While I’ve been running DaVinci Resolve for the past three months at home (never thought I’d ever hear myself say that), and lugging my Resolve CPU back and forth from my home office to my client suite in NYC’s Chelsea district, I finally got sick of hefting my 45 lb (with drives & cards) Mac Pro back up to my 4th floor walkup, and upgraded my suite machine. As I mentioned to one of my colleagues at Twitch Post (where…
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Admittedly, it’s been a month since my last blog entry, but in my defense I’ve been a bit busy what with completing my new color correction book (which is at the printer as I type this) grading a pair of programs, and random other varied projects. However, there’s a topic I’ve been really wanting to show, as it’s one of the things that Resolve’s nodal approach to grading allows that’s quite nice, and that’s how to combine multiple mattes in…
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In the comments of my previous blog entry, Ron Nichols asked what the F-buttons (F1-9) do on the Wave control surface. Here’s a breakdown, arranged in a grid to show the logic of the arrangement: F7 Undo F8 Redo F9 Next Node F4 Save Still …
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Those of you who know my love of detail ought to get a chuckle out of this one, for I will regale you with a tale that begins, simply, with an explanation of the workings of one of DaVinci Resolve’s reset buttons, and ends with an explanation of the difference between the two different ways you can adjust luma contrast in Resolve. However, let’s start with a look at the RGB reset button, specifically, found on either the Wave or…
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After a nearly 8 year absence from both IBC and Amsterdam, the opportunity to meet several European colleagues I’ve not seen in a while was too good to pass up, so I decided at the last minute to attend the show. And I’m glad I did, it was a great time. I’d forgotten just how big IBC was, in fact it seemed quite a bit larger then NAB was this year, with packed-in booths taking up nearly every corner of…
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As a Shake user, I learned to love the explicit image processing organization that node-based compositing afforded. Never mind trying to figure out which precomp corresponded to what part of the composite; one look at a well-organized node tree and you can see exactly what’s going on. Furthermore, once you get the hang of using nodes, you can begin to work out your order of corrections in advance in a classic programmer’s tactic; flowchart your way through a complicated series…
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Writing. Writing. Sleeping. More writing. The periodic grading gig interruption. Yes, it’s “the last month of writing my book,” and just like every other book’s last month, it’s a round-the-clock marathon of typing, research, setting up example projects that look good and explain the topic at hand, screenshot-taking, and illustration making; all amidst a vague feeling that I should be getting more sleep. And the periodic beer. However, amidst all the toil, there are still magic moments, and today was…
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For a change of pace, I thought I’d toss out a small nugget of pure speculation (this time I’m really thinking aloud). However, in the event history proves me to be right, I thought it’d be fun to commit this thought to the internet. I was originally going to rant about how much of a “#$%@ you” I felt the latest rev of the Mac Pro line is to the postproduction power-user. In fact, I was going so far as…
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When Stu Maschwitz started beating the drum for Colorista II, I had mixed feelings. I’m always happy about shiny new tools that threaten to make my life easier, but to be honest I wasn’t a particular fan of the original Colorista. However, software evolves, and a new version deserves a new look, so I downloaded the demo for Final Cut Pro, and gave it a whirl on a short scene from an old project. Before I dive into the details…
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I let myself get pulled into responding to a thread at Creative Cow’s DaVinci forum on 3D LUT calibration, but felt that the subject might benefit from a bit more elaboration. I’ve been researching LUT calibration of prosumer display devices in greater detail for a small section of my upcoming book, which I hope will cast some more light on an admittedly arcane subject about which there’s a bit of confusion. However, LUTs are an example of high-end tools and…
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I had some back and forth with friend and colleague Patrick Inhofer (Colorist and owner of FINI), about what the “official” peak luma setting should be for a monitor he’s evaluating. The long and short of my response was that SMPTE Recommended Practice document RP 166-1995 (now archived, but there’s no replacement just yet) calls for 35 footlamberts (ft-L) of light output for a calibrated CRT display, which when converted to cd/m2 is 119.92 nits (round up to 120). In other words,…
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…but 15 years ago it would’ve been. First off, GWTDT (sorry, I just can’t keep typing the whole title) is an exceptionally crafted thriller and mystery that weaves in thoughtful characterizations and startling glimpses of grotesque horror and awkward sexuality. If you can’t tell from all that, I really liked it. However, I was reflecting this afternoon that the technology used for the digital research that was portrayed throughout, and which was a major motivator of the plot, wasn’t the…
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Upon my return to New York and my first full night’s sleep in a week, I thought it would be good to follow up upon my last post and share some experiences from the rest of the show before they faded from memory. Overall, I had a great time visiting the different vendors of color correction hardware and software and comparing what they can do. Interestingly, the south hall (where most of the postproduction hardware/software vendors were located) was packed,…
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Well this year’s NAB is shaping up to be a doozy. Having spent the day chatting with representatives from various vendors of color correction software, color critical broadcast monitors, and accelerated storage systems, all of which I take a professional interest in, I thought I’d share some end of day thoughts. Of course, the biggest news is Blackmagic/Davinci’s announcement of a $995 Mac OS X compatible, software-only license of their flagship color correction application, Resolve. Spending $30K gets you the…
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I’m a week overdue in mentioning this, but after a month of preparation and two weeks of backbreaking work, I’ve moved my color correction suite to co-locate with Twitch Post, with whom I’m partnering to offer my color correction services to an even more diverse clientele. For those of you who’ve already been working with me, nothing has changed. You can still reach me through correctionforcolor.com and contact me directly for inquiries and scheduling, and I offer the same range…