Some basic ACES questions

[sdyer (Scott Dyer)]

@sdyer

1 - Having never used an ACES workflow, is there general introduction material to help get started and understand the basics of setting up an ACES workflow?

For a very basic introduction, see the ACES Primer.
For more details and technical documentation click here.
And of course, peruse this forum for other user’s questions and experiences.

@sdyer

2 - The project will use Resolve 14 with a custom look LUT. How would this LUT fit into the ACES workflow? And how would it be implemented in Resolve 14?

Resolve supports ACES but exact implementation can be tricky. There are a few posts up here already about Resolve 14, including this. There are a number of people on this forum much more experienced in practically using ACES in Resolve 14 than I am, so hopefully others will chime in here.

@sdyer

3 - How should monitors be calibrated?

There are no ACES standards for calibrating monitors, per se. Instead, the ACES Output Transforms are designed to be compatible with common monitor calibrations (e.g. Rec. 709 colorimetry w/ BT.1886 EOTF).
If monitors are calibrated to these specifications (provided by ITU or others), then simply picking the corresponding Output Transform (or “ODT”) will produce imagery rendered for display on that monitor.