Gamma shift from After Effects

Yes, that is a problem. What version of FCP are you using? What 8bit codec are you rendering to?

I am not sure what the problem is. Even if there is no gamma shift in mov files, I have found RGB files or graphics created in AE always get a gammashift. This will not happen in FCP 4, and supposedly the 5.1.2 update fixes this shift also. It started with FCP 5, and many people have been ******** about AE>FCP gamma shifts, if you search around on the web. . .

Hi,

we have recognised gamma problems arising when working between After Effects PC workstations and MACs with FCP. As you all might know Final Cut Pro thinks all the RGB footage (stills, quicktime with animation codec etc.) you import is made with gamma 1,8 and that is not the case with PCs which have gamma of 2,2. So before rendering anything from PC to MAC you should make in After Effects gamma correction 0.824 with levels filter to get accurate colors.

Another strange problem is when you open Uncompressed 8-bit .mov -files with PCs. It always seems to be little bit too bright. We compensate this strange bug by making gamma correction of 0.89 when importing uncompressed 8-bit .mov -files to our PC After Effects workstations.

I hope Apple would fix that bug someday...

G5 DP2.5 (3.5GB RAM) Mac OS X (10.4.5) FCP 5.04, AJA Io, XSAN 1.2

In general it has nothing to do with 1,8 gamma and 2,2 gamma. PC or Mac, it doesn't matter. Gamma is something you set up in your system, it won't affect your linear RGB graphics. I can set up my Mac to run 2,2 gamma ...

Please explain what you did with After Effects. Did you apply filters and effects to uncompressed 8-Bit footage from FCP or did you create solid and text layers inside After Effects. Are you working with imported Photoshop graphics in After Effects too?

Well I must specify that we haven't had any problems with gamma when working between After Effects and FCP in Mac OS X. It's just if you bring some material from PC to MAC you might notice that graphics are too bright, because FCP thinks all the RGB material is made with gamma 1.8. So FCP maps RGB colors to YUV (television colorspace used by DV, Uncompressed 8-bit etc.) with gamma 1.8.

BTW FCP doesn't collaborate with color management in OS X. So it doesn't make any difference how FCP handles RGB material if you change OS X gamma to 2.2.

FCP works in YUV and After Effects in RGB so that's why you don't see gamma problems when exporting material from FCP. I think you should first check from Apple Software Update you have the newest Pro Applications Update. I remember Uncompressed 8-bit codec had this kind of gamma problem with After Effecs couple updates before.

G5 DP2.5 (3.5GB RAM) Mac OS X (10.4.5) FCP 5.04, AJA Io, XSAN 1.2

I've never said that FCP or any other video application is collaborating with OS color management. I just want to point out that it has nothing to do if the images are Mac or PC based. You have the same problem with images from Mac.

Only a text layer and some animated elements were
applied over the the uncompressed 8-bit file.
No filters were applied to the footage in AE.

Ok, the footage looks the same after rendering, right?
Just the Text and other animated elements are different,
they are to bright.

Apply this filter to your layers, excluding the original
clips from FCP:

Image Control -> Gamma/Pedestal/Gain

Set Red, Green and Blue Gamma to: 0,822

This will nearly give you the same results in FCP like
in AE when rendering out again to 8-Bit uncompressed.

Ok, are you working with the latest FCP 5 version?
Did you do all Pro Application Support Updates via
Software Update?

Are you working with Blackmagic hardware?