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Ridiculous FCP Render Times – TWIXTOR
Hi there,
I am back once again to solve a seemingly unnecessary issue. I am currently attempting to edit a 4 cam mix for a band, and two of the cams they shot with shoot at 30fps. I need to convert them down to 29.97 fps.
I downloaded the demo of Twixtor, and applied the plug in to a 6 minute clip after I had conformed it to 29.97fps in Cinema Tools, in order to acclimate it for the rest of the 29.97 footage. I then changed the speed via the Twixtor plugin to 100.100100, as I have read to do.
The render for this is clocked at 12 hours. I have to apply this to two more hour long clips, and do not have the rest of the WEEK to wait BEFORE I START EDITING.
I am running out of time, and am near my breaking point. I inherited this footage and am unable to begin because of ridiculous render times. I was going to use compressor but the render time was clocked at well over a month.
Footage is Apple ProRes 422 (HQ).
Thank you.
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16 Replies
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You didn’t shoot at the same frame rate to begin with – something that is essential for a multi-cam workflow to be successful. You can’t design a car that needs four wheels, put three on it, and assume it will work. There’s a proper way to do things. Maybe Twixtor will do it, but I suspect you will have artifacts in your footage.
My advice on this one is to multicam the frame rate with the best coverage, then add (manually synced) inserts from the other cameras as needed. Given your time crunch you’re running short on options.
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Frankly I would just try to edit with the footage as is, after conforming in CT, without Twixtor. The difference between 29.97 and 30 is very small. You may have to keep a close eye on sync and adust shots as needed, as they are minutely slower than the true 29.97 camera. Depending on how it’s shot and edited, it may not be noticeable at all.
Compressor, Twixtor, and any software solution will take a very long time to render, as you have seen, and you may still have sync issues and jittery motion.
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I didn’t shoot it. They did. And Dave Laronde told me that Twixtor was the way to go and that it would not kill quality… I am still confused…
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If I had more time would Twixtor be better? Just curious on quality options for the future.
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In the future don’t mix frame rates. If you do, you will have problems. Cinema Tools conform has no loss in quality, but it is adjusting the speed of the footage slightly. The quality will not be improved by Twixtor…it may only help keep things in sync. Because of the way it interpolates, it might not even do that perfectly.
If you forgoe Twixtor, sync will be easier to manage if you make multi clips for each song. The offset between cameras will grow on longer multi clips.
There isn’t any quick fix to this. Shooting at different frame rates is a major mistake,
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Thanks. Like I said, I inherited this mess, and am still baffled as to why the Flip Ultra HD cams shoot at that frame rate anyhow.
I’ll keep this thread posted.
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[Josh Celli] “after I had conformed it to 29.97fps in Cinema Tools, in order to acclimate it for the rest of the 29.97 footage. I then changed the speed via the Twixtor plugin to 100.100100, as I have read to do.”
You are waisting time and losing one generation.
Twixtor makes no sense here.
Conform and forget about Twixtor.
rafael -
I am baffled why anyone would shoot something they really found valuable on a FilpCam.
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Your 30 fps footage will get ahead of your 29.97 fps footage by 108 frames per hour, or 1.8 frames per minute.
If you identify the select shots that you want from the 30 fps cameras, you can use the figures above to slip the 30 fps footage which has been conformed to 29.97 back into sync. The difference in original frame rates shouldn’t be noticeable on shorter shots.
You could also do a manual pre-pass on the conformed footage before bringing it into multicam — find some junk areas in the multicam footage that you can’t use anyway, and use those spaces to slice and slip the media back into sync.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka] “Your 30 fps footage will get ahead of your 29.97 fps footage by 108 frames per hour, or 1.8 frames per minute.”
Replying to myself — if you use Compressor to convert from 30 fps to 29.97 fps, and if you use “Fast (Nearest frame)” as the rate conversion type, you should get roughly 1 duplicated frame every 30 seconds, which you could either live with or cut around (if you can even see it). The duration of the clip, and therefore sync with the other clips, shouldn’t change.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
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