AE Grain Renders in FCP?

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

I would use short segments to do tests and previews in AE directly for your client to see. There is no way you can get as much control as in AE if you use your method.
Here’s one idea though- I do not know if it can be done since my knowlege of FCP is limited to simple editing. Crush the levels on your grain from AE and use FCP to comp the footage on top of itself using the Grain layer as a matte, and then adjust the Levels on the layer you comped.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Andrew Smith]

yeah this much i already know.

[Walter Soyka]

I know it’s not what you want to hear, but you’ll get a much, much better result applying Add Grain to your footage instead of trying to cheat by blending it on later.

Add Grain offers a lot more nuance than simple transfer modes.

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

[Andrew Smith]

yeah i just wanted more Control because my ProRes444 render out of Resolve is one 13 minute piece – any tips on the actual act of adding grain – steps you recommend – adjustment layer etc – i am a novice with AE its embarrassing 🙁

[Walter Soyka]

[andrew smith] “yeah i just wanted more Control because my ProRes444 render out of Resolve is one 13 minute piece – any tips on the actual act of adding grain – steps you recommend – adjustment layer etc – i am a novice with AE its embarrassing :(“

You can use Lloyd Alvarez’s Magnum the Edit Detector [link] script to cut the file in AE at the edit points, then use Add Grain directly on the footage on a shot-by-shot basis.

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

[Andrew Smith]

hello
so i am taking your advice sir – brought in my 13 minute render and applying grain and trying different presets – i have turned it don to .500 and plan to just set in/out for shorts tests on a few parts – any settings suggestions?

The director has asked for some stills as well so i think i will just do that with the test renders but would you suggest i do that out of AE instead and if so how best to do so?

thank you for your time.
Andrew

[Walter Soyka]

[andrew smith] “i have turned it don to .500 and plan to just set in/out for shorts tests on a few parts – any settings suggestions?”

Sorry — this would totally depend on the look you were going for. Maybe you can get some visual references from the director? Clips from other videos or movies that show the look he or she is going for?

[andrew smith] “The director has asked for some stills as well so i think i will just do that with the test renders but would you suggest i do that out of AE instead and if so how best to do so?”

You can easily add a still to the render queue [link], or you could use Lloyd Alvarez’s Render Frames at Markers script [link] to help you manage the process for multiple stills. In either case, I find it helpful to change the default render settings [link] and default output module for stills to whatever you’ll use most.

That said, I think you should caution the director against judging the grain on the basis of a still. It’s too easy to crank it up to make the still look good, only to be shocked by how distracting it has become when you see it in motion.

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

[Andrew Smith]

Yeah i created some stills for them to see but ultimately will be adding a short render of it as well to see it in context.

I guess my question is more like ok its a color Red piece should i for example being checking monochromatic or leave that on, I have a reference from them but its more than just grain on that reference its also like gritty texture which they dont want so I am using my own judgement – i honestly dont want to gritty it up at all ya know – its beautiful sharp footage but they want to at least see what some grain will do to get the look they are going for.

[Andrew Smith]

specifically i chose Koadak800T at .300 percent monochromatic

is that ok?

[Andrew Smith]

12-core macpro 32gb ram – what should my render settings be btw?

ok thank you!!