-
Clip Replacement for VFX
I made a post about this a while ago but no replies. I find that working on projects where VFX shots are still in progress is pretty cumbersome.
For instance, I bring an edit into Resolve and start grading. Later on, I get a bunch of shots that have been touched up and I need to get those shots into the timeline, replacing their originals. Often vfx shots go through a couple iterations and I need to replace old vfx shots with new ones in Resolve.
So far, the way I’ve dealt with this is to bring new vfx shots into a new folder in the media pool, then I manually cut in the new shots into the session in the Conform tab. Needless to say it’s a messy system and one that’s prone to screwing up the edit. Not to mention, having to manually cut in vfx shots every time there’s a revision is a time waster.
How are others approaching this issue? I’m sure the “clip replacement” or “change parent directory” features play a role, I just haven’t had any luck with them.roman hankewycz
harbor film company // colorist -
9 Replies
-
I haven’t had to do major VFX projects yet so pardon my theorycrafting here:
If your VFX guys preserved reel and or timecode, “reconform from folders” should work, if you import your VFX into a separate folder.
If VFX files came back with all new TC, I imagine you might have to cut them in the first time, but all subsequent versions should be reconformable, provided VFX keeps their own outputs with consistent TC.
-
Are you working with DPX or EXR frames? That workflow seems pretty seamless for a VFX heavy project.
Josh Petok
Online | Color
JoshPetok.com
TheCurrentCut.com -
Neither actually. Since the project isn’t for film, the vfx guy gives me back quicktimes. Would that make a difference?
roman hankewycz
harbor film company // colorist -
Maybe with v8 thing will look different but for now just dont do this in Resolve, but instead feed Resolve with a clear structure.
Example..
You have a movie with 1500 shots to grade.
100 of them will be VFX replacements.
Render out all your source media into folders.
sh0001 to sh1500 and just have your DPX files in there.
Start grading from that and as soon as you get VFX shots, just replace the footage in those folders.
By doing that Resolve will just load whats in the folder and you can worry about the color only.A slice of color…
DaVinci 7.1.2 OSX 10.6.7
MacPro 5.1 2x 2,4 24GB
RAID0 8TB eSata 6TB
GTX 285 / GT 120
Extreme 3D+ WAVE -
Good suggestion. Would this work with QT files too or just DPX sequences. Also, this way, the names of all replacement vfx files has to be the same, right? You can’t do v01, v02, etc.
roman hankewycz
harbor film company // colorist -
I did a quick test before and if your VFX shots preserves the same name and timecode and when they are imported into the mediapool, Resolve will flag the clip in the timeline in the Conform Page as a conflict with a C at the top right corner of the shot, which means conflict.
When you click on the C, it will pop up a window and ask you to choose which is the clip you want to use, which in your case would be the new VFX shot. Once you have selected the clip you want, it will change from C to R, which means resolved.
Subsequently when you import another new VFX shot, with the same name and timecode, the C character will show up again and you then choose the clip you want.
Hope this helps.
-chrispy
-
As Sasha mentioned, in v8 this will be alot easier as you’ll be able to stack your different VFX shots in the multi-track timeline, or you can easily replace the clip with a new one. The editorial tools in v8 are much better.
-chrispy
-
That makes sense. But do the file names or the reel names of the vfx shots need to match? Reel names is no problem but file name means that you’d have to rename the files which can cause confusion down the line (v01, v02 and v03 would have their names changed to v01).
I guess at this point there’s no super clean and easy method.Does anyone know how to successfully use “clip replacement?” The documentation is a little sparse on explanations. It seems like you can replace parts of a source media file with a new (touched up) segment. It’s an interesting idea but I haven’t spent much time figuring it out. Maybe I will today.
Thanks for the help guys.
roman hankewycz
harbor film company // colorist -
The Easy way for me
1. Ask vfx guys to render files with same name and same length.
2. Put the files into folders named by date of production and iteration number.
3. At resolve select VFX at browser and change parent directory.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up