Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 244

• For HSB, specify hue (H) as an angle, from 0˚ to 360˚, that corresponds to a location on the color wheel. Specify
saturation (S) and brightness (B) as percentages (0 to 100).
• For RGB, specify component values. You can set colors to under-range and over-range values (outside of the range
of 0.0 to 1.0) in an HDR project.
• For #, enter a color value in hexadecimal form. This color format is common in web workflows.
Edit a gradient
A gradient is defined by color stops and opacity stops. Each stop has a location along the gradient and a value for color
or opacity. The values between stops are interpolated. By default, the interpolation is linear, but you can drag the
opacity midpoint or color midpoint between two stops to alter the interpolation.
• To add a color stop or opacity stop, click below or above the gradient bar in the Gradient Editor dialog box.
• To remove a stop, drag it away from the gradient bar, or select the stop and click Delete.
• To edit a stop's value, select it and adjust the Opacity value or use the Adobe Color Picker controls beneath the
gradient editor controls.
• To choose a gradient type, click the Linear Gradient or Radial Gradient button in the upper-left corner of the
Gradient Editor dialog box.
Note: Use the Style property to choose a gradient type for the Gradient Overlay layer style.
About color correction and adjustment
When you assemble a composition, you often need to adjust the colors of one or more of the layers to correct their
colors. Such adjustments can be for any of a number of reasons. Some examples:
• You need to make it seem as if multiple footage items were shot under the same conditions so that they can be
composited or edited together.
• You need to adjust the colors of a shot so that it seems to have been shot at dusk instead of noon.
• You need to adjust the exposure of an image to recover detail from the over-exposed highlights.
• You need to enhance one color in a shot because you will be compositing a graphic element over it with that color.
• You need to restrict colors to a particular range, such as the broadcast-safe range.
After Effects includes many built-in effects for color correction. See "Color Correction effects" on page 386.
The Color Finesse plug-in included with After Effects includes excellent color-correction tools. For more infor-
mation, see the Color Finesse documentation in the following folder: Adobe After Effects CS3/Additional
Documentation/Color Finesse 2.
The Camera Raw plug-in can be used to correct and adjust still images in JPEG, TIFF, and various camera raw
formats.
See also
"Introduction to Camera Raw" on page 92
"Broadcast-safe colors" on page 249
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