Rookie Q: how to import 5DMII 24p footage into EX Cam 60i timeline.

[Michael Gissing]

Watch Shane Ross’s excellent tutorial which covers the 5D.

https://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/1

[Shane Ross]

NO matter what, when you add footage from a format that is different than the one you are using, you will have to render. BUT, you should get a GREEN render bar, meaning you can work without rendering until you are done.

NOW…I suggest since you are mixing formats…that you DO NOT work in an XDCAM timeline. Adding non-GOP formats to a GOP sequence setting causes crashing. What you should do is convert the 5D to ProRes 422…make a ProRes 422 sequence, and add the XDCAM to that. Work in a ProRes sequence setting. Yes, you will have to eventually render the XDCAM footage, as it will appear with a green render bar, but you won’t have crashing issues.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[W. Lawrence stevens]

Thank you for this helpful advice. Unfortunately, the Canon footage is merely B cam so we can’t work on it first. The main timeline needs to be from the XD Cam footage.

I have not had any crashing problems but then again, I have been unable to drag anything into the 60i timline without having to re render everything. Maybe the solution is to shoot the Canon 60i and convert to 24p/film look when we are posting?

Can I convert the 24p footage to 60i? I thought this would be easy. Silly me!

[Jeremy Garchow]

Why shoot 24p? Shoot 30p.

Yes you can add pulldown to the 24p material so it’s 29.97i using compressor.

[Shane Ross]

[W. Lawrence Stevens] ” the Canon footage is merely B cam so we can’t work on it first. The main timeline needs to be from the XD Cam footage. “

I understand. But if you intend to add ANY footage that is NOT XDCAM, you really should be working in a ProRes sequence. Because if you were working in a SOLELY XDCAM sequence, the XDCAM sequence would be fine. But as soon as you start mixing non-XDCAM formats…non-GOP formats…to the timeline, you increase the possibility of crashing. Why? Because GOP is a pretty processor intensive format, and it doesn’t consist of real individual frames…but of three real frames, and then a Group of Pictures that are used to make up the rest. SO when you force a real individual format into that, it tends to cause issues. I have seen this DOZENS of times. Projects crashing, or failing to be able to export. As soon as I got out of a GOP format, and into a ProRes sequence setting, then things worked just fine.

[W. Lawrence Stevens] “, I have been unable to drag anything into the 60i timline without having to re render everything.”

As I said, if you add a format that differs from your sequence settings, you will ALWAYS have to render. But, as I said, if you get a GREEN render bar, you can work just fine. Orange…RED, those are the troublesome ones. Are you getting orange?

[W. Lawrence Stevens] “Maybe the solution is to shoot the Canon 60i and convert to 24p/film look when we are posting?”

Don’t mix frame rates. That is FAR WORSE than mixing formats. Shoot one standard frame rate. The camera shoots 29.97 and 23.98…so choose the SAME frame rate as your main footage. Otherwise…headache!

[W. Lawrence Stevens] “Can I convert the 24p footage to 60i? I thought this would be easy. Silly me!”

Nope…mixing frame rates is not easy.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[W. Lawrence stevens]

Shane: thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I just watched your fine tutorial and I’ve already discoverd I screwed up. I imported the XD Cam footage correctly but the Canon footage, I just copied it into a bin and started using it. It looks like I need to go back and import properly with that Canon plugin.

Bottom line, I need to figure out a way to use this Canon footage shot in 24p in my 60i timeline. That’s the look we have been using for our television shows successfully for many years in SD (video mixed with film look), so I am hopeful it can be done in HD! Cheers, WLS

[Shane Ross]

Glad that the video will get you on the right track.

In SD, when you got the film look, you shot 24p on a 60i format….24 at 29.97. Pulldown was added to make it retain the film look but be 29.97. You can do the same thing with HD…there are MANY cameras that shoot 24p at 29.97. The DSLR does not. It shoots progressive though…you can shoot 30p and it look very filmic. But at 24p…that’s 23.98. And adding the 23.98 to a 29.97 sequence in FCP…FCP doesn’t remove the pulldown properly. It will if you output to tape, but in MIXING formats…nope. So you have to use Compressor to convert the footage to ProRes, and at the same time adding the proper pulldown. But you need to test settings to see what works.

But here’s the basic setting:

23.98 to 29.97 via Compressor:

1. Drop clips you want to convert into Compressor

2. In Compressor, select your video then right click and choose NEW TARGET WITH SETTING > APPLE > FORMATS > QUICKTIME > APPLE PRORES 422 (HQ). Or pick whatever codec you like to work with.

3. Click on that newly created compression setting to open it in the Inspector window. Click the Encoder tab. Click the Video: (Settings…) button. Make the frame rate 29.97. Check the interlaced box. Set it’s drop down menu to Bottom field first. Click OK.

4. Click the Frame Controls tab. Set Frame Controls to On. Set Output Fields to Bottom first. Leave Deinterlace on Fast. Leave Adaptive Details checked. Leave Rate Conversion set to Fast. Leave the Set Duration to: on 100% and make sure it’s radio button is selected and NOT the “so source frames play at 29.97 fps” button.

5. Make changes to the Filters or Geometry sections as needed. Those settings listed above are the ones critical to getting the proper 3:2 pulldown added.

6. Submit the compression, then bring the resulting video back into Final Cut Pro. Place it in a 29.97 timeline and make sure you watch it on an NTSC monitor to verify that it looks good. If you step through it frame-by-frame you should see the familiar pattern of 2 split/interlaced frames followed by 3 whole frames. This is a very important step. I tried many solutions that looked OK playing back on the computer monitor, but looked terrible on the NTSC monitor.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Jeremy Garchow]

You are want to set the field Dom to upper first. Not lower.

[Rafael Amador]

[Shane Ross] “3. Click on that newly created compression setting to open it in the Inspector window. Click the Encoder tab. Click the Video: (Settings…) button. Make the frame rate 29.97. Check the interlaced box. Set it’s drop down menu to Bottom field first. Click OK. “
I wouldn’t make it interlaced. Keeping Progressive, the process will be faster and cleaner, and the stuff will work in the interlaced sequence.
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Jeremy Garchow]

Going to have to respectfully disagree with Rafael on this one.

Taking 24p to 60i is done through 3:2 pulldown using the existing frames. You will still retain the 24p look and it will work just fine in your 60i sequence. If trying to go 24p to 30p some frame and pixel interpolation will need to happen. I’d suggest simply adding 3:2 pulldown. In compressor the process is fast. I’d suggest going to ProRes with those transcodes and working in a ProRes timeline as Shane suggested.