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Upper Field render workaround – There is a time constraint!
We need to deliver a render for broadcast that is 1920x1080i, and the client specs are to deliver a file rendered with upper fields first.
In the past, we would render using the animation codec with field render upper field first.
This time, we are under a huge time constraint! Rendering with upper fields will almost double the render time.
I’m curious if we render a QT animation with no field dominance, and output from FCP to DVCPRO HD (AJ 1400) tape, with our sequence setting containing the upper field dominance, will that suffice?
Is delivering a 1080i tape equivalent to delivering a 1080i QT animation file with upper fields first (even though the original file has no visible field dominance)?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
-Autumn
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5 Replies
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This completely depends on what deck you are using to lay off… many of the expensive rental decks can add pulldown via hardware as you export to tape…. but this is tape deck dependant… not FCP dependant.
The higher they fly… the much.
https://www.morecompletefx.com/reel.html -
…if you render anything out with fields off that used to have fields, you are de-interlacing everything you worked on and without a specialized plugin(like topaz) you are at the mercy of AE’s deinterlacer which is of poor quality.
“output from FCP to DVCPRO HD” that will be equavalent to re-interlacing progressive footage which will furthur reduce the quality because now every frame will have to become only a field.(that’s why animation is rendered at 2x the fps of the output)
So, after all’s said and done, you’ve only lost 4x quality…
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Now the best way to do this for an example in an ideal situation, is render out all 23.976 stuff without pulldown, then after it’s rendered, reimport and do a quick 3:2 pulldown pass(https://wwwss) or use a Kone 3 to add pulldown for you to tape.https://technicolorsoftware.hostzi.com/
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i assume that you are talking about output 1080p30 (29.97) and putting that to tape.
if so, yes it will work and it will play fine in a 1080i environment. it will not be quite as smooth as 1080i, but i doubt that anybody would notice.
as chris points out, if your project contained interlaced footage, then you’ll be losing some quality, but everything will look like it does in your previews and your motion graphics should hold up fine.
Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Kevin, there’s one little problem though, if any of their graphics rely on the quality of the footage directly, like a special effect, blend, displacement; that graphic is going to go right the toilet. And I forgot to mention that the reduced video/graphic quality will also have a low fps look to it. Pretty aweful if you ask me. But if you have only 2 choices, getting it done or not, ack!
https://technicolorsoftware.hostzi.com/
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Yes, output to 1080p30 (29.97) is what we are doing. We know this is not the optimal method, but considering the time issue, it’s good to know the tape we are delivering will be acceptable.
Thanks for everyone’s help and time!
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