Toe

Toe lifts the black level, in a similar way to gain controls in other color correction nodes, but with a rolloff so that whites are mostly not affected. This makes the shadows in your image lighter.

Inputs and Controls

Connection Type

Connection Name

Function

Input

unnamed

The image sequence whose black levels you want to lift.

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

Toe 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.

lift

lift

0

Changes the black values to this value, without affecting any original white values of the image.

mask

N/A

disabled

Enables the associated mask channel to the right. Disabling this checkbox is the same as setting the channel to none.

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

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.

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 applying 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

Adjusting Black Levels with the Toe Node