Using the FilmLight BLG Grading Mode

This article covers features which are only available in Livegrade Studio.

Livegrade Studio supports using the FilmLight color pipeline and round-tripping with the FilmLight product family via BLG import/export and a dedicated “FilmLight BLG” grading mode. 

Activate FilmLight BLG grading features

To activate the FilmLight BLG grading features you need to install

  • a compatible Livegrade Studio version,
  • a compatible Daylight version, with a valid Daylight license or a free “BLG Tools” license, available on the FilmLight website.

As soon as you have installed the compatible versions of Livegrade Studio and Daylight and activated the required license the FilmLight BLG grading features will be unlocked in Livegrade Studio.

THE FILMLIGHT BLG GRADING MODE

Livegrade Studio comes with a dedicated grading mode supporting the FilmLight color pipeline.

You can import a BLG (.blg.exr) file as a shot into your shot library and apply the look to your slot. The FilmLight BLG grading mode automatically applies all parameters set in the loaded BLG, including input transform, working color space, grade stack and viewing color space.

To import a BLG into your shot library choose “File” > “Import Look As Shot…” > “FilmLight BLG (blg)”.

Note: Spatial layers such as shapes will be skipped on import.

If you apply the imported look to your slot you are able to use its parameters as a starting point for creating a new look in the FilmLight BLG grading mode.

The grade editor in the FilmLight BLG grading mode lets you apply the following color controls:

In: This section includes all available input transforms (“Input Colorspace”) and working colorspace transforms (“Working Colorspace”) of the FilmLight color pipeline.

CDL: This is a creative grading node compatible with ASC-CDL. The ASC-CDL is applied in the selected working colorspace (e.g.,  FilmLight’s E-Gamut/T-Log). The CDL correction can be passed on as an additional CDL-layer into the FilmLight grade stack via BLG look export.

Click “Edit” in the header bar of the grade controls to add additional CDL-based nodes (CDL or Saturation nodes) or remove nodes. 

Note: Several CDL-based nodes that are applied after another are combined into one CDL node when transferring look metadata as BLG file. 

You can also move an additional CDL node after the “Grade” node, which will result in an additional CDL node in the target FilmLight application that is applied between the current grade stack and the output transform (viewing colorspace).

Grade: This node holds the complete grade stack applied in the loaded BLG. The grade stack is not editable within Livegrade but is applied to your current look and will be transferred completely when exporting a BLG.

Out: This section includes all available display rendering transforms (“DRT”) and output transforms (“Viewing Colorspace”) of the FilmLight color pipeline.

FilmLight BLG grade editor

 

RESETTING LOOKS

When clicking “Reset Colors” in the bottom bar of the main window, or choosing “Reset Color Nodes Only” from the Grade menu, all CDL and Saturation nodes are reset. All other parameters stay untouched.

When clicking “Neutral” in the bottom bar of the main window, or choosing “Reset All Nodes To Neutral” from the Grade menu, all CDL and Saturation nodes and the Grade node are reset to the grading mode’s default settings. 

TRANSFERRING LOOK METADATA

Looks stored in the application’s shot and look library can be exported as BLG files for further processing in products capable of processing images in the FilmLight color pipeline.

The following shot metadata fields can be passed on via BLG:

Livegrade Metadata
FilmLight Metadata
Clip-Identifier
Clip
Comment
Comment
Camera
Camera
Scene
Scene
Take
Take
Reel
Tape
Aperture
Aperture
EI/ISO
ISO
Lens Model
Lens
Shutter Angle
Shutter Angle
Tint
Tint
White Balance
Colour Temp
Frames (frameCount)
Length
TC Start
Ref TC

Note: For matching your BLG files to camera originals in FilmLight applications, you can use the “Clipname” metadata field. To do so, make sure to set your Default Clip-Identifier to “D3: Clipname” in the library preferences. If there is no Clipname metadata available, you can also match clips using timecode if the shot creation was in the timeframe of the recorded clip (make sure to set your match setting in Daylight to “fuzzy”).

KNOWN ISSUES

  • Spatial layers such as shapes will be skipped on import
  • After installing new custom DRTs Livegrade needs to be restarted in order to import a BLG using the new DRT
  • Reading and transmitting the “Graderesult Colour Space” is currently not supported
  • Shots created if the grade node is disabled will still have the grade node included inside of the exported BLG