Macromedia Speedgrade - CS6 User Guide

ADOBE® SPEEDGRADE™

February 2013

Help and tutorials

Getting Started tutorials 1.................................................................................................................................

Basic workflow 2.........................................................................................................................................................................

Quickstart: Color grade a clip 5..................................................................................................................................................

Quickstart: Color grade a sequence 8........................................................................................................................................

Adobe Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade workflows 10.................................................................................................................

Workspace 11...................................................................................................................................................

Desktop basics 12......................................................................................................................................................................

Timeline basics 13......................................................................................................................................................................

Playback basics 16.....................................................................................................................................................................

Adjust the display resolution for playback 18..............................................................................................................................

Compare frames with multiple playheads 19..............................................................................................................................

Set up dual displays 21...............................................................................................................................................................

Keyboard shortcuts 22................................................................................................................................................................

Crop the display frame 26...........................................................................................................................................................

Adjust the display aspect ratio 27...............................................................................................................................................

Image analysis tools 28..............................................................................................................................................................

Work with keyframes 30.............................................................................................................................................................

Loading footage 32...........................................................................................................................................

Supported file formats 33............................................................................................................................................................

Load footage 34..........................................................................................................................................................................

Conform EDLs 35.......................................................................................................................................................................

Load audio tracks 37..................................................................................................................................................................

Detect scene changes 38...........................................................................................................................................................

Display burn-in information on frames 39...................................................................................................................................

Color grading 40...............................................................................................................................................

Quickstart: Color grade a clip 41................................................................................................................................................

Quickstart: Color grade a sequence 44......................................................................................................................................

Balance blacks and whites 46....................................................................................................................................................

Adjust gamma 49........................................................................................................................................................................

Adjust color temperature 51........................................................................................................................................................

Grade a specific tonal range 52..................................................................................................................................................

Apply filters and effects 53..........................................................................................................................................................

Work with masks 54....................................................................................................................................................................

Track a masked object through a shot 55...................................................................................................................................

Adjust the framing of shots with pan and scan 57......................................................................................................................

Grade a specific color range 59..................................................................................................................................................

Managing looks 61............................................................................................................................................

Share and reuse looks 62...........................................................................................................................................................

Rendering out 64..............................................................................................................................................

Create proxy files for offline editing 65.......................................................................................................................................

Save an EDL 66..........................................................................................................................................................................

Display burn-in information on frames 67...................................................................................................................................

Getting Started tutorials

To learn more, view these recommended resources online.

SpeedGrade CS6 FAQ

troubleshooting (May. 14, 2012)

What is SpeedGrade?

Video2Brain (May. 7, 2012)

video-tutorial

What's new in SpeedGrade CS6

Patrick Palmer (May. 7, 2012)

video-tutorial

Tips and tricks for using SpeedGrade CS6

Patrick Palmer (May. 7, 2012)

video-tutorial

Basic workflow

Load footage Apply color grading Render out content Special tools and workflows Related topics

The SpeedGrade workflow consists of three steps: load footage, color grade, and render out finished content. Use the following views to perform the workflow:

Desktop view for loading footage Monitor view for applying color grading Output view for rendering out the completed project

Each view is accessible from a tab at the top of the SpeedGrade CS6 application window.

Load footage

1. Locate content in the Desktop view. Use the folder browser on the left side to navigate to the folder containing your content. Thumbnails of the clips appear in the Desktop view.

If you have many clips, you can manage them as follows:

Sort alphabetically. Sort by time code range, resolution, or date modified. Filter to display only certain file types. Search for specific filenames or filename extensions.

2. Add clips to the Timeline by double-clicking or dragging them to the Timeline.

Drag clips by their handles to reposition them on the Timeline. Set in- and out-points and switch between Timeline views as you review or color grade your content You can add up to nine separate playheads. See Compare shots with multiple playheads.

3. If you want, load Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) on the Timeline. See Color grade a sequence.

To add an EDL, double-click the EDL in the Desktop view. To add the clips to the EDL, choose Reels in the Timeline panel and click Load from Desktop.

Apply color grading

To the top

1. Apply color correction to balance blacks and whites and to match shots. See Color grade a clip.

Apply primary color adjustments to the whole image, the shadows, the midtones, or the highlights. Select color ranges to apply secondary color adjustments. Use the waveform, histogram, and vectorscope to ensure accurate color adjustments, such as balancing blacks and

highlights.

2. Use effects, film -style filters, and masks to design creative looks.

Add new grading layers to build your look.

Apply masks to individual layers, for example to create a vignette.

Add unlimited layers and reorder as required. Changes are applied non-destructively. Each layer has its own opacity slider where its influence on the overall look can be adjusted.

3. Animate masks or grades to match movement and changing light in your frames.

Add keyframes to your masks or grading tracks. Adjust masks or grading at keyframe positions. SpeedGrade CS6 animates transitions smoothly between keyframes.

4. Save grades as Look files and apply those looks to footage. To apply a look to footage, select the footage and then click a Look file.

The Look file preserves all the layers and settings of the grade. Click a Look file to apply it to selected footage on the Timeline. Edit existing looks in the Look panel. Export looks as LUTs for use in other applications or devices.

5. While working on a project, save your Timeline, including all clips and grading settings, as a SpeedGrade CS6 project.

Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (Macintosh) to bring up the Save Timeline As dialog box.

For help and tutorials, see Color grading.

Render out content

Render out content to create digital dailies for review, proxy media for offline editing, or masters for final delivery.

1. Start with the content you want to render on the Timeline and click the Output tab to display the Output panel.

To the top

2. Proceed from the top to the bottom of the panel to apply settings for your render.

Select a location and create a filename for the rendered content. Choose output format and whether to include burn-in information. See Display burn- in information on frames. Choose Online Quality for final masters or Offline Quality for proxies and dailies.

Special tools and workflows

Color spaces

Automatically match cameras

Pan & Scan

Cropping

Dynamic Quality

Aspect ratio

Burn-in

Format defaults for Alexa and RED

Stereoscopic

CS6 (Adobe TV video).

Scene Detection

Change Detection in SpeedGrade CS6 (Adobe TV video).

Consolidate Reels

Save EDL

Use Color Space Defaults for different file formats in the Timeline panel.

Automatically calibrate cameras using Macbeth color chart test shots.

Add pan & scan tracks to your clips to reframe content. See Adjust the framing of shots with pan and scan.

Use the Crop tool to resize your frames.

Use Dynamic Quality to accommodate viewing on displays with different resolutions.

Use the Aspect Ratio tool to display anamorphic content in a 1:1 aspect ratio.

Toggle the Burn -in tool to display or hide file information in your frames. See Display burn-in information on frames.

Select Alexa or RED format settings under the Format Default tab in the Timeline panel.

Activate stereo tools by checking the Stereo checkbox in the Timeline Setup panel. See Stereoscopic Workflows in SpeedGrade

Use Scene Detection to identify scene changes in archived material. See Detect scene changes (Help article) or Using Scene

Create copies of the clips used in your project to save active storage space.

Export an EDL from a SpeedGrade CS6 project.

To the top

Annotations

Audio Tracks

Quickstart: Color grade a clip

Select a clip Apply a primary color grade Apply a secondary color grade Render a graded clip

To load an EDL and color grade a sequence, see Color grade a sequence.

Select a clip

1. In SpeedGrade, select a folder that contains video clips using the file browser in the upper-left corner of the user interface.

The Desktop window shows thumbnail versions of the content in the selected folder.

To filter the thumbnails by file type, select All Files in the upper-right corner and then select a file type.

2. Place a clip on the Timeline by double-clicking it on the Desktop.

3. Click the Monitor Tab in the upper -left corner to view the image.

The default display size is 100%. To fit the image in the monitor window, click the Zoom to Fit button below the scopes window on the right side of the interface.

Apply a primary color grade

To the top

Make basic color changes like temperature, white point, black point, and more, to the entire image. The changes are applied to a primary grading layer.

Access the grading controls by clicking the Look tab in the lower left, below the timeline.

Make global changes

Make global changes to the image with the sliders at the top of the Look panel.

Global adjustment sliders

To adjust a global setting, do the following:

1. Right-click the triangle icon on the slider and release the click button.

2. Swipe the mouse left or right to change the value.

3. Right-click the triangle icon again to accept the setting.

Make changes to specific regions

Modify color and luminance values in the image's shadow, midtone, and highlight regions using the color control wheels on the Look panel.

Color control wheels

To adjust the luminance, do the following:

Left-click the triangle icon on a wheel and drag the mouse left or right in a straight line. Don't drag the mouse in a circle. The further left or right you drag, the larger the change.

To adjust the color, do the following:

1. Right-click inside the circle and release the click button.

2. Swipe the mouse in any direction to change the value.

3. Right-click again to accept the setting.

You can use color sliders instead of control wheels. To access the sliders, press Shift+Enter.

Color sliders

Use the zero (0) key on the numeric keypad to toggle the grade on and off for a quick before and after view. Make sure the NumLock key on your keyboard is selected.

Apply a secondary color grade

Make targeted adjustments to a specific hue range in the image. The changes are applied to a secondary grading layer.

1. Access the secondary color grading tools by selecting the +S icon in the lower-left corner of the Layers window.

2. Select a hue range as follows:

Select a preset hue option by clicking one of the colored buttons along the top of the Hue selection tool. Sample a hue range by clicking the eyedropper tool with the + icon and then dragging to select a portion of the image in

the Monitor window.

You may have to resize the lower border of the Desktop window to see the eyedropper tools. To resize the window, use the drag resize tool located at the bottom center of the Timeline.

To the top

3. View the portion of the image targeted by the hue range selection by selecting an option from the Gray-out menu at upper-

right corner of the Look tab.

4. Make adjustments and refinements to the selection using the upper triangles of the sliders. Use the lower triangles of the sliders to adjust fall-off.

5. Make secondary corrections with the Off-set and Gain control wheels in the center of the Look window.

6. Soften and blend secondary corrections using the Denoise and Blur sliders on the right of the Look window.

7. After making secondary corrections, set Gray-out to None.

Render a graded clip

1. Click the Output tab in the upper-right corner to open the Metadata Render Engine.

2. Click the Desktop menu and select a destination folder.

3. Assign a name to the rendered file in the File Name textbox.

4. In Format & Options, select a output file format for the render.

If a desired preset doesn’t exist, create a new one by clicking Other.

5. Click Online Quality in the Render section.

6. Click Render.

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

To the top

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

Quickstart: Color grade a sequence

The workflow for color grading a sequence consists of the following steps:

Load an EDL Reconnect the source clips in the reels Create a grading clip Apply color grades to a grading clip Apply a grading clip to additional video clips Render a graded sequence

Load an EDL

Edit Decision Lists (EDLs) are metadata documents used to migrate project timelines from editing tools like Adobe Premiere Pro to post-production tools like SpeedGrade.

Tip: Before starting, place the source clips and the EDL file in a single folder. This organization makes the process quicker and more efficient.

1. In SpeedGrade, select the folder containing the EDL file with the file browser in the upper-left corner of the user interface.

2. Double-click the EDL file to load it. Tip: If you have too many thumbnails, you can filter them for EDL files by selecting the EDL option from the All Files menu in

the upper-right corner.

SpeedGrade places placeholder thumbnails in the video track and in the Reels panel. The Reels panel is on the Timeline tab on the lower left of the screen.

Reconnect the source clips in the reels

The Reels panel gives an overview of the reels in an EDL. When loading an EDL, SpeedGrade inserts placeholder thumbnails of the source clips in the Reels panel. Reconnect the source clips to the placeholder thumbnails in the Reels panel as follows.

1. If not already done, display the source clips on the Desktop window by selecting the folder containing the source clips.

2. Filter the thumbnails for the media type of the source clips. Example: QuickTime movies.

3. Click the Timeline tab and then click the Reels panel to view the source clip placeholders.

4. Reconnect the source clips to the thumbnails by clicking Load from Desktop. SpeedGrade reconnects the source clips on the Desktop and the video track.

To the top

Create a grading clip

When color grading a sequence, work in a non-destructive grading clip associated with the video clips in the sequence. Don't grade the video clips directly. The grading clip can be saved, moved, and applied to multiple video clips. Grading clips are managed in the Timeline in a grading track above the video track.

To the top

To create a grading clip, click the Setup button on the Timeline tab and do one of the following:

To create a series of grading clips in the grading track, click the Extract Grade Clips button in the third column of the Setup

window.

To create a grading clip for a single video clip, drag the Grading Clip tool into the grading track above the target clip.

To add grading clips for all the video clips in the video track, drag the Grading Clip tool on a video clip in the video track.

Apply color grades to a grading clip

1. Select a grading clip in the Timeline, not a video clip.

2. Apply color grades to the selected grading clip. For more information on grading, see Color grade a clip. The grade is applied to all the video clips sharing the grading clip.

Tip: Compare video clips for shot-to-shot color matching by using multiple playheads. For details, see Compare shots with multiple playheads.

To the top

Apply a grading clip to additional video clips

You can apply a single look to additional video clips on the Timeline.

1. Drag the Grading Clip tool from the Timeline tab into the grading track above a video clip.

2. Drag the right side of a grading clip to cover multiple clips.

Render a graded sequence

1. Click the Output tab in the upper-right corner to open the Metadata Render Engine.

2. Click the Desktop menu and select a destination folder.

3. Assign a name to the rendered file in the File Name text box.

4. In Format & Options, select an output file format for the render.

5. Click Online Quality in the Render tab.

6. Click Render.

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

To the top

Adobe Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade workflows

General editing and grading workflow Offline editing and grading workflow

The color grading process is usually the last step in the post -production workflow. If working with high-resolution material or RAW files, you can begin your workflow by creating smaller proxy files in SpeedGrade for offline editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. After your editing is complete, you can relink the edits to the source material in SpeedGrade for grading and finishing.

General editing and grading workflow

1. Edit in Adobe Premiere Pro.

2. Send the footage to SpeedGrade as follows:

If working with compressed files, use File > Send to Adobe SpeedGrade. Premiere Pro renders out a DPX sequence and opens it in SpeedGrade.

Note: Because a DPX sequence is created, this option is more suitable for shorter projects where you have picture lock and are ready for finishing.

If working with RAW files or on a larger project, export an EDL. See Export a project as an EDL file in Adobe Premiere Pro Help.

3. Load the material in SpeedGrade and apply color corrections.

4. Render out to your final output file format.

5. Render out a DPX sequence for storage.

You can also import the DPX sequence into Premiere Pro for finishing work such as adding titles and final audio, and then exporting a final master. Importing an uncompressed DPX sequence preserves quality in the event you want to export from Premiere Pro again.

Offline editing and grading workflow

The offline workflow is useful when working with high-resolution material or RAW files.

1. Load the source footage into SpeedGrade.

2. Apply any basic first-light color corrections.

3. Render out proxies. See Create proxy files for offline editing.

4. Import the proxies in Premiere Pro and edit the footage.

5. From Premiere Pro, export an EDL. See Export a project as an EDL file in Adobe Premiere Pro Help.

6. In SpeedGrade, use the EDL to relink the source files. See Conform EDLs - Multiple-clip workflow.

7. Apply final color corrections to the full resolution source footage.

8. Render out to the file format for your output.

To the top

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

Workspace

Desktop basics

Show or hide the Desktop view Navigate to a folder Filter the files in the Desktop view Refresh the Desktop view

Use the Desktop view to find and load footage. You can navigate to folders with image sequences, movie files, or RAW file formats. Thumbnails of the files are displayed in the Desktop view.

Show or hide the Desktop view

Press the D key.

Navigate to a folder

To navigate to a folder on your hard disk or network, use the breadcrumb control at the top.

Navigate with folder breadcrumbs

You can also browse to a folder with the file browser on the left.

You can adjust the size of thumbnails by dragging the Thumbnail Size slider.

Timeline basics

Playhead Tracks Manage tracks Play a part of the Timeline Navigate along the Timeline Zoom the Timeline Change the Timeline view Delete the Timeline

Playhead

The playhead displays a frame in the Monitor at any given position on the Timeline.

Drag the playhead to move it along the Timeline.

Playhead controller

To view more than one frame at a time, create additional playheads. Multiple playheads are useful for comparing different parts of the same shot or scene. For more information, see Compare frames with multiple playheads.

Tracks

Add tracks to the Timeline to generate layers for grading, add audio to the project, or to adjust the framing with pan and scan.

To the top

Multiple tracks

You can add the following tracks to the Timeline:

Footage

Grading

Audio

procedure with additional audio files. To change values for sound output, such as the mixing frequency, select Settings > Sound. The Settings menu is on the upper- right corner of the

SpeedGrade workspace.

Pan & scan

Manage tracks

You can manage the tracks on the Timeline with the tools on the left side of each track.

Blue track. To add footage to the timeline, see Select a clip. Red track. To add a grading track, see Create a grading track.

Solid green track. To add an audio track, open the Desktop, locate the audio file (wav or aiff file), and drag it on the Timeline. Repeat this

Transparent green track. To add a pan & scan track, see Create a pan and scan track.

To the top

Drag, lock, and eye icons

Set the Timeline view with the menu on the upper-left side of the Timeline.

To show or hide the track, click the Eye icon. To lock or unlock the track, click the Lock icon. To delete the track, click the Drag icon and drag the track off the Timeline.

Play a part of the Timeline

Specify the part of the Timeline to play by repositioning in- and out-points. The two points are located above the tracks, at either end of the clip or playlist.

In-point

In- and out-points in SpeedGrade are not used to edit clips as in Adobe Premiere Pro. They're used to control playback.

Note:

Do any of the following to reposition the in- and out-points:

Drag the in - and out-points along the Timeline. Hold Shift to drag both points together. Control- click the in- or out-point to reset it to its default position. Double-click a clip to set the points to the start and end of the clip. Double-click again to set the points to the start and end of

the Timeline.

You can also double-click the in- or out-point icon and specify a frame number for it.

Navigate along the Timeline

To the top

If you have multiple clips or tracks on your Timeline, you can navigate from clip to clip or from track to track. Moving from one track to another changes the selected SpeedGrade panel. For example, moving to a grading track opens the Look panel. Moving to a pan and scan track opens the Pan & Scan panel.

Result Windows Mac OS

Go the next clip Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow Cmd+Shift+Right Arrow Go to previous clip Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow Cmd+Shift+Left Arrow Go to track above Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow Cmd+Shift+Up Arrow Go to track below Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow Cmd+Shift+Down Arrow

Playback basics

Playback shortcuts Playback controls Playback indicators Change the base frame rate Change the playback frame rate Change the playback mode

Playback shortcuts

Note:

Close the Desktop before playback (press D).

Result Keyboard shortcut

Play forward L Play backward J Stop playback K Play/pause Spacebar Step forward or backward Right or Left Arrow Increase or decrease frame rate by 1 fps Page Up or Page Down Change playback mode F6

Playback controls

Playback controls from left to right:

Go to in point Frame step backwards Play backwards Pause Play forward Frame step forward Go to out point

To the top

Playback indicators

The playback indicators on the left side of the Timeline provide the following information, from left to right:

The current base frame rate The playback frame rate The disk performance indicator

The monitor performance indicator The disk performance indicator turns red when one of the disks or the CPU cannot deliver real-time decoding at the desired playback speed. The monitor performance indicator turns red when one of the following issues is detected:

To the top

An issue with the real-time performance of the grading operations you apply to the clip

A sync issue with your display device.

Change the base frame rate

1. Select Settings > Playback.

2. Enter a new base frame rate.

Note: The Timeline timecode values reflect your base frame rate setting.

Change the playback frame rate

Press the Page Up or Page Down key to increase or decrease the frame rate by 1 frame per second.

Change the playback mode

SpeedGrade has three playback modes:

Single run

Ping pong

Loop (default) To switch modes, press F6 or use the Playback Mode button next to the playback controls.

To the top

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

Adjust the display resolution for playback

SpeedGrade dynamically adjusts the quality of video to ensure smooth playback on computers with less capable graphic cards or CPUs. To optimize performance, you can set the quality settings for the image both during playback and when paused.

Test the performance of your system during playback and then adjust the settings accordingly.

1. Click the Settings menu on the upper-right corner of the screen, and then select the Dynamic Quality option.

2. Select a lower resolution for playback, such as 1:2 (half the resolution of the source material) or lower.

3. Set the resolution for paused images.

Note:

Use the paused image resolution to see more image detail. Set it as high or higher than the selected playback

resolution.

4. If working with formats that have a native color depth greater than 8 bits per channel, you can set the color depth for playback and paused images as well.

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

Compare frames with multiple playheads

Create an additional playhead Select a master playhead Adjust the interval between playheads Delete a playhead Work in split-screen mode Keyboard shortcuts

Use multiple playheads to compare two or more frames for color matching.

Create an additional playhead

Hold the Control (Windows) or Command (Macintosh) key down and drag the Move Playhead icon anywhere in the Timeline. The Move Playhead icon is the arrow icon on the right side of the playhead controller.

Make sure a green Plus (+) icon appears on the left side of the playhead controller before dropping the playhead.

Select a master playhead

When working with multiple playheads, select a master playhead to make grading and other adjustments.

Click the playhead number to make it the master playhead. The playhead number turns orange to indicate it is active.

To the top

Adjust the interval between playheads

Click the Move Playhead icon and position the playhead anywherei on the Timeline.

Delete a playhead

Click the Move Playhead icon and drag the playhead off the Timeline.

Note: Make sure the playhead is not the master one. If the number on the left of the playhead controller is orange, then it's the master playhead. Select another master playhead by clicking the playhead's number, and then delete the inactive playhead.

Work in split-screen mode

Arrange the screen layout by clicking the View button in the Timeline tab and dragging the icons in the Screen Layout panel.

To the top

+ 48 hidden pages

Macromedia Speedgrade - CS6 User Guide

Contents

Getting Started tutorials

Basic workflow

Quickstart: Color grade a clip

Quickstart: Color grade a sequence

Adobe Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade workflows

Workspace

Desktop basics

Timeline basics

Playback basics

Adjust the display resolution for playback

Compare frames with multiple playheads