Snow Leopard Prores 4444 Gamma Shift Nightmare

I've run into a nightmare with significant gamma shifts wrecking a lot of work we're trying to export using the Prores codec and After Effects CS3 (and CS4).
I found this supposed fix, but it has not solved my problems: http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/2009/12/prores-4444-colors-and-gamma-s.html
I appended suggested xml edit to the last line before </MediaCoreQT...> in both CS3 & CS4 files. Same infuriating darker gamma result after both edits.
Scenario: large targa sequence we've been working on for months, established pipeline of compiling the targas in AFXCS3 (OSX 10.5.8), Project Settings/Color Settings/Working Space = none, exporting sequence as Prores 4444, gamma set to automatic. Colour matched targas perfectly.
Now we're trying to use new Macpros we've bought specifically for this job that are run up as 10.6.2. Prores 4444 compiles are now coming out much darker! I've tried the XML edit (both CS3 & CS4), adjusting system gamma to 1.8 from new 10.6 default of 2.2, adjusting legacy gamma setting in project settings, etc... The colour is wrecked!! WTF?!?!?
Really don't want to have to revert to "Animation" settings. Deadline looms. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

I Think (but dont know) that I have found an explanation to this problem.
It has to do with colorsync on OS X (cant talk windows as I dont use that)
Scenario
1) Encode any non-ProRes 4444-source to ProRes 4444 using Compressor(Only encoder able to provide accurate result)
2) Be sure so DISABLE - Final Cut Studio color compatibility in the QT7 Player Preferences
3) Open source.MOV and new output.MOV in Quicktime7 -> Set view of both to half size (So you have overview) and place them next to each other
They should look/be identical
sometimes placing them next to each other will lead you to believe that they are different. If so, place them on top of each other and flip back and forth via the Window menu to make sure that both movies are indeed identical-looking.
4) Open OS X System Preferences
5) Click 'Displays' and select the color tab
Now, toggle through various color profiles. You SHOULD see the colors adapt on BOTH movies.
Create new AE Project and make sure that your Project is set to NOT color-manage your workflow
6) Create new AE composition and drag the Compressor-created ProRes 4444.MOV into it.
7) Add to render queue and select the ProRes 4444 as output.
8) Render out.
9) Open Compressor-created ProRes 4444.MOV and new AE-created ProRes 4444.MOV in Quicktime7 -> Set view of both to half size (So you have overview) and place them next to each other
10) They should look identical but they dont.
11) Open OS X System Preferences (in case you closed it)
12) Click 'Displays' and select the color tab
Now, toggle through various color profiles. You SHOULD see the colors adapt on BOTH movies.
They DONT. They ONLY adapt in the Compressor-created ProRes 4444.MOV not in the AE-created ProRes 4444.MOV
And that even though color-mangement has been turned off.
Turning color-managemen ON will have no different effect that leaving it off. The AE created movie(Color Management set to OFF) WILL not allow being color synced in OS X.
The Expected behavior IS:
1) when color management is set to OFF in the AE project settings and output module that the AE-Created movie would adapt to any color-profile change made within the OS X System Preference, COLOR Panel.
2) when color management is set to ON in the AE project settings and output module that the AE-Created movie would NOT adapt to any color-profile change made within the OS X System Preference, COLOR Panel.
As of NOW... There are no differences between above.
I hope this helps to solve this nuisance !!!
If I have missed something VERY obvious then please disregard my post and tell me what I seeing incorrectly !!!
PS - ON my computer - this last part of my post looks ridiculously small and that even though I have done NO font editing.
I find that posting and editing in this forum is as hard as getting Adobe products to encode correctly

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ProRes 4444 Gamma Shift Elimination on OS X Snow Leopard

Hi....
My workflow is Premiere Pro -> After Effects -> Premiere Pro -> QuickTime 7 (For Controlling purposes)
The following has been driving me nuts:
I load off a Canon5DMKII.MOV file from the card reader to the Hard Drive.
The I transcode that MOV into ProRes4444.
After doing so I open both in the QuickTime7 player.
And they DONT match. (Only if using compressor to transcode(Other Story))
Now I know that all you with the ProRes Codec also have this QuickTime7 preference:
'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' and you (like me probably had it checked)
THIS is what is causing all the havoc.
It is IMPERATIVE that you UN-CHECK that preference BEFORE trans/En-Coding.
And it is IMPERATIVE that you RE-CHECK it after doing so...
Here is the workflow that translates into perfect Color/Gamma display when comparing transcoding to original source
01: Open QuickTime7 and go into Preferences
02: Make Sure that 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' is UN-CHECKED
03: Open Adobe Media Encoder
04: Drag your .MOV into its work area
05:Click the preset to open up all the settings
06: From Format > Select QuickTime
07: Disregard the Preset offered to you in the Preset Drop Down Menu
08: Click the Video Tab and under Video Codec select: Apple ProRes 4444
09: Click Codec Settings and set Gamma Correction to NONE (I have yet to see what this options actually does)
10: You can set the QUALITY slider where ever you like... It has NO effect on the output. Wonder why adobe put it there
11: I trust you know how to set the width, height FR, FT & Aspect to match your output
12: Check 'Render at Maximum Bit Depth' and click the 64 bit radio button (I dont know what it does and adobe as usual provides NO INFO)
13: Click OK to leave the Export Settings
14: Render your movie.
15: Open your original Movie source and the transcoded one in QuickTime Player 7. Put them on top of each other to check colors.
16: You will notice that the gamma doesn't match.... But here comes the rescue
17: Open Quicktime preferences and CHECK 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility'
ET VOILA ----- The match perfectly...
If FAILING to follow above workflow - meaning failing to uncheck 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' before encoding,
your going to get a heart attack before that gamma matches...
NB - You should NOTE... That in step 17 - enabling the 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' does NOT alter the transcoded file,
it alters the Source. Making it darker.
NBB - That preference 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' should NOT have ANY influence (at least to my knowledge) over
how the file is encoded. But it DOES.... Failing to uncheck the 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' will result in a never matching
transcode vs original...
This whole scenario ONLY pertains to the quicktime player ! But then again... That is where a lot of folks WATCH their movies.
At least I do.
Hope this Helps

As I stated only the original MOV will be affected by the 'Enable Final Cut Studio color compatibility' preference.
If one used compressor to convert to 4444 that transcoded file will ALSO be affected by that preference
If one uses other encoder/transcoder like AME or MPEG Streamclip those files will NOT be affected.
I think I know why.....
In the OS X Finder, select your original movie and also one converted to 4444 via Compressor,
hit command-i to open the information window. Below General you will find More Info... Un-hatch the arrow (if not already)
and look at the 'Color Profile'...... property.
It says: HD (1-1-1) when encoded to 4444 via Compressor
It says: (1-1-6) when checking the original coming from the canon
THAT 'Color Profile' property is simply NOT there on Adobe Media Encoder - encoded files.....
Look at the following screen shot....
Seems as if adobes encoder just voids that entry... Or what do I know ?????

Snow Leopard, FCP, AFX & Gamma

Hi all. First of all I'd like to say that I've already googled about this for hours and that I wouldn't post a question on the subject if wasn't on a tight deadline and had already pulled out whatever hair I had left.
We are finishing a project using FCP 7.0.1 running on Leopard on a 2 x 2.66 Dual Xeon.
At the last minute we decided to rent a second Mac Pro to help us with some After Effects rendering. The new Mac is a 2.66 Quad Xeon, newer model (no FW 400 connector). And of course it runs Snow Leopard.
After Effects CS3 has been causing us problems with gamma shifts when rendering on the same (Dual Xeon) machine that runs FCP, but we've sorted them out (activating the "Legacy" option in Project Settings dialog of AFX, a tip from Creative Cow). However, on the new machine the nightmare has begun again, only this time I can't find any solution to the gamma shift.
Footage exported from Leopard FCP (both from the timeline and from the original .mov file using Quicktime Player), after the round trip to the After Effects installation on Snow Leopard (without any effects added), is always darker, whether using ProRes or DVCPRO HD 1080i50 (which is our timeline's codec).
I know Adobe doesn't offer support for CS3 on SL. I also know that the switch from 1.8 to 2.2 might be involved, but I can't figure out how (Apple says the ColorSync utility should make this an invisible, but I've also tried changing to 1.8. in the Display Settings - however this is for display only and obviously doesn't affect the pixel processing in After Effects).
I would like to know if there is ANY solution available or whether we should return the SL machine, install Leopard on it, or buy CS4 (which seems to have its own issues in this area). Needless to say, all the above options except the first one would be a major pain (we're editing nights here...)
Thanks for any help.

I don't know if this is the solution, but it is a solution and I'm jotting this down in case someone bumps into this post while searching.
Do a search for "Adjusting Gamma" in the FCP 7 documentation. Read the whole page.
The workflow using the Animation codec works for me :
1. Export your footage (either from FCP or directly from QT) as DVCPRPO HD 1080i50 (or whatever your native footage is).
2. In Snow Leopard, process the clip in After Effects and make sure you use the Animation codec in the Output Settings (and Upper Field first in the Render Settings). Don't use a color corrected workflow (use "Preserve RGB" everywhere).
3. Still in Snow Leopard, add the clip to a FCP project, right-click on it and export a DVCPRO HD 1080i50 sequence (not using quicktime conversion). You don't need to create a sequence to do this and you don't even have to modify the Gamma value in the clip's properties (although you now can do it, since Animation is an RGB codec).
4. Import the clip back in FCP on Leopard.
You can easily setup a batch process for all this.
Disadvantage: on your SL AFX machine you can't have a precise idea of how the result would look, color-wise, in FCP. I can live with that because I'm only using it for calculations.
But I would be interested in any alternative solution.

Snow Leopard's Default Gamma & Color Correcting for Pre Press in Photoshop CS4

After searching the forums I thought I would start my own thread on this subject.
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I have had success just with Apple's System Preferences for color calibration. I do design and pre press for a number of customers of the various printers I work with. Most of the photos I work with are from digital cameras and are provided by the customer. The only point in the whole process, where the photos get adjusted to have eye pleasing color, when coming off the printing press, is when I work with them.
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I was posing this question about using Gamma 2.2 because if I could color correct for pre press with the 2.2 setting, I could continue to use my old Apple 17" CRT displays and also any web content I create will preview closer in color, on PCs as they will on my Mac. Maybe my review PDFs will view with similar color on my customers PCs if I work with a 2.2 Gamma setting and instead of 1.8. For now I know I will keep my printers happy if I continue to work with a monitor that has a 1.8 Gamma setting and a 6500 color temperature setting. If that must continue to be the standard for pre press, then I will need to get an IPS based LCD monitor that will allow me to adjust in the 1.8 Gamma range while booted in Snow Leopard.

Canon 5D h.264 files to Prores introduces gamma shifts

I can convert these files with QuickTime Player fine. But using the Compressor 3.5 preset for Apple Prores 422HQ Introduces random gamma shifts in the file - when viewed with QuickTime Player or FCP.

Why are you transcoding them in the first place? Doesn't FCP work with H.264 natively?!

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http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/7276/SnowLeopard-ColorsAndContrast.png (1 MB)
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I have what I assume is the same problem. It just started today on my DELL WFP2407 - but remains even when switching to my MacBook Pro's built in screen.
The Dock, Safari, the desktop background - and probably other colour managed applications; all show very pale blue hues with over saturated red. Blue goes towards purple and other colours get muddled and pale. Oddly the Finder displays colours correctly on icons, but not the dock. I took a screenshot of Finder's Safari icon next to The Dock's:
http://www.nuxx.dk/hosting/paledock.png
- Clearly showing significant inconsistency... I just updated to 10.6.1 which didn't change anything.
Needless to say I tried calibrating a new colour profile to no effect, and seeing as the finder itself renders things just fine I'm not sure that's where the issue lies.
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Message was edited by: nuxxie

Problems with Apple ProRes 4444 and alpha channels in Motion 4 after upgrade to Snow Leopard. Has anyone seen this?

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*YET ANOTHER* Prores Gamma Shift Thread

There is a gamma and color shift, rendering Prores4444, 422HQ, 422, LT, and Proxy out of After Effects CC 2014.0.2.
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I followed these instructions to deal with it, but they didn't help:
http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2009/12/prores-4444-colors-and-gamma-s.html
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Setting the "Match Legacy Quicktime" checkbox doesn't help either.
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If I'm going to use Prores, should I render everything with an Adjustment Layer that cancels out the gamma and color shift?
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Eric

This isn't really an answer, but FWIW, I love 10-bit 220 DNxHD; I don't render anything out to ProRes anymore unless a client or subcontractor specifically asks for it. DNxHD is still limited to specific resolutions, but if you're working in HD or FHD, it's pretty great.

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You have to consider the possibility the hard drive may be dying. If your data isn't backed up, try one of the tools below:
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I just want to add that we have the same problem. Fonts seems to gain some additional line spacing for no reason.
They render just fine under 10.5, but when you open the very same file in Snow Leopard, most of text if shifted down.
The font in question is TVNord family.
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Looks like a huge problem with how fonts rendering is handled in Snow Leopard.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2154431&tstart=135&start=15

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I suspect that it's busy trying to mount a network file system of some type.
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Message was edited by: Mike Greener

Open the Speech pane of System Preferences and check whether either the listening key or the speech key has become set to that keystroke; if so, change the setting.
(48871)

Gamma changed in snow leopard

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Snow Leopard changed the monitor's gamma from 1.8 to 2.2. You can use the System/Display preference pane to recalibrate the screen and change the gamma setting back to 1.8.

Things have really changed. I can't understand how Apple could release the Lion OS as buggy as it is ? It's like reliving the nightmare of my PC days and the Microsoft crap ! Do I have to wipe the hardrive before reinstalling Snow Leopard ? Comments..

Things have really changed. I can't understand how Apple could release the Lion OS as buggy as it is ? It's like reliving the nightmare of my PC days and the Microsoft crap ! Do I have to wipe the hardrive before reinstalling Snow Leopard ? The amazing thing is that when I installed Snow Leopard not a hitch, ever ! My trust in Apple is gone and believe me I will think twice before doing anymore OS upgrades, **** I can go back to the PC for a lot less money.

Adios baby! Enjoy that PC!

Snow Leopard Prores 4444 Gamma Shift Nightmare

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