Apple Color 1.0 - Manual (Page 23)

Chapter 1 Color Correction Basics 23
Finishing film or video programs digitally frees colorists from the limitations of film and
tape transport mechanisms, speeding their work by letting them navigate through a
project as quickly as in a nonlinear editing application. Furthermore, working with the
digital image data provides a margin of safety, by eliminating the risk of scratching the
negative or damaging the source tapes.
When Does Color Correction in Color Happen?
Color correction using Color usually happens at or near the conclusion of the online
edit or project conform, often at the same time the final audio mix is being performed.
Waiting until the picture is locked is always a good idea, but it’s not essential, as Color
provides tools for synchronizing projects that are still being edited via XML files or EDLs.
Color has been designed to work hand-in-hand with editing applications like
Final Cut Pro; Final Cut Pro takes care of input, editing, and output, and Color allows
you to focus on color correction and related effects.
About Importing Projects and Media into Color
To work on a program in Color, you must be provided with two sets of files:
 The edited project file (or files, if the program is in multiple reels) in a format that can
be imported into Color. Compatible formats include Final Cut Pro XML files and EDL
files from nearly any editing environment. Final Cut Pro sequence data can also be
sent to Color directly if you have Final Cut Pro installed on the same computer, using
the “Send to Color” command.
 You must also be given high-quality digital versions of the original source media, in a
compatible QuickTime or image sequence format.
Project and media format flexibility means that Color can be incorporated into a wide
variety of post-production workflows. For an overview of different color correction
workflows using Color, see Chapter 2, “
Color Correction Workflows ,” on page 35.
About Exporting Projects from Color
As mentioned above, Color doesn’t handle video capture or output to tape on its own.
Once you’ve finished color correcting your project in Color, you render every shot in
the project to disk as an alternate set of color corrected media files, and you then send
your Color project back to Final Cut Pro, or hand it off to another facility for tape layoff
or film out. For more information, see Chapter 17, “
Render Queue ,” on page 321.
What Footage Does Color Work With?
Color can work with film or video shots as either QuickTime files or image sequences,
at a variety of resolutions and compression ratios. This means you have the option of
working on anything from highly compressed QuickTime DV-25 shots, up through
uncompressed 2K .tif image sequences, at 8- or 10-bit (linear or log)—whatever your
clients provide.