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Compositing Render Issues
We have a complex composite of layered luminance keys (6 layers in 720p 24). The composite looks great on the canvas, but after rendering or nesting the composite it turns into some homogenized mystery clip. We have located the offending layer but it won’t render clean even if pulled out one unto itself for isolated rendering. It is if the render manager is ignoring our layering priority. We have created a similar test clip in SD and it has rendered correctly. Again, the HD layers look perfect in the canvas window.
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9 Replies
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Is anything nested, if not have you tried nesting?
Can you explain exactly what you have in your layers, what version of FCP, if you have any filters on the clips and what codec?
Jeremy
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No, nothing was nested. However, we did try to nest and got the same results. The issue we’re having is resulting from applying a lumenance key to matte out a background. We’re replacing a white, overcast sky with a nice blue sky with a stadium light in the background. So we have a few layers, but it even does that with one layer, so I don’t think that’s the issue. Also, this is 720p24 and we tried some stuff in SD in a different timeline and it worked fine. The codec is DVCPRO HD. It’s a custom sequence, not a preset. We’re in version 5.1.3 (as of today when this problem was discovered). Perhaps that could be the problem? Possibly some unforseen bug they fixed that messed that up? I don’t know…just thinking out loud.
Thanks for your help,
Tyler -
What’s the custom sequence for? Did you see this before in 5.1.2? Are there any other filters on the clips?
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There are many filters on the clips. Color correction, keys, etc. We did not see this before today, nor incidentally before 5.1.3. And the custom sequence is set with the compression at 720p60 and 960×720 pixel size. But with all the technical jargon aside, why would it look correct in Preview, which is a preview of what the render will look like, but render out completely different? And what I mean by render out differently is that it makes the footage that we tweaked look like someone took a dump on it. Maybe we’re overthinking it.
Thanks again,
Tyler -
Try unchecking any cc filters and leave just what you need for keying and try again.
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Even if that did isolate the problem, it would look like crap. We’ll try that, but even still it won’t look like it’s supposed to.
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I hear you, i am troubleshooting and eliminating any problems. I have had problems rendering cc on clips with transparency in the past. One thing at a time.
Jeremy
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We isolated the problem. Apparently FCP will not let you render out a luminance matte from a HD 720p source. Not a good situation at all. All the footage has to be down converted then re-rendered. BIG OOPS on Apple’s part. The “gotcha” was the perfect appearance in the Canvas during the composite. Thankfully we are delivering a SD broadcast copy of the spot, so we were able to down convert. If we were working on a HD delivery…we would have been toast!
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Weird, how about moving the HD footage to an uncompressed HD environment instead of DVCPro HD?
Jeremy
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