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Colour Grading

The Colour Grading panel adjusts the tone and colour of your rendered image after the renderer delivers it. By default the grade runs after the Compositor's effects; turn on Grade before effects in the Compositor's Order section to grade first. No destructive changes are made to the renderer output.

Access: View ▸ Colour Grading (if the panel list is greyed out, choose View ▸ Unlock Advanced UI first). The panel docks in side columns only.

Enable Colour Grading​

Toggle at the top of the panel. When off, no grading is applied. Factory settings are a no-op — turning the enable on changes no pixels until a control is moved.

Exposure​

Sets a scene-linear exposure shift. Adjusting exposure here is equivalent to opening or closing the camera aperture: it scales all channels uniformly.

ControlRangeDefaultNotes
Exposure−10.0–10.0 EV0.0+1 = doubles scene brightness; −1 = halves it. 0 = no change.

White Balance​

Corrects the neutral point of the render, removing unwanted colour casts from the light source.

ControlRangeDefaultNotes
Temperature−1.0–1.00.0Negative = cooler (blue); positive = warmer (orange). 0 = no shift.
Tint−1.0–1.00.0Negative = green; positive = magenta. 0 = no shift.

White Balance is the correct tool for matching a product render to photography taken under a specific light source. Adjust Temperature first to correct the dominant blue/orange cast, then Tint for any residual green/magenta offset.

Lift / Gamma / Gain​

Three colour-balance triples for shadows, midtones, and highlights. Each section includes a colour wheel (trackball visual) and a Numeric section — they write the same values.

TripleNeutralActs on
Lift0.0 (additive)Shadows
Gamma1.0 (power)Midtones
Gain1.0 (multiplicative)Highlights

Using the colour wheel​

  • Drag the puck — shifts colour balance only. The sum of R/G/B channel offsets is always zero, so dragging the puck never changes overall brightness.
  • The level field under each wheel moves all three channels together, shifting brightness without changing colour balance.
  • Reset to neutral beside each wheel resets that triple to neutral (0 for Lift; 1 for Gamma and Gain).

Numeric section​

The Numeric section shows nine rows: R, G, B for each of Lift, Gamma, and Gain. Type a value or drag the slider. Changes are immediately reflected in the corresponding wheel.

Lift ranges: R/G/B each from −1.0 to 1.0. Gamma ranges: R/G/B each from 0.0 to 4.0 (1.0 = neutral). Gain ranges: R/G/B each from 0.0 to 4.0 (1.0 = neutral).

Contrast​

Adjusts the separation between light and dark areas of the image. The pivot point is 0.18 (middle grey) — values above the pivot are pushed brighter; values below are pushed darker.

ControlRangeDefaultNotes
Contrast−1.0–1.00.0Negative = flatter (lower contrast); positive = more separated (higher contrast). 0 = no change.

For subtle commercial work, keep this within ±0.2.

Saturation​

Scales the overall colour intensity of the image uniformly.

ControlRangeDisplay rangeDefaultNotes
Saturation0.0–4.00.0–2.01.00 = monochrome; 1.0 = unchanged; above 1.0 = boosted colour.

The slider display range is 0.0–2.0 for precision in the typical working range. You can type a value above 2.0 directly in the field.

Common tasks​

  • Warm up a cool product render — Temperature +0.1 to +0.3; compensate with Gain to keep highlights from blowing.
  • Create a flat, editorial look — Lift +0.05 in all channels, Contrast −0.15.
  • Pull up dark packaging — Exposure +0.5, then Lift to correct the shadow colour shift.
  • Match a colour specification — Use the Numeric R/G/B rows with the Gain triple; each channel is independently accessible.

Undo and recovery​

Edit ▸ Undo (Ctrl+Z) is available for grading changes. To test a grading state without losing a known-good configuration, note the values manually before adjusting.