For all post production buffs out there, let's share ideas.
You first.

Another name is video sweetening.
It is an art. It is also science. Altering specific parts/whole image for either correction or enhancement purposes.

Next,

From what i got to know bout color grading, i think its available with media composer software, like an extensive color correction or something like tht.

cos a client once asked for that to be done to his work and i was like color gra what? told him i wud do it n did a gud cc and he was pleased with it.

media offline, i get it every now and then when the footage u r working on looses it links with it so called media files, maybe its being deleted or an harddrive's been detached from the system, d editing applictn senses tht n goes offline.

soln: u'd have to refresh media database or if deleted recapture ur material.

sojioguns you are simply awesome , this is one of your boys in the avid class at AVF you are always eager to teach and help and i love you for that .just want to appreciate you.
To your thread,color grading as you said is an art and science you really have to understand color schemes,to me it has to do with your taste of color or the clients taste or the actual look he wants i ve seen colors that are too saturated ,ive also seen colors that are almost monochrome. it all depend on taste .please correct me if iam wrong you have always been my teacher

Hi guys,
colour grading/digital grading is just one of the many post production aspects that our videos lack. Am glad that you're discussing this on this forum.
colour grading is an art like u mentioned, and could be used in many ways. It could be used to create dramatic effects and also blend components of compositing. The matrix is an example that used it. A certain colour channel was used to give its the greenish feel. The lord of the rings used it in draining colour off a character's face while he morphed into a dying state.

2 bad i missed the last training, but am lstill looking forward to learning more from soji anyway. not only on avid but other things 2

As a matter of fact "NO JOB SHOULD GET TO THE BROADCAST OR DELIVERY STAGE WITHOUT PASSING THROUGH THE COLOUR GRADING PROCESS." It never happens. As little as using the simple colour corrector in FCP, Avid or Premiere to using high end colour grading tools like Discreet Lustre. The video camera NEVER gives you the true colour of footage due to all the image processing and compression. The video cameras are still not that smart.
In the film world, it is IMPOSSIBLE to even get a deliverable without going through the colour timing process. This is where they do printer lights, diffusion, bleach bypass (for that high contrast and slightly desaturated look).
I have been doing some research in colour grading and essentially have done a lot of work. From using After effects and plugins to using Silicon Colour Final Touch, which I spent a whole lot purchasing only to see Apple buy the damn company and turn the application into Apple Color.
To me this is an area that is lacking in our industry. The first movie that I used Final Touch for was Irapada (out on VCD and DVD). I intend to enlighten as many people as I can about this art/science.
My next question is, "WHAT TOOL DO YOU USE FOR YOUR GRADING?"

Avid fx color tools (though does'nt give the best)

or Boris

I think that Avid FX is not in the league of big boys. Which Boris are you talking about? Boris RED? or Boris Continuum Complete.
Right now my personal favourite is Assimilate SCRATCH (http://www.assimilateinc.com).

i meant Boris red.

Not heard bout that assimilate scratch b4 now,

I have a problem with my avid system, was working on a project and just stepped out to get something , left the system running cos i was rendering. On getting back almighty nepa had struck n everything was off.

After then each time i launch avid it initiates a media stream process, I use 2 230g hdd and i scans the first one completely but it always stop at 35% for the second hdd, tried all i cud but it all proved abortive. i already tried copying the media files to anoda hdd but still same result, tried deleting corrupt file from there 2 but same result.

What do you think i can do.

Sorry for posting this here but there's no other place.

This is a problem caused by corrupt media database files. To solve this follow these instructions very carefully:
Close Avid application. Go to your media directory. [drive label]:\Avid Media Files\MXF\1\ Arrange icons by type and look for two distinct files with icons like avid icons. msmFMID.pmr and msmMMOB.mdb are their file names. Delete them on the drive that is giving you issues and restart Avid.
Note: NEVER manually copy media files on your media drive. You could lose all media information.
This should solve your problem.
Let me know if it doesnt.

It didn't work out, i've deleted them but it's d same result.

Delete the media database files on all your media drives and restart Avid. If it fails. disconnect all media drives and startup Avid. Then connect them and refresh media directories. Then Mount drives. I believe you have done something wrong when u copied the media files manually.

I deleted them, its the same thing, i disconnected all media drive, but whenever i connect the drives, it immidiately starts to scan the drive and stops at 35%.

thanks

this problem don attack me since yesterday, there's a weekly tv show i edit for (The Little Chefs) will be shown today on LTV 8 by 5:00pm but its a repeat episode tht i had to take down there yesterday because of this problem. The program is always shown every Thursday.

The only option i think i have left is starting to capture the files again, but don know if it'll work out well.

If you did proper media management, you should be able to batch capture only the files you have missing. Leave the media drive that has no problem connected and batch capture the ones that are on the bad media drive.
Are you sure you dont have any error message?
Open all your clip/media bins and go to text view (click on the text tab). You should immediately see what drive the media files are on (or supposed to be on). Select those ones that are attached to the bad media drive and batch capture them. Make sure you did proper tape labeling and hope the camera men didnt leave timecode breaks all over the tapes.
N.B: This shouldnt be your resort though. I guess I would have to see your system for myself. If it is something you could, just save the project folder on a flash drive and bring the two media drives to my office so I could take a look at it. You know my digits now. Take it easy and dont panic. Thats why it is Avid. You never lose projects.

thanks a million times bro sojioguns, after trying all tips n tricks, i was like  'e don happen' don't even know what  pushed me to trying it with another avid system, but i did n it scanned the hdd that has been giving me trouble complete n created fresh media files those mmob msm then i took it to the oda avid sys n it worked just fine.

What version of avid are u using froggie? Do u use Media composer?

seems like years since i was last on this forum.
Used to be strictly a 3d person but late last year things changed,

As to Color Grading, I use after Effects, Careful use of the basic Curves,Levels,Hue and Saturation Filters can give me all the colorization i need.
As back end, i also use Magic Bullet Plugin 4 AE for my grading

@damseremie, Nice one. The basic tools in AE (levels, curves, etc) will only do primary colour correction. If you want to do secondary colour correction (affecting only certain areas of an image) you need more advanced tools. The new Magic Bullet Looks doesnt even cut it for me. It just has presets that dont apply to every situation. The strength of a colour grading tool is CONTROL. You need to be able to change anything in an image. Synthetic Aperture Colour finesse is still my best for basic and light secondary grading. (http://www.synthetic-ap.com).
Nice one.

@sojioguns
The presets in Magic Bullet helps newbies and my even be a good starting point for pros, But contrary 2 what u may think magic bullet DOES give total control over all the individual settings, It depends on the user, if they want to begin with a preset and make fine adjustments or start from scratch.


And with regards to AE's native plugins, do not underestimate them, u should see what amazing color grading my own mentor "Andrew Kramer" achieves with just those plugins.
That said , i have never used Synthetic Aperture Colour finesse but will google it up right now. Thanks

The reason why i like colour finesse is that it does all kinds of correction for shadow midtone and highlight values. Yeah the native tools in AE can cut it but it is loong thing.
And I second that Andrew Kramer does great work.
Are you in Lagos?

Soji oguns i use Avid Epress pro hd but also have express pro 5 on another system
sorry for replying late

@froggie you need to get upgraded. Holla me.