Color Corrector Node

Color Corrector packs everything you need for pro grading into a single node: color wheels separated by tonal range (like the Lift/Gamma/Gain of a DaVinci Color Corrector 1), histogram matching between a shot and a reference, selective color suppression (hue suppress), and per-channel controls.

Much more powerful than the basic Brightness Contrast, but also harder to master.

• Effects Library: Tools > Color > Color Corrector
• Quick add: right-click in the Node Editor → Add Tool > Color > Color Corrector

• Input (orange) - required. The 2D image to correct.
• Effect Mask (blue) - optional. Limits the correction to an area.
• Match Reference (green) - optional. The reference image for histogram matching.
• Match Mask (white) - optional. A mask that defines the area used for the match (more flexible than the built-in rectangle).

The node has 4 main tabs: Correction (where you choose between 4 modes), Ranges (defines the limits of the tonal ranges), Options (Pre-Divide, order of operations), and Settings (shared).

The Correction tab has a drop-down menu that radically changes the interface: Colors, Levels, Histogram, Suppress.

The default mode. An interface built around a color wheel with controls per tonal range.

Range selector

Picks the targeted tonal range: Master (the whole image, default), Shadows (dark areas), Midtones (mids), Highlights (bright areas). Each range keeps its own adjustment state.

Color Wheel

A center indicator you drag to tint the range. The distance from the center = saturation, the angular position = hue. Numeric Hue/Saturation controls are also available. Visually, the indicator changes with the range (black outline for Highlights, gray for Shadows/Midtones, a white "M" on black for Master).

Tint Mode

Tint algorithm - a speed/quality trade-off.

Hue / Saturation / Contrast / Gain / Lift / Gamma / Brightness

Individual sliders to adjust each parameter on the current range. Lift scales around white, Gain around black, Gamma adjusts the midtones without moving the extremes.

The magic of Color Corrector comes from separating shadows/midtones/highlights. Each pixel gets a weight for each range (computed from its luminance):

• A very dark pixel = 100% Shadows, 0% Midtones/Highlights
• A gray pixel = ~50% Shadows, 50% Midtones, 0% Highlights
• A very bright pixel = 0% Shadows/Midtones, 100% Highlights

A correction on Shadows therefore barely affects bright pixels - you can warm up the shadows without touching the sky. The exact limits between ranges can be set in the Ranges tab (see below).

Master = applied after the specific ranges. If you lower the Gain on Master, it affects everything, including the adjustments made on Shadows/Midtones/Highlights.

A classic histogram mode (like Photoshop Levels).

• Histogram display - shows the input, the reference (if connected) and the output.
• Histogram controls - remap the black point and white point. The equivalent of a Gain + Lift with visual handles.
• Output Level - compresses the output range (to stay within Rec.709, for example).
• Per-channel - choose the channel to adjust (R, G, B, or Master).

The killer feature of Color Corrector. It lets you match the look of a target image to that of a reference shot.

Workflow:

1. Connect the target image to Input.
2. Connect the reference shot to Match Reference.
3. Switch to Histogram mode.
4. Select Histogram Type = Match.
5. Fusion automatically aligns the tonal distribution of the input with that of the reference.

• Keep - changes nothing (debug).
• Equalize - redistributes the values to cover the tonal range evenly.
• Match - aligns with the reference.
• Match/Equalize Luminance - a mix slider.
• Lock R/G/B - links the channels or not.
• Precision - 8/10/16-bit for matching precision.
• Smooth Correction - reduces potential banding.
• Snapshot - freezes a reference state.

Float images are automatically converted to 16-bit during histogram operations.

A specialized mode to selectively desaturate a hue. A classic: removing unwanted reds from skin, or desaturating a specific problem channel.

• Color Wheel surrounded by 6 controls, one per hue (Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Magenta).
• Suppression Angle - width of the affected hue sector.

If you feel a pixel treated as a "shadow" should be in the "midtones", the Ranges tab lets you adjust these thresholds.

• Range display - a grayscale view of the 3 tonal ranges.
• Spline display - 4 Bezier points control the transitions between ranges.
• Preset buttons: Simple (hard thresholds) / Smooth (soft transitions).
• Output range as matte - outputs the tonal range as a mask (useful to isolate the highlights and use them as a mask elsewhere).

Pre-Divide / Post-Multiply

Essential for premultiplied images (3D renders, PNG/EXR with alpha). Same principle as in Brightness Contrast: divides by the alpha before the correction and multiplies after it. Avoids halos on semi-transparent edges.

Histogram Proxy Scale

Histogram precision (sub-sampling for performance).

Process Order

Gamma applied before or after the Levels. It changes the result on fine corrections.

• Grading a shot (look) - Colors mode, tint the Shadows blue-green (cool shadows) and the Highlights orange/yellow (warm lights) = teal & orange, the most common grade in modern cinema.
• Color matching between shots - Histogram mode + reference. Automatically aligns the look of one shot with another. Useful for multi-camera shots or sequence continuity.
• Quick white balance - Colors mode, Master range, push the wheel hue toward the complement of the color cast.
• Removing unwanted reds on skin - Suppress mode, lower the red hue. Reds lose saturation without touching the other colors.
• Extracting a tonal matte - Ranges tab, turn on "Output range as matte" + select Highlights = a mask of the bright areas, usable for a targeted glow.
• Matching CGI to a plate - the plate as Match Reference, histogram matching on the 3D render. Instant color integration.

• Start with Master for the overall mood, then refine by tonal range. Doing the opposite (starting with the ranges) often gives overcomplicated results.
• Histogram Matching = a starting point - not a final solution. Use it for a global match, then fix the last details by hand with a second Color Corrector.
• Pre-Divide is a must for any premultiplied CGI - otherwise the edges break.
• Output range as matte is an underrated feature - it turns Color Corrector into a tonal mask generator.
• For non-destructive grading, use several chained Color Correctors (each with one job: white balance, then look, then final tweak). Easier to change than a single overloaded node.
• Saturation at 0 on Highlights = desaturates only the bright areas. More subtle than a global desaturation.
• If the default ranges do not match what you consider shadow/highlight in your shot, adjust them in the Ranges tab.