looking for a simple workflow

[dori_bashan]

Hi

going to shot 4k 24p and edit offline and online on FCP/Color.

Is this the right workflow??

1. edit offline using proxies. (Which one should i work with in order to work with a standard Firewire 400 disk??? can firewire handle the _H files?)

2. when finish offline, making XML from FCP

3. Import the XML into crimson and generate a new XML into Redcine.

4. Convert R3D files in Redcine into QT Prores HQ or into DPX'S.

5. Import QT Prores/DPX'S into color for grading and finishing using the XML??

let me know if i'm doing right here, i'm not sure at all that sections 4 and 5 are correct...

Thanks

Dori Bashan

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

That's pretty much it, but you may have to spend more time tweaking your edit in FCP with the replaced footage before actually going into color. You can't do many types of FX / transitions with the proxies in the initial edit. For step 5, the best route is to replace your proxy footage in FCP with your ProRes or DPX sequences you just output in case you need to tweak the edit. Then send to Color and finish.

If you will be doing the final edit and finish from ProRes files, it almost makes more sense just to review and convert to ProRes HQ right out of REDCINE before doing any editing and then pull into FCS and run with it. But that could depend on how much footage you have related to your edit and whether or not you can determine most of what does / doesn't need to be rendered out. If you have a couple systems at your disposal, setting up a batch conversion with RED Alert / REDLINE can be handy.

If you don't want to use ProRes and want to go for a higher quality 2K finish, then take a look at GlueTools. You can output to DPX or Cineon and wrap the sequences with a Quicktime file. If you have a fast enough RAID, these will play real-time in Color.

There are also the AJA QT tools for wrapping image sequences and they're free. Performance is good and much of the capability is there if you don't want to initially spend the $400 on GlueTools.

The best way to see how it all works is to do a simple project and work your way through it. Oh and be sure to expect the occasional glitch or bug along the way... None of this is perfect just yet and this is all a temporary workflow approach I think.

 

[dori_bashan]

Thank you so much.

just another tiny thing:

can i run those _H proxies from a standard firewire 400 disk?

or should i use the _M files?

Dori

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Actually, it doesn't really make a difference which proxies you run from the disk because they're just pointers to the R3D file. The codec has to load each frame from the R3D and then do the necessary wavelet decompression and debayer to get the desired image. _M proxies are less resource-intensive than _H files, but still require the same data loaded from the disk.

Is Firewire 400 fast enough? Maybe, but it depends on the disk itself, the quality of interface, the data rate needed for your footage, etc.. If you can use FW800 or SATA then the interface speed won't be your bottleneck. I would definitely not recommend any serious editing or file conversion if you're reading or writing to/from FW400... You will just be creating a bottle neck for yourself at the storage level.

On a transcode of 4K 2:1 to 2K DPX files, my 2-drive CalDigit eSATA RAID-0 is a bottleneck for my Mac Pro, but that system's internal RAID-0 or a larger external 8-drive RAID are not.

Anyway, I'm kinda over-analyzing this and stabbing in the dark. I don't know what your system specs are. But will say that if you have a choice between Firewire 400, 800 or eSATA, I would go for the fastest interface everytime, just to eliminate a possible obstruction.

 

[timecodemultimedia]

The faster the drives the better the read/response.

But still, no matter how fast your storage drives are, because of the real-time conversion of the R3D to smaller proxy files (even on a 2008 Octo MacPro) you will experience a playback lag or drop frames through the playback process. Obviously a lot less than on a slow drive.

Nothing to worry about, a just a bit of time to get "used" to.

 

[Robert Monaghan]

If you don't want to use ProRes and want to go for a higher quality 2K finish, then take a look at GlueTools. You can output to DPX or Cineon and wrap the sequences with a Quicktime file.

Just a quick point of distinction.. Glue Tools CineonDPX package doesn't "wrap" the Cineon and DPX files into a QuickTime movie. You are interacting with the Cineon or DPX files directly. (ie: no processing time to make a wrapper, as with AJA and other tools.)

bob
www.gluetools.com