@shian Oh ...I see that explains allot. I need to watch all of the tutorials-I know- I just got excited and figured I could figure it out on my own. I wasn't using the adjust layers for anything other than the letterbox...I haven't used AE since film school and it was AE6.5 back then so yeah...I'm a bit behind with proper workflow.

So say I want to use the Ghear Tony Scott 3way ...I drop that one on its own adjustment layer, then I want use Ghrain killer I also do that on separate layer. Then I think its too greenish and I use the green killer....that too is on a separate layer correct?

@sam_strickland Yeah, Stu is really good at confusing people, and making things too complicated. Like Stu, I too have worked in the VFX compositing world, the major difference is, when Stu finishes his work it all gets rendered out, and off-loaded to a LOG DPX sequence, and those drives get couriered to us, and we (or one of the other 3 majors) finish them off. We ALWAYS begin in LOG, and export our final DI in log - linear is an afterthought - we know that for video (tape, DVD, Bluray), it will have to be converted to linear, so of course we do send a version to QC with a linear conversion, but we never work in it. Linear conversion will bake in certain things we don't want in our workflow.

Linear is an INTERPRETATION of your image, but it is NOT your image. LOG is the only color space that can show you the maximum amount of data in your image short of bouncing around through all the LUTs. Linear will hide, mask, and distort your image. Work in linear at your peril.

Stu is trying to help, and I get what he is saying. What Stu is trying to save people from is that horrifying realization when you love your image on your computer screen and you burn it to DVD or BLURAY only to find it looks horrible on your TV. But I have found that exporting my way, and finishing in QT Pro does the same thing, without all the math, and headaches, and hassle.

I haven't covered, yet, how to calibrate your system and workflow yet in detail on the site, but I will. (Although a few pages back I did post it in brief.) But, like I've posted before, working with CGT in AFX the way I've designed it, I have never taken a drive of a project graded at home on my system to a post house for mastering and been ambushed by things looking differently on the high grade stuff. And I'm working on an iMac and a Panasonic Plasma TV....no DVS, or Dolby monitor here (not wasting $20,000 on that.... although they are VERY nice to work on, but not necessary.)

Rendering 75 seconds original MTS file with 4 stylish layers, a couple of technical layers, and text animations took 2 hours in my 2010 macbook pro with 8GB RAM. Yeap I turned off the displaying option.

If the source file is transcoded by 5DtoRGB, will it render faster?

Sounds like he was a good man. Rest in peace.

@No_SuRReNDeR: I´m no pro here, but I think you should check your gears order, right @shian ? :-)

@stonebat - I'm having the same problem. I have a technical grade in Color Finesse, several (4 to 5) gears stacked with a film grain layer over it all. Some clips have Neat Video and some have text. Pushing 11 hours to render 2 or so minutes of 720p footage on a 2009 MacBook Pro with 4gb of RAM @shian - Is this normal or am I missing something?

Sorry to hear the bad news Shian.

Hope you can get over the loss quickly. I'm sure everybody here will understand if you need to take some time out.

Take care.

+1. Everyone needs a break sometimes.

@shian: sorry to hear about your friend and mentor. Life... Think of it, still he contributed to the arts and passed it on - great deed, as we all shall pass. It made me think of color grading and the process of image manipulation and scanning, development etc. Pre-computers (fast enough and budget-wise feasible) what was the workflow? How much more "creative" and experimental can we be now (yes, i LOVE the undo button - it is a cost saver and a curse, since there is also a lot of indecision)?

What was the worklflow then? Now that "everybody" got HD and filmlooks, how can we stand out? Is it again bringing content and story, not just good looks? I know they are intertwined. No story, we turn to the other noise to see what's up... ;) What do you think? Interesting to hear ppl in the "business" as an aspiring artist. If you have the time I'd love to hear your stance and point of view... Maybe wrong forum - as a subscriber, should I take it at CGH?

Peace! Best from Sweden!

ALWAYS LABEL :P... YEP!

A quick question about workflow. Shian , or anyone else, do you do basic cuts in Premiere or FCP and then import into AE for grading? Does anyone prefer Dynamic Linking to Importing? And also, if you do use Premeire, is ther an advantage to using the curves in AE in 32 bit mode over using the curves in Premiere in native 32 bit mode? The reason I ask is the response in Premiere is realtime for 32 bit curves/levels using the CUDA openGL acceleration.

Thanks. P.S. I am a proud owner of ColorGHear!

Thank you guys for your well wishes, I'm feeling better physically, and emotionally, and am determined to knock out the legacy support today.

I was checking the site's trackback stats of late, and noticed that not everyone that comes to the CGT site comes from here, nor are they privy to these conversations or the grateful emails I have received from many of you. I would appreciate it, if those who have bought CGT and like it, would post comments on the site itself, and let those checking it out know how you feel. Thanks to those who already have, no need to post a comment again.

Also feel free to share links to the videos and the site on other message boards. I've seen a few links coming in from other forums, thanks to whoever posted those.

Also, when the next tutorial goes live, many of you will find that your patronage will have long lasting benefits you probably hadn't anticipated. You are not just going to get grading and color correction insight from me, but I'll be launching a new tutorial series with tips on pre-production, test shooting to find the right look, cinematography, building your own lights, as well as Industry Professionals dropping by to give you hands on demos - everything from storyboarding, production design, VFX, fabrication (making, pouring, and pulling molds), set construction on a budget, costuming, make-up (camera and FX), and much more. And everyone who has purchased CGT before Feb 15th will be grandfathered in. So it won't cost you a dime extra.

@artiswar I hate re-compressing. I used to have to do it coming out of FCP without automatic duck, and I hated it. My advice: never re-compress anything unless you have no other choice.

With the new tutorial addendum to working with sequences, I think I've eliminated the need to have to do any selective grading and roundtripping.

Although, I'm curious how CGT performs in your Premiere roundtrip model, vs rendering out of AE.