Color down res

[Jed Shepherd]

Im about to start grading in apple color and was wondering if its best to down res the 4k to 1080p within color or send the 4k to fcp and make a 1080p sequence there?
I will be doing some simple keyframed zooms as well which i could do in either app but i recently spoke to a color grader who said to do everything within color. Is this the right thing to do?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Do everything you can in Color. It processes with better color depth than FCP 6 or 7. The same as FCP X, which I don't recommend for real work today.

That said ... you should definitely consider using RCX or RCX Pro, or better yet DaVinci Resolve. You can get Resolve Lite for free and it does a fantastic job. I am frankly ecstatic with Resolve. Its so much faster than Color for almost any operation.

Also, if you are just starting out, its better to learn a system with a future- Color is EOL.

Hope that helps!

 

[Jed Shepherd]

Thanks for the reply. Im stuck with using color this time round unfortunately but I would like to learn resolve. As for color vs redcine, I have a few shots that are going to require power windows etc so redcine x from memory wont help with that at the moment.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Why are you stuck using Color?

Just to repeat ... Resolve Lite is free.

If nothing else I'd use it for primaries and output to whatever format you decide to use in Color. Sort of like a "Super RedCine X."

I guess I'm a bit confused about your workflow too, it seems like you are trying to do grading before editorial. Seems like a bad idea.

In any case, I'd use Resolve as the linchpin. It has moderately powerful conform tools, offers up to eight power windows with its two nodes.

Resolve in for initial "base grade" in native .r3d resolution.

Then you can output whatever you need for proxies in FCP or wherever you are going to edit. (Although, if your project is simple enough you can edit it in Resolve - not recommended but possible.)

When you are done editing in your NLE, you can get back to Resolve for conform. Then if you have some key scenes you can't grade in Resolve Lite ... you can grade them in Color and just replace footage.

I used basically this workflow on a transitional project I graded. Premiere was the NLE.

 

[Jed Shepherd]

Hey. Editing is complete.. We have finished a cut in FCP and are about to start grading. I have very limited time available to me to grade as its not my own personal computer im using. Also im fairly familiar with Color, it was just a question of doing the 4k to 1080p down rez in color or in FCP. I have to start grading tomorrow so learning Resolve and a workflow to go from FCP to it might take me to long and use up time that I could just be grading it Color.

Thanks for your help though. Im going to download resolve lite and learn it in my own time for the moment.