RGB problem with AE (urgent!)

[Mylenium]

Hi,

I´m having a trouble with colors in AE.

I have a fixed RGB value (204,220,0) which I need to use in a video. In Photoshop it looks as supposed, but when I set the same values in AE the color looks different in the composition window :

http://www.spiral1.fi/Misc/test2.jpg


Also if I make a image in PS and import it to AE, the same difference appears. If I export the movie to ie. a *mov file, the color is wonky also on a video file :

http://www.spiral1.fi/Misc/test1.jpg


Could someone tell me what the problem is? I´m in a bit hurry with this project so a quick answer would be awesome. Thanks,


- U

Use the right color profiles both in AE and PS or turn off color manangement completely.

Mylenium

[Ultimatum]

>Use the right color profiles both in AE and PS or turn off color manangement completely.

...thanks, but how do I do this in AE? I know the Color Settings in PS but can´t find anything similar in AE.


-u

[Mylenium]

>Use the right color profiles both in AE and PS or turn off color manangement completely.

...thanks, but how do I do this in AE? I know the Color Settings in PS but can´t find anything similar in AE.
-u

Color profiles are a project property, so check your project settings.

Mylenium

[Ultimatum]

Thanks, I found it but all of the settings are blacked out. Someone know why?



- u

[Mylenium]

Thanks, I found it but all of the settings are blacked out. Someone know why?

- u

Well, in that case your problem is in Photoshop. You need to turn off color management there (via Bridge).

Mylenium

[Ultimatum]

Thanks,

I found the problem.



- u

[payton]

hi guys,
so what caused the problem? seems to me like AE, because when i pick the colors of your attached images, the ps looks fine, but the screenshot from AE too yellow. what was wrong?

i got a similar problem. first i need to say that i experience it at work and at home with photoshop cs2.

a few weeks ago i recognized that my color models looked pretty different in photoshop that in any other image viewer. my first thougt was that it has to do with color management and turned all that stuff off. but with no luck.

here is an even stranger example of that:

http://www.online-showreel.de/psproblem.png

the ps color picker shows color RGB values of 204,220,0. fine. but when i pick this color again with a little colorpicker tool (colorPix in this case) it shows me that not only the pictures in photoshop are "color corrected" but also the photoshop color picker itself. pretty strange. even when i open a new document with no color management at all - colors are being changed.

that sucks totally - any suggestions?

thanks,
payton

[Mylenium]

that sucks totally - any suggestions?

No, actually not. If you create an empty document, you are still applying a color profile to your workspace if you, and read me correctly here, have not completely turned off color management in Bridge, which acts as the central vault for this kind of operation. It is only logical that your color picker figures this in while outside tools that work strictly in non-adjusted RGB space don't know dick about it. If you are working in a calibrated print environment it makes absolutely sense (due to the gamut behavior of CMYK space), and on some level so does it for screen media (e.g. to compensate for color shifts and different Gamma between Mac and PC or YIC/ YUV color space reduction). You better get used to it. It is predictable that color management will be even more prominent in future versions of AE as well.

Mylenium

[beenyweenies]

Color Profiles simply tell your apps and operating system what type of viewing device you are using (eg. CRT monitor versus an LCD monitor) and what type of material you are viewing (eg. a 3D render versus a cmyk print-ready document) so that visuals can be converted to display properly on your particular screen. Think of Color Profiles as a middle-man between your source files and your output device, making sure everything looks proper. This way, when you move your work to another computer that has a completely different monitor, things should still look the same if everything is set up properly.

A good start to fixing these problems is to ensure your monitor is using the correct profile (for example, my Dell monitor came with its own profile, "Dell LCD" or something). If you are using a CRT monitor, sRGB is probably fine. From there, your apps need to know which color profile your viewing device is using so that they can convert the image to display properly.

To ensure that you are seeing things correctly, Photoshop will look for a profile embedded in your image (which is almost always sRGB), and automatically convert the image to whatever profile you specified as your "working space" in your Photoshop Color Settings. After Effects doesn't automatically try to do this type of conversion no matter what. This explains the potential image color difference between the two apps. Note that PS will not automatically do a conversion if your settings specify color management as "Off."

To make sure photoshop is doing things right, go to Edit > Color Settings. under "Working Spaces" for RGB, select your monitor's profile. Now you will at least know Photoshop is converting things to the proper color profile for your particular monitor.

In AE 7.0, you should set the project color space as Mylenium mentioned (Edit>Project Settings) to the format your source material originates in. So if you are working with video files, you might set AE's color settings to SMPTE C. If it's all still images from Photoshop with sRGB embedded in them, then maybe sRGB is a good choice. When you do this AE will assume that ALL source footage will be in this color space. Photoshop typically embeds the sRGB profile into your images, so they will NOT be in SMPTE C and will need to be converted to display properly. There is a color conversion tool in AE to convert source files individually (Effect>Utility>Color Profile Converter). Select the source format (sRGB) and set SMPTE C as the output format.


Profiles are a total nightmare, so I might have mangled a few details above! Someone correct me if I did...

[payton]

thanks for the replies.
i will check that in depth tomorrow cause im in a hurry right now.

but maybe you guys wanna join a thread that i started half a year ago. its really funny because both of you (mylenium and beenyweenies) are mentioned at the top of the thread.

maybe one of you can tell me where my mistake in thinking about gamma is.

thanks so far,
payton

[hominid]

There's some more handy info related to this subject at these Stu Maschwitz blog posts:

http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/linear-color-workflow-in-ae7-part-1.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/by-way.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/linear-color-workflow-in-ae7-part-2.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/part-3-avoiding-icy-sea.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/linear-color-workflow-in-ae7-part-4.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/02/linear-color-workflow-in-ae7-part-5.html
http://prolost.blogspot.com/2006/03/linear-color-workflow-in-ae7-part-6.html

Cheers,
Pete

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