Compositing in FCP?

[John]

I am not a complete expert on this, but I’ve been doing quite a bit of C4D graphics in FCP lately with good results. The main settings you need are in the first three panels of the Render Settings dialog, the rest you can probably leave at default values. Here are links to some screen snaps of the settings that I am using for full-frame renders that I am integrating in a 720×480 DV NTSC timeline:

https://www.alabstudios.com/C4D_render_general.png
https://www.alabstudios.com/C4D_render_output.png
https://www.alabstudios.com/C4D_render_save.png

You wll note that I am using a pixel aspect ratio of 1.185:1 in the ‘Output’ tab. This is because my video is anamorphic 16×9. If you are outputting to 4:3 you would use 0.889:1. If your footage is HD, then the res would go up to 1920×1080 (or 1280×720) and the pixel aspect ratio would be simply 1:1.

In the Save tab, just leave the Format as QT movie and don’t set any custon options. By default C4D will use the Animation codec. Be sure to turn the ‘Alpha Channel’ on if you are going to composite your final render in FCP over some other video. I did not need this which is why that option is off in the screen snap.

When you are done, import your C4D render into FCP, make sure you set it as ‘Anamorphic’ if it is a 16×9 clip, and then drag it into your timeline. You will have to render to see the final version in NTSC.

Hope that helps. John

[Jason King2]

John,

Thank you for the reply, when I render my quicktime file with alpha channel checked then import into FCP, the file does not show it has a alpha channel and I can’t composite against another piece of video. Not sure where I am off, but I have yet to figure this out.

Jason

[John]

Hmm.. I just tried it here just to make sure and it worked. I used the same settings as in my screen snaps except that the ‘Alpha Channel’ checkbox was checked (on the Save page). Don’t check ‘Straight’ or ‘Separate’ alpha. I then imported the C4D render file into FCP5 and put it in a new video track above my background video. It immediately appeared correct — that is, the black areas from C4D were transparent. I did not have to set a composite type for this new video layer. In other words, I left the composite type as ‘normal’ for that track in FCP.

Try this: in your FCP timeline, right click on your C4D clip (it should be in a video track above your background video). Choose ‘Item Properties:Format…’. In the info window that appears check to make sure that the clip’s ‘Alpha’ setting is ‘Straight’. If not, right click on the setting and change it to ‘Straight’. Your canvas window should immediately update. If this works, you may also need to change the same setting for your clip in the Project bin — just in case you place the same clip into another area of your project. In other words, a clip placed in the timeline can have different settings than the master one that appears in the Project bin.

John

[Jason King2]

John,

Thank you, I got it. Wondering though can you have camera moves on your animation that
will be composited into FCP 5? Because I took a existing file with letters and a camera moving around the letters and I could not get it to composite into FCP, but when I started with a new file and just put in text no camera I was able to composite file.

Thank you again for your help!
Jason

[John]

C4D has a built-in camera that it calls the ‘Editor Camera’. By default this is the acive camera. If you’ve created your own camera, you need to make it active if you want to see your scene from that point of view. To do this, select your camera from the ‘Cameras:Scene Cameras:’ menu of the current view port. Unless you changed it, your camera will be named just ‘camera’. To switch back to the Editor Camera, just select that option from under the same ‘Cameras’ menu.

The C4D renderer uses the current camera to decide what view to render. So after you make your custom camera active, the renderer should give you what you want.

Hope that helps. John

[Marc Stowe]

Can you get a drop shadow for the object you render in C4D to affect the background plate in FC? Say I render a space ship and wish to composite it into footage of a cornfield, to make the shot believable my ship needs to cast a shadow on the ground. Is it possible to do this with material rendered in C4D or am I going to have to paint my own shadow? Thanks for any help.

[John]

sorry for the delayed reply…

Yes.. you can render out shadows in C4D with an alpha channel that when composited in FCP will affect the background. That is, the shadow area will darken the background plate and be somewhat transparent whereas your other solid objects will be opaque. You will need to add your own lights to the scene and set their shadow cast settings. Then make sure you turn on alpha channel when you render out.

Hope that helps. John

[Marc Stowe]

Thanks for the confirmation. In terms of actual application I believe I understand it is best to render out a straight alpha channel and you must also use a file format that supports alpha channels. The thing I read in C4D manual that is confusing me now pertains to the use of the Background object. It maintains such objects will block the alpha channel. Is it a terrible imposition to ask anyone for a simple scene, perhaps just a cube with a cast shadow that is set up to generate an alpha channel for import into FC so I can look at the render settings? It would really make my week! Thanks for the help so far.