Often, you need to preview how a movie
will appear on a device other than your computer monitor. One purpose
of color management is to ensure that colors look the same on every
device, but color management in After Effects can’t overcome scenarios
like the following:
An output device for which you’re
creating your movie has a smaller gamut than the working color space
of your project, so the device is unable to represent some colors.
The colors in your movie are displayed by a device or software
that does not use color management to convert colors.
For
example, when you are creating a movie using a computer monitor
and a high-definition video monitor, you may need to see how the
movie will look when transferred to a specific film stock and projected
under standard theater viewing conditions.
In such situations,
you’ll want to preview how colors will appear when they’re displayed
on a device other than your computer monitor. Output simulation requires
display color management.
During output simulation, colors
are converted from the working color space for the project to the
color space of the monitor through the following flow:
- 1. Colors are converted from working color space for
the project to output color space.
- Colors are converted from the working color space to the
color space of the output type using the output color profile (the
same profile that will be used for rendering to final output).
- 2. Colors are converted from output color space to
color space of simulated playback device.
- If Preserve RGB is not selected, colors are converted from
the output color space to the color space of the presentation medium
using the simulation profile. This setting presumes that the simulated
device also performs color management and will convert colors for
display. Color appearance is preserved; RGB numbers are not preserved.
If
Preserve RGB is selected, the color values are not converted in
this step. Instead, the numeric RGB color values are preserved and
are re-interpreted to be in the color space of the simulated device.
One use of this simulation is to see how a movie will look when
played back on a device other than the one for which it was intended
or a device that does not perform color management.
Note: Use Preserve
RGB when simulating the combination of a capture film stock and a
print film stock.
- 3. Colors are converted from color space of simulated
playback device to color space of your monitor.
- Colors are converted from the presentation device color space
to the color space of your computer monitor using the monitor profile.
When
you create an output simulation preset, you can choose a profile
to use for each of these steps.
Even if
you’re using a preset output simulation, you can choose the Custom option
in the View > Simulate Output menu after selecting the preset
to see a representation of which color conversions and reinterpretations
are occurring for that simulation type.
Output simulation
applies only to a specific viewer (Composition, Layer, or Footage
panel) and works only for previews. Color conversions for output simulation
are performed when values are sent to the display. Actual color numbers
in the project are not changed.
As with all color space conversions,
simulating output decreases performance somewhat, so you may not
want to simulate output when performing tasks that require real-time
interaction.
Note: Merely applying the correct profiles can’t
compensate for different color gamuts for different devices. For
example, common LCD monitors for personal computers do not have
the gamut necessary to fully simulate HDTV output.
You
can press Shift+/ (on the numeric keypad) to turn display color
management on or off. Turning display color management off also
turns off output simulation. Simulation settings (including No Output
Simulation) are remembered when display color management is off.
button
at the bottom of the viewer and choose Simulate Output.
