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FCP X – Resolve – RED stupidity
I originally cut an indie feature with 1080p down-converted/transcoded proxies from RED 4K files. The media was generated in Redcine-X Pro, so FCP X always only saw the proxies. I cut it in 10.0.9 and exported an FCPXML (old version). Then for the grade, last week I imported those FCPXMLs into 10.1.4 (at a film school’s facility) and relinked all the proxies in FCP X. I made a few tweaks and stripped off all audio. Then I exported a new FCPXML for this version.
In Resolve 11, I imported the new FCPXMLs and relinked to the RED files. Everything has worked perfectly in Resolve. I’ve been exporting a single file of each reel as 1080p ProRes. Perfect. When I bring this ProRes export into FCP X, it is perfectly happy with the file.
But there are a few places where I need to do the final conform of that section in FCP X, due to the transition effects I used. So for one section, I rendered it using the FCP roundtrip easy set-up in Resolve. That is, individual clips with handles at the timeline resolution (1080p).
I import the Resolve-generated FCPXML into 10.1.4 and everything came in fine, except that it thinks all the rendered source clips are 4K. Evidently the timeline master clip metadata is for the 4K RED file, but it’s linked to the 1080p media files rendered out from Resolve. So the whole timeline has a render bar. If I set spatial conform to “none”, the render bar goes away and it blows up the shot to 4K (which it isn’t). This bug has been there between Resolve and FCP X for at least a couple of years.
I took the rendered/exported clips and the FCPXML home and imported these into my system running 10.2.1. There, it still sees these files as 4K. In addition, it won’t relink the media at all, because it says “incompatible format”. Apparently it’s looking for audio channels in the RED media, even though this audio was supposedly stripped out of my sequence. Maybe if I re-export from Resolve and make sure it also exports audio, then that might work.
Is it an FCP X or a Resolve problem? Don’t know. Don’t care. Apple, please fix this stuff, because it most likely boils down to the structure of FCPXML files. Whatever the reason, I SHOULD be able to relink the media by overriding the “incompatible format” prompt!
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
41 Replies
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[Oliver Peters] “Whatever the reason, I SHOULD be able to relink the media by overriding the “incompatible format” prompt!
“It is very frustrating that you can’t, I’ve had it happen a number of times
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I find the most frustrating thing about FCPX is it rejecting footage as not compatible especially when it’s the exact footage that was in the cut!?! It really should take ANY footage I choose not matter what the framerate, size, audio config who cares it should be my choice!
As far as the round-tripping thing, I hate round–tripping of any kind and am currently cutting a RED feature shot 4K on 2 Dragons at 7:1 in real-time natively in FCPX. No proxies! It’s fantastic! Though I will say it’s even faster in Premiere CC on the same machine though the 5 tracks of audio make it a pain to cut in anything but FCPX which handles multi-track audio in a smart way.
It was at a Vegas premiere that I resolved to become an avid FCPX user.
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 -
“It really should take ANY footage I choose not matter what the framerate, size, audio config who cares it should be my choice!”
Be nice. But wouldn’t that also require Apple to license every single possible codec in the wild? Seems to me this is a classic IP issue. People want to be able to shoot any camera and any codec they want, and have Apple solve all the resulting IP conflicts for them, but that’s just not how it works. If Red changes something is it Apples job to alter FCPXML to conform?
Everyone dings Apple for not making perfectly compatible FCPFML (irrespective of the fact that X has unique magnetic scaffolds that don’t directly have analogs on other programs) and wonders why the gears don’t always mesh perfectly.
I’m kinda surprised it works as well as it does! I do feel for those who have to straddle camps. It’s a hassle for sure.
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[Bill Davis] “”It really should take ANY footage I choose not matter what the framerate, size, audio config who cares it should be my choice!”
Be nice. But wouldn’t that also require Apple to license every single possible codec in the wild? Seems to me this is a classic IP issue.”
I think you are adding an extra interpretation to Lance’s comment that may or may not be there. I think he’s simply asking for the same capability that FCP 7 used to have and that Resolve, Smoke and Premiere Pro have today. In my case – the X to Resolve to X roundtrip – I find it unjustifiable that FCP X cannot relink to a list that it originated and based on a media configuration that it in fact generated. That’s a pretty big hole in the functionality of FCPXML. It largely means you can go out from X, but you may not get back in.
FCP 7’s relinking was far more versatile, but it came at a price of sometimes causing media management issues in the hands of inexperienced users. To button down the media management issues, Apple decided to copy how Avid has handled media management by running a tight database to connect the edit events with the media. This is further coupled with OSX’s very obscure method of symlinks and hard links – all in an effort to lock down the media. Unfortunately it’s still not as bullet-proof at what Avid does. I frequently run into issues when moving media and Libraries around among computers via sneakernet, where media paths are tied to the other computer, thus making relinking manual again. That almost never happens in the Avid world.
However, all of this lockdown can create problems – namely that it’s often impossible to cheat the system and it’s often harder than it needs to be to move productions among several systems. The prime example is the needs of a finishing system, which by definition must cheat the system. This is an area where Resolve excels. Give it matching TC and reel/source ID and you can link nearly anything. When it finds duplicate options, it flags you and shows the possible matches to pick from. Even when the correct option is something completely different, if you can find the right file in your media pool, you can relink.
Right now, it seems like FCP X works best as a self-contained application or one that you use for offline and then move out of.
[Bill Davis] “I’m kinda surprised it works as well as it does!”
Isn’t that damning with faint praise? 😉
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Lance Bachelder] “Though I will say it’s even faster in Premiere CC on the same machine though the 5 tracks of audio make it a pain to cut in anything but FCPX which handles multi-track audio in a smart way.
“True about the performance issue. Regarding the tracks, Avid actually has a very nice solution to that, when you assume that audio post will go to ProTools. There, when you sync double-system sound in MC, you can choose to only use 1 of the tracks, like your composite mix. If you need to pull an iso mic, simply match-frame to the wav and then cut in that channel. Then in ProTools the mixer can pull in the wavs and use all of the tracks. Therefore, you get the best of both worlds.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
How many clips aren’t working, and it’s only the clips that have a transition on them?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “How many clips aren’t working, and it’s only the clips that have a transition on them?”
All of them don’t link. They all show up as 4K. In 10.2.1, all of them show up as incompatible format. Only a few have transitions. There over 100 clips, however I only care about the section with the transitions. For the rest of the reel, I’m simply exporting a complete, self-contained master file, since there’s no reason to conform it twice.
My suspicion is that because they originally linked to the RED files, which had embedded audio (that was stripped out in the sequence), it somehow thinks the new media files that it should link to should also have audio.
Both the scale and audio issues seem like bugs to me. The scale issue in particular has been around for quite awhile with neither BMD nor Apple addressing it.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “Both the scale and audio issues seem like bugs to me. The scale issue in particular has been around for quite awhile with neither BMD nor Apple addressing it.
“There are some weird scale things. It seems to be a bug in fcpx itself because if you read the XML the frame size is usually correct.
I guess I’m a bit confused with your workflow though. You’re saying the XML from Resolve doesn’t link to the Resolve rendered files, or you are trying to link new files to your existing sequence in fcpx?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “I guess I’m a bit confused with your workflow though. You’re saying the XML from Resolve doesn’t link to the Resolve rendered files, or you are trying to link new files to your existing sequence in fcpx?”
I exported an FCPXML from Resolve along with corresponding ProRes clips using the FCP roundtrip easy set-up. On that system with FCP 10.1.4, I am able to relink to these rendered files. BUT, this system also has the RED files on the same drive array. I verified that it was in fact linking to the ProRes files.
When I take the exported ProRes files and the FCPXML to a different system with 10.2.1, it cannot relink to the ProRes files. It shows the “incompatible format” error message, stating that something doesn’t match and specifies audio channels. This system DOES NOT have the RED files connected.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Can’t you update the linked 10.1.4 library to 10.2.1?
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