rocket fuel dailies in fcp

[Cüneyt Kaya]

ok dudes, what are your dailies with rocket fuel if you want to edit in fcp?

whats reliable and doesnt look like shiat, pro res is obviously not the choice...

asfaik rocket fuel is pc only, right?

 

[Frank Cueto]

Yes, PC only. To us that is thE detail that made us skip it, since all our clients offline on MAC's.

Shame...

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

but there is sure a workflow, or not?

type of
pc fuel dailies with synced bwf`s exported to an external drive..and moving this drive to the mac.

or cant they share a storage?

lucas?

 

[John Tissavary]

Unfortunately you can't create any files that will work with FCP.
Assimilate doesn't believe that there is a big enough market on the MAC side...

Uh... what?

I use Scratch every day, and a large % of my clients ask for files that will work in FCP, and I deliver this to them on a regular basis. There are as many choices for export as there are quicktime codecs loaded on the given system.

The workflow I use is AJA 10-bit RGB Quicktime out from Scratch, either rendered onto a firewire or eSata drive and moved to the mac (can use either Macdrive on PC to format HFS, or NTFS-3G on Mac side to read-write that format), or rendered directly to the Mac drive via network - ethernet or fibre, whichever you happen to have.

If I need to supply Prores, then I do batch conversions from the AJA 10-bit RGB QTs in compressor, After Effects, or even QTPro. There's also an option to 'crash record' prores in real-time from Scratch out through a Kona card into FCP, but the problem there is you lose the metadata (tc & clip names).

For 'viewing-only' dailies I've used .h264 directly out of Rocketfuel/Scratch - images are excellent quality for viewing, and will hold up through a generation of re-compression in FCP no problem. Definitely not for finishing, tho - but then this thread is about dailies.

BTW, the reason Rocketfuel/Scratch doesn't have a Prores exporter is entirely an Apple issue, nothing to do with Assimilate. Apple will not release a Prores encoder on the PC side for their own reasons. If/when they do, then Scratch will support it.

The reason Rocketfuel/Scratch isn't ported on the Mac is because there is no SDI output from Nvidia cards available on the Mac - again an Apple decision, nothing to do with Assimilate.

 

[Lucas Wilson]

Unfortunately you can't create any files that will work with FCP.
Assimilate doesn't believe that there is a big enough market on the MAC side...

Not true.

You can't render ProRes out of SCRATCH, because there is no Windows encoder. But you can render a ton of different flavors of Quicktime out of SCRATCH - all of which work in FCP.

And I don't know where you are getting the "big enough market" comment. That's just crazy-talk.

Lucas

Lucas Wilson
-------------
Director, Business Development
-------------
ASSIMILATE, inc.
LA, CA, USA

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

ok got it, but rocket fuels main advantage over a RED Rocket™™™™™ only in a macpro is the onlinin ability, right?

-so can the software included in rocketfuel load DPX, TIIF and UC QT files (lets say VFX plates, fades etc., titleplates etc.)

-is it working with an XML or EDL (limited to one videotrack or not?)

- can it load LUTs?

if not, what are you guys doing, if you want to online mixed timelines (r3d + DPX, Tiff or UC QT?, no other formats like arriraw inlcuded of course, for example a red+greenscreen workflow)

and delivery should be DPX sequences...for CC in another app.

 

[John Tissavary]

ok got it, but rocket fuels main advantage over a RED Rocket only in a macpro is the onlinin ability, right?

-so can the software included in rocketfuel load DPX, TIIF and UC QT files (lets say VFX plates, fades etc., titleplates etc.)

-is it working with an XML or EDL (limited to one videotrack or not?)

- can it load LUTs?

if not, what are you guys doing, if you want to online mixed timelines (r3d + DPX, Tiff or UC QT?, no other formats like arriraw inlcuded of course, for example a red+greenscreen workflow)

and delivery should be DPX sequences...for CC in another app.

CMX 3600 EDL, one track only. FCP XML not at this time. LUTs, pretty sure it can read them, know it can write them (xml, .lut, 3dl). Only read file formats are .r3d and QT. Can write all the goodies - DPX, TIF, EXR, QT, JPG.

Fades, dips to & from color, etc... are handles by conform tools. For conforming in Rocketfuel with a mixed timeline I suggest Aja 10-bit RGB quicktime codec (or it's log variant, if log images are on the menu). Rocketfuel is not intended as a finishing tool, more as a virtual telecine for RED Rocket, with conforming abilities, and integration with Scratch Finish.

There are a lot of benefits (advantages?) of Rocketfuel: serious maturity of software, speed, stability, full float processing from choice of realtime 4k debayering in 10 or 16 bit flavors both of which feed a full-float calculation environment, conform via EDL, editing tools, integration with Scratch Finish, realtime 4:4:4 playout to tape, SDI output, support for a number of control surfaces, killer deal considering the hardware you get (RED Rocket, Nvidia Quadro FX 3800 with SDI), the list goes on and on.

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

ok, just to clarify the QT loading,
can you load a QT as reference to check if the conforming went well AND can it load QTs to the timeline along with R3ds,

for example my fcp timeline is one track, r3ds(or better aja 10 bit RGB powered by fuel) and one or two QT UC shots,

now you export an EDL and a reference QT file,

load both into fuel, check the mixed conformed (now r3d and UC QT) timeline against your reference. will it work?

how about audio, how many tracks can it handle?

i am most interested in the conforming tools...

Can fuel only handle r3d timelines with hard cuts!?

just want to know, no bitching here




thanks

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

silence is a good answer?...anyway, thank you for your input guys, appreciated.

 

[John Tissavary]

ok, just to clarify the QT loading,
can you load a QT as reference to check if the conforming went well AND can it load QTs to the timeline along with R3ds,

for example my fcp timeline is one track, r3ds(or better aja 10 bit RGB powered by fuel) and one or two QT UC shots,

now you export an EDL and a reference QT file,

load both into fuel, check the mixed conformed (now r3d and UC QT) timeline against your reference. will it work?

how about audio, how many tracks can it handle?

i am most interested in the conforming tools...

Can fuel only handle r3d timelines with hard cuts!?

just want to know, no bitching here




thanks

Silence because it's the middle of the night here in the US...

Yes, you have tools for reference movie. A QT is ideal (any format) and you can either run it side-by-side, or as a transparent overlay to your conformed online material. That way you can check frame sync integrity, and also match re-frames easily.

Audio is not something that Rocketfuel/Scratch really deals with beyond the basics. You can load a single audio file with 8 audio tracks, but there is no mixing ability, but can only play out 2 tracks at a time (you can select which two). QT & R3D can have embedded audio, Rocketfuel/Scratch can play these audio tracks, again only 2 tracks at a time.

Rocketfuel can do cuts, dissolves, optical (non-linear dissolve) and additive transitions. These will be automated if specified in the CMX-3600 EDL, or you can add/modify them manually in the edit module.