FCP to APPLE COLOR CONFORM - STEP BY STEP

[David Battistella]

Luis,

I can share with you my person reasons for using a transcoded file and the workflow I use.

My first step after Data backup is to onelight and transcode to DVCPRO HD 720P codec, I choose this codec because:
-it is less RAM intensive than prores,
-it looks good, it is a progressive 24P codec
-it is lightweight enough to use on a tower or laptop
-It transcodes quickly through compressor to any type of screener media I have to create

The other reason I transcode is that I know that the codec is playing back every frame. In FCP I always work in full resolution instead of dynamic resolutions or frame rates.

I like the idea that the transcoded media is a FAIL-SAFE. That is if anything happens to any R3D's there is some version of the footage that exists (even though I am anal about backups)

I find the Clipfinder offline FCP, ONLINE APPLE COLOR workflow works best for me, because it is very fast and renders a beautful image directly from 4K.

David

 

[David Battistella]

Hans has added the ability for a new version of Clipfinder to populate the Red tab in Color from your RSX file. I think this is an awesome new feature.


Dusty

Where is this?

David

 

[Dustin Cross]

Luis,

When you start working on a project longer than 10 minutes or with multiple layers, FCP has random crashes and hang-ups with Red proxy files. FCP does not like them.

FCP really likes working with Prores files so it is much more stabil to render out Prores offline files and conform back to the R3D files later. Using tools like Clipfinder it is also very easy.

It would be great if FCP worked well with the Proxies or even better the R3D files, but it doesn't.


Dusty

 

[Dustin Cross]

Where is this?

David

E-mail Hans. I think he has only sent it to me so far to test and I have been too busy to do any real testing. What I have tested was great. It takes a Color project and populates the Red tab from the RSX files. Works like the Loop fixer.

Not all the settings you can change in Clipfinder are in Color so not everything transfers, but if you only use the controls that are in Color it works great. Hopefully Color gets all the controls soon.

Contrast is slightly more in Color than Clipfinder Loupe, but Hans has compensated for that (-.3). I don't think it needs the contrast change so much when I compare Clipfinder Loupe to HD Studio monitor from Color.

Other than Contrast the image from Clipfinder and Color look the same, like they should


Dusty

 

[Jesper Kodahl]

Another Issue is Multicam editing. FCP has never been super stable when doing Multicam editing. Try adding more than one REDCODE stream to a multicam clip, I dare you ;O)
The machine grinds to a complete halt, if it doesn't crash on you first. I recently supervised a four-camera sitcom shot on RED. We had to transcode to ProRes (proxy) to edit as a multicam project and still FCP crashed occasionally!

It seems that in the old days (re: yesterday) REDCODE was much faster to decode, but then RED changed some things in the codec, like encrypted it or something. Could anyone shed some light on this? Is this just an urban legend?

 

[Luis Otero]

Luis,

When you start working on a project longer than 10 minutes or with multiple layers, FCP has random crashes and hang-ups with Red proxy files. FCP does not like them.


Dusty

Dusty,

Do you create any sequence longer than 10 minutes? For me that is a no-no. Actually, FCP and other Red suggested workflow documentation suggest not to go over 10 minutes.

I always divide, either a short or a feature, in 10 minutes chunks, so I never experience the level of instability it is being alluded here by others.

I understand David's concerns, but I always have a working copy, and two additional back-ups, so I feel safe on that aspect.

In general, how much time are you spending on transcoding, and later conforming? Let's say, for every 30 minutes of footage, that by the way you do not know which one will be usable for the final cut. For a feature, that is a lot!

Please advise,

 

[Gunleik Groven]

E-mail Hans. I think he has only sent it to me so far to test and I have been too busy to do any real testing. What I have tested was great. It takes a Color project and populates the Red tab from the RSX files. Works like the Loop fixer.

(...)

Dusty

Hans is a smart guy...

One can then quickly run through the files in CF, load the Color-project and start grading.

Love the idea!

 

[Dustin Cross]

Yes, Hans does some pretty cool stuff.

Luis, pretty much every FCP project I deal with is more than 10 minutes long or has tons of layers. Both are things that don't work well with FCP and Proxies. Things get broken down into 20 minutes reels for Color, but then it has to all be put back together.


Dusty

 

[Curran Giddens]

Another reason to transcode for offline/online and Clipfinder. You can easily edit on an old mac. The feature I'm working on now was edited on someone's old PPC G4 Powerbook. I kept a backup of all the R3D's. He just emailed me an XML file.