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FCPX + Canon C100 + Samurai Blade = Interlace
I’d like to introduce myself briefly before posing the question. I’ve been in the film industry since 1980 and have written and directed 5 feature films and a fair number of documentaries, educational stuff and web clips. I write, shoot, direct and edit the smaller stuff, but also cut my last feature film and about to shoot and edit a full-length documentary on FCPX (after long consideration and experimentation with Premier Pro CC.
THE SETUP: I plan to shoot the dock on a Canon C100 with an Atomos Samurai Blade and a Sony EX1 with a Blade (Cam B) in Prores 422 HQ. I tested both items recently recently and recorded in Prores HQ in a 25p setting.
When I imported the clips into FCPX, all the clips were tagged as Upper Dominance interlace clips in Settings in the Inspector.
I created a Project with a verified Prores HQ clip and then appended some of the new test clips into the timeline/project. The new clips all remained interlaced and the interlace lines were clearly visible in all the test shots.
I then selected the new clips in the timeline/project and changed their properties to progressive in the settings field in Inspector. Nothing happened in the timeline.
I then hit Render, hoping that it would convert the clips to progressive, but nothing happened, because the clips were recorded in Prores HQ, so the render did not change anything.
As a result, the clips are still interlaced, even though the properties are now tagged as Progressive in the settings.
This is obviously a potential disaster, because our funders expect a theatrical release with a progressive film in DCP. But this is not looking too promising.THE QUESTION: Is there anything I can do to make this awful interlace stuff go away and work with beautiful progressive material?
Your feedback will be much appreciated (BTW, I have already ordered the C100 and two Blades 🙁 )
Heinrich Dahms
https://www.buzzmedia.net -
9 Replies
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[Heinrich Dahms] “When I imported the clips into FCPX, all the clips were tagged as Upper Dominance interlace clips in Settings in the Inspector.”
So FCPX has misinterpreted the field order. That happens because some formats do not properly flag the field order.[Heinrich Dahms] “I then selected the new clips in the timeline/project and changed their properties to progressive in the settings field in Inspector. Nothing happened in the timeline. “
You changed the field order of the clips (to Progressive), but now you have to do the same with the sequence (project) field order. If you don’t do it, the progressive clips will be rendered field by field so you will get interlaced artifacts from the rendering.
Rafael -
Thanks for the feedback Rafael.
So what youre saying is, I need to select the whole sequence in the timeline and then reset the whole sequence setting to progressive in settings? So that is, first the individual clip and rhen the whole sequence.It also occurred to me, what if I select all the imported clips in the event browser as soon as theyre imported and then reset their settings in the inspector settings? Before I move them to the timeline. Would that make a difference in theory?
Thanks again!
Heinrich -
The c100 will shoot interlaced, no? If you can see interlace lines, then you shot interlaced. Interpreting 25p as upper first will not show interlacing. You can’t just invent extra fields out of thin air. Interpreting it as interlaced would just result in a look no different than adding pull down to 24p, which is introducing interlacing, but is only visible on the two frames that are combined. The other 3 frames, while technically interlaced, show no interlacing because both fields are the same. Interlacing 25p to 50i would simply look like 25p.
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[Bret Williams] ” If you can see interlace lines, then you shot interlaced.”
If he is editing Progressive stuff on an interlaced sequence/project, he will be getting interlacing artifacts on transitions and animated objects.[Heinrich Dahms] “So what youre saying is, I need to select the whole sequence in the timeline and then reset the whole sequence setting to progressive in settings? So that is, first the individual clip and rhen the whole sequence. “
right.[Heinrich Dahms] “It also occurred to me, what if I select all the imported clips in the event browser as soon as theyre imported and then reset their settings in the inspector settings? Before I move them to the timeline. Would that make a difference in theory?”
This is what you should have done.
You check the footage as p25, then you open a project matching the footage settings.Your issue comes because the Samurai has flagged the clips as Upper First.
That’s not a mistake. 1080 stuff (progressive and interlaced) is always streamed as Interlaced.
So the Samurai gets a progressive picture packed as interlaced.
Is to you to tell to your NLE (whatever you use), that the footage is Progressive and no interlaced.rafael
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He said he could clearly see the interlace lines in all the test shots. Not motion graphics. Not transitions. I doubt he’s even added either. You don’t see interlace lines in progressive footage, no matter the interpretation. Some of his footage likely got shot 25i.
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[Bret Williams] “He said he could clearly see the interlace lines in all the test shots. Not motion graphics. Not transitions. I doubt he’s even added either. You don’t see interlace lines in progressive footage, no matter the interpretation. Some of his footage likely got shot 25i.”
If the interlace is in the footage, then yes, has been shot as Interlaced.
rafael -
Thanks for this, Rafael, its kind of what I was suspecting. Will give that a go.
Cheers again for the feedback.
H -
Thanks for the feedback, Bret, but Im pretty sure Rafaels got it right. I also recorded the same stuff simultaneously on the SxS card in my EX1 and that was unambiguously progressive. I do believe its a question of the blade stuff being flagged in fcpx as upper dominant and its a question of reflagging the footage in the event browser and creating a progrssive timeline before moving the clips onto the timeline. Thanks for the input!
Heinrich -
So you didn’t see interlacing in your footage? If you did, you shot interlaced. Can’t just invent temporal data out of thin air. As well, where did you think you saw interlacing? Even at 100%, the viewer in X doesn’t show both fields unless you tell it to.
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