Re: Using 3D Z-Depth to color correct in After Effects

[Kevin Camp] "you might try an effect like colorama or a gradient overlay layer style to the depth matte to colorize it. then place it over the other layers and set it to use a blending mode like color or hue (or maybe others) and the opacity to get the look you want."

I was going to suggest something very similar. I was going to say that you should use Color Correction > Tint to map your black and white to different colors (if you need a different color for grays try Color Correction > Tritone).

From there you could use the Color, Hue or Multiply blend modes depending on how you want to affect your footage... Color and Hue would preserve whites, where as multiply would cause the whites to take on the color they are being multiplied with. Multiply behaves a lot like an lens filter would on a real camera.

If you want to be able to adjust the way that the colors are mapped to different depths you can apply a Color Correction > Curves or Levels effect before the Tint/Tritone effect to change the distribution of blacks/whites/grays.

Also, be sure you render your depth information in 32bpc and work in 32bpc in AE if you want to maintain the utmost accuracy.

Darby Edelen
Lead Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA