Color Mentor

By Paul HanrahanTV & Film Arts Film Interviews Visual Arts

Color Mentor episodes

September 13, 2024Interview with Jason Iversen
On this episode I must apologize in advance for having way too much fun.
My guest is Jason Iversen he is a Visual Effects Technical Supervisor who has worked at Digital Domain, Rythm and Hues and now is at Weta in New Zealand.
We have known each other since high school and worked together many years ago in South Africa.
He was the co-founder of the Odforce.net chat forum. And he has worked on more block buster films than I’ve had blocked noses.
We talk about visual effects, color pipelines and rendering techniques through the ages and discuss where things are heading with the merging of Weta with Unity games.
We discuss:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:32) - Interview starts
(01:39) - Let's talk about the
(03:06) - Lord of the Rings
(03:48) - New
(04:31) - Starting
(05:23) - Early virtual reality
(10:05) - Cybershark
(12:24) - Odforce.net origins
(17:23) - Digital Domain
(19:16) - DD company culture
(21:49) - Titanic water simulations
(25:19) - Specialization
(27:31) - Pipeline development
(30:12) - What color management?
(30:46) - Film outs
(32:01) - Look mom, no LUT!
(32:18) - sRGB / Linear mashup
(33:20) - Compositors bearing the brunt
(35:03) - Isn't it always just painting?
(36:59) - WYSI not WYG
(38:33) - Jackass landlord
(40:13) - Rythm and Hues
(40:51) - South African attractor
(42:05) - Effects and Lighting supervisor
(42:50) - Software development
(43:45) - Developing into a product
(46:13) - Color management arrives
(50:00) - SDR to HDR rendering
(50:18) - RGBE
(51:34) - Open EXR
(52:28) - OCIO
(54:00) - Life of Pi bankruptcy
(56:11) - Polishing the car
(57:22) - Pressure to go international
(57:41) - Production technology supervisor
(01:00:01) - Moving to Weta
(01:01:39) - Spectral rendering
(01:02:51) - Less fictitious
(01:05:21) - Spectral resolution
(01:06:31) - Simulate everything
(01:09:07) - Avatar 3
(01:10:25) - Planet of the Apes
(01:12:58) - Optical effects
(01:14:20) - Phosphorescence
(01:15:19) - Uplifting textures
(01:17:23) - Machine learning in Manuka
(01:18:58) - Image based lighting
(01:23:28) - Types of Renderers
(01:27:08) - Manuka's render method
(01:28:25) - Coherence
(01:29:39) - Wave striding
(01:31:30) - Spectral rendered emulates film?
(01:32:02) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9rEQAGpLw
(01:32:33) - Light sources in Manuka
(01:34:50) - Caustics
(01:37:41) - Shade before hit
(01:39:26) - Photogrammetry
(01:40:38) - 2D vs 3D and deep rendering
(01:43:51) - Merging of film and games
(01:44:42) - Gausian Splatting
(01:45:12) - gsplat.tech website
(01:47:50) - Splat drawn flying points
(01:50:03) - Immersion
(01:50:59) - Splat funeral
(01:51:55) - R&D lifecycle
(01:53:28) - Gemini Man
(01:55:46) - Pure research
(01:58:00) - Heat haze
(02:00:41) - Confluence of Games and Film
(02:03:09) - Unreal as renderer
(02:04:04) - Crossover content
(02:07:32) - Boring detail
(02:09:17) - Atlas and VR stages
(02:11:50) - Outro
(02:12:19) - End

Check out www.patreon.com/ColorMentor/ for colorist training.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
2 hr 13 min
August 28, 2024Interview with Steve Shaw
Today’s guest will probably be familiar to many of you.
Steve Shaw and his company Light Illusion are well known in the world of calibration and color grading.
I chatted to him about his work with Quantel and other companies in the past. Also, film emulation over the years and the current products and services that Light Illusion offers.
We discuss:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:13) - Interview starts
(01:36) - Starting at Quantel
(06:08) - Quantel as pioneers
(12:38) - Quantel IQ and Pablo
(16:03) - DI and film emulation
(20:46) - Film Lab Profiling Service
(24:53) - Light Illusion's film profiles
(27:21) - Origins of Lightspace
(34:35) - Film emulation vs film looks
(39:20) - Film meets HDR and HDR limitations
(41:35) - Image vs reality. Marketing bollocks!
(42:06) - Resolution
(45:59) - Why we calibrate
(48:04) - Compounding error
(59:32) - Calibration interval
(50:14) - Client education and support
(53:39) - Calibration process
(58:47) - Manufacturer auto-calibration
(01:00:37) - Display linearity
(01:01:50) - Probe calibration and probe matching
(01:04:54) - Checking linearity
(00:01) - 06:03 Heat stability
(01:09:30) - Video and full levels
(01:11:58) - System delay
(01:15:43) - Signal path and system setup
(01:19:55) - Custom patch sets
(01:23:56) - Linear and log data compression
(01:26:11) - Visualizations in Colorspace
(01:28:31) - Zero-1 range and negative values
(01:30:44) - Six Primary color systems
(01:32:57) - Colorspace for color science
(01:35:06) - Image sequence probe and virtual studios
(01:36:21) - Broad spectrum white LED’s for virtual studios
(01:38:23) - Multi language interface
(01:39:53) - P-generator
(01:42:08) - Third-party software development
(01:43:37) - Manufacturer integrations
(01:46:36) - Viewing angle
(01:49:14) - Sign-off
(01:49:35) - End logo

Check out www.patreon.com/ColorMentor/ for colorist training.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
1 hr 50 min
August 14, 2024Interview with Kaur Hendrikson
This episode I’ll be speaking to Kaur Hendrikson a colorist based in Tallinn Estonia.
Any of you who use DCTL’s will be familiar with his name.
In the last few years, he has setup up a successful DCTL store and is constantly developing new tools for freelancer and large facilities alike.
He does DCTL and Python scripting training for Black Magic and platforms like Mixing Light.
We spoke about this and a lot more.

We discuss:

(00:00) - Intro
(01:18) - Interview starts
(02:04) - Starting out
(06:01) - Estonia
(08:36) - Hockey Stick
(13:13) - The DCTL store
(15:49) - Vision mixing automation
(21:41) - Coding to solve problems
(22:58) - Black Magic teaching
(25:22) - Resolve Certification
(26:42) - Teaching
(28:51) - Python Scripting
(30:53) - Product Design
(34:28) - Future of DCTL library
(37:52) - Current limitations of DCTL
(42:19) - Panel Mods
(45:42) - Color management
(51:16) - Issues with color management
(52:45) - Maths in DCTLS
(54:32) - Color models
(56:03) - Functions and smoothness
(59:13) - DCTL bad practices
(01:03:25) - Problem solving
(01:04:44) - Highlight Modes
(01:11:29) - Recent grades
(01:13:06) - The future
(01:14:26) - Node tree
(01:15:40) - What young colorists need
(01:19:02) - Project Archives
(01:20:41) - Open-Source vs for profit
(01:26:32) - Interacting on forums
(01:28:32) - Forum theatre
(01:32:49) - Finding work
(01:36:33) - Current interests
(01:42:47) - End sign off
(01:43:08) - END LOGO

Check out www.patreon.com/ColorMentor/ for colorist training.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
1 hr 44 min
July 20, 2024Interview with Thatcher Freeman
In this episode, I'll be talking to Thatcher Freeman. He's a California-based colorist and software engineer. For his day job, he's an actual AI specialist. He's made great contributions to the color grading and software coding communities. He's also a filmmaker, so I wanted to talk to him to find out what makes him tick.
We discuss:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:10) - Interview starts
(01:57) - Thatcher's background in film making.
(05:01) - The difficulties on finding resources on color theory.
(06:41) - Current industry trends.
(09:14) - A colorist's value.
(10:21) - The combination of art and technology.
(13:14) - Freelance pressures.
(29:14) - Subtle vs Pushed graded.
(33:00) - Things that break the signal.
(54:29) - Personal taste in films and watching as a professional.
(01:08:19) - Thatcher's DCTL library.
(01:15:22) - Advice for DCTL coding.
(01:36:23) - Current Research.
(01:41:27) - Outro
(01:41:49) - End logo

Check out www.patreon.com/ColorMentor/ for colorist training.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
1 hr 42 min

About Color Mentor

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Paul hanrahan interviews film industry professionals about the art and science behind color grading and image making in general.

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Color Mentor

Color Mentor episodes

About Color Mentor