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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 :)

Budgetminded fcpx questions...

Gunleik Groven

Gunleik Groven

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Haven't used fcpx, yet, but consider it for an upcomming project.
Have some questions for the guru's in here.

1. Can it render 4k? Dpx?
2. How good is conform from offline to online (if I choose to edit offline)
3. How good is the conform from fcp7 (if I choose to edit there)? Will speedchanges and reframing come over?
4. Is the lisence moveable? I.e. If i install on one computer, can I move it to another?
5. If I bring in a surround track from say protools, how stable/good is the sync? Workflowtips appreachiated!
6. Does it support Rocket?
7. Do I have a channelmixer in the colortools?

I notice there might be issues related to reading rmd's but that it is doable....

Thanks!

G
 
I've been testing FCPX out, and I'm using it right now on a fast turn around / low money job that requires very little CC & POst...

1. Yes it'll render out 4K

2. Offline / online re-link is really easy - in fact it will prepare lower res offline edit copies for you (if you tick that box) and the re-link on it's own later

3. Haven't gone from FCP7 - X, But there is a separate program that handles this transition

4. license will work on all machines linked to your Apple ID - I have it on 3 machines right now (laptop, tower, and studio iMac)

5. Haven't done this

6. Yes!! supports rocket and gives real time 4K playback, and super fast renders of any RCX changes

7. Haven't yet gone this deep

RMD's haven't been a problem - just 'open' the R3D's in RCX first and save RMD's there and there is no problem later down the line. I would do this anyway to add tweaks before editing. Any / all changes in RCX are immediately reflected in FCPX.
 
honestly....native RED in fcpx is a dream....amazing.....i only wish the red raw plug-in would have the same controls as in redcine-x....there are only a few in fcpx which means you really have to open the clips in redcine-x apply all settings and open the clips again in fcpx....the settings get applied/updated seamlessly in the background, which is great, i just wish i wouldn't have to go into redcine-x at all.....i guess if you have the looks prepared, you can set them in camera and don't have to do the roundtrip....
but really...it is amazing....
 
Hoping to finally getting around to testing this properly with R3Ds and Rocket.

For reference, can you guys list your configs? I'd like to do comparisons of what kind of results people are getting on different kinds of Mac models, storage devices, OS versions, GPUs, etc. To keep the format simple, just list the following:

Computer Model:
RAM:
OS Version:
GPU:
Red Rocket?:
Storage(List drive type, interface, measured speeds,etc):
Workflow (list all relevant info such as proxies vs native, Redcine-X process, etc):
 
Hi Gunleik -

I've been a minority happy FCP X user since launch day. I have been using NLE's since 1996 and have never been happier cutting. I feel that FCP X assists the storytelling process and allows me to focus more on managing an edit and less on managing a "timeline" - this may sound esoteric to some, but I felt the same way when aperture first came out - and generally feel that way even still with Lightroom being a similar option.

Here are some notes -

1. Can it render 4k? Dpx?

I haven't outputted DPX directly - or ingested it. Rendering uses openCL now and is crazy fast. So good that I don't even bother with an offline/online workflow anymore - if things get slow as I edit, I just render that section - saves me a ton of drive space. And renders are "smart" in that if you move clips around you don't lose your render unless you are stacking new things on top.

For "export" you can link to compressor and do whatever you can through that pipeline.

2. How good is conform from offline to online (if I choose to edit offline)

This is pretty good, but is still a "global preference" in FCP X - switching from editing proxies to the original media - I wish it was project based and so I never use it.

3. How good is the conform from fcp7 (if I choose to edit there)? Will speedchanges and reframing come over?

WAY WAY better - you can conform directly in the timeline and/or set the clip back to "full speed" which would drop frames as needed to fit with your project

4. Is the lisence moveable? I.e. If i install on one computer, can I move it to another?

Yes, the basic apple store license is Per user not per machine.

5. If I bring in a surround track from say protools, how stable/good is the sync? Workflowtips appreachiated!

Haven't used this yet - not sure what format would be for a protools/multichannel audio import.

6. Does it support Rocket?

Yes, haven't used it though, don't have a rocket. Configurable in system preferences after installing the Red apple workflow 2.0

7. Do I have a channelmixer in the colortools?

There's lot of 3rd party tools for color - curves, levels, etc. THe default color board can be used to do channel mixer style fx. but no default channel mixer.


To address some info from Steve's post -

Mac pro 3.2 4 core, Mac pro 2.8 8 core, Radeon 5770, 5870, Macbook pro i7 2.1 radeon 6x70 (not sure) - 12gb to 16gb RAM and just basic 3tb drives no raid, etc (Shooting Scarlet here). No rocket. Cutting just fine.
 
Just to add that you can install any app/songs/movies on up to 5 computers.

Even OS purchases.

Just need the original iTunes account to work.
 
A quick tip for moving projects around.

Use the Export XML option.

As long as your destination has the same files sitting locally (or network access), you can import the XML then use relink to get you going.

No need really hang on to the Project folder unless you need the render files but thats another story.
 
Last known tested system with FCPX 10.0.6

Computer Model: retina fully loaded
RAM: 16GB
OS Version: 10.8.2
GPU: retina Nvidia default

Red Rocket: yes in Magma Thunder bolt chassis

Storage: Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro with Sandisk Extreme 480GB SSD in Magma

Workflow:
RCX export to Avid most of the time via AMA.
However tested with FCPX 10.0.6 and so far so good.

Did basic tests on Mac Pro 2.97GHz with no ROCKET, however R3D still fly using an GTECH eS Pro RAID via ATTO SAS.
 
but in order to use standard xml you need to buy few plugins, right? There is no shortcut bet. FCPX to lets say after effects. Unless you buy the plugin called Xto7 and I think is something like $50.

Although if you only have red files, you can export it to red cine and from there to premier and form there to AE. I

I did some test and playback without rocket worked pretty well but I felt that if you start stacking few layers of footage at 5K slows down and starts drooping frames like crazy, at least on my machine. (Quad Code intel Xeon 2.93 with 16gb RAM ATI Radeon 4870) But in Premier it plays really smotth even with lots of layers. I wish Final Cut X had an option like premier that you can use a 1/8 resolution playback.

Also Ive noticed that curves adjustments in Red cine X doesn't translate into FCPX, but that I may be doing something wrong. Because I find that very estrange.
 
Matthew B said:
Hi Gunleik -
if things get slow as I edit, I just render that section - saves me a ton of drive space. And renders are "smart" in that if you move clips around you don't lose your render unless you are stacking new things on top.
Click to expand...

How can you do that? I can't find an option like in 7 to set input and output within a sequence and prerender just that part. For instnace in FC7 I if my proxies where playing slow while making transitions, I could quickly render those and see then in real time, but it seems there is no way to do that in FCPX. For me I gave it a try and found really interesting stuff going on, and eventhoough its a completely different mind set with the magnetic timeline, there are other things that I dont think are there yet. Just for that reason I think I am finally moving into Premier.

Sorry for the highjack.
 
Ivan Cortazar said:
I did some test and playback without rocket worked pretty well but I felt that if you start stacking few layers of footage at 5K slows down and starts drooping frames like crazy, at least on my machine. (Quad Code intel Xeon 2.93 with 16gb RAM ATI Radeon 4870) But in Premier it plays really smotth even with lots of layers. I wish Final Cut X had an option like premier that you can use a 1/8 resolution playback.

Also Ive noticed that curves adjustments in Red cine X doesn't translate into FCPX, but that I may be doing something wrong. Because I find that very estrange.
Click to expand...

stacking layers slows down things considerably....but it is 5K after all....would the rocket help with that as well? i am not sure....
i am on a 3.4 imac 2011, 32gb ram, AMD 6970M 1gb...ssds, pegasus,... i really think the bottleneck on any of these systems (incl retina mbp or the new iMac, although that should be quite a bit better) is the gpu....but i doubt the rocket will help with layers?

afaik i am getting all adjustments from redcinex in fcpx, even if they arent part of the red fcpx plug in.....
 
Ivan Cortazar said:
but in order to use standard xml you need to buy few plugins, right?
Click to expand...

The suggestion was for staying within FCPX.

Basically if you wanted to move a project over to another system but have the same option for clip resource.

I got tired of copying full projects around so I started using the XML as the old FCP legacy doc option.
 
Eric Santiago said:
Last known tested system with FCPX 10.0.6

Computer Model: retina fully loaded
RAM: 16GB
OS Version: 10.8.2
GPU: retina Nvidia default

Red Rocket: yes in Magma Thunder bolt chassis

Storage: Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro with Sandisk Extreme 480GB SSD in Magma

Workflow:
RCX export to Avid most of the time via AMA.
However tested with FCPX 10.0.6 and so far so good.

Did basic tests on Mac Pro 2.97GHz with no ROCKET, however R3D still fly using an GTECH eS Pro RAID via ATTO SAS.
Click to expand...

does the rocket help with preview of layered clips and effects? this is where things go downhill fast for me....
 
Hi Ivan -

You can render a clip by selecting it and hitting CTRL-R - rendering is in the modify menu - It doesn't appear you can do custom ranges and or set in/out points and render just that - you can however select multiple clips and render. You can also render the entire sequence.

This will render to the codec you have selected in the project settings - Command J to note.

As for playback lag - make sure your preferences are set to "better performance" instead of "maximum quality" on playback.

I have not run into major "slowdown while stacking" issues and I believe it is because it seems FCPX doesn't try and stream media that isn't visible or audible - I could be wrong here as I only tested with 4 stacked clips.
 
Hi Paul - Just want to confirm you have playback preferences set to "better performance" and have all the automatic analysis/background transcoding turned off.
 
Matthew B said:
Hi Paul - Just want to confirm you have playback preferences set to "better performance" and have all the automatic analysis/background transcoding turned off.
Click to expand...

i believe i do....will make sure....
regardless: does the rocket help with layering clips and effects? or only with actual output times (which i don't care about)....
 
I don't have a rocket to confirm - But to my understanding of the pipeline - It definitely should - Debayering would get moved from the CPU to the rocket. But not sure how many streams will benefit from a single rocket... I don't know enough about the RED api there. If you have playback set to better performance it would be 1/4 debayer.

I'm curious what Rocket users can say about multi-stream benefits of a single rocket card.
 
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