[Neil Sadwelkar]

But Since the DPX were converted from the original camera files I may ask for it to be re-converted and to add some timecode this time if that would be even possible. If so, what type of timecode would you advise?

If the DPX files have some timecode, and the folder name as ‘Source’ or ‘Reel’ then it’s easy for any system to tag them and conform as that’s how files come out of scanners.

So I would edit the ex-DPX prores files along with the rest of the show which is not DPX, finished the cut, make an EDL, open that EDL in Color, reconnect only the DPX parts of the show, then render out only the DPX parts into new DPX sequences and send that to VFX? Just making sure we are on the same page.

That may be tedious. What you could try is to do a ‘Send to Color’, set the Color project format to DPX. Grade in Color but don’t do a ‘Send to FCP’. Instead, just render. Your DPX originated files as well as non-DPX files will now all become DPX sequences, one per timeline clip.

Now change the Color project settings back to whatever it was QuickTime ProRes whatever. do a render again and a ‘Send to FCP’

Once back to FCP, you have a QuickTime version of the program as well.

Send the Color DPXs to VFX. When they return them, presumably with the same names and embedded timecode and reel info, they should reconnect to your Color project. Now you can regrade them in Color and you can use Color to convert them to QuickTime and reconnect them to your FCP sequence using FCP reconnect.

FCP-reconnect seems cheap enough, but the whole idea of doing this offline workflow is to avoid Gluetools and a big RAID. Would I still need Gluetools then? Color can’t work with DPX without Gluetools? And wont Color convert the DPX to QT without Pomfort Silverstack?

Glue tools is more expensive than FCP Reconnect, but they do different things. Glue Tools is invaluable in some situations when Color cannot open DPX files, and/or Color DPX files won’t open in other systems. This is the ‘endian-ness’ issue that you may come up against, if you are interoperating with Autodesk Smoke/Flame/Lustre with Apple Color. GlueTools is your only recourse then.

Hope I’ve addressed all the points you’ve mentioned.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Sorry. Took time to check the camera. It’s running SUP 3.0 so maybe this is specific to this firmware.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Are the ProRes4444 files on a Mac formatted drive? Is it free of errors? Do the files open fine in FCP/QT?

What version of Resolve do you have? Try upgrading to the latest. Also ensure you have all the latest upgrades of FCP, MacOSX and QT.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

For DVD compression from HD sources, I first do a conversion from HD-SD with the best settings. Then do the DVD m2v compression in a second pass. This is overall faster, as well as cleaner.

FCP Share or compressor are dog slow with HD-MPEG2 conversions and not clean either.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

You need to close FCP
Then right click the clip in the finder.

CinemaTools is operating outside FCP.

After opening, press the Conform button.
In the window select the speed. Click Conform.

Don’t forget to make a copy of the movie first. The conform process, in some circumstances can kill a clip.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

[Alexandra Wesche] “It seems to cut off all the shadows.”

Looks like when you import the DPX sequence, it is being treated as log. If its 16bit DPX it must be linear. So you need to select that in the import.

Alterdately…
Do the original DPX files open fine in Color? If so, and if you don’t need 16bit DPX as final output, I can suggest an alternative workflow around ProRes4444 or ProResHQ.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

First, make a copy of the clip.
Then right-click the copy and in the menu select Open with > Cinema Tools.

The clip will open in a CinemaTools window. Bottom right of this window see the button called Conform. Press it.

Select the frame rate you need to clip to play at – 24fps in your case. Press OK.

Done. You have a 24fps clip.

If you have a large number of clips, you can batch conform in CinemaTools in one go.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

If its in this thread, then yes I’ve read it.
The long one where you’ve responded to my observations, point by point?

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/8/1125300

Right after that Bouke replied too and I thought you two were going to work it out offline.

If you still need help, let me know.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

Take a look at Calibrated Software’s MXF 4 Mac. This can handle the MXF files that you’ve created.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Neil Sadwelkar]

You have an exciting project which has the potential of turning out into the best 3 years of your life.

You could take a look at Pomfort Alexa on Set. It’s a data management solution for Alexa. I’m not sure if it will handle the ProRes to DNxHD conversion and how fast if at all, but you can connect with Patrick over at Pomfort and he can guide you as well.

pomfort.com

And yes, they do handle the colour space conversions for editing.

You could use an outboard recorder like the small Aja KiProMini, but like someone else suggested, you may get into naming, TC and other meta data mismatch issues. And considering the volume of shooting that you’re likely to do over this long period, best to avoid these snafus that can quickly become a nightmare on land.

One observation I have about AMA is that, although it works fine with ProRes, it’s not very robust with time codes especially if one is eventually going to make EDLs or AAFs for further working some other system. It works just fine for short jobs like commercials, but I’ve seen it get messy with long form work. Maybe operator error, but best to test things out first. I prefer conversion to DNxHD and editing.

You should also check what kind of time frames are involved in conversion within Avid like when you ‘hard import’ ProRes into DNxHD36.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India