First time to edit RED on CS4, anything special I need to know?

[Lisa]

I Managed a short film a while back and the poor director simply can't find an editor who can handle RED footage. So now that I have CS4 I offered to do it for him, but I've never cut RED footage either. Is there anything special I need to know/do? I'm guessing it's a little more complicated than a simple import...


Thanks!

 

[Uli Plank]

My gosh, you are daring Lady! Where do I start?

Did you watch the video and read the PDF?

 

[Adrian Sims]

Here's a bit of a guide -

http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/

Make sure Premiere CS4 is updated to the latest version. There was a suggestion a new R3D-CS4 plug-in/Premiere CS4.1 update was slated for release this month, so you could hold out for that if it doesn't have to be cut in a week. Are you on Windows or Mac? System specifications? (RAM, processors, storage etc.)This will help people chime-in with advice.

 

[Uli Plank]

I found Premiere 9.0.1 pretty unstable with RED footage. After Effects works (kind of), but for editing I'd rather stay with FCP.

 

[Stefan Scherperel]

Premiere 9.0.1 with red footage for me has been the most stable version of premiere that I have ever used. I personally would choose the cs4 workflow over the FCP red workflow any day. Once you understand the way that red footage is handled within Premiere the workflow is seemless and fast. Now when the CS4 upate comes around and you then have meta data control within premiere and after effects it's a whole new ballgame.

 

[Joel J. Feigenbaum]

I posted on Saturday how great Premiere Pro CS4 works with R3D files on my PC platform. Once you follow all the directions on this site associated with the RED ADOBE CS4 INSTALLER (BETA), found in the Support section, it's as simple as importing your dailies and start cutting!

I found with my PC, Q6600 processor, NVidia 9600 Video card, and Vista 64, working at a 1K resolution was as easy and fast as anything I've ever cut on Avid.

Best of luck with your project!

Note: Adobe Provides native REDCODE media (R3D) support for Premiere Pro CS4 (4.0.1 and later) and After Effects CS4 (9.0.1 and later). Includes: REDCODE importer (v1.3.0), After Effects Settings Dialog and workflow guide. Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 18.

 

[Lisa]

Thanks for all the advice!
I can't rattle off the specs of my computer off the top of my head, but I'm in good shape there. I am PC, recently rebuilt my computer with a quad-core processor and a good bit of ram, video card is pretty much the only thing that could use replacing but the one I have is still good enough.

This isn't something that needs to be done right away (after all, he's had the footage since September), so I'm going to be pouring over the support forum and all the info I can get to make sure this doesn't crash my system.

I haven't heard about this R3D-CS4, do you think it's something that I 100% have to have, or can I do without? I don't expect to use After Effects at all, at most this should only need minor color correction.

 

[Mike Harrington]

all you need is the Red plugin...and CS4
the new plugin version should be out in a matter of weeks...be sure to update CS4 as well...new version should also be out before June

fairly straight forward once you watch the workflow videos....
just with a lot more flexability

 

[Adrian Sims]

My last link could have been more specific - the following link is better suited to what CS4 users can adopt 'today', prior to release of Premiere CS4.1 -

http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/2008/12/native_red_camera_files_cs4.html#more

Video walkthrough -

http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1510v1004

A beefy PC will make your life easier than trying to scrape-by on a system that just meets the miniumum specs. Premiere (like all apps) loves memory and processors, so the more RAM and cores you can throw at it the better. An external or internal SATA (just like a Red Drive, only with 3.5" drives) connected raid configured for speed will help serve up the R3Ds nice and fast.

Keep in mind your PC will be trying to run an operating system, background tasks, Premiere CS4 and debayer your 4K R3Ds on-the-fly in full, 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8 resolution all at the same time - quite an ask for any medium-spec machine. Add on filters, effects and a colour grade to your timeline, and you'll be working your system overtime.

It is analogous to when HDV cameras hit the market and the PCs and software of the day struggled to cut the MPEG2 streams (Long-GOP, m2t files) that were being spat out. It took a little while for the computers and software of the day to catch up to the camera technology. That's where we are now with Red, at least in Windows land and sub-$5,000 software anyway - but the workflow's come a heck of a long way in the past 12 months.

My mind boggles thinking of the machines and software one would need to cut the 28K images of the 617 Monstro sensor. Funnily enough, by then 4K R3Ds will seem as easy as DV is on a laptop today.

 

[Joyfool]

My mind boggles thinking of the machines and software one would need to cut the 28K images of the 617 Monstro sensor. Funnily enough, by then 4K R3Ds will seem as easy as DV is on a laptop today.

I imagine that's the driving force of Red Rocket - playback a large "K" file in manageable bitrates a la Redray.