Advanced color volume remapping tools using the Human Perceptual Model for multiple display mastering maintaining the original creative intent

The Colorfront SDR to Dolby Vision tool is used to upmap original SDR content to Dolby Vision HDR. It leverages the original Colorfront Engine with special modifications to ensure a roundtrip match between the original SDR and the Dolby-derived SDR.

Colorfront SDR to Dolby Vision HDR round-tripping at the HPA Tech Retreat 2024 | 240 KB

Colorfront Engine is a state-of-the-art parametric color processing pipeline mapping various input formats, including camera original (scene-referred) and graded (display-referred) images, to a wide range of SDR and HDR output formats at user definable brightness levels and gamuts while maintaining the creative intent.

First popularized by AJA’s FS-HDR, the new AJA ColorBox offers HDR/WCG capabilities leverage video and color space processing algorithms within the Colorfront Engine - licensed by AJA from Colorfront,
Built-in SDR, HLG, and PQ transforms are optimized and designed for HDR broadcast that maintain perceptual integrity.

Telestream Vantage transcoding provides customers access to Colorfront Engine advanced color volume remapping tools that use the Human Perceptual Model for multiple display mastering maintaining the original creative intent. Colorfront’s state-of-the-art color processing within Vantage brings plug-and-play simplicity, as well as a solution to today’s complex multi-source, multi-deliverable production needs.

Colorfront Engine SDR to HDR conversion is available in Telestream Vantage as a Color filter.
See the Application notes on Using Colorfront Engine in Vantage.

By utilizing the knowledge of how the human visual system works, the perceptual model, processing source content to fit a given display’s brightness and surround can be applied while maintaining the original creative intent with little to no trimming.

Preserving the creative intent

What do we mean about preserving the creative intent? The creation of images starts with capturing some source footage. The source footage then goes through various transforms and is finally put up on what we call a reference master display. This is a very important concept because this is the hero image. This image is exactly what we want all deliveries to look like, no matter whether they are viewed in a brighter or darker environment, or whether the peak brightness matches the current cinema level, or if it is a much brighter HDR experience at 1000 nits or above. The looks need to be maintained across all of these without having to adjust each one of them. Looking at a mastering display and creating a reference image can be done in multiple stages of the workflow, from starting on-set to all of the way through post-production. In our industry, we want the “look” to be accurately maintained and to travel with the project from end to end.

There are many requirements and challenges of applying a color processing pipeline when mastering for multiple displays and various surround brightness levels. The following questions should be carefully considered when choosing a color processing pipeline for a mastering/delivery workflow:

• Does it support the common master workflow?
• Does it handle both SDR to HDR, and HDR to SDR?
• Does it support camera original and graded sources?
• Is it based on LUTs created with creative grading tools?
• Do they break with images pushing the color boundaries?
• Does it support various input and output nit levels?
• Does it support different output color spaces with gamut constraints?
• Does it support various ambient surround conditions?
• Will SDR look the same as HDR? Is the look of the image maintained?

Convert between camera log and HDR/SDR

With a perceptually optimized color volume remapping technology, Colorfront Engine is designed to preserve the original creative intent when converting between numerous original camera and delivery formats, no matter what the color space, brightness level, or dynamic range is.

• Mapping from various camera native log formats to multiple concurrent HDR / SDR outputs
• SDR preview on HDR monitors allows instantaneous previewing of SDR / HDR on a single HDR display, without changing settings
• HDR to SDR down conversions facilitating single master workflows
• SDR to HDR up conversions allowing the integration of legacy SDR content into HDR workflows
• Remapping between various HDR and SDR nit levels
• Remapping between standard and wide color gamuts, including BT.709, BT.2020, P3 and ACES
• Converting between various resolutions, including 8K, 4K, UHD, HD, SD

Adopting a human perceptual model to ensure that the creative intent is maintained is an effective and the only adequate method that can handle the wide range of gamuts and brightness levels while preserving a consistent look across all of the abundant number of display targets in today’s growing technological world.

The Colorfront Engine is an implementation of a perceptual color processing pipeline that meets the requirements listed above. This technology is currently available in different software and hardware products such as AJA’s FS-HDR and HDR Image Analyzer, as well as in all Colorfront dailies and mastering products. Colorfront’s state-of-the-art color processing Engine brings true plug-and-play simplicity, as well as a convenient and supreme solution to today’s complex multi-source, multi-deliverable production needs.