[Michael Buday]

It looks like a “squeeze” because you can’t see the edges of the photo, but in fact it’s simply a rotation in “X”, which changes the position of the L/R sides in Z space.

Yes, most likely you can mimic the effect in AVID using the techniques you describe, but it’s a lot more work in the long run based on the steps you outlined. The major advantage doing it in AVID is ability to change the effect right on the timeline in case of timing changes, etc. – as the cut progresses.

I applaud your eagerness to experiment however!

Thanks,
Michael

[Michael Buday]

Here ‘s a very brief example w/o lighting w/ a very narrow DOP:

In the first image, the focal point of camera favors the right side of the image, closer to the camera:

Here, after the image is rotated, the left side of the image is sharp:

Once I’ve set the lens focal length, the focal point and the aperture, all I need to do is “fly” the image around the “3D” space to change what is and what is not in focus.

[Michael Buday]

Thanks Glenn. My point re: it not being fancy is that this is very easy to setup in AE or Motion (both DOF and lighting) – and once set, only small adjustments are required for different images/movements onscreen.

I’m not familiar w/Fusion, so most likely I’ll use AE and pass it back to AVID.

Michael

[Michael Buday]

Thanks Graham. Most likely I’ll have to go thru AE or MOTION to achieve the look I need, but this is an interesting option. I can set up the effect in AE in a few keystrokes, but it was the rendering out/encoding into AVID I was hoping to avoid.

[Michael Buday]

Thank you Shane. I was afraid this might be the answer ????

Michael

[Michael Buday]

I went thru hell re: bringing images into the AVID on a huge project. The assistant editor said the BEST way to ingest images was to create a separate project at the highest possible resolution, transcode them there, then bring those bins into the main project. I fought this tooth and nail because I quickly discovered that AMA linking the images retained their native resolution, which is what I wanted (like FCP, etc.).

Long story short, I listened to the assistant, but I wish I hadn’t. If you use AMA, you can always adjust frameflex, etc at ANY time, which is critical. BUT, unless someone can explain to me a foolproof way to relink AMA clips in the event the source clip drive and or path changes, AMA re-linking for me has been a real pain in the butt.

If there was a way to tell AVID, the clips are somewhere on this drive, go find them, relink – and let me know if you have any conflicts/issues, etc – that would be awesome, but as of yet, I’ve found no clear way to consistently make it work. If there is, please let me know ????

MB

[Michael Buday]

Hi Michael,

THANK YOU!! This makes a ton of sense and in my tests it worked beautifully. I only wish I inquired sooner as I’ve been using the AVID > QT > “Desired format” method for a very long time.

Question:

My sequence contains a TON of AMA referenced 4K material from Sony A7sii cameras. I offlined at 1080P/23.98, all media transcoded to DNX-LB. I then imported the sequence into a new UHD project setup for DNX-HQX, consolidated the timeline and imported all the AMA references to link up to the original media.

Of course, the timeline won’t play 4K XAVC-S AMA media without slowing wayyyy down, so I rendered the entire sequence so I could play it to eval the uprez.

Using your AMA OP1a export, If I export to the same codec the sequence has been rendered to, does it re-render again before exporting? Or does it reference the “already” rendered material?

Thanks again – extremely helpful.

– Michael

[Michael Buday]

Well, Adobe released the latest versions of CC 2015 today, and I’m pleased to say that Premiere on El Capitan is now is as fast as FCP-X – lightening fast with 4K and native Sony XAVCI/MXF media.

A little too late for me however –

[Michael Buday]

Thank you everyone for the advice. Here’s where I am now at the moment, and take into account I’m on the latest version of OSX El Capitan, which may be having negative effects:

a) FCP-X: Works flawlessly with XAVC-I/MXF. Immediate and VERY fast import, no transcoding (as long as the Sony MXF plugin is installed). Everything is amazingly snappy and fast at 4K. My only issue is, I cannot get around the very different FCP-X workflow and don’t have time to learn it.

b) Premiere Pro CC 2015: Obviously some very weird problems with the UI on El Capitan and XAVC-I/MXF is unpredictable – sometimes snappy, other times sluggish, so abandoning Premiere for now.

c) Avid Media Composer/Symphony: XAVCI/MXF via AMA actually works fine. It’s a little less snappy then media transcoded to DNX, but it’s perfectly fine for editing – not seeing any playback hiccups or issues even with multiple effects stacked up. All other media from other formats was transcoded to a 4K/DNX format.

d) Resolve: Works fine natively in MXF, but the editing tools are too crude, so not a serious contender.

So, I’m moving forward with Avid and I start cutting today – so no turning back at this point 😉

FYI, I did try rewrapping MXF > MOV with EditReady and there was no difference with Premiere.

– Best,
Michael

[Michael Buday]

Thanks Oliver – that’s what I thought. Gotta tell you, I’m evaluating AVID, Premiere, Resolve-12 and FCP-X for this trailer I’m cutting for the Docu-Series pilot I discussed with you, and w/o a shadow of a doubt, FCP-X deals with 4K video and other mixed formats incredibly well – it’s absolutely lighting fast editing native XAVC-I 4K mixed with other 4K and non-4K formats on the timeline with no transcoding required for the editing part of it (so far).

Having said that, I’m REALLY STRUGGLING with the “editing philosophy”. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they took iMovie and branched off that code base to create FCP-X.

Premiere is sluggish on my late model Mac with 4K. Supposedly they’re releasing an update soon that will solve many issues.

Resolve handles the mixed media almost as well as FCP-X, but there are way too many editing tools missing.

On back on AVID right now having finally got AMA working with XDCAM/MXF files, and so far it’s pretty responsive, so I may stick with the old work horse after all – we’ll see.