Walter Volpatto

16 hours ago, Sander Ges said:

Totally missed this one

@Walter Volpatto hope there will be another chance for those who missed it.

I might do another one day, and it will be a repetition....

Thanks,  it was fun!!

Yes it is....

short of internet failure, I will be there....

Yes it's me. 

It will be speaking for 4 hours. 

The head of TAC invite me and really pestering me and convincing me to do it. 

1 hour ago, Dustin Stelly said:

I don't know if there's anything else on Lowepost that I'll watch but this one video and the .drx was worth the annual subscription cost. 

too kind....

3 hours ago, Orash Rahnema said:

 

you should ask Stig....

3 hours ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

Walter, about the settings in the resolve color management when you work in log.  (the log space im working on)

Lets say I have Alexa footage, are these settings right then for Rec709.
See attached image.

I work in Unmanaged color, i do my own color management.

On 1/19/2021 at 8:13 AM, Vincent Badia said:

Hi Walter,

May I ask you to clarify how you propagate/ripple the changes.

The way you describe it seems a very fast operation : Perform the change, select the shots to modify, propagate.
But since you don’t use pre/post groups for this, neither shared node. How do you concretely copy and propagate the changes that fast on so many shots at once ?

Thank you very much for your time.

 

In the color menu you have two ways to propagate: [ripple color change to current group] - or - [ripple color changes to selected clips]

2 hours ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

He is the best!! I really hope he will do a masterclass 

It will be boring as hell....

3 hours ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

Hi  Im wondering if you using Calman to calibrate your monitors?

Do you use Rec 709 Gamma 2.4 in the Timeline Color Space in Resolve?

If the client dosent ask for anything else.

At home I use lightillusion,  at work I have to ask the engineer team,  but the most difference is fine by the probes we use,  those are 20k...

Yes rec709/2.4 for tv, P3D65/2.6 for cinema (usually), p3PQ for hdr

Now,  if you're talking about the setting in the resolve color management,  that match the logarithmic hero camera (the log space im working on)

1 hour ago, Sander Ges said:

Hi Walter,

Amazing insight!

When using the build-in grain, do you put it on the 'OFX' place or before / after the LUT or look on the timeline level?

There is the philosophical approach and the practical one.

if I want to emulate negative film grain that modify with the color, it should be before the balance node. Nobody does that really, but it is a though.
if I want to emulate as if the negative was perfectly exposed, then it will go before the LUT/Look/main tonal mapping, usually for me that is in the Timeline node before the “look”

if you want to emulate print grain, it should go after the main look.

But, all of this is purely academical: ALL of your material will pass thru a compression pass to be able to be seein: from theatrical (low) to streaming (technical term is “shit-ton of it”). So, the compression will attack the hi frequency of your signal first, if you have light grain it will be gone, if you have a lot, it might reduce the efficiency of the compression algorithm.

it is a losing battle.

I still like to see grain, resolve OFX is good for me, and it is mainly before the main LOOK in the timeline, if a shot or a scene need more, It will be in the shots.

for a movie where two different worlds LOOK where created (Bliss, amazon, this coming February) the look and grain was moved at the group/scene level, so each set of scene had its appropriate look. But it was a bot of an odd ball... the fact that I did not use the group for anything (not corner yourself if you dont have to) allow me to do that.

7 hours ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

Are you often using the standard luts in Resolve like Kodak or I heard you guys making your own luts.

I was wondering how you do your own luts, is it in resolve or another program?

//Jesper

I used resolve luts in the past as well as we do our luts from analytic data from film. 

At Co3 we have a proprietary system for film profiling,  in the past at fotokem i used truelight profiling system. 

"Hustler" look was initially modeled to a resolve film lut (modified to taste).

15 minutes ago, Valentin Gstöttenmayr said:

 

 

Ciao Walter,

so che non puoi rivelare a tutti il grande segreto della compressione della luminanza, ma quando scriviamo in italiano nessuno lo capisce con ayayayay per favore per favore per favore

There is no secret in “compressing the luminance” the idea is to build a tonal curve that has a goos “S” curve, you want to preserve in a linear fashion the 7(ish) stops around the 18%gray, then gently put toe and shoulder to flatten the extra black and whites, the more gently you do it, the softer the image is, the harder you do it, th more contrast the final image is.

 

2 hours ago, Victor Riley said:

I really like the  offset-focused approach for its simplicity and easy transfer using different grading spaces, and I'll be surely playing around with your node tree for a while.

I'd love to see a full master class with you – I think all of us here could learn a lot watching you grade. 

it will be boring like hell!!!!

keep in mind that when you work with excellent DoP, colorist have nothing much to do..... I work with excellent photography...

20 minutes ago, Douglas Dutton said:

Hello Walter and thanks a million for your insights!

I'd love to know your approach for using a Film Emulation Lut such as the Kodak 2383 provided in Resolve.

Do you use those LUTS at full opacity and do you do a Color Space Transform to Cineon Log for instance in order to match the Gamma the Lut is designed for? Overall how do you work with such LUTS?

Many thanks!

I do use them at full opacity, they are designed to work in that way, but you need to transform the color space LOG you have in cineon log/709 primaries (that is what the lut is expected for my understanding)

I like the math with luma mix at 0, especially when I need to use LGG controls (rarely)

Funny enough,  in ACEScc/cct the logarithmic is such that a offset is really mathematically equivalent to a exposure change. 

4 hours ago, Victor Riley said:

Dear Walter, thank you so much for this insight! It's incredibly valuable information you're providing here. I love your idea about discipline and creativity inside a constrained workflow. With open-ended tools like Resolve, it's easy to forget basics and lose oneself in dozens of correctors after correctors after correctors.

A few questions that came to mind watching your course and playing around with the node tree:

- How do you go about (if even) node caching? Depending on the footage and grading system, playback after heavy noise reduction in particular benefits from a cached node, which is why one might want to put that as the first operation on the tree.

- You've talked a bit about color management in the comments. Could you elaborate more on that? For example, how would you work when there's an ACES-workflow demanded? Or you have to work with HDR and SDR deliverables?

- Did you have the chance to play around with Resolve 17? Any new tools that piqued your interest? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the color warp tool, and I fear that the new HDR palette might be a bit overhyped for what it can really to to improve an image, but maybe you found something you really liked?

- Resolve 17: regarding the node re-numbering "feature" all of us hate that can't be turned off and f*cks with rippling – how are you gonna deal with that?

I have lots of space and I turn on [smart caching]... usually it works...

The basic idea works in HDR/SDR/and ACES.... there will be appropriate transforms either at group level, timeline level or ODTs.

i just played with V17, the color warp interest me, I played with teh Nobe plugin and I can do things that are difficult in a normal situation, but it is more for either repair a shot or create a look...

the reordering of node in V17 is highly aggravating.....

12 minutes ago, Adam Fiori said:

Much love @Walter Volpatto, such sage advice! After the primary node, did I understand correctly that you skip right to the scene node, adjust for the ‘look,’ and then go back to work on the L-C-R and other nodes?

One of the things you stated once remains with me...adjust contrast in B&W and see where you land. 

 

BTW after a while I got used to do the contrast as is, I dont turn into BW anymore... I think is practice....

8 minutes ago, Adam Fiori said:

Much love @Walter Volpatto, such sage advice! After the primary node, did I understand correctly that you skip right to the scene node, adjust for the ‘look,’ and then go back to work on the L-C-R and other nodes?

One of the things you stated once remains with me...adjust contrast in B&W and see where you land. 

 

Roughly speaking, yes, just basic balance on the shot, then scene look, replicate the look to the scene then matching the shot to the hero one

2 minutes ago, Severin Schultze said:

Hey Walter - thank you very much for the insights!

How is your workflow if you have a DCP and a R.709 version to deliver and you're not working color managed?

 

Thanks - severin

Using OFX color space transforms, you can pretty much do the same math that is is in RCM. It is identical...

so it is a matter of knowing how to do it and where to put it.

2 minutes ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

Wow! this is the holy grail! Thank you so much! 😍😀

And if I am correct you also make adjustments to the look at the "trim" node? 
(Only if the client wants it?)

The idea is that at the trim node you are doing a “scene” look (if any) or client trims: it is not uncommon that after a scene is done, you need to do a small exposure adjustment or make it warmer or overall less contrast or whatever. Threat that as an overall..

3 minutes ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

You most work in YRGB or Color managed?
Or maybe ACEScct?
Would love to hear how you think about the Color Management.

I often work in Color Managed and set my input for the camera and output Color Space to Rec.709 Gamma 2.4.

 

If the client has no preference, I work in YRGB and i manage my own color.

11 hours ago, Jesper Hammarbäck said:

Like a dream come true!
Do you often start work with a LUT (log - rec709) in timeline when you do the base grade?

Where do I apply for a job  

Love your work!

//Jesper

Lut, Look, whatever is appropriate for the project.