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Graphics And Text In Dolby Vision HDR Projects

September 27, 2018

Team Mixing Light is once again joined by Joey D'Anna to discuss integrating graphics and text into Dobly Vision HDR projects.


Series

From The MailBag Episode 58

Nit Value For Graphics & Text In Dolby Vision HDR Projects?

Continuing with the HDR theme, in this week’s From The Mailbag we discuss a detailed question(s) that we got from member James about text and graphics in HDR projects and specifically in a Dolby Vision Workflow.

The gist of Jame’s question(s) was – what nit level to place text and graphics within an HDR project and what are the best practices in a Dolby Vision project?

Much of the discussion around HDR and Dolby Vision is placed around the video content (and rightly so), but in many projects, text and graphics can play a key role.

NIT Value By Consensus

As you’ll hear in the Mailbag, the issue of how bright graphics and text elements in HDR projects should be is still largely up for debate even though some standards bodies, companies like Dolby, and well-known color experts all seem to have an opinion!

These opinions range from – 100 Nits (SDR Level) to higher levels like 200 or 300 NITs and a few urging that it should be proportional to peak white point.  Like other aspects of finishing, part of the discussion is driven by a need for technical guidance, but also by aesthetics.

Text & Graphics In A Dolby Vision Workflow

In an end-to-end HDR workflow, placing graphics and text at a certain level is a pretty simple exercise – 255/1023 graphics will be by default, mapped to the peak luminance of your project. You can bring those 255/1023 mapped graphics down to a value of your choice, or you can request specific code/nit values from a 3rd party graphic/motion graphic designer.

Things get more interesting in a Dolby Vision workflow.

So far in the HDR/Dolby Vision work that Joey and I have done, we’ve completed projects without final text and graphics – thus not running those items through the hardware/software CMU. Like James, we’re really interested in best practices in a DoVi workflow.

In a good chunk of this Mailbag, we discuss different ways to handle text and graphics in a Dolby Vision workflow and not just brightness, gamut too.

A Future Follow Up

The subject of this Mailbag got Joey and I motivated to do some more workflow testing and exploration post-recording of this episode.  In the coming weeks, we’ll put our findings together in a dedicated Insight on the subject.

This workflow testing brought up some additional questions, but also validated much of what is discussed in this Mailbag.  

Do You Want Team Mixing Light To Answer A Question?

Remember, if you have questions that you’d like to get an opinion on please use the contact form.

Your questions can be aesthetic, technical or even client related. We’d love to hear from you, and your question might make future episodes of From The MailBag.

Enjoy the MailBag!

-Robbie


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