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AE field problems with Final Cut Pro
I’m sorry if this has been answered before, but I tried searching the forums and couldn’t find one. I also apologize for the long post. So here’s the problem…
Me and my friend shot footage on a Panasonic 24P camera and digitized the footage into Final Cut Pro HD. I’m not sure how the camera works, but I assume that the camera itself converts the 24 frames into 30 because when we digitized it, it looks as though the project is at 30 fps in Final Cut.
Anyway, so we rendered out the clips that we wanted to put into after effects using the animation codec. Once I was in After Effects I went to interpret footage and removed the pulldown so it was back at 24 fps. I set the project to 24 fps and did some tracking work and some mask work and then wanted to render it back out.
This is where I have problems. I’ve tried a couple different ways to render but when imported back into FCP and then made into a DVD, there are field issues. I’ve tried rendering the 24 frame project out at 29.97 by reimplementing the pulldown and I’ve tried rendering it out at 29.97 without touching the 3:2 pulldown box. Both were done using lower fields first.
Is there something I’m missing? Should I nest my 24 frame project into a 29.97 frame project (but won’t that mess up my masks)? Should I be rendering upper fields first instead? Do I render with the pulldown option on? I used to be able to do this fine for Avid, but can’t quite seem to get the hang of it for FCP. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Oh, and by the way, I’m using AE 6.5
David
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7 Replies
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I’m no expert but if you shot progressive (24p) why are you rendering out to fields? Try rendering with fields off.
JD
John Dickinson
Motionworks
http://www.motionworks.com.au -
Because it seems that the camera automatically introduces pulldown internally, because my FCP project is at 30 fps instead of 24.
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Sorry I can’t be more helpful, we don’t have to deal with Pulldown in Australia. I’m sure someone will be able to help 🙂
JD
John Dickinson
Motionworks
http://www.motionworks.com.au -
Thanks anyway. Appreciate it.
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Did you shoot in 24p Normal or 24p advanced? Which easy setup did you use in FCP? This will determine how it was digitized.
If you are in fact editing at 24p, you should set your AE comp at 23.98 and then it should pop in to FCP with no rendering, but that doesn’t sound like what is going on.
It sounds like you shot 24p Normal, which is 24p footage with a 3:2 pulldown, as opposed to 24pAdvanced which has a different pulldown cadence. When you capture footage shot at 24pNormal, you are capturing at 29.97 and you should also edit at 29.97. The problem comes in when you try and reinterlace this footage when rendering out of AE, you are introducing interlace to some of the fields that are progressive (this is where it starts to get messy). So, you can try and remove the pulldown in AE and set your comp to 23.98, and then render that footage with a pulldown to get you back to 29.97…or…You can send the footage out to cinema tools, remove the pulldown leaving you with 23.98 media. You can then composite in AE at 23.98, and render out at 23.98 and then edit in FCP at 23.98…or…you can remove pulldown in cinema tools, comp in AE at 23.98 and render out of AE with a 3:2 pulldown to get you to 29.97 and then edit in FCP at 29.97.
Also, if your footage is rendered out of Ae at 23.98 then you can make a 24p DVD. Don’t worry, the DVD player will add the pulldown so people can watch it on a regular NTSC tv. Adding pulldown is part of the DVD spec. It makes it easier for Hollywood to cram more material on a DVD as 240p media is smaller than 29.97.
There’s a mighty big workflow to learn with 24p and you have to figure out which is best for you.
If in fact you did shoot in 24p Advanced, then I would suggest recapturing your footage and remove the advanced pulldown on capture (this is only available when you shot 24p advanced) using the 24p Advanced pulldown removal easy set up in FCP. That way you are editing in 23.98, then compositing and rendering out in AE at 23.98, and then editing again in FCP at 23.98 and then making a 24p DVD.
Make sense?
Jeremy
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G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2
ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 4105 Fibre -
Thanks for all your help and advice. I finally got it to work. It was shot 24p normal. My friend was the one that set up the FCP project, so I wasn’t sure what settings he was using…I just knew that it was 30fps in Final Cut. So when I brought it in to AE, I removed the pulldown and worked at 24 fps, and then rendered it back out at 29.97 by putting the pulldown back in. It’s actually what I thought I did before, but I must have accidentally put different settings. But it works fine now.
But thanks again. You just taught me a bunch of stuff I didn’t know before about 24p and whatnot, and I love learning new stuff. So thanks.
David
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No problem, glad it’s working.
Jeremy
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