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Workflow the same between avid and FCP?
This question is for people familiar with both FCP and Avid.
We have been doing digitizing and finishing work for another company
for a few years now using Avid. Now they are are thinking of using FCP to offline their new show. I want to know if the workflow that we have been using very successfully up until now will work in FCP.Here’s what we have been doing:
Digitize from HDCAM (downconvert to SD through the deck) to Lacie
firewire drives using Avid DV codec. (one drive per episode)
The camera tapes are free-run tc so we just hit record and let the avid make a new clip automatically when it hits a tc break.
After they have received the drive and start to offline, additional
footage needs to be captured. We keep a copy of the project file and
digitize to new bins in the same project.
The new media is put on a temporary firewire transfer drive.
I copy the new bins to the transfer drive and send it to the other company. When they get it, they copy the bins and the OMFI Media onto the main editing drive for that show, open the Avid and everything comes up the way it should. When they finish the offline I get the project file back, decompose and redigitize on Nitris or Adrenaline. Everything works pretty flawlessly.Would this process work roughly the same way in FCP? Can you let FCP create new clips at each tc break and keep on digiting without having to babysit. Will the TC be frame accurate for redigiting later? Can you copy bins and media between systems and have the media show up in the project reliably? We would use automatic duck to get their offline back into the avid for finishing.
I know some fx won’t come across using the duck.
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4 Replies
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Editguy,
You need to sit down with someone on an FCP system (who knows what they’re doing) and have them demonstrate the differences in workflow. Quick answer: You’re going to need to understand the differences in media management and Project vs bin assignments before you can even think about workflow.
Everything you’re asking can be done… but it’s done differently with FCP. Don’t think you can just “do it like Avid”. That would be a huge mistake. If you’re thinking of switching, do your homework and understand the differances between the two systems.
Mark
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Yes, you can let a tape with tod timecode just capture from start to tail, however FCP takes considerably longer to process. FCP will cross the break, stop, back up frame by frame, find the break and then start digitizing again with a new clip. Depending on the deck you have this could take between 30 seconds to 2 minutes per break. An HDCAM will be on the faster side of those estimates. A DV deck will be on the slower side of that estimate.
Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc. -
Thanks for your responses. Could someone give me the quicky explanation on how I would go about transfering the footage and bin info that is digitized after the main drive has left the building?
Thanks -
Quicky answer: The Media Manager
Kevin Monahan
Take My FCP Master’s Workshop!
fcpworld.com
Pres. SF Cutters
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