Colour grading in Vegas 9c at DVinfo.net

Brent Hallman · March 27th, 2010, 09:55 AM

I haven't done a tonne of colour grading yet, but I have found Vegas to be sufficient thus far.

I am starting to look for a third party colour grading program....any suggestions?

Here is a music video that I edited and graded on Vegas 9c.

YouTube - Stringer Lake; Something's Off Today

Jim Snow · March 27th, 2010, 10:16 AM

Magic Bullet Looks from Red Giant software is very useful for color grading. It has presets for a wide variety of "Looks" as well as a large number of tools that can be used individually to apply specific corrections.

Brent Hallman · March 27th, 2010, 10:56 AM

Thanks Jim, I appreciate it. I have only heard about Magic Bullet, but it seems as if a lot of people use it.

For the video I did, Vegas 9 was enough (I graded it to 75% black and white and then bumped up the contrast and did a little with brightness levels in some scenes).

Mike Kujbida · March 27th, 2010, 11:20 AM

Be advised that Magic Bullet is a real render killer :-(
By that, I mean that you'll see your render times increase dramatically when you use it.
For example, I took a 16 sec. clip, applied the Cool preset to it with Color Curves and Magic Bullet Looks and rendered it to AVI.
The clip with curves rendered in 10 sec. while the MB one took 2 min. 38 sec. for the same "look".
Their site has a list of approved video cards (only a few though) that take advantage of the power of the card to do some of the processing which does help.

...bumped up the contrast and did a little with brightness levels...

You really should learn to use Color Curves.
This will give you a LOT more control than brightness and contrast as they affect the entire scene while curves allows you to target a specific luminance range.

Vincent Debierre · March 27th, 2010, 01:28 PM

Hi Brent,

I find this video very interesting :
Red Giant Software: Red Giant TV - Video

You should also try the AAV6CC plugin for vegas
AAV ColorLab

.vince

Don Bloom · March 27th, 2010, 01:58 PM

newbluefx video essentials can also be used and doen't take the resources of MB.

Brent Hallman · March 27th, 2010, 02:11 PM

You really should learn to use Color Curves.
This will give you a LOT more control than brightness and contrast as they affect the entire scene while curves allows you to target a specific luminance range.

I have played around with colour curves a little.... I'm still learning how to use them effectively.

Thanks for all of the input though, I do appreciate it!

Matteo Manson · April 1st, 2010, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent Debierre

Hi Brent,

I find this video very interesting :
Red Giant Software: Red Giant TV - Video

You should also try the AAV6CC plugin for vegas
AAV ColorLab

.vince

This. I have had great success with both. If you need free, small and easy, AAV6cc is GREAT! If you need much much more functionality and choice, MBL is quite excellent. MBL has a lot that AAV6CC does not have like gradients, to mention one big one.

Jim Snow · April 1st, 2010, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matteo Manson

MBL has a lot that AAV6CC does not have like gradients, to mention one big one.

I find MBL gradients as well as spot exposure to be invaluable when I edit stage production shoots where the lighting across the stage is very uneven.

Brent Hallman · April 5th, 2010, 10:09 PM

I bought MBL last week and I have been so far very impressed with it. I really like the ability to adjust the preset 'looks' to the exact spec that is needed for certain scenes.

One thing I do not like is that it is not compatible with my new computer that I just got...I'm running the 64 bit version of Vegas 9 on it (MBL does not support 64 bit Vegas).

I am getting After Effects and most likely Premiere and MBL works in 64 bit in those programs.

Does anyone have much experience grading in After Effects? Or should the grading be done before I use AE?

March 27th, 2010, 09:55 AM	#1
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	Colour grading in Vegas 9c I haven't done a tonne of colour grading yet, but I have found Vegas to be sufficient thus far. I am starting to look for a third party colour grading program....any suggestions? Here is a music video that I edited and graded on Vegas 9c. YouTube - Stringer Lake; Something's Off Today

March 27th, 2010, 01:58 PM	#6
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	newbluefx video essentials can also be used and doen't take the resources of MB. __________________ What do I know? I'm just a video-O-grafer. Don

March 27th, 2010, 10:16 AM	#2
Jim Snow Trustee Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Santa Clara, CA Posts: 1,104	Magic Bullet Looks from Red Giant software is very useful for color grading. It has presets for a wide variety of "Looks" as well as a large number of tools that can be used individually to apply specific corrections.

March 27th, 2010, 10:56 AM	#3
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	Thanks Jim, I appreciate it. I have only heard about Magic Bullet, but it seems as if a lot of people use it. For the video I did, Vegas 9 was enough (I graded it to 75% black and white and then bumped up the contrast and did a little with brightness levels in some scenes).

March 27th, 2010, 11:20 AM	#4
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	Be advised that Magic Bullet is a real render killer :-( By that, I mean that you'll see your render times increase dramatically when you use it. For example, I took a 16 sec. clip, applied the Cool preset to it with Color Curves and Magic Bullet Looks and rendered it to AVI. The clip with curves rendered in 10 sec. while the MB one took 2 min. 38 sec. for the same "look". Their site has a list of approved video cards (only a few though) that take advantage of the power of the card to do some of the processing which does help. ...bumped up the contrast and did a little with brightness levels... You really should learn to use Color Curves. This will give you a LOT more control than brightness and contrast as they affect the entire scene while curves allows you to target a specific luminance range.

March 27th, 2010, 01:28 PM	#5
Vincent Debierre Tourist Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: France Posts: 2	Hi Brent, I find this video very interesting : Red Giant Software: Red Giant TV - Video You should also try the AAV6CC plugin for vegas AAV ColorLab .vince

March 27th, 2010, 02:11 PM	#7
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	You really should learn to use Color Curves. This will give you a LOT more control than brightness and contrast as they affect the entire scene while curves allows you to target a specific luminance range. I have played around with colour curves a little.... I'm still learning how to use them effectively. Thanks for all of the input though, I do appreciate it!

April 5th, 2010, 10:09 PM	#10
Brent Hallman Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 89	I bought MBL last week and I have been so far very impressed with it. I really like the ability to adjust the preset 'looks' to the exact spec that is needed for certain scenes. One thing I do not like is that it is not compatible with my new computer that I just got...I'm running the 64 bit version of Vegas 9 on it (MBL does not support 64 bit Vegas). I am getting After Effects and most likely Premiere and MBL works in 64 bit in those programs. Does anyone have much experience grading in After Effects? Or should the grading be done before I use AE?