Jeff Meyer
Forum Replies Created
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A bit more about why native editing is a big deal, but first a bit about codecs.
Codecs are different ways to store video. When you digitize video you have to decide how you’re going to save it. There are different schools of thought on what the best method to use. Many companies have come up with their own preferred solution. Panasonic, Sony, RED, Apple, these are a few brands who have their own video formats designed for specific purposes.
Codecs tend to fall into different categories, some for acquisition, some for editing, and some for delivery. The lines are becoming more blurred than ever, but generally you want the highest bitrate possible out of the camera, you want independent frames for editing, and delivery completely depends on where it’s headed. Quality is paramount for cinema, the file size-to-quality ratio matters for web delivery.
Some acquisition and delivery codecs are Long-GOP or group of pictures. The (over-simplified) problem with this is in editing a Long-GOP format becomes far more computationally intense. Native editing means that the NLE will work with the footage in its native format, Long-GOP or otherwise.
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I believe the plugin was made for the XF cameras which do not shoot 24.00. It works with the C300 as they use the same codecs and card structure, but perhaps it only works at frame rates the XF cameras support?
If you have Adobe CS drop the MXF files into Media Encoder and transcode to ProRes, then import into Final Cut. I’m pretty sure timecode comes along for the ride.
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You’re making the assumption that the pixels are square. If you do a little research on anamorphic SD you’ll discover that widescreen SD happily lives within a 720×480 canvas.
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My thoughts:
• RAID-5 for single-drive fault tolerance or a robust backup system. This should be high priority if all of your media lives on higher-risk RAID-0 arrays. Note that RAID-5 is fault-tolerant, but it is not a replacement for a proper backup.• If you use filters/effects switch to Adobe CS and get an nVidia Quadro video card. CUDA powered effects are incredibly fast. If you use Final Cut Studio/Motion for your graphics the ATi 5780 is the fastest out there I believe. Adobe like nVidia, Apple likes ATi.
• If you go to Adobe CS you’ll want as much RAM as you can afford. Adobe is 64 bit, so it can use all the RAM you can offer. I’d consider 20GB a baseline if you do graphics or multitasking in Creative Suite.
• If your G-RAID is firewire connected get an eSATA card. I get between double and triple the throughput out of my G-RAID over eSATA compared with firewire. The RAID controller for the G-RAID is in the drive itself, so a plain eSATA card will do it. I’m using the RAID controller for a G-Speed ES for my eSATA connection, but for a G-RAID there’s no difference between that and a controller that doesn’t have a RAID controller. If you do get a RAID-5 the G-Speed ES controller could also be used to give your G-RAID a boost.
• BluRay. I’m using a LaCie d2 for my MacPro at work. We thought there was merit in an external drive as we have Macbook Pros around.
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+1 for Jerry’s Color suggestion. It’s the proper tool for the job. It’s a bit weak for a few things, but it’s built for video and it’s incredibly powerful.
The major downfall with using Lightroom would be the inability to change the effect over time apart from frame-by-frame dialing in the changes you want.
If you really want to put a square peg in a round hole you could export your project as an image sequence and import thousands of frames into Lightroom. You would find your develop settings on the first clip and paste paste them to the rest of the images in that clip. After getting all your develop settings down export out of Lightroom as TIFs with the same file names but in a different folder and open in Quicktime as an image sequence. Save/Export the Image Sequence as a QT movie, bring it back into Final Cut and merge your audio in, and there you go.
Naturally using this many TIF files will take a toll on your hard drive, so make sure you have a lot of space before you get started.
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If this is referring to the RT options in Unlimited mode Final Cut will attempt to play media that needs rendering to the best of your system’s abilities. An orange render bar indicates that Final Cut will attempt to play in real time, but would prefer to render first. Playback may become choppy and quality may drop, but if playback is good enough to work off of this can save a lot of time.
In Safe mode Final Cut will put display an Unrendered screen for media that needs a render.
Unlimited RT is only available with compressors native to Final Cut like ProRes and DVCPRO HD. I think XDCAM formats are also good to go for unlimited RT. H.264 is a no go, but you can put H.264 on a ProRes sequence and attempt to edit without rendering.
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I would change it to 720 on the way in. There’s a “render using maximum quality” box near the bottom. You know what to do.
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Adobe Media Encoder is my go-to tool in this scenario. If you have Creative Suite you’re in luck. If not ClipWrap 2 should get it done.
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Motion has a lens flare generator, but it’s pretty basic. For the look you’re wanting, the built in lens flare generator won’t cut it. If I remember correctly it doesn’t even have transparency, so you’ll need to use composite modes or a luma keyer to have it appear over the video. Also, if you do go with the built-in generator make sure you animate the lens flare’s origin, not its x/y position.
This Motion plugin appears up to the task, but I haven’t used it.
https://www.motionvfx.com/mplugs-1.htmlIf you have After Effects I can give a strong recommendation to Video CoPilot’s Optical Flares plugin.
https://www.videocopilot.net/products/opticalflares/ -
Select the problem clip(s) and and press butterfly-9 to call up the Item Properties. From there you can force the gamma interpretation you want.