Photochemical Look Process, Stills & Video
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2025 Update: Uffy Film Emulation Released
Now Available on Github ready to download: https://github.com/RichardUffy/Uffy-PhotoChemical-Look-Process-for-DaVinci-Resolve-Studio
2023 Update: Uffy Film Emulation for DWG/RCM
Based on working in Resolve Studio with only OFX, DCTL & Luts.
Please watch in UHD or 4K the effect can be very subtle at times. Thanks for watching.
Comparison Between Filmbox Lite & a fully in Resolve Emulation system. A bit quick & dirty so it's not the best comparison, but should be able to get the point across. The clips are processed in a somewhat real world grade to see how each works & responds.
The Film emulation system I've been working is based on a DaVinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate & Resolve Colour Management workflow. It's based entirely on 1 LUT & 1 DCTL with the built in OFXs in Resolve Studio. The idea is I can move my grades easily between systems running Resolve Studio without the hassle of 3rd party plugins whilst still achieving the desired look. I want to make it freely available when's closer to being finished & battle tested.
The target look is Kodak 250D pulled 1 stop and printed to Kodak 2383. I'm teseting to see how it work with graded shots due to that that being my realistic & intended use case.
Update 2023 Part 2: Halation DCTL based on an Exponential Function
Video on this one will probably be coming soon, but this based on some online forum posts that discuss the chemical science of how film works. From what I've read and heard from people much smarter than I am everything in the natural world and therefore chemistry is based on Exponential Functions, this DCTL is just an integration of those ideas. I think it looks good but the playback performance in Resolve leaves a bit to be desired, It's not surprising since part of the function of the code is to do a level of blurring.
For images shown below I've been tuning how I use the built in Grain OFX in Resolve, I'm having initial ideas about how to build a DCTL for more accurate grain but from a performance and tunability perspective I want to try keeping with the built in option.
I'll probaly be uploading more images from the emulation process with as range of different sources images.
Update 2023 Part 3: New Grain Algorithm
Quick Video update on the progress of Uffy Film Emulation, I've changed the Halation & Grain algorithms to custom DCTLs instead of the built in Resolve OFX.
When the Emulation closer to being finished I want to do a video run through of how it works & how to implement it into a workflow. Potentially also using it on an upcoming project so that'll be on the channel, also might re-grade a scene from a short film with the emulation applied as a practical demo.
I've also made a camera monitoring LUT based on the emulation with some Colour Density & Split Toning that have been baked in. I've been messing around with it on my Pocket 4k, but making adjustments to it for other systems is should be pretty simple.
Update 2023 Part 3b: Practical Scene Test.
Uffy Film Emulation Practical Scene Test excerpt from the Short Film 'Stain' 2022 Directed by Jason Jakovcevic & Richard van Uffelen.
Link to Original Short Film: https://youtu.be/FcyLGO80yPg
The Target of the Emulation System is Kodak 250D 5207 Pulled by One Stop printed to Kodak 2383. A corrective & creative grade has been applied to match the intention on the original Film.
New Hue Split Tone & Overall Density system is now in place. Halation & Grain has increased to counter YouTube Compression.
There's one vfx shot in the piece that I had to redo pretty quickly, so help show that the film emulation can be used to tie effects shots. If there's enough demand I'll make a run through video on how the process works.
Shot on Ursa Mini Pro - 4.6k BRAW 12:1 Xeen Cinema Primes.
Post Production done in DaVinci Resolve by Richard van Uffelen. (Editing, Sound, VFX & Colour.)
2023 Update Part 4 - Spherical Co-Ordinates & A slight chart based re-build
There were some accuracy issues with the original 250D primaries, messing around with HSV and HSL like colour spaces has been a method of working in a set of secondaries. This again is based the concepts that Steve Yedlin has been using, so yet another DCTL has been built. I'm calling it Spherical to pair with Tetra, in its current state manipulation of Cyans is improved. I'll upload some clips or stills with it applied that I've been messing with lately. I have of course been working on some projects with it so more coming up.
2023 Update part 4b - From Film Emulation to a Photochemical Look Process, Semantics or an Approach that Philosophically different?
Instead of calling this Film Emulation implying that I need to stay true to Kodak 250D and 2383, I've moved to approaching and thinking about more as a Photochemical Look Process. Especially lately with a few upcoming projects being inspired by the feel of Stocks like Ektachrome or some kind of stylised look specific to a project. This poses a thought of how important is the accuracy against the feel and creative need when implemented. More on this as I finish what I working on right now.
2023 Update part 4c - Sepherical DCTL & Uffy Photochemical Look Process Demo Video
New Demo video for the Newest version of Uffy PhotoChemical Look Process for DaVinci Resolve. New in this version is a ReBuilt 250D Primaries & a DCTL called Sepherical for secondaries to pair with Tetra, other effects hard been adjusted & shuffled. The built in FIlm Damage OFX has been added to the node graph. The Film effects Halation, Grain, Film Dirt, Gate Weave & Flicker have been increased so that more noticeable on the Youtube.
I think as this point I'm very close to the stage where this process can be distributed as an Alpha or Beta release, as there might still be some problems to figure. I'm most likely going to make it available Open Source on Github, not too sure. If you have any distribution recommendations please leave them in the comments.
Shot on; Pocket 4k BRAW Q5 & Canon C70 RAW LT. All Post Production was done in DaVinci Resolve.
Early 2022 Teaser
Film Emulation based on Kodak 5207 that's been Printed to Kodak 2383, More to come on this process in the future. Images on display were captured on a Pocket 4k, Ursa Mini Pro and Canon C70 that ran through a DaVinci Resolve Wide Gamut pipeline. The intention is to balance creative intent of the image with accuracy of the FIlm Emulation, for when it's out of budget or impractical but the look and feel is still desired.
**As with any on-going project I've been testing and playing around with other solution to the same problem. In this case it's been the plugin Videovillage Filmbox, it's truly excellent. More to come on this as more of my projects start to become public.
Testing Videovillage Filmbox Lite
I never thought that I'd end up really liking and using a plugin due to the added complexity and proprietary 'Blackbox' nature of them. But here's a plugin that fits into a node based colour managed workflow, according to the literature it can even work in DaVinci Wide Gamut. For this Lite version DWG isn't avaliable but Arri LogC3/Wide Gamut are so that is what I used as the working colour space for these test stills, cameras used where Pocket 4k, Ursa Mini Pro & Canon C70. So it shows that balancing and matching cameras even under Filmbox is identical to a node based colour managed workflow, Filmbox replaces the out CST in the graph.
*Video Demo added with clips from a Ursa Mini Pro & Pocket 4k, still more to come.
Node Graph
For testing purposes I'm not using grouped clips which makes applying Colour Space Transforms and Noise Reduction on a per camera basis much easier. But Filmbox is applied at an overall timeline level, basically replacing an an overall look node and Output Transform. Filmbox Lite is limited to 2048x1080 and only a rec709 output is available, so the timeline in this setup is Arri LOG C3 with an output of rec709 @ 1998x1080p24.
For Blackmagic Raw clips I decoded them straight to Arri Log C3, which is the same process for a DWG workflow but no decoded to DWG. Canon Raw was decoded to CLOG 2 with Noise Reduction before a CST node transforming it into to Arri LOG C3.
Overall Filmbox works in a form of colour management so it was grading as normal for me, Arri LOG C3 and DWG are practically identical for cameras I'm using to test. I'm considering purchasing this plugin for use in commercial projects, especially as I look into moving to a HDR or DCI Reference workflow.
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