Let me know if this was helpful for you and if you have any questions about it or other things you'd like to see - I'm always happy to help and see what I can do! If you want to learn more about how to color grade and understand it all in an easy and simple way, check out my Color Grading Course: geni.us/color-grading-course
I just feel like Davinci has reallllly over complicated this in comparison to premiere. And I DESPISE premiere. However I cannot beat the color correction workflow speed I have in premiere with Davinci. This has help a little though thank you!
The node structure is not something BlackMagic has invented for DaVinci. It's just more commonly used in some VFX and Animaton softwares than what we've been used to in Editing / Color Grading. I think a lot of things can seem complicated or confusing when you come from something else that you know but if you didn't have Premiere as a reference point maybe you wouldn't have thought this confusing. When I first opened Lightroom I thought it was quite confusing and it took me a long time to understand what the sliders did and how to use them although the layout is quite simple. I could take that with me into Premiere originally but Lumitri Color is horendous for Color Grading. DaVinci takes some time to get used to but the possibilites are almost endless. Packing that into something that's more "simple" would probably be hard or not possible at all. Keep cracking at it and with time it'll bee just as fast if not faster in DaVinci when you nail down a good workflow. It's only as complicated or difficult as you make it :-)
@@AlexBjorstorpIt’s more of a speed thing which I thought would get faster, but instead of getting better I’m just getting stuck with things like copy/pasting nodes to other shots which is way over complicated for no reason or the workflow with multiple layers in music videos. Try stacking 30 layers of runthroughs like I have to and lmk how that work flow goes 😅. It has a to do with how I edit videos. With adjustment layers in premiere you can layer the grade on top of all your clips, which imo is a lot faster for grading instead of grading every run through then editing. You can do this in Davinci, but in the color tab you cant scrub through the footage and adjust each clip after the adjustment layer without it slinging back to the adjustment layer. So every time I correct a clip, then go to scrub, it’ll go back to the beginning where the adjustment layer is, then I have to go look for the next clip I have to correct, sling back, repeat. The timeline below the clips helps a bit but it’s a bit too small imo. It’s little things like this that really add up. I should probably make a video on it to show what I’m talking about.
I think I understand your issue. If you just group all the clips and grade in the Post Clip this is essentially your adjustment layer and then each individual clip can be correct at the clip level. That should definitely speed up your workflow if that's how you do it. This would even make it nicer in the timeline too without an adjustment layer flying around above everything. Alternatively you could just use the adjustment layer technique you mention from Premiere but when you are in the color tab, open the "timeline view" with all the blue bars. Shift + Click on the track that has the adjustment layer and that will hide it from your clip section in the color tab while still showing the grade in it, simply allowing you to scrub between clips and adjust them individually. I understand that it can be frustrating in DaVinci but where Premiere is more simple, there are definitely ways to do it just as fast in DaVinci, you just need to know how :-) I haven't graded music videos with 30+ tracks but I'm pretty confident I could grade it faster and better than in Premiere setting up a workflow for it :-)
@@AlexBjorstorp yeah this grouping really helped and I’ll def use it more, however, during my current project my second videographer had his iso a bit higher so some of his shots were a bit brighter, either way same scene of an event so I grouped them together. Threw on the main grade and then went to correct his shots. But I have multiple video layers, so in the color tab I get lost easily with where I’m at specially when I’m looking for a specific shot. I have to switch tabs, highlight the shot I need in the edit tab and then tab over to the color tab. I almost wish I could just highlight one video layer so I know where I am at. Let’s just say video layer 4, and only the clips I throw onto layer 4 would show, in order, in the color tab. And all the other “stand by” clips on layers below it on 3,2,1 wouldn’t be included in the color tab. Because how I edit I like to leave clips under clips so I can go back to them if I need them later if I deemed them an acceptable shot. Especially in music videos where the client/label may want to swap out shots, so I leave those layers just in case even if they aren’t being used. Having them all show up in the color tab I just get lost on what’s being used and what isn’t. Another reason - why don’t I just edit all the clips, finalize the entire edit and all the shots and then color grade? Well I find a lot of shots once graded I end up not liking. So for me at least it’s hard to tell when a slog shot will be good enough for the final, compared to when the final grade is applied. I just feel like the color tab is perfect for a project that is just one straight layer, that is all log footage and you can just go from one shot to the next, group your different lighting scenarios and be done. But for me, there is so many more factors at play, but the biggest thing is I think is getting lost at where I am at on the timeline in the color tab. Nodes themselves are amazing, and I’m familiar with them from blender/unreal engine. But yeah I’m going to get more into using what you explained in this video with the groupings and steer away from adjustment layers if I can help it.
Yeah, I like knowing exactly what's going on and that things are being converted correctly and the way I want it to. So working this way to me, has always been the easiest. I know that DaVinci can automate some of this but I simply don't trust it enough and sometimes use tools and other conversions and steps that I don't see work as smoothly in the Color Managed workflow. That said, that's just my personal preference, so if the color managed workflow works great for others, then I put absolutely no shame towards that :-)
Let me know if this was helpful for you and if you have any questions about it or other things you'd like to see - I'm always happy to help and see what I can do!
If you want to learn more about how to color grade and understand it all in an easy and simple way, check out my Color Grading Course: geni.us/color-grading-course
Just made breakfast and Alex just uploaded new grading video :))))
Haha enjoy your meal!!
Awesome tutorial. tysm!
This is very helpful …..thank you sir
Davinzi : D... grate Video. Helped me a lot!
fine
I just feel like Davinci has reallllly over complicated this in comparison to premiere. And I DESPISE premiere. However I cannot beat the color correction workflow speed I have in premiere with Davinci. This has help a little though thank you!
The node structure is not something BlackMagic has invented for DaVinci. It's just more commonly used in some VFX and Animaton softwares than what we've been used to in Editing / Color Grading.
I think a lot of things can seem complicated or confusing when you come from something else that you know but if you didn't have Premiere as a reference point maybe you wouldn't have thought this confusing.
When I first opened Lightroom I thought it was quite confusing and it took me a long time to understand what the sliders did and how to use them although the layout is quite simple. I could take that with me into Premiere originally but Lumitri Color is horendous for Color Grading.
DaVinci takes some time to get used to but the possibilites are almost endless. Packing that into something that's more "simple" would probably be hard or not possible at all.
Keep cracking at it and with time it'll bee just as fast if not faster in DaVinci when you nail down a good workflow. It's only as complicated or difficult as you make it :-)
@@AlexBjorstorpIt’s more of a speed thing which I thought would get faster, but instead of getting better I’m just getting stuck with things like copy/pasting nodes to other shots which is way over complicated for no reason or the workflow with multiple layers in music videos. Try stacking 30 layers of runthroughs like I have to and lmk how that work flow goes 😅. It has a to do with how I edit videos. With adjustment layers in premiere you can layer the grade on top of all your clips, which imo is a lot faster for grading instead of grading every run through then editing. You can do this in Davinci, but in the color tab you cant scrub through the footage and adjust each clip after the adjustment layer without it slinging back to the adjustment layer. So every time I correct a clip, then go to scrub, it’ll go back to the beginning where the adjustment layer is, then I have to go look for the next clip I have to correct, sling back, repeat. The timeline below the clips helps a bit but it’s a bit too small imo. It’s little things like this that really add up. I should probably make a video on it to show what I’m talking about.
I think I understand your issue. If you just group all the clips and grade in the Post Clip this is essentially your adjustment layer and then each individual clip can be correct at the clip level. That should definitely speed up your workflow if that's how you do it. This would even make it nicer in the timeline too without an adjustment layer flying around above everything.
Alternatively you could just use the adjustment layer technique you mention from Premiere but when you are in the color tab, open the "timeline view" with all the blue bars. Shift + Click on the track that has the adjustment layer and that will hide it from your clip section in the color tab while still showing the grade in it, simply allowing you to scrub between clips and adjust them individually.
I understand that it can be frustrating in DaVinci but where Premiere is more simple, there are definitely ways to do it just as fast in DaVinci, you just need to know how :-)
I haven't graded music videos with 30+ tracks but I'm pretty confident I could grade it faster and better than in Premiere setting up a workflow for it :-)
@@AlexBjorstorp yeah this grouping really helped and I’ll def use it more, however, during my current project my second videographer had his iso a bit higher so some of his shots were a bit brighter, either way same scene of an event so I grouped them together. Threw on the main grade and then went to correct his shots. But I have multiple video layers, so in the color tab I get lost easily with where I’m at specially when I’m looking for a specific shot. I have to switch tabs, highlight the shot I need in the edit tab and then tab over to the color tab. I almost wish I could just highlight one video layer so I know where I am at. Let’s just say video layer 4, and only the clips I throw onto layer 4 would show, in order, in the color tab. And all the other “stand by” clips on layers below it on 3,2,1 wouldn’t be included in the color tab. Because how I edit I like to leave clips under clips so I can go back to them if I need them later if I deemed them an acceptable shot. Especially in music videos where the client/label may want to swap out shots, so I leave those layers just in case even if they aren’t being used. Having them all show up in the color tab I just get lost on what’s being used and what isn’t. Another reason - why don’t I just edit all the clips, finalize the entire edit and all the shots and then color grade? Well I find a lot of shots once graded I end up not liking. So for me at least it’s hard to tell when a slog shot will be good enough for the final, compared to when the final grade is applied. I just feel like the color tab is perfect for a project that is just one straight layer, that is all log footage and you can just go from one shot to the next, group your different lighting scenarios and be done. But for me, there is so many more factors at play, but the biggest thing is I think is getting lost at where I am at on the timeline in the color tab. Nodes themselves are amazing, and I’m familiar with them from blender/unreal engine. But yeah I’m going to get more into using what you explained in this video with the groupings and steer away from adjustment layers if I can help it.
@@AlexBjorstorp very great tip with the adjustment layer hiding btw I will try this
Hi Alex.
Any reason why you don't use DaVinci color management? In a nutshell it's similar to your workflow. Just curious 😅
Yeah, I like knowing exactly what's going on and that things are being converted correctly and the way I want it to. So working this way to me, has always been the easiest. I know that DaVinci can automate some of this but I simply don't trust it enough and sometimes use tools and other conversions and steps that I don't see work as smoothly in the Color Managed workflow.
That said, that's just my personal preference, so if the color managed workflow works great for others, then I put absolutely no shame towards that :-)