Is a solid, with the color black, the darkest image possible?

[Letty2019]

Hello,

When I make a solid in After Effects, and choose black...

Is that the rock bottom darkest color possible?

Or is black solid, then lowering the Levels go even darker?

Thanks,

Letty

[Martin_Ritter]

If the RGB values are all 0, that is the most dark you can get.

Beyond this it's a matter of codec and physical display settings.

*Martin

[Letty2019]

Hi, my monitor is calibrated to rec 709, and my video card color range is set to 16-235 which is broadcast level.

My final project is for bluray hdtv. 

So with those settings, the black Solid in AE represents the darkest black?

[Byron Cortez]

Make sure you're working in RGB Extended Range and not Legal Range 601, 709, or 2020, so you can get to pure black with a codec that allows it.

[Letty2019]

Hi, my monitor is calibrated to rec 709, and my video card color range is set to 16-235 which is broadcast level.

My final project is for bluray hdtv.  

I guess I'm not looking for 'pure' black, but I would like to make sure that I'm getting the darkest black when I see the Solid using the black color.   Is that right?

[Andrew Yoole · Accepted solution]

Without complicating the discussion too much, an RGB value of 0,0,0 is a total absence of colour and luminance, so it is by definition the darkest it can be.

With your monitoring configured in Rec.709 you'll never see true black, as the gamut restricts black to 16 rather than 0.  If you're rendering to standard Blu Ray MPEG compression you'll also be restricted to Rec.709 colour gamut, so no issue there.  What you see is what you should get.

But if you want to give yourself the ability to re-grade your final AE renders before compression, you may prefer to work in a wider gamut colour space until the final compression.  This will allow you to retrieve more detail from dark parts of your renders if you choose to brighten them before compressing to Rec.709 colour space.

This conversation becomes hugely more complex if you're planning on rendering Ultra-HD BluRay, which supports Rec.2020 wide colour gamut.

But the short answer is definitely that 0,0,0 is as black as you can get.  Applying a darkening effect to 0,0,0 will only give you 0,0,0.

[Letty2019]

You stole the ball and slam dunked it! 

Thanks very much,

Letty