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AIC or Pro Res for gfx heavy workflow
Hi All,
Im working for an web video company still in its first year of operation. We shoot primarily against a green screen with a Canon XF100. How we’ve been operating this whole time is that I would cut the video and then transfer the pro res file to our GFX team and then they would kick the video back to me at an animation file and I would finish it and export it for upload on youtube at 1080p.
The GFX team wants us to send them AIC because they say its easier to deal with the smaller file size. From my experience I’ve always used pro res footage when kicking material to any graphics person because it has a higher picture quality. Would it be a mistake if we change to AIC for our back and forth workflow?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated
Matt W. Ferguson
Video Editor
Video Making Production Studio Place (VMPSP) -
8 Replies
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ProRes. AIC is very lossy. Even ProRes LT would be a ton better.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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Why not send the FX shots to them in the original camera codec. That will be smaller than AIC and no generational loss. Jerry is right AIC is an old lossy legacy codec that should be avoided, particularly for GFX work.
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I’m shocked that a graphics person would ask for a highly compressed codec like AIC. I’d think they wanted high quality files over file size.
PRORES! No AIC. Bad doggy.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Great idea Michael!
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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thanks for the reply Michael. The Canon XF100 produces an MXF file format, so is that possible to be used in AE? Naturally I would think no but then again I never thought about it before.
These videos are shot entirely on green screen and averaging 3-4mins each. The gfx team usually wants the entire piece together so they can key out the host and move him all around the screen, flying text, things like that. That’s why I’ve been sending them the complete edit in ProRes 422HQ.
Matt W. Ferguson
Video Editor
Video Making Production Studio Place (VMPSP) -
This is what was explained to me the issue is:
the GFX team explained that they’ve been having difficulty using the ProRes codec causing slight shifts in color and contrast. And they are unable to output it as ProRes because they don’t have FCP7 or the codec itself on their systems.
Has anyone ever heard of this problem before? Is there any options besides looking for 3rd party plugins? (not my idea; i think its a worthy investment)
Matt W. Ferguson
Video Editor
Video Making Production Studio Place (VMPSP) -
Thanks for the advice. I completely forgot about QT7 containing the ProRes codec. I’ll recommend that to the gfx team
Matt W. Ferguson
Video Editor
Video Making Production Studio Place (VMPSP) -
correction; READ ProRes codec
Matt W. Ferguson
Video Editor
Video Making Production Studio Place (VMPSP)
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