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Best format to export from FCP to AE?
Hi guys! I was just wondering what the best format is to export an HD file from FCP if I plan on bringing it into AE and working with it.
I’m looking for the BEST QUALITY, the project I’m working on is gonna be shown with a projector so it needs to have good resolution.
I’m currently exporting as Apple Intermediate Codec 1920×1080 (HQ), but I’m not sure this is the best.
After I do some stuff in AE, I also might be bringing it back into FCP, are there any suggestions in keeping my quality as high as possible through these imports/exports?
Thanks!
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9 Replies
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If it’s convenient for what you’re working on, you might try skipping the rendering-for-AE step altogether, by using either Automatic Duck or FCP to AE.
Kind of depends on how much work you’ve done in FCP already, but I do this pretty much exclusively.
Kyle Hamrick
Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
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Kyle’s suggestions are excellent.
What format does the footage exist in right now? In most cases, I keep my footage in it’s native format when moving from FCP to AE as AE can read pretty much any format FCP can read.
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Well, the footage I have is just .mov files. They’re not HD and are only 512×368..
I was messing around with a high fps cam, therefore the quality isn’t amazing, but that said, any quality I have left is of the essence, and I can’t really afford to lose much more from import/export from fcp to ae and vice versa.
Another issue I ran into is when I tried importing it into AE as 1920×1080 then tried to ‘Make Movie’, the video plays incredibly slow and choppy under “Best Settings” unless I change it to “Draft Mode”. Not sure if this has to do with the imported clips, the format, or the export method.
Any help would be wonderful! Trying to finish this before midnight xD
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Why not render to targa sequence and pull that into AE? Much more reliable than rendering to an HD movie file… and faster rendering since you are only dealing with each frame in mem instead of the whole movie when working on it in AE.
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative.ca
Durham Region
Ontario, Canada -
Hmm, I’m not familiar with the targa file format. It doesn’t degrade the quality or anything?
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best format is lossless of some kind, either 10 or higher bit 4:4:4 chroma uncompressed or some lossless image sequence but the sound can’t be integrated with sequences.
Now, I did a image type shootout with Targa, Tiff, PSD, PNG, and only PSD and Tiff (lzw off) are 100% lossless. I personally use Tiff for these reasons.
lossless, alpha support,smaller size than PSD for same quality, multiproc thread safe, and used in major studios because it can go trillions+ and floating+ which are used for film, red cameras, when cineons break the hard drives, lol.
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I agree with Chris. I actually meant to say TIFF format… was a long day yesterday. I always render to that format for all final HD sequences when delivering to a post facility.
I stopped using movie file formats in AE and will always convert these sources to tif uncompressed sequences when dealing with any effect work. Since these shots are usually short, it is not a big deal. Plus, when working on these files each frame loads quicker.
And since AE is not really for long-form editing…
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative.ca
Durham Region
Ontario, Canada -
[Todd Morgan] “I stopped using movie file formats in AE and will always convert these sources to tif uncompressed sequences when dealing with any effect work.”
What are you finding the best workflow for this process? Do you export a still-image sequence from the NLE directly or do you convert them in after effects?
Do you find the benefit is just the improved picture quality, or do you find that the time saved while working is worth the hit upfront to convert your source clips?
Thanks,
LF -
I many cases I get source footage from client in movie file format. I don’t hassle them to convert it to image sequence but I request original source footage with in/out timecode ON DATADVD or I bring my external drive to them and get the files personally.
I then convert to tif sequence the scenes that require more effect work… it all depends on the job at hand.
Todd Morgan
Creative Director
morgancreative.ca
Durham Region
Ontario, Canada
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