because even a simple levels fx is operating in the log space, not in REC 709

I wonder if that's the wrong way to look at it- that in ACES you're in the ACES color space, not Rec709.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/aces-and-acescc-intro-and-tutorial-for-vegas-pro--100416/

@ALO I think you're right that cgp is not operating in Rec709 color space when it is selected as a view transform. Which functions only for viewing the display. If you really want to edit in Rec709 space, you need to apply the log to the footage via a transcode before edit. In which case it would be easier to have just set your camera to shoot in Rec709. But then you're losing any advantages log shooting might have.

I mean, I guess you could nest a Vegas ACES project in a new project. I'm not saying there aren't times when you want to make tweaks before the log transform, but it seems flat-out crazy to me that Vegas doesn't give you an easy way to control the order of operations if you choose to go the ACES route.

Note that there are obvious advantages to editing in a wide-gamut space (Resolve makes this easy and most pros like to edit this way), but I'm not talking about that. You need to decode your log footage to REC709 (or a normalized gamma) before you can grade it. As far as I can tell, if I put an sLog3 clip on the timeline and flag its colorspace for proper decoding, everything I do from an fx point of view happens *before* that transform.

It's just so discouraging to me that Vegas' developers don't seem to understand even the minimum basics of a modern 10-bit color-managed workflow, and leave it to users to just flounder around with half-implemented features :(

With ACES you are defining the input and then working in a wide gamut space with a SDR or HDR preview so you can see what you are doing, no?

It works with media in any supported color spaces and transforms them into one unified space like ACEScc for correction and grading. From there you output to any desired colour space.

Are you saying that the VEGAS implementation through OpenColor is defective in some way?

If you want to work in Rec 709 apply a Lut at the media level and do grading after that with ACES off.

Well, I tried nesting a 32FR/ACES project inside a new Vegas project. That breaks just about everything. All of the Vegas 32-bit bugs bite with a vengeance, so that's not an option.

This is how things should work:

(sLog3 clip) --> (transform to REC709) --> (fx applied here to grade)

This is how ACES mode seems to be working:

(sLog3 event) --> (fx applied here!) --> (transform to REC709) --> (no way to apply anything here)

I suppose I could reinstall Sony VP 9 to prove a point here, but really...the venn diagram of things you can do in the current Vegas that don't cause fatal problems keeps getting smaller and smaller. I'm building my entire Vegas workflow around expertise in what to avoid

This is how things should work:

(sLog3 clip) --> (transform to REC709) --> (fx applied here to grade)

That somehow defeats the purpose of recording to LOG, you could then record in Rec.709.