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Discussions - Using ACES
1

Hi,
I’m using an old C300 Mark I. It uses the original C-Log (not 2 or 3).

In Resolve, I can choose the correct IDT with ACES 1.3 (C300 C-Log Tungsten or Daylight).
But in ACES 2.0, that option doesn’t exist.
Is it missing because blackmagic chose not to include it, or is it because it’s not possible to use it with ACES 2.0?

Is it possible to add it using the IDT from the Canon website?

2

Hey Thomas,

It is possible to add your own IDTs in Resolve. They will work fine with ACES 2.0. I believe C-Log is not present in 2.0 for sake of clean up of old spaces and BMD follows this.

To add your own IDT:

Win:

%AppData%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\ACES Transforms\IDT

MacOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/ACES Transforms/IDT
3

Thanks for the help.
I did find the camera’s IDT (C300 Mark I) on the Canon website, but it’s a CTL.
I have no idea how to convert it to a DCTL for Resolve.

Sorry for the beginner’s post.
I’ve used Aces with another camera for a feature film and I think it’s great.
I’d like to stick with it.

4

I see! I’m also not very skilled at the technicalities of the formats. I can suggest some ‘dirty’ fixes however if you are in a rush.

  1. Use manual color managed ACES workflow and as IDT add ACES Transform node with 1.3 loaded to convert CLog to ACEScct.
  2. Use ACES manged but tag footage as ACEScct and add an ACES Transform 1.3 node as very first node to convert CLog to ACEScct. I believe this should give the same result as 1, but be aware that you depend on that node’s existence for accurate data then, so you can’t do a bypass all nodes → export to ACES linear files for example for vfx pulls.

But I hope someone else can help you get a proper .dctl file.

5

I’ll give it a try. I just hope I don’t make things too complicated.
With an IDT, it’s very simple.
The alternative would be to stick with Aces 1.3. The curve isn’t that different, but I’ve gotten used to 2.0.

6

I’ve done some research, and converting a CTL to a DCTL is going to be too complicated for me.
I’ll look into the other options.

7

You might be able to let an AI model you have access to translate it to DCTL. Coding is a front where AI is actually pretty usable if handled well.

8

That’s funny—I thought of that and tried it on Google.
It’s a good idea, but how can you tell if there are any errors? AI isn’t always accurate.
I don’t really have a way to spot the errors before it might be too late.

9

That would be a piece of cake as you already have the two necessary references.

You can manually read what the code is doing and cross check it’s values with the CTL version. As for the DCTL execution you can difference check it against the native implementation Resolve has in the ACES 1.3 transform node. So in Fusion throw a synthetic chart of sorts that spans a wide range of input values and see if the resulting DCTL matches the native node.

10

Great idea. I’m going to do that.
Thanks again for taking the time to help me.

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