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FCPX to Resolve Intermittent Time Offset
My colorist used FCPX to export an XML for Resolve to use. He then exported the .mov Pro Res to me. VFX imported .mov into AE and noticed that all of his tracking that he had used on the Locked Picture file (pre-color) wasn’t working. It was at this point he realized there was a time offset in places.
In side-by-side comparison, each clip (Locked Picture and Color Version) start and end at the same place. However, within some (not every clip but many) the CV develops a 1-2 frame lag but then catches up at the end. In FCPX, when I put them together on the timeline, the clips all match up from start and end and even the whole movie is the same length.
The colorist has no idea what happened. It seems as if there was an issue with FCPX export of the FCPxml or it was Davinci that had issues importing the xml. The colorist has washed his hands of it not knowing how to fix the issue is. This would make Sound, VFX, and Composer go back on CV and tweak what they’ve done from LP. Either that or I have to have someone else recolor the film and unfortunately I don’t have the budget for that.
So has anyone heard about such a thing happening and is there any resolution that you know of? I’m not sure if this should be in Davinci or FCP forum. Thank you.
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7 Replies
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Not sure if it’s a general FCX issue. Because I have graded three projects cut on FCX that were sent via XML, and neither had this issue. I had a Reference QT in all cases, and never had a cut not line up. I’ve had to use that ProRes QT export to patch a couple things, like stills that didn’t link at all (none of the stills they used linked up) and a couple media shots that just refused to show up in Resolve (some H.264 codec stock footage, really odd). But I havent had any slipping issues like you describe. I wonder if it has to do with the specific project…perhaps the media they use? Older version of FCX? Just guessing here…
Shane
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Lots of variables. Without knowing versions of FCPX and Resolve it could be a mismatch between fcpxml which has changed over the years and Resolve has been very prompt to chase those changes.
Are the slipping shots at the same frame rate as the timeline? Are they varispeeds or ramps? Is Resolve rendering these slips or is it just a playback lag?
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Thanks for the reply. Its very odd. He tried exporting another xml & the frames changed that slipped from the original. We thought maybe the xml was telling it to speed up & slow down in clips but if that was the case then it should be the same clips that are off with each xml. I can’t imagine it’s version of fcpx to create an xml but he’s convinced its fcp.
If you can see this link you can see where they aren’t matching if it helps.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85H1jPkhZUrWFNiaVVfek9Db2M/view?usp=sharing
Thanks
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Yes all same frame rate. Its varying speeds. Seems some clips are off 1 frame, some 2 frames, some none. There were no ramps on the FCPX project file. Colorist didn’t add in any speed changes and shouldn’t be a player lag because we are going frame by frame to see the issues. Does this help at all?
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It looks like the xml has shifted the sync by a frame. I have seen that when a compound clip is decomposed but not on all footage. I recently did an FCPX job and although the editor had gotten rid of all compounds, any clips with plugins imported as a compound which I think is a problem with how FCPX is creating an xml.
When I decomposed those plugin shots a lot of them shifted sync by one frame. I had to manually roll the shot forward one frame. This looks the same to me as the sync seems off by 1 frame late comparing the shots. Cuts remain the same, it is just a sync slip. Why it only happens on some shots and not others remains a mystery but it is only behavior I have seen in FCPX xmls. I always put the reference video on a higher track, set the opacity to 50% and skip through the whole show to pick up this sort of error before grading starts.
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This might be the issue. The editor did not get rid of the compounds. I was wondering if it was a multi-cam issue. I’m new to FCPX and so the multi-cam clip is very weird to me coming from FCP7. I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate in it. I’m tried googling removing a compound and it says to double click and then go to the Break Apart Clip Items. However, that option is greyed out to me. Do you know how I remove the multi-cam clips? It was sunk in Plural Eyes as a Multi-Cam, so not sure if that makes it impossible.
Thanks so much!
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You can decompose compounds and multi cam from FCPX in Resolve. But you need to check sync after you do.
Also I always request a picture only xml from FCPX. I find audio relinking is poor and you shouldn’t need audio other than a guide mix with the reference video.
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