Colourlab AI

Blackmagic should buy ColourLab AI and integrate it into DaVinci Resolve.

Yes I agree, it is a very usefull tool that can get you 80% of the way when it comes to colour grading, definitely recommend to anyone who hasn't tried it to give the free trial a go!

Colourlab AI 3 just released and during NAB, the special NAB price for a 1 year subscription is $99. It’s a great deal. I just hope they were not a subscription model. That’s why I hope BM will just buy this small LA based company and integrate it with DVR Studio. I won’t even mind if with this integrated, the price of DVR studio goes up to $349 for their perpetual license.

I just got my copy of Colourlab AI 3.0. I downloaded references from ShotDeck and imported it to Colourlab to match a look on a clip I brought in from Resolve. OMG, it was spot on. Now, caveat that my original clip was well balanced Rec709. Then I pushed it back to Resolve and it had the entire node tree in the color page. I exported the DRP and clips to a computer that didn’t have Colourlab and I was able to bring it up except that the colors were off. Contacting Colourlab, I was told that I needed to include the LUTs that came with Colourlab. I got the LUTs and added them to DVR and that worked. I wonder if that’s how they will let the licensor of the software distribute their LUTs and at what cost. But it is a dam good software for the promo $99 the 1st year. That’s the bad side of it - it’s a subscription based software.

I also wonder if BMD has the capability to deliver such software since Resolve is/was the premier and leader when it comes to color grading

EDIT: I heard back from their support group and the LUTs are the one that I generated using Colourlab so I can distribute it with my project.

After using it for the day, I found some quirks and bugs but was able to navigate around it. It's a new version and I hope they are as responsive to provide updates with fixes. It's very useful for now, especially when I have multiple buns going in a single oven; it helps speed things up.

Here's some before/after screenshots of the seamless roundtrip color I did using a sample clip.

1. Original clip w/o grade in Resolve color page.

r1_before.JPG (548.23 KiB) Viewed 5940 times

2. Fetch clip from Resolve active project into Colourlab AI before any work done on it.

c1_before.JPG (491.64 KiB) Viewed 5940 times

3. Match with reference shot in just 2 clicks, first BALANCE then SHOT MATCH to selected reference.

c1_after.JPG (475.73 KiB) Viewed 5940 times

4. Pushed changes back to Resolve and I can continue doing whatever else I want in Resolve color page. Notice it included the node tree. See next post since this post only allows up to 3 attachments at a time.

Con't from previous post...

4. Pushed changes back to Resolve and I can continue doing whatever else I want in Resolve color page. Notice it included the node tree.

r1_after.JPG (567.66 KiB) Viewed 5940 times

This will save me a lot of time. Of course, there is still work to be done fine tuning things.

I have been using this app for the last several years. It's a great head start on your final look and tons of ability to tweak it out.

Colourlab AI has recently launched its latest version, Colourlab AI 3, which features a completely rebuilt color engine offering ten times the precision of its predecessor. This advanced AI color grading tool is designed to streamline the color grading process, making it accessible for both professionals and enthusiasts. It allows users to match colors across sequences with a quality comparable to that of a human colorist, significantly reducing the time required for color correction tasks.

The integration of AI PC enhances this functionality by enabling real-time processing and synchronization with popular editing software like DaVinci Resolve. This capability not only accelerates workflows but also allows for more creative freedom, as technical complexities are minimized. The result is a powerful tool that empowers users to express their artistic vision without being bogged down by intricate technical details.

Looking to the day when BMD will have this feature in Resolve Studio.