Leveraging ACES 2.0 in DaVinci Resolve: A Deep Dive into Next-Generation Color Grading

I. Introduction to ACES and its Evolution

The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) stands as a cornerstone in professional post-production, serving as an industry standard for managing color across the entire lifecycle of motion pictures, television, video games, and immersive storytelling projects. Its inception was rooted in the critical need for a common file format, a wide-gamut linear light space capable of unifying diverse production assets, thereby simplifying complex conversions and ensuring long-term archiving viability. At its core, ACES defines its own primary colors and a reference white point, engineered to encode an impressive 30 stops of scene information, preventing data clipping during intermediate processes. The system's fundamental objective is to streamline the intricate process of managing various file formats, image encodings, metadata transfers, and color reproduction across different stages of a workflow. This robust framework has garnered widespread adoption among major production houses, including entities like Disney, precisely because it guarantees a consistent color experience that faithfully preserves the filmmaker's original creative vision across all devices and production phases.

Despite its foundational role, ACES 1.x, while revolutionary for its time, presented several challenges that became increasingly apparent with real-world application and the rapid evolution of display technologies. A significant limitation stemmed from its development prior to the widespread functional prevalence of High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays. This historical context led to inherent inconsistencies between Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and HDR renderings, a critical issue as HDR became the definitive version of content. The very definition of a "standard" in color management has profoundly shifted; it must now dynamically adapt to evolving display technologies, not merely serve capture or archival purposes. This evolution ensures that creative intent translates accurately across the burgeoning landscape of viewing environments, where HDR is increasingly dominant.

Users of ACES 1.x frequently reported undesirable artifacts appearing "out of the box," including noticeable hue and saturation distortions, particularly with HDR content, and harsh clipping in extreme colors. Specific colors, such as reds, skin tones, and fire, were observed to skew chromatically as exposure increased. The Reference Rendering Transform (RRT) in ACES 1.0 was often characterized by a "contrasty look" and a tendency to desaturate dark and bright tones while boosting mid-tone saturation, which could introduce visible errors into the image. Furthermore, the RRT's lack of easy reversibility hindered flexible post-production adjustments and complex iterative workflows. This inherent "ACES vanilla" look, often perceived as yellowish, especially in skin tones, became a characteristic that some users adapted to or even preferred, creating a legacy aesthetic. The development of ACES 2.0 was a direct response to this comprehensive feedback, aiming to deliver a more robust, consistent, and user-friendly system that addresses these practical limitations and refines the balance between objective technical accuracy and subjective aesthetic preference. The development process involved considerable "tinkering" and navigating "somewhat contradictory" design requirements and "vague cultural conventions," underscoring that the creation of a universal color system is not purely scientific but also an art of compromise. This evolution signifies a recalibration of the standard to reflect current and future viewing environments, which may challenge established aesthetic norms and require colorists to re-evaluate their ingrained visual expectations.

II. ACES 1.0: Understanding the Predecessor

• Core Design Philosophy and Workflow

ACES 1.0 established a fundamental scene-referred, linear light workflow, where numerical values directly correlate to the original scene lighting as captured by the camera. This design was crucial for handling a vast range of luminance and color values, effectively preventing unwanted clipping during intermediate processing steps. The standard workflow involved the use of Input Device Transforms (IDTs), which were responsible for converting source materials from various cameras and formats into the common ACES format, specifically ACES2065-1, a wide-gamut working space designed to encompass all original data. Once in this unified ACES format, post-production tasks such as editing, visual effects (VFX), and color grading could be performed. The culmination of this work, the ACES master, was then prepared for display through an Output Transform. This Output Transform was a concatenation of two critical components: the Reference Rendering Transform (RRT) and a specific Output Device Transform (ODT). The RRT's role was to convert scene-referred colorimetry into display-referred, applying a characteristic "film-like" S-shaped curve and making adjustments for different viewing environments. Subsequently, ODTs would tailor this rendered image for specific display platforms, such as cinema projectors or grading monitors, accounting for their unique capabilities and viewing conditions. In its later iteration, ACES 1.3 introduced a gamut compression method specifically for highly saturated objects, along with refinements to the ACES Metadata File (AMF) specification.

• Identified Challenges and Artifacts in ACES 1.x

Despite its groundbreaking nature, ACES 1.x exhibited several limitations and introduced artifacts that became significant pain points for colorists and post-production professionals:

• Hue and Saturation Distortions: ACES 1.0 was frequently criticized for introducing "unacceptable hue and saturation distortions," particularly evident with HDR content. A common manifestation was the tendency for reds to skew towards yellow as exposure increased, and this shift occurred at different rates between SDR and HDR renderings. This could lead to visually jarring effects, sometimes even creating "story problems" when applied to critical elements like character eyes. The overall "ACES vanilla" look was often described as having a yellowish cast, notably affecting skin tones. This inherent "look," while perhaps aiming for film emulation, often conflicted with modern aesthetic preferences or practical grading needs. The prevalence of this distinct aesthetic, which emerged as an effect of the RRT, highlights how mathematically precise transforms can produce visually unexpected or undesirable characteristics that become ingrained as a system's signature.

• HDR Inconsistencies: A major architectural challenge for ACES 1.0 was its development preceding the widespread adoption of HDR displays. Consequently, the system struggled to maintain consistent visual and perceptual matches between SDR and HDR renderings. This meant that creative decisions meticulously made in an SDR environment might not translate accurately or consistently to the HDR version, forcing additional corrective work or compromises in the final output.

• Highlight Handling and Contrast: The default tone scale of ACES 1.x was often perceived as overly contrasty, particularly in the highlights. Users frequently found themselves needing to manually "pull highlight detail down" to avoid a "blown out" appearance. This aggressive highlight roll-off resulted in an "apparent poorer separation" in the high end of the scale when displayed in Rec709. While the "contrasty look" was an aesthetic choice, it often necessitated significant finessing from colorists to achieve desired results.

• Gamut Clipping: ACES 1.0 could lead to harsh clipping artifacts when dealing with extreme colors that fell at the edge of the display's gamut or were heavily overexposed. It effectively clamped colors outside the primary capabilities of the target display. Although ACES 1.3 introduced a gamut compression method, it was not always sufficient or provided a smooth transition for highly saturated colors.

• Inversion Problems: A significant workflow bottleneck in ACES 1.0 was the non-reversible nature of its RRT. This meant that once the RRT was applied, it was difficult to accurately "un-render" the transformation to return to the original ACES master data. In complex production pipelines involving multiple departments (e.g., VFX, editorial, color), any issues introduced by the display transform were challenging to trace back and correct at the scene-referred level. This often forced destructive fixes or cumbersome workarounds downstream, increasing production time, cost, and the potential for errors. The explicit identification of "inversion problems" as a target for resolution in ACES 2.0 underscores this as a major pain point for high-end productions. This highlights the critical importance of transform invertibility for efficient, iterative, and collaborative workflows, extending beyond mere theoretical purity.

• "Elitist" Camera Compatibility: ACES 1.x sometimes struggled to provide direct Input Device Transforms (IDTs) for non-professional or prosumer camera formats, such as DJI footage. This required colorists to resort to workarounds, like experimenting with different, often imperfect, input profiles to achieve an acceptable conversion.

III. ACES 2.0: A Paradigm Shift in Color Rendering

ACES 2.0 represents a significant leap forward in color management, addressing the limitations of its predecessor through a comprehensive redesign informed by extensive user feedback. This new iteration aims to provide a more robust, consistent, and creatively empowering environment for colorists.

• Redesigned Rendering Transform: A Unified and Robust System

The most substantial improvement in ACES 2.0 lies in its completely redesigned rendering transform. Unlike the piecemeal additions of previous versions, ACES 2.0 was built as a unified system, ensuring greater consistency across the entire color pipeline. This overhaul directly translates to "better visual and perceptual matches" between SDR and HDR renderings, a critical advancement given the ubiquity of HDR displays. Furthermore, the new transforms exhibit "better behavior for extreme colors" at the edge of the gamut or when heavily overexposed. A key benefit for colorists is that these rendering transforms are "less likely to produce undesirable artifacts 'out of the box'," which significantly reduces the time spent on corrective fixes and allows more creative freedom in grading. The system is also designed to be more user-driven, offering intuitive parameters for creating custom outputs to non-standard display setups.

• Enhanced Tone Scale: Less Aggressive Contrast and Improved Detail Preservation

ACES 2.0 introduces a new tone scale function characterized by a "lower default contrast" and a "softer highlight roll-off". This design directly responds to long-standing user requests for less aggressive contrast in ACES 1.x, with the explicit aim of preserving more detail and reducing the frequent need to manually pull highlight information down. While initial impressions might suggest "poorer separation" in highlights when viewed in Rec709, this is a deliberate design choice: highlights are reproduced "much lower in the scale" compared to ACES 1.3, allowing for greater detail retention. This approach fundamentally shifts the strategy for highlight management. Instead of starting with an overly contrasty or potentially clipped image, colorists are now provided with more raw highlight information to shape creatively. This "softer shoulder" in the tone curve offers increased latitude for selective expansion or compression of highlights, moving the colorist's focus from corrective recovery to expressive shaping. The new tone scale, often referred to as the Nugget tone curve, follows ACES 1.0 in the mid-tones but intelligently deviates in the bright and dark tones, and is designed for invertibility across a very wide range. This is implemented as the Single Stage Tone Scale (SSTS) in the ACESlib, offering adaptability to produce output for any peak luminance between 100 and 10,000 nits.

• Precision Hue Preservation: Minimizing Chromatic Skews and Achieving Neutrality

A critical design objective for ACES 2.0 was to "minimize hue skews across exposure range in a region of same hue". This directly addresses the problematic behavior in ACES 1.0 where, for example, reds would noticeably skew towards yellow as exposure increased. The "ACES vanilla" look, which often appeared yellowish, now presents as "more neutral," with skin tones specifically moving away from their typical yellowish cast. This improved neutrality is achieved through a "hue-preserving rendering transform" that largely applies luminance mapping independently of color adjustments. The underlying mechanism for this hue preservation is a "norm-based ratio-preserving tone-scale". Instead of applying the tone curve to individual R, G, and B channels, a norm (essentially an average) is calculated from these channels, and the tone curve is applied to this norm. The resulting gain factor is then applied equally to R, G, and B, thereby preserving the original ratios between the channels and, consequently, the hue and saturation. This contrasts sharply with ACES 1.0's RRT, which manipulated color and grayscale simultaneously, leading to the observed distortions.

• Robust Gamut Mapping: Addressing Clipping and Ensuring Perceptual Uniformity

ACES 2.0 incorporates "robust gamut mapping to improve harsh clipping artifacts". This is a substantial enhancement for handling extreme colors, ensuring they are mapped gracefully rather than abruptly clipped. The system is designed to "mostly avoid undesirable clipping but still allow for reaching the edges of the display gamut volume". The sophistication of this gamut mapping algorithm stems from its reliance on recent advancements in color appearance modeling. Specifically, the ACES 2.0 Output Transform employs a simplified version of the Hellwig 2022 Color Appearance Model (CAM). This model utilizes three key correlates of human perception: J (perceived lightness), M (perceived colorfulness), and h (perceived hue). By operating on these perceptual attributes, ACES 2.0 can manipulate lightness, colorfulness, and hue independently, leading to more perceptually uniform and visually pleasing results, especially when dealing with challenging colors or extreme dynamic ranges. It is generally recommended to keep the separate ACES Reference Gamut Compression (RGC) disabled when working with ACES 2.0, as the system now has a superior built-in gamut mapper. Using RGC with ACES 2.0 can inadvertently skew colors towards primaries, which runs counter to the system's enhanced hue preservation goals.

• Seamless SDR/HDR Consistency: Bridging the Display Gap

A paramount design goal for ACES 2.0 was achieving "better visual and perceptual matches between the SDR and HDR renderings". This consistency is crucial in today's landscape, where HDR displays are ubiquitous across consumer devices, from phones to televisions. The objective is to ensure that creative decisions made in SDR translate coherently and accurately to HDR, thereby guaranteeing that "the final film match[es] everyone's creative intent" regardless of the viewing format. The new rendering transforms are engineered to ensure that "different deliverable outputs 'match' better," providing a unified and predictable look across all target displays.

• Improved Invertibility: Enhancing Workflow Flexibility

A significant improvement over ACES 1.0 is ACES 2.0's focus on invertibility, meaning an "Output > ACES > Output round-trip should be possible". This is a direct response to the non-reversible nature of the RRT in ACES 1.0, which often complicated iterative adjustments and VFX roundtrips. The improved performance of inverse transforms is also a stated feature, further enhancing workflow flexibility and efficiency in complex post-production pipelines.

Table 1: ACES 1.0 vs. ACES 2.0 Key Differences & Improvements

Feature Area	ACES 1.0 Characteristic	ACES 2.0 Improvement	Practical Benefit for Color Grading
Rendering Transform	Combined RRT+ODT; opinionated "look"	Redesigned unified system (split color/grayscale modules)	Reduced artifact fixing, more creative time; more neutral base
Tone Scale	Contoured/Aggressive S-curve; highlights easily clipped	Less aggressive/softer highlight roll-off (SSTS)	Greater detail preservation, more flexible highlight control
Hue Preservation	Pronounced hue skews (e.g., red-to-yellow); "yellowish" look	Minimized hue skews (norm-based ratio-preserving)	Neutral skin tones, consistent color appearance
Gamut Mapping	Harsh clipping/clamping; limited control	Robust built-in gamut mapping (JMh CAM)	Smoother highlight rolloff, avoids harsh clipping; perceptually uniform
SDR/HDR Consistency	Inconsistent SDR/HDR matching; pre-HDR development	Better visual/perceptual matches	Unified look across displays, definitive HDR master
Invertibility	RRT not easily reversible	Output > ACES > Output round-trip possible	More flexible iterative grading, easier VFX roundtrips

IV. Implementing ACES 2.0 in DaVinci Resolve: Best Practices

Integrating ACES 2.0 into DaVinci Resolve requires a clear understanding of its architecture and how Resolve's tools interact with the ACES color pipeline. Proper setup is paramount for harnessing the full potential of this advanced color management system.

• Project Setup: Laying the Foundation

DaVinci Resolve offers two primary approaches for color management: project-wide ACES color management or a node-based workflow. While setting the project's Color Science to ACEScct in Project Settings is a common method, it can sometimes lead to unexpected issues, such as specific color shifts or problems with footage from non-ACES compliant cameras. Many professionals, especially when encountering these "dreaded ACES problems," opt for a node-tree based color management approach, which provides finer, clip-level control and allows for adjustments prior to the ACES transforms. For projects involving mixed camera formats, a scene-referred space like ACES is an ideal common ground to unify disparate color spaces.

For a robust ACES 2.0 setup, the following project settings are recommended:

• Color Science: Set to ACEScct in Project Settings. ACEScct is the log-encoded working space specifically designed for color correction within the ACES framework.

• Timeline Color Space: Set to ACEScct (AP1/Lin). This ensures that all grading operations occur in a consistent, log-like environment that preserves maximum dynamic range.

• Output Color Space: Select the appropriate Output Device Transform (ODT) that matches your monitoring environment and final delivery target. DaVinci Resolve 20 offers comprehensive support for ACES 2.0 ODTs, covering various peak luminances and display primaries such as Rec. 709, P3, Rec. 2020, and ST. 2084 HDR.

• Color Space Aware Grading Tools: Ensure this option is checked in Project Settings. This provides consistent tool behavior regardless of the underlying color space, which is crucial for predictable results within ACES.

• Raw Settings: For raw camera files, it is imperative to enable "Force Bayer to highest quality." This setting ensures that the maximum image quality from the raw sensor data is preserved as the master input.

• ACES Reference Gamut Compression (RGC): When working with ACES 2.0, its advanced built-in gamut mapper is active. Therefore, it is generally recommended to keep the separate ACES RGC feature disabled. Resolve 20 might, by default, enable RGC, which can be counterproductive as it may skew colors towards primaries, conflicting with ACES 2.0's native hue preservation goals.

• Navigating Transforms: ACES Transform vs. Color Space Transform (CST)

A critical distinction in DaVinci Resolve's ACES workflow lies between the ACES Transform OFX plugin and the standard Color Space Transform (CST) node. Understanding their nuances is crucial for accurate ACES compliance.

• The ACES Transform OFX plugin, found under Open FX > Resolve FX Color, utilizes the Academy's mathematically precise transforms. These transforms often incorporate specific input from camera manufacturers, ensuring strict adherence to ACES specifications and optimal interpretation of camera sensor data. This is the recommended and most accurate method for performing ACES conversions within Resolve.

• In contrast, the Color Space Transform (CST) node employs Blackmagic Design's own mathematical conversions and tone mapping. It integrates Resolve's native Display Rendering Transform (DRT), which is not identical to the ACES RRT+ODT combination. Using the CST for ACES conversions can lead to visually different results, including unexpected red shifts or overly aggressive fades, undermining the precise color management ACES aims to provide. For partial ACES pipelines, such as integrating specific ACES functionality into a DaVinci YRGB workflow, the ACES Transform plugin is indispensable because it "doesn't allow clipping, it compresses and decompresses tonal range properly," preserving information that a basic CST might discard.

The core of the ACES workflow revolves around Input Device Transforms (IDTs) and Output Device Transforms (ODTs). IDTs are responsible for accurately converting camera footage (e.g., Arri LOGC3, Sony S-Log3) into the ACES working space (ACEScct or ACEScg). Resolve 20 can automatically detect metadata for some raw files, simplifying this process. ODTs then convert the ACES working space to the target display's specific color space and dynamic range, ensuring the image is correctly presented on the viewing device. ACES 2.0 significantly expands ODT support, offering new options for P3, Rec. 2020, and DCDM, including various HDR options tailored to different peak luminances. In a node-based workflow, an ACES Transform node is typically placed at the beginning of the node tree to act as the IDT, and another at the end to serve as the ODT, with all color grading and creative adjustments performed between these two nodes. This ensures that grading tools operate on scene-referred ACES data, preserving maximum dynamic range and color information.

The promise of "seamless interchange" in ACES is a powerful concept, yet its practical implementation in Resolve highlights a crucial nuance. The distinction between Resolve's native CST and the Academy's ACES Transform demonstrates that "seamless" does not always equate to "automatic" or "identical." This implies that while ACES provides the foundational framework for color interchange, the specific tools chosen within software like Resolve demand careful consideration. A colorist must actively select the "correct" transform (the ACES Transform plugin) to truly adhere to the ACES standard. Failing to do so risks introducing unintended color shifts or clipping, which can undermine the very purpose of employing ACES. This underscores the ongoing importance of user education and adherence to best practices, even as the system continues to mature.

• Grading with ACES 2.0: Leveraging Resolve's Toolset

Working in ACES, particularly with its scene-referred, linear light nature, can initially make traditional color wheels, curves, and other grading tools "work unfamiliar". This learning curve, however, ultimately translates into greater flexibility and precision in image processing. Resolve's HDR wheels are particularly effective within an ACES workflow, as ACES's smooth highlight and shadow roll-offs make it less likely to blow out or crush information, providing ample latitude for manipulation.

DaVinci Resolve 20 introduces several new tools that complement the ACES 2.0 workflow:

• The Chroma Warp tool offers intuitive gesture controls for creating looks, allowing users to select a color in the viewer and drag to adjust its hue and saturation simultaneously. This can be a powerful tool for targeted creative adjustments within the ACES 2.0 framework.

• AI-based features like Magic Mask and Resolve FX Depth Map have received updates for improved accuracy and streamlined workflows, aiding in precise selections and matte generation.

• Resolve 20 also boasts enhanced support for HDR and ACES workflows, offering more flexible tone mapping options across various color spaces. New curve interfaces and scope tools provide even finer control over contrast, saturation, and hue.

• For visual effects integration, the deep image compositing support in Fusion (Studio-only) and full multi-layer EXR support are significant advancements. These features allow for more realistic layering of 3D renders and overlapping elements, crucial for seamless VFX integration within an ACES pipeline.

A key consideration for colorists is the strategic use of color space aware grading tools. These tools are designed to produce identical visual results regardless of the underlying color space they are applied in. This means that if a colorist appreciates how a tool behaves in a log space, they can expect the same consistent behavior when applying it within the ACES environment. Understanding whether a tool is color space aware or unaware allows colorists to make informed choices based on desired consistency and creative intent. ACES's design inherently aims for a consistent response across different source formats, which is further supported by the intelligent application of these tools.

ACES 2.0's design goal of reducing "out-of-the-box" artifacts and providing a more neutral base signifies a shift in the colorist's primary focus. By minimizing the need for corrective work—such as fighting hue skews or managing harsh highlights prevalent in ACES 1.x—ACES 2.0 aims to free colorists from technical remediation. This allows them to dedicate more energy and time to creative look development and aesthetic shaping. New tools in Resolve 20, like Chroma Warp, further support this by offering intuitive controls that directly facilitate artistic vision. This evolution creates a more empowering environment for colorists, enabling them to concentrate on the art of grading rather than the mechanics of fixing.

Table 2: DaVinci Resolve ACES 2.0 Workflow Setup Checklist

DaVinci Resolve Setting/Step	Recommended Configuration/Action	Rationale/Notes
Project Settings > Color Science	ACEScct	Standard ACES working space for color correction.
Project Settings > Timeline Color Space	ACEScct (AP1/Lin)	Provides a consistent log-like grading environment for maximum dynamic range.
Project Settings > Output Color Space	Match display/delivery target (e.g., Rec.709 Gamma 2.4, Rec.2020 ST.2084)	Ensures accurate display on your monitor and correct delivery specifications.
Project Settings > Use color space aware grading tools	Checked	Ensures consistent tool behavior regardless of the underlying color space.
Raw Settings > Force Bayer to highest quality	Checked	Maximizes image quality and detail from raw camera data.
ACES Transform Node (Input)	Set to camera/source IDT (e.g., Sony S-Log3)	Converts source footage to the ACES working space (ACEScct or ACEScg).
ACES Transform Node (Output)	Set to target ODT (e.g., Rec.709)	Converts the ACES working space to the display/delivery space.
ACES Reference Gamut Compression (RGC)	Generally disabled	ACES 2.0 has a robust built-in gamut mapping; RGC can introduce conflicting color shifts.

V. Troubleshooting and Advanced Techniques in DaVinci Resolve

Even with the significant advancements in ACES 2.0, colorists may encounter specific challenges that require targeted troubleshooting and advanced techniques within DaVinci Resolve. Understanding the underlying behavior of ACES 2.0 is key to effectively addressing these issues.

Addressing Common Issues

• Managing Highlight Separation and Tonal Transformation: ACES 2.0's design choice to reproduce highlights "much lower in the scale" compared to ACES 1.3 can initially lead to an "apparent poorer separation" when viewed in Rec709. This is a deliberate design to preserve maximum detail in the highlights. If highlights seem "pushed into the roll-off curve" or difficult to make "bright" while maintaining detail , it is important to recognize that ACES 2.0 aims for a more "filmic" highlight desaturation, which differs from the often saturated digital look. This shift in highlight management represents a new normal for colorists. The initial appearance of less separation is not a flaw but an opportunity for more nuanced creative shaping. It moves the grading strategy from fighting clipping to leveraging retained data for more expressive control.

• Solution: Instead of attempting to force a traditional "digital" highlight separation, colorists should leverage Resolve's HDR wheels for precise and non-destructive highlight control. These tools are specifically designed to operate within the wide dynamic range of ACES. In a node-based workflow, adjusting exposure or highlights in a node before the ACES Output Transform can also help manage the input to the tone scale, providing greater control over the final highlight rendition.

• Resolving Blue Region Transitions and Chromatic Shifts: Some users have reported encountering "hard transition somewhere in the blue region" or observing blue lights appearing overly cyan when using ACES 2.0's built-in gamut compression. Similarly, red lights might present as too pinkish or orange. While ACES 2.0's gamut mapping is significantly improved, these "problem colors" can still arise, indicating that no universal transform can perfectly handle every extreme color scenario or creative intent. This highlights the enduring challenge of specific color reproduction and the continued need for granular control.

• Solution: Node-based workflows offer the flexibility to perform pre-transform adjustments. Using HSL curves or other targeted color manipulation tools in a node prior to the ACES Output Transform allows for finessing problematic hues, such as "pulling blues down". Resolve 20's new Chroma Warp tool can also be valuable for intuitively adjusting hue and saturation of specific color regions. For highly problematic edge cases, exploring custom DCTLs (DaVinci Color Transform Language) like Jed's ZoneGrade DCTL might offer more granular control, though this moves beyond a strictly ACES-compliant workflow.

• Handling Camera Compatibility and Input Transform Selection: ACES 1.x occasionally struggled with footage from non-professional cameras, lacking direct IDTs, which led to suboptimal conversions. ACES 2.0 expands IDT support, including new Sony S-Log3/S-Gamut3 IDTs. However, issues can still arise, particularly with VFX EXR files that might lack full dynamic range or display incorrect colors.

• Solution: Always ensure the correct ACES Input Transform (IDT) is applied to each clip, either automatically via metadata detection or manually selected. If an exact IDT is unavailable, a practical workaround is to "experiment with different profiles" and select the one that yields the most acceptable visual result. For VFX roundtrips, it is crucial to verify that EXR exports are 32-bit float and encoded in ACEScg, as incorrect settings can lead to clipping and color inaccuracies. Furthermore, ensuring the VFX pipeline itself is ACES 2.0 compliant is essential for seamless integration.

• Strategic Gamut Compression: Built-in vs. Reference Gamut Compression (RGC)

ACES 2.0 features a robust and sophisticated built-in gamut mapping algorithm, which is a core component of its redesigned rendering transform. The Academy's Reference Gamut Compression (RGC), while introduced in ACES 1.3 , is generally recommended to be disabled when working with ACES 2.0. This is because RGC can skew colors towards primaries (e.g., red) and affect values close to the AP1 boundary, which runs contrary to ACES 2.0's enhanced hue preservation goals and its more perceptually uniform gamut mapping. While ACES 2.0's native solution should be the primary approach, ACES 1.3 did introduce both ACES Reference Gamut Compress (a semi-automatic feature) and ACES Parametric Gamut Compression (offering more manual control). Understanding these older tools might offer fallback options for highly problematic edge cases, though caution is advised to avoid conflicting with ACES 2.0's core design principles.

• Node-Based Solutions for Fine-Tuning and Problem Solving

Node-based color management in DaVinci Resolve provides the ultimate flexibility for fine-tuning and problem-solving within an ACES 2.0 workflow. The recommended workflow involves placing an ACES Transform node at the beginning of your node tree (acting as the IDT) and another at the end (serving as the ODT). All color grading, creative adjustments, and localized corrections are then performed between these two nodes. This structure offers several benefits:

• It allows for pre-transform corrections, meaning adjustments can be made to the raw or input footage before it enters the ACES color space. This is particularly useful for addressing camera-specific quirks or initial color balance issues.

• It ensures that grading tools operate on the scene-referred ACES data, preserving maximum dynamic range and color information throughout the creative process.

• By making adjustments in a node prior to the ACES Transform, colorists can fix issues without altering the "inherent quality and the look DNA" of the image as interpreted by ACES. For example, to address a blue shift, one could create a node before the ACES Transform and use HSL curves to adjust the blue channel, then allow the ACES transform to process the corrected input.

For visual effects (VFX) roundtripping, seamless integration with Fusion is crucial. Ensure that Fusion's color management is correctly set to ACEScg and utilize OCIO Colorspace nodes to manage transforms between different color spaces within the Fusion composite. Resolve 20's new deep image compositing capabilities and full multi-layer EXR support in Fusion further enhance the ability to integrate complex VFX elements within an ACES pipeline.

Despite ACES 2.0's improved hue preservation and gamut mapping, the persistence of issues with specific colors like blue suggests that while the system is more robust "out-of-the-box," no universal transform can perfectly handle every extreme color scenario or creative intent. The continued necessity for node-based pre-transform adjustments and the exploration of custom DCTLs indicate that colorists still require granular, localized control. This implies that even with advanced color management, the art of color grading still relies on skilled intervention to finesse the image beyond the default system behavior, especially at the edges of the display's capabilities. The system provides a significantly better starting point, but the final polish remains firmly in the colorist's hands.

Table 3: Common ACES 2.0 Issues & Solutions in DaVinci Resolve

Observed Issue	Description	ACES 2.0 Behavior	Recommended Solution/Technique
Highlights appear "flat" or lack separation (especially in Rec.709)	Highlights are reproduced lower in the scale, retaining more detail but appearing less "punchy" by default.	Designed for less aggressive tone scale and softer highlight roll-off to preserve data.	Leverage Resolve's HDR wheels for creative shaping of highlights; adjust exposure/highlights in a node before the ACES Output Transform.
Blue colors look "cyan" or have harsh transitions	Specific blues (e.g., bright lights) show abrupt transitions or desaturation due to built-in gamut mapping.	Built-in gamut mapping attempts hue preservation, sometimes at expense of chroma/lightness; can be aggressive on extreme colors.	Use node-based pre-transform adjustments (HSL curves, Hue vs. Sat) to fine-tune problematic hues; consider Resolve 20's Chroma Warp for targeted adjustments; ensure RGC is disabled.
Unexpected color shifts/clipping from VFX EXRs	EXR files from VFX lack full dynamic range or show incorrect colors.	Incorrect EXR export settings (e.g., bit depth, color space) or ACES 1.x VFX pipeline.	Verify VFX EXR exports are 32-bit float, ACEScg, and handled with ACES Transform node; ensure VFX pipeline is ACES 2.0 compliant.
Legacy camera footage appears "off" or unsupported	Footage from older or prosumer cameras doesn't translate well into ACES.	Lack of specific IDT or non-standard color science.	Manually apply the closest available IDT; consider a node-based ACES Transform workflow for granular control over input, allowing pre-transform adjustments.

VI. Conclusion: The Future of Color Grading with ACES 2.0

ACES 2.0 marks a profound evolution in color management, transcending the limitations of its predecessor to deliver a system that is more robust, consistent, and creatively empowering for professional colorists. The redesigned rendering transform, characterized by a less aggressive tone scale and meticulous hue preservation, provides a cleaner, more neutral foundation for grading. This significantly reduces the need for corrective work, allowing colorists to dedicate their expertise to artistic expression rather than technical remediation.

The enhanced gamut mapping in ACES 2.0, leveraging advanced perceptual color appearance models, ensures a smoother and more visually pleasing handling of extreme colors, effectively minimizing harsh clipping artifacts. Crucially, ACES 2.0 achieves superior SDR/HDR consistency, a vital improvement in today's multi-delivery landscape, ensuring that creative decisions translate accurately and predictably across diverse display technologies. Furthermore, the improved invertibility of transforms enhances workflow flexibility, particularly for iterative grading processes and complex VFX roundtrips, thereby streamlining the entire post-production pipeline. Native support for ACES 2.0 in DaVinci Resolve 20, complemented by new tools like Chroma Warp, seamlessly integrates these advancements into a familiar and powerful grading environment.

For colorists and post-production professionals, the adoption of ACES 2.0 is not merely an upgrade but a strategic imperative. To fully capitalize on its benefits, several recommendations are paramount:

• Embrace Node-Based Workflows: While project-wide ACES offers convenience, a node-based ACES Transform workflow in DaVinci Resolve provides unparalleled control and flexibility. This approach allows for essential pre-transform corrections and granular adjustments that maximize ACES 2.0's advantages.

• Understand Transform Nuances: It is critical to differentiate clearly between Resolve's native Color Space Transform (CST) and the Academy-specified ACES Transform node. Always opt for the latter to ensure strict adherence to ACES compliance and avoid unintended color shifts.

• Adapt Grading Techniques: Recognize that ACES 2.0's tone scale, by design, provides more highlight detail by default. Adjust grading approaches to leverage this inherent characteristic, utilizing Resolve's HDR wheels for precise and nuanced control rather than attempting to force a different type of highlight separation.

• Stay Informed: The ACES system is a living standard, continuously evolving. Engaging with resources such as the ACES Central forums and official documentation is crucial for staying updated on best practices, new features, and community-driven solutions.

• Test and Experiment: Apply ACES 2.0 to a diverse range of footage, especially challenging shots with extreme colors or mixed camera sources. This hands-on experimentation will deepen understanding of its behavior and facilitate the refinement of personal workflow strategies.

Prioritize Education: As ACES solidifies its position as the industry standard, a deep and nuanced understanding of ACES 2.0 is becoming indispensable for professional colorists. Continued learning in color science and its practical application will be key to mastering this powerful system and navigating the evolving landscape of digital image creation.