Inputting and Outputting Media > Importing Media Files and Sequences > Media Files Import Preferences and Import History Options > RED-Only Preferences >

# Colour Menu

Colour Settings box
  Select how Smoke uses the colour information stored within a R3D file.

Select: | To have:
--- | ---
User | Smoke import RED clips using the options you set in the Image, Gain, and Curve menus.
Camera | Smoke import RED clips using the look created on the RED camera and stored in the RED clip. Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RMD/Camera | Smoke import RED clips using the RMD look created in REDCINE-X, or fall back on the camera settings if there is no RMD settings. Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RSX Only | Smoke import RED clips using the RSX look created in RED Alert!. The RSX file of a clip must reside in the same directory as the R3D file of that clip. Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options. With this option selected, only clips with an RSX profile can be imported. Clips without an RSX profile appear to be missing media.
RSX or RMD/Camera | Smoke import RED clips using the RSX look. If a clip has no RSX file, Smoke imports it using the RMD look created in REDCINE-X, or fall back on the camera settings if there is no RMD settings. Disables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.
RSX or User | Smoke imports RED clips using the RSX look. If a clip has no RSX file, Smoke imports it using the options you set in the Image, Gain, and Curve menus. Enables the Image, Gain, and Curve menu options.

Save as User Settings button
  Enable to make the Colour, Image, Advanced, and Curve menus editable in the Import History. Save as User Settings is implicitly enabled when the Colour Settings box is set to User, or RSX or User.
Colour Science box
  Set the version of the RED codec to use. Using the version 3 of the codec gives you access to the FLUT and the Shadow options in the Image menu, as well as version 3-only colour spaces and gamma curves.
  NoteAs a rule, always set Colour Science to Codec 3.x, unless you are working with a footage shot using a RED camera with firmware 30, and that file was imported in Smoke prior to version 2011.
Colour Space box
  Set the colour space of the imported clips.
Gamma Curve box
  Set the value of the output gamma curve that is applied to the imported clips. If you select Scene Linear, the Bit Depth of imported clips are always set to 16-bit floating point. If you set Debayering > HDRx box to High Dynamic Range, HDRx footage is always imported as Scene Linear, even if Gamma Curve is set to something else.
HDRx Settings box
  Select which track of a RED HDRx file to import, or how to merge the two tracks together. A RED HDRx media file is made of two tracks, track A (the main exposure) and track X (the highlight protection exposure). Use HDRx Settings to set how you want to use those two tracks.

  Select: | To load:
  --- | ---
  Primary Exposure | Only the main exposure (A track).
  Highlight Exposure | Only the highlight protection exposure (X track).
  Blend Exposures | A single clip resulting from blending together the Primary and Highlight tracks. Blend Exposures behaves similarly to the option of the same name found in REDCINE-X by RED. Use the Blend field to set the blend value to use.
  Magic Motion | A single clip resulting from the merge of the Primary and Highlight tracks using an algorithm provided and developed by RED. This algorithm tries to match and blend together the motion blurs of the two tracks.
  High Dynamic Range | A single clip resulting from the merge of the Primary and Highlight tracks using an HDR merging algorithm developed by Autodesk. It converts the two exposures into a single 16-bit float image. Importing an HDRx clip as High Dynamic Range forces the Bit Depth of the imported clip to 16-bit floating point, and the Gamma Curve to Scene Linear. Use the Blend, Highlight Threshold, and Exposure Offset fields to refine the blend.
  RMD | A clip using blending options read from the RMD file. If there is no RMD file, the Smoke loads the main exposure (A track).

Blend field
  Set how to blend the two exposures of a RED HDRx clip.

  With HDRx Settings set to Blend Exposures, this field behaves like the blend in REDCINE-X; the blend also attenuates the artifacts created by the scene operation, which is a blend of the two exposures: -1 shows only the Highlight (X frame), 1 only the Primary (A Frame), and 0 a 50-50 mix.

  With HDRx Settings set to High Dynamic Range, Blend also attenuates the artifacts created by scene motions; set to 1 unless you are troubleshooting motion artifacts.

Highlight Threshold field
  Set the threshold when pixels from the Highlight exposure are used instead of the over-exposed pixels from the Primary exposure. Only available when HDRx Settings box is set to High Dynamic Range. Set Highlight Threshold last because import options such as ISO or FLUT lighten or darken the image. Too high and you get clipping (often including a magenta-coloured cast), too low and the midtones and shadows have noise leaking in from the Highlight track.
Exposure Offset field
  Set how much greater the Primary exposure was when compared to the Highlight exposure, in units of stops. Only available when HDRx Settings box is set to High Dynamic Range. The Exposure Offset should be set to match the setting on the camera for how many stops separate the Primary and Highlight tracks. This is typically 2 or 3 stops.
Offset From File button
  Enable to use the Exposure Offset read from the R3D file. Enabled when HDRx Settings is set to High Dynamic Range.

Setting the Highlight Threshold in HDRx Clips

RED import options such as ISO, FLUT, Exposure, and white balance change pixel values, and requires the Highlight Threshold to be adjusted accordingly.

NoteHighlight Threshold is only used when you select High Dynamic Range from the HDRx Settings box.

To tweaking the Highlight Threshold in the Colour Corrector:

1. Bring the Primary clip into the Colour Corrector.

   You need to have set Colour > Gamma Curve to Scene Linear.

2. Set the Viewer to use the Linear gamma curve.
3. Using the Pixel Info tool, find the clip value for the highlights, and note the lowest of the R, G, and B clip points; Green usually clips first in an HDRx file.
4. Back in the Library, set HDRx Settings to High Dynamic Range.
5. Set the Highlight Threshold to the lowest of the clipping points.
6. Import the footage.