Color Correcting the Dragon Box - 3 Part Spectacular

[ect5150]

I did another YouTube video of color-corrected shots, this time applying color curving and saturation. Just click "attempt #2" in my signature and let me know what you think.
EDIT: It turns out there was some minor artifacting on Goku's neck in the shot with Goku and Piccolo in profile, so I went back in and touched it up.
Though, the dislikes outweighing the likes makes me wonder if there's still something I'm doing wrong.

I think the colors are nice. Save the settings to a vcf file. Open that up in a text editor and paste in the results so we can see your settings (and possibly steal them for ourselves ).

Also, some artifacts you won't notice moving at 50 mph.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

I used the exact same formula for every shot in the video.

-Color cast removal
-Reds: +10 hue, -5 saturation
-Yellows: +10 saturation
-Greens: -10 hue
-Cyans: +10 hue, +10 saturation, +10 lightness
-Magenta: =10 hue, -5 saturation
-Color curves: -25% shadow brightness, -25% midtone brightness, -12.5% highlight brightness

I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (I know, I'm two versions behind ).

[ect5150]

I used the exact same formula for every shot in the video.

-Color cast removal
-Reds: +10 hue, -5 saturation
-Yellows: +10 saturation
-Greens: -10 hue
-Cyans: +10 hue, +10 saturation, +10 lightness
-Magenta: =10 hue, -5 saturation
-Color curves: -25% shadow brightness, -25% midtone brightness, -12.5% highlight brightness

I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (I know, I'm two versions behind ).

When you say +10 and -5, are those the values in AP Elements or VirtualDub? If it's in elements, what's the max and min values (so i know how to scale it to VirtualDub... because saturation in VDub is given a min of 0.00 to a max of 5.12)

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

When you say +10 and -5, are those the values in AP Elements or VirtualDub?

Elements. They're the values I used in PSE's hue/saturation tool, found under "adjust color" in "enhance".

If it's in elements, what's the max and min values?

The min and max values in PSE's hue/saturation tool in all three areas (hue, saturation, and lightness) are -180 and +180 respectively.

[ect5150]

The min and max values in PSE's hue/saturation tool in all three areas (hue, saturation, and lightness) are -180 and +180 respectively.

When I try to use those values using the tools mentioned in the guide (to use for video, not just stills) I get artifacts out the wazoo! Thanks though.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Also - for everyone trying this out - try to tackle DBZ episode 34. This is one of the "green sky episodes". I'm having a very difficult time getting the sky to be a nice blue without causing artifacts or have Vegeta's uniform turn purple. I would love to see some others try to tackle this episode and see what the results are.

*snip*
*snip*

The shots that used to be here are crap.

Continue 8 posts down to see better ones.

[Attitudefan]

Looks great! Krillin's gi is finally orange!

[samuraix123]

To jpdbzrulz4sure Why hasn't Funimation hired you to do the Blu-rays?

[kei17]

*snips*

Formula for both:
* Remove color cast
* +20 hue in cyan channel
* Replace color - click any still-greenish artifact in sky and adjust hue by +10 at 50 fuzziness
* +5 hue, +10 saturation, and +10 lightness in cyan channel, +10 hue and -5 saturation in red and magenta channels, and +10 saturation in yellow channel
* Color curve - -12.5% shadow brightness and -12.5% in midtone brightness

So, how'd I do?

They look great, but Krillin's dougi is a little bit too yellowish. In addition, IIRC, the sky in that episode is slightly more greenish from the beginning.

[Metalwario64]

They look great, but Krillin's dougi is a little bit too yellowish. In addition, IIRC, the sky in that episode is slightly more greenish from the beginning.

Pretty much my criticism as well. The sky should be more green, as you can tell because the clouds are more green. Also, you could have done more adjusting of the hues of the clouds on the bottom image; you can see a very sharp cyan edge around the clouds.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

They look great, but Krillin's dougi is a little bit too yellowish. In addition, IIRC, the sky in that episode is slightly more greenish from the beginning.

Pretty much my criticism as well. The sky should be more green, as you can tell because the clouds are more green. Also, you could have done more adjusting of the hues of the clouds on the bottom image; you can see a very sharp cyan edge around the clouds.

I see. I'll go back and redo them right away.

[Metalwario64]

I see. I'll go back and redo them right away.

Maybe more like this:


I also lowered the cyan by 5 and shifted the sky towards green a bit (don't remember how much, and I probably should have done so a bit further, but oh well). I think you made it just a tad bright.

[kei17]

Though I don't have anything referential now, I guess it should be like this:

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Okay, how 'bout these?

EDIT: Crap, I made them too green this time.

[Metalwario64]

EDIT: Crap, I made them too green this time.

I dunno about that. But considering how green the clouds are, I think it all fits together really well.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

I dunno about that. But considering how green the clouds are, I think it all fits together really well.

I guess you're right.

But you know what? I don't remember the settings I used!

[Metalwario64]

I dunno about that. But considering how green the clouds are, I think it all fits together really well.

I guess you're right.

But you know what? I don't remember the settings I used!

Uh... Whoops?

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Uh... Whoops?

Eh, no biggie. I'll just go through it again tomorrow.

Of course, the reason I forgot them is because I completely disregarded my previous formula for those shots, and restarted from the raw untouched screencaps, and was just so focused on getting the colors right. I know this isn't a contest or anything, but I tend to take on a sort of perfectionist mentality when it comes to these kinds of things.

[ect5150]

These screenshots are great, but you guys are doing this in Photoshop (or some other Adobe product), correct? Not a "video" program? We need to target some kind of VirtualDub plugin setting or AVISynth settings so those of use that want to re-encode actually can.

But seriously, those shots look great, so actually take the time to document the settings for us.

If I use the basics, I can get the colors close on my own (as seen here)


BUT!!!! I ALWAYS have very noticeable artifacting in other places of the same video, as seen below. See if you guys can apply your settings to the same scenes and see if you get different results:

Notice the area around the Genki Dama.


Notice the lower portion of the sea.


I can't get several scenes the way they should be all at once. If I get rid of the artifacts, then Vegeta's uniform is purple. If I fix that, then the sky is green again (etc...).


EDIT: Just thinking out loud here. Wouldn't the best place to alter the color cast from each episode be from the eyecatch?

After all, they used the same one through half of the episodes and we know the colors of these through each episodes should be consistent.

[Ashura]

-ect5150: The way my guide works is that it applies to video... read the full thing. A lot of what other people are doing is just screenshots. I plan to write a guide on how to conver vcf settings to avisynth scripts later on.

-When you find artifacting like that that adversely effects other parts of the video when you try to correct it, you have to instead do an apply-range in avisynth and apply it only to the segments with the artifacting. It's more a result of us working with mpeg2 video than anything. Which episode are you working on there? I'll take a look if I have time over the weekend and give my suggestions on correcting it.

-As for using the eyecatches, no, because almost all of the elements (OP, ED, Episode, NEP, and Eyecatch) are from completely different elements and usually have different color casts. Meaning that you have to color correct each of these elements individually. BTW, if half of an episode doesn't respond well to color cast removal, it's likely that that portion of the episode may have come from a different film element that's aged differently than the rest of the episode, meaning you have to remove color cast and apply correction differently there as well.