Very big trouble. DCP

[Avi Liani]

Hi All

I am trying to export image sequence from QT. But I tried 3 times and it stuck at 65 536 frame exactly. It is about 40 minutes of movie.

It happened on different computers, in FCP and in QT as well. So I do not know what is the reason. Today I will try the best computer available in my town. But I think problem is not only computer. From FCP I thought FCP stuck usually with big image sequences but now QT stuck as well and at the same frame number.

So what can be the reason?

 

[Avi Liani]

And if it stuck anyway, Can I continue from 65 537 frame and DCP will recognize number
for example I am exporting a 001 002 ...... and it stuck at a 65 536, then if I continue b 001 b 002 and etc until it finishes. Will EAsydcp recognize numbering?

 

[Petros Nousias]

Apparently qt will fail to export a frame sequence after a given number and that depends on the machine used(that's what I found when googled it actually). Try splitting the file to 2 or 3, since it will always fail when it reaches the 16th bit(65536) in your machine. If EasyDCP doesnt accept multiple sequences you can always use a frame renumbering-renaming software to reconnect the separate sequences. The only software I can think of for OSX is A Better Finder Rename. For windows I always use Seq911, its fast and reliable.

 

[Avi Liani]

thanks Petros

Your advice coincidences with my finding as well. Just one question.

What I did when I exported image sequence and it stuck at 65 536 frame. I searched the beginning of the recent scene, so the previous scene ended at 64 574 frame. So I deleted images starting from 64 575 to 65 536. Then I imported QT movie in FCP and found the beginning of the last scene and started exporting from that frame. And When it will be finished I will rename files so that it can fit in Easy DCP.

I think I have 100% exact framing haven't I??? Cause I know where scene ends and starts new scene so I think not a single frame will be lost or doubled. If it will be then I will have problem in EasyDCP cause it could not match with sound. However I think this is also fixable

thanks

 

[Gunleik Groven]

Sholuld be fine.

I had a nightmareish experience with Easy DCP when trying to make a whole film in one sequence...

First I had to batch rename the dpx's to fit the naming convention. (No big deal, just warning you)

THEN there was some of the DPXs that have faults in their headers. When Easy DCP hit those frames, it just stopped, and I had to fix the individual DPXs and re-try.

In the end, that took too much time, and I ended up using Wraptor, ehich worked like a charm, BTW.

To avaoid this, it could be a good idea to break your feature into scenes...

I know this is not a good way of doing things, just a warning...

 

[Avi Liani]

Thanks Gunleik.

So good I compared QT exported image quality to FCP exported image quality. Same settings for both, same size 6.2mb this and such big Difference. The right side is FCP and left QT. I think I must reexport from FCP rather than QT because you see how better FCP exported image is.


http://img17.imageshack.us/i/screenshot20110309at420.png/



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

thanks

 

[Avi Liani]

Sholuld be fine.

I had a nightmareish experience with Easy DCP when trying to make a whole film in one sequence...

First I had to batch rename the dpx's to fit the naming convention. (No big deal, just warning you)

THEN there was some of the DPXs that have faults in their headers. When Easy DCP hit those frames, it just stopped, and I had to fix the individual DPXs and re-try.

In the end, that took too much time, and I ended up using Wraptor, ehich worked like a charm, BTW.

To avaoid this, it could be a good idea to break your feature into scenes...

I know this is not a good way of doing things, just a warning...

I split movie into 3 peaces and I started exporting and it goes nice up to now.

I do not have DPX, I have tiffs. I already tested 2 minutes version of tiff sequence in Easy DCP and then in theater and it worked great. So Should I expect any problem with whole movie as one image sequence?

it is three separate sequences right now, but I can join them by renaming software. SO what you recomend not to do this?

 

[Gunleik Groven]

I don't dear recomending anything, but if easy DCP accepts reels in the screening (I don't remember right now) three reels would be my best bet...

 

[Corrado Silveri]

My suggestion is: use Shake.

Imho, It's the right tool for the job: great quality, no problems (in my experience) with thousands of frames.

 

[Corrado Silveri]

Btw, Easy DCP accept multiple reels in one dcp container.

 

[Gunleik Groven]

I used shake to dpx, too after A/B with Color

 

[Avi Liani]

Thanks. Tomorrow I will take tiffs to studio for DCP making.

Is it true that DCP could be made without any program by yourself? Open source? what is open source and how complicated is it?

 

[Avi Liani]

Wish me luck this is my first movie.

I did screenplay/script, producing, editing, color correcting, Music supervising, CGI

exporting TIFFs goes smoothly now, I will finish tomorrow afternoon

 

[Petros Nousias]

If you can use EasyDCP then there's no need to go open source as its a bit more elaborate. If you want to look into it, a good place to start is this http://www.stereofinland.com/?page_id=49
I've used these tools to make trailers and a couple of tests for features recently and even though its a time consuming process the results were perfect colour-wise.
I always use AE for exports, I dont trust apple's software to do any conversions.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

I always use AE for exports, I dont trust apple's software to do any conversions.

Shake is a different thing. Mostly its inherited from Nothing Real, with just a few updates by Apple.

In my opinion it can be trusted for output.

AE works just fine as well of course.

My favorite tool is Resolve, but I don't own it.

 

[Petros Nousias]

Sorry, I was reffering to FC, Compressor, Quicktime etc. I personally prefer to use Fusion, and live for the day they will port it to OSX(probably never...)

 

[Nick Shaw]

exporting TIFFs goes smoothly now, I will finish tomorrow afternoon

Worth noting that TIFs exported from QT player or FCP (if I understand correctly what you are doing) are only 8-bit. This is far from ideal for DCP mastering.

 

[Avi Liani]

Worth noting that TIFs exported from QT player or FCP (if I understand correctly what you are doing) are only 8-bit. This is far from ideal for DCP mastering.

SO what is the best choice to export image sequence

I finished doing DCP and tested in Cinema looks fantastic like real film.

But I am not satisfied with this if there is any better way. Please reveal

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

SO what is the best choice to export image sequence

I finished doing DCP and tested in Cinema looks fantastic like real film.

But I am not satisfied with this if there is any better way. Please reveal

DPX from Color I'd thing, if you are in a Final Cut workflow.

I can't remember if Color or Resolve output OpenEXR, but I like 16 bit OpenEXR more than DPX if you can get it. That is how I output a lot of composites. I don't think DCP can use OpenEXR as input though.

TIFF is great too just make sure you are outputting real 16bit TIFF files. I thought Quicktime did 16bit ... but I haven't used Quicktime for image file export in so long ... I just don't know anymore.

Shake, After Effects and Nuke - compositing applications in general, are good for image sequence output.

 

[Erich Ocean]

I am trying to export image sequence from QT. But I tried 3 times and it stuck at 65 536 frame exactly.

QuickTime uses a 16-bit counter internally; that's the maximum it will do that kind of export.

Yes, it's lame.

The workaround is to chop your film into shorter segments (create reference movies) and export multiple times. You can then use a bulk file re-namer to get them all into one image sequence if you want.