RED EDITING / PC / Mac

[ROCKMORE]

What are the minimum PC / Mac requirements ( hardware / edit software ) to work with 2k/3k footage? My final output will be for Pal TV not film.
I'm working with a Quad Core PC right now with 8 gig memory. Editing with Adobe CS4.
The new Macs look pretty good and will be better by the end of this year.
Just looking down the road to what I will need to get a smooth work flow going when the Scarlet arrives.

 

[jimhare]

You might be fine with what you have. I use a Mac Quad core and have had no problem working in PAL HD. Even quick turnaround stuff hasn't been a problem.

Really depends on how much footage you will have per project and your workflow.

 

[ROCKMORE]

You might be fine with what you have. I use a Mac Quad core and have had no problem working in PAL HD. Even quick turnaround stuff hasn't been a problem.

Really depends on how much footage you will have per project and your workflow.

Jim

What type of files are generated by the RED sensor. (What exactly is Redcode)?
Will they have to be converted to other files such as Uncompressed AVI or Quicktime?
Most of the work I doing is shot in 35mm film or Broadcast Pal Digi Beta and digitizes to uncompressed Wides Screen Pal at 1024 X 576. This is the final output and is quite small compared to 3K /4k, however it consumes more than 3 Gigs of HD space per minute. I also combine quite a bit 3D CGI animation, green screen shots etc. and composite in CS4. What size are you editing on your Mac. 1920 X 1980?
They must use some serious compression to get 12 minutes of 4k footage on an 8? gig Red memory card. (You'll have to correct me on the data details) How do you guys manage these files? If I were to convert them to uncompressed Quicktime they will get pretty massive.

 

[jimhare]

Hey Rockmore,
It's more like 5 minutes of 4K on 8 gig, but yes, a lot of data! RED uses wavelet compression, which is visually lossless but very space efficient. The trade off is it can be processor intensive.

There are several workflows you can use. I use FCP so I transcode the R3D (red files) to QuickTime, either uncompressed or ProRes depending on what I'm working on.

Most of what I do is 1920x 1080 PAL but I have also done 4k all the way to 35mm prints.

You can do this with free Red software, which allows you to color correct and export the footage.

If you're using CS4, you can now work with Red files directly and only leave red files for your final master. This is convenient and gives you maximum flexibility throughout the process.

Can't really bring you right up to speed within the contraints of a post, but the major points are:

1. For SD, it's fast to work with. You can transcode at about 1:4 or so. Still faster than sending your film to the lab!

2. 4k is still useful for SD, oversampling is your friend plus the look is amazing. You will never confuse Red footage with a video camera.

3. You need plenty of space. Keep your R3Ds on large drives, and move your QTs to your edit drive. I go through about 3TB per week at the moment so you need to have a drive strategy.

4. Red is so worth the effort. It's amaing and if you keep your head screwed on right, you can do amazing things without any trouble.

5. Don't listen to anyone who says the workflow is messy or confusing. It's only messy if you're working with people who don't have Red experience.

All the best,

Jim

 

[ROCKMORE]

Sounds great Jim, thanks. I just realized you're in Sydney. I'm in Jakarta. If you ever get up this way let's have a beer. Mike Rockmore.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Hey guys, minor off-topic just so I don't need to create a thread for that.

I use CS3 Suite, When I go from Premiere to AE just by importing the project I get a shift of 2 frames.

If the cut is suppose to start at frame 2 and end at 10 it will start at 4 and end at 12.

Easily fixable, but a little glitch that can go unnoticed.

Is this bug still present on CS4?

:thumbsup: