Color matching and prediction: color correction tool v1.3 released! — Page 15

In my opinion the panels should be more beige, but the stormtroopers were no longer white, so here's a better regrade, where the stormtroopers are white, the panels are beige/mint, Darth Vader is black, the rebel troops have gray pants, and there's contrast, without too much blowout or artifacts:

Here's Harmy's for comparison:

and the other frame...

DrDre:

Harmy:

I think you nailed it!  How does it look when applying to other scenes?

Also, can you repost the tool.  I went to download it but it is expired.  Thanks!

I'll throw those two screencaps taken from the Star Wars Semi-Specialised Edition V2.2L into the mix as well:

Overall colours on your regrade look good DrDre, I'd just say that your fleshtones look too red and oversaturated IMHO.

That is even better!  There is much more detail in the red light on the shoulder of the storm trooper, Vader looks perfect (not so purple and green).  I am not sure about the fleshtones.  If there was a happy medium between the two it would probably be best.

Quite happy with all three of these (Harmy and Dre's most recent, and of course KK's).

thorr said:

I think you nailed it!  How does it look when applying to other scenes?

Also, can you repost the tool.  I went to download it but it is expired.  Thanks!

 It looks oke, but the colors in the bluray are very inconsistent, so each shot definitely needs separate regrading. 

I'm nearly done with v1.3 of the tool. It should be up by tomorrow, and will allow you to export a LUT for use in programs like Nuke and Resolve. 

Tobar said:

Gotta say I'm happy with Dre's and disagree with kk here. kk's example the rebel soldier looks jaundiced while Dre's guy looks like the pasty brit he actually was. =P

 I agree the soldier is a bit on the yellow side in kk's version, but I like the blacks.

I really like what I am seeing here. Some really improved colors.

Of course we all approach this differently. My approach is to ignore the Tech IB prints and focus on behind the scenes images, videos, and the other films. ANH suffers from severe color issues and it seems to no matter what source you use. I like the Tech IB images I've seen (the images from the Senator screening have issues, but are still a good reference). They show a very different approach to brightness and contrast. In that respect they may be pretty accurate, but I am not relying on any one source.

I've been having rendering issues (hopefully now fixed) and I should know by tomorrow what my color choices are closest to. I just need to apply them to the Bluray.

My primary thought is that C-3PO should look the same in all his appearances (eps 3-6). There is a lot to go by there, but there seems to be a consistent tone to his color in most studio lit scenes. Somewhat brassy and less golden. Not all the way green, but less orange. The JSC has him overly orange on the blockade runner.

Also, I'm trying to address the magenta issue. The stormtroopers burning through the blockade runner hatch is the most annoying (its supposed to be bluish-white), but the baster hits are similarly off. They are supposed to be rose/peach pink instead a a purple/magenta pink. I've found that in addressing that issue first and trying to rebalance the colors based on that, it fixes most of the issues. Most. ANH seems to be repleat with color issues and has so many changes in the color mix from shot to shot that it would take some dedicated work to fix it. My goal is to fix the overall color pallet and then live with the shot to shot changes. Overall I'm going with less pink skintones and more peach. I've also check the color balance in the blockade runner corridors and found that what looks white tends to be bluish and that when you get closer to a balanced color (where rgb levels are nearly equal) that it looks a bit green or yellow.

The biggest problem I have found is that the bluray has many washed out whites and information loss. Some other versions don't so I intend to fix the bluray with other sources where possible.

What is funny is that as I continue to work (first with the bluray and currently with an LD capture) to correct the colors, I keep coming up with a similar pallet to the Tech IB scans. Not intentionally and I'm not referencing them, but that just turns out to be what looks good for color correcting the entire film.

I really wish DrDre's process worked on 2 hour video files. That would make my work so much easier.

Here's the video sample for my latest regrade:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8_LYKyZDiajM1U2RWZVN2dISU0/view?usp=sharing

AntcuFaalb said:

DrDre said:

I'm nearly done with v1.3 of the tool. It should be up by tomorrow, and will allow you to export a LUT for use in programs like Nuke and Resolve. 

Holy shit you're quick! This is awesome. Thanks!

 I will send you a tryout LUT tomorrow, to see if I've implemented it correctly.

The clip looks amazing to me.  Is it perfect?  Maybe not, but it is damn close!

I was wondering about something else.  If you have a publicity still that is a different shot than any frame in the movie but it is in the same place and time, can you still use it to fix the color (similar to the publicity shot you recently showed with the guy who gets choked)?  Also, a lot of scenes these days look like they were shot in a bottle of Windex (not talking about Star Wars).  Can this fix that problem if you have a publicity still that isn't doused in Windex?

This is an example of Windex: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/197/full/1371158749_1.png

This last one by DrDre, is indeed very nice. The others looked good too, but I think he all but nailed it with this one.

Harmy said:

It really seems to need shot by shot unfortunately - look at the pink lights in the first shot for example - the BD is full of horrible stuff like that.

 Yes, and Vader turns somewhat blue at some point.The bluray really is a mess, but at least the regrade is a better startimg point for a final grade. 

thorr said:

The clip looks amazing to me.  Is it perfect?  Maybe not, but it is damn close!

I was wondering about something else.  If you have a publicity still that is a different shot than any frame in the movie but it is in the same place and time, can you still use it to fix the color (similar to the publicity shot you recently showed with the guy who gets choked)?  Also, a lot of scenes these days look like they were shot in a bottle of Windex (not talking about Star Wars).  Can this fix that problem if you have a publicity still that isn't doused in Windex?

This is an example of Windex: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/197/full/1371158749_1.png

 It can be done. You just need to find a suitable reference. For this example I used this reference:

As for the Star Wars frame, I first did a reverse color correction. Rather than keep fiddling on the colors, I take a reference whose colors I like, and then adjust the reference colors to match the frame I want to correct. Build a color correction model to reverse the process, and use that to correct the frame.

Before:

After:

Awesome!  Thanks!  I am looking forward to the new tool to try it out. :-)

So much easier than eyeballing it for an individual image. Yet, there is something to be said for doing global changes by eye. I wasn't even paying attention to the scene of Vader choking the rebel. My result is somewhat green, but it is somewhat in line with the technicolor prints.

DrDre said:

thorr said:

I think you nailed it!  How does it look when applying to other scenes?

Also, can you repost the tool.  I went to download it but it is expired.  Thanks!

 It looks oke, but the colors in the bluray are very inconsistent, so each shot definitely needs separate regrading. 

I'm nearly done with v1.3 of the tool. It should be up by tomorrow, and will allow you to export a LUT for use in programs like Nuke and Resolve. 

 Nice!  How are you making the LUTs?  In MathLab?