Hey, this topic is quite old but I wanted to answer so it may eventually helps people in the future. Project settings is going to concerns all your input (footage as video/image sequence files and full cgi with passes) In case you do use only gh2 footage, there is absoluetely no need at all to go above 8bit since it´s not going to make your project look 32bit if you set it. It´ll only display the picture profile of the input like for example openExr 32 bit files or tiff 16 bit files rendered for example in maya. But 8bit files will remain 8bit even if you display 32 bit (that would have been to easy if you could transform just like this 8bit to 32bit with just a click)

Same goes for the interpret footage the only difference is, it´ll help to control elements individually. If you import native .MTS file, just keep the basics project settings 8bit preserve rgb. If you have done some transcoding like prores and put rec709 profile before, use it for this footage but remain in 8bit (unless planning heavy compositing that needs to import footage of images rendered with a linear workflow sRGB but in this case you will have to edit seperately every elements which in the end will help you a lot to match your elements with the footage)

Switch to HDTV rec. 709 BEFORE importing clips. 16-235 or full swing... depends on taste, anyhow use at least 16 bit processing to avoid banding. (Or make it worse...). Export depends on circumstances. What do you need? Who needs to be happy?

@CTheEsrevinu, @BurnetRhoades, @Meierhans, @kavadni Thanx a lot for your comments. Sorry for not being able to reply for that long. Though the subject of this thread is very old, I figured out the issue by myself already (a long time ago).

After hundreds of tests I made with GH2 footage, I've come to the following conclusion for those who on PCs:

1. Project settings (32bpc, HDTV rec. 709).
2. Interpret footage Tab (HDTV rec. 709)
3. Output Module settings (HDTV rec. 709)
4. DNxHD codec settings (RGB Levels) - NOT Rec. 709!!! This one is the most important thing!

You, colleagues, may not agree with me but I suppose I'm right on these settings.

@CTheEsrevinu I think you’re totally wrong on the case if I use only gh2 footage, “there is absoluetely no need at all to go above 8bit” since its not gonna make my project look 32bit. For color grading it matters a lot!!! It’s visually obvious in AE. Nobody’s saying it’ll be 32bit out of 8bit. During the process of color grading you’ll get color gradation applied more accurately in case you switch to 32bit. Go see through some threads of @shian and his site dedicated to color grading… As for transcoding… Transcoding helps a lot! Color grading of native MTS is not that good as with transcoding. I use NeoScene and graded transcoded files differ (much less banding, aliasing etc…) from the graded native MTS files!

Also, one of the most important things is the output profile. For those who on PC, it should always be DNxHD codec. No matter what your final product will be (for broadcast, DVD, Blu-ray, Web…). 1. Render to DNxHD. 2. Render the file (transcoded to DNxHD) to what ever you like. In the export settings of this codec you should check “RGB levels” (not Rec. 709). Otherwise you’ll get your blacks crashed (The same situation goes with whites) and they will be black as hell because native GH2 footrage is 16-235 and not 0-255.

All what I said above is my personal view, so some of you may not agree with me.

@BurnetRhoades thanks. As for the interpretation, I agree with you but sometimes I wanna make sure "manually" 'cause I don't trust AE's automatic functions very much :-)

@MikhailK

I am going to try the RGB at output time, that could be the cause/solution to 'purple dots' when I have worked in 32bits rather than 16. Previously I've maintained Rec 709 all the way through.

@MikhailK

Project settings (32bpc, HDTV rec. 709 16-235 or Preserve RGB?...)?

Interpret footage Tab (HDTV rec. 709 16-235 or sRGB?...)

Output Module settings (HDTV rec. 709 16-235 or Preserve RGB?...)

DNxHD codec settings (Rec. 709 or RGB Levels?...)

When you use After Effects in Color Managed mode, you should select the color space that matches the embedded profile in the video file. If you select a mismatched color space, AE will remap the colors in the file and you will get gaps and/or peaks in the histogram. For GH2 MTS files, the correct AE color space is "HDTV (Rec. 709)". You can confirm this by checking the Interpret Footage dialog for any imported MTS clip and verify that it does not remap the colors.

Once the footage is imported correctly into AE, you are working in a color managed, 32-bit floating point color space. You can render your graded results into any format using any codec without concern for color space mismatches. When you output to DNxHD, AE's 32-bit color space is automatically converted into the codec's broadcast studio swing (16-235) color space.

@towi You're being pedantic about the term "color space". Avid DNxHD codecs use studio swing encoding, which in Adobe After Effects is referred to as ""HDTV (Rec. 709) 16-235", combining the Rec. 709 color space with the studio swing luminance range. Adobe refers to this combination of color space and luminance range as "working space", as in their Interpret Footage dialog: "Color values will not be converted because working space and footage color space match each other." So in After Effects terms, the combined color space and luminance range encoded in a video file is referred to as its "color space".

@tow

Possibly AE by default transcodes to DNxHD by preserving/remapping to broadcast safe levels...

Yes, AE does remap its 32-bit working space to DNxHD's studio swing (16-235) luminance range when you export a video with AE in Color Managed mode. It does this automatically because AE knows that DNxHD uses what Adobe refers to as the "HDTV (Rec. 709) 16-235" color space. Avid designed DNxHD to be directly importable into Avid Media Composer without remapping its luminance range. MC is not a Color Managed app and in AE's terms, MC's "working space" is "HDTV (Rec. 709) 16-235", aka "studio swing".

@LPowell

Yes, AE does remap its 32-bit working space to DNxHD's studio swing (16-235) luminance range when you export a video with AE in Color Managed mode. It does this automatically because AE knows that DNxHD uses what Adobe refers to as the "HDTV (Rec. 709) 16-235" color space. Avid designed DNxHD to be directly importable into Avid Media Composer without remapping its luminance range. MC is not a Color Managed app and in AE's terms, MC's "working space" is "HDTV (Rec. 709) 16-235".

okay... makes sense! Within Avid you can transfer 0-255 lumiance levels in and out of Media Composer if you choose to do so. But for a third party software it certainly makes sense to remapp levels to 16-235 when DNxHD is the target codec (as long as the remapping is processed/rendered in high bit ...preferably 16bit or higher). So in this case AE's default for DNxHD accounts for Avid MC's standards ... which ensures a trouble-free workflow/roundtrip between AE and Avid MC.

Cheers!

Duh. But you don't have to stay there - I'm referring to post.

Never do it. Why settle for less when you can have so much more.

wrong. I deliver projects for projection and broadcast all the time - zero issues.

I've even delivered stuff for the Nasdaq sign in Times Square - still zero issues. I don't do anything normal. I never accept that the way it's always been done, and the way it's supposed to be done are the correct ones. Which is why I excell. I PUSH. I understand what the limitations are, and I go around them. REC 709 is a bullshit way to work. With a properly calibrated monitor you don't fucking need it. In fact it will actually trip you up. It will lie to you.

I stopped using outboard monitors when I realized I no longer needed them. I realized this because I worked at a place that had stopped bothering with them as well. And we were pretty much considered the best image processing house on the planet. (They still are. I just don't work there anymore.)

I have forgotten more about image processing and color space than you will ever know.

A properly calibrated monitor needs a properly calibrated workspace. Just try to composite 3d into your footage or display true color to make them match, without the proper workspace you can be sure that things won´t match. And remember that people monitors aren´t calibrated like your. Now matter how good it is, it is a must if you want to get the job done nicely otherwise there wouldn´t be engineers working everyday on improving a current system that you think works perfectly.

Also, it is sRGB you should use in AE (and I suppose you use AE for compositing which means cgi, which means matching pure digital with footage, which means linear workflow, which means gamma 2.2 required= sRGB)

Unless you just want to color correct but that´s a bit stupid to use AE for this when you have speedgrade and davinci.

yea...

i think we can all understand and appreciate your brand of confusion when it comes to color grading shian..

its like grind and grind and grind and grind..

then.. wait,

my grinder isnt set right! ahhhhh....