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
• Final Cut Pro generators and Motion projects: Final Cut Pro generators and Motion projects
are completely ignored by Color. How you handle these types of effects also depends
on your workflow:
• If you're roundtripping a project between Final Cut Pro and Color, and you want to
grade these effects in Color, you should render these effects as self-contained
QuickTime .mov files. Then, edit the new .mov files into your sequence to replace
the original effects shots prior to sending your project to Color.
• If you're roundtripping a project between Final Cut Pro and Color, and there's no
need to grade these effects, you don't need to do anything. Even though these effects
aren't displayed in Color, their position in the Timeline is preserved, and these effects
will reappear in Final Cut Pro when you send the project back. Titles are a good
example of effects that don't usually need to be graded.
• If you're working on a 2K or 4K digital intermediate or RED QuickTime project, you
need to use a compositing application like Shake or Motion to composite any effects
using the image sequence data.
Important: When you send frames of media to a compositing application, it's vital that
you maintain the frame number in the filenames of new image sequence media that
you generate. Each image file's frame number identifies its position in that program's
Timeline, so any effects being created as part of a 2K digital intermediate workflow
require careful file management.
• Video or film output: While Color provides broadcast output of your project's playback
for preview purposes, this is not intended to be used to output your program to tape.
This means that when you finish color correcting your project in Color, the rendered
output needs to be moved to Final Cut Pro for output to tape or to another environment
for film output.
Video Finishing Workflows Using Final Cut Pro
If a program has been edited using Final Cut Pro, the process of moving it into Color is
fairly straightforward. After editing the program in Final Cut Pro, you must reconform the
program, if necessary, to use the original source media at its highest available quality.
39Chapter 2 Color Correction Workflows