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Hoshino: Case Study
July 4, 2017 11:38 am Leave a Comment

Our contribution to the recent Star Wars Fan Film: Hoshino (not affiliated with LucasFilm or Disney) involved helping design the overall look, integrating the visual effects, and performing the final color grading.
We worked alongside director Stephen Vitale and cinematographers Ryan Broomberg and Alyssa Brocato to achieve the final result.
Color Workflow
Since the project pays homage to the original Star Wars trilogy, we decided to follow a traditional film post-production workflow, while still shooting on a digital format.
Part of this process involved creating a Custom LUT for the production camera (RED Epic Dragon) which transformed the color to have a more organic feel. This was an early incarnation of our FilmMatrix LUT (part of the RED to Alexa LUT Package).
A customized Print Film Emulation LUT was also used at the end of the grade. This prevented saturated colors from becoming too bright and made the digital image behave more like film.
VFX Integration
When creating photo-realistic composites, it’s generally best to work with the camera’s raw scene-linear data (before any non-linear / destructive grading occurs). However, some elements (like lightsabers) need to be placed after the grade in order to maintain consistent colors throughout the film. Therefore, the visual effects were divided into two categories: Pre-Grade and Post-Grade.
Pre-Grade VFX
This category included things like adding CG elements, keying green-screen shots, and painting out objects.
To aid with integration, separate preview LUTs were also generated for each effect shot. This allowed for the VFX to be seen with the grade applied (before any rendering occurred), and the shots could be fine-tuned accordingly.
Post-Grade VFX
Other effects such as lightsabers, lasers, and text overlays were applied after the grade (though still before the Print Film Emulation LUT).
In some cases, if a shot had both pre-grade and post-grade VFX, we implemented the final grade as a LUT inside the effects pipeline – reducing the amount of rendering and storage space required.
Attention was made to ensure the LUTs didn’t cause any banding or color artifacts. Learn more about Stress-Testing LUTs.
Behind the Scenes
Check out the making-of featurette:

Contact
For more information, please visit our services page. Or feel free to contact us with any post-production inquiries.
RED to Alexa LUT Package
January 1, 2017 2:27 pm Leave a Comment

This package transforms RED material to closely emulate an ARRI Alexa’s gamma and colorspace – providing an alternative starting point for further grading.
The LUTs are based on an average of actual camera data. Additional grading may still be required to completely match the two cameras in a particular scene. Try out the Interactive Demo.
*Works with all RED camera models & sensors.
Quality
Built with precision and quality control, the LUTs have been thoroughly stress tested and do not introduce any unwanted banding or color artifacts.
Gamma
The Log3G10 gamma curve is mathematically transformed to ARRI’s LogC format. Some highlight rolloff was added to avoid clipping luminance data. This serves as the base for all other colorspace conversions.
Colorspace
The color information is transformed from REDWideGamutRGB to a variety of ARRI formats using our Camera Profiling process. Since REDWideGamutRGB is a standardized colorspace, this LUT package works across all RED camera models.
All the LUTs implement a tone-mapping process to retain out-of-gamut colors.
ARRI WideGamut
This is the foundation for all other colorspace transforms. The wide gamut colorspace provides the most room for color grading and image manipulation. This is usually combined with ARRI’s standard LogC2Rec709 transform.
ARRI FilmMatrix
An option using ARRI’s Film Matrix is included as well. This was originally built for the Alexa to mimic the color characteristics of film from an ARRI scanner. Ideal for a traditional film workflow involving a separate Print Film Emulation LUT.
AlexaV3Rec709
Intended for dailies and in-camera previewing, the LUT is based on combining our “ARRIWideGamut” LUT with the ARRI LUT Generator’s standard LogC to Rec709 transform curve, but has been re-built to better roll-off the saturation on RED footage.
ALEXA LOOK
This transform is for use as a “Creative 3D LUT” in conjunction with RED’s new IPP2 system. When used with our recommended settings, the result is designed to look similar to our “AlexaV3Rec709” LUT.
IPP2 settings: Medium Contrast / Soft Rolloff.
Post Workflow
Based on a traditional log workflow, grading should be applied after the TRUECOLOR LUT, but before the output Display LUT.
Also watch some of the recommended workflows using RED Cine-X and DaVinci Resolve:

Examples
The following video shows how our LUT compares to an actual ARRI Alexa under various lighting conditions. RED’s default IPP2 settings are also shown for reference (Medium Contrast & Medium Rolloff).
Our goal was to match each shot as closely as possible by only adjusting the White Balance, Tint, and Exposure settings. Better results could be obtained through the use of secondary color corrections.
More details about the camera settings are available in the PDF.

Download
You can purchase the LUT package here: https://truecolor.us/downloads/red-to-alexa-lut-package
For any other inquiries about the LUT, please contact us.
RED to Alexa LUT Package
2:11 pm Comments Off on RED to Alexa LUT Package
This package helps transform RED material to more closely match an ARRI Alexa’s gamma and colorspace – providing an alternative starting point for further grading… Learn More Try out the LUTs on some custom images using our Interactive Demo.
Included LUT Formats:
Iridas x64 .cube Iridas x33 .cube Iridas x32 .cube Iridas x17 .cube Autodesk x17 12bit .3dl

Additional LUT formats may be available upon request.

2.0 Update – 10/31/2017
Version 2.0 introduces improved color performance across the spectrum. The camera profiles have been rebuilt using additional samples, resulting in a more balanced image overall. Watch the Video
2.01 Update – 08/22/2018
- Optimized the AleaV3Rec709 LUT
- Changed the file naming convention of ARRIWideGamut, ARRIFilmMatrix, AlexaV3Rec709 from “RED_IPP2” to “RED_Legacy” to better reflect the IPP2 workflow
REDcolor4 LUT
November 5, 2016 5:41 pm Leave a Comment

REDWideGamutRGB is the new standardized colorspace option for RED footage. It can reproduce a much larger range of colors than REDcolor4, which is very useful for shots that have high saturation levels. However, it will look desaturated on a Rec709 monitor.
Our LUT converts REDWideGamutRGB to REDcolor4 using additional saturation mapping for out-of-gamut colors.
Background
Currently Rec709 is the colorspace standard for HDTVs and consumer displays. It is depicted as the triangle below, surrounded by all visible colors of light. If a color falls outside of the triangle, it is considered out-of-gamut and cannot be seen on the display.
Digital cinema cameras (like RED) capture a much wider gamut of color than Rec709 devices can reproduce. In order to view the image properly, some color transformations must take place.
Example
The REDWideGamutRGB colorspace encompasses every color the camera sees, but it appears desaturated on a normal Rec709 device:
REDcolor4 scales up the saturation, but it is unable to reproduce all the colors that were captured by the camera. This eventually can result in clipping image data for out-of-gamut colors:
Using REDWideGamutRGB combined with our REDcolor4 LUT, gamut mapping can be controlled while still achieving a decent level of saturation:
The differences can also be seen on a color chart:
The LUT does not merely increase saturation but instead matches REDWideGamutRGB to REDcolor4 – allowing for more consistency when intercutting footage using both colorspace settings. Learn more about the Camera Profiling process.
Download
You can download the free REDcolor4 LUT here:
www.truecolor.us/downloads/redcolor4-lut/
To work as intended, the source material needs to be set to REDWideGamutRGB / REDlogFilm. The suggested workflow is as follows:
If you have any feedback regarding the LUT, please let us know.