Reference Movies

[Simon Ubsdell]

I think it’s correct to say that you can’t do this. If you have the new Compressor however I am guessing that using the Share/Send to Compressor option will effectively send a reference movie.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[David Eaks]

I have the same question as well, I do a lot of reference movie exports…

[Jeffrey Werth]

I know that I can send it to Compressor, but I use reference movies to encode with other programs like Episode. Also, I sometimes use reference movie to send clips to After Effects for composting work.

Plus, Compressor would always work better with reference movies as well.

[Simon Ubsdell]

No, I understand – just trying to explain what I believe are the current limitations with regard to reference movies. Not trying to defend anything at this point 😉

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Gary Adcock]

[Jeffrey Werth] “I don’t if anyone has mentioned this, but is there any way to export a reference movie”

As Simon said- no.

This is more because of the way media is handled here with all of the behind the scenes rendering and such it is much more dificult to handle the media simply for a QT REF worklfow.

gary adcock
Studio37

Post and Production Workflow Consultant
Production and Post Stereographer
Chicago, IL

https://blogs.creativecow.net/24640

[Tony Silanskas]

Just curious how many of you still use Reference files in FCP 7. I gave up on them years ago because:

– Many errors with Compressor
– Many errors with other non-Apple programs
– For large jobs with multiple editors way too much work to make sure each editor always has the latest render files that go with the Reference Movies

Using self-contained movies ensures that the file will always work, no matter the use since it’s its own flattened movie. Seems like a lot of hoops to jump around for saving a little drive space with storage so cheap now-a-days. And if you keep up with the organization of your project, you’re deleting no longer needed self-contained movies as you go which in turns, frees up space. Maybe I’m missing something here…

tony

http://www.HungryCliff.com

[Michael Colin]

Reference movies have been a CRITICAL part of my workflow for years. It’s the dirty little secret I’ve always kept from producers who are SO impressed at how I can work in FCP while also working in Compressor, DVDSP, After Effects, etc. This is one of my biggest disappointments with the new version. (Second biggest is apparently not being able to use Photoshop files with layers. Jeez….)

[Tony Silanskas]

[Michael Colin] ”
Reference movies have been a CRITICAL part of my workflow for years. It’s the dirty little secret I’ve always kept from producers who are SO impressed at how I can work in FCP while also working in Compressor, DVDSP, After Effects, etc. This is one of my biggest disappointments with the new version.”

You can still “Send to Compressor” in FCP X and continue working so that’s one plus.

Just out of curiosity, do you like Reference Movies just because of the fast exports from FCP? With the speed of most MACS these days, exporting a timeline in Self-Contained takes just minutes on HD ProRes shows under an hour. I just think for me because of working with multiple editors that having a flattened file anyone can open without the fear of not having the referenced material is well worth the wait. I’ve had to re-export out so many referenced movies because of that, and the amount of time to find the right edit, if it even still exists, is not fun or a good use of time.

tony

http://www.HungryCliff.com

[David Eaks]

I think the level of usefulness of a Reference Movie is highly dependent on your workflow. Understandably, there are many reasons a reference movie might not be right for a complex, multi-editor project.

I shoot live events, switching 2 cameras live and recording 1920×1080 Prores. For a majority of jobs, I shoot a “finished product”. Just slap a title at the start and a logo at the end, then its off to Compressor for Matrox MAX encoding and then to BD & DVD. No Compressor errors or problems otherwise with REF’s (now that I know what I’m doing, thanks COW’s). Still, I always end the name of a reference movie with “REF” just to be sure there is no mix up.

I literally have no use for self-contained .MOV files in this workflow. REF’s are a HUGE time and storage saver for me. I’ll just have to see how well Send to Compressor works in X, now that it lets me keep working in FCP while it “sends”. But it doesn’t really matter until my Matrox MXO2 is compatible anyway…