Colorista or FCP?

I just purchased Colorista, because I like the way it handles the blacks after I adjust the colors...a weak point I have always struggled with using the 3-way Color Corrector. I would find a look I liked using the Magic Bullet Editors Look Suite, and then try to duplicate it with the 3-way (this to save render times...what took MBE 10 min I could render in 2 using the 3-way). But the look wasn't quite as sharp...and it was due to the blacks and whites being affected by the change. Futzing with the Limit Lumina only helped slightly.

But upon the recommendation of a buddy (Walter Biscardi) who also heavily relied on the 3-way for broadcast CC, I bought Colorista. I admit, I like it much better. Not RT, but when it comes to correct color, I can do without RT. I press OPT-P to play as fast as I can thru the timeline to see what it looks like anyway.

Congrats on the work that went into this Stu. Nice tool, and not too expensive.

Power windows are a BIG plus.
 
ChrisLyon said:
Defiantly Colorista is better all the way. But it would be even better if you were to do all of your post work (outside of editing) in After Effects. The render engines are better than Premiere, Vegas and FCP combined.
Click to expand...

I agree, and part of the vision behind Colorista is that you could start your color work in your NLE and then fnish it in AE. We're working with Automatic Duck and Adobe to make this possible.

-Stu
 
Stu...I am having a little issue here. Is there no LIMIT LUMA option? I want to change the overall look to a blueish "cool" hue, but leave the whites white. I could do this with the 3-way, but I am not seeing how to do this with Colorista.

Using this in FCP.
 
Shane, the way you deal with this in Colorista is the same way you would in a Da Vinci or Final Touch, etc.—and there are a couple of options.

First, try tinting your image blue by using only the Gamma wheel in the center. Whites will stay white, blacks will stay black, but the mids will cool off.

If you find that for your desired look you wind up using some Gain (rightmost wheel), then you will find your highlights flattening out a bit. You can see this happen to me in this demo movie when I push the highlights to a warm color.

I compensate by raising the Master Gain (the luminance slider in the rightmost wheel).

I realize that this is not as simple as the built-in 3-way with its luminance preservation, but it's more powerful. Think of it this way—if you ever sit down at a Da Vinci, you'll know just what to do!

-Stu
 
Ahhh...thank you. I just need to re-think a bit how I color. I don't come from a DaVinci background, but rather an Avid Symphony background. And I have been coloring with the 3--way for 3 years now...so a bit of re-thinking is in order.

Thanks stu.

Shane
www.lfhd.net
 
Saw that, and the two videos STU did. I am just missing the Limit Luma option. I just have to change my coloring style.

But it appears you cannot do the PLEASANTVILLE EFFECT with this plugin. Without the limit Saturation option...or is there another trick?
 
Shane,

How did you'cool'off the scene while leaving the whites white, can you explain the procedure using FCP's CC tool?
 
You turn down the little triangle at the bottom of the 3-way visual interface...the one labeled LIMIT EFFECT. Then I check off LIMIT LUMA and adjust the slider to the right, into the whites. This makes the 3-way go from RT to light green, requiring a render to see full quality.

But Stu has me on the right path. I can start to do this with Colorista. Just requires practice.

Shane
www.lfhd.net
 
[QUOTERGEngineer] Hi kwoff, just wanted to let you know we feel your pain. The undo thing is a problem in FCP confirmed by Apple that hopefully will be fixed in the next version. Pretty annoying I know.

The separate reset for each color wheel is really more of our issue I think, though this too was somewhat caused by what was available in FCP. Our work around for now is clicking on the color swatch arc in the upper left corner of each color wheel. Not ideal, but clicking there brings up a OS X color dialog, and you can set the RGB values to all white as a reset for that wheel alone. We'll look at a more reasonable method in the future.

Hope that helps, thanks.[/QUOTE]

Micah,

Thanks for the quick response. I'll give your suggestions a try. As an aside, I'm not sure what limitations in FCP you are referring to with respect to the issue of undoing an adjustment made by dragging the color wheel handles, since the undo works fine in this situation with the 3-way color corrector in FCP. Do the built-in filters have a different interface to FCP than third-party plugs?

I would also note that this forum is becoming a great source for user information for Colorista. Many thanks to Stu and Shane and others who have posted on the subject.

Kevin Wolff
 
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