ProRes offline – DPX online, questions

[Kevin Cannon]

Hi Glabs,

A couple ways come to mind for getting the media into the media pool, splitting it, and then linking up the EDL timeline to the media pool.

First possibility: Do the DPX files have overlapping timecode? If they don’t overlap, you could reasonably work without adding any reel #s. Bring in all the DPX media to the media pool, then load up the EDL and timeline, which (when it finds no matching reel #s) should settle for finding the right timecode. Note that this won’t split your media, so if you have 10 lab rolls scanned, you’ll need to give each clip it’s own version or use local versions when you grade. This way is a little sloppy if your media isn’t already split up.

Second possibility: Do the DPX files have a reel number embedded in the file (which you can find by setting Resolve to assist Reel #s using embedded)? If they do, you could go back into Final Cut and edit the Reel IDs for the ProRes to match the DPX reel names. If the DPX don’t have a filename, you could use a parent folder, or make new arbitrary reel #s, and then set the same in FCP. Having a functioning EDL this way will also help if you want to “add and split clips based on EDL” which would be helpful if your DPX are whole lab reels.

KC

Prehistoric Digital

[Glabs Drackchum]

Thanks Kevin for the ideas. Sounds like there’s an avenue, via some analysis and some renaming. I’m a novice with Resolve, so I’m digging around in the right clicks for the possibilities.

As you anticipate, the project’s original selects were strung somewhat arbitrarily and each DPX folder contains a lot of shots, un-split, camera starts to camera stops, and every folder starts over with TC 00:00:00:00

So I have to come up with matching Reel names for the ProRes. I can’t even tell if the DPX contains embedded Reel names, as I don’t yet understand how this is stored or displayed. I’ll keep mucking with it, but I do see how one changes the Reel names in FCP.

I do see the setting ‘assist Reel #s using embedded’ among other choices, but I don’t see Resolve ‘assisting’ me yet! Maybe it’s telling me there’s no embedded reel name?

Is there any particular type of EDL, format or settings appropriate for this scheme?

-glabs

[Kevin Cannon]

If you went into the project settings, enabled “assist using reel numbers” and selected the “embedded” option and didn’t see any reel numbers when you browse to the DPX files, there’s a good chance that metadata is missing. Resolve wouldn’t give you any special warning. You can also edit the Reel #s on a clip in the media pool by going into clip attributes (which supersedes the project setting).

Given that the timecodes all start at 00000000 (a worse crime) it’s too bad you don’t have Reels. Do the timecodes in the ProRes at least appear to all match those DPX? The only thing worse than overlapping TC with no reel #s would be offline media that has mismatched TC.

So to do it right, you’d need to give every DPX sequence a reel # in Resolve, and then go back and give the same to the ProRes. Resolve can systematically extract reel numbers from the directory structure if at least there’s some cohesiveness to the folder structure, otherwise you might have to edit the clip attributes for each clip to add them manually.

Cheers,

KC

Prehistoric Digital