ColorGHear TOOLKIT- color grading SYSTEM for AE

kazuo

Just paid up for yr software and am trying to ride the steep learning curve. But from yr tutorials, am learning so much more about colour grading. Thanks for the hard work, mate

About the hack, v2 is good, but so is Drift's "Spanmybitch" We shot a TVC/corporate reel over 2 days at 10 hours each, had full production value, and the hack held up very well. Not once did it crash. Highest bit rate @76mbps 24p set to "all details"

magnus387

@shian Attached is a recent example of my work with ColorGHear, as well as the final video clip - I found that using Density, and Punch, making using programs like Twixtor, that require contrast and distinct edges in order to work, much easier... just another advantage. I tried slowing down this clip, using the raw file and I couldn't get it lower than 33% without it looking like crap. After some "Density, a 5D gamma setting, and Punching", I was able to get it down to 8%. You're a rock star.

password: thieves

Also... as someone who has done a ton of work with false HDR video, I will say that there is a combination of GHears that give you a very similar look. I'll post examples soon, but so far it's incredibly promising. Obviously, I'll run it by @shian first, as its his baby.

apix

@Magnus387 That looks great =)

shian

Awesome!

kanintesova

Hello @shian: Are you familiar with working linear 1.0 gamma? As I understand it we can sometimes benefit from it, whereas sometimes not. Particuarly when working with lights, blend modes, and particles will benefit - but not always color correction. Only in the highlights. Do you think you can tweak some of your fx for linear as well? Thanks. Looking forward to the new tuts! Keep it up!

kenoah

does this work for Premiere cs 5.5 ?

stoney · 20120121-20110120-j2j2-night-street-in-korea (0.00.00.03).jpg

I applied the ColorGHear presets on my friend's photo from his GF1.

1st one: original

2nd one: mostly default presets

3rd one: opacity reduced presets

4th one: without highlight adjustment from ColorFinesse

5th one: with Pen Tool & Level corrections

6th one: with more vignette

artiswar

@stonebat - Nice. I feel it's a bit muted. Especially in the highlights.

stoney

@artiswar I lowered opacity of the cc layers. It's the 3rd attachment.

stoney

Hmm... I used ColorFinesse3 to lower highlight to 90... but that was a mistake. It muted the highlight a bit too much as @artiswar pointed out. The 4th attachment is the one without highlight adjustment from ColorFinesse. With enough lighting, it brings out the beauty of the green tone monster preset.

I guess there is no other easy way out. I would need to use the Pen Tool to select the overblown areas and do the manual Level adjustments. The last attachment is the one with Pen Tool corrections.

artiswar

Personal favorite is the 4th image. The bright sign that's in the center of the photo looks dull in all the others.

Elenion

@Shian Do you think that you'll make a version of your toolkit for jahshaka 3.0 (that is close to be out)? 'cause is said that it'll be compatible with ae plugins and third party plugins for ae.

stoney

@artiswar hmmm... I removed the exposure adjustment around the center area.

artiswar

@stonebat - Bingo!

stoney

Thanks @artiswar. I like it, too.

shian

Sorry to be out of it for so long, I've been shooting a short in Laguna Beach all week, and my down time has been spent battling one of the worst colds I've ever had, I'm still getting over it.

I did an exposure and EV test last week, and I'll post it this week to show you how the GH2 handles shadows and highlights. But the simple explanation is that once you hit +3EV you hit 100 IRE and your highlights are completely blown out, and therefore unrecoverable.

@kanintesova the 5DtoRGB dense settings are targeted for a flat 1.0 gamma. I prefer a flat gamma in every case, it is your digital image at it's purest.

@kenoah @Elenion I plan to, but not sure how or if it will translate.

kanintesova

But when I choose to work with color managment and set the project to linear everything gets darker (unless I switch on the LUT, I think it is not called this rather "display..." something, in the viewer). So when I add the 5D dense it's really dark anyway. Crazy dark w/o LUT display turned on.

And the clip from 5DtoRGB is interpreted as REC.709. I can't change it to anything else. ;)

Am I missing something essential?

shian

In the rendering and output tutorial I cover this. As well as working in AFX, stay out of linear at all costs. Avoid it like the plague, Always work in log, stay in log, and render out in log. Don't color manage.

5Dto RGB doesn't have a pure log setting but the rec709 is your safest bet, maybe someday they'll have a log685 setting like the R3d convertor, but for now, use rec709, no gamma.

kanintesova

Ok, thanks! :)

No_SuRReNDeR · Screen shot 2012-01-22 at 2.12.58 PM.png

@shian I love this..... Here are some snap shots from AE of before and after grades........Im still working on these...think I need to get mores blue out the blacks in the gun shot.

I just need a workflow that doesnt take 10 hours per shot....

shian

@No_SuRReNDeR dude, you need to use more than one adjustment layer, and mix. Stacking GHears in one layer is insane, I can see why that would take forever to adjust. It shouldn't take you longer than a few minutes to grade each shot, and once you get used to how the GHears work, it takes just a few seconds. drag. drop, mix, move on...

And unless there's an exposure mismatch, or a need to power window, leave the footage alone, and do all your grading in the adjustment layers. It's a different process than other systems. I've been doing this for 12 years, and have already made all the mistakes for you, and learned from them, learn from me, and save yourself a lot of time and trouble.

stoney

@shian

I have a completed composition with a stack of stylish adjustment layers. I copied and pasted those layers on a new composition... but those layers are pretty much same ones. When I made a change in one of the layers, it affected the other composition, too. Is there a way to create "true" copies? Thanks.

shian

@stonebat that sounds really odd. AFX doesn't have an instance copy function. If you cut and paste layers it is a true copy. U do have to select them top to bottom in order for them to get copied in order, but unless you have some sort of collapse function selected there is no way to control layers in one composition by changing settings in another. And then it only occurs when those layers are nested in a pre-comp.

stoney

Never mind. You are correct. They share the same layer source in the project panel though.

shian

I'll be creating a few new tutorials this week, mostly to address these issues. I sometimes forget some people aren't used to using AFX the way I do, so I will try to show you how to manage clips, etc, so that you can work in a way similar to NLE's like FCP in terms of copying and pasting attributes to similarly treated clips, showing you just what is going on in GH2 footage in terms of highlights and shadows so you can get better exposures, and also know just what can and can't be fixed in post.

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