Outputing ProRes422(HQ) Sequence to Tape

[Lisa Rolley]

wow guys thank you so much for the detailed responses this is great help.

I guess this just brings up another question for me and its an ongoig arguement between myself and the CD here in this graphics house i work for…that is, whether or not animation codec qt’s are “better than uncompressed 10 bit” the big probel for me as the editor in FCP with a Blackmagic hd extreme card is that animation sequences wont play back on the ntsc monitor nor the plasma for clients either – my question would be then can i actually layoff this sequence if its in animation setting?

Also, i know if i need to retain alhpa info it HAS to be in animation codec but then can i convert it to uncompressed 10 bit or pro res if its hd once its been imported to fcp by switching compressor setting – once doing so will the alpha info still be there?

thanks for everyones responses

best

Lisa

[Jeremy Garchow]

[lisa rolley] “Also, i know if i need to retain alhpa info it HAS to be in animation codec but then can i convert it to uncompressed 10 bit or pro res if its hd once its been imported to fcp by switching compressor setting – once doing so will the alpha info still be there? “

If you bring in the animation movie to your 10 bit timeline, FC will retain the alpha information and render that information into your 10bit timeline, again retaining the transparency. You do not to switch the compressor setting of the Animation movie in FCP. Your timeline should be set for whatever codec you are editing in, and not animation. So, edit in ProRes or 10bit UC and then simply drag your animation files into your timeline and render. Make sense?

You can render a 10 bit movie, and if there’s transparency in your AE sequence, you can render out a separate matte (called alpha in ae) that represents the transparent information of your scene. You can then take both of those movies (the matte and the fill) and do a composite in FCP to restore the transparent areas of your scene and retain 10bit quality. OR you can look at third party codecs like the ones from Bitjazz called Sheer. Sheer is a codec that can operate in 10bits and carry an embedded alpha, but it will cost you or your graphics studios money to buy it.

Animation is 8 bit, 10bit is well, 10 bit. In my opinion, 10 bit wins, especially for graphics.

Jeremy

[Lisa Rolley]

Hey jeremy
thanks for the detailed response you really spelled it out for me and I really appreciate your taking the time to do so – you rock sir.

I also posted this past week about laying off mattes & fills to digi and I figured since i did not get such detailed answers that maybe i could ask you since you bring up alpha and such.

Below is the post i did and peoples responses, before i repost i figured i would ask you – in the end it might just make sense for me to repost and rephrase it a little or something to try to eek out some more detailed responses.

best

Lisa

———————-
I have layed off to tape w/ mattes & Fills on an Avid before although its been some time – I have NOT however ever done this using FCP.

I have to say I really do love using FCP in comparison to Avid but for this project i need to layoff to Digi the spot itself with audio and slate at the front and then after that multiple elements from the spot need to follow with Matte & Fill + Slates to explain what each element is.

My question is about how to do this or maybe someone could even point me in the direction of an article or tutorial which explains how to do this in FCP.

—————–
I have done this type of thing before using pure black and white images.
Just import them into final cut and lay them into the timeline then edit or assemble to tape.
—————–

t helps if you lay the matte & fill off at the same starting point minute wise
eg matte 01:00:00
black
fill 02:00:00
—————–
FCP has a number of compositing settings, like After Effects. Right click on any clip and you will see a choice.
I am sure there are ways to lay out the video (with alpha) on a timeline, then add a layer of white (or black) on top, and using the compositing settings, get the graphic to “cut out” the white for the matte. I have done this, but i cant remeber if the white goes above the video or below, and if you can mute the video but still get the cut out
——————–

[Jeremy Garchow]

Do you need to lay off a matte and fill for your program?

If so, the answers you have posted should send you in the right direction. The only ‘gotcha’ is to remain hyper organized and set your slates properly. Also, if you need to lay off a matte and a fill for each program (how long are they?) I would layoff the matte for the entire program, even if the matte is only a few seconds long. Make s it much easier to recapture and time. For instance, if your program is 23 minutes and you have various mattes that happen along the program, I would layoff the fill on a digi, then I would layoff a separate digi with the matte info with matching or incremented time code (like hour 1, hour 2 as someone has already suggested) for the full length of the program. That way you recap the fill, then you recap the matte, composite and render. You can always trim out the unnecessary matte from the recapped material in the timeline so you won’t have to render a 23 minute composite for no reason. If your program is shorter than that (say 30 or 60 second spots) then you can lay them off on the same digi, just make sure your timing is spot on across the matte and fill and use countdowns & 2 pops.

Does that make sense and is that what you are trying to do?

Jeremy

[Lisa Rolley]

Hey there sir

thank you for getting back to me – so to answer your questions…it is a 30 second spot and of course i will lay off at solid minutes each elements starting with the whole spot first at 1 hour…then i have bumpers interstitials, lower thords, open, backplates, mortis, etc.. to be layed off after that.

I really have never done this and need to know how to import and exactly how to prepare this stuff on the time line (not in terms of the fact that it needs to be at 2, 3, 4 minute marks to separate each individual thing) for digi layoff. I understand how to structure my sequence with different slates in front of each element – my questions are about for example: do i bring in all the mattes as animation qt’s from AE designers and just put them on the timeline or do i need to fiddle around with it (Apple 9) or by using composite modes?

Maybe i am not making sense here so i am sorry if that is the case but again i know how to organize a sequence with slates and tone etc what i need help with is exactly how to do mattes & fills on import and assembly in the timeline.

thanks

best

Lisa

[Jeremy Garchow]

Hey Lisa, sorry just returned from the desert and I was offline for a bit there.

OK. I am a bit confused by your question as I thought we have answered it, but here goes.

If you truly need to layoff a matte and a fill for later use, and not layoff your final composited piece, then you will have to render out a matte and a fill like we talked about earlier. Out of AE, you render the fill layer just like you would any other movie at whatever codec you want, then you render out the ‘alpha’ layer (be selecting alpha from the channels drop down menu in the output module) separately. The fill layer will be full motion video and the matte layer will simply be black and white. If you need to lay these elements off separately, there’s no compositing that needs to be done.

Now, if you DON’T need to lay off the elements separately, then you simply composite them in the timeline using travel mattes and lay off your final composite.

Jeremy

[Lisa Rolley]

Hey there

yeah so The final spot IS what will go first on the tape followed by all the matte and fill pieces which run throughout the spot – bumpers, trasnitions, etc… so the actual use of a travel matte and the whole process of bringing in the elements from the AE designers is the part I have need help with.

I am just the editor so the AE guys are saying that they can give me tiff sequences or animation qt’s both will have the alpha info when needed. I need help with bringing in the mattes & fills and setting them up properly on the timeline – i know to put each individual piece a minute apart starting with the whole spot at the first minute.

any help you can give me would be great – i treid searching for this online elsewhere but did not find any good articles or threads. Hope you enjoyed your travels and i look forward to hearing your repsonse – I hope this even made sense : )

thanks

Lisa

[Jeremy Garchow]

[lisa rolley] “so the actual use of a travel matte and the whole process of bringing in the elements from the AE designers is the part I have need help with.”

Aha. Got ya. Well, have the AE designers render out a separate MAtte and fill at either 10bit or ProRes.

Image sequence are not supported natively in FCP so you will have to transcode them to something else anyway so just have the AE dudes/dudettes render out a 10bit file with the matte separate.

Then after that, you can learn all about travel mattes here:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/FCPTravelMat1.php

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/FCPTravelMat2.php

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/biscardi_walter/FCPTravelMat3.php

[Lisa Rolley]

i dug this up from a while back – realized i forgot to thank you!!
thanks for the response.
lisa