Look

The Look tool can be used to apply an OCIO Look or a Colour Decision List (CDL).

You may create a Colour Decision List (CDL) from scratch or import an existing one. You can also export any CDL you created with the tool.

To access the Look tool, open:

Timeline, then add Timeline FX from the Effects ribbon (see Adding Timeline FX).

You can set a default search path for a .cc, .ccc, or .cdl file in a Look Timeline FX. See Automatic Look in Timeline FX.
Timeline, then use Batch FX. See Creating Batch FX.
Batch, then select a node from the Node bin.
The Modular Keyer, then select the node from the Node bin.
Tools, then select from the Look menu.

Applying a Look from an OCIO Config

First, set the Mode menu to Look. Then, from the Look menu, select the Look transform from your OCIO config.

Each Look in an OCIO config specifies a process_space which is the colour space the Look is designed to be applied in. OCIO will convert the incoming colour space to the process space, apply the Look transform, and then convert back to the incoming colour space.

Important: It is essential that your incoming media is tagged with the correct colour space.

Inverting a Look

Click Invert to invert an OCIO Look Transform.

Creating or Applying a CDL

The results of a given set of CDL parameters depends heavily on the colour space in which they are applied. If you receive CDL transforms from someone, make sure you know what colour space they should be applied in so that you may set up the Look tool appropriately.

To change the Colour Space in which the modifications are applied:

Select the colour space from the Look Working Space menu.

Use the Look Working Space menu to convert to a different colour space in order to apply the CDL and then convert back to the original colour space. The node's input must be tagged with the correct colour space for the Flame to know how to do the conversion (for example, it cannot be tagged Unknown). Select the option From Source to apply the CDL without doing any colour space conversion.

To work with CDLs, first select "CDL" from the Mode menu.

To create a CDL, use the following settings:

Offset: Use the colour wheel or the RGB numeric fields.
Power: Use the colour wheel or the RGB numeric fields.
Slope: Use the colour wheel or the RGB numeric fields.
Saturation: Use the numeric field.
Style: Controls the math used when applying the CDL. ASC v1.2 uses the math from the American Society of Cinematographers' Color Decision List specification (version 1.2), which requires clamping values outside [0,1]. Therefore there is a second option, No Clamping, that applies the same math but without clamping values. The exact math for each option are described here.

The default value for the Style setting may be configured in the Preferences Colour Management, with the Default CDL Style button.
Invert: Use to invert the processing of a Look node.

Note: The status of the Invert button is ignored when you export the settings of the Look tool.

To import a CDL:

Click Import and select the .cc, .ccc or .cdl file.

The CDLs corresponding to all CC IDs contained within a multiple CDL file (such as .ccc) are available from the Import Browser. The CDL for the desired CC ID must be selected when the file is imported and a different one cannot be selected from the Look interface without re-importing.

To export the settings of the Look tool:

Click Export.

You export the content of the Look tool as a .cc (colour correction) file.

Automatic Looks in Timeline FX

You can automatically import a .cc, .ccc or .cdl file in a Look Timeline FX by specifying an import path in Preferences Colour Management Media-Relative Look Search Path.

Defining paths in Media-Relative Look Search Path:

Multiple paths can be defined, but must be separated by a colon.
A path can be absolute (/usr/tmp/CDL) or relative to the media (../CDL).
The first defined path has priority, and is selected by default.

When you apply a Look Timeline FX:

If a .cc, .ccc file or .cdl file is found in one of the paths defined in Media-Relative Look Search Path, it is automatically imported and applied.
When importing a file, the application first tries load a file with a name that matches the name of the timeline segment. If there is no match, the first .cc, .ccc or .cdl file available in the path is used.

Importing CDL Information from EDL or AAF

Flame can handle the CDL information that is part of an imported EDL or AAF sequence.

To convert ASC CDL information into Look Timeline FX when importing a sequence:

AAF: Enable MediaHub AAF & XML Import Options Convert CDL to Look.
EDL: Enable MediaHub EDL Import Options Convert CDL to Look.

Once you've enabled Convert CDL to Look, a Look Timeline FX is created for those segments with ASC CDL data. And a Segment Marker is added to a segment when the Look Timeline FX fails to be created because its CDL values are invalid.

To convert ASC CDL information into comments when importing a sequence

AAF: Disable MediaHub AAF & XML Import Options Convert CDL to Look.
EDL: Disable MediaHub EDL Import Options Convert CDL to Look.

With Convert CDL to Look disabled, the CDL information is copied to segment comments, no longer creating a Look Timeline FX.

Tangent Panel Support

You can use the Tangent Element panel to modify the Look node settings, including the settings in the Timeline FX Ribbon.

With the Tangent Element panel, you can:

Add a Look Timeline FX from the Action's second page.
Exit the Look Timeline FX editor.
Modify the Offset with the left trackball. Use the outer ring to proportionally modify it.
Modify the Power with the middle trackball. Use the outer ring to proportionally modify it.
Modify the Slope with the right trackball Use the outer ring to proportionally modify it.
Modify the Saturation with the top right knob on the knob panel.
Reset using the standard buttons on the panel.
Undo or Redo using the standard buttons on the panel.