Remote grading with Resolve

[jake blackstone]

Just saw the new version 7 manual for Resolve. In it they explain the remote grading capabilities of Resolve. To be clear, it is not a new capability. To my knowledge, this was included in the Resolve for last couple of years, but DaVinci marketing didn't know what to do with it, until now. With new inexpensive kit (relatively speaking), now it is practical to do real time, full resolution, client supervised, remote grading sessions. Three weeks ago I had tested it with two Macs in the office of BM and it was like buttah
Now, all we need is the ability to trim R3D files and a colorist can be anywhere in the world. Good times

 

[mikeburton]

Jake, can u explain how this functions in more detail please?
Thanks!

 

[jake blackstone]

Jake, can u explain how this functions in more detail please?
Thanks!

Sure. Two Resolves, Mac or Linux with same timeline, running in parallel. The one, that's used by the colorist is a master, the second one is the slave. The user of the slave system needs to enter the IP address of the master. Once the internet connection is established, the real time full resolution grading session can be performed with two Resolve systems between any two locations, anywhere in the world. In other words, timeline needs to be prepared (EDL, AAF) or the whole conformed Resolve project can be sent over and then the session can be handed off to a colorist of your choice. Once the session is finished, the slave system can perform the final render on it's own. The trick is, you must have the same material on both systems. And that is why, right now, the one missing piece of the puzzle is inability to trim R3D files. Right now, you'd still need to send over the drive with all of the R3D files...

 

[mikeburton]

Cool, it would be great to have just a client window (so to speak) where the client could see just the output with overlays so they could see the power windows, keys etc without having to have Resolve installed or at least having a light version of Resolve where they wouldn't need to have the media. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Erich Ocean]

Sure. Two Resolves, Mac or Linux with same timeline, running in parallel. The one, that's used by the colorist is a master, the second one is the slave. The user of the slave system needs to enter the IP address of the master. Once the internet connection is established, the real time full resolution grading session can be performed with two Resolve systems between any two locations, anywhere in the world. In other words, timeline needs to be prepared (EDL, AAF) or the whole conformed Resolve project can be sent over and then the session can be handed off to a colorist of your choice. Once the session is finished, the slave system can perform the final render on it's own. The trick is, you must have the same material on both systems. And that is why, right now, the one missing piece of the puzzle is inability to trim R3D files. Right now, you'd still need to send over the drive with all of the R3D files...

This sounds surprisingly useful, and should result in potentially more paid work for people running Resolve. Very cool.

 

[Gunleik Groven]

Sound like a super-cool feature. (mind goes gaga... -

 

[jake blackstone]

Cool, it would be great to have just a client window (so to speak) where the client could see just the output with overlays so they could see the power windows, keys etc without having to have Resolve installed or at least having a light version of Resolve where they wouldn't need to have the media. Thanks for sharing!

You can share any window on your computer with your remote client by using something like Skype today. As a matter of fact, up to now, that is how I had been doing it with my remote clients. Using Resolve remote grading is a different animal. It's full resolution, interactive, real time grading. Client sees exactly the same image, as he'd be sitting next to the colorist in a grading suite. You can run Skype on same computer, so client could even direct you...

 

[Erich Ocean]

You can share any window on your computer with your remote client by using something like Skype today. As a matter of fact, up to now, that is how I had been doing it with my remote clients. Using Resolve remote grading is a different animal. It's full resolution, interactive, real time grading. Client sees exactly the same image, as he'd be sitting next to the colorist in a grading suite. You can run Skype on same computer, so client could even direct you...

Jake, can the client be viewing at a lower resolution? That way the colorist could be running the Linux box that can actually handle the 4K footage, while the client just sees 2K on their Mac Pro.

 

[jake blackstone]

Jake, can the client be viewing at a lower resolution? That way the colorist could be running the Linux box that can actually handle the 4K footage, while the client just sees 2K on their Mac Pro.

Unfortunately, at this tine, it's a no. They both have to have the same material at the same resolution. I would imagine, it shouldn't be very difficult for BM to allow for the slave system to use lower debayer quality or proxies. May be in next version?

 

[Andrew Wilding]

Resolve has me soo tempted. Ive got one concern though - The resolve requires two video cards to run, and insists that they be in the first and second pci slot. This would force the Red rocket into the third slot, but my understanding is that the red rocket performs best in the first two slots. What does one do?

 

[jake blackstone]

Resolve has me soo tempted. Ive got one concern though - The resolve requires two video cards to run, and insists that they be in the first and second pci slot. This would force the Red rocket into the third slot, but my understanding is that the red rocket performs best in the first two slots. What does one do?

In 2009 and newer Macs, you can install any card in any slot, with the exception of slot one, which is physically double width to accommodate double width of GPU card. Otherwise, they all same speed.

 

[Erich Ocean]

In 2009 and newer Macs, you can install any card in any slot, with the exception of slot one, which is physically double width to accommodate double width of GPU card. Otherwise, they all same speed.

Really? I though it was 2 x16 and 2 x4, with x16 mechanical support on all of them. From Apple's website today:

Graphics and displays
Double-wide, 16-lane PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot...

PCI Express expansion
Three open full-length PCI Express expansion slots5
One PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
Two PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots
All slots provide mechanical support for 16-lane cards
300W combined maximum for all PCI Express slots

http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

 

[jake blackstone]

Really? I though it was 2 x16 and 2 x4, with x16 mechanical support on all of them. From Apple's website today:



http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

Unless I'm mistaken, we're both correct. You have total of 40 lanes of bandwidth, so that is why you can have 2x16 and 2x4 and not 4x16. But if you really wanted, you could cram 4x16, but you still would be limited to 40 lanes total. But all slots are the same, except slot 1, but only physically.

 

[Andrew Wilding]

Thanks for clearing that up, guys...:thumbup1:

 

[Jason H]

so to do this your client needs a macpro with a FX4800 (or similar card) ,a color calibrated monitor just like the one you are using in your own color grading suite to grade on (Or one profiled to look like the one you grade on), and a raid? So they pretty much have a grading facility on their hands...without a control surface......hmmmm Is that correct? So do you ship this before the grade session? Just asking. not being a smart ass...

 

[Tom.Wong]

well think of it more in a post house perspective. Your favorite colorist is in LA, but director/dp are in NYC, still work on something else. The finishing house has two offices, one in LA and NYC. They stop by the NYC office, and can remotely sit in on their grading session without the 5 hour flight back and forth. It makes a lot more sense for high end environments. This even allows the colorist to work from home if he has the same setup as in the office.

 

[jake blackstone]

so to do this your client needs a macpro with a FX4800 (or similar card) ,a color calibrated monitor just like the one you are using in your own color grading suite to grade on (Or one profiled to look like the one you grade on), and a raid? So they pretty much have a grading facility on their hands...without a control surface......hmmmm Is that correct? So do you ship this before the grade session? Just asking. not being a smart ass...

Yes, pretty much.
Except, for something like ad agencies, that do tons of advertising work or a DP at his home or on location, that can spare couple of hours to give his input. They may find this quite useful, despite $10k price tag. Or think of someone, that already have a system. Then they are free to hire high end colorist for just a few hours or days, without flying him or her all over the world...

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Look forward in setting this up with you Kaje, I believe that this can truly be a fantastic and extremely usefully time saving concept.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

well think of it more in a post house perspective. Your favorite colorist is in LA, but director/dp are in NYC, still work on something else. The finishing house has two offices, one in LA and NYC. They stop by the NYC office, and can remotely sit in on their grading session without the 5 hour flight back and forth. It makes a lot more sense for high end environments. This even allows the colorist to work from home if he has the same setup as in the office.

Yep. A lot of producers and art directors fly to LA or New York to sit around in flame sessions conforming and grading TV spots. With this you could have your favorite post house in LA doing the work while sitting in a finishing suite in San Francisco.

$15k Resolve Suite in the agency or 4x $500 flights + 4x $200 hotels + 4x $100 Per Diems.... One Job could just about install a finishing room if the creatives have to sit around in LA for a week.