Sorry for this basic question, but I could not find conclusive information about this: Is there any distinct advantage to work in an ACES workflow within DaVinci Resolve (from edit to final output) with footage that is 98% Rec709? I’m doing a feature doc edit with tons of older footage.
I understand the advantage of combining different color spaces from different sources in ACES, and I understand why a large gamut would be good for “modern” (log, raw, etc) footage. None of this helps for Rec709. But is the “future proofing” still applicable? Will the larger gamut yield better results in the grading (as more color is available in grading)? And, does an ACES workflow give an advantage in flexibility of deliverables (vs, say, a “regular” Davinci YRGB color space) when outputting to different color spaces such as P3, etc?
ACES creates a lot of headaches in the Fusion page. I wonder if it is worth it for my project.
Before I dig deeper… what headaches are you experiencing with Fusion? And, how are you managing aces? Within the color management panel or with the OFX?
Thanks for your reply. The headache with the Fusion tab is to get footage display correctly. The Managed viewer LUT only does a simple gamut transform, which is not enough (as I understand), it messes with color and contrast. The only way I found to get to see things proper in the Fusion tab is to insert two I/O nodes after the MediaOut node, to manually transform the space. It works quite well, but is very cumbersome.
I am running Aces in DaVinci Resolve 17, within the color management panel (i.e. project-wide, not node based).
This is just a design flaw of Resolve at the moment I’d say. Your workaround is totally valid but are you sure you need two nodes? I think you can go with an ACES Transform node directly from ACEScg to output. The other way of going about it would be to load the ACES config into the OCIO viewer lut but the viewer LUT is quite broken too. Randomly switching the mode or adding back the default view transform again on top of what you’ve set.
Blackmagic Design really needs to truly fuse the Color/Edit and Fusion parts in regards to color management. I get it that Fusion needs to be like Fusion standalone but if you decide to fuse them at least make 'em play nice
Working in a larger gamut doesn’t mean more color is available. The amount of data is dependent on the source. However your color decisions will be based on a larger gamut making it not based on a single output display intent. This makes it very effective at delivery for multiple displays without too much extra work and also for archival purposes.
If all your footage is rec.709 and delivery too, maybe there’s not much to gain from ACES in your particular project.
You could easily get around the fusion problme by just using the Aces transform OFX in the color tab. All you need to do is group your shots by camera and manage them this way.
Pregroup : IDT
Grade
PostGroup: ODT
Also, I’ve used aces on a bunch of similar project to yours and the main advantage for me is that everything gets normalized. If you have a look on the show it’ll merge almost flawlessly with all shots. Like @Shebbe said: the footage is what it is. Garbage in garbage out. I did noticed with High End cameras that I do get a little bit more out os the images though. And, when working with different deliverables the color management is awesome. Going for P3 to 709 is a breeze. Much better than with LUTs. And it saves me a lot of time!
@Shebbe Thanks so much for this. Yes, you are right, the OCIO config in the LUT menu works as well (I was thinking Davinci WideGamut, with which I experimented as well, and which needs the two nodes in the node tree, the LUT does not work there). So what I hear you saying is: If the deliverable is Rec709, no need for ACES. If other deliverables (such as P3), then it would make sense. Correct?
@chuckyboilo I like your approach with the nodes in the color tab! I’ll experiment with that. It may be a brilliant way to steer the ship around the Fusion cliff. I wonder what will happen when the Fusion clips interact with the ACES clips (fading, blending, etc). My project is very heavy on such FX.
I am still wondering, though, what happens to a Rec709 clip that is graded in a larger color space such as Aces? Would, say, drastic adjustments not push the colors into areas that wouldn’t be available in 709?
The node workflow is the best way to go around this problem. Also, won’t get much more out of images in 709 within aces. But, it’ll save you time matching things together for sure!
