Grading Neo3D Muxed Shots

[J. A. Duran]

Hi,

I'm finishing the editing of a stereoscopic project using Neo3D and premiere cs 5.5. So far so good. Im checking the 3d quality (geometric adjustments, convergence) using a kona with dual stream HD. But now it's time to color grade it.

I've adjusted color differences and convergence using First Light, so left eye and right eye are pretty even to start with. Of course, these cineform files are muxed movs containing both eyes, which originated from red one files (beam splitter rigged red ones).

I can grade using native CC tools from premiere, or use 3rd party ones like colorista II or magic bullet, but these will only allow me to grade both eyes at the same time. First light will let me correct each eye individually but it's very limited (no secondary CC, no masks). Would work but not the ideal solution.

I would like to know about the workflow involving grading cineform neo3d shots. Once the editing is done...then what? Can i grade muxed clips? Should i use left and right eye separately and then remux? Should i use cineform left and right eye toggles to grade each eye separately? There's virtually no info about that.


Some thoughts:

• I would like to be able to read convergence adjustments from first light database
• I would like to be able to use my cineform encoded files without having to transcode (they are 4:2:2 10 bit)
• I would like to be able to correct each eye separately, including masks
• I would be interested in 3rd party plugins for premiere or AE, but also experience from Scratch, Davinci resolve or Storm users
• I would like to avoid conforming, deadline is close.
• Grading using metadata could be a possibility.

Thanks!

 

[Dave Blackham]

Resolve should do this for you.

 

[J. A. Duran]

Ok, let's assume I go the resolve route. What about the workflow?

Workflow A:

0. Adjust convergence in first light. This will give us medatada adjustments
1. Edit in premiere.
2. Export XML 4 from premiere (this can't be read by resolve)
3. Open XML 4 in FCP and export it as XML 5 (the one that resolve can read)
4. Change in Cineform menu, to show only right eye
5. Open XML generated from FCP in resolve.
6. Grade in Resolve. I'm assuming it will read convergence adjustments created by first light and stored in the database.
7. Use FCP roundtrip to render each clip with handles, preferably in cineform HD codec. This will give us a FCP timeline for RIGHT eye
8. Repeat the process for left eye and render with FCP roundtrip. This will give us a FCP timeline for LEFT eye.
9. Export each eye separately as tiff to create DCPs


Workflow B:

1. Adjust convergence in First light
2. Edit in premiere.
3. Export XML 4 from premiere (this can't be read by resolve)
4. Open XML 4 in FCP and export it as XML 5 (the one that resolve can read)
5. Import XML in resolve and then switch from left eye to right eye inside RESOLVE, grading as necessary (if this is possible at all)
6. Once the grading is finished, use FCP roundtrip to render the clips with handles, but this time, using CINEFORM 3D intermediate, which will give us stereo graded clips.
7. Import the resulting XML into premiere and use cineform menu to select different viewing modes, Side by side, anaglyph, etc.
8. Export left and right eyes separately as tiffs for DCP creation.


What would be the correct workflow?