Color Correct in AE, then import to Vegas

K

kmcgrath

Well-known member
I am doing some color correction on video using Color Finesse in AE, then I want to import to Vegas. I understand the advantages of converting the video to 16 RGB in AE before color correcting, but can (and should) I do this on a video file I will be bringing back into the Vegas timeline? What sequence of events should I follow (i.e., convert to 16 bit in AE, color correct, convert back to 8bit in AE, render to avi in AE, then import back to Vegas). Thanks for any help on this one.
 
Come on guys (and gals), someone's got to have an opinion about the above post. If its a dumb idea, tell me and I'll move on. Can Vegas accept an .avi video clip with 16 bit RGB or must I bring in as 8 bit?
 
Well, I tried it, and I think it worked. When I went to render in AE to a lossless .avi, my only choice was 8 bit color depth (I guess all .avi files are 8 bit RGB??). So I rendered it and brought it into Vegas with no problem (no surprise). So, I think that if I am color correcting in AE I will gain some precision advantage by setting the project to 16bit RGB, even if I am forced to convert back to 8bit when I render to .avi for use in Vegas. Can anyone confirm? I guess my other question would be whether I should render to a format other than .avi so I could retain the 16bit color precision (but I don't know if this would be compatible with Vegas)

EDIT: For what its worth, I talked with Adobe tech rep last night (on unrelated matter where I can't preview on external monitor from AE) after trying above. Anyway, he suggested to NOT convert project to 16bit RGB before color correcting in AE if my intention was to render to .avi and bring back into an 8 bit project (Vegas). No explanation why...
 
kmcgrath,
Go ahead and burn a small clip to DVD and watch it on TV. If it looks normal and you're satisfied with it, then you probably did it right. From your suggestion, it sounds like that would work. Good luck.
 
Thanks Film Magic. I think I will try burning a 16bit AE color corrected and an 8bit AE color corrected to dvd and see if they work and if I can tell any difference.
 
Why don't you CC in Vegas? The colorspace in AE is not really going to improve it unless the project started larger than 8 bit. Besides, the VegasCC tools are top notch. I have Color Finesse and Avid, and see little difference. Vegas also has a great Secondary CC tool.
 
Yes, I agree, the color correction tools in Vegas are great, and I use them a lot. However, I do like using Color Finesse if I am in AE, and if there is an advantage to color correcting at 16bit (I still am not sure about that, but it seems reasonable to me that higher precision, i.e., 16 bit, may be beneficial if a lot of cc is done), then I will do some color correcting if I am in AE while doing other things. I do like the secondary cc in Color Finesse better than the Vegas secondary cc though.
 
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