2017

By default, these transforms will be applied when rendering the output. However, you can edit the XML to
add bypass="true" to the reference element (see
Common Operator Attributes (page 1334)) so that the look
can be toggled for display only but not applied when rendering the output.
This gives you complete control over the color space in which the look transform is applied, and allows you
to match an arbitrary on-set workflow. For example, suppose that you are provided with a 3D LUT for
converting from log to video space and a set of ASC CDLs from an on-set workflow, and that you are told
the CDLs should be applied before rather than after the 3D LUT. In your chain of transforms, include the
default look first, followed by the 3D LUT. Apply this file as your viewer transform, and set the appropriate
ASC CDL transform for the shot as your defaultLook alias. Now you are able to work on the original log
media with your viewer configured to emulate what was seen on set. Furthermore, you can take advantage
of the dynamic Look On/Off switch in the viewer to easily toggle the look on and off.
A Complex Color Management Example
Projects often include a variety of media from different sources, and it can be difficult to know what color
management to apply. The transforms in the Autodesk Color Management collection have been designed
as building blocks to provide maximum flexibility. With an understanding of the concepts presented in this
guide, you can combine these building blocks to solve your color workflow challenges. With that in mind,
here is an advanced workflow example.
Suppose that you have a project that was mostly shot on 35mm film, but for various reasons some specific
shots used different digital cinema cameras. In addition, there are some rendered 3D CG elements as well
as title cards. You need to combine all these images to produce multiple deliverables: DCDM for projection
in theaters plus HD video for home Blu-ray.
Choose a Working Color Space
Your first step is to decide on a working color space, unless that decision has already been made for you.
■ A scene-linear working space is a good idea, especially for compositing the 3D elements.
■ Considering that the deliverables are digital cinema (which uses the P3 primaries for projection) and HD
(which uses the Rec. 709 primaries), it makes sense to choose the P3 primaries. They have a larger gamut
than Rec. 709, so the DCDM can use all of the colors that are available on a SMPTE reference projector.
Furthermore by restricting the working space to this gamut, you reduce the possibility of out-of-gamut
colors.
■ Many people find the DCI calibration white point too green, and prefer to work with a different creative
white point such as D60.
So, a suitable choice for a working space is a scene-linear encoding using the P3 primaries and a white point
of D60.
Convert the Inputs
Next, you need to convert all the inputs to this working space:
■ The film scans are most likely DPX files using ADX or another Cineon-like encoding. You can use one
of the transforms in the film/ directory to convert these to scene-linear ACES on import (see
Color
Managing Images from Scanned Film
(page 1314) for additional considerations). Looking at the transforms
available in the primaries/ directory, there is no direct way to convert from ACES to the P3 primaries.
However, it is possible using two steps: by applying ACES_to_CIE-XYZ followed by CIE-XYZ_to_P3-D60.
You can export the whole chain of transforms as a single .ctf file for convenience when importing many
shots.
■ Digital cinema cameras all use different proprietary encodings. Depending on the camera make, model,
and lighting settings, use the appropriate transform from the camera/ directory to convert the images to
ACES (see
Color Managing Digital Cinema Camera Footage (page 1314)). As with the film footage, you can
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