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Discrepancy between FCP and Color

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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
So I'm attempting to color correct and grade an edit right now. I color corrected it in FCP, because the eye dropper makes things much easier when matching colors from shot to shot. I want to do the final grade in Color because it has some more controls that FCP is lacking.

I finally finished fixing all the white balance and such so that I was happy with how the shots flowed together. I sent the project to Color. When I played the sequence it Color, the colors look like they are ALL OVER THE PLACE. What could be the cause of this? is there some setting in either FCP or Color that could be fucking with me? Should I just try a different workflow all together?

If anybody has some advice on this specific problem or just color correction in general, that would be great. It seems like every time I produce an edit, color correction is the most frustrating, time consuming step. I'm done with this for tonight. I'm going to the bar. Hopefully somebody will have some help for me when I get back.
Aug 10 2011 8:42PM
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Official_Recap
Posts: 1075 - Karma: 525
Which filter are you using in Final Cut to make the color corrections? Color doesn't acknowledge most filters applied in Final Cut when you send the timeline over. As a result, when you send to Color, it shows and edits the original looking images (with no filters applied) and then upon sending back to Final Cut, the filters are reapplied. Color does, however, acknowledge the 3-Way Color Corrector filter, so if that is what you used for corrections, you should see your corrections show up in Color.

When color correcting and grading, I stay in one program (usually Color) to do all of the color work to avoid issues like this.


Sorry if that was somewhat confusing. If any of that didn't make sense, I can try to clarify, but this is my understanding of the communication between the two programs.
Aug 10 2011 9:20PM
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WillStart
Posts: 3955 - Karma: 3,192
this.


the color workflow is very finicky imo and it's best to do as much as possible in Color itself.
Aug 10 2011 10:00PM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
i was using the 3 way in fcp. i also applied a noise reduction and highlight desaturation filter to some shots though. i guess ill start from scratch in color itself. thanks guys.
Aug 10 2011 10:20PM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
Why are you CCing in FCP? Color has multiple rooms for a reason.
Aug 10 2011 10:32PM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
i thought it would be easier to match white balance with the eye dropper. f
Aug 10 2011 10:41PM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
I've always hated FCP's eyedropper. I've always preferred to white balance in Color since it has good scopes, unlike FCP.
Aug 10 2011 10:51PM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
Yeah it was my first time trying out this work flow. I'm still pretty new at all this and trying to figure out the most efficient way to do everything. I guess my best bet is to just stick to Color for CC and grading.

Anyway, somewhat related question not deserving of a new thread: What are the best options for affordable monitors for editing/grading? Would a small 1080p ledtv like this one be a good idea: http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-E220VA-Inch-Class-Razor/dp/B004U5T2P0/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1313038367&sr=8-8
Aug 11 2011 12:53AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
Go plasma. It's cheaper, and LED/LCD sucks for cinema.
Aug 11 2011 12:56AM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
Thanks man, I didn't know. Any specific brands that are known for having more accurate colors or anything? I know nothing about TV's.
Aug 11 2011 1:08AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
Panasonic makes awesome plasmas from what I hear. I can't personally verify; I've always used monitors for this sort of thing.
Aug 11 2011 1:28AM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
How much does a decent monitor for grading cost? Not necessarily something 10 bit thats going to display 994838474 different colors, just something considerably better than the glossy 4 inch preview rectangle I'm trying to work with right now in Color.
Aug 11 2011 1:31AM
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blatt
Posts: 5584 - Karma: 3,097
Not to thread jack with a noob question, but how do you export grades done in color back to FCP? I never figured that out...

and is it possible to just grade everything all at once in color?
Aug 11 2011 1:33AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
To be honest I have no idea. We don't use actual grading monitors where I work (spendy!). We just use 1080p 27" monitors.
Aug 11 2011 1:35AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
XMLs.

Go to File > Send to > Color

Your entire sequence will be sent to Color in the form of XML. When you are done grading each clip, you add them all to the render que, render them, then send them back to FCP (also in the form of XML).

Now you see why it's utter crap that FCPX doesn't support XML.
Aug 11 2011 1:37AM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
check out this tutorial: http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/finalcutstudioproworkflows

Gives a good overview of the basic workflow between FCP and the other programs in FCS.
Aug 11 2011 1:38AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
forgot to add: Dell is known for making awesome monitors for video. I'd start there. (I'm fairly certain that's what we use).
Aug 11 2011 1:38AM
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blatt
Posts: 5584 - Karma: 3,097
Right on thanks. Gonna go give color a shot. Looks stopped working on my computer :/

And how do you apply a grade from clip to clip?
Aug 11 2011 1:39AM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
Good to know. I'm gonna go ahead and guess if they are good enough for your work, they are going to be good enough for mine.
Aug 11 2011 1:40AM
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 528
You've probably figured this out by now, but put the playhead over the clip you want to copy from (make sure the grade you want to copy is selected, switch between grades with ctrl+1,2,3,4 etc.). highlight the clips you want to copy to, then click the button that says "Copy to selected".
Aug 11 2011 10:55AM
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blatt
Posts: 5584 - Karma: 3,097
Yeah just figured it out haha.

I like color a lot after one successful use. Definitely more advanced/difficult (I try and avoid curves usually) than looks but It's got scopes and it works a lot like lightroom which I find to be a huge plus
Aug 11 2011 11:27AM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
reason I love Color is because it has curves, rooms, masking, motion tracking, a luma curve that isn't useless like Adobe, and it actually processes tones well, unlike FCP.

In FCP I have to apply 3-way CC, Broadcast Safe, desaturate highs/lows, just to get started, and there's so much painful tweaking that needs to be done. In the end, it still doesn't work that well because the scopes are aweful. Yeah Magic Bullet is really nice, but the fact that it runs out of FCP makes it a no go for me.
Aug 11 2011 2:27PM
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blatt
Posts: 5584 - Karma: 3,097
Yeah color definitely lays everything out nicely. The only reason I like adobe I guess is because everything's numerical and is just a sliding bar. And as a beginner to the grading thing, the lightroom preview seems to load faster and more efficiently. Which is great for trial and error grading.

Also, was that your skate edit of luke? I didn't take a look at the credits, but it was a solid video.
Aug 11 2011 2:34PM
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andstuff
Posts: 1118 - Karma: 61
Nope; that was from Ross Reid. I'm in AK right now.
Aug 11 2011 2:46PM
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