User Manual

Log C, REDWideGamutRGB/Log3G10, and Cineon Film Log. If you instead prefer grading in the
Rec. 709 color space because you’re more comfortable with how the controls feel in that color
space, you can choose that instead. Whatever Timeline Color Space you assign is what all
source clips will be transformed to for purposes of making grading adjustments in the Color
page, so you can make this choice using a single setting.
A key benefit of the color space conversions that RCM applies is that no image data is ever
clipped during the Input to Timeline color space conversion. For example, even if your source is
log-encoded or in a camera raw format, grading with a Rec. 709 Timeline Color Space does
nothing to clip or otherwise limit the image data available to the RCM image processing
pipeline. All image values greater than 1.0 or less than 0.0 are preserved and made available to
the next stage of RCM processing, the Timeline to Output color space conversion.
Consequently, if you’re grading in a color space other than the one you need to output to, you
don’t have to worry about data loss during the color transformation back to the color space you
actually want to output to. The Output Color Space setting gives you the freedom to work using
whatever Timeline Color Space you like while grading, with Resolve automatically converting
your output to the specific color space you want to monitor with and deliver to. And thanks to
the precision of the image processing in DaVinci Resolve, you can convert from a larger color
space to a smaller one and back again without clipping or a loss of quality. Of course, if you
apply a LUT or use Soft Clip within a grade, then clipping will occur, but that’s a consequence of
using those particular operations.
TIP: If you want to use Resolve Color Management, but you want the Input and Output
Color Spaces to match whatever you set the Timeline Color Space to, you can choose
“Bypass” in the “Input Colorspace” and “Output Colorspace” drop-down menus.
Finally, it is the Output Color Space that determines the final color space of your rendered
result. While no image data is clipped during the Source to Timeline color space conversion,
image data will be clipped during the Timeline to Output color space conversion in order for
thefinal image to conform to the color space being rendered and output, unless you use the
Gamut Mapping options to compress image data during the Timeline to Output Color
Spaceconversion.
Single Setting vs. Dual Setting RCM
There are two ways you can set up RCM. When the “Use Separate Color Space and Gamma”
checkbox is turned off, the Color Management panel of the Project Settings exposes one
drop-down each for the Input, Timeline, and Output Color Space settings. Each setting lets you
simultaneously transform the gamut and gamma, depending on which option you choose. This
makes it a bit simpler to set up the transform you need.
Single setting Resolve Color Management
Chapter – 7 Data Levels, Color Management, and ACES 224