ACES 201 – Node-based Grading, Sharing Looks to On-Set and VFX

ACES Advanced Workflows: Building node-based pipelines, dailies processing, and collaborating with others

Presented by colorist Peder Morgenthaler

This webinar builds on colorist & Mixing Light contributor Peder Morgenthaler’s ACES 101 webinar.

Co-hosts: Robbie Carman & Patrick Inhofer

In this Insight:

• Get an introduction into building an ACES-compliant node tree in DaVinci Resolve while working with a YRGB project.
  • Learn the advantages of this workflow
  • Understand the shortcomings of this approach if you need to deliver an ACES Archive Master
  • See how to adapt camera formats that don’t have ACES Input Device Transforms by using Resolve’s Color Space Transform ResolveFX plugin
  • Learn the specific nodes and settings that Peder uses when grading in this workflow
  • Remind yourself how to deal with camera Raw footage in a YRGB project using an ACES-compliant node tree
  • How to use Resolve’s ‘Shared Nodes’ to simplify and accelerate the ACES node-based pipeline
    • Changing a shared node ODT to switch from SDR to High Dynamic Range output
• Realize that ACES is an entire production & post-production pipeline decision with multiple teams needing to maintain ACES compliance
  • What codec should the colorist export into when sharing footage with other artists?
  • How does the colorist share the ‘show look’ for on-set monitoring?
  • Tips and techniques for exporting a ‘preview LUT’ to be used on-set
  • Traps and pitfalls to avoid when exporting LUTs
• What’s ‘best practices’ when creating dailies for your editing team?
  • What’s the danger of creating dailies using the ‘preview LUT’?
  • How to color grade your dailies while staying ‘ACES compliant’
    • Specific steps setting up a dailies-processing DaVinci Resolve project
    • Properly placing the DP’s approved Look within the node tree when processing dailies
• What is the ACES-compliant workflow for handing off ‘Looks’ and footage between the visual effects department and color grading?
  • What’s the proper codec to use and in what color space?
    • Why EXR? Which EXR options should you select? Can you use DPX (or another codec) instead?
  • Which aspects of ACES’ color transforms need to be disabled on export?
  • Understanding why the initial VFX export is critical for image quality

Mentioned in this Insight:

• Custom ACES in DaVinci Resolve Series by Joey D’Anna
• D60 Sim for Rec 709 and SRGB – This is the article referenced by Robbie from ACES Central
• ACES & After Effects PDF walkthrough – From ACES Central, this link was posted by a webinar attendee during the discussion about doing ACES-compliant visual effects in Adobe’s After Effects.