[Michael Nichols]

Well, a quick and dirty answer COULD be the following (although it may have its limits/drawbacks):

For the sake of organization, export each scene as its own self contained uncompressed Quicktime in its own folder. Then, download the free app from AJA, AJAQTtoDPX and export each of your scenes as DPX stacks.

[Michael Nichols]

Gary,

If you could detail your GT/Color DPX relinking method with XML, that would be great! I cannot seem to get it to work. When I import the XML file into Color, I get the offline edits, but relinking them doesn’t seem to do the trick…HOWEVER, if I relink the file to the corresponding AJA reference movie, it relinks. I wonder, If I relink to that AJA QT reference, and then render out a QT movie, then use the QTtoDPX translator, do I lose anything? I would love to render out DPX’s directly from Color when relinking to the AJA movies, but it can’t. I would REALLY love to be able to relink directly to the DPX files. Share, oh master Gary!

[Michael Nichols]

[gary adcock] “Then I do not understand your workflow- FCP cannot handle 1100 separate sequences I believe the browser maxes out just below 1000 items per bin and the OS chokes when there are more than 9,000 items in a folder.

My guess is your machine and playback devices are just not powerful enough I do this type of work on a 8core with 16G of ram and either SAS or Fibre storage. “

I have an 8Core with 16gb Ram and a CalDigit HDOne, which gets about 350mb/sec speeds. The data rates of the sequences top out at about 160mb/sec.

I could get a picture edit in FCP/GT using the DPX sequences no problem. The problem lies when I need to move to Shake for slight cropping/resizing (matting the 1868×780 footage into a 1920 x 1080 canvas) and then color for grading.

I haven’t had much success using the XML method of reconnecting dpx sequences.

Perhaps I can restructure my project a little more efficiently so that FCP doesn’t choke. 1100 .mov’s in the browser shouldn’t be causing this much trouble!

[Michael Nichols]

[gary adcock] “I use it all the time, on an almost daily basis and I do not think it is slow at all, it takes only a couple of seconds to wrap into a useable QT file. 1100 frames is not even 1 minute of footage.(@24fps)
Note that if your math is off the limit to any folder in the OS is 10,000 items”

Not 1100 frames. 1100 Sequences. I have 1100 wrapped reference movies. The problem I am encountering is anytime I do ANYTHING in the browser (expand/collapse a folder, create a new sequence, delete/import a file) FCP chokes for about 2 minutes of spinning beach ball. The reference movie workflow is GREAT and if I can pinpoint the problem causing FCP to act weird, then I will stick with this workflow.

[gary adcock] “Why not? The GT toolset work for me DAILY! I have never had an issue about sending to shake or color. Have you contacted him or posted on the GT user forum? “

The new version of Glue Tools actually works great with my odd sized frame sizes.

May I ask how you successfully send from Final Cut Pro to Color or Shake if you are working with DPX sequences using the Glue Tools Plugin? As far as I know from the creator of GT, there is no real working way to send to Color from within FCP.

[Michael Nichols]

Crap! So does that mean, in order for me to monitor my footage on an SD monitor through the Kona, I need to render the frames within a 1920 x 1080 canvas?

What about HD monitoring? Can I send the 1868×780 sequence out to an HD CRT?

[Michael Nichols]

Hey Walter (or anyone else!)

It looks like I set the downconversion correctly in the control panel, but it still doesn’t appear to work correctly. In FCP, I have my video going out 525i 29.97 10Bit RGB. I am only getting single frames (which are actually squeezed images). If I change the video out to 525i 29.97 RBGA, I get playback on the monitor, but the image is cut off. Meaning, It looks like the image is still 1868 x 780 and I am only able to see the area that “fits” in the 720 x786 frame.

[Michael Nichols]

Thanks Walter.

Didn’t crack open the K3 yet!

I did get the Creative Cow Apple Color DVD!!

Thanks.

[Michael Nichols]

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the advice! I went and picked up a Kona 3 for my set up. Now my question is this: With my scans at 1868 x 780, what is my best course of action moving forward? I have my cut completed in an 1868 x 780 sequence within FCP/Gluetools. I want to grade this in Color and then output through the Kona to an SR Deck. Should I finish everything working within the 1868 x 780 dimensions and then bring into After Effects, Shake or the like and uprez horizontally to fill the 1920 wide canvas with black pad on the top and bottom?

[Michael Nichols]

I wish I had this info prior to my scan job! The 3K files no longer exist for this project!! That would have been great to scale down as opposed to scale up!

[Michael Nichols]

Yes, but what does one have to do with the other?? By that token, since I shot on 35mm film, did a 2K scan et al, shouldn’t I expect nothing less than Champagne and Caviar? All kidding aside, what does the Kona 3 do for me if i/o isn’t in the cards? All I need is 1080p monitoring capabilities. Unless, and I could very well be mistaken, there is the possibility of monitoring via dual link SDI.