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
For more information about adjusting image contrast, see Contrast Adjustment Explained.
Luma Explained
Luma (which technically speaking is gamma-corrected luminance) describes the exposure
(lightness) of a video shot, from absolute black, through the distribution of gray tones,
all the way up to the brightest white. Luma can be separated from the color of an image.
In fact, if you desaturate an image completely, the grayscale image that remains is the
luma.
Luma is measured by Color as a digital percentage from 0 to 100, where 0 represents
absolute black and 100 represents absolute white. Color also supports super-white levels
(levels from 101 to 109 percent) if they exist in your shot. While super-white video levels
are not considered to be safe for broadcast, many cameras record video at these levels
anyway.
Black
0% luminance
100%
109%
White
Super-white
Note: Unadjusted super-white levels will be clamped by the Broadcast Safe settings (if
they’re turned on with their default settings), so that pixels in the image with luma above
100 percent will be set to 100 percent.
What Is Setup?
People often confuse the black level of digital video with setup. Setup refers to the
minimum black level assigned to specific analog video signals and is only an issue with
analog video output to the Beta SP tape format. If you are outputting to an analog tape
format using a third-party analog video interface, you should check the documentation
that came with that video interface to determine how to configure the video interface
for the North American standard for setup (7.5 IRE) or the Japanese standard (0 IRE).
Most vendors of analog video interfaces include a software control panel that allows
you to select which black level to use. Most vendors label this as “7.5 Setup” versus “0
Setup,” or in some cases “NTSC” versus “NTSC-J.”
Video sent digitally via SDI has no setup. The Y′C
B
C
R
minimum black level for all digital
video signals is 0 percent, 0 IRE, or 0 millivolts, depending on how you’re monitoring
the signal.
30 Chapter 1 Color Correction Basics