Add VFX to Cinematic RAW and LOG Footage (the right way) | ACES Part 2

ACES Kickstart Kit: gum.co/HQdcC
To support more tutorials like this: / inlightvfx
In this video, we dive into Davinci Resolve and Blender to see how to utilize ACES to easily add VFX to RAW and LOG footage. We’ll be building on the concepts of color gamut and gamma that were covered in Part 1. So if you haven't watched the first part yet, go check it out!
Mario Cazares’ tutorials:
ACES Setup in Blender: • Setup ACES in Blender
Image Configuration: • Using ACES in Blender ...
Daniel Brylka's awesome Blender+ACES resources - www.toodee.de/
Filming help:
Tim Moder - / timothymoder
Chloe Collins
Modeling help:
Spacecraft Model - www.blendswap.com/profile/152246
Robot Model - / artfromrachel
More InLightVFX:
/ inlightvfx
/ inlightvfx
Thank you to my awesome Patrons!
Frank Goertzen | Gracey | Alex G
Lex | sherlock1217 | Gehrig Gosselin | Trelligan | XLR8Designers | Tomer Feiner | JuanVFX | shandan thakur
Proverbs 16:18

[@InLightVFX]

As I receive feedback I will update this comment with any necessary corrections: 1) EXR's are not the only file type that can store ACES data. 16 and 32-bit .tiff files work as well. In addition, .hdr files are used for HDRI's (as I did in this tutorial). EXR files are still most common for plates and renders.

[@MichaelWeizenfeld]

Basically any footage will work if it is in known color space and gamut and properly IDT is there. I think any of listed 10 bit log footage will also be linearized inside blender.

[@shebbe]

@@MichaelWeizenfeld Def true, however if the goal is to comp including footage, going from a camera raw file like .braw to 10bit log will introduce quality loss which isn't practical going into a vfx workflow. Coming out of vfx to grade or finish could be more suitable to just store in a 10bit log file for speed and storage on a budget. In resolve it would still be possible to keep working in ACES with that log footage and maintain more than enough dynamic range for finishing.

[@Slettador]

That's not true in every case, because EXR is optimized for footage with linear gamma and TIF for perceptually encoded images. So if you want to save linear ACES frames, you should use EXRs over TIF

[@visualcamrix8472]

can you please please do tutorial of aces with your robot clip used in this video, and tutorial for how to work flow with blender and davinci while footage shooted in green screen, tutorial for adding VFX in that i guess it will help others, well thankyou, i hope you will think about this.

[@ACES-BRAZIL]

Bad workflow...

[@CGMatter]

This: an excellent tutorial about proper color workflow Me: Lemme up contrast + saturation and call it a day since that's all my ape brain can handle

[@maxtenison4734]

I asked these questions in comment one of your video. and you didnt reply. but you are amazing. i love how you do maths. 🤩🥰

[@InLightVFX]

Bro if you have an ape brain the rest of us are amoebas haha

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

and there will be a day when you will love to have a good color representation

[@michaelhere985]

The lord himself is here

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

@@michaelhere985 ?

[@Vlad79X]

IDT ODT ACES ACES sRGB sRGB sRGB, got it.

[@InLightVFX]

Precisely ;)

[@redaizo]

ACEScg

[@AnxulJyoti]

2065-1

[@vidyasagarvepa5249]

Your editing, voice, perfect words, all the technical aspects. So impressive and soo good! Thank you so much ❣️

[@InLightVFX]

I appreciate it, Vidya! Thanks for watching!

[@charles_wren_films]

Dude, I’ve only just stumbled across your channel as I’ve embarked on the ACES journey as a (relatively) long time Nuke compositor. Your content is absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much for producing this, it’s absolutely stellar, and more lovingly put together than a lot of paid training out there.

[@InLightVFX]

Hey Charles, that's very kind of you! I'm glad you found the channel!

[@smortonmedia]

Bro, you want breakfast with your coffee? Because this is beyond helpful, thanks so much for spending the time to create this!

[@InLightVFX]

Haha I'm a BIG breakfast guy. Glad you found it helpful!

[@smortonmedia]

@@InLightVFX I posted a comment earlier about my shadowcatcher not working, but seems to work fine once I actually render, just looks weird in the viewport. Okay so NOW the issue I'm having is... how the heck do I denoise the shadow pass layer??? Even with denoising data turn on and using the denoise node, it's still super grainy :(

[@Raimundo3D]

If you are working with soft shadows just blur it!

[@smortonmedia]

@@Raimundo3D Indeed! However, I only asked because I have a project that may require hard shadows. I just discovered though that you can use the Denoise node on the Alpha (my mistake was trying to do this on Combined) and then Multiply it onto the background footage.

[@Raimundo3D]

@@smortonmedia Oh! That's right! Thank you for reminding me of that. I'm just about to use that method.

[@joaopaulofreitas5628]

This is incredible! I'm an independent Brazilian filmmaker and I've been looking for ways to incorporate VFX into the low-cost productions of my audiovisual collective. This fits like a glove! Thank you very much for sharing this workflow, it is of immeasurable value to us, it will take our productions to another level! Thank you, thank you and thank you!

[@InLightVFX]

Amazing! I'm so happy this information will help you!

[@RaviTomar__]

Have never seen ny1 explaining stuff with such levels of professionalism

[@FreshSqueezedLightning]

So perfectly clean and dense with information! No fat on this edit, excellent job!

[@marioCazares]

Excellent video! Glad to see both your ACES videos are finally out!

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks, Mario! Hoping plenty of people utilize your awesome resources.

[@BoogerBrain]

Your results look great! Thanks for the comprehensive tutorial!

[@HamzaARTi]

Best blender content bro keep it up !! Enjoy watching u

[@naeemulhoque1777]

i was looking for high quality ACES video and here it is!! thank you 💝

[@Renzsu]

Excellent stuff, well explained and the graphics you use are so nicely done as well.

[@eddyraulquezadarodriguez2656]

This tutorial is so beautiful!!! I love it. I'm definitely supporting this channel getting the Kickstart kit!!

[@InLightVFX]

Awesome, Eddy! Glad to hear and thank you for your support!

[@SrGabigamer]

InLightVFX: So, let's talk about how to to set up a video for proper handling of cg objects. For this you will need to use a camera that record in Raw. Me, who uses a Samsung M31 for recording: Interesting

[@UntitledTV93]

The best informative content on Blender and more. Keep up the good work man! 🔥👍

[@BrownHuman]

such immaculate workflow. Thanks for putting in all this effort into this man. Great work

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks, Sai!

[@GFX_media]

Hey man, thank you for this tutorial. I have recently started learning about linear and Aces workflows when working with CG and inside of Fusion. It's all very complicated and I'm very new to video and CGI however I understand the concept. Very well explained 👏🏻 subbed and looking forward to more content. Thanks.

[@FalconWingz88]

I've been studying aces workflow for months, pondering bunch of websites, even the one you references, but you compile and makes everything so easy to understand !

[@guidogueta8995]

ssame thing i was thinking, nice work tho

[@canelaprod270]

Suuper approachable! Great tutorial!

[@zander8713]

How are half of your videos direct answers to questions I've had that I couldn't find anywhere else? However you're doing it, including mind reading, please continue!

[@KZLR]

Dude. This is one of the best made educational videos I have seen period (school or otherwise.) Makes me regret giving up After Effects for Nuke lol. Bravo!

[@sk8kevhdf]

I didnt understand anything. But you used 3 programms. They all looked pretty cool and you used a lot of words ive never heard before. So i like it

[@InLightVFX]

Haha thanks for hangin' in there despite those things

[@Denomote]

lol

[@williambittner8828]

That is an amazing tutorial. Looking forward to watch more of your videos! :)

[@blendercgvfxchannel9023]

Great. I think this is a very beautiful editing workflow.

[@NBCmotion]

Thank you for this! Your walk-through helped me in every place I was tripping up while I worked through the pipeline.

[@InLightVFX]

Great to hear!

[@chakravarthye]

Absolutely awesome!

[@Abdalameeryusuf]

Great job man!

[@j.g.goedtke4086]

Wow. Amazing video. Thank you so much. This is definitely going to impact my blender workflow.

[@juanmolano5727]

Great explanation of ACES thank you!

[@ArameoDios]

Wow, what amazing tutorial man!!! 💎🔥

[@PotentStudios]

This is amazingly clear and concise. Well done and thank you!

[@InLightVFX]

Awesome to hear! Thanks for watching.

[@davishardy6833]

You are a awesome teacher! And you’re in Wisconsin!

[@rsunghun]

This is a very rare information. Thank you!

[@timnim1320]

Never seen such qualified content

[@fade2nada]

Excellent video! 👌

[@dude3d]

i never knew that this was there... thank you buddy!

[@SwissplWatches]

Such a great tutorial

[@SoultyBoiBeats]

you are so organized and researched this feild

[@naviknanubhai4244]

These tutorials are HQ! Thank you🙏🏽

[@camarixta]

THANK YOU. AT LAST a tutorial for this!!

[@InLightVFX]

You're very welcome!

[@YousefHekma96]

I wasn't even looking for this video, but it just popped up to me. However, i like how you talk and explain things, especially the ending of the video, i like how you make people feel that they are in this together with you. Keep up the good work and can wait to learn more from you.

[@InLightVFX]

Hey thanks, Yousef! That certainly is my hope - that my channel can be one of many which cultivate a community of artists that work together to make great work. Glad you can be a part.

[@fstephan31]

awesome video. Keep it up!

[@GimmeHat]

Thank You for this wonderful tutorial!

[@InLightVFX]

Of course!

[@BlackPantherElite]

Amazing. Great work man. This was one of the best tutorials I have seen on any topic. Wouldn’t even call it tutorial anymore since it’s so well created (research, concept, recording, created assets, animation, music, editing) and with a nicely designed info graphic to top it off. Will support you in your journey. When converting textures for Aces - you only need to convert maps that display color right? So Albedo would need a transform but not a bump map. Would be great if you extended this series to include Material/texturing workflow as well- how to set things up and how to handle different input sources for your texture maps. best wishes.

[@InLightVFX]

Hey, thanks! If you watch Mario's tutorial (linked in the description) he goes over both textures that use color data vs. non-color data. Both have specific transforms that need to be applied which he goes over. Thank you for your words of encouragement!

[@senthilkr1970]

Fantastic tutorials. You are obsolutely capable of creating an online Vfx Academy. Your videos looks very simple, impressive and professional, even though you look so young. Congrats and All the very best.

[@8tchprod.446]

nice that i found that at pure begininning of my learning) So, ill have time to incorporate all seen and get used to this workflow. Thanks!

[@zohaibahmad8971]

Very very very fine information. Thanks

[@user-pn9el7yi4j]

Thank you, ur videos are amazing. Please make more advanced vfx tutorials

[@matejivi]

thanks! this is great content.

[@LifelongNaengmyeonLover]

Haven't touched the camera for a while since I switched my career from photography to VFX. Really lovely stuff here. Kit pursued! Looking forward to ur following videos!

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks for your support, Luo! Hopefully this can maybe bring together your past camera/photo experience and VFX!

[@rtheawesomegm]

here's an optional step for anyone who doesn't want giant file sizes and image sequences on their exports: instead of setting the ODT to sRGB, set it to S-Log3 or any Log of your choosing, export it using a normal video format, then you can set it back to sRGB using OpenColorIO in the programs that support it.

[@tresnamuhammad7305]

can't wait to see more video from you🔥🔥🔥

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks, Tresna!

[@xplodingminion2029]

Before exporting out of blender to Davinci, do I need to turn off the sRGB ODT in Blender? Also keep up the good work. This is the best compositing series I’ve seen period

[@xplodingminion2029]

On a related note, what would be the process if I were doing a digital set extension/green screen a La Ian Hubert style? Thxs!

[@ak_post_production]

Same

[@hashemalshaer]

brilliant, thank so much

[@krisgachify]

great job !

[@vfxeriksen8694]

THIS IS GOLD

[@NicolasAndradeH]

This is incredible information, thanks for this.

[@InLightVFX]

Sure thing, Nicolas!

[@dayaskr5027]

Thank you.you made my day

[@kuunami]

This is awesome. I use Cinema 4d but I already have tutorials on how to set up Aces. Working with it in Resolve was the missing link.

[@TheDingsBoms]

This is amazing, I will check out your kit my friend.☕️

[@InLightVFX]

Many thanks, Richard!

[@artffan5413]

awe man that was so helpful :3

[@dude3d]

Today i git the full advantage of this video.. thank you very much for this my friend!! I wish you Good luck 👍

[@ArisMelachroinos]

Thank you so much for your tutorials! They are really helpful. It would be amazing if you can make an ACES workflow for AE too!

[@funkiEst]

Congratulations and thank you very much for such a well done tutorial... it gets a bit too time compressed eventually but i pause and rewind... now i have to figure out the way to incorporate more IDT's to the list my Davinci Resolve's displays (there are tons of cameras missing here, for example: right now i'm editing a z-cam E2-F6 footage) and also make sure about the proper way to check the LOG format from the video file metadata wich could be easily confused with the LUT specification... and i'm confused too... but your tutorial has been a perfect starting point :)

[@shivas4831]

well explaned

[@moigold0730]

Captain D style. LOVE IT!!

[@InLightVFX]

Wow, that's high praise!

[@moigold0730]

InLightVFX, You Deserve It. Bought the kit! I even showed this video to a friend and even though he has nothing to do with rendering, he found it interesting and never got distracted. He found it more fun to watch then to do! Also, great sock on that mic!

[@jonathantribble7013]

Great video!!!

[@francescosaltarel2551]

Thank you so much Really great video I finally understood how all this system of odt idt and colorspaces works Thanks😉

[@InLightVFX]

Happy it helped you, Francesco!

[@abiyyupanggalih854]

okay i will try this

[@Deeznuttiesssss]

u deserve more subs

[@hardiksinghvi9615]

This video explained the theory, and clearly gave an example that Aces is easy to setup and not much of a problem. Just select Aces in the huge menu. I have become fan of this channel with its amazing content, about CG, compositing and the overall presentation of the content! If you forgot, please subscribe him!

[@InLightVFX]

Thank you, Hardik! I'm glad you found it helpful.

[@barmetler]

Damn this is soo good

[@anandhups8341]

Waiting for more blender compositing tutorials.

[@oozly9291]

Exciting

[@foofu4946]

yeesss

[@zaidas4450]

Yo finely thx man

[@mengkheang2229]

Thank you

[@JuaeMF]

This is a masterpiece tutorial. Very usefull, very well explained, and full of talent. Congrats! I'm gonna support you buying the ACES Kickstart Kit, for sure. A little tip tha can save you some work. When you don't have a render layer in the compositor, you don't need to setup a camera nor the render engine. Regards.

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks much for the support! Roger that on the tip, I will have to use that in the future.

[@VFX_OPIMTV]

thank you for your video... it's very useful

[@InLightVFX]

You are most welcome!

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

Nice work. Hopefully Blender Colormanagement will be fixed one day to allow proper conversion with OCIO in the background.

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks, Hartmut! Yes I hope so too.

[@danielbrylka2228]

Yes, this is still broken.

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

@@danielbrylka2228 habe you heard anything about a timeline or interest in getting it fixed?

[@danielbrylka2228]

@@HartmutNoerenberg No, I did not. I hope this will get fixed soon.

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

@@danielbrylka2228 let's just hope for the best. They merged the colormanagement threads into some bigger issue tracks and at some point I lost track.

[@mahbubnur777gmailcom]

Quality content

[@gehriggosselin9468]

So fuckin solid. This is gonna seriously up my game. Thank you! Everybody, PLEASE support this dude on Patreon, it's worth it!

[@InLightVFX]

Thank you, Gehrig! Appreciate your support!

[@zsoltoravecz1815]

There is a filter icon on the outliner witch makes the view layer setting easyer. Also it makes the outloner wider, but you can see what is in render layer, or holdout or what ever you need. :)

[@InLightVFX]

Yes! I didn't know that when I made this video but now I use those buttons. Thanks for the reminder :)

[@zsoltoravecz1815]

@@InLightVFX now i see this is a 2 years old video, but learnt a lot from it. :)

[@shantanuarote6663]

Great tutorial 💥, And it looks like your voice is going to crack my speakers😂. You got great audio.

[@InLightVFX]

Crack your speakers? That doesn't sound so great haha

[@zanderriley]

Love the sock

[@isnotexist]

Great work! Thank you very much! Waiting for new video)

[@manix96]

Absolutely love your tutorials, Can you please make a tutorial on use of Metadata in VFX workflow...

[@InLightVFX]

Thank you, Manish. I will add that to the idea list!

[@JuXuS1]

GREAT!

[@ManningMoore]

Absolutely love your work. I'm curious why you're compositing in Blender and not in Fusion since it is free as well?

[@InLightVFX]

Thanks, Manning! Just wanted to keep it simple for this tutorial since it's not about compositing. But I'm definitely looking forward to trying Fusion, Nuke, etc. in the future. Just need to get around to it.

[@anandhups8341]

Dont make him leave blender 😀😀😀😀

[@ManningMoore]

@@InLightVFX I appreciate your response! I wish you luck in diving into those programs!

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

@@InLightVFX stick with fusion :) nuke is the dark side of the moon :D

[@HartmutNoerenberg]

@ prize-wise for individuals or freelancers. Fusion Studio is damn affordable and in some technical aspects even better than Nuke.

[@joellouisfire]

Amazing tutorial! Without capturing your environment lighting you'd have to manually place lights in Blender to recreate the look?

[@shadwellsong]

yay!

[@InLightVFX]

yipee!

[@Jamese1007]

Great tutorial! His mic is socks!

[@ChrisGeden]

EXR Lossy DWAA saves a ton of data without sacrificing noticeable quality. If you have limitless data storage and transfer facilities then go lossless.

[@maxtenison4734]

I expected after effects to be there pal. 😢 but you are great. nicely done.

[@ilhamnuriadi]

My brain can't handle this 😭

[@Impaczus43]

Excellent video! With this proper color workflow, does this mean I will have to work on textures differently now? Like say I wanna export the textures from Substance Painter but since those textures are in PNG, am I losing some accuracy there? Same goes to textures downloaded online. What would be the proper way to deal with this?

[@pm1234]

Thank you! I bought your kit. I tested with exposure=2 and temp=7000 in the initial Resolve footage and compensated with Gamma=0.5 in Blender compositing but get slightly different results in the end in DR. BTW, I think, matching the HDRi and the footage is crucial. How did you do that? I have a CV60 (360° phone camera) and take shots with GoPro and I have totally different results of the same scene. You're on good tracks for Prov 22:4 :)

[@anandhups8341]

Will we get the old color management settings if we install aces? We need standard video for motion tracking and other stuff.

[@DRAVIASTUDIO]

Thanks for the tutorial on the subject. By the way want to know if this workflow apply to external render engine like Luxcore too.