Some very basic newbie questions on Resolve lite 10/11

[Brian Merlen]

Kind of embarrassed to ask some of these, but figure its easier then continuing to try and figure it out via the net/youtube at this point...

1. If I want to do a 4/3 matte/mask on 2k footage in a 2k timeline (or HD footage in an HD timeline), what the heck do I plug into the aspect ratio boxes number wise? It seems basic but I am not sure what I am doing and just wanted confirmation. Is there any specifically easy way to do this? I figure once I know the answer to this I'll just invert the mask and kill the look around (which is what they want done).

2. If your doing a long form project would you save the project on your bay and let the media live on the drives? There is a chance I'd fill the drives before the end of the gig and have to swap them out, upon doing so I don't want to lose all the stills/galleries/looks I have made along with the drive when I send it away to post... So is saving the project on my internal drive the best option like I think? All the media and encodes will live on externals. Am I missing something with this idea?

3. Can anyone provide me instruction on how the check sums work in Resolve 11? I am still on version 10, but about to wipe it and move up now that I did all the example tutorials in the 10 manual. But I was trying to pregame learning this step...

Again sorry for the basic questions, I have had difficulty in locating the answers and at a certain point I figure just asking you guys would be a bit faster then messing around anymore... I am stepping out for a bit, but when I get back I will get back into resolve and try and figure this stuff out...

PS any of you use Arri Look Creator on Maverick? DP tells me it doesn't work but I can't seem to find any prores log C alexa stuff to test with. I can run down to Abel but am hoping someone can tell me if it works, or shoot me some prores stuff on drop box. I might get an FTP and bother Arri for it on their site but I have to run so I can't deal with this at the moment unfortunately...

 

[Brian Merlen]

ahhh output blanking! figured that one out...!

still not sure what my best option is for this project on saving, and i am gonna uninstall resolve 10 shortly and put 11 in...if anyone can throw me a bone on the other questions i would appreciate it...i asked on the resolve forum as well but the admins need to approve the comment before it goes live...still having issues with the arri specific questions but waiting on mods to approve me access on their forum as well...if need be i'm gonna just run to abel cuz i just wanna really have all of this stuff figured out and safe within the next two weeks... sorry for such newb questions I'm just wrapping my head around the program a bit still! I promise I'm gonna finish reading the next 630 pages of the manual right now guys, hopefully that will help! but boy can it seem tedious sometimes...

 

[Marc Wielage]

Unless there's something specific about v11 that you really need, I think you're better off sticking with v10 simply because it's known to be stable. My opinion on your other questions:

1) have the DP shoot a chart with 16x9 and 4x3 clearly displayed, and duplicate that framing with blanking within Resolve. I'm not sure why anybody is worried about 4x3 framing in 2014, though it is a valid issue for graphics in post, like making sure all titles in a commercial are placed within 4x3 safe. But the picture can still be 16x9 or 1.85 or whatever.

2) I would advise always using external drives, the fastest you can afford, and make at least two duplicates every day so you have a total of three copies. Keep one of them off-site, like in the client's edit bay. In the event of nuclear disaster, there's a good chance at least one set of the drives will survive.

3) I have not used the checksum copy utility within Resolve 11, but I have used Double Data and it works very well. Read the developer's information:

http://www.doubledata.biz

4) Arri Look Creator has always worked fine for me, but that's me. I generally tend to create a custom LUT within Resolve, and I compare it to the Arri factory Rec709 LUT, and generally what I do is back off by about 50% with not quite as steep a highlight cutoff. Just my preference. In truth, you can get very close to the LUT just with the standard primary controls within Resolve -- that plus a saturation boost. It helps to start with a good camera chart and use that for before & after tests. The Arri LUT is fine for casual use and I've never had problems getting very close to what the DP saw on set or what they wanted.

Just to warn you: the new v11 manual is 100 pages longer than the last one, so it's actually now 850 pages. And some of those pages merely skim the surface.

 

[Brian Merlen]

4.Thanks for the help. According to Arri it does not work one tech tells me, another said it does. Regardless it doesn't work with prores log c the first tech tells me. They say I should use Arriraw converter to make the look, so I'll need codex mags and readers to do it the way they say to. Or I would need a way to use a LUT box on the monitor they are renting for the clients. End of the day I don't particularly care which way I do it, as long as it works as is solid and I can prep on it before I leave Aug 4th, and the production budgets for whatever the solution is. That is the hard part, our deal with an Arri Alexa Plus fell through last minute so we have many logistical and budgetary needs right now to overcome and its keeping me up at night to a certain degree wondering what the heck is going to happen to my workflow cuz of all this...

3. I'll look into double data, thank you. I was planning to use resolve 11 for it since a little birdie told me the release build will be out before my job starts... But I am open to using whatever as long as it works well...

2. They are buying 6tb lacie TB1 driveshttp://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1045023&gclid=CJWuj47g278CFUYV7AodyVQArg&Q=&is=REG&A=details

The plan is to have me use two of them. Both will have all camera media and dailies on them. I thought when I was told to use these over the phone there would be a way to raid 1 them, appears in the specs I don't see a way to do so, maybe its not possible or even one single drive inside it? No clue I have to look into this more.. Its an indie film so budgeting for promise raid 5s won't happen I am afraid... I agree an offsite copy is definitely needed in the threat of a thermal nuclear explosion, but no idea if I can get production to account for this contingency despite my pleas . Maybe I can keep my main project on my internal and just save copies of the project at wrap to both my D2 drives daily?

1. Again thank you so much for your help!

I am really indebted to your advice, and any else you can lay on me is always highly appreciated!

 

[Marc Wielage]

Its an indie film so budgeting for promise raid 5s won't happen I am afraid... I agree an offsite copy is definitely needed in the threat of a thermal nuclear explosion, but no idea if I can get production to account for this contingency despite my pleas . Maybe I can keep my main project on my internal and just save copies of the project at wrap to both my D2 drives daily?

I'm always astonished when somebody says something like "this is an indie film made on no money, so we don't have any money for additional hard drives," and then mentions that they're shooting ArriRaw on an $80,000 camera with god knows how many lenses. If it were a 5D or something, you figure it's sorta/kinda something a little above a student film but not by much, but once they cross that line, I think it gets insulting.

There is some point where I think the filmmakers have to stop, get hold of reality, and realize that they have to raise more money in order to budget for the basic necessities of a real production. There's also a point below which the budget can't go -- and I don't care how many people are working for free. At some point, the producer's expectations are grossly unrealistic.

BTW: make sure you have a certificate of insurance for all your gear, and I hope these people have permits for everywhere they're shooting.

 

[Brian Merlen]

Yes I agree two raid 0 copies seems unacceptably risky, I very well might just get my own additional drive for my own peace of mind I am thinking... I'm almost a 100 pages into the resolve manual, needed a RU break...The details at which they go into the cog settings button is both in depth, but also somewhat difficult to get through... Were shooting prores not arriraw but none the less your point is very accurate. I personally would rather use raid 5s for safety and still have 2 of them, plus transport drives to ship day to day stuff away on to post... I might just buy some spares myself. Your point about insurance is also very accurate...

If anyone else cares to chime in on workflow advice for dallies, or free tutorials I am open to trying to learn more. I have to say the program is pretty sweet and even after this job I look forward to sticking with it over redcine (provided it gets Deb, and whatever else it lacks currently in SDK)

 

[Marc Wielage]

Yes I agree two raid 0 copies seems unacceptably risky, I very well might just get my own additional drive for my own peace of mind I am thinking... I'm almost a 100 pages into the resolve manual, needed a RU break...

It took me several weeks to go through the Resolve manual from top to bottom -- twice -- and I still discover new things I didn't know, every day. This is a very deep, very rich program that takes years and years to really learn. And I'm sure if you lined up 10 experienced Resolve colorists, each of them would know things the other did not know.

I know of a recent network TV project that did everything on RAID-0 drives, and it all turned out fine. At the end of each day, they also went to LTO-6 just for a double-secret backup, but as far as I know, they never had to use it.

 

[Brian Merlen]

I used two raid 0s on a 1 day Dragon job the other day...it was fast until the drive started to get nearly full...I still hate the concept of raid 0 though. I think for my own sanity I am going to invest in a thunderbolt 2 promise array when I can get around to it...I suggested they budget for a third raid 0, so hopefully that will make me sleep better at night.. Since Resolve 11 is still in beta I think I am going to spring for Data doubler and stick with version 10 to be safe...even if a release build were to come out between now and monday its still a .0 build, so hell with that. I am already anxious enough about having problems on location in the middle of no where anyway...

 

[Marc Wielage]

I agree, a RAID-5 is going to be both faster and more reliable. Not much of a safety net with RAID-0.

I think Resolve is getting closer and closer to being able to completely replace Avid Symphony (as a finishing tool) as well as dailies-only products like Colorfront EXD. To me, it's not quite there yet, but it's getting very close.