In this text, I wish to reply probably the most frequent questions I get about shade grading: Should I take advantage of Resolve Color Management or Color Space Transforms? Which is best? What is the best shade administration workflow for our photographs?
Let’s dive in and do a side-by-side comparability of each approaches and see which one works greatest in DaVinci Resolve.
Grading with Resolve Color Management
I’ll begin by exhibiting you Resolve Color Management. As you may see, we’re ranging from zero, with just some log photographs in our timeline.
To arrange a undertaking utilizing Resolve Color Management, first go to Project Settings, select Color Management, and set the colour science to DaVinci YRGB Color Managed. You additionally wish to flip Automatic Color Management off in an effort to have full management to take advantage of out of Resolve Color Management. After that, navigate right down to Color processing mode and select Custom.
After that, discover the dropdown menu for Input Color Space. For this menu, you wish to make your choice primarily based on what sort of footage you’re working with. Today, we’re working numerous ARRI footage, so I’m going to decide on ARRI LogC3.
Next, set the Timeline shade area to DaVinci WG/Intermediate. I’ll additionally select Custom 10,000 nits for the Timeline working luminance. That’s simply my desire. It ensures that I’m not clipping something out within the excessive finish of the picture earlier than I’ve had an opportunity to grade it.
We’re additionally going to set our Input DRT to None—we’re working with a customized Timeline luminance, so we don’t want it. For Output DRT, I’ve chosen Luminance Mapping as a result of that’s my most popular technique to work. And for Output shade area, we’ll select Rec. 709, Gamma 2.2. Finally, hit Save to get a take a look at what we’ve finished.
Because I’ve arrange my shade administration in Project Settings, I can’t change my enter shade area setting for the primary clip in our timeline, which is RED R3D format. Resolve is definitely going to deal with that for me routinely. It doesn’t want my assist, and there’s no possibility for me to do it both.
Manually tagging photographs
Some of the clips in our timeline have to be manually tagged. To do this, click on on shot two and maintain down the Shift key. Then, click on on shot six. After that, right-click on the choice, navigate to Input Color Space, and select Project-ARRI LogC3.
Now, our shade administration is ready up on our last 5 photographs. This is a useful instance of the best way to arrange Resolve shade administration, which supplies us a basis from which we will start shade grading creatively.
Grading with Color Space Transforms
Setting a undertaking up for Color Space Transforms is just a little totally different. To do this, go to Project Settings and set the Color science to DaVinci YRBG. Next, set the Timeline and Output shade areas to DaVinci WG/Intermediate, Rec 709 Gamma 2.2.
Before I hit Save, I wish to emphasize that on this instance, we might set our Timeline and Output shade areas to no matter we would like. These selections don’t change the picture that we’re about to see as a result of these dropdown menus do not straight management shade administration.
Because we’ve set our Color science to DaVinci YRGB, these menus now solely management metadata tags for among the different processes inside Resolve. So, as soon as we hit Save, we’re going to see our picture return to its unique digicam log state it doesn’t matter what choices we select.
As predicted, our picture is again in a log state. Now, let’s set issues up utilizing CSTs. First, go to the Node tree, create a serial node, and pull a Color Space Transform onto the Clip stage of the picture.
Then, set the CST’s Input Color Space and Input Gamma to ARRI Wide Gamut 3, ARRI LogC3. For Output Color Space and Output Gamma, select DaVinci Wide Gamut, DaVinci Intermediate. Then, set the Tone Mapping Method to None.
Next, let’s add two new nodes. In the third node, add one other Color Space Transform and set it up in order that it takes us from our working shade area of DaVinci Wide Gamut, DaVinci Intermediate out to our show area of Rec 709, Gamma 2.2. Then, set the Tone Mapping Method to Luminance. I additionally like to show Custom Mapping on and to set the Gamut Mapping to my desire, which you’ll see beneath.
One factor I wish to level out is the Apply OOTF perform beneath the Advanced menu within the Color Space Transform nodes. These two checkbox choices are nowhere to be discovered when utilizing Resolve Color Management. The rule of thumb it to test Apply Forward OOTF when going from a big shade area to a show area and to test Apply Inverse OOTF when doing the alternative.
This is how I arrange shade administration utilizing CSTs. I do all of my grading within the center node, and the opposite two are for Input and Output.
Comparing Resolve Color Management to CST
Now, let’s do a fast comparability. What distinction do you assume I’m going to see in our CST instance versus what we arrange utilizing Project Settings? Wipe between the instance photographs beneath and see when you can spot the variations.
Use the slider to check how our picture seems to be when it’s shade managed utilizing Resolve Color Management vs. CSTs.
That’s proper, there’s no distinction in any respect! I might have simply instructed you that the pictures would find yourself the identical, however I needed to show that Resolve Color Management and Color Space Transforms are literally the identical factor.
Resolve shade administration is just using Color Space Transforms beneath the hood. Which possibility is best is a little bit of a deceptive query. Neither is best. They each do essentially the identical factor.
Of course, there are variations in how we received to our last product. In my skilled apply, I take advantage of Color Space Transforms, or what is usually referred to as node-based color management. That’s my desire as a result of I like to have the ability to see my whole shade journey spelled out on the display.
Utilizing the Group perform
The solely tweak that I might make on this instance is that I might use Resolve’s Group perform to unencumber some actual property in my node graph. To do this, choose all of the photographs you wish to group collectively, right-click the choice, and select Add right into a New Group. I’ll label this group LogC3.
A brand new pair of dots ought to seem on the high of the node graph. These new dots seem as a result of we’ve added our chosen clips to a bunch.
We’re going to make use of our new dots to Input Map all of our Group materials for a similar digicam on the identical time. But earlier than we do this, go to the Clip stage of the timeline, choose the node that has our Input Color Space rework and hit Command+C to repeat it. Then, delete that node.
The rightmost dot above the node graph will convey us to the Group Pre-Clip stage of our node graph. This is the part of our graph that can apply operations earlier than we get to the Clip stage. That makes it good for making use of enter transforms. So, create a brand new serial node and paste the copied node onto it utilizing Command+V. Now, each clip in our LogC3 Group has the identical enter rework.
We’re going to do the identical factor for our Out node. Navigate again to the Clip stage of the node graph, faucet on the Out node, copy it utilizing Command+C, and delete it. This time, click on on the fourth dot from the left. This will convey us to the Timeline stage of the node graph. There, create a brand new serial node and paste the Out node onto it. Now we’ve got the identical output rework utilized to all the photographs in our LogC3 Group.
Seeing each step
This is similar to how we set every thing up in our Project Settings. I merely choose to work utilizing nodes as a result of I prefer to see each step within the shade administration journey, and I like to have the ability to alter that journey if I must.
If we’re speaking about course of, that’s my desire. But if we’re speaking about picture replica, Resolve Color Management and Color Space Transforms are the identical. At the tip of the day, when you’re doing every thing appropriately, they’ll be similar when it comes to picture replica.
This is one thing that confused me after I first began studying about shade administration in DaVinci Resolve. I hope that is useful to your workflow and that it helps you get what you need out of your shade grading going ahead.
