Resolve OSX HDMI monitoring

[Illya Laney]

“fast render farms”?

You need to do a little bit more research. One of the main points of Resolve is that you don’t need to render. Look up power mastering if you want a better idea of what it’s capable of without rendering and definitely look up how Serial, Parallel, and Layer Mix nodes work. All the color processing is done using the CUDA cards.

I just finished a Resolve course that used a system that I think was over 2 years old with the old panel. That old system blows Color away and now with potential new features and the Impressario or Wave, I imagine you could be finishing your work in a quarter of the time it takes with Color, even on OSX.

On a side note, I don’t see the point in complaining about spending a few thousand dollars on your career. If you’re serious about it and you can’t afford it, get a loan or a credit card. That’s how small business owners get started.

Motion Design, Color, Editing
SWGC Incorporated

[Rick Turners]

If you dont mind me asking Illya, where are you taking this course? Cant seem to find anything but an online course via fxphd.

[Hyunsoo Kim]

I Have Apple Color and DaVinci 2k plus side by side at my grading suite doing mostly T2T. Color workflow just cannot keep up with my schedule. The quality, control, and productivity of Color is far below my DaVinci. I use Color for FCP edited sequences, and sometimes I want to lay it off to tape and grade on DaVinci. Resolve OSX will cost little more than my Color set up, but will do much more job much easier. And the quality, control, and performance will be on par with(or even better than) my 2k plus cost me some $600,000 10 years ago.

[Illya Laney]

Hopefully CC will have something from the Black Magic guys by the time it comes out, but yeah, it was the online one. It’s basically set up so you’re “sitting” in on the grading session while the instructors drive the panel. The screen splits so you can watch the monitor feed, their hands on the panel, and the GUI while they’re working. The panel seems fairly straight forward after watching the CU’s of their hands for a few lessons.

Motion Design, Color, Editing
SWGC Incorporated

[Kim Krause]

i have to disagree totally with you…down here in south africa i get just the opposite reaction…
client phones post house A for a quote…nearly drops dead from the price per hour of the so called “professional” systems and calls me up…guess what? i get the job and give them a fantastic product for about 1/4 of the price…..and it gets even funnier….if i get hired as a freelancer at the big post place i still do the same job but the client pays 4 times as much! for the same job…so you see when cost is an issue, as it usually is in 90% of the cases here…color will always win. and do i have to remind anyone here that the true power of any system lies in the hands of the operator!

[Ola Haldor voll]

I see your point. Absolutely. May I ask what kind of system you’re running Color on as of today? Is it THAT much of an investment to get DaVinci and an additional GPU ? I just gotta ask..

And yes indeed, the true power lies in the hands of the operator. And if I may quote one very talented guy over at Pixar.. ‘Art challenges the technology, and technology inspires the art’. A painter who only paints with his fingers can make nice images, but give him a brush… You get the idea?

I’m not saying that DaVinci itself will do the magic, but with the right use (and don’t forget the REAL-TIME playback of images and sound) will greatly enhance the experience – both for you, and for the client.

I can’t say “trust me”, cause I haven’t seen DaVinci up close myself. But I can imagine it, and boy does my imagination go over the hills of joy.. I’ve been asked quite a few times “can you play that?” during a grading session with the DOP or whatever. “Well, sorry, I’ll need to render it first”. Not very impressing and leaves me looking like a douche.

[Kim Krause]

you are missing a big point here…the cost for the so called pro machines is way way way more than a decent fcp/color suite. again i have to remind you that in this country at least, budget restraints dictate who gets the work and having to wait overnight for a render has never been an issue with me….i have done numerous series and features and doccies on my system and have never missed a delivery date..in fact a large number of jobs dont even have the budget for a basic grade so they just don’t bother…when i do get hired to work on a higher budget job with a more “professional” system, i just laugh because i know the client is being taken for a ride because he has to pay a higher rate for the “pro” system to the post house. sure he can walk out without having to render and maybe, just maybe the job will get done a tiny bit quicker but he’ll also walk away with alot less cash in his pocket….

[Kim Krause]

if you dont mind me asking, what are the rates for your suites? its a question i get asked all the time and in the end the cheapest one gets the majority of work….clients just dont have the money to pay for a 2k suite just for grading series….most of them just dont bother if it’s gonna cost them too much…

[Kim Krause]

hey ola:
just wanted to respond to your questions….first of all if i had the bucks and my clients could afford the hourly rate i would glady have a resolve with panels and all the bells and whistles or even a nucoda for that matter…color drives me crazy some days, but the secret to any piece of equipment is knowing its strengths and weaknesses. a full blow resolve on a mac with all the power you would need is going to cost you alot…don’t be fooled by the $1000 price point! that is only for the software…i have worked in the industry for over 30 years and most of my clients hire me for my skill and not my hardware…they could give a damn what i use as long as they get the best job done for the best price! my mac is 2 years old now and i only have a high end sony lcd display being fed from my infinity hdmi card…i only use a mouse and a bamboo tablet because i have yet to find a control surface that lets me give up the mouse entirely…i hear the new software for the tangent might make it easier. i have very detailed meetings with my clients about how i work and what to expect. i would have to say that 95% are thrilled with the look of their finished product. in fact most of them just leave me alone to do my thing and i just take them a hard drive with the final show on it…so for me at least i have found the tools that suit the artist and am extremely happy with the way i work!

[Vladimir Kucherov]

I definitely see where you’re coming from. I don’t think DaVinci is automatically a “Use Color? Then get DaVinci” type of system. I currently make my living using Apple Color and defend it often because you can push it much farther than people give it credit.

Now to upgrade a mac to a decent DaVinci rig seems to run in the 2 to 3 grand stage when buying up GPUs, the video card, and the software itself. That is definitely not trivial for a freelance colorist, and yet there are a few key features I’ve noticed that make it worth it.

Conform tools is a huge one. From what I’ve seen, if a client throws an entirely new edit on me, I can still make that work. Multi point tracker – this one’s huge, and could have saved 16 hours of my life last month. Real time playback is a big deal too – seeing all the keying and vignetting happen at full speed is important.

I think those 3 things to start with are big. Also, if DaVinci can finish to file with any degree of finesse, that means you can skip buying FCP altogether.

Again, it all depends on the clients needs and wants. I know in my case I can definitely do better by them with a davinci system than in color, and grab a few new ones by offering faster turnaround.