Footage desaturated on export

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Moss Davis

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Footage desaturated on export

PostFri Dec 01, 2017 10:21 am

Hi,

Looking for some help as this has me really confused,

On export the colours of my footage are really desaturated, at first I thought it was a badly calibrated monitor or the coloursync box was ticked. I spent ages think it was that, but now I have just exported a clip, and then copied it back into the same timeline I came from and it looks desaturated.

Proving that even if the monitor was off, the issue is cropping up during export.

Any help much appreciated, I didn't have this Issue before updating to Resolve 14 :(

Thanks!
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Seth Goldin

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostFri Dec 01, 2017 1:34 pm

Can you send a screenshot of the Color Management window in Project Settings? What is the gamut to which you’re delivering?


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Dany Evans

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostFri Dec 01, 2017 6:46 pm

The same here.

We have done render tests (PRHQ, DnXHR) with DR 12.5.6 and after clean install the same project with DR 14.1.1. The results are not equal!

It's very disturbing!
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Robert Frank

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostSun Dec 03, 2017 10:30 pm

Another data point here.

I possibly have the same issue, but I'm still new to Resolve so it may be operator error. ;)

I have footage shot lighted subjects against a black muslin backdrop. Color corrected (BMPCC) footage looks excellent, but exports looks desaturated and background grayish, almost like a gamma shift.

Again, I'm new so it may be my settings.

Resolve version 14.1.1.005
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostMon Dec 04, 2017 3:11 am

Export a test signal with known values like SMPTE bars, run it through your render pipeline, then check it on scopes and against the original material. This will help you eliminate possible causes and determine if there is, in fact, a problem there.
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Moss Davis

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostMon Dec 04, 2017 12:35 pm

I have done some more digging and got it to a stage where the exported footage looks identical when imported back into the same timeline. However the exported footage still looks very different and I cannot seem to fix this.

I am editing on an iMac using the GUI to view (can this really cause this much inaccuracy?)

My old system was very very close and I saw no reason to change anything as I deliver content to the web. Its only an Issue when I got Resolve 14

Now the resolve viewer seems really oversaturated and the exported file have the backs lifted slightly too


Thanks
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Screen Shot 2017-12-04 at 12.28.07.jpg
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waltervolpatto

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostMon Dec 04, 2017 3:00 pm

There are at least 30 thread about coloring in mac GUI does not match output, do a little digging you should find s lot of useful info and some solutions.
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Moss Davis

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostMon Dec 04, 2017 3:48 pm

waltervolpatto wrote:There are at least 30 thread about coloring in mac GUI does not match output, do a little digging you should find s lot of useful info and some solutions.


I am working on a LUT to correct the GUI from a few older posts, but my question is why is this only cropping up in Resolve 14? It was completely fine out he box in older versions :(
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Willian Aleman

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostMon Dec 04, 2017 4:26 pm

Moss Davis wrote:Hi,

Looking for some help as this has me really confused,

On export the colours of my footage are really desaturated, at first I thought it was a badly calibrated monitor or the coloursync box was ticked. I spent ages think it was that, but now I have just exported a clip, and then copied it back into the same timeline I came from and it looks desaturated.

Proving that even if the monitor was off, the issue is cropping up during export.

Any help much appreciated, I didn't have this Issue before updating to Resolve 14 :(

Thanks!

Please try to double check if the type of video levels you are using in the >Mater Settings> Data Levels < Video or Full> is matching the external monitor.
Second, try to double check that you are matching the Resolve setting to external monitor in the Delivery Page >Export Video> Export Video Delivery> Data Levels> too.

Please, Ignore all the above if the issue is related to watcthing the images within the same computer display and not to an external monitor.
Last edited by Willian Aleman on Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostTue Dec 05, 2017 1:58 am

Moss Davis wrote:I am editing on an iMac using the GUI to view (can this really cause this much inaccuracy?)

Trying to color-correct on the computer GUI display will put you on a path of unimaginable pain and sorrow. Only use an external display, and make sure it's calibrated. Anything else will not tell you the truth.

I think it's fine to color-correct on the GUI when you're just learning or doing very small projects for YouTube or something like that. But anything people are actually going to see... you really need to do it right. Read p. 660-661 of the Resolve 14 manual: "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display."
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Hendrik Proosa

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostTue Dec 05, 2017 8:21 am

While I agree with everything that Marc said, for comparing two images on the same screen the screen does not have to be calibrated, it can be wrong as hell, you can still do relative comparisons. It just does not translate to any real absolute standard. In some threads it seems that there is over-obsession with calibration and external displays, although for debugging problems where images don't match to each other on the same screen, side by side, this is not necessary at all.

When two images should look the same, but are different, something somewhere is messed up. False negatives (looks different, is the same) are not really possible when comparison base is the same (same software, same settings), but false positives can be (looks the same, is not) when screen is really bad. As it came out, in the case of OP, it was the kind of false negative where comparison base was not the same. When exported shot was imported to Resolve, it was identical so there was no real problem in export.
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waltervolpatto

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostWed Dec 06, 2017 5:16 am

Hendrik Proosa wrote:While I agree with everything that Marc said, for comparing two images on the same screen the screen does not have to be calibrated, it can be wrong as hell, you can still do relative comparisons. It just does not translate to any real absolute standard. In some threads it seems that there is over-obsession with calibration and external displays, although for debugging problems where images don't match to each other on the same screen, side by side, this is not necessary at all.

When two images should look the same, but are different, something somewhere is messed up. False negatives (looks different, is the same) are not really possible when comparison base is the same (same software, same settings), but false positives can be (looks the same, is not) when screen is really bad. As it came out, in the case of OP, it was the kind of false negative where comparison base was not the same. When exported shot was imported to Resolve, it was identical so there was no real problem in export.


Bro:

Quote: "I have done some more digging and got it to a stage where the exported footage looks identical when imported back into the same timeline. However the exported footage still looks very different and I cannot seem to fix this."
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Hendrik Proosa

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostWed Dec 06, 2017 7:59 am

waltervolpatto wrote:Quote: "I have done some more digging and got it to a stage where the exported footage looks identical when imported back into the same timeline. However the exported footage still looks very different and I cannot seem to fix this."

Yes, I read that and this is exactly what I called a false negative. If shot is identical when imported to Resolve, whatever the other place is where OP checked the shot and found it desaturated, just shows it differently. This is the relative part. Now, if the shot itself does not look good on an absolute basis, it is another set of problems that must be solved with proper calibrated display etc, but it is not necessary for debugging the export.
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waltervolpatto

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostWed Dec 06, 2017 4:53 pm

that is the result of not follow the "obsession" of having calibrated environment.

Plus a dose of qt gamma issues..
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Moss Davis

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostFri Oct 19, 2018 10:28 pm

Well its 10 months on and I still haven't got to bottom of this issue!

I now have a colour calibrated 709 display running via a Studio Mini Monitor and the exports are still desaturated, the only thing I have figured out is this is NOT an export issue.

How and where am I going wrong :cry:

https://forums.creativecow.net/docs/for ... 80&pview=t

found this and its the same issue, but with premier
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Peter Cave

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostSat Oct 20, 2018 5:05 am

Do a test with an export using the Video Levels output option & also an output with Data Levels and see if Data Levels fixes the issue. It's common for Video Levels videos to display incorrectly on a computer video player.

Video Levels is for broadcast delivery (mostly) and Data Levels is for computer playback.
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solog80

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Re: Footage desaturated on export

PostSat Oct 20, 2018 6:12 am

Hi Moss
I had the same issue until i checked data levels to full and I get exactly what i have graded. Please take Peter Caves advise and give it a try.
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