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Using Preview files in Prores workflow not saving time
I just cut together a dramatic scene with some P2 files a friend / colleague gave me to see how PrP would handle the project. This is what happened.
1.I created a custom sequence whose Preview setting were Prores 422. The rest matched the size / aspect ratio and frame rate of the clips.
2. Imported the files and started cutting right away. Playback was smooth.A thoroughly enjoyable creative process.
3. After cutting the 3 minute.piece I went back to color correct. I prefer MB Colorista 2 for this kind of work. The sequence of course wouldn’t playback at FULL or HALF and QUARTER resolution was not acceptable for viewing. So I rendered the sequence.
4. There were about 35 cuts in the piece and each clip was cc. The render to Prores took about ten minutes.
5. After reviewing it I exported the sequence. I selected “Match Sequence Settings” and “Use previews”. I thought since all the clips were rendered as Prores and my output format was Prores this would zip right along. Exporting took 10 minutes.
Can anyone explain to me why using the Prores rendered files (taking 10 min) didn’t seem to speed up the Export process which was using all those Preview clips. Im a little confused and disheartened.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
8 Replies
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You may find this thread useful:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/909581
Especially Todd from Adobe’s response:
“Note: Rendering of previews is only for preview purposes. Preview files will not be used for final output unless you have Use Previews option checked on output—–which you should not use except in the case of rough previews. Using preview files for final output will in almost all cases cause a decrease in quality. It can speed things up in some cases, so it may be useful for creating a rough preview in less time.”
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Seems like it wholly depends on a combination of the input/output formats, the complexity of the timeline and the effects used as to how using the previews will improve speed or not.
I wonder if the original native P2 footage would fair better. I can usually get colorista to run 1080 at 1/4 res with my fingers crossed but I’m on Windows, AMD Phenom II X4, 8gigs, NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 (hacked for Mercury hardware acceleration).
– Angelo Lorenzo
– https://FilmsFor.Us Helping you sell your film online -
Angelo, I think Todds statement was dependent on which Preview codec is used. I am using Prores for Previewing and Exporting. This is what another Adobe employee Karl says about this work flow…
https://blogs.adobe.com/VideoRoad/2011/08/a-prores-workflow-end-to-end.html
Heres the extended dialog today at Adobe…
https://forums.adobe.com/message/3935334#3935334
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
Again, I run Windows so I wish I could test your workflow exactly, but I tried I-frame only MPEG with the Colorista 2 plug-in and got these results from a 10 second 5DmkII clip:
38s timeline render
11s match sequence render w/ use preview
47s match sequence render w/o use previewIt doesn’t seem, at least on a Windows system, that Colorista 2 is the weak link in this if we change up all other variables.
– Angelo Lorenzo
– https://FilmsFor.Us Helping you sell your film online -
Thats very interesting. MPEG I Frame is a much more highly compressed codec than Prores (which can create humongous files) and if the 3 Way color corrector that comes with PrP were as good as Colorista 2 Im sure things would speed up there. But generally your results look better than mine even though the testing situations vary greatly.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
Why not use lower quality for preview files?
Save the pro-res for export/final.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
The point is not to DOUBLE the work. When using the Prores files for Preview purposes during the editing phase, the theory is (according to Adobe) that those same files are utilized when exporting with the “Use Previews” item selected. So you render them ONCE during editing ( necessary for this project since every clip was color corrected ) then they are reused (no rerendering necessary) during the output process. Understand?
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3 -
I’m totally with you, Tom.
I’d say this is the number one frustration of FCP users who are migrating to Premiere. We didn’t realize how spoiled we were with FCP’s ability to quickly assemble a Quicktime file from a timeline.
FWIW, I haven’t found that Avid exports any faster than Premiere — have you?
Ben Unguren
Motion Graphics & Editing
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Hi Ben, I worked with MC about 20 years ago and Avid DS 10. I wasnt a big fan of their closed system so Im not familiar with any of the recent versions.
Tom Daigon
Avid DS / PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
Mac Pro 3,1
8 core
10.6.8
Nvidia Quadro 4000
24 gigs ram
Maxx Digita / Areca 8tb. raid
Kona 3
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