Grade

Lets you define white and black points by sampling pixels from the Viewer. Setting the brightest parts of the image to pure white and the darkest to pure black in this manner can help you add punch to overexposed images, for example. You can also use this node for matching foreground plates to background plates.

To sample pixels from the Viewer, click on a color swatch to the right of the control you want to set. The eye dropper icon appears. In the Viewer:

• Ctrl/Cmd+click to sample a single pixel from the node’s output.

• Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+drag to sample a region of pixels from the node’s output.

• Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+click to sample a single pixel from the node’s input while viewing its output.

• Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+drag to sample a region of pixels from the node’s input while viewing its output.

• Crtl/Cmd+ right-click cancels pixel selections.

You can also create this node by pressing G on the Node Graph.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type	Connection Name	Function
Input	unnamed	The image sequence whose tonal range you want to define.
mask	An optional image to use as a mask. By default, the color correction is limited to the non-black areas of the mask. At first, the mask input appears as triangle on the right side of the node, but when you drag it, it turns into an arrow labeled mask. If you cannot see the mask input, ensure that the mask control is disabled or set to none.

Connection Type

Connection Name

Function

Input

unnamed

The image sequence whose tonal range you want to define.

mask

An optional image to use as a mask. By default, the color correction is limited to the non-black areas of the mask.

At first, the mask input appears as triangle on the right side of the node, but when you drag it, it turns into an arrow labeled mask. If you cannot see the mask input, ensure that the mask control is disabled or set to none.

Control (UI)	Knob (Scripting)	Default Value	Function
Grade Tab
channels	channels	rgb	The color correction is only applied to these channels. You can use the checkboxes on the right to select individual channels.
blackpoint	blackpoint	0	Sets the black point (typically the darkest pixel). Any pixels of this value are set to 0. In other words, this color is turned into pure black. Typically, you would set this by sampling the darkest pixels in the Viewer. To find these in your image, you may want to temporarily increase the gain in the Viewer controls until only the darkest pixels are visible. Adjusting the Viewer gain does not affect the colors you sample.
whitepoint	whitepoint	1	Sets the white point (typically the lightest pixel). Any pixels of this value are set to 1. In other words, this color is turned into pure white. Typically, you would set this by sampling the brightest pixels in the Viewer. To find these in your image, you may want to temporarily lower the gamma in the Viewer controls until only the brightest pixels are visible. Adjusting the Viewer gamma does not affect the colors you sample.
lift	black	0	Any pixels that are black are set to this color. This allows you to, for example, match the tonal range of one clip with that of another. First, set blackpoint to the darkest pixel in the image whose colors you want to change (pressing Alt to make sure you sample from the input). Then, set this control to the darkest pixel in the image whose tonal range you want to match (not pressing Alt to make sure you sample from the output).
gain	white	1	Any pixels that are white are set to this color. This allows you to, for example, match the tonal range of one clip with that of another. First, set whitepoint to the lightest pixel in the image whose colors you want to change (pressing Alt to make sure you sample from the input). Then, set this control to the lightest pixel in the image whose tonal range you want to match (not pressing Alt to make sure you sample from the output).
multiply	multiply	1	Multiplies the result of the Grade node by this factor. This has the effect of lightening the result while preserving the black point.
offset	add	0	Offsets the result of the Grade node. Offsetting is to add a fixed value to the result, which, in effect lightens the whole image. You can also add a negative value to the result, in which case the whole image gets darker.
gamma	gamma	1	Applies a constant gamma value to the result of the Grade node. This lightens or darkens the midtones.
reverse	reverse	disabled	Allows you to copy and paste this node and invert its effect further downstream. This performs the opposite gamma correction, followed by the opposite linear ramp.
black clamp	black_clamp	enabled	When enabled, any output values that are lower than 0 are set to 0.
white clamp	white_clamp	disabled	When enabled, any output values that are higher than 1 are set to 1.
mask	N/A	disabled	Enables the associated mask channel to the right. Disabling this checkbox is the same as setting the channel to none.
mask	maskChannelInput	none	The channel to use as a mask. By default, the color correction is limited to the non-black areas of this channel.
inject	inject	disabled	Copies the mask input to the predefined mask.a channel. Injecting the mask allows you to use the same mask further downstream.
invert	invert_mask	disabled	Inverts the use of the mask channel so that the color correction is limited to the non-white areas of the mask.
fringe	fringe	disabled	When enabled, only apply the effect to the edge of the mask. When disabled, the effect is applied to the entire mask.
(un)premult by	N/A	disabled	Enables the associated channel to the right. Disabling this checkbox is the same as setting the channel to none.
(un)premult by	unpremult	none	The image is divided by this channel before being processed, and multiplied again afterwards. If you are using premultiplied input images, you may want to check (un)premult by and select rgba.alpha here. This will simulate doing the color correction before the premultiplication was done. It is the same as adding an Unpremult node before this node and a Premult node after, but allows you to work faster if you’re only using one color correct node. If you are using unpremultiplied input images, you should leave this set to none.
invert	invert_unpremult	disabled	Inverts the use of the (un)premultiply channel.
mix	mix	1	Dissolves between the original image at 0 and the full color correction at 1.

Step-by-Step Guides

Sampling White and Black Points