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Baselight
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[Oliver Peters] ”
[Walter Soyka] “and something not so nice about Symphony”While the color toolset in Symphony is certainly long-in-the-tooth, it’s no slouch. You just can’t do elaborate, multi-layered grades like you can in other systems. No shapes or tracking unless you do that as a separate effect, which is possible. However, it’s perfect for TV series finishing. As a built-in tool, from a standpoint of workflow, there is simply no other current NLE with comparable capabilities, unless you are talking about Quantel (editor+grading) or if you cut in Resolve.”
If editing does improve significantly in the next version of Resolve, going to move most of my workflow there. No doubt that 12 is better then 11, just needs some further refinement. I prefer nodes over layers but Resolve needs to make the nodes a bit easier to work with. Fusion is a joy to work with. Arranging, changing connects between nodes is much faster and easier with Fusion.
If cost were no object, I would move over to Linux. Of course that would mean giving up Final Cut Pro X, oh well.
The magnetic timeline, it’s magnetic-o-matic!
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I’m just finishing a feature doco on Resolve 12 and although I don’t need a lot of the edit functionality I do like the access to keyframes (this doco has lots of stills moves) plus we have been doing abit of edit replacement of some placeholder archive so I have been doing dome basic editing. I find the toolset in 12 better and as a finishing tool it is fullfilling requirements.
To Olivers point about not having tracking shapes, I really can’t imagine a grade without that facility and also I am more using the stabilizer in Resolve so this doco is the first one I have been able to happily stay entirely within the one tool for everything. I came close with Resolve 11.I can see things like the smart bins just getting better.
Baselight is fantastic but given the price point of Resolve (and I have a fully paid version) I can’t justify the cost for documentary work.
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[Michael Gissing] “To Olivers point about not having tracking shapes, I really can’t imagine a grade without that facility”
A lot of episodic TV, especially non-scripted (“reality”) TV gets graded in 4-8 hours for a 1/2 hr – 1 hr. show. In that situation, you don’t go crazy with shape masks and this is where Symphony shines.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “A lot of episodic TV, especially non-scripted (“reality”) TV gets graded in 4-8 hours for a 1/2 hr – 1 hr. show. In that situation, you don’t go crazy with shape masks and this is where Symphony shines.”
Typically I allow 16 hours grade per 1 hr doco so not to much time difference. I always use tracked shapes within that time with Resolve. The tracking is pretty good and very fast to track. Perhaps because I charge a job rate rather than hourly I would rather take the time and do a better job. I’ll bet I am not different in price per finished minute.
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Just to be clear. You can do layers of grades and tracking and shape masks in Symphony. It just isn’t as simple as in Resolve, because it can’t be applied in a single application of a color correction effect on a clip. Symphony is one of the few NLEs with built-in paint and custom shape drawing.
In normal Symphony correction, a single application of color correction includes a primary and a color-qualified secondary level. That’s per clip, per layer. Then, on top of that you can apply program-level correction, which can be applied to a clip, a range of clips or the whole timeline. This is within the color correction mode and can be combined with clip-level correction. So in Resolve terms, this would be similar to 4 nodes.
Then, in addition to all of that, you have spot correction, which is color correction applied as an effect. So the toolset is pretty comprehensive, but you have to know how to use it, because some of it isn’t as intuitive as it needs to be.
The key factor is time, since you have the ability to use source-based correction. In theory, with a 4-cam multicam, 4 corrections (1 per camera) would grade the entire timline (assuming consistency). But the biggest time-saver is the lack of a need for a roundtrip, assuming it was cut on Media Composer to begin with.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Thanks for posting Peter. After thinking it over, my plans are to stay with Resolve. Just noticed the new update and two things really make me happy. One, manual keyframes can be applied to power windows. The other will be support for Sapphire Builder, though I have heard that this requires an update to Sapphire. I think once Resolve becomes a more robust editing software I might leave the FCP X camp.
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[Oliver Peters] “The key factor is time, since you have the ability to use source-based correction. In theory, with a 4-cam multicam, 4 corrections (1 per camera) would grade the entire timline (assuming consistency). But the biggest time-saver is the lack of a need for a roundtrip, assuming it was cut on Media Composer to begin with.”
It’s been ages since I’ve cut anything on an Avid. How do you think Symphony source-side correction compares with Pr’s master clip effect [link] workflow?
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Walter Soyka] “It’s been ages since I’ve cut anything on an Avid. How do you think Symphony source-side correction compares with Pr’s master clip effect [link] workflow?”
Similar, but there’s a key difference. The Premiere effect is a true source-side effect, so it changes the master clip, like FCP7 used to. This affects all timelines in which that clips appears. In Symphony it is only active within the one timeline where you are doing the grading. Pros and cons to each solution.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Steve Hullfish has a good explanation of the announcement here:
https://www.provideocoalition.com/what-does-baselight-s-new-announcement-mean-to-you
Here are some case studies:
https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/customers/case-studies/case-studies.php
This case study was cut and graded by a friend of mine using the Avid plug-in awhile back:
https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/customers/case-studies/badparents.php
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Hang on. The entire Avid effects interface is an utter joke tho? the ludicrous nesting, arcane process, highlighting the pink/red keyframe icon in the monitor to be able to alter a number entry – isn’t it an open industry joke at this point how Avid, particularly in its effects architecture, is built not to be understandable in order to support an invested clientele?
You’d almost swear Avid is in Quarkxpress territory.
https://ogallchoir.prosite.com/
producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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