1.5
Table Of Contents
- Color User Manual
- Contents
- Welcome to Color
- Color Correction Basics
- Color Correction Workflows
- An Overview of the Color Workflow
- Limitations in Color
- Video Finishing Workflows Using Final Cut Pro
- Importing Projects from Other Video Editing Applications
- Digital Cinema Workflows Using Apple ProRes 4444
- Finishing Projects Using RED Media
- Digital Intermediate Workflows Using DPX/Cineon Media
- Using EDLs, Timecode, and Frame Numbers to Conform Projects
- Using the Color Interface
- Importing and Managing Projects and Media
- Creating and Opening Projects
- Saving Projects
- Saving and Opening Archives
- Moving Projects from Final Cut Pro to Color
- Before You Export Your Final Cut Pro Project
- Move Clips That Aren’t Being Composited to Track V1 in the Timeline
- Remove Unnecessary Video Filters
- Organize All Color Corrector 3-Way Filters
- Divide Long Projects into Reels
- Export Self-Contained QuickTime Files for Effects Clips You Need to Color Correct
- Use Uncompressed or Lightly Compressed Still Image Formats
- Make Sure All Freeze Frame Effects Are on Track V1
- Make Sure All Clips Have the Same Frame Rate
- Media Manage Your Project, If Necessary
- Recapture Offline Media at Online Quality, If Necessary
- Check All Transitions and Effects If You Plan to Render 2K or 4K Image Sequences for Film Out
- Using the Send To Color Command in Final Cut Pro
- Importing an XML File into Color
- Before You Export Your Final Cut Pro Project
- Importing EDLs
- EDL Import Settings
- Relinking Media
- Importing Media Directly into the Timeline
- Compatible Media Formats
- Moving Projects from Color to Final Cut Pro
- Exporting EDLs
- Reconforming Projects
- Converting Cineon and DPX Image Sequences to QuickTime
- Importing Color Corrections
- Exporting JPEG Images
- Configuring the Setup Room
- The File Browser
- Using the Shots Browser
- The Grades Bin
- The Project Settings Tab
- The Messages Tab
- The User Preferences Tab
- Monitoring Your Project
- Timeline Playback, Navigation, and Editing
- Basic Timeline Elements
- Customizing the Timeline Interface
- Working with Tracks
- Selecting the Current Shot
- Timeline Playback
- Zooming In and Out of the Timeline
- Timeline Navigation
- Selecting Shots in the Timeline
- Working with Grades in the Timeline
- The Settings 1 Tab
- The Settings 2 Tab
- Editing Controls and Procedures
- Analyzing Signals Using the Video Scopes
- The Primary In Room
- The Secondaries Room
- What Is the Secondaries Room Used For?
- Where to Start in the Secondaries Room?
- The Enabled Button in the Secondaries Room
- Choosing a Region to Correct Using the HSL Qualifiers
- Controls in the Previews Tab
- Isolating a Region Using the Vignette Controls
- Adjusting the Inside and Outside of a Secondary Operation
- The Secondary Curves Explained
- Reset Controls in the Secondaries Room
- The Color FX Room
- The Primary Out Room
- Managing Corrections and Grades
- The Difference Between Corrections and Grades
- Saving and Using Corrections and Grades
- Managing Grades in the Timeline
- Using the Copy To Buttons in the Primary Rooms
- Using the Copy Grade and Paste Grade Memory Banks
- Setting a Beauty Grade in the Timeline
- Disabling All Grades
- Managing Grades in the Shots Browser
- Managing a Shot’s Corrections Using Multiple Rooms
- Keyframing
- The Geometry Room
- The Still Store
- The Render Queue
- Appendix A: Calibrating Your Monitor
- Appendix B: Keyboard Shortcuts in Color
- Appendix C: Using Multi-Touch Controls in Color
- Appendix D: Setting Up a Control Surface
About Importing Projects and Media into Color
To work on a program in Color, you must be provided with two sets of files:
• Final Cut Pro sequence data can be sent to Color directly using the Send To Color
command. Otherwise, the edited project file (or files, if the program is in multiple reels)
should be provided in a format that can be imported into Color. Compatible formats
include Final Cut Pro XML files, and compatible EDL files from nearly any editing
environment.
• High-quality digital versions of the original source media, in a compatible QuickTime
or image sequence format.
Project and media format flexibility means that Color can be incorporated into a wide
variety of post-production workflows. For an overview of different color correction
workflows using Color, see Color Correction Workflows.
About Exporting Projects from Color
Color doesn’t handle video capture or output to tape on its own. Once you finish color
correcting your project in Color, you render every shot in the project to disk as an alternate
set of color-corrected media files, and you then send your Color project back to
Final Cut Pro, or hand it off to another facility for tape layoff or film out. For more
information, see The Render Queue.
What Footage Does Color Work With?
Color can work with film using scanned DPX or Cineon image sequences, or with video
clips using QuickTime files, at a variety of resolutions and compression ratios. This means
you have the option of importing and outputting nearly any professional format, from
highly compressed standard definition QuickTime DV-25 shots up through uncompressed
2K or 4K DPX image sequences—whatever your clients provide.
Image Encoding Standards
The sections listed below provide important information about the image encoding
standards supported by Color. The image data you’ll be color correcting is typically
encoded either using an RGB or Y′C
B
C
R
(sometimes referred to as YUV) format. Color is
extremely flexible and capable of working with image data of either type. For detailed
information, see:
• The RGB Additive Color Model Explained
• The Y′C
B
C
R
Color Model Explained
• Chroma Subsampling Explained
• Bit Depth Explained
23Chapter 1 Color Correction Basics