Color Curves

Color Curves [CCv] is a LUT-based image processor mapping incoming pixel values (In/X) to new values (Out/Y). It operates within a Fusion image branch; do not confuse it with the Color page Custom Curves or a file-based 3D LUT.

The identity mapping is the 0/0 → 1/1 diagonal. A gentle S lowers part of the shadows and raises highlights for more contrast; an inverse S compresses contrast. Sharp bends can create posterization, lost tonal separation and unexpected local reversals.

Not every adjustment must affect all RGB splines. Inspector offers separate curves. When editing red, deselect the other curves for editing first, then modify red and compare the result. Those toggles do not bypass previously authored curves on render.

Color Space switches the curve representation among RGB/YUV/HLS/YIQ/CMY. YUV exposes Y/U/V and HLS exposes Hue/Lightness/Saturation. Changing this math representation is not a global working-space or output-color-management conversion.

Mode = No Animation works for constant grades. Animated Color Correct allows time-varying curves but does not create meaningful keyframes automatically. Blackmagic characterizes Dissolve Color Correct as an essentially obsolete compatibility mode.

The Viewer Pick tool places triangular sample-derived points on editable splines. This is a precise tonal sampling aid, not a keyer or a guaranteed one-click white-balance correction.

Pick points initially lock the input coordinate: change Out without changing the sampled In. Unlock using the Locked Pick Points context action only when the sampled tonal position needs to move.

Reference offers two distinct actions. Match adds LUT points based on a second image wired to the green Reference Image socket and its sampling region. Sample reads the source/background image center scanline; the Match Rectangle does not determine its source region.

Number of Samples controls how many curve points Match/Sample constructs. The value 64 shown in the archived Inspector is simply a captured UI state, not a mandated default. More complex LUTs require checks for stability across frames.

Show Match Rectangle plus Center/Width/Height describes the Match sampling box. A white Match Mask socket can supply a shaped sample region. The blue Effect Mask controls where the final correction is visible; these functions are separate.

The documented connectors include orange required Input, blue optional Effect Mask, green Reference Image and white Match Mask. One sentence in a readable Resolve 21 chapter incorrectly says “three inputs”, yet it lists four separately. Physical socket positioning requires verification in the target build.

The Output remains a 2D RGBA image. Even a curve that only changes Alpha does not turn the connection into a mask datatype. For downstream blue mask inputs, explicitly convert using Bitmap or a suitable mask processor.

Premultiplied graphics such as Text+, CG and key edges may store RGB multiplied by alpha. Pre-Divide/Post-Multiply undoes that step for the grade and re-applies it afterward; inspect feathered edges for halos.

The manual documents curves handling values below 0 and above 1, relevant for float/HDR work. A 0–1 diagram and a screenshot do not certify the actual float output of a complex pipeline; verify with EXR and downstream transforms.

Three genuine archived Inspector PNGs show the Controls view and the expanded Color Space and Mode menus. Flow sockets were not captured. No fabricated screenshot or claim of pixel-accurate native Resolve verification is included.

Four independent typed tutorials below cover S-curve contrast, channel editing with a spatial mask, reference matching, and premultiplied text. These are editorial graphs, not importable .comp/.setting exports or live-render evidence.