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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 :)

SMOKE/PC dudes & dudettes, how are you doing it?

Gunleik Groven

Gunleik Groven

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... or just plain old artists...

Haven't had time to look into it yet, but a friend of mine have a hard time getting DPXs out of either RC (PC/MAC) or RA and into Smoke.

Spill the beans, please. What's the trick?

Gunleik
 
Getting them into Smoke. What I've heard is that they are "pinkish" or "not loading".
I asked him if he was using the correct naming scheeme, and he said yes.

But your workflow is DPX out of PC RC -> import to smoke, right?

He hasn't tried Crimson, as he is a PC man, but I will try to run the FCP-Crinson-RL/RC/RA-DPX-EDL thing with him, to see if that solves the issue... But I'm away on work the whole next week.
 
what version of Smoke is he on?

You dont need Crimson to work in Smoke, it just makes it easier. I would need details to troubleshoot his issue...DPX files should load straight into Smoke w/o issue.
 
Mike Seymore from FXPHD said at the Red User party that there WILL BE support for R3d coming for autodesk later this year. I know he doesn't work for autodesk, but he seemed credible.
 
Hi there,

well I'm the guy Gunleik was referring to.
And hello Greg! We "meet" again, in a different forum 8-)

In fact I've tried the FCP > Export XML from FCP > Import into Crimson
> Create "Intermediates" > Export "Telecine" XML from Crimson
> open r3d-clips into RC > load Crimson XML > Export dpx from RC

But, RC only exports 1 single frame for each "clip" in the orginal FCP timeline.

I've also tried using Redline, it seems to do something judging by the statusbar, but only creates the clip folders, but no dpx-files.

I'm going to give it a try again tomorrow.

Once I've got the the actual dpx-sequences, it should be a simple
file-based conform in Smoke. But I haven't got that far yet.

I've only got a MacMini at home, and only PCs at work 8-(
So I've got to work this FCP > DPX sequence (with a conformable XML or EDL) issue first.

What do you guys do it Greg?

Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Regards

// Dylan
www.dylanhopkin.com
 
Oh, I forgot.

I'm running Smoke 2008 HD on HP Linux.....
Then again it's not the Smoke bit I'm struggeling with.

More the Mac workflow.

I've tried Exporting dpx files straight from the Windows version of RC, the files are pink and green.
Hardly any actual image data visable.

Exporting dpx from RC (Mac) works fine on a clip by clip basis, but not a complete conform from xml (crimson).

I really hope that someone will release a decent Windows solution soon.

// Dylan
 
RE: Crimson...look at the demo video and follow the steps precisely....but for now, hold off on Crimson until you get the basics down.

Now, lets take this one step at a time. First do you have the latest version of Red Cine? If so, just simply load an R3D file, select an i/o of about 15 frames and export as DPX. Open the DPX files in photoshop and see if they look correct, if they do...

...then load these 15 frames into Smoke, they should display correctly. Once you get this to work then we can move on.

EDIT:
BTW- Smoke HD has limitations with DPX imports, you will not have TC in the DPX files. You will need to upgrade to 2K for that
 
DPX in to Smoke

DPX in to Smoke

Hi Greg,

STEP 01 - RC
RedCine build 0.90 (MAC)
I can't see the actual pic-icons for the clips or the clips in the player inside RC. The clips are black-clips. That has worked before.
Export out 10 frames in 1080p = OK

RedCine build 0.90 (WIN)
The windows version displays pic-icons and clip image inside the player area.
BUT, Export out 10 frames in 1080p.... corrupted files (green & pink weird stuff), see attachment.

STEP 02 - SMOKE IMPORT
All is well. And in fact DPX timecode does come through on Smoke 2008 HD.
Just have to set Clip Metadata to "DPX Timecode" in Image Import.
I've used it before to conform DPXs from a filmscanner.
However, Smoke 2008 HD does not support Keycode (edgecode).

STEP 03 - What next
I've tried loading the XML-from FCP in to Smoke. It loads but points to
the QT-wrapers for the R3D-files.
The Crimson XML ("Telecine"), didn't load in to Smoke.
But, let's take one thing at a time here.

BTW: I've taken a RED production course at Fxphd, so I'm not completly "green", even though I feel pretty greenish right now :biggrin:
But I lack the Red knowledge you guys have.... I want to learn more.

Cheers

//Dylan
www.dylanhopkin.com




digitalfx said:
RE: Crimson...look at the demo video and follow the steps precisely....but for now, hold off on Crimson until you get the basics down.

Now, lets take this one step at a time. First do you have the latest version of Red Cine? If so, just simply load an R3D file, select an i/o of about 15 frames and export as DPX. Open the DPX files in photoshop and see if they look correct, if they do...

...then load these 15 frames into Smoke, they should display correctly. Once you get this to work then we can move on.

EDIT:
BTW- Smoke HD has limitations with DPX imports, you will not have TC in the DPX files. You will need to upgrade to 2K for that
Click to expand...
 
I think the issue is your PC is a non supported system...likely the video card. Do you have another system to try?

If you do some searching, you can find several discussions on the topic. I have a Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 and it works fine here. What is your video card?
 
Hi.

If you're on a mac, you could do this (RC won't work without one)

Export xml from fcp
Import to Crimson
Match
Set renderatributes in Crimson
Send to Redline
Export dpx

If you're unsure about what the different things do, just open a clip in RedAlert and check there. The controls are the same.

16:9 4k clips won't work with this workflow

Gunleik
 
Hey guys I'll have to find out just how our FCP editor did it but she exported an XML into Crimson and then with that EDL loaded all the R3D files into Redcine (mac) . Then exported the entire sequence as 1080 DPX. Timecode will be intact however because the sequence was exported linearly and I had no need for heads or tails I imported the entire sequence and did not "conform" it traditionally on the smoke.

One bug we found in Crimson was an extra frame on each edit. There is a post here on that. Maybe it's fixed now but the workaround was to add -1 as a handle or if it's just a 30 second spot eye match to the offline edit.

If it's a 30 second spot I have also loaded the R3D clips into PC redcine individually and exported DPX's from there. I then used the FCP EDL to enter the proper edit points into the individual DPX sequences for the edit. Good for spots but way to convoluted for a music video or other long form.

Hey Hopkin, you work with Devon don't you?
 
Seeing that we are on the subject of Red-Redcine-DPX-smoke I am wondering if anyone has the correct method of relinking the DPX sequence that I brought in to the cmx3600 EDL from FCP. A link pointing in the right direction would be great.

I'm assuming most everyone that is "conforming" on smoke using DPX's is importing the entire edit as one clip and then working with it as opposed to using an EDL to conform the edit from the library that the sequence is in...?? :w00t:
 
Hi there,

::: DPX CONFORM W/ HANDLES :::
Well it is still quite normal to conform using dpx-sequences for each clip (event) in the timeline. The dpx's are usually a selections from a larger
amount of source footage. It is often good to have handles to work with
too. Directors have a tendency to want to trim here and there.
Outputing sequences from i.e. a filmscanner one often uses a special
directory structure. Output from RedCine or RedLine should workout too.
(I have not tested dpxs from RC / RL this way yet)

Smoke has a "recursive scan" option when importing, that let's Smoke list all sequences that reside in and below your current directory.

If your imported edl / xml / aaf has the correct bitdepth, frame size,timebase, aspect etc, as the dpx-seq, linking the dpxs should workout fine.

Otherwise Smoke won't relink even though you have the correct file path.
You can use Smoke's "Reformat" tool to change the mentioned values of the
timeline clip before relink.

You might have to tell Smoke to convert tapes to files, telling Smoke
to look for files instead of tapes.

Check out this demo that explains the workflow:
http://download.autodesk.com/us/smoke_training/Smoke2007x1_AdvancedConform/index.html
(See Digital Intermediates)

or

::: "CONFORM" FROM ENTIRE TIMELINE EXPORT :::
Sometimes I do import complete edits as one clip.
But this works best when there are few or no dissolves / wipes etc.
Otherwise it can get messy. (As you most probably know)

This process is simular to what's called a "tape-to-tape" process.
Meaning you get the whole thing, do cut detection (automatic on most grading suites like DaVinci, Lustre, Scratch etc).
Smoke does not have cut detection, so load a edl as well.
Place it under your image seq in the timeline and jump between the
edits making cuts on image sequence as you go. Then you can start
grading or doing fx on a shot by shot basis.

Hope that helps!

// Dylan
www.dylanhopkin.com

animal said:
Seeing that we are on the subject of Red-Redcine-DPX-smoke I am wondering if anyone has the correct method of relinking the DPX sequence that I brought in to the cmx3600 EDL from FCP. A link pointing in the right direction would be great.

I'm assuming most everyone that is "conforming" on smoke using DPX's is importing the entire edit as one clip and then working with it as opposed to using an EDL to conform the edit from the library that the sequence is in...?? :w00t:
Click to expand...
 
Hi Greg,

You got it completely right, it's most probably a video card problem.
My home PC only has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 card.
I'll give it a try at work, think I've got a Nvidia FX 3500, old but better.

Read the discussions regarding video cards.
Looks like I have to twist my boss' arm in to getting me a Mac Pro too 8-)
(Oh no! The Dark Side.... at least for us PC guys, ha ha)

But in the meanwhile I'll give my current PC workstation a try.
(Something tells me that I've already done that, getting the same results as before. But maybe I'm wrong). Upgrade time!

Speaking of which. Have you installed Smoke 2009 yet?
Trying to get it done next week, looking at upgrading from HD to 2K too.
Got a quote for a license upgrade, pretty steap..... but BatchFx is worth it.

Thanks for the help so far.

Cheers

// Dylan
www.dylanhopkin.com

digitalfx said:
I think the issue is your PC is a non supported system...likely the video card. Do you have another system to try?

If you do some searching, you can find several discussions on the topic. I have a Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 and it works fine here. What is your video card?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Dylan. That tutorial is great. I guess I should rephrase what I was talking about. It's getting the process to work with Redcine that is the problem for me at the moment. The conform in Redcine from Crimson exports a single sequence. There is no directory or clip structure. At least that I've noticed.

EDIT: nevermind I found the option. :p
 
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