advice needed on 4k greenscreen workflow

[jhorsthuis]

Hi Guys,

just finished two days shooting in a green screen studio with the RED for the first time. Shot 4K, was extremely happy with the camera, obviously beautiful picture. I did a little research upfront to see whether we'd be able to post process the material, but now i'm kinda stuck with what's the best way to go. Maybe you guys have some advice for me.

I want to first edit all the greenscreen stuff, and then export my edit into seperate clips, that can be tracked and used in 3d packages as well as after effects etc. We use PC's but have one mac with FCP. Also, the sound is not recorded with the red but in a hard disc recorder, synced by timecode.

Am I best of first converting all material with redcine? I really cant afford to wait that long.
If I edit first, how can I convert just the chosen clips? How does the audio keep in sync?

suggestions would be very welcome, and If theres a way to do it all with adobe premiere etc. i'd be even happier cos I've never worked with a mac let alone FCP.

many thanx.

 

[Uli Plank]

Sorry, you'll need the Mac. Use FCP for editing, Crimson to conform and then export DPXs or TIFFs for After Effects (which may well be on a PC).

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

have a look at joofas edl plugin or automatic duck fcp to after effects...

premiere should be ready in a couple of months i guess

before you ask.....yes intel macs

 

[John Tissavary]

Here's how we've been working with our and our clients' Red projects at TRAkTION:

1) Edit via either original camera proxies (quicktime wrappers of original R3D footage) or log & transfer'ed proxy files (prores, for instance) in FCP. Only cuts & dissolves, no fx or transforms.

2) Export EDL(s) from FCP in CMX 3600 format

3) Import original camera footage & EDLs to Scratch, conform. Now only the frames used in the actual edit will be graded & processed

4) Grade

5) Process (render).


For vfx plates, I usually do a preliminary grade to match surrounding footage, then export 2 or 4k 16bit float openEXR, or whatever file format the vfx folks want. Once the vfx composite is finished, I bring it back into Scratch, drop it in the original edit conform timeline, and then do the final grade there.

Scratch has an advantage in that it is very good at conforming & data management, and can work natively with R3D files, so no transcoding is necessary prior to the edit. If transcoding is desired, then using something like Log & Transfer to maintain the clip name & timecode metadata through the EDL is necessary, otherwise the conform is not possible.

There are a ton of other workflows, but this is the best & simplest, and I've personally used it on many shows since the camera came out last year.


Regards,

John T.

 

[Kwan Khan]

Hummm.
Thanks for the tips

 

[jhorsthuis]

thanks guys, I will see and try if it works!

brushing up on my mac skills...