| Issue CDLXXIV: The Color On Mars Edition |
| The Tao of Color Grading Newsletter |
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Curated links of news, reviews, thoughts, career advice, and humor for professional Video / Film Colorists & Finishers. Delivered Sundays.
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As I write this I'm jammed up in the middle of several busy weeks. So let's jump right to the Newsletter.
Happy Grading!
I'll see you next Sunday.
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(and remember - if you have a story that's a fit for this Newsletter, hit reply or email it to 'newsletter@taoofcolor.com'! Include a quick reason for the suggested link.)
- Patrick Inhofer
Colorist | Publisher | Coach
Join the 'Color Cartel' Protein Folding Team - Rosetta@home allows you to donate the spare CPU cycles of your rig to the scientific fight against coronaviruses and cancers! The Tao Newsletter's Color Cartel is a Top 5% team and climbing. Join Rosetta@home, set up an account,
start 'folding', and connect to The Color Cartel team.
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Featuring the work of creative craftsmen, the theory of color, and industry news. Learn practical workflows, useful theories, and actionable insights from existing (and emerging) leaders and teachers in our industry.
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This is from a blog post by colorist Ben Packer about films that actively restrict the brightness of images for most scenes. It's a short read that should get you thinking. You can reach out to Ben if you have a better name for this approach to lighting design.
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Why is it so hard to manage our digital color pipeline from camera to final display? This article is relatively short but puts our current color pipeline situation into context with bits like this: "It’s not even as if the primaries we use were freely chosen. They were chosen because phosphors glowing in those colors were available to CRT manufacturers."
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A primer: "Digital Imaging Technicians are indispensable on the modern film set, and they just might be the key to cloud-based production workflows."
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A terrific article sent in by a reader: "I found a great article for the newsletter detailing the cameras and test charts currently being used on the Mars Perseverance. One fact I thought was very interesting - the Colour patches are loaded with magnets in order to keep the iron-filled mars dust off of the chips." (via Ben Packer)
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Our craft keeps changing. And growing. Learn about updates to your favorite software. Discover new tools to help you work faster or more creatively. Build your tool chest with new techniques and approaches.
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I've been waiting for this to happen: Envato Market recently released over 300 DaVinci Resolve templates for opens, transitions, promos, and broadcast packages. This was sent to me by a friend who's a real estate agent heavy into YouTube videos for client acquisition.
I haven't taken a close look at these templates but this may be something you want to forward to your editor friends who aren't happy with their NLE but need a 3rd party graphics ecosystem - which, until now, kept them from considering Resolve. (via Anthony Tejada)
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(video) These tips for manipulating curves work equally well in any digital color grading app with curves. If you're unfamiliar with curves then this will get you started.
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"A LUT, or lookup table, is a widely-used format to exchange looks. However, when working within the Pomfort ecosystem, it might be more fruitful to build looks directly in Silverstack Lab and use the Pomfort Look format to transfer them."
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(podcast) If one of your clients is lamenting about the lack of remote collaboration tools for FCP or Premiere then point them to this podcast with Postlab's Workflow Architect. The meat of the interview starts at 7:20.
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Be sure to read to the end of this review, where the consequences for letting your license expire can be very severe, indeed.
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(video) Tao Newsletter sponsor, OWC, has just released a series of short 1-minute explainers on their new suite of software. From the much-needed Jellyfish Connect' to 'Jellyfish Remote Access', these apps are designed to add tons of value to any Jellyfish storage solution.
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Click through to get more details about the new software tools for Jellyfish owners. referenced in the previous item.
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Sent in by a regular contributor to the Newsletter: "We have something like this we give to clients, but our problem is getting them to actually do it. Avid also has a free 'Asset Management Best Practice Guide' that’s useful." (via Marc Wielage)
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(video) Resolve 17 introduced a completely new proxy workflow. How does it work? How does it compare the 'optimize media' workflow?
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"How much should a post production artist charge for their work? Learn an easy step-by-step process that gives you confidence in your rates."
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(video) "In the finale of the series, colorist Peder Morgenthaler puts what we've learned into action creating three looks with the Color Warper."
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| Learn more at MacSales.com |
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Stay updated on the latest hardware that's shipping - because the craft of color grading isn't just about software. Plus, keep an eye on future equipment trends and hardware odds-and-ends.
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"NVLink is a very interesting technology from NVIDIA that allows GPUs to be able to directly communicate with each other at speed up to 112 gigabytes per second. This direct connection allows for data to pass between cards much quicker than it can over the PCIe bus, which can enable greater multi-GPU performance."
But how well is Resolve 17's NVLink initial implementation working? Meh. Click through for their analysis.
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For Windows-based creatives: "It supports up to four professional-grade GPUs . . . Additional features include multiple hard drive options, up to 2TB of system memory, and IPMI for remote system management."
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"A portable Thunderbolt 3-connected device designed to simplify 4K/UltraHD and 2K/HD/SD monitoring and output over 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 on Mac and PC."
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Random thoughts, tidbits, and fun stuff that caught my attention this week. Maybe it's color grading related. Maybe not. Ya got'ta read to the end of the Newsletter to find out.
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Wait... how long before a Philips TV shows us color patches to make up for our visual perception differences? I'm sure it'll be called: Mega HDR 10++
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(video) Wait. A 'green screen' mouse mat? Yes, gentle reader, green screens for your mouse and keyboard is going mainstream. Why would you do this? Click on the embedded video and laugh. It makes total sense.
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(video) Fun and quick: "Cats are capable of walking very precisely because, like all felines, they directly register; that is, they place each hind paw (almost) directly in the print of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks."
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| Th- th- th- that's all folks! I'll see you next Sunday. |
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