How does the Vegas CG define shadows / mids/ highs?

Mindmatter wrote on 2/28/2025, 3:50 PM

Hi all
one thing that keeps me from grading withg the Vegas CGmpanel more often is the inability to define the thresholds between shadows, mids and highlights. This is perfectly possible in Colorfast 2, including the spread and blend, which is brilliant.
So I'm just wondering if Vegas uses some standard ( IRE?) values to draw the lines between these values? Wouldn't it make more sense to be able to tweak them depending on your footage?

Comments

RogerS wrote on 3/1/2025, 5:09 AM

Try dropping the media generator for a gradient on the timeline and see how the 3 way color corrector and relative color wheels affect the image. The latter lets you set thresholds.

bvideo wrote on 3/1/2025, 12:03 PM

Yes, there are two styles for color wheels, selectable as tabs in the CGP. "Color Wheels" uses a fixed standard crossover point and slope between lift, gamma, & gain. The "RL Color Wheels" lets you adjust crossover points between shadows, mids, & highlights. The crossover slopes are, I believe, fixed and much steeper.

As @RogerS says, you can use a gradient to study the effects of those wheels. You can just look at the preview or you can use one of the "video scopes" (View->Window->Video Scopes, or ctrl-alt-2) to show graphically how the colors are affected. A dropdown mini-menu in the video scopes lets you choose among various representations, or "scopes".

The CGP does not offer keyframes, but allows separate application at the event or track level. Some of the other color correcting effects do offer keyframes.

@Mindmatter I'm sure you are already aware of these tools. I thought it's a good question to give a rough outline for anyone else to come across.

Mindmatter wrote on 3/1/2025, 7:32 PM

Very good info, thanks to both of you.