How To Install And Evaluate The Upcoming ACES 2.0 ODT

Gain a first-hand understanding of how ACES is developing

Note: This Insight was recorded using Candidate rev025. The Current ACES 2.0 Candidate is rev029.

I’m a huge fan of the promise of color management — a consistent, color science-driven foundation we can color grade within. But as we’ll see in this Insight, the more you explore color management, the more you understand there’s no single “correct” framework for all use cases — only an ever-changing menu of options. When we begin to embrace this, we can stay current on those options and their creative implications, and grade better images more quickly as a result!

Key takeaways from this Insight

By the end of this Insight you should understand:

• How and why color management systems can produce distinct visual results
• How to evaluate different color management systems on real-world and synthetic images
• How to select a color management system that best supports your creative intent

Mentioned in this Insight

Here are the DaVinci Resolve ODT folder file paths I mentioned:

• Mac: File Path for ODT folder:
  ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/ACES Transforms/ODT
• Windows: File Path for ODT folder: 
  C:Users<User>AppDataRoamingBlackmagic DesignDaVinci ResolveSupportACES TransformsODT
• Linux: File Path for ODT Folder:
  ~/.local/share/DaVinciResolve/ACES Transforms/ODT

External Links

Resources mentioned in this Insight:

• ACES ODT Candidates Github page
• ACES OT VWG Sample Frames
• ACES 2.0 CAM DRT Development Forum
• Output Transforms Architecture Virtual Working Group

Related Mixing Light Insights

• Flight Path: What is ACES and how do you use it? – Learn what ACES is and how the post-production pipeline is executed. ACES-related acronyms are broken down and you learn how to set up ACES on several different, common software platforms.
• ACES Insights Category Listing – Every Insight tagged with the keyword, ACES (50+ and growing).
• ’Custom ACES’ Insights series – Joey D’Anna’s ongoing series of 11 Insights demonstrating building a fully compliant ACES pipeline within a node tree in a YRGB project – for both SDR and HDR workflows.

Questions or Comments? Join the discussion!

Is this Insight useful to you? Let us know! Mixing Light is all about community discussions and we’re curious if you found this helpful, if you have something to add, or if you have more questions you need answered?

– Cullen