Colour science for VFX/CGI

2026‑06‑03

1-day masterclass
Montréal, Fri Jun 19, 2026, 09:30–17:30
Organized & presented by
Charles Poynton, independent researcher, Toronto
Hosted by Rodeo FX
Register CAD 375

planned for Toronto, fall, 2026

presented in Hamburg, 2025‑11‑29
presented in Vancouver, 2025‑12‑11
presented in Dublin, 2026-05-12
presented in Glasgow, 2026-05-22

Why are there so many colourspaces in VFX/CGI pipelines?

Colourspaces for acquisition & ingest
Colourspaces for rendering
Colourspaces for screening, approval, and mastering
Colourspaces for presentation/display

In this masterclass, we’ll explore the theoretical and practical aspects of colourspaces commonly used in VFX/CGI and games. We’ll provide details the ACES block diagram, both versions 1.x and 2.0, and its associated AP0 and AP1/ACEScg colourspaces. You’ll learn why the requirements at several stages of a VFX pipeline are distinct, and you’ll gain an understanding of the transforms among the colourspaces, including those effected by OpenColorIO. By the end of the day, you’ll have a deep understanding of radiometric (“linear light”), power function (“gamma”) and logarithmic/quasilog (“log”) coding. You’ll learn about OpenEXR and CTL. You’ll understand the implications of sRGB, 2.2, 2.4, and 2.6-gamma for studio displays.

Lots of graphs and equations will be shown and explained. If you have first-year university math: great! You’ll gain a deep understanding of log coding and the CIE chromaticity diagram, among other things. However, we’ll address the necessary math fundamentals during the day; if you have high-school math, you’ll come away with a deep understanding of colourspaces.

The masterclass is appropriate for:

studio colour scientists
VFX supervisors, color pipeline TDs
lighters, shaders, look developers
post-production supervisors
data management technicians, media engineers, and mastering engineers
display calibration engineers
graphics software developers

Rodeo FX
99 Rue Prince, Suite 300
Montréal QC H3C 2M7

An associated masterclass, Colourspaces in D-cinema, ACES, and Streaming, will take place Wed Jun 17. Some material will be duplicated (eg, ACES). If you wish to attend both classes, please register for that one and send email; I’ll charge you an increment of CAD 100.

Charles Poynton is an independent researcher and image/colour scientist based in Toronto. He wrote the book Digital Video and HD Algorithms and Interfaces, now in its second edition. Thirty five years ago, he chose 1080 image rows for HD standards, by which “square pixels” were established for HD and digital cinema. He earned his PhD in 2018 from Simon Fraser University with a dissertation entitled Colour Appearance Issues in Digital Video, HD/UHD, and D‑cinema. He is a Fellow of SMPTE, Colorist Society (CSI), and IMIS (formerly BKSTS). ∎