• Blog
  • About
  • Tutorials
  • Prolost Store
  • Archive
    • Recent
    • Featured
    • All
  • Where to Begin?
  • Maschwikipedia
  • Contact
  • Comment Policy
  • Menu

Prolost

by Stu Maschwitz
  • Blog
  • About
  • Tutorials
  • Prolost Store
  • Archive
    • Recent
    • Featured
    • All
  • Where to Begin?
  • Maschwikipedia
  • Contact
  • Comment Policy

Linear Color Workflow in AE7, Part 5

February 28, 2006

Holy crap, film! Try this:

  1. Download Marcie.
  2. Import her into a new After Effects 7.0 project.
  3. Set the project to 32 bits per channel (float)
  4. Set your Project Working Space to Linear Adobe RGB
  5. Select Marcie and File > Interpret Footage > Main
  6. Click on More Options
  7. Under Conversion Method, select Kodak 5218 ICC Profile
  8. Hit OK
  9. Hit OK
  10. Drag Marcie to the Create Comp button
  11. With the new comp's View active, View > Proof Setup > Kodak 2383 Theater
  12. Select View > Proof Colors (switch it from unchecked to checked)

You're now working with a Cineon file in linear, scene-referred float, and accurately previewing how your work will looked filmed out on Kodak Vision film stock.

When you want to output back to log:

  1. Create an output comp that contains your linear Marcie comp
  2. Set Proof Colors to Unmanaged for this comp's view (Proof Colors should be checked)
  3. Apply the Color Profile Converter effect to the layer
  4. Leave Input Profile set to Project Working Space
  5. Set Output Profile to DPX Scene - Standard Camera Film
  6. Very important: Set Intent to Absolute Colorimetric

Output this comp to a Cineon sequence and it should match the original Marcie source.

You've now fully round-tripped a color managed, linear floating point film compositing pipeline. I don't know of any other compositing application that ships with this capability, "high end" or not!

But wait, there's more! Want to bake this film-look LUT into some NTSC video dailies?

  1. Add linear Marcie to a video output comp (NTSC res)
  2. This comp should also have Proof Colors on and set to Unmanaged
  3. Select Layer > New > Adjustment Layer
  4. Apply the Color Profile Converter effect to the layer
  5. Leave Input Profile set to Project Working Space
  6. Set Output Profile to DPX Scene - Standard Camera Film
  7. Very important: Set Intent to Absolute Colorimetric
  8. Apply a second Color Profile Converter
  9. Set Input Profile to DPX Theater Preview - Standard Print Film
  10. Set Output Profile to SMPTE-C

Smoove. Don't believe me? Download the project file (316kB zip). This workflow is compatible with Part 1 and, of course, Part 2.

Tags: Adobe After Effects, Image Nerdery, Visual Effects
Prev / Next
Featured
Maxon One
Maxon One

Cinema 4D, Forger, Red Giant, Redshift, Universe, and ZBrush, all in one bundle.

Slugline
Slugline

Screenwriting for Mac, iPad, and iPhone

Prolost Store
Prolost Store

Apps, presets, and other goodies for filmmaking and photography.


Featured Post

Featured
Log is the “Pro” in iPhone 15 Pro
Oct 10, 2023
Log is the “Pro” in iPhone 15 Pro
Oct 10, 2023
Oct 10, 2023

Recent Posts

Featured
Cameras, Phones, and Log — What’s the Juice?
Feb 3, 2025
Cameras, Phones, and Log — What’s the Juice?
Feb 3, 2025
Feb 3, 2025
Kino: My New Favorite iPhone Video App
May 29, 2024
Kino: My New Favorite iPhone Video App
May 29, 2024
May 29, 2024
Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad Event was Shot on iPhone — With Panavision Lenses
May 9, 2024
Apple’s “Let Loose” iPad Event was Shot on iPhone — With Panavision Lenses
May 9, 2024
May 9, 2024
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan
Jan 30, 2024
iPhone ProRes Log in Peru and Taiwan
Jan 30, 2024
Jan 30, 2024
What I Want to Do in Apple Vision Pro
Jan 19, 2024
What I Want to Do in Apple Vision Pro
Jan 19, 2024
Jan 19, 2024
What Does and Doesn’t Matter about Apple Shooting their October Event on iPhone 15 Pro Max
Nov 7, 2023
What Does and Doesn’t Matter about Apple Shooting their October Event on iPhone 15 Pro Max
Nov 7, 2023
Nov 7, 2023