinstall. wash, rinse, repeat....

7) ran it with and without color management!

It's always bright!  is it possessed? 

Doesn't even darken a bit, it's always the same.  It's laughing at me!!

Monitor is calibrated at rec709 gamma 2.4  

Standard Video 8bit (old school)  latest AE, PPro, AME  GTX1050ti gpu   32gb Ryzen 7. Solid computer set up, working fine.

I doubt it's a gamma issue because the scene looks fine on tv, just this png is bright.

Here is the kicker:

When I export an mpg2 from ppro and watch it on the monitor, it looks fine....chair is dark.

But for some Twilight Zone reason, only on the tv, the chair is bright and the rest of the scene is dark.

I am at my wit's end.

Please send me your advice,

Thanks very much!!

Letty

[Letty2019]

Hello?? anybody here?

[Letty2019]

Hello?    Anybody?

[angie_taylor]

Can you please include your color management settings so we can take a look. Also, please include the Adobe Media Encoder settings you used too. It's hard to know without knowing what your settings are. Thanks.

[angie_taylor]

It sounds like a calibration issue or your TV is set up very differently than your monitor. Your TV could be doing some kind of black point compensation?

[angie_taylor]

Also, have you run a monitor calibration app to make sure the black levels are right on your monitor? On Mac you can use the built in calibration app in the Display system prefs

[Letty2019]

Hi, super thanks for replying.

I set things up as simple as possible.  I'm not using any color management, my monitor is calibrated using SpyderX Elite...  rec.709 gamma 2.4  What I see in the timeline is what I get on the disc.  When I make other discs within the same project, the image on the tv screen is a little brighter, but nothing serious.  It's odd that the videos I made with this chair, the chair is the only object in the scene that is really bright.

I think you are right about the tv not being calibrated properly and it doesn't match the monitor.  But.... still doesn't explain why just the chair is so bright. Odd.

Here is my AE project setting:  

BTW, I get same results when I use color management and assign the icc profile to AE, PPRo and AME.  Same difference.

Below is the PPro media encoder:    btw, I've tried most of the other outputs, all get same results.

The clips are Standard video, 25 bps , 8 bit.  (old school video)

Using these settings, to burn on bluray, the video looks great.  When I do MPG2 and watch the disc on my computer, the chair looks perfect.....  but popping that disc into my bluray player and seeing it on tv, that's when the chair changes.

I tried using 'levels' to change the tint, didn't work.

I tried lowering the exposure, same thing.

I think it's a gamma issue in the image, but nothing I do changes this image.

It's killing me.  So many tests.  Nothing I do can lower the level of this image. 

I think the only missing factor here is adjusting the tv itself.  The image looks great, but I think you might have something when you mentioned black levels.

I think I'll buy one of those in home tv calbration discs I've seen online and do a calibration to see if it's the tv.  I'm only hesitant because if the tv wasn't set up right, then why do all the other scenes look fine, and only this 'chair' image is messed up?

Very frustrating.   Nothing makes sense.

Also, the chair says it's 32bit.  I even lowered the bitrate to 8, and darkened it in photoshop, then imported it into AE.  It looks nice and dark, then I export using prores, the prores into PPro, then to disc, then to tv, and BAM!  The chair is bright!!! 

ahhhH!!!!!   Losing my mind. 

Thanks for your reply and thoughts on this.

Letty

[angie_taylor]

Have you tried it using "Monitor Color" in the Color Managment settings?

[angie_taylor]

Also, what happens if you just turn off color management all together?

[angie_taylor]

Assume you've run the update;

After Effects 17.0.5 includes a fix for color management with ProRes HDR footage.

More information on fixed issues here: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/kb/fixed-issues.html

[Letty2019]

updates?  

Thanks.

[Letty2019 · Accepted solution]

Problem was:  Images exported from Photoshop did not have the right work space embedded.  (credit: R Neil Haugen)

I set work space to sRGB in PShop, exported, then re imported into AE.  Set AE workspace to sRGB.

Then I was able to alter image brightness, color etc.

[angie_taylor]

Thanks for letting us know. It didn't ocur to me that the images had been altered in Photoshop before AE. Good to know for future issues. Thanks