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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Newbie on Red, basic apple workflow question

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tmerc

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Disclaimer: First thread ever, first Red camera undertaking. Apologies in advance.

Editing a 90 second spot for air shot on Red. Here's my proposed workflow, looking for any feedback to the plausibility of this setup.

Equipment: Intel MacPro Quad-Core, 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB Ram

1. Edit using proxy quicktime files in FCP 6.0.4
2. Export final cut to XML for Crimson for conform
3. Crimson to RedCine for 1 light CC
4. RedCine to 2K DPX image sequence
5. 2K DPX sequence to Discreet Flame for final color correct and finishing.

Any thoughts or potential problems?

Also, if I compress the quicktime proxies to ProRes (for the offline), will that effect Crimson's ability to match back to the original R3d files?

Thanks
 
Workflow plan looks good to me. You sure this is your first thread ever? :)

I believe Crimson does everything by filename substitution so I don't think it should matter. My understanding is that Crimson simply translates the XML EDL generated by FCP into the format RedCine can understand and mostly what it does (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) is to swap the proxy filenames with the corresponding R3D filenames.

-shooter
 
I thought I read somewhere that Crimson used metadata, not filename, but I'm not sure. I have edited with 720p ProRes files that I created in REDRushes as well as REDCine. Both match R3D files using Crimson without a problem.
 
Other things you might like to consider:
- make sure your Pro Res filenames contain the original R3D filename in them, makes it easier to track back.
- if you plan on doing any kind of color correcting in Flame, be careful about overly cc'ing in RedCine, as you might "paint yourself in a corner". Just make sure you give your images plenty of latitude to play with. Check your histogram.
- One big issue is using ProRes as on offline format. Autodesk doesn't support Pro Res natively. If you want to bring in a confidence check into Flame, you'll have to export your sequence in a format Flame supports, like DVCPRO HD or one of the Uncompressed formats (Apple, AJA or BMD).
- Also, there's no easy way to bring the audio edit in, you'll have to bring in a stereo mixdown.

On a lighter note, in Extension 1 of Systems products (just announced at IBC and shipping very soon), we added a feature in XML relink options that uses "fuzzy logic" when reading the tape name from your DPX sequences to help relink them to your FCP XML. In a nutshell, the tape name in the header of DPX files created in RedCine differs from the tape name in the QuickTime files or proxies.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask further questions.
 
Thanks everyone for the quick replies, it sounds like this should be a reasonable workflow. Thanks for the Flame tips Marc, I will keep the color information in mind when I export the DPX.

One more quick question. Should I be making my ProRes clips for the offline through RedCine or Compressor? I have seen on some other threads that Compressor is faster than RedCine to make the ProsRes proxies and time is more important to me than quality for the offline. Does anyone have any detailed Compressor settings for this or advice?
 
The only problem I see is you'll have no video monitoring via FCP when using the Proxy files unless you have the Kona 3. The proxies are these very oddball sizes that my Blackmagic card doesn't know how to spit out to a monitor... Try explaining that to your client... very annoying...
 
I would suggest using RedRushes : fast, easy, painless transfers of your R3D files to ProRes files.
Compressor has issues, it's not optimized to debayer RED files.
 
In the workflow discussed in this thread, at what point would VFX be implemented? Ideally, I'd imagine after the final color correction but before the final finishing. The only problem for me, I have a freelance VFX artist working from Canada, and will be getting my footage professionally color corrected at a post house in NYC.

Should I export the scenes that need VFX through Crimson/RedCine with a basic color correction and export as uncompressed MOV for him to work off, then stitch those scenes to the other non-effects scenes during final color correction later?
 
tmerc said:
Disclaimer: First thread ever, first Red camera undertaking. Apologies in advance.

Editing a 90 second spot for air shot on Red. Here's my proposed workflow, looking for any feedback to the plausibility of this setup.

Equipment: Intel MacPro Quad-Core, 3.0 Ghz, 4 GB Ram

1. Edit using proxy quicktime files in FCP 6.0.4
2. Export final cut to XML for Crimson for conform
3. Crimson to RedCine for 1 light CC
4. RedCine to 2K DPX image sequence
5. 2K DPX sequence to Discreet Flame for final color correct and finishing.

Any thoughts or potential problems?

Also, if I compress the quicktime proxies to ProRes (for the offline), will that effect Crimson's ability to match back to the original R3d files?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Your workflow is similar to yours except I am working with Cineon files (can't handle DPX).

Questions for you:
1 - For your 2D FX, do you use AE or FCP? What's better from a quality perspective (assuming FCP can manage most basic 2D FX - I am new at FCP as I am normally an Adobe Premiere user)?
2 - How would you handle 3DFX to be done in Maya or 3dMax?

Thanks!

Isbelle
 
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