Hey all, I'm Myles. It's my first time posting here. Been a long time lurker so firstly thank you all for sharing all the knowledge has been immensely helpful over the years.
I would love to share a copy of the plugin I've been on/off working on for the past couple of years. It's at a point where I use it daily and is reliable but getting more feedback can greatly help shape it further.
I don't want anyone here to buy it. I just want people to try it and tell me if there's things that need work. I'm happy to either email or dm a notorised dev build for those interested.
This is the marketing page I have for it currently :
www.precomp.co
This is where I've put documentation for it:
www.precomp.co
I think that midway through the year my website has been scraped by AI so there's some dude selling a fake film sim version out there. Seems like he's done it to other things (not sure what to do about this).
Why I designed it:
It became increasingly apparent that a lot of colleagues of mine in the industry were either using just using LUT's or Powergrades. Their primary focus is having their footage look good for clients. So understanding a node trees / linear balancing / correct placement of transforms isn't a priority. Yet there was definitely a need that there be something in between that handles a lot of technical stuff and just exposing the parameters they want to adjust.
Also I love tinkering and math. So the plugin Colorboy is result of that.
The aims of Colorboy are simple:
1. Simple exposed parameters that occur in different colorspaces without having to manage them.
2. Minimal resource overhead for playback. Partly me trying to get better at Metal optimisation. The bar was being able to playback footage at the same speed with Colorboy applied on my girlfriends base model Macbook air m4. This took wayyyy longer than I expected.
3. Finding a balance between simplicity and flexibility. Again using my mates / girlfriend (with minimal grading experience) to gauge how easy it was for them to get grades that 'felt good'. Whilst getting my more advanced mates to try and break the plugin and let me know where it could improve technically (I hope some of you can help with this).
4. Getting results faster. I love dropping in my clips after shooting and in a couple of clicks can play back through the roll in realtime and then later fine tune quickly per shot.
What it is:
An ACES workflow that handles the stuff I would usually be doing in nodes. A lot of people I know weren't using intermediate spaces, so having a consistent pipeline and intermediate space helps with camera matching alongside having sliders that feel more intuitive to use.
It does all the transforms internally but the exposed parameters will adjust the footage in specific color spaces e.g. Linear Balancing - ACEScg, Creative Log Controls - ACEScct. You can choose how you want output transform back to Rec.709 tonally with a bunch of presets I've made.
I've made a bunch of custom sliders with their own unique math. The 'Tone Curve Contrast' is my favourite, feels great to use as when compressing and expanding the image.
What it isn't:
A film sim. It isn't meant to be the most accurate simulation of digital film. It's designed to be a reliable workflow.
I've added effects that are definitely considered film sim esque based on my own interests of development. Mainly it's me experimenting with the idea that character doesn't need to be an exact emulation rather just changing math in the backend to see what felt right out of curiosity. The vintage lens is just me playing with COC maps and left it in cause my mate really liked it for certain shots.
The 'Printys' are definitely inspired by film stock colors. I'm trying to reduce / swap / keep only the ones I actually use. I don't like a long list to pick from. The best one I've made imo is K207.
What I'm thinking of for the future of Colorboy
Production is reduction maybe I can further simplify things? add more global presets. Porting to other host software.
Technical details:
Uses OCIO 2.5 based transforms for sections of the pipeline.
Runs only on Apple Silicon Macs until I can work CUDA / AMD shaders out a bit better.
Works on both free and studio versions of DaVinci Resolve due to everything being self contained in the plugin.
TLDR
Made a plugin because I wanted to. My friends and I really like using it. Looking for more input so I can make it even better
I would love to share a copy of the plugin I've been on/off working on for the past couple of years. It's at a point where I use it daily and is reliable but getting more feedback can greatly help shape it further.
I don't want anyone here to buy it. I just want people to try it and tell me if there's things that need work. I'm happy to either email or dm a notorised dev build for those interested.
This is the marketing page I have for it currently :
Colorboy | macOS Color Plugin for DaVinci Resolve
Colorboy is a macOS color plugin for DaVinci Resolve, built for fast stylized grading, creative looks in post-production workflows.
www.precomp.co
This is where I've put documentation for it:
Product Documentation & Video Tutorials | Precomp
Find Precomp product documentation and video tutorials. Read the Colorboy user guide and learn how to use Colorboy in DaVinci Resolve.
www.precomp.co
I think that midway through the year my website has been scraped by AI so there's some dude selling a fake film sim version out there. Seems like he's done it to other things (not sure what to do about this).
Why I designed it:
It became increasingly apparent that a lot of colleagues of mine in the industry were either using just using LUT's or Powergrades. Their primary focus is having their footage look good for clients. So understanding a node trees / linear balancing / correct placement of transforms isn't a priority. Yet there was definitely a need that there be something in between that handles a lot of technical stuff and just exposing the parameters they want to adjust.
Also I love tinkering and math. So the plugin Colorboy is result of that.
The aims of Colorboy are simple:
1. Simple exposed parameters that occur in different colorspaces without having to manage them.
2. Minimal resource overhead for playback. Partly me trying to get better at Metal optimisation. The bar was being able to playback footage at the same speed with Colorboy applied on my girlfriends base model Macbook air m4. This took wayyyy longer than I expected.
3. Finding a balance between simplicity and flexibility. Again using my mates / girlfriend (with minimal grading experience) to gauge how easy it was for them to get grades that 'felt good'. Whilst getting my more advanced mates to try and break the plugin and let me know where it could improve technically (I hope some of you can help with this).
4. Getting results faster. I love dropping in my clips after shooting and in a couple of clicks can play back through the roll in realtime and then later fine tune quickly per shot.
What it is:
An ACES workflow that handles the stuff I would usually be doing in nodes. A lot of people I know weren't using intermediate spaces, so having a consistent pipeline and intermediate space helps with camera matching alongside having sliders that feel more intuitive to use.
It does all the transforms internally but the exposed parameters will adjust the footage in specific color spaces e.g. Linear Balancing - ACEScg, Creative Log Controls - ACEScct. You can choose how you want output transform back to Rec.709 tonally with a bunch of presets I've made.
I've made a bunch of custom sliders with their own unique math. The 'Tone Curve Contrast' is my favourite, feels great to use as when compressing and expanding the image.
What it isn't:
A film sim. It isn't meant to be the most accurate simulation of digital film. It's designed to be a reliable workflow.
I've added effects that are definitely considered film sim esque based on my own interests of development. Mainly it's me experimenting with the idea that character doesn't need to be an exact emulation rather just changing math in the backend to see what felt right out of curiosity. The vintage lens is just me playing with COC maps and left it in cause my mate really liked it for certain shots.
The 'Printys' are definitely inspired by film stock colors. I'm trying to reduce / swap / keep only the ones I actually use. I don't like a long list to pick from. The best one I've made imo is K207.
What I'm thinking of for the future of Colorboy
Production is reduction maybe I can further simplify things? add more global presets. Porting to other host software.
Technical details:
Uses OCIO 2.5 based transforms for sections of the pipeline.
Runs only on Apple Silicon Macs until I can work CUDA / AMD shaders out a bit better.
Works on both free and studio versions of DaVinci Resolve due to everything being self contained in the plugin.
TLDR
Made a plugin because I wanted to. My friends and I really like using it. Looking for more input so I can make it even better
