Working with videoscopes

[Lynos]

What's your experience with coloring using the videoscopes in Vegas?

It's the first time I'm using these. I did some research and to my understanding, you need to trust what the scopes tell you even if the image doesn't entertain much confidence.

I just finished coloring my project using the scopes and mainly the vectorscope for guidance. Most of the footage looked good, even great, but some shots looked unnatural, with what seems like over-saturation, causing unnatural skin tones. While coloring, I was very careful to balance all the elements, so nothing will be too high or too low. I used strictly HSL, Brightness and Contrast, and Color Curves. Kept the saturation in the safe zone, balanced the red and blues, and used contrast very carefully.

So hoping the footage only looks crappy in the timeline, I rendered it out to MPEG2 and the crappy footage still looks crappy.
One very important thing I need to mention is that I'm editing on low-resolution media using proxy files because my computer isn't the fastest. But the final render will be in HD.

Should I trust blindly what the scopes tell me even if it doesn't look that great on low-res?

Thanks.

 

[kylevant]

You should really be grading the final files, compression on the proxy files can effect the color quite a lot. Also, nothing beats a well calibrated monitor.

 

[Lynos]

Yeah, a well calibrated monitor is not very practical for me right now... would've loved the luxury. So you're saying I should put the effects straight on the HD files?
It's the first time I'm coloring a film in Vegas. Last time I did extensive coloration for a film, I used After Effects, but that wasn't HD footage.

The reason I'm not using AE right now is because the film is visually simple (all interiors, not many set-ups) and I figured the Vegas tools would be enough for the task - I'm trying to avoid too much exporting/importing/rendering.

 

[kylevant]

Yeah, a well calibrated monitor is not very practical for me right now... would've loved the luxury. So you're saying I should put the effects straight on the HD files?

Try to get your monitor as well calibrated as possible by eye. I only have consumer monitors and if the default settings are off then I usually try and correct them by eye. Not the preferred method, but I get them close enough. Also, a color meter won't set you back too much.

From past experience I've noticed a shift in colors can occur if you grade the proxy files and then just replace them with the high-res files. Different codecs can treat color differently.

The reason I'm not using AE right now is because the film is visually simple (all interiors, not many set-ups) and I figured the Vegas tools would be enough for the task - I'm trying to avoid too much exporting/importing/rendering.

Vegas is great for basic grading, I use it quite a bit.