MBR Color Corrector 2 Manual

Basic Use

Apply the filter to a clip.

Display a frame containing the color card and click on the Find Card button of the Source color card.

The Source color card and levels should automatically update and the clip will be color corrected. The Ref button next to the color card will change color to indicate that the card is not a reference card anymore.

Sometimes, you need to experiment with the other settings. In this case turning on 3-Way Correction improves the result.

Matching Clips

A more advanced use of the filter is to match the colors between two clips. In this example, we are attempting to match the clip on the right with the clip used in the Basic Use example.

Firstly we need to set the Source color card correctly. Once that is done, the clip will look like this:

Next, we need to get a color card to match. To do this: apply the filter to target clip, and save the color card by clicking on the Save button of the Source color card. Close that clip.

Finally, click on the Load button of the Target color card and select the file that was created in the previous step. The clip should now match the look of the uncorrected first clip.

For reference, here is the uncorrected first clip:

Levels

The levels of the source and target footage can be adjusted independently.
The levels are automatically updated when the buttons next to the Source or Target color cards are clicked. If you hold a modifier key (such as shift) down when clicking on those buttons, the levels will be be unchanged.

When the levels are updated, and the color card is a reference card, the color card will be updated to match the new levels.
The levels are also used to help the Preserve Lightness option work - i.e. a pixel that is half way between the source black and white levels will be mapped to a point half way between the target black and white levels.

Advanced Options

White Balance Correction

When enabled, this option causes the white balance to be automatically matched using the bottom row of color patches on the color card.

If, for example, you have a clip where color matching should be given higher priority than white balance; you should turn off White Balance Correction.

3-Way Color Correction

When enabled, this option causes the filter to perform color correction separately for high, medium and low brightness parts of the scene. This can be very useful for correcting colors that are affected by roll-off in the camera.

Preserve Lightness

When disabled, this option causes the brightness / exposure of the clip to be adjusted. Disabling this option is usually a good idea when matching clips where you have made sure that the lighting of the color card in those clips is consistent.

Adjustment Options

The adjustment controls are only enabled in the full version of the filter. They simply allow for basic adjustments to the result of the filter, and often remove the need for any further filters.

Finding the card manually

Sometimes the Find Card button cannot find the card. If this is the case: you can manually tell the filter where the corners of the card are by moving the four control points to the corners of the color card and then use the Read Card button.

Firstly, click on the show control points

icon for the effect. This shows the four corner positions in the output window.

Drag the corner controls to the correct positions.

Click on the Read Card button of the color card, and the color card will be updated.

Dealing with Obscured Cards

If the color card is partially obscured (or partially in shadow), neither the Find Card nor the Read Card buttons will work perfectly. If, however, the obscured patches are still partially visible; it is possible to manually set the color of those patches improving the quality of the color correction.

In this example the Find Card button gives this result. To change the color of a patch, click on that patch in the color card control; this will update the color picker control. Use this color picker to change the color of the selected patch.

After manually changing the two obscured patches (bottom right of the card), the filter will adjust the footage correctly.