Glad to see so many have found my tutorial for Streaming Media Producer to be useful. Have a look around on the SMP site for other videos we've produced using Vegas Pro, and if anyone has suggestions for new topics let me know. Always looking for ideas.

David? I can't swap in Blue for a "blah" sky? The Highlight RED Mask shows and I choose a nice pale blue, but nothing appears? Yes I followed your Tute on the Pier . . . . I do have further feedback about your tute too.

Grazie

Grazie, did you notice the little checkboxes at the bottom of each highlight/midtone/shadow section to activate correction in the masked areas? I was cursing NB during my trial because nothing worked...and then, oh, never mind.

Edward had a go with my sample of "sky" and it was too far gone. I've now tried with a a more info-rich sky and it has come out gorgeous.

Thanks for taking an interest - and thanks to Edward.

G

Where is it hiding? I activated it with my magic number, but I can't find it in Vegas.

Look under third party effects.

"Colour Curves.

I've been doing most of my colour correction with curves for a while, adding the secondary color corrector where necessary. You get lots of control with curves, but in Vegas they're SO FIDDLY! I wish they could improved in Vegas, or someone come up with a plugin that has more user-friendly curves.

I agree Nick, the color curves plug can be extremely handy but it's very bare-bones. It could be great if they spiced it up a bit.

Enerjex: " . . . but it's very bare-bones. "

Yeah, I suppose that's a case of CCurves revealing that "LESS really is, er . . . LESS" - here we have a case of a little MORE would be FAB! - Welcome to the Creative World of ColorFast . . . .

Will I still use CCurves? Yes. Would I go to it and rather CF first? Now? Eh, hard call folks. CF has given my a peek into what CAN be. MBL was to much up its ***** finally to be of value now. Haven't used it since . . er . . . anyways. Fred's Colour Corrector is still marvellous and I'll be using it as a first call on the "What's Going on 'ere GRAZIE??!?!" situations. CCurves falls into that realm of knowing what way is "UP".

Cheers

Grazie

"You get lots of control with curves, but in Vegas they're SO FIDDLY! "

They sure can drive you crazy
Like you I wish SCS would FIX THINGs instead of adding new things, some of which wouldn't be needed if they fixed or enhanced what was already there. Not that Adobe are any better, between PPro and AE I lose count of how many different colour correctors and keyers are to be found.

Bob.

I haven't used Eyeon's Fusion for a while (since version 4 I think) but its six-vector color corrector was my all-time favorite for a plugin. Individual gain/pedestal/gamma on RBG and CMY plus overall g/p/g. The subtle corrections you could get felt like working in a vintage DaVinci suite. AAV Colorlab tries to get there, but the results seem harsh to me, perhaps in the way the vectors overlap. If their approach was refined a bit, I think it could be a very good grading tool.

I cannot even remember which CC tool that I got the "LE" version of with AE CS 5.5 but it sounds very similar. You can do CC in different ways all within the one plug that also has its own 'scopes. Also, it has familiar controls such as Pedestal etc and works with control surfaces.

Problemo I have with all this is, it's another craft unto itself. Sure I can spin some dials and make a shot tell a different story however doing the same through hundreds of shots to get a scene to hang together as part of a larger story is not only a considerable amount of work but requires a lot of experience and planning. Plus it's helped considerably by the footaging being lit and shot with consistancy.

Which brings me to another realisation. Creating footage with the look to die for starts with a cohort of crafts all working togther. Costume, set, lighting and makeup design are all tested with camera to achieve the desired look. That is where a lot of money goes. Certainly the 14th coat of wax in the colour grading is vital but even before that happens it looks pretty impressive out of the camera.

Bob.

Meanwhile, Bob, I'm pushing cuts together and being creative. Love it.

Grazie