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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Monkey Extract Questions

proxy for Avid offline with ME

proxy for Avid offline with ME

Hi Craig,

Our workflow is not that tricky, the only problem is that the offline editing will be taken place 1000 miles away from here.:)

We would like to create proxies in Monkey Extract to send them to the Avid offline suite. Get the EDL/offline mov back and render high quality dpx for grading/finishing.

I have two question about the proxy generation:

- if I render h264 movs with ale files, are they going to be able to link the orginal timecode to movs? (sorry, but no experience with avid)

-how can I speed up the proxy generation? what are the most processing heavy settings?

Thanks,


Gyuri
 
The ALE import first then merge files allows any type of file to get metadata - sequential TIFF, JPEG, etc. So metadata wise you are all set. The only drawback to creatign H.264 as the dailies, is it will not be a native format to Avid, so the batch import will require a decode/encode to the SD/HD resolution of their choice. It will not be a "fast import" as when files are transcoded to the QT wrapped Avid format. How many hours are you sending?

Michael
 
For about 6 hours, it's a commercial.
What would you normally recommend?


To be honest, I tried DNxHD as well. We have a freelance avid guy here with a Media Composer, but he wasn't that helpful. When I asked him to import the files, everything was full with errors. The DNxHD files took 5 times longer to import than h264 movs, the DNxHD picture was totally wrong and the ale file showed some random timecode.

I hope that you could tell me the correct settings and the guys can work on their avid fine.

They need 720x576 proxies. The faster they can import the better. (filesize doesn't matter, we will DHL a hard drive to them)

Any idea?

Thanks.
 
The easiest worklow is to just work in DNxHD36 and not worry about SD frame rate conersions and the like. If you are going to go SD, then MetaCheater is the only application right now that does a proper timecode conversion for SD workflows.

The QT export should use the Avid QT export - select the resoltion they want to work at (14:1, etc) and transcode to that.

Michael
 
Hi Craig,

Does the new version work both with the old and new color science?
Can I use the new version with the old color science?

In case of Monkey Extract, I guess the concern would be the preview and the tiff color reproduction, but I want to be sure since I'm rendering the whole feature film very soon.

Also, I had successfully setup the render farm once, but after I cancelled the work, then the shell command instances don't show up in the Qadministrator anymore. The compressor shows up, though. Can you tell me how I can refresh the whole Qmaster environment?
 
MichaelP said:
The easiest worklow is to just work in DNxHD36 and not worry about SD frame rate conersions and the like. If you are going to go SD, then MetaCheater is the only application right now that does a proper timecode conversion for SD workflows.

The QT export should use the Avid QT export - select the resoltion they want to work at (14:1, etc) and transcode to that.

Michael
Click to expand...

Fortunately there is no frame rate conversion. Everything is in 25fps.
 
U can use Redrushes to produce your offline for DNxHD, and also the ALE File of the RED Footage. Just do a half debayer, standard or high, depending on your time you have for rendering the files. Optimise in the settings the clip at once and cores per clip option to get full processing speed on your cpu. You can put in there also BurnIns if needed. Then the guys just need to import the QTs via the ALE as known. Works pretty well. After that they export an EDL and you can feed monkey to extract your DPX files. Just be aware of 16 character or 8 character EDL also when you generate the ALE.
go here: http://www.avid.com/red
 
Hello,

I was rendering massively for a feature film and since some of the clips needed to reframed or DP asked me to do digital panning and zooming, I went through various sizing in the Monkey Extract to render. Then I had some problem in selecting 115% for HD from 4K footage (which means setting the resizing parameters to 2208 and 1242 pixels). The rendering ended up broken. I tried twice but the results were the same and I reset to 120% size of HD (2,304 x 1,296) from the same clips and rendered fine.
So, there might be a little bug in there for that size. Just to let you know. Otherwise, Monkey Extract saved me a lot of time and the effort. Thank you for making this program.
 
Kaku Ito said:
Hello Craig and Nigel,

I have a question on the new version that is supporting the REDALERT! build 20.
Would it also work with the older build of REDALERT!? So, it would work accordingly to the build that I installed with?
Click to expand...

Hi Kaku,

Monkey Extract still works fine with the previous version of Red Alert. There is no need to upgrade yet if you don't want to.
 
Kaku Ito said:
Hi Nigel,

I'm having crash after rendering (I think upon creating the XML) on one machine.
Do you know how to fix this, like trashing the preferences, but where are they located?

Thanks in advance.

Kaku
Click to expand...

The user preferences are stored in the Mac OS "User Defaults" (equivalent to the windows registry). If you wish to change the settings outside of Monkey Extract you can save a plist of your settings (from the file menu), edit them and then load them back in.

There is also a "Reset to Defaults" on the file menu. This completely wipes the stored defaults... choose this option and then restart Monkey Extract and you have a clean slate.

I am unaware of any bugs causing a crash due to render settings though so this is unlikely to be the problem.

Cheers
Craig
 
Hani said:
Hi Nigel,

I'm having a lot of trouble conforming the XML that Monkey Extract parsed to point to DPX files. Here are the steps:

1. Generate an XML from Final Cut
2. Do the usual "Render RED Footage" stuff in Monkey Extract
3. Import the _for_relink XML into Flame
4. Flame crashes

Flame has no problems importing the original Final Cut XML.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi Hani,

I've just patched up a few things in our FCP XML relink files.
In my tests I can happily load the FCP_XML_for_relink into both FCP and Apple Color with rendered DPX sequences... previously this was problematic.

I don't have a access to a flame suite at the moment for testing but it is worthwhile giving this another try with the latest version.

Cheers
Craig
 
Craig Herring said:
Hi Hani,

I've just patched up a few things in our FCP XML relink files.
In my tests I can happily load the FCP_XML_for_relink into both FCP and Apple Color with rendered DPX sequences... previously this was problematic.

I don't have a access to a flame suite at the moment for testing but it is worthwhile giving this another try with the latest version.

Cheers
Craig
Click to expand...

Craig,

This is great, I've been using Blackmagic 444 instead of the DPX because of not way to conform in FCP.

Now I have to figure out what import setting for the Glue Tools will keep the look the same.
 
Hello,

Is the custom gamma output working? I tried with both 1.8 and 2.2 and don't seem to make any difference on the rendered files.
 
Kaku Ito said:
Hello,

Is the custom gamma output working? I tried with both 1.8 and 2.2 and don't seem to make any difference on the rendered files.
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to be.
Monkey Extract is passing the --gammaCustom flag through to redline okay, however it doesn't seem to be having any effect.

I can't get redline to use the custom gamma on the Terminal either :(

This was all working back in June when I ran my last set of color tests - I'll look into it asap.
 
Thanks Craig. Looking forward to the fix.

Can you tell me which gamma is working at this point?
 
Kaku Ito said:
Thanks Craig. Looking forward to the fix.

Can you tell me which gamma is working at this point?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by "which gamma"?
All of the other color options should be working fine, including all the standard input/output color spaces.
It's just the "custom gamma value:" text box on the "color & gamma" tab that redline is ignoring at the moment.

If you need to customize your look in the interim then I suggest using the iso/exposure options on the "curve & matrix" tab or just creating an RSX in Red Alert and using that.

Hopefully we can sort this out soon.
 
Certain QT is set to watch on gamma 2.2 and some are based on 1.8. If you don't type in anything in the custom gamma, normally is it set to 1.8 or 2.2?
 
Kaku Ito said:
Certain QT is set to watch on gamma 2.2 and some are based on 1.8. If you don't type in anything in the custom gamma, normally is it set to 1.8 or 2.2?
Click to expand...

That is not documented with redline - I'll need to ask the Red guys.
 
Toke Rude Trangbæk said:
Hi

We are about to move an entire feature film from FCP to Color using MonkeyExtract.

Rendering etc. works fine.
Import to Color works fine.
But looking in my render settings tab in Color I am no longer able to export as DPX. It's set to Quicktime - and I'm unable to change it (se attached picture)!

What to do? I need to be able to render out as DPX.

/toke

UPDATE:

We have another issue...

Color it only shows - and renders - the first image of each clip!

If i change monkey extract to TIFF it works ok.

What to do? I need to be able to render out as DPX - into Color - out as DPX
Click to expand...

You'll have to reconnect one by one! - Also make sure to check whether Color has doubled up on the Header setting. I had set mine to Log and when it came in, it was messed up. A quick change to linear gave me the grayed out image from redlog.

How did changing your settings go?
 
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