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How can I export cuts from FCPX timeline?
Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to export separate clips with handles from FCPX timeline. I’d like to somehow send my project for color grading to a remote DaVinci Resolve. I have DaVinci Resolve on the local editing machine as well and I could export an XML from FCPX and open that XML in DaVinci Resolve, but then what? The colorist is remote and the coloring needs to happen remotely. Can anyone help with a suggestion?
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6 Replies
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You can’t export clips with handles from the fcpx timeline but as you say, you can send the timeline to resolve and export the clips from there. Worx4 X also does a great job of exporting individual clips.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Thank you Jeff. Am I loosing quality when I do that? I exported XML from FCPX and opened it in Resolve, then I exported individual clips from Resolve in Apple ProRes 422 HQ. Did I lose quality of the image? I will send all the exported individual files to the colorist, he will grade and also export individual files, which I have to import into FCPX for the final edit. Is this a good workflow? Lossless?
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It’s as lossless as your codec of choice gets. Not really noticeable for something like ProRes. But it’s the only way to do it with FCPX so there’s no avoiding it.
My workflow would probably be to send the edit to Resolve, output proxies to send the the remote colourist who would send me back the resolve project which I would relink to thbe original media and render for bringing back into FCPX. That’s a single generation loss in the round trip.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Thank you! I could do that, but isn’t the proxy media much lower quality than the original media. Wouldn’t the colorist be grading footage with much less information in it?
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That might depend on your codec but ProRes Proxy just has a smaller frame size and lower bitrate so the image quality will be lower but the colour information will be the same. Which is not to say you shouldn’t send full sized originals if you can but I’m often having to send files over the internet and proxies can save a lot of time and bandwidth.
Mostly I think it would depend on what the colourist is doing. If there’s a level of resizing and sharpening involved then it would probably be better to have the full resolution originals but if it’s purely colour correction then only having proxy files shouldn’t make any difference.
Whatever you do, the process is the same. The remote person gets the footage and project file, does the grade, then just sends you the project file so you can re-link and render.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Thank you Jeff! I understand now.
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