Working with Palettes
This is a quick rundown of palette management without the screenshots
creating and modifying palettes from the palettes tab
To create a new palette select one of the existing palettes and click on "clone", a copy of the
selected palette is created and selected. A default name is used which can not be referenced, so rename the palette.
To alter any colors in a palette select the palette and click on "edit" or double click the palette.
This brings up the entry selection dialog that is also used in subpicture editing. Select a color to alter and click
"custom color" or double click the color.
This brings up the color picker in the mode that the color was most recently defined. Use the sliders
to make small adjustments or enter known values, or click on the color patches to pick a color.
In the bottom left is the NTSC waveform, two colored boxes - original and modified color.
You may switch modes, sometimes YUV is more convenient for making a color NTSC safe.
The NTSC waveform
This display shows both the Y component and the color subcarrier. In order for a color to be "NTSC safe"
it must meet two criteria:
1) the total signal excursion cannot exceed +120 IRE or -40 IRE
2) the color subcarrier must not exceed 100 IRE.
This is the broadcast requirement as a signal outside these
limits cannot be transmitted. These same limits, or possibly more conservative limits of +100 IRE and -20 IRE
should be observed for composite cable connections. S-Video cables seperate the Y component from the color,
therefore total signal value is not a factor, but the color subcarrier should still be limited to 100 IRE.
There are no limits to colors when using component or digital cabling. When designing your DVD keep in mind
what kind of cables your viewers are most likely to have - RF, composite, S-Video, component, or HDMI
Color management from editors
The editors enter color editing from the entry selection dialog. If a different palette is desired you can
click on "change palette". Customizing colors will check the number of references to the palette, if there is
more than one PGC using the palette you will be asked if you want to create a new palette for the PGC
being edited. "Yes" will create a new palette and you will be asked to name it. "No" will set the new values
into the palette and will alter the colors for all PGCs using the palette.
MXP notation
As of version 1.1.2 palette colors can be specified in RGB or YUV in mxp files, and are stored in the form last used
to define the color. mxp format and examples
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