Runway Ruby | Standalone Tool Brings HDR Color Grading
Runway has made Ruby available as a standalone model in Tool Mode, giving creators a dedicated interface for converting standard dynamic range video into HDR. The tool can process footage generated inside Runway, clips created with third-party AI models, and existing videos uploaded from a device, extending the platform's AI-assisted color workflow beyond its own generations.
Ruby becomes a direct tool for uploaded video
Ruby now appears as its own model in the Tool Mode video selector. Creators can choose the model directly, upload an SDR video or select an existing asset, choose an output format, and start the conversion without first generating a new clip inside Runway.
This dedicated workflow is the main addition announced on August 31. Ruby had already been introduced as Runway's native HDR color grading model with support for Sessions, Workflows, and Runway Dev, but the standalone interface makes it easier to use with material brought in from an external editing or generation pipeline.
SDR footage gains a wider brightness and color range
Ruby takes an SDR source and updates its brightness and color range to produce an HDR output. This can give footage deeper contrast, brighter highlights, and a broader range of visible color when it is viewed on compatible hardware and handled through an appropriate post-production pipeline.
The model is not presented as a general-purpose recoloring tool for replacing selected hues or assigning a new visual palette. Its specific role is SDR-to-HDR conversion, making it more relevant to finishing, delivery, compositing, and professional color workflows than to ordinary creative color replacement.
Creators can process footage from different sources
The input does not need to come from a particular Runway video model. Ruby supports generations made with Runway, outputs from third-party models, camera footage, and other existing SDR files selected from the user's asset library or uploaded directly from a device.
This flexibility can help creators standardize clips assembled from several sources. An AI-generated shot, recorded footage, and material created on another platform can all pass through the same HDR conversion stage before they are moved into a larger edit or compositing project.
Professional output formats support editing and compositing
Ruby supports 10-bit HDR10 and HLG, 10-bit ProRes 422 and 422 HQ, and 12-bit ProRes 4444. For workflows that need image sequences, it can also deliver 16-bit Linear BT.2020 or ACEScg OpenEXR files.
The ACEScg options are designed for pipelines already configured around ACES 1.3 or 2.0. These scene-referred outputs can enter compatible compositing and grading software without requiring an additional color-space transformation before the next production stage.
HDR results require the right display and source material
A standard display may not reproduce the complete brightness and color range of the converted file. Runway displays a warning when the current screen cannot render HDR accurately, although the user can still generate and download the finished asset.
Source quality also remains important. A clean SDR input gives Ruby more reliable visual information for the conversion, while compression artifacts, noise, clipped highlights, or weak color information in the original footage may limit the quality of the final HDR result.
IMPORTANT: Ruby requires the Max plan or higher, costs 20 credits per second of video, and does not support Unlimited mode. Accurate evaluation also requires an HDR-compatible display or professional HDR player.{alertWarning}
Daisuki's Take: What This Means for Designers
Ruby's standalone interface matters because it separates HDR finishing from the original generation process. Creators can bring an established video into Runway specifically for color conversion instead of rebuilding the project around a Runway model.
The range of export formats also makes the tool more relevant to professional workflows. HDR10 or HLG may fit distribution needs, while ProRes and EXR sequences give editors and compositors more suitable files for continued post-production.
We would still treat Ruby as one stage in a managed color pipeline. The converted output should be checked on compatible hardware, compared with the SDR source, and tested in the intended editing and delivery environment before it becomes the final version of a project.
Sources and Recommended Links
- New Updates and Improvements to Runway | Runway Official Changelog
- Creating HDR Videos with Runway Ruby | Runway Official Help Center
