The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), is a grand thought.
In idea, an ACES pipeline delivers a high-quality shade administration system that offers you the absolute best shade accuracy and picture constancy via all the post-production course of.
However in observe, ACES might be…difficult.
For instance, Adobe functions aren’t built-in with ACES proper out of the field. And, in my expertise, many artists don’t use color-managed video workflows in Premiere Professional or After Results anyway.
That’s to not say it could possibly’t be finished in these applications. They’re simply not designed to do it in addition to software program like DaVinci Resolve, Nuke, and Flame.
Trickling down
ACES has historically been confined to the characteristic world with very “dialed-in” shade science.
There are quite a lot of causes for this, with heavy CG and VFX being the most important. The complexity and variety of artists concerned in these processes require a standardized system like ACES. However smaller services and groups within the business world have been slower to undertake a shade administration system.
Like many enterprise practices, it comes right down to necessity.
Not each mission wants full shade administration. Typically, managing all of the transforms of an ACES workflow might be perceived as overcomplicating the job—particularly if artists aren’t conversant in the constraints of working in a shade administration system.
However I’d argue that a little bit work sooner can keep away from quite a lot of work later. By studying a little bit bit about shade administration, smaller groups can actually profit from the flexibleness and energy that ACES gives. It takes a bit of labor to get it working accurately, however as soon as it’s arrange, ACES transforms do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
At present, it’s potential to undertake these high-end workflows with out the necessity for an enormous technical pipeline group. The instruments are all there and extra accessible than ever.
Bridging the hole between shade and VFX
All of which brings us to the subject of this text: adopting an ACES pipeline to combine After Results and Resolve.
Why would anybody need to do that? Effectively, there are just a few causes.
In as we speak’s world, movement graphics, shade, VFX, and ending are sometimes occurring on the identical time. Ultimately, every of those items can be built-in to create the ultimate output. Graphics should be tailored for remaining shade or vice versa, and this will result in quite a lot of frustration on each side whenever you’re working with out a unified shade pipeline.
Historically, graphics and ending are created in a display-referred house like Rec. 709, and renders are despatched backwards and forwards for matching and integration. There’s no cause why this couldn’t nonetheless work as we speak, however there are some limitations and bottlenecks in this sort of workflow.
Utilizing this technique, graphics would should be built-in after shade and conform, which is normally the final stage of the method. This could delay graphics work up till supply as a result of shade is infamous for context. If a graphics artist has been taking a look at offline image references and tweaking shade in that context, there’s an opportunity that additional work can be wanted to match graphics as soon as shade is accredited.
This backwards and forwards course of can soak up quite a lot of time, and it’s inefficiencies like these {that a} shade administration system is designed to keep away from.
With a unified shade pipeline like ACES, the appear and feel of a chunk can stay considerably constant all through the entire submit course of. On the finish, when the items are all built-in, graphics passes might be coloured independently inside that shade administration system, giving the colorist full inventive management over how every part matches collectively.
In different phrases, as soon as the graphics artist renders their comps with alpha channels, they’re finished. From that time on, it’s the colorist or ending artist who carries the ball. And now, because the colorist is trying on the render within the context of the ultimate conform and shade (with ACES renders and full management over the appear and feel of the graphics), they will make higher selections for shoppers on the ultimate look of the piece with out all of the backwards and forwards.
This type of concurrent workflow is widespread within the options and episodic worlds, however not a lot within the business world. So there’s quite a lot of potential for a wider-scale adoption of ACES or some form of unified shade administration right here. Most bigger services make use of shade scientists or shade pipeline specialists to make sure consistency and correct shade administration all through submit.
Whereas that is nice, programs like ACES are designed for use by artists, not engineers. So with a little bit training, smaller business services can use these highly effective instruments to design and check their very own workflows to make full use of that additional vary and management that ACES gives.
In After Results particularly, a possible pitfall is that artists are used to working within the software program’s default Rec. 709 shade house.
In actuality, many instruments inside functions are designed to work with gamma-encoded pictures, so selecting an all-ACES pipeline can have unintended results that require time-sucking workarounds. However there are workarounds to that default display-referred shade administration in After Results, which we’ll discover under.
AP0 vs AP1
However earlier than we get to that bit, it’s vital to get your head round among the fundamentals.
ACES is a system of shade administration, not only a single shade house. It’s a framework. Because of this there are totally different interpretations of ACES inside functions you could select to work in.
The important thing distinction is between AP0 and AP1.
AP0 is the framework used to retailer and trade ACES information between functions, and for archiving. Additionally known as ACES 2065-1, AP0 is the widest container for information and is encoded as a 16-bit float linear EXR file, which offers sufficient house for all that information and high quality.
In easy phrases, in case you can see it, then AP0 can retailer it.
AP0 encoded information are interpreted in every software relying on the way you need to work, i.e., log-encoded for shade grading, or linear for CG.
These interpretations are known as AP1, which is the working shade house and gamma inside the software program you’re utilizing. So whenever you’re working in ACES, the bottom line is to make use of AP0-encoded supply information inside that AP1 framework.
Whereas it’s potential to work instantly with AP0 information, it’s clunky and never how ACES was designed to function. Once you select an AP1 framework in your software, your software program can seamlessly interpret your ACES-encoded supply information.
ACEScg vs ACEScc vs ACEScct
The AP1 encoding you select ought to match the duty you bear in mind, and inside AP1 you possibly can select between ACEScg, ACEScc, and ACEScct.
Typically talking, ACEScg makes use of linear shade and is greatest for working with CG information in functions like Nuke or Fusion. ACEScc and ACEScct are logarithmic interpretations of ACES and are meant to work like digital camera sources or movie scans for shade grading work.
The distinction between ACEScc and ACEScct is that in ACEScct, the toe—the shadows on the backside of the curve—has a softer curve like conventional movie scans. With ACEScc, the toe is extra linear. Which might take a little bit getting used to in case you’re used to working with digital camera sources or Cineon movie scans.
ACES in After Results
Whereas it’s tough to work natively in ACES in After Results, there are advantages, most notably when working with CG or compositing.
For instance, by sending ACES plates to After Results you possibly can combine graphics into that framework, render again a composited shot with mattes, and have full inventive management over the colour and look of the ultimate piece.
Even for easy movement graphics, ACES may also help bridge the hole in case you’ve examined your personal workflow. You’ll be able to bake-in graphics to ACES plates and have the flexibleness to regulate each the plate and graphic component as one unit or independently.
All of those choices and technical particulars can appear intimidating at first. However once we get into working between Resolve and After Results under, issues ought to change into extra clear.
When you stand up to hurry on how the controls reply in another way, ACES can open up new roads and avenues of working. Sure, it may be difficult at first, however a lot of the transforms and problems are below the hood.
But when it’s been arrange correctly, and you’ve got a fundamental understanding of the way it works, the remainder ought to be straightforward.
Establishing Resolve with ACEScct
For those who work with primarily Rec. 709-baked sources, you may need to contemplate if ACES is true in your mission.
There are nonetheless some advantages to working shade managed with gamma encoded sources with restricted shade gamuts, however generally it’s not price the additional complication.
However for this instance I’ll use some RED information to exhibit. Once you’re working with large gamut, large dynamic vary digital camera information, an ACES pipeline is good because it means that you can preserve their wide selection up till supply.
So our first step is to alter shade administration settings for our mission in Resolve. Open the Venture Settings (Shift+9) and choose the Coloration Administration panel. Change the colour science to ACEScct, after which select ACES model 1.2 from the drop-down under. 1.2 is presently the newest model of ACES as of the writing of this text.
For this mission, be sure that the ACES enter machine rework is about to “No enter rework.” Utilizing this setting signifies that Resolve will mechanically convert any imported RAW information, however different codecs will should be manually outlined. (Proper-click on them within the Media Pool and choose the proper shade profile from the ACES Enter Rework listing.)
For the ACES output machine rework, we’ll change that to Rec.709 so we will correctly monitor our pictures whereas working.
One other setting I like to make use of when importing media is the “Help Utilizing Reel Names” setting in Basic Choices below Venture Settings. We’ll flip this selection on and we’ll additionally choose “Embedding in supply clip file.” The latter will pull the metadata embedded within the supply clip file because the reel title. It will show helpful later once we render out our ACES information for After Results.
Importing RAW Media
Now I’m prepared to herald these RED information. It’s as straightforward as opening the folder within the Media web page and importing them into the ACES mission.
Then take a look at Digital camera RAW settings within the Venture Settings. We’ll be sure to decode utilizing our mission settings and set our shade science to IPP2. For this instance, I’ll verify all of the Use Digital camera Metadata settings in order that Resolve is utilizing that info instantly from the digital camera.
Any RAW information can be transformed to ACES by default in Resolve with none have to set an enter shade house. In an ACES color-managed mission, RAW information can be transformed to ACES below the hood. There are nonetheless RAW settings you possibly can modify like ISO, tint, and temperature however gamma and shade house can be unselectable as these are being managed by ACES now.
Rendering ACES plates from Resolve to After Results
For this demo, we’re going to imagine we have to put together items of our imported RAW information for compositing in After Results. So our subsequent step is to arrange our renders in Resolve.
Once you’re able to render—which might be earlier than or after shade since we’re in ACES house—it’s essential change the ACES Output Gadget Rework (ODT). Altering this setting to “No output rework” signifies that our renders can be within the linear AP0 ACES house which is what’s really helpful for exchanging information
As soon as you modify this setting, the picture within the viewer will change and look fallacious. That is regular. They’re not alleged to look appropriate in your displays with out an output rework.
One other setting we’ll change due to our explicit video information is the decision within the mission settings.
The RED information that we’ve imported are 8192 x 3456px, which is giant and widescreen. So. within the Grasp Settings of the mission, we’ll change this to 4096x1728px, which is identical facet ratio because the supply however 1 / 4 of the decision, making our information lighter and simpler to work with.
One of many nice issues about Resolve is that timelines are resolution-agnostic, i.e., they change into no matter your mission settings are. Setting this up within the mission results in our subsequent step.
On the Ship web page, we’ll select Particular person Clips as our render format. Then we’ll select EXR for our format and RGB half (PIZ Compression) for our codec.
You’ll be able to examine Piz Compression in greater detail here however briefly, it’s good for video with grain, which is most video shot with a digital camera. It’s lossless as properly and can end in smaller file sizes than no compression.
EXR sequences are giant on their very own, so compression helps lots. Half is much less exact than float which is mostly used extra for CG-type rendering.
Typically for decision, I’d persist with the identical facet ratio and the identical measurement as your supply media in case you can afford it. But when your supply information are one thing bigger than 6K, you might downsample to 4K. On this instance, since our supply information are 8K, we’ll downsample the renders to 1 / 4 of that decision—4096 x 1728px.
On a fast aspect notice—I’ve seen some spatial points with resized supply digital camera footage, particularly with specular highlights when going backwards and forwards with ACES, in order that’s one thing to concentrate on.
The ultimate setting we’ll have a look at in Resolve is the “File” tab on the Ship web page. My choice with picture sequences like EXRs is to make use of reel names as an alternative of supply names when rendering. That is the place the “Help Utilizing Reel Names” possibility we modified earlier is useful.
So as to add reel title as our file title within the Ship web page, choose Customized and enter %reel to then choose “Reel Identify” from the choices.
Since that is a picture sequence, we’ll want a interval as properly on the finish of our file title in order that the file title can be separated from the body depend. I normally flip “Use distinctive filenames” off and in addition use “Reel Identify” for the file subfolder to comprise the picture sequence.
Now we’re prepared for rendering. I’ve made a brief clip of three seconds that I’ll pull for our After Results trade. We’ll choose the clip within the timeline with our ins and outs and add it to our render queue. Hit render and watch it cook dinner!
Establishing After Results for ACES
Establishing an After Results mission for ACES is a bit trickier.
By default, After Results’ built-in shade administration isn’t going to do what we’d like. So as an alternative we’ll use the OpenColorIO plugin for After Results, which is a free obtain. This plugin will handle our ACES transforms in After Results.
You’ll additionally need to obtain the ACES configuration information and place them in the best place for the plugin to entry. (The plugin wants these config information to calculate the transforms.)
Right here’s the place to get the information:
- Obtain and set up the latest OpenColorIO plugin.
- Obtain the newest ACES 1.2 OpenColorIO configuration files.
The plugin obtain additionally accommodates the OpenColorIO AE guide which is absolutely useful for putting in and utilizing it. Open OpenColorIO AE Handbook.pdf and head to the Fast Begin part for directions to put in the plug-in and the configuration information.
Relying on in case you’re on a Mac or PC, you’ll copy the ACES configurations to their correct folder for the plug-in to learn them.
The guide covers quite a lot of what I’m going to put out under, however to condense the data right into a easy setup right here are some things to do to get your AE mission setup:
Flip off shade administration and set the mission to 32bpc
We don’t need any After Results transforms or interpretations to be occurring below the hood in our mission as a result of the OpenColorIO plug-in can be doing all the colour administration for us
So open After Results’ Venture Settings on the backside of the File menu and within the Coloration tab be sure Working House is about to None. It will be certain that there aren’t some other transforms occurring with our footage that will break our ACES transforms.
It’s greatest observe to be sure that any transforms to and from ACES are calculated in a better bit depth. So when you’re within the Coloration tab, can change the Depth to 32 bits per channel.
Interpret the footage
Now we’re able to import our ACES plates into After Results. As soon as we’ve imported the plates, we need to change how After Results sees them by right-clicking the clip we need to change and deciding on Interpret Footage.
Test the body price:
With picture sequences, generally After Results interprets the body charges incorrectly. We’ll be sure for our instance that our body price is 23.976 to match our supply media.
Choose Protect RGB
The second setting to verify is within the shade administration tab of Interpret Footage and it’s a vital step for correctly utilizing ACES transforms in After Results. After Results will try to convert any linear-encoded information into sRGB gamma by default, so be sure Protect RGB is chosen.
Counterintuitively, the picture seems extra appropriate when Protect RGB is turned off. It’s because it’s changing the linear gamma of the file to sRGB.
However this isn’t what we need to keep inside the ACES pipeline. We would like After Results to maintain these information linear so they need to look darkish and crunchy like a linear file ought to look on a gamma encoded monitor. We’re simply trying on the linear ACES AP0 file uninterpreted so to talk.
Working with ACES in After Results
Okay, now we’ve our mission and file correctly prepped for ACES. Right here’s the place issues get a little bit fascinating.
In After Results and in shade administration on the whole, there are numerous strategies of working. You’ll be able to convert sources into ACES, you possibly can work in ACES with all kinds of footage or do sure issues in ACES and output one thing else, and way more.
For any workflow, the true query comes right down to your intent: why are we constructing this workflow? What’s will we need to do with it?
In After Results, most work falls into one of many three classes under:
- 2D Compositing
- Movement Graphics
- Laptop Graphics
Throughout the context of ACES, every one among these fields has a particular relationship to paint administration. Whereas all three can overlap and obscure one another, it’s useful to make the excellence in order that we perceive the correct context for every. CG particularly can profit vastly from ACES as property might be created in a wider gamut and wider dynamic vary house versus movement graphic components that are normally sourced from a narrower show shade house. However both one can nonetheless profit from a unified pipeline.
Instance Compositing in ACES
For our instance, we’re going to do a easy 2D compositing train: monitoring the body.io brand to a chunk of footage and rendering ACES plates again to Resolve with an alpha matte.
Now that we’ve our ACES plate from Resolve, we’ll add it to a comp. As soon as within the comp, we’ll an adjustment layer, right-click on it, and choose Information Layer. I’m going to name this layer “ACES rework.”
Within the Results panel, seek for OpenColorIO and apply the impact to the adjustment layer. We’ll go into the impact, change the configuration to aces_1.2 to match our earlier configuration in Resolve. For the enter house, we’ll go to the ACES dropdown and choose ACES – ACES2065-1— in case you recall, that is the trade format for ACES between functions often known as AP0. Subsequent, we’ll change our Output House to Output – Rec. 709.
Our export from Resolve ought to now look appropriate within the viewer since our displays see Rec.709 accurately.
So now we’ll add the body.io brand to our mission with transparency. We’ll add this to our comp beneath our adjustment layer however above our footage. We’ll apply an OpenColorIO impact on to the emblem. Choose ACES 1.2 once more, and choose Utility – sRGB – Texture from the dropdown for enter house. Set the output house to ACES – ACES2065-1.
Now our brand can be in the identical ACES house as our footage beneath.
We’ll monitor this brand to the background and mix it in a little bit bit. Now we’re able to render.
Rendering ACES plates from After Results
Now that we’re finished with our compositing work, it’s time to render our ACES media again to Resolve.
Since we set our adjustment layer up as a information layer, the ACES rework to Rec. 709 that we added to it gained’t be baked into our render. As a substitute, After Results will pull the unique linear AP0 information for the OpenEXR file.
We’ll add our comp to the render queue in After Results after which choose the output module choices. Change the render format to OpenEXR and below Format Choices, change the compression to PIZ if it isn’t that already.
Subsequent, click on on the colour administration tab and once more activate Protect RGB in order that After Results isn’t mechanically changing our linear file to a gamma-based file.
All in all, there are three totally different places to pick out Protect RGB in After Results to make sure no shade administration is going on to our ACES information. For file title, we will depart that because the comp title which ought to be our reel title from Resolve and ensure “Save in subfolder” is checked within the file title dialog.
We’ll additionally flip off all of the layers however the brand, which we’ll additionally add to the render queue. Then we’ll configure the render as a ProRes444 with a straight alpha channel. It will produce a file that we will carry into Resolve as our alpha channel so we will modify the colours of the emblem in Resolve in ACES.
Placing all of it collectively in Resolve
As soon as each items are finished rendering, we will re-import them again into Resolve.
As a result of we’ve rendered to AP0 out of After Results and in Resolve, we haven’t set an enter rework, so Resolve will interpret our file accurately proper out of the field. Import your matte as a matte from the Media web page.
That is the place the magic occurs.
Add the clip to a brand new timeline and arrange your nodes. Proper-click on one among them so as to add the timeline matte of our brand that we simply imported. Now we’ve the emblem minimize out and married to our plate in ACES.
We are able to change publicity and steadiness as one unit with these graphics and have full management over how the colours are interpreted on our output to Rec.709. (Or some other deliverables we have to make.)
This is only one instance of a possible workflow from Resolve to After Results and again. There are numerous methods to do issues in another way inside Resolve and After Results to fit your personal wants in your mission and to have flexibility.
Cautionary tales
Now that you’ve some understanding of the advantages of ACES in your Resolve/After Results workflow, it’s vital to grasp one thing about color-managed workflows.
There are numerous cases of working with lower-quality supply information the place ACES transforms will break the picture, particularly in case you’re working with low-quality 8-bit textures or supply information like GoPro footage, and many others.
ACES actually works greatest whenever you feed it high-quality digital camera sources, CG renders, and the like. With the complication of mixing totally different sources in movement graphics or CG work, working in ACES can change into extra of a headache than a profit in your explicit mission. Alpha channels may also be a problem when changing information backwards and forwards to ACES.
So it’s essential to check your personal workflows, make some errors, see the restrictions of a selected workflow, and ask your self the way it can profit or hinder your group.
Expertise is one of the best instructor. After getting a baseline of information of get issues up and operating, you’ll have the instruments to find for your self what works and what doesn’t in your explicit abilities or mission.
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