CyberLink ColorDirector is a Windows application for color grading video and adding light and film-style effects to footage. Rather than cutting clips together, users balance a shot’s exposure, set its mood and match its look to other footage in ColorDirector. CyberLink offers a free trial download called ColorDirector Essential. It sells the full program as ColorDirector 365 on a monthly or annual subscription.
Grading tools and video scopes
Grading in ColorDirector happens in the Adjustment room. The editing panel on the left holds the correction and effect controls, and the preview shows the result. An AI color enhancement adjusts color balance, saturation and contrast automatically as a starting point.
Split Tone treats the image in three tonal ranges. Users can apply a different color to the highlights, midtones and shadows. For example, warm highlights over cool shadows can give a series of clips a consistent style. Color Splash isolates a single color in the frame so users can adjust its intensity on its own.
Three scopes measure the picture rather than relying on the monitor:
- Histogram shows how tones and colors are distributed from dark to bright, which helps spot clipped shadows or blown highlights.
- RGB Parade displays the red, green and blue channels side by side, so a color cast shows up as one channel sitting higher than the others.
- Waveform plots luminance across the frame for judging brightness and contrast.
In the newer ColorDirector interface, the scopes and the regional adjustment tools are hidden by default. Users switch them on in the program’s Preferences under the General tab, in its advanced settings. They then appear in the Adjustment room’s left panel.
LUTs and Match Anything
ColorDirector imports and exports Lookup Tables (LUTs), so users can bring in a look from elsewhere or reuse it in other projects. A built-in library of LUT styles and film presets emulates film stocks and cinematic looks for clips that only need a quick change of mood.
Match Anything, also called Color Match, takes a reference clip and applies its color tones to another video. It helps shots from different cameras or lighting look like one scene.
Tracking, masks and keyframes
Several ColorDirector tools limit a grade or effect to part of the frame. AI Auto-Tracking identifies a subject in the shot and builds a mask around it with one click. An effect can then follow that subject through the clip. AI Powered Motion Tracking follows a selected area as it moves through the clip. It keeps a color adjustment attached to that object instead of a fixed spot on the screen.
Keyframes add time to the grade. Users can set color settings, preset strength and effect intensity to different values at different points in a clip. ColorDirector moves smoothly between them, so a scene can warm up gradually or an effect can fade in.
Green Screen Maker uses chroma key to separate an object or person from the background. It turns the selected area into a customizable green or blue screen. Users can then replace the background or add a virtual set.
Light effects
ColorDirector’s light effects add light that was not present when the footage was shot:
- Sparkle detects a light source in the frame and adds animated sparks around it, with the sparks themselves adjustable.
- Light Hits and Lens Flare simulate sunlight, rays, streaks and circles as if light were striking the lens.
- Light Leak imitates light leaking into a film camera, with color patches and flares across the image.
- Glow raises the brightness and saturation of the highlights for a soft, glowing look.
- Bokeh keeps the subject sharp while blurring the background to suggest shallow depth of field.
- Halation adds the reddish halos and bloom that film shows around high-contrast edges, and Black Mist lays a haze over darker areas for an atmospheric look.
Stylize effects
The stylize group in ColorDirector changes the character of the image rather than its color. Grain adds film-style noise, and Glitch reproduces digital or analog signal errors. Blur softens the picture, while Vignette darkens or fades the edges to draw attention to the center. HDR raises contrast and color range for a high-dynamic-range look.
Supported footage and output
ColorDirector opens common camera and editing formats, including MP4 (H.264), H.265/HEVC, MOV, MKV, AVI, WMV, WebM (VP9) and ProRes 4:2:2. It also accepts 360-degree video in equirectangular MP4 format.
ColorDirector produces graded clips as MP4 (H.264), WMV, MKV, MPEG-2 or MPEG-2 TS (M2TS) files. Audio options include AAC, Dolby Digital or LPCM, depending on the container. 2K and 4K output is available with H.264, H.265, WMV and XAVC S.
Essential and 365 editions
ColorDirector Essential is the free trial download. ColorDirector 365, the subscription edition, includes built-in access to royalty-free stock libraries. Users can add stock content to a project from inside ColorDirector without buying it separately.
