Color Grading
Color Grading Overview
Understand the node-based color grading pipeline in Tooscut.
Node-based color grading pipeline, runs entirely on the GPU. Each clip has its own grading graph. All nodes compile into a single fragment shader — no performance penalty for stacking corrections.
Accessing color grading
Select a video or image clip, then open the Color tab in the properties panel.
The node graph
Nodes form a chain, processing left to right. Nodes can be:
- Added to the graph
- Reordered by dragging
- Enabled/disabled individually
- Mixed (0–100%) to blend correction with the original
Processing
Pipeline works in linear color space. Input footage converts from its source color space to linear, passes through the node chain, then gets tone-mapped to the display gamut on output.
Node types
| Node | Purpose | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Correction (CDL) | Slope, offset, power — foundation of any grade | Color Wheels & CDL |
| Color Wheels | Lift, gamma, gain with interactive polar wheels | Color Wheels & CDL |
| Curves | Per-channel RGB curves and hue/sat/lum curves | Curves & LUTs |
| LUT | Apply a 3D look-up table from a .cube file | Curves & LUTs |
| Qualifier | Isolate pixels by hue, saturation, or luminance | Qualifiers & Power Windows |
| Power Window | Mask a frame region for localized grading | Qualifiers & Power Windows |
| Color Space Transform | Convert between professional color spaces and gamuts | Qualifiers & Power Windows |
Typical workflow
- Primary Correction — set exposure, white balance, contrast.
- Color Wheels — shadow/midtone/highlight color balance.
- Curves — fine per-channel adjustments.
- LUT — creative look.
- Qualifier or Power Window — targeted corrections (sky, skin tones, etc.).
Keyframing
Every color grading parameter supports keyframes for animating grades over time.