Print Film Emulation Workflow

Print Film Emulation Workflow

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Print film emulation workflows are popular among colorists, and the idea is to create a film look by treating the image as if it was printed onto a specific film stock. This used to be a straight forward process, but new modern workflows have added some complexities and opportunities that will be discussed in this insight.

We'll cover how to access true print film emulations and set up a modern print film workflow inside of DaVinci Resolve. You will learn how to use, create and invert 3x3 Matrixes and how to incorporate better distribution of saturation and print hues with new available methods.

Next, we look at best-practices for decoupling the print characteristics from the tone mapping of PFE LUTs, as well as strategies for rebuilding curves to make them work for both scene- and display referred workflows. Finally, you will learn about component based look building and print implementation.

Some transforms, film style responses and other assets that can be used in component based workflows are made available for download.
 

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On 2/1/2023 at 12:34 PM, Lowepost said:

Thanks for your kind words Julien!

You do not have to bring your PFE LUT into a color managed environment to make the reference. Simply add the LUT to a Grey Scale with no color transforms applied at all, and the result you see on the Waveform will be what you want to recreate. Save a still so that you have a reference.

Then you'll have to set up your color managed workflow with the transform curve you want, and project it onto the Waveform. From there on you can use your reference still and the curve operator to make an "offset" that basically will be the difference between your reference and the color managed display curve.

Hi, 

 

And thanks a lot for this very clear and precise explanation !

I now understand better the workflow for rebuilding these FPE lut in RCM, and will give it a try asap. 

 

Thanks again for your help !

 

Best

 

Julien

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I don't know if this was the correct use of the components provided in this tutorial or if Screengrabs are allowed on this forum if not please forgive the screengrabs and please take them down anytime you like. But I'm more of a Visuals learner so these are visuals of what i did if anyone is interested. I used a RED .R3d Sample clip and the FUJI 3313DI PFE lut in resolve for this example.

 

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I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. I downloaded the Ravengrades Look Development Starterkit linked above to try out the 2383 LUT included there are quite a few flavors of Mitch Bogdanowicz' 2383 LUT. Does anyone know which would be the best fit if I am color managing in nodes with Davinci Wide Gamut as my working color space and outputting to Rec709 with a CST. I am not as familiar with the P3 and XYZ color spaces provided in these LUTs.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Screenshot 2023-02-04 at 8.25.59 PM.png

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On 2/5/2023 at 2:37 AM, Jonathan Rouzier said:

Does anyone know which would be the best fit if I am color managing in nodes with Davinci Wide Gamut as my working color space and outputting to Rec709 with a CST.

Jonathan, the LUTs have the transform built into them so there is no need for using a CST at the end. Just follow the steps in the post and use the LUT at the end. 
 

 

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On 2/4/2023 at 3:14 AM, randy thompson said:

I don't know if this was the correct use of the components provided in this tutorial

Looks great Randy, but you can skip the four top nodes. The components are there to turn a technical transform curve into a film style curve. You do not need that because it’a built into the LUT at the end of your stack. 

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4 hours ago, Tom Evans said:

Jonathan, the LUTs have the transform built into them so there is no need for using a CST at the end. Just follow the steps in the post and use the LUT at the end. 
 

 

Hey Tom,

 

Thanks for your response. The reason I am using a cst is because non of those luts include a rec709 transform so I would need to transform again from the luts output to rec709. Mainly wondering if there was a favorable color space to transform out of based on what’s provided in that lut pack. 

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4 hours ago, Tom Evans said:

Looks great Randy, but you can skip the four top nodes. The components are there to turn a technical transform curve into a film style curve. You do not need that because it’a built into the LUT at the end of your stack. 

Thanks Tom for the correction!

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Hi!

Could you explain what's the purpose of each LUT of the Ravengrades Look Development Starterkit? I'll expose my guesses and hope someone correct me if needed.

Look Components:

  • log_c_awg_component1_hue_ravengrade.cube
  • log_c_awg_component2_shaper_ravengrade.cube
  • log_c_awg_component3_tone_map_ravengrade.cube
  • log_c_awg_component4_gamut_ravengrade.cube

From what I've read, these are LUTS meant to be applied in order to a AWG3/LogC3 input. They together transform the LogC signal into a digital negative with the print characteristics of Kodak 5219.

  • comp_LogC_AWG_v01_step5a-Rec709g24_ravengrade.cube
  • comp_LogC_AWG_v01_step5b-P3D65g26_x65_ravengrade.cube
  • comp_LogC_AWG_v01_step5c-Rec2020_P3D65limit_ST2084_1000nits_x65_ravengrade.cube

These are Display Rendering Transforms meant to be applied after the digital negative created before and their names represent the ColourSpace and Gamma of the transform.

The Creative Look is meant to be designed in a node sandwiched between component_4 LUT and last node. The Balance Node is meant to be applied directly to the LogC input.

PFE LUTS - LUTs_by_Mitch_Bogdanowicz

They are named K2254-K2383, which I think stands for Kodak 2254 and Kodak 2383. The Kodak 2254 is a Digital Intermediate Film and the Kodak 2383 is a Print Film, so I assume they are designed for reproducing the characteristics of the combination of these two stock.

They are presented in both 3DL and Cube formats, and 33 and 65 points precision versions.

  • The Cineon_DPX versions expect an input encoded with a Cineon gamma and the "colour space" of scanned film.
  • The P3_viewing version outputs P3 and Gamma 2.6 for theatrical viewing with a projector.
  • The XYZ version encodes output for DCDM.

As other film print emulation LUTS normally mark the white points, I wonder which one these have embeded.

P3-DPX versions

  • I don't know what's the purpose of these ones. I guess the blank, SoftClip I and II represent different versions of handling the highlights, but as there's no "input-output" naming and they lack the "viewing" in the name, they're not meant for monitoring.

P3_out_of_film_Gamut

  • I guess it's meant to handle out of gamut values inside P3 colour space and it's meant to be applied prior to the output LUT.

 

Despite this might look I'm affirming all the above, as I said before, these all are my guesses and would thank if anyone can confirm or correct them.

 

 

 

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To piggy back off of this last comment I would also like some clarity on the usage of these luts. Specifically I would love to know which of the 2383 LUTs would be the best fit if my output was rec709 would I have issues with introducing artifacts if I used a CST after the LUT to convert from the P3 Lut  or the XYZ lut to rec709? If anyone would be so kind as to advise me on the best CST settings I would appreciate it. I have not been able to find this answer anywhere. 

Thanks!

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