[TaoColorist] Sunday Morning Reading (Skin Tones)

Published: Sun, 01/22/12

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The Tao Colorist

Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor 
for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sunday.
Issue LXXVII                                                           Brought to you by: Tao of Color.com

The Craft

  • Skin Tones in DaVinci Resolve - This nice tip will work in any app that supports Layer / Composite modes. A nice example of using a Resolve Layer Node to control your skin tone corrections. (Vimeo.com)
  • Colorization of Historical Works: Improvement or Blashphemy - This story is about the colorization of still images. And how one artist's attempt of self-promotion went viral. (Photoblog.msg.com via Steve Drechsler)
  • 7 Tips for HD and DSLR Color Correction - Decent list of tips. Though the Order of Operations tip doesn't make much sense to me - but it isn't wrong. Just... a personal preference that may or may not work for others. (HurlbutVisuals.com)
  • But It's Just for the Web - Why delivering for the web doesn't obviate the need for some (even minor) color grading work. (VanHurkman.com)

The Tools

  • FSI Firmware Update - An update to the RGB and GBR parade modes... including seeing 100 IRE and 0 IRE over- / under- shoots. (FlandersScientific.com)
  • Roundtrip Between Avid and DaVinci Resolve - The basics of roundtripping native DNxHD footage. Skip to 4 minutes if you want to bypass all the intro stuff. (YouTube.com)
  • DaVinci Resolve Updates - v8.2 beta 2 is now available. No details on what's changed. Plus, an updated Windows Configuration Guide has been posted this week. (Blackmagic-Design.com)
  • Magic Bullet Looks 11.2 & Avid Media Composer - Latest update includes Avid support. (RedGiantSoftware.com)
  • GoPro Releases New 'Studio' Software - Including a 'Pro' version that includes independent eye adjustments for stereographic workflows. (StudioDaily.com)
  • RED Cine-X and Premiere Pro - Working together. A roundup of a few videos exploring RED and Adobe Creative Suite workflows. I do NOT recommend the initial workflow described in the first tutorial (rendering out to ProRes prior to color correction) - you'll likely lose significant color and image detail (trust me, I've seen it). The whole point is to grade off the R3D files. (NoFilmSchool.com)
  • Avid Tip: Fixing Ugly Fonts in Media Composer 6 - How to get rid of the low-res unsmoothed mono-spaced font. Permanently. (ywwg.com)
  • Pomfort 'LiveGrade' Beta - Color grade live footage via BlackMagic's HDLink in real time. Export your looks to a LUT. Can also generate an Alexa Look XML to load profiles into the Alexa. They're currently in open Beta. (Pomfort.com via NegativeSpaces.com)
  • OLED Update, Holograms, and CS300 News - A nice summary from this week's New England SMPTE meeting. (NotesOnVideo.blogspot.com)
  • [Forum Post] DaVinci Resolve on Windows and LightWorks Beta: A Cautionary Tale - I can't verify anything in this post but the upshot: Image your boot drive before installing new software - especially beta software - is good advice. Note: A Resolve 8.2 beta 2 was released this week, I don't know if addresses any of the issues in this post. (LightWorksBeta.com)
  • iFileX for Mac - Spotlight on steroids. It can search inside packages, invisible files and bundles. And it's free. (OSXbytes.com)
  • DaisyDisk: Visualize Your Hard Drive - To help you find big files for archiving and deletion. (NoFilmSchool.com)
  • Text Is The New Timecode - Searching video video via speech transcription. Includes a round-up of the latest technologies in this space. (PhilipHodgetts.com)

      


A D V E R T I S E M E N T

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The Business

  • [Video] The Future of the MacPro in Video Post - And why Thunderbolt is not the answer (hint: Not enough PCI Lanes). Plus - the cost of a high-end Windows workstation. (CareyDissmore.com)
  • Why Video Pros Are Moving Away from Apple - An interesting article by technology site ArsTechnica on how Apple's 'lack of love' for broadcast / film professionals is getting tough to ignore. (ArsTechnica.com)
  • [Video] 'Dragon Tattoo' Marks 4k Milestone - This is a story from December. It's interesting since it's a Reuters story and is a good perspective of how 4k distribution is perceived and being sold. (uk.reuters.com via @timescapes)
  • Why Movie Revenue Is Dropping - Ebert's final conclusion... the theaters don't have a clue. (RogerEbert.com)
  • Better Displays, Not 3D - HDTVs are now in 87% of US homes. Sales of sets were down in 2011. This news article looks at how the industry is trying to change that trend... by emphasizing quality over 3D. Includes an overview of OLEDs and 4K displays. (TusconCitizen.com via @4KTV)

Outside 'The Box'

  • Of Pencils and Brushes - A brief history of the word 'pencil'. It turns out, pencils weren't originally pencils at all. (Underpaintings.blogspot.com)

Edumacate Yer'self

  • Code Year 2012 - Learn to code this year. With a free, year-long training series. One Lesson delivered every week. (CodeYear.com)
  • Last Call: San Francisco SuperMeet - 3 Resolve classes with colorist, author Alexis Van Hurkman. January 27. (EventBrite.com)
 
  
Current Colorist Control Surface Drivers
 JL Cooper Eclipse Avid Artist Color Tangent Wave

Software: v2.6b4

Mac: v2.6.2

Software: v3.8

Color Plug-in: v 1.0.5
PC: v2.6.2
Firmware: v1.9

Updated:
Nov 21

Updated: October 20 Updated: Jan. 28(ish)
 

Sunday Morning Fun(nies)

  • [Video] Ink and Paper - A sensitive short film about the struggles of the proprietors of the last boutique Paper company and Letterpress companies in Los Angeles. (kottke.org)
  • Multiplication Visualization - How the Japanese supposedly learn multiplication. Nifty. (kottke.org)
  • Guys vs Gals: The Names of Colors - Cute comic on the differences between how men and women name colors. (theDogHouseDiaries.com via Jim Wicks)

Gear Heads

 

Resolve 8: Twenty+ hours of video                   Grade a 16-Minute Short

MasterClass: DaVinci Resolve 8

Workflow + Technique + Interface Training

DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Lite : Mac & Windows!
Colorista II | Apple Color | FCP 7

Your Career

  • People Don't Work on Credit - If you're working for deferred payment then you should understand the two types of deferred payments common in our industry: Deferments and Points. (MasteringFilm.com)
  • Why I Won't Hire You - An HR professional on common interview mistakes you can easily avoid. (LifeHacker.com)
  • 5 Exercises In Perceptive Listening - The different types of listening. And some exercises to train your listening ability. These are not easy to do. (DuctTapeMarketing.com)

A Step Too Far?

  • The Protect IP Act Breaks the Internet - If you're wondering what all the fuss was about this week... (YouTube.com)
 

Th- Th- That's ALL Folks! See you next week. Happy Grading!
  
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Curated + Edited by: Patrick Inhofer, photon-wrangler & founder, TaoOfColor.com
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