Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 291)

285 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Color
Last updated 12/21/2009
Overview of color management
Color information is communicated using numbers. Because different devices use different methods to record and
display color, the same numbers can be interpreted differently and appear to us as different colors. A color
management system keeps track of all of these different ways of interpreting color and translates between them so that
images can look the same regardless of the device used to display them.
In general, a color profile is a description of a device-specific color space in terms of the transformations required to
convert its color information to a device-independent color space.
In the specific case of working within After Effects, ICC color profiles are used to convert to and from the working
color space in the following general workflow:
1 An input color profile is used to convert each footage item from its color space into the working color space. A
footage item may contain an embedded input color profile, or you can assign the input color profile in the Interpret
Footage dialog box or interpretation rules file. (See “
Interpret a footage item by assigning an input color profile ” on
page 289.)
2 After Effects performs all of its color operations in the working color space. You assign a working color space
(project working space) in the Project Settings dialog box. (See “
Choose a working color space and enable color
management ” on page 288.)
3 Colors are converted from the working color space to the color space of your computer monitor through the
monitor profile. This conversion ensures that your composition will look identical on two different monitors, if the
monitors have been properly profiled. This conversion does not change the data within the composition. You can
choose whether to convert colors for your monitor using the View > Use Display Color Management menu
command. (See “
Enable or disable display color management ” on page 292.)
4 Optionally, After Effects uses a simulation profile to show you on your computer monitor how the composition will
look in its final output form on a different device. You control output simulation for each view through the View
> Simulate Output menu. (See “
Simulate how colors will appear on a different output device ” on page 292.)
5 An output color profile for each output module is used to convert the rendered composition from the working color
space to the color space of the output medium. You choose an output color profile in the Output Module Settings
dialog box. (See “
Assign an output color profile ” on page 290.)
By default when you use color management, After Effects automatically adjusts colors to compensate for the
differences in gamma between scene-referred color profiles and output-referred color profiles. (See “
Gamma and tone
response ” on page 282.)
Benefits of color management
Color management provides many benefits, including the following:
• The colors in imported images appear as the creators of the images intended.
• You have more control over how colors are blended within your project, for everything from motion blur to anti-
aliasing.
• The movies that you create will look as you intend when viewed on devices other than your computer monitor.
If you don’t enable color management for your project, then the colors in your composition are dependent on the color
characteristics of your monitor: the colors that you see are the colors that your monitor displays based on RGB
numbers in your footage items. Because different color spaces use the same RGB numbers to represent different colors,
the colors that you see and composite may not be the colors that the creator of the footage intended. In fact, the colors
may be very far from the intended colors. (See “
Color management and color profiles ” on page 284.)