The Resolve / Colour Grading resource thread

[kye]

On 12/16/2018 at 5:54 PM, Anaconda_ said:

2 hours on grading in resolve, from BMD themselves. 

I skimmed this video and it looks pretty good as an intro to grading in Resolve.  I know most of what is mentioned already so it's hard to sit through 2 hours to get a few snippets of new info, but for people unfamiliar with it, this is a well structured and thorough video.

Interestingly, the presenter Daria is the same presenter as the dozens of Resolve guides from Goats Eye View that stopped after v12.5.  Those were also excellent so it's great to see Daria back again

On 12/23/2018 at 11:27 PM, Trek of Joy said:

Just saw that Blackmagic has uploaded tutorials. The grading tut is linked above, but I found their intro video to be far more comprehensive than any other I've watched so far. If you're new to Resolve, this is where to start. There are a lot of clever tools and time savers that nobody else talks about. As an editor its far more powerful and well sorted than I first thought. I get all of this is in the manual, but I'm a visual learner and things like the edit overlay and how you can choose where your clip is inserted into the timeline is much easier to grasp when you see it in action. Highly recommended.

Chris

 

Haven't watched it yet, but if it's anything like the colour grading one it should be really good.

In addition to those, here are a few more from BM.

The second video is for 3D work and assumes you've watched the first one which explains how Fusion works in 2D.

I'm really looking forward to watching these.  When they added Fairlight I did a bunch of googling to try and find free guides or tutorials and found almost nothing.  I have a background in audio so I figured out how to use it pretty quickly (as would anyone who understands multi-track DAWs) but my impression was that there was a lot more to it because it was hugely expensive previously.

Resolve has a media management function that's pretty well hidden that can do cool stuff like move, copy, and transcode media.  It can also do those things for all media in the project, only the clips that appear on the timeline, or things like the parts of the clips that are on the timeline plus a specifiable number of seconds on each end of the clip so you have some room to adjust edit points afterwards.  

I've used this module transcode H264 to low res Prores files for an online/offline editing workflow in the past, so it's really useful.

 

[buggz]

Hello everyone,

Is there anything inherently wrong with generating/saving a new DB per project?

I was thinking of copying the data from the camera to the internal stripped SSD drives, and creating all the project directories using these drive paths.

This way, I only have to copy the backed up project data back to the SSds and not get the dreaded media offline errors.

Wanting to use the fastest drives, while not getting the media offline errors when the project isn't on the current external drive.

[kye]

11 hours ago, buggz said:

Is there anything inherently wrong with generating/saving a new DB per project?

Not that I know of.  IIRC Resolve has some built-in tools for backing up databases and otherwise managing them, but creating one per project seems like a neat and tidy kind of approach.  I'd suggest a bit of googling to just check it's not got some unknown issues - Resolve can be a bit like that sometimes.

11 hours ago, buggz said:

I was thinking of copying the data from the camera to the internal stripped SSD drives, and creating all the project directories using these drive paths.

This way, I only have to copy the backed up project data back to the SSds and not get the dreaded media offline errors.

Wanting to use the fastest drives, while not getting the media offline errors when the project isn't on the current external drive.

This process makes sense.  Copying the whole card/cards to the SSD array, editing it there (likely with directories for music, SFX, exports and other project files), and then backing up that whole directory structure to your archive drives when you're done seems good.

If you want to revisit the project once it's been moved from SSD array is actually not that hard, as Resolve has a great function for relinking source media.  If you go to the media pool, highlight all of your offline clips, right-click and choose the option Re-link Source Media (or similar) it will ask you which directory to look in.  If you point it to your source project directory it can look through the whole directory structure and find all the files.  I use this function all the time and it works really well.  If you just needed to render out a new export, or make a couple of small changes to the grade or whatever then you may find that working off the slow archive drives is quite functional.

One thing I'm not clear on (and am still working out for myself) is the pros and cons of archiving completed projects.  My current approach has been to delete the optimised media and render cache files (via the Playback? menu in Resolve) and then renaming the project "ARCHIVED <project name>" in the database so I know I've deleted them.  Otherwise you gradually fill your SSDs with cache files (stored in a non-human-readable directory structure), like I did.  This means I have a database with all my past projects in it and can revisit them whenever I want to, re-linking to the source media as I described above.

However, Resolves project archiving feature might be better for you.  It appears that it copies/moves (?) the whole project, all the source media, optimised media and render cache files to a drive.  From reading the section "Archiving and Restoring Projects" on or around page 76 of the Resolve Manual it seems like the directory structure is non-human-readable and to re-access the project you'd have to restore the project, probably copying/moving all the media once again, which is a large overhead.
If that's true it would also be a PITA if you wanted to look at the source media from that project (eg, if you were making a showreel) or quickly re-export with slightly different settings. 

I shoot home and travel videos of my family, so I copy all my footage to a directory structure based on a /YEAR/YYYY-MM-DD <event or location>/ naming convention, which contains all the video and photos I take with any of my cameras, and I often want to include footage in multiple projects, for example a trip video, a year-in-review video, etc.  So having my footage all locked away by Resolve in archives wouldn't suit how I work.

I've re-written this post a few times as I fact-checked and learned more during writing it so hopefully that makes sense! ???

[buggz]

Hi kye,

I appreciate the detailed reply!

I think my biggest problem with Resolve workflow, is that I don't have the proper time to truly learn and use it.

My personal time is limited due to a high pressure fulltime+ job, sigh...

I only get to use Resolve sporadically, and often forget what I did during the last session.

 

 

[kye]

9 hours ago, buggz said:

Hi kye,

I appreciate the detailed reply!

I think my biggest problem with Resolve workflow, is that I don't have the proper time to truly learn and use it.

My personal time is limited due to a high pressure fulltime+ job, sigh...

I only get to use Resolve sporadically, and often forget what I did during the last session.

I sympathise.  More than once have I decided to solve a problem, done the research, and found the thread on the BM forums where I asked the exact question a few months prior.  Or found the answer, gone into Resolve to map the function to a hotkey and discovered I'd already done it!

I've said before that learning Resolve is like learning to fly to space shuttle.  Probably a good idea would be to make a set of notes for yourself, perhaps organised by each page, of hotkeys / menu functions / etc that you use, then next time referring and adding to it.  I say this as advice as much for myself as for anyone else.. lol ???

[webrunner5]

Buying a dedicated keyboard or overlay relevant to your NLE is also a great upgrade. Just studying the keys can lead to exploration you might not normally do, and find a quick solution to a nagging problem easily solved by the push of a button or two.

[kye]

50 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Buying a dedicated keyboard or overlay relevant to your NLE is also a great upgrade. Just studying the keys can lead to exploration you might not normally do, and find a quick solution to a nagging problem easily solved by the push of a button or two.

The newest version of Resolve (that I haven't upgraded to yet) has a visual keyboard shortcut configuring tool that might be useful for that.

[DanielVranic]

Did figure out the Juan Melara Linny LUT, looks like you have to into the PowerGrade's and tweak the HSL values to get it to not tear the footage.

On its own the Linny broke the color blue and some shades of red. With the HSL adjusted and then brought down in another corrector node, it works fine.

I will post tests soon.

 

-dv

[kye]

8 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Did figure out the Juan Melara Linny LUT, looks like you have to into the PowerGrade's and tweak the HSL values to get it to not tear the footage.

On its own the Linny broke the color blue and some shades of red. With the HSL adjusted and then brought down in another corrector node, it works fine.

I will post tests soon.

Cool!

I downloaded the Powergrade and tried to test it on some GH5 footage but I couldn't install it.  Resolve seemed to want different file types than what Juan had created, so I suspect it was a software version / backward compatibility issue.  I googled a bit but didn't find any ready answers, and then got distracted.

I'm curious to see your results, but the original LUT 'look' didn't look that special to me, so I'm not that motivated TBH.

[DanielVranic]

4 hours ago, kye said:

Cool!

I downloaded the Powergrade and tried to test it on some GH5 footage but I couldn't install it.  Resolve seemed to want different file types than what Juan had created, so I suspect it was a software version / backward compatibility issue.  I googled a bit but didn't find any ready answers, and then got distracted.

I'm curious to see your results, but the original LUT 'look' didn't look that special to me, so I'm not that motivated TBH.

in resolve you have to hit "options" during import and select "all files" and it will see it

 

[kye]

2 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

in resolve you have to hit "options" during import and select "all files" and it will see it

Thanks!  That was what I was missing

I've been playing with it for a while and I've noticed this "black sun" type problem:

This is coming from the HSL node, but the strange thing is that even if I go into the RGB mixer in the HSL node and reset everything to defaults, it is still there, and gets turned on and off when I enable or disable the node.  This looks like a bug in Resolve to me rather than the RGB mixer in that node doing anything wonky.

But that's the only problem I can find.  I even cranked the contrast to ridiculous amounts in a node in before the emulation nodes and it seems fine.

Original image + emulation nodes:

Stupid contrast + emulation nodes:

This is my GH5 in 4K 150Mbps 10-bit 25p mode with HLG.

Edit: I was using the WDR - Compound power grade for the above.  I haven't played with the other ones yet.

[kye]

Edit 2: I tried creating a new node, changing the mode to HSL and then setting the RGB mixer to the same settings as the faulty node, and it has similar but much worse behaviour, so I can't work out what it's doing. 

[DanielVranic]

4 hours ago, kye said:

Edit 2: I tried creating a new node, changing the mode to HSL and then setting the RGB mixer to the same settings as the faulty node, and it has similar but much worse behaviour, so I can't work out what it's doing. 

Use LUTCalc to get your footage to LogC and then to 709 from that. That solved it for me

[thephoenix]

hi all

i have to film someone next week. will be so kind of static, the subject will not walk but remain still (of course arms will be moving).

i want the final result to be as if i had filmed it in a studio on a white cyclo.

problem is that i probably will have to shoot at home where i don't have much room.

so i am thinking two options:

- i shoot on a white background but it will not be large enough and will have to expand it on fusion. has anyone done that before ?

- i shoot on green background and do chromakey to add a white background i have in my photo files.

what is the best option according to you ?

final result will be b&w.

thanks for the help

[kye]

5 hours ago, thephoenix said:

hi all

i have to film someone next week. will be so kind of static, the subject will not walk but remain still (of course arms will be moving).

i want the final result to be as if i had filmed it in a studio on a white cyclo.

problem is that i probably will have to shoot at home where i don't have much room.

so i am thinking two options:

- i shoot on a white background but it will not be large enough and will have to expand it on fusion. has anyone done that before ?

- i shoot on green background and do chromakey to add a white background i have in my photo files.

what is the best option according to you ?

final result will be b&w.

thanks for the help

Assuming you're editing in Resolve, you can key out any colour, so if you are able to choose a colour, choose a colour that isn't in the shot you want.  I haven't blanked out part of a frame before, but one thing you can do is to make a transparency mask to make the part of the frame (the edges) transparent and then put a later underneath with the replacement image.  I've done a similar thing before and didn't need Fusion, just layered up a couple of clips on the timeline.

I'm sure there are people more knowledgeable than I am with green screening, but in case no-one replies, a quick google should give you the basics of what to look out for.

Good luck!

[thephoenix]

thanks.

the thing with a layer under a mask is that is has to match perfectly the upper layer otherwise you see the difference and of course you see the line where both layers ends and starts

[kye]

9 hours ago, thephoenix said:

thanks.

the thing with a layer under a mask is that is has to match perfectly the upper layer otherwise you see the difference and of course you see the line where both layers ends and starts

If you have a model in front of a green screen but the screen doesn't extend out to the edges completely, then adding a mask so that those edges go through to a layer that is just plain green then you will have essentially extended your green screen in post.  Then after that you can key out the green and it will extend all the way to the edges of the frame.

It's fiddly but it would work.

I've done a much more complicated splice of two frames before and got an excellent result.

[Towd]

15 hours ago, thephoenix said:

so i am thinking two options:

- i shoot on a white background but it will not be large enough and will have to expand it on fusion. has anyone done that before ?

- i shoot on green background and do chromakey to add a white background i have in my photo files.

I think there are possible pitfalls to both options that can be solved, but it depends on how you prefer approaching it.

By shooting on a white background and then expanding it in post, you'll have the benefit of not having to pull a key on your subject.  The trick will be to match your extended background to the foreground element you shot.  I'd personally do this with a soft "garbage mask".  You'll want to frame your foreground subject with enough room so that they obviously don't get cut off by your framing, but you'll also want to leave yourself some room around them for this soft matte.  This will fix any crease between the foreground and background you mentioned above.

You should be able to do this in just about any editing package and it doesn't require Fusion.  I've done soft masks in Premiere and Resolve successfully.  Just use a lot of edge feathering on the mask and place the foreground on a layer above the background.  Cut the mask around your subject and use at least a few hundred pixels of feathering-- maybe more depending on the resolution.  The tricky part depending on your comfort level with grading will be to bring your background element into a similar range to your foreground so that the transition is nearly invisible.  How close your foreground and expanded background are to each other exposure-wise or visually will also be a factor.  If you are just blowing things out to all white, this should be pretty simple though.  You could then potentially just bring in a bit of a vignette on top after matching the foreground and background.

[edit]:  I should point out you'll need to have enough of your white background surrounding the subject for this soft transition area of the matte.  If the white background is too tight around your actor, you wont have room for this soft mask to transition to the background smoothly.

The second option of pulling a key can also yield really nice results, but it will also depend a lot on the camera you use, the quality of your greenscreen and how uniformly lit it is, and possibly your comfort pulling keys.  However with this solution you can just drop in your new background and call it done.  No real matching between foreground and background exposure.  The only downside, is that this solution will always have a some subtle edge degradation where you pulled the key.  But it can be practically invisible.

In both cases just be sure you give yourself enough framing on your subject for the final composition, so you don't suddenly realize you don't have legs on your actor when you pull the camera out in the comp.  ?

[thephoenix]

thanks guys

as you say both options are suitable.

shooting with my xt3 and ninja v. i am a beginner with grading so i think i will go for the green background, as i think going to b&w will be an advantage for edges.

[newfoundmass]

Have they fixed multicam editing yet?