Nope, I'm off to bed.

Ya want me to email you one?

BTW, see my post at the bottom, as you've hinted at mask could well be the answer, the real tricky bit is how you create them. I'm certain it can be done. Closest I've got is CC part of a shot but that was using beziers and that was tedious. In this instance using the MinMax FX in combo with others should enable you to do anything.

Thanks Grazie.
Here is the zipped file with the shots.
http://www.gnomefiles.org/files/vegas/miami.zip
The original.png is the one you should use to try to emulate the mbullet.png (which is what magic bullet does). The eugenia.png is what I have managed so far using contrast, color corrector, Aav6cc and Glow plugins.

Yes please to a still. Thanks Bob.

Yes, I did see your post and part of my invitation to our friend here was to deconstruct the actual look that was being created by MB and get an analogue view/analysis of what may be going on.

And yes, the masking of the thing would be tedious. The MinMax was one of the ways I was going to have go at. But I really want to convince myself that the colour curves are a non-starter first.

I don't give up - well I do, but, for me, this hasn't even got out of the pram yet!!

Grazie

I just updated the ZIP file btw, please re-download (this time the images are shown the same frame). Thanks!

Ah! Well done Eugenia! D/Ling now ..

I'll "have a go" - no promises yeah?

Rgs - g

On timeline and working at as we speak!!

What fun!

Grazie

edit - skype removal

oooh love it . .

G

Hardest part is comping in that MB Logo :)

Grazie,
thanks for your help and input tonight on Skype. You gave me some nice pointers!

Final update, I think this is how close one can go without Magic Bullet. To see the final update check eugenia.png and I also include all the plugin settings:
http://www.gnomefiles.org/files/vegas/miami.zip

At the risk of rushing in where angels etc..... using MB Look Suite, I can see exactly what parameters are applied for the MB Miami look.

In order of application, the things it does are:

Pre-saturation - 10
Pre-contrast -10
White diffusion: Grade 3, Size 3, Highlight bias 70
Gradient (orange) Grade 3, Size 85, Highlight Squelch 15, Fade 50
Post gamma -3
Post contrast +30
Post saturation -10

So basically it dampens down the image (drops saturation and contrast) diffuses it a little, adds an orange gradient, pushes the brightness and contrast on the result a tad and drops the saturation again. Note the diffusion, sat, gamma contrast etc are their own 32-bit implementations.

But the ONLY thing that's really being done to recolor the footage is the orange gradient. Believe it or not.

Now the question is why an orange gradient doesn't look anything like that if you apply one in Vegas....

Mark Christiansen, writing in his AE studio techniques book, describes using a solid or gradient layer above the footage with blending mode set to "Color", and then dial back the opacity to achieve the desired look. It works pretty well in AE, where the Color blend mode apparently takes hue and saturation from the top layer (here Orange), and only the luminance info from the footage.

I'm pretty sure this is the blending that MB applies on its gradient. Vegas doesn't have an equivalent blend mode as far as I can see.

Anyways good luck reconstructing the Miami look. Actually I hate it - more a Berlin kind of guy myself. :-)

>this is the blending that MB applies on its gradient.

Applying the MB plugin on a B&W grandient, I see that it only applies the orange gradient to dark areas, and only on the 2/3s of the image. It leaves the bottom untouched, and it leaves the highlights untouched too. That's the trick. But you can't set this second parameter on vegas (e.g. "apply that gradient to Low/Mid only").

Excellent work Eugenia! Not what I had in mind at all. Much better.

Thanks for posting. I guess my pointers were more along the lines of "what not to do" - LOL!!

Anyways, great "speaking" with you and I am studying your details very carefully indeed.

Grazie

If thats all it is then it's a snap in Vegas.
It's simply a matter of using a mask generated from the luma, use the mask generator FX to create the mask. That'll create a mask for the low/mid level.
Three copies of the media, each on it's own track.
Top track has the Mask FX appied, adjust so the mask only gets created for the low/mid levels.
Track below apply whatever color FX you so desire.
Bottom track, clean, this is for the unaffected highlights.
Make the second track a compositing child of the first, adjust you comp modes to get the right comp and you're set.

To make life easy while twiddling:

Make track 2 green gen media
Make track 3 red gen media.
Once you have the compositing sorted, replace with real media, apply FX to 2nd track, job done.

Bob.

That's very complicated, I wouldn't call it a snap. This is what it would be nice to have instead: http://www.gnomefiles.org/files/vegas/shifter.png

Please try your suggestion though. Original files can be found on the ZIP file above and then upload and link so we can see it. Thanks. Also, please include step by step instructions, I can't create what you suggest.

Bob? I'm having a problem with your shorthand instruction.

I've nearly got it, 'cept my reds a weakened, the sky has gone torq, the stonework has lost its yellowy quality - but the grass is great!

Grazie

OK,
(Bob puts on thinking cap).

As I understand you guys can get the effect you want except you want it to only affect part of the image and that part of the image is detemined by the luma (luminance)?

So we need a way to composite the two copies of the same thing togther based on the luma of them, make sense so far?
So Vegas has a FX, Mask Generator, which create a mask based on the luma.

You put three copies of the media on the T/L.
Track one generate the mask using the Mask FX, track two has the desired FX applied and track three is the clean copy.
Make track 2 compositing child of track 1.
Track 1s comp mode is Mask
Track 2s comp mode Alpha
comp mode between 1 and 2 is alpha
Track 3 is just alpha and it's not a child.

So the idea as the the mask created on track one determines where we see track 2 or track 3. Because the mask gnereator is level based, we can switch between no FX and FX based on the luma of the image.

Am I making sense?

Bob.

I am sorry, I just don't see how this does what we need. I tried it, and if I am doing it correctly, it doesn't do it. Please try it yourself by using the images provided in the ZIP file and the upload your modifications.

Download of project file and assets used are here.

At this stage it does not look identical, however you can use a different FX on the low level part of the image, adjust or change the FX in the clip on track 2.
You can change which part of the Luma range is being affected by adjusting the In-Low and In-High Parameters in the Mask FX in track 2. You can adjust the ease in/out of the FX by adjusting the Gaussian Blur FX in the FX chain in Track 2
You can easily see which part of the image your adjustments will affect by moving the cursor to withing the first 5 seconds on the T/L.
You can compare the MB version with your efforts by moving the cursor to 9 seconds along the T/L.

Bob.

Thanks, I tested it. The oranges/blues are how they should be, thanks! However, no matter what I do, I can't get the green right. When I change the Mask settings to change the mask's grip on the image, it also changes the amount of orange applied. So basically, the green grass must be separated from the building in the mask *without* changing the current orange application on the building. Is this even possible?

Yes the grass looks like it could use a good watering :)

I'd assume the masking can be improved to exclude the grass, it may need a chroma and level based mask, you can stack them I think. I'm not saying I got / could get the exact same result, just that there's an avenue to persue.

If I can ever find the time I'll play around with it some more, just as a learning exercise but don't hold your breath. If you were a paying client and you wanted a specific MB look, guess what'd be included in the cost of the job?

Bob.

I learnt masses from this lesson in Masking - THANKS Bob!

I sent several of my attempts to Eugenia for consideration and would now like to hear from Eugenia exactly what is going to be the way forward? Purchasing Magic Bullet? Not purchasing Magic Bullet? Accept what is possible within Vegas? Paying for 3rd party grading?

Interesting post Eugenia.

Regards,

Grazie