David Newman
Well-known member
So are the looks just set per project with the express workflow?
What if I want 1 clip with one look, and another with a totally different look?
When you run a color correction plugin, does that run on the raw file, or does it
run on top of the LUT (if that's the right use of the term) that is set as the 'look'?
-Tom
Nothing as primitive as one look per project. Each clip has and encode and decode curve profile, a white balance, a color matrix, channel gamma, and a 3D LUT, all stored in a color management database, independent of the NLE, compositor, and even the clips themselves. Each clip has a global unique identifier and all our decoders (SDK, QuickTime, DirectShow and Video for Windows) consult the database to develop the look of the decoder on the fly (much faster than real-time.) You don't need know any of this, other than it is way more flexible than 90% of even our own customers are using. It is possible to color correct an entire project (every clip with a different look) with Express files on one machine and email just the color database (it can be that small) to another machine that is finishing at 4K (works across platform too.) Color profiles can be switched on the fly, allowing different creative corrections to be loaded and save with a single mouse click.
As for run on RAW or through a LUT, it is all really same, as RAW only really implies you have the full dynamic range of your source preserved through the workflow. We use 32-bit float LUTs so there is no clipping, so LUTs and color corrections can be stacked without being destructive.