Renders look Different in RCM when timeline color space set

I've been having a problem recently. When I am monitoring in Rec2020 ST2084, all rec709 renders look washed out even though in a color managed workflow, this should not be happening... When I make the project timeline space r709 it works but then messes up the HDR renders. Why does this happen?

This seems to make the whole point of color management kind of pointless if I have to go into project settings each time to change timeline color space to match the output instead of just setting the space and gamma right there in the export page...

How and why are you monitoring in ST2084 and delivering BT1886? It doesn't make any sense to me, how is Resolve supposed to know what you expect?

Good Luck

I thought color managed workflows were supposed to be that you can grade once, deliver in multiple color spaces, then that's that. I thought that it was supposed to be there to ensure consistency and to save time. I checked that the grade looked good in both.

I'm surprised that the advanced settings of the render panel doesn't use the color space and gamma set there as a CST if that's not the case and rather just mismatches the color spaces leading to the gray look. Looks like this is going to make rendering a pain... For now I'll just change the entire project space as a workaround but I think this should be changed...

It also looks different when I set r709 gamma 2.4 in the render settings vs same as project even when I have the timeline output color space set to r709 gamma 2.4 in project settings. Just why?

Again, how are you monitoring?

Is the source footage 709 or 2084?

Auto color management or custom?

Good Luck

Custom color management using HDR DaVinci Wide Gamut to prevent color clipping I've found I get with auto color management HDR. The footage is all raw so technically no color space.

Monitoring using P3 ST.2084 on MacBook Pro 14" screen since that is the only HDR screen I can actually afford.

What are the timeline's Color settings for each delivery? (Note that the timeline doesn't HAVE to be the same as the Project Settings, so check the TIMELINE settings.)

Are you using the Mac Displays preference in Resolve? If you don’t have this active the viewers are going to be miles out using HDR.

Good Luck

What are the timeline's Color settings for each delivery? (Note that the timeline doesn't HAVE to be the same as the Project Settings, so check the TIMELINE settings.)

All 7 timelines have the same as project settings so that I can quickly switch between color grading HDR and SDR to make sure the same grade works in both.

Are you using the Mac Displays preference in Resolve? If you don’t have this active the viewers are going to be miles out using HDR.

Good Luck

Yes. Right when I started using Macs in 2021 I enabled that since the P3 screen would over-saturate the R709 grades I would do without it. I wish Windows had a similar checkbox and native HDR support, but that's another story.

This seems to make the whole point of color management kind of pointless if I have to go into project settings each time to change timeline color space to match the output instead of just setting the space and gamma right there in the export page...

You shouldn't monitor a Rec.709 grade and deliverable on a monitor set to something else. Definitely not HDR. The point of color management isn't being able to switch on the fly. Typically only one of the two is done fully then a trim pass for the other with a different mastering display or the same display set to the new deliverable spec.

So you shouldn't switch your color management but rather your XDR display profile when switching timelines from HDR to SDR or vice versa.

All 7 timelines have the same as project settings

OK.

What are they for each delivery scenario?

This seems to make the whole point of color management kind of pointless if I have to go into project settings each time to change timeline color space to match the output instead of just setting the space and gamma right there in the export page...

You shouldn't monitor a Rec.709 grade and deliverable on a monitor set to something else. Definitely not HDR. The point of color management isn't being able to switch on the fly. Typically only one of the two is done fully then a trim pass for the other with a different mastering display or the same display set to the new deliverable spec.

So you shouldn't switch your color management but rather your XDR display profile when switching timelines from HDR to SDR or vice versa.

I've been switching output color space as well as the XDR display profile to the closest match. I'll continue to do that. Hopefully Resolve adds an RCM ability in the Delivery tab so that people can export multiple color spaces from a single grade. Until then I'll follow your guys' advice.

All 7 timelines have the same as project settings

OK.

What are they for each delivery scenario?

Timeline color space is HDR DaVinci Wide Gamut so that no colors clip or are incorrectly mapped.

Rec709 Gamma 2.4 when I am grading/previewing SDR
and
Rec2020 ST.2084 when I am grading/previewing HDR.

I used to use P3 ST.2084 for grading since it matched the profile on the Macbook but that messes with the colors of the HDR export so I've recently switched to Rec2020 for that purpose.