SUPERFLAT preset settings?

ohmayamusic wrote on 4/14/2011, 12:06 PM

Hi!
Trying to create a preset in VMS 10 for a "superflat" style. Looking for help on possible settings to create a good preset ie: sharpness, contrast, saturation etc.

Trying to learn to create a more "cinematic" look for my videos and have been told to create a "superflat" preset to apply to new footage before doing color adjustments, etc.. Have looked around for downloadable presets but have not found any for VMS.
Thanks
Flo

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 4/14/2011, 12:30 PM

There are two things you need to do most of the time:
1. Set your camera to flat.
2. Create the requested preset.

For #1, you must go to your camera's color settings and change the colors there. For example, most cameras have contrast, saturation, and sharpness controls. Bring these controls down to their minimum value. However, consumer camcorders, don't go "flat enough", as dSLRs, or professional cameras like the RED do. So for these cases, you need to bring down contrast saturation in post. There's no need really for a preset, because these are the only two settings you need to tweak in each scene, by using the "Brightness & Contrast" and "Color corrector" plugins. Because each scene is different, it requires different values on these plugins, so it's best to do it in scene by scene basis, rather than blindly apply filters.

Now, I'm reading from your older comments that you have a Canon T2i dSLR. In your specific case, all you need is a Canon-compatible flat picture style. NOT a preset inside Vegas. By using a flat picture style, your image will be flat-enough by the time you bring the footage inside Vegas. That's because dSLRs can go flat-enough, so you don't need to further flatten them inside Vegas.

So, here's my extraflat picture style: http://eugenia.queru.com/2010/01/25/flatting-the-flat-look/ Instructions on how to apply it in your camera can be found on this URL too.