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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 :)

Bad Workflow. Can someone show me the light?

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Francis

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Hello everybody.

I've been working on R3D1 Build 20's for a couple of months now but still can't achieve something I'd be proud of (my fault not the red). I read posts everyday to try and learn more, and the many workflows have definitely overwhelmed me.

What I do is:
1) Shoot something say in 24fps @4k HD and save onto my RED Drive.
2) Tweek some aperture, light settings (I'm not sure what the official term for this process is) in Red-Cine-X.
3) I then move to export as a Quicktime Pro-Res 422 HQ Full Res.
4) Import the file into FCP to do edits.
5) When I export from FCP (this is where I'm unsure), I used to export a .mov file out and then ran that into Color and Compressor.

What I've learned from reading is that the Quicktime file that went from Cine-X to FCP is a proxy? and that I shouldn't be using it as a final output.

I've also read about Rendering from Cine-X as a series of DPX files. Once I render it and edit it in FCP, what do I do from there?

Is an XML file just a road map for other affiliated software to follow things I've done in FCP? What program will I be using to format the finalized project, and what format will it be?

I'm trying to create short films that I hope to bring to all mediums (dvd, blu-ray, web). I figure that each medium is only a matter of compression so I'm aiming to go with the highest quality format.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just supremely confused.
 
No, a file transcoded to ProRes is not a proxy, it's self-contained. You can use it for DVD, Blu-Ray or the web.

DPX is overkill in your case, only needed for cinema and eating immense amounts of disk space.

Yes, an XML is a means of communication between different software, think of it as the modern successor to EDL. Get the donationware called "Clipfinder" and make yourself familiar with it's workflow, it's very helpful.

You can use ProRes (transcoded by Clipfinder, it's much faster than RC) for onlining or do an offline/online process if your shooting ratios are very high.
 
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Thanks for clearing that up for me Uli. I've been freaking out because I've been thrown into a studio by myself and expected to be able to film broadcasting material in a couple of months (which I think is ludicrous because of how newb I am).

Again thanks and if you don't me asking, what is your workflow?
 
Normally I do a fast transcode by Clipfinder to ProRes LT in 1280 x 720 with 1/4 debayering (near realtime on our MacPro Xeon) an edit with that. I add some first-light corrections if needed.

Then I re-conform the XML from Clipfinder to either ProRes HQ with first-light in online quality and work from that or move QT proxies into Color to grade from the original.

If shooting ratio is low, I just go online right away.

You may want to get the book by Noah Kadner to get into the whole subject.
 
try this

try this

I'm doing a tv show too, and fcp just put me into full frustration. If you are not totally hooked on fcp, then give premiere pro (or vegas) a shot - you just open and edit directly with your r3d files, no transcoding, just like it should be. The fcp workflow is just not what it should be - I quit using fcp.
 
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I'm open to trying many different workflows to achieve what I'm doing. Might as well since I've already been fully infected by the RED virus :). I ordered Noah's book last week and am anxiously waiting its arrival (very excited, I am).

My frustration is the inability to get great looking clips out of my final outputs, but that problem could be in the filming process or post so I'm trying to knock out everything until it looks right.

Thank you for offering your two cents everyone
 
Tell us what's wrong with your clips, maybe we can help.
 
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I have a lot of artifacts left over during motion of objects on screen. I also get a cut-off problem when exporting in any resolution 640x480 1280x720 1920x1080. Once I get into the studio today, I'll post up a screen-grab of what I mean.
 
Guys, you would really be my heros if you'd put a video tutorial about that online somewhere :)
 
Like a summary of the different steps between copying the data from the CF-Card (or RED DRIVE) to the final output file.
I'm not working with RED yet but would like to get a feel for the workflow and from just reading the threads it stays pretty abstract.
 
Francis said:
I have a lot of artifacts left over during motion of objects on screen. I also get a cut-off problem when exporting in any resolution 640x480 1280x720 1920x1080. Once I get into the studio today, I'll post up a screen-grab of what I mean.
Click to expand...
Try Video Purifier
with a bit of threshold, it has a very good HD to SD scale capability.
 
Luca, I am really trying to produce a good image without using third party plug-ins or software. I finally received Noah's book and read it today and I also started a thread in the cinematography section. It is to my understanding that the failure is on the production side rather than on the post side. Thanks for your inputs for helping me understand!
 
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