DaVinci resolve 10 project settings

[Katie. A]

Hi,
I need help in setting da vinci resolve 10 for grading red epic 4k video for final Broadcast and DCP output. My Camera Raw settings(inside project settings) are
Camera RAW settings... Decode Quality-Full Res Premium, --- -------I am grading on a HD monitor calibrated as Rec 709 with i1 display pro
Play quality-As above,
Bit depth-16 bit,
Time code-Camera,
Decode using- Camera,
Color science-Version 2,
Color Space-Rec 709-------------------- This is the biggest confusion. DO i need to set it as Red color 3?,
Gamma curve-RedLogFilm........... RedLog or RedLogFilm????
Blend type-None---
I don't have any input or out put LUT for LUT settings. Do I need input and output LUT?Am I on the right track?

Your help is highly appreciated

Thanks,
Katie.

 

[Jason Kraynek]

interesting in figuring this out as well

 

[Florian Stadler]

Some of the settings are a creative choice as a colorist and some of the settings are a technical requirement.

Since you are monitoring in a rec709 environment and you are also delivering a broadcast deliverable, I would base my overall pipeline around that. You can use the EasyDCP plugin in Resolve to do the transform from Rec709 to XYZ color space, the appropriate settings are in the LUT section of the settings page.

The settings you list are not related to the overall pipeline but how you debayer the RAW footage. There are no hard and fast answers how to set those, this depends on your aesthetic preferences and grading approach.
Generally you want to use the newest available color science Redcolor 3. Rec 709 is a historic holdover from the Red One and I would stay away from that as it has nothing to do with your Rec 709 pipeline, it's just a naming mistake and color science blunder by early Red. Some people like to set the color science to RGB and the Gamma to Redlog. I would stick to either Redcolor 3/Redgamma3 or Redcolor 3/Redlog Film. Redgamma3 will give you a very close starting point while RedlogFilm will give you a flat image and a lot of flexibility and a chance to use LUT's. That's a creative choice you will need to make.
You can change those settings in the overall project or you can make it in the color page based on individual clips. You must change the Decode using from camera to either clip or project for this to take effect.

Hope this helps.

 

[Katie. A]

Hi Florian,
Thanks!

How about bit rate settings? 10 bit or 16 bit?

 

[Marc Wielage]

I agree with Florian's advice above. Note also that you absolutely must start with a calibrated display monitor so that you know what you're doing is believable and correct. There are tons of tutorials out there that go into project configs in depth; the ones from Warren Eagles at FXPHD and Alexis Van Hurkman at Ripple Training are very good. Make sure when you import your media into the project that your timeline settings and timecode settings are correct, because those can't be changed later on. Knowing the manual is an absolute must, and I think that's one reason why Alexis spent about 50 pages just on the config page in the Resolve 10 manual.

 

[Florian Stadler]

10 bit for grading process and 16bit for final render unless you have a beefy system, then do 16bit all the way...

 

[Katie. A]

FINAL RENDER....16 bit DPX?

 

[Will Steer]

I would produce a ProRes4444 1080p file as your master for broadcast and then derive further broadcast transcodes from that depending on whether 720p, 1080i etc is needed.

For cinema I would do a 16bit .tiff sequence (4K or 2K whatever you need) but, same as your broadcast master, I would make the colour space Rec709 unless you are producing the DCP yourself. If you've got a facility handling the DCP then just tell them you need a Rec709 to P3 transform applied, they'll have the equipment to make sure this is done properly.

OR kill two birds with one stone, encode a 2K/4K ProRes4444 file in Rec709 colour space and derive everything from that.

Otherwise I've heard people say after effects is a good colour managed application to do the colour space transform yourself but I wouldn't do that, even if FSI's monitors have a decent P3 LUT I think I'd rather let someone with an actually DCI-compliant projector handle it. :/

Just my thoughts on this!

 

[Jason Kraynek]

so most of you export out of Resolve a final master with baked in effects, audio, etc?
I have (and this is prob not the best way)
1. pre grade in cinex
2. edit in PP
3. resolve for final color
4. back to PP for final tweaks
5. MM for export to wherever

so the PP to Resolve back to PP to MM is where I'm trying to figure out the best solutions as those are the only times I'm degrading the footage and wondering the best "roundtrip" type thing

 

[Will Steer]

When you render the footage in Resolve Jason, what's your codec at the moment (just curious what others are using for their image interchange at the moment)?

Anyway, I think that workflow is probably fine, the only issue is that Premiere isn't colour managed (I think there's a plug-in called LUT buddy that makes it colour managed...), but as long as you don't do any colour work in Premiere and you're only using it for conform and adding titles (and all your footage comes from colour managed applications using the same colour space - i.e. if you grade in Rec709 and have a motion graphics artist then they are working in Rec709 too) then I think you'll be fine.

Edit: I want to pick up Autodesk Smoke for the above reason: rather than using Premiere for the final conform using Smoke (which of course has built in colour and compositing tools too) would allow for the final part of the online to be colour managed and more flexible too.

 

[Katie. A]

In Master Project settings- Video Monitoring-Color Space there are two options Video level and Data level. Which is better ? Video level or Data level?