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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Timecode woes!!! Export is not matching composition timecode!

  • Timecode woes!!! Export is not matching composition timecode!

    Posted by Bryan Colvin on March 3, 2014 at 3:11 am

    So I have DPX image sequences delivered from VFX house.

    For example when I import the DPX sequence i get 7:01:35:00 as starting timecode for a particular shot.
    Then I hit “New Comp From Selection”

    Still good, the composition says 7:01:35:00. I look at the frame rates… the DPX sequence says 23.976, and the composition also says 23.976

    so far so good

    Then I add to render cue.. and something fishy happens

    In the output module I notice in the bottom left, settings mismatch?!

    then I click on that to give me this message

    I don’t know why frame rates that are exactly the same are throwing this warning.

    anyway when I export the file and import it back into AE, I get the starting timecode of
    7:01:09:17

    that’s a difference of 00:00:25:07. WTF?!?!

    I can’t lay in the VFX until I can figure out how to get the ProRes version to match timecode exactly, so I’m currently dead in the water until I sort this out

    Any help you guys can give is greatly appreciated!

    Bryan Colvin replied 12 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Mike Sevigny

    March 3, 2014 at 3:42 am

    I would go into the ‘best settings’ window in the render queue, click on ‘custom’ in the bottom right and correct the problem. You still want to find out what happened though.

    Mike Sevigny
    TorusFX Inc.
    https://www.torusfx.com
    https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-sevigny/49/875/495

  • Bryan Colvin

    March 3, 2014 at 3:50 am

    Thanks for the tip.. Although I’ve got to find another way because I have 400 VFX shots to put in haha. I see room for human error to wreak havoc on that workflow.

    I just need the best way to batch ALL the DPX files into ProRes 1080P 23.976, and maintain timecode.

    Maybe there’s a better suited program to do that…

  • Mike Sevigny

    March 3, 2014 at 4:38 am

    This might sound ridiculous with 400 shots but if you’re pressed for time I would put someone on the manual task while you look for an alternate solution. Might only take a few hours to queue them all up with corrected TC.

    Meanwhile, the problem might be in the original DPXs. Try to import and export the DPXs in other programs and check the TC. If you can’t contact anyone about the original files, you’ve checked all your sequence import settings and nothing is working..

    Try to find a pattern in the frame difference between the original and the exported DPXs sequences. Take into account the length of each clip. This might help find the source of the problem.

    Wish I could help more.
    Please share the solution

    Mike Sevigny
    TorusFX Inc.
    https://www.torusfx.com
    https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-sevigny/49/875/495

  • Bryan Colvin

    May 18, 2014 at 4:43 am

    forgot to reply to this. Well ended up being manual fix until we said screw it, online editor will just put them in (producer’s idea)

    unfortuntaely didn’t come up with an answer to it. Opened DPX image sequence in another DPX viewer and timecode looked correct. Maybe After Effects doesn’t do this properly? not sure…

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