Using the False Color Mode

What is False Color?

False color is an exposure tool that colorizes different luminance values to quickly evaluate the quality of an image.

Different manufacturers have integrated this tooling into their cameras in different ways and tailored it to their respective original log formats.

 

False Color Ranges of Different Log Formats

 

How does Livegrade’s False Color work?

To accommodate different log formats, color scales, and individual user needs, Livegrade introduces an 1D LUT-based False Color mode.

This mechanism converts the incoming image into a black-and-white image version first. After that, a selected 10bit 1D LUT that defines certain color ranges will be applied to output the false color image.

 

1D-LUT based False Color Mode

1D-LUT based False Color Mode

Setting up Livegrade’s False Color Mode

Go to Settings > Grading to adjust Livegrade’s false color mode to your individual needs by going through the following settings:

Force to Apply False Color On

Force to Apply False Color On

This setting determines when the false color mechanism should take effect.

  • Original (recommended)
    Apply false color always to the original image (without grading and LUT). This ensures that you always check the actual image regardless of the selected LUT and grading.
  • Bypass
    Apply false color always to the image after the output transform (last LUT node) has been applied – any grading is bypassed for the moment.
  • Graded
    Apply false color always to the graded image
  • Uncheck
    If you want to apply false color depending on your current mode (Graded / Bypass / Original), uncheck this option.

Based on the selection for the when, you can use the following settings to select which false color LUT should be applied.

False Color LUT for Original

False Color LUT Original

False Color on Original

With this selection, you set the false color LUT which will be applied when you are in Original mode. Since each log format distributes color and luminance differently, Livegrade offers many manufacturer LUTs out-of-the-box to get the same result in Livegrade as it would be the case in the internal false color processing of the respective camera.

Note: If you have previously activated the option “Force to Apply False Color On” and set it to “Original”, False Color will always use this LUT and apply it to the original image.

False Color LUT for Graded

False Color LUT for Graded

False Color LUT on Graded

Use this drop-down to select which false color LUT is applied to the graded or bypassed image at the end of your pipeline.

False Color User LUTs

It is possible to include your 10bit 1D LUTs in the .cube format. This option is available for the original as well as the graded selection.

To create your own false color LUT, we recommend our Pomfort False Color LUT Creator.

With this you can load existing presets of common log formats, edit and download them as 10-bit 1D LUT to your computer.

To load the created False Color LUT in Livegrade select for Original or Graded

  • False Color User LUTs > Show in Finder.

This is the folder where you can save your LUTs.

Click the Refresh button to be able to list your LUT in the hierarchy.

False Color User LUTs

False Color User LUTs

Common False Color Setups

To give you an example how your setup could look like, check the following table:

Alexa 35 Alexa Classic Sony Venice 2
Force Apply False Color On: Original Uncheck Original
False Color LUT for Original: ARRI > LogC4 EI 800 ARRI > LogC3 EI 800 Sony > SonySlog3
False Color LUT for Graded: disabled Pomfort > Ranges disabled
Note: Choose False Color LUT for Original according to the selected EI Choose False Color LUT for Original according to the selected EI