Welcome back to Color Culture, I am Salik Waquas, a film colorist who loves what he does. In this article I will teach you how to add gain in Baselight. Adding grain is a crucial step in film post-production to emulate the texture of film stock or give your digital video a specific aesthetic. In Baselight, this process is streamlined with the Add Grain plugin, allowing you to add realistic grain textures with various controls to customize the look to your needs. Follow this step-by-step guide to learn how to effectively add grain to your project.
Adding Grain In Baselight: Step By Step
Step 1: Open the Baselight User Interface
Make sure you have the Baselight interface open and that your project is ready with the clip or image sequence you want to apply the grain to.
Step 2: Insert a Blank Strip for Better Grain Visibility In Baselight
Before applying grain to your actual footage, it’s a good idea to create a 50% grey background to better view and fine-tune the grain pattern.
- Go to the Baselight main menu at the top.
- Select Insert>Sources>Blank. This adds a blank strip to your timeline, and its controls will appear on the panel to the right.
- Set the R, G, or B field to 0.5 (all three fields will adjust simultaneously). This will create a neutral 50% grey image, perfect for previewing your grain adjustments.
Step 3: Apply the Add Grain Plugin
With your blank strip set up, it’s time to add the grain.
- From the main menu, go to Insert >Spatial> Add Grain. This will bring up the Add Grain controls on the right-hand panel.
Step 4: Adjust the Grain Intensity
Grain intensity controls how much grain is added to your footage. The default value is 0.0, meaning no grain is applied, so you’ll need to adjust this value.
- Set the Intensity field to about 1.5 for noticeable grain. You can increase or decrease this value based on how strong you want the grain effect to be.
Step 5: Customize the Grain Size
Grain size affects how “clumpy” or fine the grain looks. Baselight allows you to change the size of the grain particles to suit different styles.
- Leave the Size field at 1.0 if you want standard grain. Increase the value for larger grain, or decrease it for finer grain textures.
Step 6: Modify the Grain Aspect
The aspect ratio of the grain can be stretched horizontally or vertically, which can be useful for matching footage shot with anamorphic lenses or adjusting to specific cinematic looks.
- Keep the Aspect field at 0.0000 for regular grain.
- Set a negative value to stretch the grain horizontally (ideal for anamorphic looks), or use a positive value to stretch it vertically.
Step 7: Adjust Film Response (Optional)
Film response simulates how grain behaves in different tonal values, imitating the response of either negative or positive film stock.
- Set the Film Response field to 0.0 for even grain across all tones.
- Set it to -1.0 to imitate the grain response of negative film stock.
- Set it to 1.0 to imitate positive film stock grain.
Step 8: Channel Correlation Settings
This feature controls the correlation between the red, green, and blue channels, allowing you to mix colorful and black-and-white grain or focus on one or the other.
- Set the Channel Correlation field to 0.0 (default) for a mix of colorful and B&W grain.
- Set it to -1.0 for colorful grain.
- Set it to 1.0 for B&W grain only.
Step 9: Fine-Tune the Channel Spread
The Channel Spread section allows you to control how the grain spreads across different color channels. For example, you can make the grain more prominent in the blue channel for a colder, noisier look.
- Set the Blue field to 0.20 for a noticeable increase in blue channel grain.
Step 10: Customize the Grain Seed
Baselight uses a random number, called the seed, to generate grain patterns. This ensures that each instance of grain applied is consistent across frames. If you want predictable, repeatable grain patterns:
- Adjust the Seed value as needed. Reusing the same seed value will apply the exact same grain pattern across different shots.
Step 11: Save Your Grain Preset
Once you’re satisfied with the grain settings, you can save them as a preset for easy reuse on future projects.
- At the top-right of the Add Grain controls, tap Store Preset.
- Select Create New Preset, give it a name, and hit OK. This will save your current grain settings, making it easy to apply them to other scenes or projects in the future.
Step 12: Apply the Grain to Your Actual Footage
After you’re happy with the look of the grain on your 50% grey strip, you can now apply it to your actual footage.
- Navigate to the actual clip in the timeline.
- Insert the Add Grain plugin as described in Step 3, and adjust the settings to match your preset.
Tips for Fine-Tuning Grain In Baselight
- Zoom into the image if you want to inspect the grain pattern in detail. You can zoom and pan around the image window for a closer look.
- Experiment with the Film Response and Channel Correlation settings to match the desired film stock look, especially if you’re trying to emulate specific film types (e.g., Kodak, Fuji).
That is it! You have successfully added grain in Baselight.