R3D / Premiere Pro CS6 / Davinci Resolve Workflow

[Zander Taketomo]

Really appreciate any input for the below:

So, I'm running into issues for productivity.

My current workflow is, working between Premiere Pro CS6 & Resolve.

After watching tutorials, the going trend sounds like export XML of timeline from PP6 - then import to Resolve.

Do adjustments in Resolve, export the XML back for going into premiere.

------

Now here's my issue.

I had been messing with red cine-x, & PP6 color correcting prior to switching over to resolve.

When I import to resolve, those cine-x adjustments carry over. Making it very difficult to CC when the image settings are not all in the same place. Is there any workflow someone could suggest to even out the footage look prior to Resolve? Or is there way for Resolve to reset video looks so I can do more of a copy/paste of settings (with minor tweeking) for shots of the same scene? I feel like I must be doing something wrong in this dept.

------

Lastly, expecting client feedback etc.

Given I'm sending XML from PP6 --> Resolve, then XML from Resolve --> PP6. If say the cut changes, what's the best way to open up the same project, with updated timeline in Resolve.

Example: (using #'s just for comparison reference)

Edit 1: (In resolve)
Timeline: Clip 1.1, Clip 2.1, Clip 2.2
I make adjustments to all 3 clips
---> I send this XML out of Resolve to update premiere.

Import Edit 1: XML back into premiere, for updated CC'd clips. Then send to client.

Client comes back "Can you put Clip 1.2 in Between 1.1 & 2.1."

Is there a way for me to, in PP6, insert clip 1.2, and then re-open the project in Resolve updated with the new clip? That way I can compare to neighboring clips, and perhaps still make adjustments to the raw files?

Sorry if this scenario is confusing, happy to clarify.

 

[Dave Beard]

I would be interested in hearing anyones experience with this workflow.

 

[Cody Cuellar]

Really appreciate any input for the below:
Now here's my issue.

I had been messing with red cine-x, & PP6 color correcting prior to switching over to resolve.

When I import to resolve, those cine-x adjustments carry over. Making it very difficult to CC when the image settings are not all in the same place. Is there any workflow someone could suggest to even out the footage look prior to Resolve? Or is there way for Resolve to reset video looks so I can do more of a copy/paste of settings (with minor tweeking) for shots of the same scene? I feel like I must be doing something wrong in this dept.

------

Lastly, expecting client feedback etc.

Given I'm sending XML from PP6 --> Resolve, then XML from Resolve --> PP6. If say the cut changes, what's the best way to open up the same project, with updated timeline in Resolve.

Example: (using #'s just for comparison reference)

Edit 1: (In resolve)
Timeline: Clip 1.1, Clip 2.1, Clip 2.2
I make adjustments to all 3 clips
---> I send this XML out of Resolve to update premiere.

In regards to this issue, sounds like you don't want to see your metadata settings. There's two ways around this. One, go to RCX and open up all the clips, apply a camera metadata setting and save that RMD to all of your raw clips, so they all start at the original camera settings. This would be annoying, and time consuming so my suggestion is the easier method of a base starting point in Resolve.

To do this, open your settings panel (little gear icon at the bottom left of the screen) and go to the camera raw tab. at the top left, drop down the menu that probably says "Arri Alexa" and switch it to "Red". This allows you to tell resolve which settings to use during initial debayer on loading clips into the software. If you drop down "decode clips using" menu and choose "project" you can specify a single set of values that zeros everything out across the board, and disregards all previous RMD metadata. You can here set your RedColor3, RedLogFilm, base ISO, color temp, etc that it will use for all clips. Make sure to uncheck "apply metadata curves" to prevent any additional RMD info seeping in.

My suggestion is to use these settings as a pretty solid starting point, where you'll really only have to change color temp for clips lit with Tungsten, or toy around with additional settings on a per-clip basis:

Decode Quality (set this based on system perfomance, usually 1/4 or half without a Rocket) - This is nice also so you can quickly change the whole project decode quality in this tab for instance if you work in 1/4 for performance and want to render in 1/2 premium or full, you can switch it here (as long as all clips are set to "use project" in the color tab)
RedColor3
RedLOGFilm
ISO 500-800
White Balance 5000
Other Camera Settings zeroed out or default.
Blend Off (you can enable on individual HDR clips once in the color tab)
OLPF and De-noise OFF (again enable where needed to save on processing power during grading)

In regards to your second question, I typically work with locked cuts 99% of the time, but if you think it will be changing, my suggestion is to work mostly in Remote Grades until the final cut is locked. Default, Resolve works in remote grades, meaning you're grading the clip in reference to the media pool, or in other words, you're affecting the clip globally across resolve and all timelines are affected if you have the remote grade of that clip selected in the color tab. When your edit references the same clip (2.1, then 2.2 later in the edit, same clip i.e. A002_C001_XXXXXX) and you want each edit to have a different grade, right click the icon in the timeline while in the color tab, and add a new "remote grade". When you update the edit and import a new XML, that new timeline will carry over the same grades, and if you need, you can drop down the menu on specific clips and choose one of your other remote versions of that same clip. No need for back and forth, just update the PP6 timeline, export new XML and import into resolve, and clips will still be affected how you had them from previous timeline, since you adjusted the clip throughout resolve, not just to that specific timeline (local grading).

There are downsides to using remote grading, especially when finishing the project and working with power windows. Once the cut is locked and a first pass is done, I usually copy the whole timeline to Local Grades so it treats every clip locally to that timeline and ignores grades on other edit points of the same clip. This way you don't accidentally screw up a finished grade referencing the same clip earlier in the edit (happens with power windows easily if you're not careful). The annoying part of working in local grades is that if the grade changes, it's very difficult in my experience to update the XML and quickly and easily copy grades over. Usually you'd have to do this by pulling a whole slew of stills and pasting them to the new XML, one edit at a time (which you'd have to be extra careful if you did any dynamic adjustment keyframing) or duplicating the project and color tracing which I don't have much experience in. This is why if you think the edit will change, avoid switching to Local as long as you possibly can and get the clips as close as you can while remote grading, or never switching over and just making a new version for every instance of the same clip so you don't screw up previous clips. Also keep in mind changing metadata in one version will affect the other versions unless you check the save metadata box on all versions! It's easy to mess things up when you're not extra careful, so just make sure to have a scratch folder in your stills library and constantly save versions of your looks!

Someone else can give their advice, but that's how I usually do it. Let me know if that's confusing and if you need anything clarified, or if it answered your questions.

 

[Russ Fill]

Hey Cody seeing as you seem to have a pretty good knowledge of Resolve. I have started to play around with it to see what it can offer me. I come from a After Effects world so downloaded the Resolve 9 and now wondering how you get to output R3D's you have shot at high frame rates. All I can get to work seems to be 24 or 25 fps on outputs.

 

[Cody Cuellar]

Hey Russ,

Not sure exactly what your question is. When you shoot high frame rates on the red and the epic, it's capturing many frames per second, but writing it to the mag at a 23.98 playback rate (or whatever your camera timebase is set to), thus slowing it down. You should be able to bring them in, set the project to the same timebase (23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, etc) and import the clips which will play slow motion, which I'm assuming is why you shot high framerate. I don't see a reason to need to work in any frame rate aside from your project master timebase - besides most projects and applications prefer one common timebase since your final output file cannot switch and must all be conformed down to that timebase. Maybe I'm not understanding the question correctly?

 

[Russ Fill]

Ahh it seems to be working for the slowmo now but still don't know how to make sure Resolve recognizes that the clips were shot in a project setting at 29.97 and how to output it to the 29.97... only see the 23.97 and 24fps output in the output pulldown.
Any suggestion and help welcome.

 

[Rohit Gupta]

Set your timeline frame-rate to 29.97 before adding the clips in the media pool.

 

[Daniel Pitta]

Set your timeline frame-rate to 29.97