Color mode workflow

Select a thumbnail in Clip Grid to choose the clip in your sequence you want to adjust, referred to as the Current Clip.

All adjustments you make to clips in a sequence are organized into Operations. Select one of these operations at the top of the Color Controls panel to choose what you want to edit.

• For newly selected clips, by default, a Clip Operation is selected, exposing controls that you can use to make unique adjustments to only the currently selected clip.
• For every new sequence, a Sequence Style operation is also available that you can use to apply a “show look” to the entire timeline at once. You have the choice to apply one of the included editable Style presets, or you can mix and match Style modules, which are more creative color tools you can use to build nearly any kind of look you can imagine. Each module focuses on easily applying a particular kind of customizable stylistic color effect.

Underneath the Operations area are the color controls that are available for the currently selected Operation.

• If you’ve selected the Adjust operation, you can use the different control groups to manipulate contrast, color, and texture.
• If you’ve selected the Style operation and added a preset or module, each module’s controls appear below.

Many of these controls are two-dimensional and let you drag either vertically or horizontally to make two related but simultaneous adjustments. Others controls only work vertically.

Click once within a control to latch that control on. Its HUD appears to show you that control is ready to adjust. Alternately, many controls (including all the controls in the Adjust operation) can be activated via keyboard shortcuts.

There are two ways to adjust these controls while latched:

• Drag your pointer either up or down (for the main adjustment) and/or left and right (for the alternating adjustment, depending on the control) to modify the image.
• You can also press the Arrow keys to make vertical and horizontal adjustments in fine increments. When you’re done, click a second time to accept the adjustment and unlatch the control.
• Alternately, you can also click and hold the left button of your pointer, then drag up or down and/or left and right to adjust (depending on the control) to edit a control without latching it. Release the button to accept the adjustment.

As you make these adjustments, the heads-up display (HUD) shows you a video scope with superimposed indicators specifically for the control you’re adjusting. The HUDs for each control are designed to help you understand the type of adjustment you’re making as you watch the result on Color Monitor.

Additionally, if Transmit Device Playback is enabled, you’ll also see the resulting change on your external video display.

When you’re finished adjusting the current clip, click again (or press Return or Escape) to unlatch the control you were working on and accept the change. The HUD disappears, allowing you to evaluate the resulting image free of distractions. If you like, continue making adjustments using other controls until you’re satisfied with the image.

If you want to work quickly, you can select the Sequence Style operation, select Style Presets, and then use the Style browser to choose a Style preset to apply to the entire sequence. This applies a customizable show look to the program that sets the visual tone for everything in your sequence, and you can then spend your time adjusting individual problem clips.

• After you’ve applied a Style preset, the modules and controls for that preset appear below the operations area. These are editable in the same way the controls of the Adjust operation are, via latchable two-dimensional controls.

After you’ve used the Sequence style operation, you can move through the clip grid looking for individual clips that stick out because they don’t match the color and contrast of the neighboring clips. If necessary, you can select multiple clips to compare to one another as a split-screen using the Comparison View button in the Color monitor. With Comparison View on, the current clip is the one you’re adjusting, and you can choose which of the selected clips you want to compare to from a stack of icons to the left of the Color monitor. Turn Comparison mode off when you’re finished.

When you’re done adjusting the current clip, go ahead and click another thumbnail in the Clip Grid or press the Down or Up arrow keys (Go to next or Previous clip) to select the next clip you’d like to adjust. In this way, you may continue adjusting each clip in your sequence that needs it until you’re finished.