Is Color Grading plugin broken?

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 2:07 AM

PC specs: Win 10 Pro, 13900k, RTX 4090

When working in ACES, Color Grading plugin seems to work in 8 bit:

banding - top left corner crop:

 

banding - RGB parade:

Using Levels plugin works as expected:

 

 

top left corner crop:

 

 

RGB parade - no banding:

 

 

 

Link to 1 sec. of footage (Lumix S5 IIx):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16e-dO-JhlOVqDjmNDR6g0mYKpfjYFNpu/view?usp=drive_link

 

Can someone repro this?

Thanks!

Comments

set wrote on 2/5/2025, 6:09 AM

Try use Color Space ACEScc rather than default ACES.

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RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 6:14 AM

Or if you don't need ACES 32-bit full with view transform set to off.

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 6:58 AM

Try use Color Space ACEScc rather than default ACES.

Makes no difference, I used cct, now cc, and it's the same.

 

Or if you don't need ACES 32-bit full with view transform set to off.

I tried 32 bit full, with Panasonic LUT applied in CG panel...same.

Combination Levels&LUT filter works though.

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:15 AM

You can't use ACES with LUTs. 32-bit full with view transform off plus the CGP should work.

Can you share a screenshot of what's broken with 32-bit full/view transform off? It's showing banding?
Edit: with the footage you shared is this vlog? It seems very bright for the built-in correction LUT.

Last changed by RogerS on 2/5/2025, 7:18 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

Custom PC (2022) Intel i5-13600K with UHD 770 iGPU with latest driver, MSI z690 Tomahawk motherboard, 64GB Corsair DDR5 5200 ram, NVIDIA 2080 Super (8GB) with latest studio driver, 2TB Hynix P41 SSD and 2TB Samsung 980 Pro cache drive, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit https://pcpartpicker.com/b/rZ9NnQ

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VEGAS Pro 21.208
VEGAS Pro 22.239

Try the
VEGAS 4K "sample project" benchmark (works with VP 16+): https://forms.gle/ypyrrbUghEiaf2aC7
VEGAS Pro 20 "Ad" benchmark (works with VP 20+): https://forms.gle/eErJTR87K2bbJc4Q7

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:21 AM

You may need to manually set it to color range full as the metadata may have gotten loss in the conversion to ProRes.

VP 22.239 with 32-bit full (view transform off) and Vlog to Rec 709 conversion in the input LUT tab plus exposure adjustment.

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:32 AM

You can't use ACES with LUTs. 32-bit full with view transform off plus the CGP should work.

Can you share a screenshot of what's broken with 32-bit full/view transform off? It's showing banding?
Edit: with the footage you shared is this vlog? It seems very bright for the built-in correction LUT.

Yes, it's vlog. And yes, it's overexposed. But nothing is clipping.

I wasn't using ACES view transform this time, just "32 bit - full range" pixel format.

 

CGP (lowered gamma)

 

 

Levels + LUT (also lowered gamma):

 

 

Colors are different, yes, but that's of a lesser concern in this particular case.

 

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:33 AM

I do see banding in the sky in both 32-bit full and 8-bit full mode. I don't think this conversion LUT is very good.

If you have another LUT can you add it manually to the CGP and see if you get a better result?

I then removed the CGP and manually opened Graide Color Curves (still in 32-bit full mode) and added a curve for contrast and one for saturation. I don't see any banding.

Last changed by RogerS on 2/5/2025, 7:36 AM, changed a total of 2 times.

Custom PC (2022) Intel i5-13600K with UHD 770 iGPU with latest driver, MSI z690 Tomahawk motherboard, 64GB Corsair DDR5 5200 ram, NVIDIA 2080 Super (8GB) with latest studio driver, 2TB Hynix P41 SSD and 2TB Samsung 980 Pro cache drive, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit https://pcpartpicker.com/b/rZ9NnQ

ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Intel i9-13900H with Intel graphics iGPU with latest ASUS driver, NVIDIA 4060 (8GB) with latest studio driver, 48GB system ram, Windows 11 Home, 1TB Samsung SSD.

VEGAS Pro 21.208
VEGAS Pro 22.239

Try the
VEGAS 4K "sample project" benchmark (works with VP 16+): https://forms.gle/ypyrrbUghEiaf2aC7
VEGAS Pro 20 "Ad" benchmark (works with VP 20+): https://forms.gle/eErJTR87K2bbJc4Q7

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:49 AM

If the LUT tool in the CGP is giving worse results than the LUT Fx for the same LUT that's a problem. I can do some testing tomorrow with slog 3 footage I have and a good LUT.

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:52 AM

You may need to manually set it to color range full as the metadata may have gotten loss in the conversion to ProRes.

VP 22.239 with 32-bit full (view transform off) and Vlog to Rec 709 conversion in the input LUT tab plus exposure adjustment.

It was shot as ProRes in camera, it's a pretty big file. I can't upload that so I just took one second of it and uploaded it to my Google Drive.

 

I do see banding in the sky in both 32-bit full and 8-bit full mode. I don't think this conversion LUT is very good.

If you have another LUT can you add it manually to the CGP and see if you get a better result?

I then removed the CGP and manually opened Graide Color Curves (still in 32-bit full mode) and added a curve for contrast and one for saturation. I don't see any banding.

Use this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QD67ZEPshPtccG3UGe9_L_3fhaa8JLWP/view?usp=drive_link

 

That's Panasonic's official vlog to 709 LUT.

I tried loading that one into CG plugin, it's better than Vegas' one but still banding:

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 7:53 AM

ACES is also looking pretty terrible (footage manually set to Vlog/Vgamut).

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 8:21 AM

ACES is also looking pretty terrible (footage manually set to Vlog/Vgamut).

So I'm not the only one? :)

Thank you, Roger!

RogerS wrote on 2/5/2025, 8:55 AM

I'm curious what's the LUT you are using with the LUT Fx- is it from Panasonic or another source (and if it's freely available do you have a link I could download it from).

Adis-a wrote on 2/5/2025, 9:08 AM

I'm curious what's the LUT you are using with the LUT Fx- is it from Panasonic or another source (and if it's freely available do you have a link I could download it from).

Here it is:

https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/lut/index.html