SpeedGrade needs ...

Let's see ... ability to run on everything from a Commodore 64 or Windows 3.11 to the latest Mac, Win, & Linux OS, 32-bit floating point handling 6k Log-S footage with 4 LUTs and warp-stabilization plus multiple key-framed tracked grading masks in real-time playback on even a tablet or smartphone. That about do it?
Now ... for a more realistic look ... how about ...
1) A clear, concise, and blatantly up-front explanation of the difference between DL and Native processing, including workflow ramifications. (Preferably leading the Help menu items.)
2) Clear, easy to find instruction set for using any of the tools and bits of the interface, with separate instructions for how they work DL or Native.
3) Yea, the ability to get a bit more color contrast into the UI ...
4) Full masking functions working as expected, including tracking key-frames.
Optional, but nice ...
5) Full implementation of DNG file operation for cameras that use this.
6) More RAW formats as again, there are more cameras coming down the pipe with this.
7) Less jargonese in the export settings for Native mode.
If the first four were the ONLY list of things "completed" in SpeedGrade development this year, wouldn't that be really enough for most of us? And note, there are only two things that would require further development of the software itself, and they're in my 3 & 4 slots.
1) In my personal experience, participation on this & the PrPro boards here on Adobe, and in Creative Cow, Personal View and several others ... the biggest problem most people have coming into SpeedGrade these days isn't even the rather minimalist menu bar. It's the totally different operation of Sg within a DL process. I've had quite a few people that post they've tried it, and ... NOTHING works! They're frustrated and ticked off, there's not much in the way of menu options and most of them are grayed out, there's no obvious reason for this ... and with typical frustrated impatience common to the human species they are ready to simply dump it and go elsewhere. There seems to be an expectation that either people will be patient and puzzle out the vastly different operation to any progam they've ever seen and hunt down the blog posts and other odd places where the explanation for the DL process and all the implications thereof exist in bits & pieces. Which seems a rather bizarre expectation to me. That's why some explanation of the DL process needs to be with an obvious listing of the tool-set of Sg that's available as a MENU item ... ALWAYS there, and very easy to find without needing to search the internet ...
As a user who started in CS6 the "link" even then was an intriguing but different operation. The "full" implication of that into the CC model was very welcome, it's by FAR my favorite way of working, yet ... I still had to puzzle out a lot of things. I'll simply mention that I was the one who found that ... in the Original CC ... there was NO Auto-save in DL operation, which wasn't mentioned anywhere in any of Adobe's comments, blog-posts, or anything. Quite a shock to find this in the typical way one finds that auto-save settings one has very intentionally set ... don't save. There are still many things not really explained that we users just have to find our way through.
2) This one seems obvious. Just as obviously, it isn't ... obvious ... and considering the poor understanding of the CC model of operation listed in 1) above, this is a double-whammy in full force. The complete and total anger that I've received simply as a user trying to explain Sg's operation to others both here and elsewhere has been quite an eye-opener to me.
3) 'Nuff said on this elsewhere; actually, everywhere. I'm hoping this will get taken care of and sooner is better ...
4) Considering that once one gets past 1) and 2) above and starts using this program, well ... key-framed & tracked masks are such a staple of the colorist tool-set that finding that first you need to keep simple shapes as complex shapes get ... complicated ... as to whether or not they'll work ... and second, even if it "works" without say, showing up 300 pixels left of where they're supposed to be or something ... on many machines it can nearly bring Sg to a halt. Machines which run Ae with tracking without issue. So ... stable and fully operable masking is the next thing I get "hit" with quite frequently.
Optional but nice ...
5) Full DNG implementation. This is incredibly puzzling to many ... DNG is an Adobe creation, yet ... Sg has very limited ability to work with DNG footage, and for those it does, it's not always clear how to do so ... nor do the results always seem logical. This would require some engineering of the software, no doubt.
6) I don't have anything shooting 6k, RAW, LOG, or such. But clearly many do these days. And considering the steep discounting of some of these cams this winter, many more will be soon in the hands of users. And although supposedly it doesn't matter what format/codec the footage is in DL mode, not everyone wants or can stay DL all the time. If Sg isn't destined for just a fancier plug-in status for PrPro than say the Fast Color Corrector, this should have some attention. Or ... simply say that there's no intention for Sg to be a serious stand-alone colorist tool, and for that go to Resolve or something.
7) There are still times when most anyone needs to export through Sg in Native mode. The export terminology there totally reflects the "past" of this program where the only people using it were total video production geeks. There doesn't need to be any change of the program at all here, it really is very capable. However, very few people these days can look at the options listed and have a clue what most of it means for their export. Simply changing terms and nomenclature ... and offering hover-over and other explanatory bits would be a major upgrade in the usability of this program. Again ... taking no developer time whatever, past hovering text coding which seems rather a simple thing ...
Ah ... well, Merry Christmas every one!
Neil

And actually, as far as 7) goes, perhaps there could be some way to utilize AME for export, though it might take a ton of re-coding time for the Sg & AME teams, which I'd rather avoid. Though having all exports Adobe DVA apps go through AME for export would be nice, and perhaps a bit clearer.
Neil

Similar Messages

Send to Speedgrade dpx workflow only converts about half of the timeline

I am using RED footage (and some QT stock) and sending this footage from Premiere CC to Speedgrade using dpx files.
(I can't use EDL because of multiple resizes/reframes throughout the project, so please don't consider that as an option)
I have split the 100 minute project into 5 20-minute reels, each with its own Premiere sequence.
When I send a sequence, the Speedgrade file is created as well as the folder structure for the dpx's. This all seems perfect.
The problem is that Premiere does not fill all of the dpx folders. It leaves about half of them empty and skips to other folders.
This seems random and I cannot see any pattern as to what would cause this. The error is repeatable in that each export of a given sequence yields the same empty folders.
The Premiere sequences play just fine in Premiere.
Premier gives no errors when exporting. It appears to finish successfully, but just skips certain areas.
In Premiere I've tried batch disabling/enabling clips as well as duplicating sequences and cutting/pasting the clips into the duplicate sequence.
Any help would be apprecited - the lack of options is frustrating.

Hello Epasc, I am also a newbie to speedgrade, and honestly I am still trying to see if it is actually 100% usable for my needs. (very simple ones..)
anyway what is happening to you happened also to me in a little different way, the clips that were missing where at the end of the timeline and not in the middle.
We then found out that it was a problem with the Hard Disk not having enough GB available for all the dpx files that Speedgrade needed to create to complete the task. ( for a 9 minutes shortmovie shot on 5dm2 it created a 60gb folder with the DPX inside it , so if you're working with R3D material, it must be way more than that )
if your hard disk has already a lot of GB available, then this is not your case.
check it out. if it is already full ( I am talking about the Hard Disk containing the DPX and SG project folder ) that may be the problem
Cheers from Italy

SpeedGrade Surprise

Since there isn't a Sg forum, I guess this is the place for questions.
I just opened Sg, and played around for a while. Later, I look in my Pr project folder, and I see SEVENTY GIGABYTES of DPX files (image sequences) in a folder called "Pr Sequence name SG Media." This is over double the file size for my original ProRes4444 media for the whole project.
So, my question is: Are you kidding me?
SpeedGrade needs to duplicate all my footage in order to do it's voodoo?
I think I just discovered a good reason to never open Sg again, and do all my color work in Ae (where I've been doing it for years).
[Title edited for content]

Guys
Its very standard to work with intermediates in high end CC workflows.
The DPX is a very robust DI (digital intermediate) and once CC/ graded it can be taken (conformed back to) Compositors , AEFX, PremPro etc... for mastering.
It needs consideration and planning to how one uses the DI and at what stage in the Post .
Workflow in Resolve, SG etc are maybe not suited to a desktop workflow where everything is done at one time in one place.
Example.
Usually, I prefer to select takes, edit them (Premiere) and lock it down in an edit .
Then , from the EDL, Resolve will CC/grade to the clips with handles (100 frames).
The DI is then conformed in the edit suite of choice ( eg Flame, Smoke, Premiere...) and the finishing work is done ( grafix, fx, audio, etc...)
Master out from there.
Some people grade there rushes ( dailies) then edit those and tweak them in the edit suite,
Some CC grade a finished compiled edit with transitions etc...(Resolve can deconstruct and reconstruct for this)
...but all use the DI workflow somewhere.

Grading over a transition imported from Premiere Pro

Anyone out there have a simple, fast and relaible way to deal with grading over a cross dissolve imported from Premiere Pro?
How do you (can you) dissolve from one grading layer to another over the transiton clip? I have been having no luck at all with the dissolve feature in SpeedGrade.
If anyone from Adobe is out there listing, SpeedGrade needs a drag and drop cross dissolve effect / tool like Premiere.
Working on longer pieces with multiple cross dissolves - SpeedGrade almost becomes useless!
When can we expect a proper upgrade to SpeedGrade that will bring it in line with Premiere and After Effects?
Cheers.

Unless you turned on proofing, that would have no effect whatsoever.
It sounds like the root problem is that color managed applications are having problems displaying the color you expect - which means that you expect something unrealistic, or that your display profile doesn't match your actual display.

With the new premiere upgrade, does one need speedgrade

If you haven't watched the videos on the new Premiere, I suggest you do it. Most of the updates have to do with coloring, and it looks flat out amazing. I am still on trial and I came from Final Cut. I'm trying to decide to get the whole package for 50 a month or premiere for 20 a month. I already have the 10 dollar a month photoshop. This would save me 20 bucks a month. I am not going to use any of the other apps. I use Logic Pro for recording music, I wouldn't use audition. I am a photographer mostly but I know enough about video as a hobbyist in video to make it look halfway decent.
When I looked at the new features, I seen it has the lumetri scopes like speed grade, the same looking color wheels, film stocks, a panel similar to lightroom or speed grade when it comes to saturation and all of that, basically sliders.
I don't know if I'm allowed to post links in this forum, but google it and watch the video on it. I realize there is a lot speed grade can do that still won't be in here. But for a basic person like me, that is using speed grade to just do basic grades, nothing technical, this appears to have everything I use in speed grade. I am amazed they put that much stuff in one update. It even has simple things, like the type of vignette you can do in lightroom.

I understand that, as in some may still need SpeedGrade for specific things, however, when looking at the new premiere, it seems those specific things would be complex things that I don't do. I'll give an example, if you see what Colorista iii does, that's about as far as I know how to take color grading. It looks to me like the new premiere will have those features colorista has. Which is basically like Speed Grade but maybe not quite as complex.

SpeedGrade CS6 and CC AppCrash analysis needed

Hello,
Last week I was fighting through repeated SpeedGrade crashes when trying to apply a custom-saved Look to a Grading layer. A single click or attempt to move the layer immediately generated a crash.
I thought that my machine was hitting 100% usage, but task manager never showed that to be the case. I re-opened the project several times, even tried a new project and could not do a single thing with the layer before the program crashed.
I dumped all the temp files, upgraded to CC, and same thing. Finally, I believe I trashed preferences and deleted all my local CrashDump files and managed to get through the project and export without any further crashes.
Trying to find out if this is a common occurance and if there's any tips/tricks to alleviate crashes similar to this.
Thank you.
Error info (one with CS6 and one with CC):
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: SpeedGrade.exe
Application Version: 2012.7937.86.0
Application Timestamp: 5057fbc0
Fault Module Name: SpeedGrade.exe
Fault Module Version: 2012.7937.86.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 5057fbc0
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0000000000071fe7
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: b41b
Additional Information 2: b41bdb1ea5267410657248be824716ee
Additional Information 3: 9414
Additional Information 4: 9414d421a1e6638d4fb8e3d892dea8ec
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: SpeedGrade.exe
Application Version: 7.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 51712f10
Fault Module Name: SpeedGrade.exe
Fault Module Version: 7.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 51712f10
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 000000000037eab1
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 6bbf
Additional Information 2: 6bbf910ce08d255622cde8cd47b109bc
Additional Information 3: fc3a
Additional Information 4: fc3aae94456c423e7d543e8592361cef
File info from MediaInfo:
Complete name : Uncompressed8bit.mov
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID: qt
File size: 8.19 GiB
Duration: 1mn 57s
Overall bit rate: 597 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-24 17:48:27
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-24 16:50:39
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
©TIM : 00:00:09:12
©TSC: 24000
©TSZ : 1001
Video
ID : 1
Format : YUV
Codec ID : 2vuy
Duration: 1mn 57s
Bit rate mode: Constant
Bit rate : 597 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:2
Compression mode : Lossless
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 16.000
Stream size : 8.19 GiB (100%)
Machine specs:
Windows 7, 64-bit
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
16GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
Graphics clock: 810 MHz
Processor clock: 1620 MHz
Memory Clock: 1600 MHz (3200 MHz data rate)
Total available graphics memory: 4095MB
Dedicated video memory: 1024 GDDR5
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 3071 MB

Thank you for sending the .look files. We'll have a look at them.
According to your forum post you have the following machine specs:
Windows 7, 64-bit
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
16GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 440
What exact computer model (laptop/workstation) is it ?
If it's a laptop it's possible that default graphics settings has to be changed.
Please try the following:
- Open nvidia control panel
- Check which settings was applied to Speedgrade
If the setting was set to 'integrated' chosse 'use Nvidia card' (high performance) instead
Hope this helps.
Dennis

Need help with PPro & Speedgrade link - render does not match results

Hello! My problem in a nutshell is that the color correction applied using the speedgrade link once exported does not match the preview montor results in PPro by a fairly large margin.
Process:
Source is AVCHD 60p 28mbps
New sequence to PPRo
Direct link to Speedgrade
Color correct
Send back to PPro
Timeline monitor in PPRo shows correct color correction results from speedgrade
Select and export the timeline (no extra effects added)
Tried MFX 100 Intra, and basic h.264 150mbps MP4
Both rendered out file with incorrect gamma, mushed colors, and missing blacks correction.
Imported both files back into PPro and compared the source montor to the original timeline monitor and they do not match up.
Then I tried exporting directly to a TIFF sequence, and the TIFFs render out with the correct speedgrade look...
So something in the middle of the process in the media encoder is messing up!
Bug probably? Anyone else experiencing this? Are you checking your output results?
-David

Here you go, for the h.264, which is what I normally use.
The visible differences were for example a purple pillow in the shot has its blacks and definition, once exported the purple turns to mush, no blacks and loss of definition, like a bad gain setting.

FAQ: Do I need a special graphics card to run Adobe SpeedGrade?

The Lumetri Deep Color Engine is entirely GPU-accelerated and will run best on a system with a single GPU with at least 1GB of VRAM. The more powerful your GPU, the better SpeedGrade CC will perform. See the tech specs for more information on supported graphics cards.

Hi,
The following link is the specs of your computer:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03924124&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=6988375#N35...
the Intel 4600 can support 2 monitors, one VGA and one DVI. I don't know why the specs did not mention this. You can always try before going out to buy a video card.
Regards.
BH
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Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

Speedgrade - Rectangle appears over footage in Premiere after direct link

I am using Speedgrade via direct link from Premiere, with a timeline that consists of a video track with all of my clips, another track containing adjustment layers, and a top track containing a .PNG file of a black letterbox.
Problem: After applying primary and secondary color adjustments in Speedgrade (no masks) I return to Premiere. If I hide the top track which contains my .PNG letterbox, a mysterious RECTANGLE appears over my footage. This rectangle is even present in clips that haven't been graded yet.
I have included a picture to illustrate my point.
System Specs:
- Intel Mac OS 10.9.2
- NVIDIA Quadro4000 GPU
- Premiere 7.2.1
- Speedgrade 7.2
- Editing with .R3D files from Red Epic Camera

**UPDATE
This problem may not be a result of speedgrade. Instead, I'm wondering if it's more of an issue within Premiere. I noticed that the rectangle is caused by my adjustment layer that is sitting directly above my main video track. As a test, I found several clips that were sitting below one adjustment layer. I applied a three-way color correction effect to the adjustment layer, and gave it a severe blue tint. One would expect the adjustment layer to effect the entire image on every underlying clip, but instead it only applied to a small rectangle within those clips. As I scrub through the timeline, the rectangle moves around and changes size. Then I realized that each clip had different amounts of scaling and positioning. So this mysterious rectangle seems to be caused by the scaling and positioning of the underlying clips. My adjustment layer is sized to the resolution of my 2K timeline. However, each clip is 5K, scaled to fit. So perhaps I need to make my adjustment layer the same exact size of my underlying clips?
As a test, I scaled my adjustment layer and noticed that if I increase the size by .01, the mysterious rectangle immediately jumps to fill the entire image. Weird.
Another weird thing to point out, referencing my original post: The image of the girl has NO color correction applied to it, and the same goes for the adjustment layer above it. However, there is still a rectangle present. This clip has a small amount of rotation applied, and the rectangle is also rotated, leading me to believe the problem is because of a scaling difference between the adjustment layer and clip. But still, WHY would there be a rectangle there when there is no color correction applied???

Mac Pro 6,1 STILL having issues with Open CL (4K scaling and SpeedGrade direct link grades)

I've seen the staff responses to the issues of the new Mac Pro GPU saying that 10.9.4 fixes everything. For me, it has fixed my export issues, so I'm glad. I'm no longer getting lines and artifacts on my renders.
That's great.
However, I'm still having several issues, and they seem to be linked to Adobe and Open CL.
Here's a video that shows what's going on:
mac pro issues july 7 - YouTube
Issue #1
Like most of you probably, I'm doing 1080p exports of most things I'm working on. The first project shows a 1080p timeline with a mix of 4k, 5k, and 720p footage. Because zooming in so much on a 720p file in a 4k timeline looks so crappy, I'm doing 1080p timelines and scaling everything to the size it needs to be. I started in a 4k timeline then switched to 1080p because the 720p footage looked so terrible. However, in the 4k timeline, I didn't have any of the issues I'm showing in this first part of the video.
When I switched to the 1080p timeline, I discovered a weird quirk: When I resize the 4k (or 5k) footage to the size it needs to be (which varies based on the frame I want), it goes back to the 100% view when I'm scrubbing through it. When I pause, the size of the video goes back to the way I set it. I show this in the video. Then I show what was my working solution for the time being: "scale to frame size", which brings all the videos to the size of the sequence frame size and works fine. Later, I turn off OpenCL in premiere and when I scrub through the video, it doesn't zoom back in or only stay at the size I set when stopped. For some reason all of these issues only happen at 50% scale or smaller. It doesn't happen at, say, 60%.
I've tested this with raw R3D files and other 4K (or 5K) clips (even clips exported from After Effects) and the same thing happens. It doesn't seem to happen with 2.5k footage or 1080p footage.
Issue #2
This is the second project you'll see in the video.
After grading in speedgrade (through direct link) I open my project back up in premiere and start playing it back. The video plays back with delays and frame drops. Now normally, this would be expected. But this is 1080p pro res footage, and this is just an effect added, and the yellow bar appears indicating that open CL should be accelerating the playback and it should do so smoothly.
Maybe I was just wrong in assuming that a simple grade from speedgrade would be able to playback smoothly. I turn off the grade, and it plays normally.
But then, when I turn off open cl and leave the grade on, the video plays back without ANY issues.
So to me, it seems I'm still having issues with Open CL and adobe. I've found fixes that make it work temporarily, I don't need that kind of answer. However, I would like this to work. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Something I need to do to get this to work?
Here are my specs:
Mac Pro 6,1 (Late 2013)
3 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon E5
64 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 ECC
AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB (x2)
OSX 10.9.4
Firmware: 2.20f18
What you're seeing is latest version of Premiere (CC 2014, v8.0.0 [169] Build)
Everything here is ProRes 422, running from a Promise Pegasus2 R4 RAID (drives: 4x Seagate Desktop HDD 4 TB SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST4000DM000) (that's thunderbolt 2).
I've done everything: I've restarted my computer hundreds of times, I've reset NVRAM and PRAM and done power cycles.
This isn't just some issue that started with 10.9.3 of OSX, the 4k issues happened when I first switched to a 1080p sequence back in February (2014) or so, which means it was an issue even with 10.9.2 and the previous firmware release.
I've reported this issue to adobe.

That crash appears to be casued by the Facebook plug-in.
Create a new account (systempreferences -> accounts or Users & Groups on 10.7 and 10.8), make a new Library in that account, import some shots and see if the problem is repeated there. If it is, then a re-install of the app might be indicated. If it's not, then it's likely the app is okay and the problem is something in the main account.

Premiere, After Effects, Speedgrade, Media Encoder and... the dynamic link

My feeback after working with the dynamic link these days. Basic project. Editing, color correction, animated titles.
I'm using a 3.5Ghz iMac 24GB Ram and a GTX 780 4GB. (2014 versions & last updates).
Rendering the timeline in Premiere is sometimes extremly slow (with AE comps). Need to quit and reload the project to get a good speed.
Too long delay of refresh for the AE compositions inside Premiere (with the dynamic link). Need to go in AE then back to Premiere to get the refresh.
When i export to media encoder i need sometimes to save then send it 2 or 3 times to get the last edits in the export.
Even worse with the AE compositions. If i change something in AE then export from Premiere i need to quit and reload Media Encoder to get the last changes.
Really fast export from Premiere to Speedgrade and from Speedgrade to Premiere.
But !!! Lumetri fx is not compatible with AE. And Speedgrade doesn't support BlackMagic but only this nVidia Sdi thing.
And why we could not export h264 from AE anymore ???
Quiet disappointing :-(

Using Premiere Pro CC 2014.0.1 (build 21) and Media Encoder 2014.0.1 (build 8.0.1.48) on OS X 10.8.5
If I Export a video from Premiere, I can continue using Premiere, but if I Queue an export, returning to Premiere produces the beach ball of death. If I give it time, the beach ball goes away and the arrow returns, but trying to click anywhere in Premiere simply returns the beach ball. There is nothing to be done but Force Quit Premiere. I can leave Premiere and run any other application, but if I leave to execute the Media Encoder queue, I cannot return to Premiere and use Premiere. I can visit Media Encoder (call it to the foreground) and return to Premiere after the queue is done.
My current workaround is to use Export from Premiere and not use Queue from Premiere.

How do I integrate SpeedGrade into my Photoshop workflow?

This will likely sound insane, since SpeedGrade is obviously geared toward video projects, and Photoshop toward processing of still photos, but please hear me out.
I love Photosop CS6, and my absolute favorite new feature is the Color Lookup adjustment layer. So far, I've been extremely happy with the effects I've been able to pull off by combining that with other adjustment layers, channel work, etc.
However, I've gotten to the point where I realize that my next step -- much like a user who graduates up from using actions he/she downloads off of DeviantArt -- is to make my own color lookup tables. The only tool at my disposal for this is SpeedGrade. (I have a CS6 cloud membership -- off topic, but way to go, Adobe, that made it feasible for me to "graduate" from only having Photoshop CS5.1 to having the full suite at a very reasonable price!)
I've used SpeedGrade on video clips I've shot with my Canon 5D MkII to great effect. Nothing I'd post publicly yet (I'm still learning how to shoot motion), but I considered the results to be very positive. I've managed to save several test .look files, as well, both on video footage and still images (JPGs, to be specific).
I always shoot RAW, and my usual workflow is to start in Aperture (I'm a Mac user), do some basic RAW adjustments, then export a 16-bit PSD and get down to the real work in Photoshop. SpeedGrade doesn't yet seem to support PSDs natively, so in order to create a .look which is appropriate for my image, it currently looks like I need to export a JPG (down to 8-bit sRGB, ugh) from Photoshop, then open THAT in SpeedGrade, do my work, save my .look, go BACK into Photoshop, and use the .look file there.
I could live with that if -- IF -- the .look file actually gave me my expected results. However, the only time the .look behaves exactly the same in Photoshop as it does in SpeedGrade seems to be if I open the image as a JPG -- thus losing all my layers, adjustments, smart objects, etc. When I apply any of my .look files to a PSD, they come entirely too dark, every time. Many of them have simply turned an image into a large 22 megapixel black rectangle.
So my question is this: How do I make a SpeedGrade .look file behave predictably in Photoshop, in a 16-bit-per-channel PSD file? I'm OK with changing the color space if I have to (even if it's to sRGB, the bane of my existence) -- but I need to see the same thing in SG that I do in PS. Is this possible today, or am I waiting on the next SG release? Or, and I assume this to be the case -- as I'm a software engineer by trade, and know that this is almost always the case! -- is this a case of user error? And if so, what can I do to correct my user error?
Or, sacriligious as it may seem since I have all of Adobe's tools, are there other Mac-based products I can use to create color lookup files compatible with Photoshop?
In case it matters, here's my platform:
Canon 5D MkII, latest firmware, always shoot RAW
Apple Aperture 3.2.3 (sorry, Adobe, but ... y'know.)
Mac OS 10.7 (late 2011 MacBook Pro 17", 16 GB RAM)
Adobe Creative Suite 6 Cloud Subscription (photo, illustration, video tools installed; no Flash nor web tools)

Speedgrade does some funny things converting the image encoding with video, jpegs, exr files, etc.
Unfortunately, I never found documentation of exact what they do with each input format.
Sometimes they seem to convert the image data to linear (gamma 1.0) before processing, and sometimes they leave it alone.
So, it is possible, if you can figure out the rules that SpeedGrade is using, and if you can figure out all the controls in SpeedGrade.
As you may have noticed, that is not an application for a casual user :-)
Also, Photoshop only uses the color part of the .look - not the blurring or vignetting stuff that SpeedGrade can also do.
Now, I'd keep at it -- it took me about a week to learn the basics of SpeedGrade (even if I didn't figure it all out).
But in the end, I wrote my own tools to create most of the color lookup presets that ship with Photoshop CS6 (because it was easier in some cases, and because no tool existed to do what I wanted in a few cases).
Yes, before you ask, I'm trying to figure out ways to make my tools more user friendly so we could include them in Photoshop.

Speedgrade cc 2014 color wheel not showing an outer ring

This is probably a very basic question but how do you get the outer rings of the color wheels in speedgrade cc 2014 to appear?

Thanks for that. If I were running the Adobe code shop, the speed grade team would have received an "Aw ****". They fixed something that wasn't broke and in the process they broke it. In that now all the documentation and training videos are wrong. What is even more perplexing is that in their interface they have two other methods for doing the same thing. They could have created the new method and kept the old method for backwards compatibility. Instead of having to explain the loss of a well understood interface to existing loyal users, they could have presented a new choice.
That software development team needs to go back to the bush league. They made a newbie mistake.

Blackmagic Resolve and Speedgrade On the Same System?

I'm looking at building an educational color correction lab that would need to run both Resolve and Speedgrade CS6. It has become problematic with budget cuts in California to build a more robust machine. *(Tesla; Quadro 5/6000)
The system I'm building is similar to the Resolve reference system using 2x computational gpu's.
The system would have:
1x Nvidia Quadro 600 (GUI) (main card for 30-bit color output)
2x Nvidia GTX 580 (CUDA) (no outputs)
1x Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme 3D (SDI out)
My problem lies in the fact there is no technical documentation for either cs5.5 or cs6 as to how gpu tasks are delegated. The only consensus that I can find is that CS6 and CS5.5 only perform acceleration on the main gpu except in the case of using and nVidia Maximus system.
I need CS6 to recognize one of the GTX 580 as the more powerful card and use it for MPE and hardware acceleration. I know it cannot use both of them. As I understand, my Adobe products would default to the Quadro 600. Is there any way to avoid this? Or maybe a suggestion on how to better set up a system for 4k color grading on a budget?
(If it could be avoided, I would like not to have one of the gtx 580's work as the main display card. leaving one less for Resolve)

Couple of bottlenecks in your setup as you currently describe it.
I'm assuming you have a 10 bit monitor for CC (something like a HP Dreamcolor), otherwise there is no use for any Quadro at all. Apart from the Quadro model - I'll come back to that later - you have three video cards plus the BM card. You did not tell on what platform they must be installed and it depends on the mobo used what will happen when all these cards are installed. One thing is for sure, there is no mobo in existence that has 52 PCIe lanes, so your video cards will not run at 16x speed, but only at 8x speed or slower. Running a video card at 8x instead of 16x results in a performance penalty of around 10-15%. But if you have this in mind for a 1155 platform, then the video cards will run at max at 4x speed and that wil be very noticeable. Whichever way you turn it, with this setup and the intention to do 4K CC work, you will not have the PCIe lanes for a dedicated raid controller and with that material you will want a dedicated raid controller.
Why two GTX 580's when not used for output or is that only for Resolve?
Assuming you have a platform with 40 PCIe lanes available, and despite budget restrictions, I would go for two Quadro 4000+ cards, forget about the 600 which is way too underpowered, forget about the GTX 580, since they lack 10 bit output, skip the Maximus/Tesla solution since it is too expensive. This solution assumes that Resolve can use both Quadro cards, since as you stated, PR can only use one.
Using this approach, you can run both Quadros at 16x and the BM at 4x and still have 4 PCIe lanes available for a raid controller at 4x. However, if you do not have a 10 bit monitor, then I would suggest to use two GTX 580's instead of two Quadro's.

Footage Looks Different in SpeedGrade and when rendered

Hello
I’m having some problems figuring out what my file actually look like.
Is there still a QuickTime bug that cause QuickTime to show a gamma-shifted or otherwise-screwy image?
5dMkII h.264 .mov file
The same file in QuickTime and VLC looks different. VLC version is darker and redder.
That file in SG looks even darker, and slightly redder.
Rendered out from SpeedGrade to ProRes422 (Automatic Color Adjustment switch on in SG) looks close to SpeedGrade display, but a few points redder and a touch darker.
Rendered out from SpeedGrade to ProRes422 (Automatic Color Adjustment switch off in SG) much lighter and paler than SpeedGrade display.
Same results with ProRes444.
Why do these look different?
Latest MacPro Tower
Latest OS X
64GB RAM
AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB
2x LaCie 321 monitors, calibrated with Spyder3 Elite
QuickTime Pro 7 or QuickTime Player bundled with OS
All files viewed on the same monitor
Thanks in advance for any help.

In general, it depends.
You can't be responsible for every other computer & user in the world ... even though at times they'll try and make you so. The best anyone can do is run a calibrated "shop" and know you're delivering good technical content. Test it on other calibrated systems, and over broadcast monitors if such are available somewhere you know. For clients with specific needs, TEST. Send a test over and have them check it ... for most TV use this is crucial. For say adds on movie theatre screens between shows, arrange to take a sample over before they "open" for the day and have it played on their equipment onto the screen ... see what it looks like, adjust & retest as necessary.
For web use ... that's a total crapshoot off the mark.Best you can do is again, see that your system is as accurately calibrated as you can. Set the preferences for video players on your machine to use your system's calibration rather than their internal, which will ALWAYS do something odd to the signals. But not only odd ... unpredictable computer to computer. If your system is fully calibrated, your work over the web will hopefully average out pretty decent.
For web-delivery clients, still ... do initial testing to see that they are happy with the results you give them. If on their computer they want it bluer, and ... you know that means it's gonna really be BLUE on many machines ... perhaps showing them on a laptop that it does look good as-is on another system or some sort of client education moment may need to happen. I've heard plenty of complaints that the client demanded someone deliver something too dark ... and then complained back at them because they got comments from others that the material was too dark. Love that, eh? Client demanded they change it darker even though told it would be too dark for most computers ... then groused at them that it was too dark. Right. Oh frabjous joy.
Over in the video lounge here and on a couple other sites ... the threads on Stupid Client Demands have at times been a riot and at times something to near cry over. As a 30+ year stills portrait photographer, we've had the same thing at times from clients ... a demand to just plain print their images GREEN or something. Most of which we've complied with, some we ... didn't. What an interesting variety of brains and eyes there are about the planet ...
My experience is that just doing the best I can, it looks pretty darn good on my client's tv's and computers. Some go one way or the other a bit, but in general, it works fine. And check if you've got a setting in either system controls or the Qt & VLC controls for system-managed color.
Neil

SpeedGrade needs ...

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