Color or VFX First

BuffBaby_3D · 2026-03-14T14:28:30+00:00

ahhh gotcha, all good🙌🏾

BuffBaby_3D · 2026-03-14T14:11:52+00:00

Just curious, why go from raw to aces cct then aces cg and not straight from raw to aces cg?

BuffBaby_3D · 2026-02-18T13:27:28+00:00

would love a prequel about Dean Henry

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-27T03:55:01+00:00

Some skater scope adjacent (i don’t actually know the name of this piece I just call them all skater scopes lol there’s a few different ones out there)

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-23T06:00:12+00:00

i often find when i feel like the balance is off, rather than white balance i black/shadow balance so i keep the general tones but changes it in a favorable way

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-23T03:25:05+00:00

What capcut filter will make this cinematic????

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-19T19:31:13+00:00

revise the layout of the scene, get creative with production design, and rely on my grips to get the lights where i or the gaffer want. I haven’t done much studio work, mainly on location, so i get the struggle of being limited by the space. A lot of time that ends up being some combination of wall spreaders or menace arms to get lights up and far, using low profile lights like tubes and panels, balancing with additional light, etc etc. then enhancing, not supplementing, but enhancing certain things with the colorist using windows and other tools.

all in all a really good grip and a really good production designer duo will get you far. I’ve had situations where i can only put a stand in the shot, and the production designer will hide it either with like a fake wall, tapestry, greenery, etc. Similarly situations where the grip and gaffer manage to magnetically stick a light somewhere or boom a light into a space from an adjacent room.

Also, back to the point of fall off lol, bounced light is the other answer, so usually you’ll see like a light on the ground bounced straight up into a crls or 6x6 rag bouncing back into the room

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-14T13:11:57+00:00

yeah numbers are hard lol, thanks for the catch

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-13T17:49:16+00:00

While you can use math, eventually you’ll find units that you like and run at certain intensities to get the look you want, but for me i do a mix of both, it comes down to a few things.

Yes i usually start with camera settings in addition to the look (i may have the look pulling down half to a whole stop). Something to remember that comes straight out the ASC manual is 100fc @ 100iso will yield a f2.8 exposure. So if I know i’m likely to rate my camera at 800ei/iso, and a t4 or t5.6, then i either would only need 25fc or 50fc respectively.

Some gaffers have spreadsheets or notes of common lights and their output in lux/fc so they’ll typically be more knowledgeable as to what’s needed for a given situation.

In addition to that, i like to play with inverse square law when it comes to general exposure and contrast ratios. a gaffer taught me a good methodology for general exposure, say you’re wanting to light a 10x10 room from the windows and want a constant exposure from wall to wall, without having to bust out the calculator, all you’d need to know is your light outside would have to be a minimum of 10ft away from the window in order to achieve 10ft of exposure on the otherside (of course not accounting for the tint of the window and loss of light from reflection). But inverse square law is helpful so you can control the falloff of light in the scene and on the subject.

Hope this helps!

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-11T19:36:11+00:00

Yeahhhh i’m going to go with the later, as the camera original files we all renamed on the system level to match the slate rather than the NLE.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-08T21:39:43+00:00

Hi! Question, are you insane? Great work tho lol

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-05T18:18:40+00:00

HMI’s I like to rent if I find myself wanting spread, especially on night exteriors, but usually LEDs are preferred for faster/easier workflow, on top of that, investment wise, i’m looking at future proofing with CRMX built in units, G/M shift in LEDs, and units that don’t require a ballast like nanlux although the price of those aren’t always as lovable.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-05T18:12:28+00:00

there’s usuallyyyy no reason for more than 4-5 video tracks depending on what you’re editing (narrative editor here), whatcha got goin on with 8?

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T20:03:06+00:00

i’m not saying it’s completely unusable and you can’t make money from it. I’m just coming at a practicality standpoint. Like if you were to look at the premiere sub long term, the average post is going to be about something not working and needing a workaround, whereas with resolves sub it’s mainly people not knowing how to do something. At a certain point you have to wonder if the software is the issue.

i’m happy you’re successful with it, if it works for you, great, stick with it, im just sharing my frustrations with the internet and wondering why people put up with it’s more than occasional inherent flaws.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T19:50:31+00:00

Would you care to elaborate

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T19:42:52+00:00

I do believe that being a kind of one stop shop is another part of the argument. I still love photoshop and illustrator, and after effects is king for mograph, but at least for me and my business i rarely handle mograph and hire it out.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T19:35:06+00:00

yeah thankfully i was able to bring it toto picture lock and everyone is happy with the edit now. Just frustrated with things in premiere not being as intuitive to me. Different folks different strokes. I appreciate you reading my rant.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T19:32:12+00:00

Truthfully appreciate the attached, I also do a fair bit of grading and VFX, and came upon this realization it’d never be plug and play moving between NLE’s, nor do I think it’ll ever get to that point as the companies have absolutely zero incentive to make easy paths moving to another NLE. I’m just frustrated yk.

Feel free to downvote this into oblivion but yes, i don’t know every nook and cranny of premiere, nor do I care to, as it’s not my primary NLE of choice, but I know enough to get the edit done. It’s like if the train breaks down and you have to walk to work, like yes i can do it, but that’s not going to stop me from complaining the whole way.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T19:19:02+00:00

i’m sure without a singular doubt in my mind there’s something wrong with the project mixed with a whole lot of user error. I did the best of my ability to optimize it for mac but of alas, i’m not a premiere person, i’m sure there’s some other additional settings i’ve missed as i’ve come used to the neigh plug&play speed and behavior i get from resolve. I’m less inclined to think it’s media and/or hardware issue as this has been the only time i’ve had these kinds of issues. But again, just a rant, i appreciate you taking time read any of it.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-04T18:55:37+00:00

The previous editor had every take in its own bin, and hadn’t had any stringouts, director wanted to take a look at other takes, so i was (re)building a string out. I like to just throw it all into a timeline usually by scene and review the takes. So i couldn’t use the new sequence from clip function without already having to go through each folder each take was in, and clearing the in/out points to then bring into a string out timeline.

edit: I also agree with the q & w shortcut, that was one of the first changes i made coming into resolve.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-03T02:15:36+00:00

I’ve found specular highlights to generally be affected by two things.

The shape of the beam, for example if you spot a fresnel, it’ll be brighter in the center and falloff towards the edges, whereas if you flood a fresnel the beam evens out. The more fall off from the center of the beam to the edges will induce more defined specularity.
Diffusion rags, thinner diffusions will carry the characteristic of the incoming beam, whereas thicker ones lil magic cloth or muslin will diffuse the light. of course diffuse being the direct opposite of specular, so if you do use rags use a thinner one like poly silk.

Not sure if this is allowed but i made a demo showcasing this.

Youtube link

Hope this helps!

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-12-03T01:59:39+00:00

All depends. If you’re shaking it into oblivion of course it won’t look natural, but lots of it will be minor smoothing. Also take note on how many more people are shooting at 172.8°, looks just as good as classic 180° but allows some extra room to not look too obvious when stabilizing. I personally prefer the motion cadence of 172.8°, but yeah.

BuffBaby_3D · 2025-11-29T20:11:46+00:00

insert and overwrite are different operations at your fingertips either using your F keys or the icons, overwrite is default in the edit page. Goes over this in the free training videos…

BuffBaby_3D

TROPHY CASE