Community Forum

I recently bought Amplify Color and I'm finding the documentation in the manual totally inadequate. Some questions I would expect to be in the manual but which I can't find:

* What is Linear White Point? Why is it only available with the "Filmic Hable" tonemapper?

* What does Apply Dithering do? Why would I use it? Any performance considerations?

* Almost nothing under "Color Grading" is clear to me. I get what LUT Texture does, and that's basically it

* What is Blend Amount? What is does it blend?, what does 0 represent, and what does 1 represent?
* What is LUT Blend Texture? How would I use that?

* What is Mask Texture? How would I use that?

* Depth Mask Curve I sort of understand as the curve that controls how to apply the given LUT Texture to objects given how far they are from the camera. But all it seems to do is blend between no LUT and whatever the LUT texture is. How do I blend between 2 different LUTs? How can I have more than 2 LUTS so I can color my landscape like blue in the foreground, green in the mid, and red on the farthest away stuff? IS that even possible? Stuff like that is pretty much the whole reason I bought the package.

I haven't tried effect volumes yet, but based on the video tutorial they seem clear enough.

It'd be really great to have clear information, especially an in-depth video on these topics.

Thanks.

PeteMichaud wrote:I recently bought Amplify Color and I'm finding the documentation in the manual totally inadequate.

Hello Pete, thank you for getting in touch and for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback on Amplify Color!

Would it be possible for you to elaborate on the areas that you found particularly lacking?
Even though we honestly believe that the product's manual does a good job describing its actual operation for general use, we're always open to suggestions and feedback that allow us to further improve its usefulness!

Please keep in mind that AC and the available information set out to offer an easy to use color grading effect, assuming some basic knowledge on the user side in order to use it to full extent. For general use, however, it's pretty much drag and drop without needing to go into specifics such as tonemapping or white point balancing.

PeteMichaud wrote:Some questions I would expect to be in the manual but which I can't find:

* What is Linear White Point?

You can find a detailed explanation here.

PeteMichaud wrote:* Why is it only available with the "Filmic Hable" tonemapper?

A detailed explanation for its inner working can be found here.

PeteMichaud wrote:* What does Apply Dithering do? Why would I use it? Any performance considerations?

There is no significant performance cost, HDR Dithering helps eliminate banding effects as shown in the manual.

PeteMichaud wrote:* Almost nothing under "Color Grading" is clear to me. I get what LUT Texture does, and that's basically it

Could you please elaborate on this?
In sum, Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing/tweaking the color of images. It encompasses both color correction and the generation of artistic color effects, that's about all there is to it.

PeteMichaud wrote:* What is Blend Amount? What is does it blend?, what does 0 represent, and what does 1 represent?

It stands for Blend Amount between LUT textures, 0 being the default value which means that the first LUT texture is in full effect. If a second LUT is added, the 0 to 1 range blend the first and second LUT, if no second LUT is added it will simply fade out the effect.

PeteMichaud wrote:* What is LUT Blend Texture? How would I use that?

The LUT Blend Texture is a secondary LUT texture that you can blend to by using the Blend Amount mentioned above. When you add two LUT's, you may blend between them using the Blend Amount.

PeteMichaud wrote:* What is Mask Texture? How would I use that?

It's a mask that allows you to mask out objects, its use being entirely up to the user, supporting both static and dynamic masks, more information here in the manual.

PeteMichaud wrote:* Depth Mask Curve I sort of understand as the curve that controls how to apply the given LUT Texture to objects given how far they are from the camera. But all it seems to do is blend between no LUT and whatever the LUT texture is. How do I blend between 2 different LUTs? How can I have more than 2 LUTS so I can color my landscape like blue in the foreground, green in the mid, and red on the farthest away stuff? IS that even possible? Stuff like that is pretty much the whole reason I bought the package.

Both mask options are used only to mask out the color grading effect, and it's not possible to apply different LUTs to color different areas of your landscape in depth through depth masking, apologies for the inconvenience. Did any of our descriptions give you the impression that it was possible? We would be happy to request a refund on your behalf if that's the only feature you're looking for.

PeteMichaud wrote:I haven't tried effect volumes yet, but based on the video tutorial they seem clear enough.

It'd be really great to have clear information, especially an in-depth video on these topics.

Thanks.

We're always open to requests, thanks again for the thorough feedback, looking forward to your reply!

On a sidenote, we provide fully function trial versions of all our products ( with the exception of ASE ) and encourage users to try them before buying, you can access them through our download page.

Oh man, I wrote a very detailed reply, and the forum software ate it

tldr; what you wrote was very helpful, if those words were in the manual, I likely wouldn't have had an issue.

I didn't read any words that said anything about the multiple LUTs, but I saw images that seemed like a gradient through multiple LUTs. I'm sure I can figure out how to simulate that effect, although it may be a feature you consider adding. I could imagine it working the same way the gradient editor in photoshop works.

Thanks again for the reply.

PeteMichaud wrote:Oh man, I wrote a very detailed reply, and the forum software ate it

tldr; what you wrote was very helpful, if those words were in the manual, I likely wouldn't have had an issue.

Thanks, glad to know you found the information useful!

We will be updating the manual in the near future and take into consideration your feedback and requests, we're grateful that you took the time to share them with us!

PeteMichaud wrote:I didn't read any words that said anything about the multiple LUTs, but I saw images that seemed like a gradient through multiple LUTs. I'm sure I can figure out how to simulate that effect, although it may be a feature you consider adding. I could imagine it working the same way the gradient editor in photoshop works.

Thanks again for the reply.

I see, that technique is not ideal for the intended gradient effect since color grading is a screen space image effect ( which means that its a visual effect that is drawn over the pre-rendered image ) and camera movement would result in irregularities.

Let me know if you have any further questions, always happy to help!