QT Proxies vs. ProRes

[Paulo Pandolpho]

Hi all,

For the past days I´ve been struggling to get the right way to work with material shot in RED in FCP. I can´t decide which way is the best... importing the proxies directly to FCP or using Log and Transfer to do so.

The issues with using the direct proxies are in therms of playback... I started using the REDCODE compressor in the sequence I´m working in, I can´t do any effect or transition, as simple as it may be, with it asking for a render. Not only that, bu t when I do render, the rendered bit turns to a green wired image.... To other thing we did, was to try to set the sequence to unlimited RT before changing it to the REDCODE compressor (for some reason, once teh material is imported, the timeline menu where I select the Unlimited RT mode disappears!). Doing this, we finally got the clips with no rendering need, but the playback really sucks, specially when there´s any kind of effect applied to it.

As fas as the Log and Transfer option, the problems we faced are: loss of time to convert and the need of extra HD space to accommodate the new media. The problem is that Log and Transfer only makes Apple ProREs 422 (or HQ), which are 2046X1024, which seems pretty big, despite the fact that this codec allows us to work with high quality files, at low data and storage rates.

Does anyone suggest any other work flow other than those two?

Is there a way to use Log and Transfer to compress the files to a smaller size? At one point, someone suggested my Compressor (?) to do this step... Is that even possible?

Thanks for the help...

Paulo

 

[Shawn Booth]

Do you have high precision YUV turned on? What are your system specs: ram, processor, graphics card, software versions... Which proxies are you trying to edit with?

 

[M Most]

Is there a way to use Log and Transfer to compress the files to a smaller size? At one point, someone suggested my Compressor (?) to do this step... Is that even possible?

Why not use Redcine and generate standard def QT files for offline? If you have an 8 core Mac, that can be done faster than real time.

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Yes run the proxies in Compressor, converting to Prores works like charm and you can set up a nice little batch that can chew away while you do something else.

This is of course strictly for online but it will look exactly like the proxies does, only be very stable for your editing.


Fredrik

 

[eskatonia]

Hi all,
The issues with using the direct proxies are in therms of playback... I started using the REDCODE compressor in the sequence I´m working in, I can´t do any effect or transition, as simple as it may be, with it asking for a render.

I'd suggest you do a cuts only edit on the quicktime proxies to trim it down then export an XML and use Crimson to do a reconform in RedCine and convert only the actually used footage in the cut to ProRes. Then roundtrip a new ProRes sequence back to FCP.

You can then apply the effects and transitions on your converted ProRes and get decent real time performance, be careful if you're trying to do a 10 bit online, lots of the built in transitions and effects can't render above 8 bit.

I've just updated my workflow articles and they have some useful diagrams and info that might help.

http://www.coremelt.com/support/workflow/papers.html