[Ryan Holmes]

Justin – posting on a 2 year old thread is not generally the best way to get a response, and yet…here I am responding.

[Justin Coolidge] “This post is false. He provided no instruction on how to do what he said to do then the
OP obviously lied about getting it to work because there is not enough information to get it to work.”

This isn’t a cool way to start your post. What I posted is not false, and I did provide instructions to the OP – what format are you using and what codec within that format are vital. Not all formats provide for an alpha channel and the ones that do provide an alpha channel may not depending on the codec you selected to export. Nothing of your post provides specific information.

So generically, look at the “format” type you’re using in AME. Then look at the codec you’re using within that format. Using a format like Quicktime you could use ProRes, but only ProRes4444 will give you an alpha channel. Even then you’ll have to select it by choosing “Render at Maximum Depth” and choosing the appropriate drop down item under the “depth” menu – either “8-bpc + alpha” or “16-bpc + alpha.” But again, this is just looking at Quicktime format using ProRes codec. Different format and different codecs change your options.

People have been exporting alpha from Premiere and Media Encoder for years. There are options, and they are in CC 2017. So you may just need to do more digging regarding your format and codec to find the correct settings.

So please save the hostility for somewhere else. As the Editor-In-Chief, and general Cow Captain Tim Wilson noted to you in a post 2 and a half years ago (https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/1/859926#):

[Tim Wilson] “Creative COW’s roots go back to 1995. We’re still around because people are generous with their time and experience. The people who participate in the COW remember that part of the reason we’re still here is because of all the people who’ve helped us.

So instead of coming in hostile, insisting that you get no help or bad advice, behave like a professional, and participate in the conversations that people are in fact trying to help you with.”

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Until you get more used to the camera and to color grading in post, I would steer away from CP Locked looks. Those require more time to deal with in post. So create a custom profile that you like (or pick one of the default ones), and get to know the camera. As you get more comfortable with camera and color grading, then you can start to experiment with turning CP Locked “on” to flatten out your image.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

What Warren said is exactly right. Essentially you need to look into a proxies workflow for what you’re doing. That way you cut in the NLE with a decent looking proxy file and then once the edit is done you send back to Resolve and relink to the RAW DNG file for grading. Once you commit to a ProRes, or other mezzanine codec, you’re losing information and losing flexibility, which is the whole point of RAW to start with. RAW allows you the most flexiblity and you want to preserve that.

Do some research into proxy workflows. Premiere has made that pretty seamless now too.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

I don’t believe h264 can support that resolution due to the constraints of the “Level” settings. If you run Level 5.2 in AME the best you can do is a 4K resolution. You’ll have to use a mezzanine codec like DNxHR or ProRes to do a 12Kx64 resolution.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Your audio data rate is included in the final output. Look at what your audio data rate is which is likely the discrepancy. The VBR rate you set only pertains to the video portion.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Hey Beth – if memory serves I think the best firmware version was 1.2.3 if you wanna run Magic Lantern on your 5D3 (you can also run 1.1.3 as well). Because Magic Lantern is a hack for your camera nothing is truly supported, so your best bet is to read the ML pages, and surf on YouTube for how-to videos. As such, you’re downloading a hacked piece of software that is going to insert itself into the camera’s boot up process before the internal software takes over. So the hacking community is always tinkering with the software, hence “nightly builds.” Since the 5D3 is an older camera now you can expect the nightly builds section won’t truly be nightly. When a camera is first released the community is far more active and posts updates as soon as something is discovered. Don’t let it set you back, that’s normal once you move off the traditional firmware download approach directly from the vendor.

But remember – Magic Lantern is not endorsed or approved by Canon. If something happens then Canon may reject the warranty as a result.

But you can jump over to the ML page and download the nightly build that corresponds to your camera and firmware if you so chose:
https://builds.magiclantern.fm

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

So the last ditch effort is the nuclear option – format the machine and rebuild. Or at least go the uninstall/reinstall route.

[Natasha Collette] “I export from AE render queue as mov file using H264 codec, then I take that rendered video and use AME to transfer it to mp4. “

So be careful with this because you’re likely adding A LOT of extra time to your transcode. So coming out of AE you should use what’s called a “mezzanine” or intermediate codec. The intermediate codec, like Apple ProRes or Avid’s DNxHD (or DNxHR for high resolution projects) are better suited to for re-encoding and re-use. Anytime you export to h.264 consider that a deliverable file. h.264 is a processor intensive codec. It takes a lot of work for your computer to unpack and repack that format. So exporting out a h.264 mov to bring into AME to make a h.264 mp4 is adding a lot of extra processing to your time (not to mention the quality hit that may take place since h.264 is a Long-GOP codec that is algorithmically structured to jettison data in order to save space). And there are many derivate formats of h.264 on the market now that cameras natively shoot, for example AVCHD, AVC-Intra, and XAVC are all variants of the h.264 codec (I’d direct you towards some readings about Intra-frame compression versus Inter-frame compression, like this: https://wolfcrow.com/blog/intra-frame-vs-inter-frame-compression/ ). Suffice it to say that you’re current approach is making an inter-frame compressed format, and then taking that into AME to produce another inter-frame compressed deliverable.

My recommendation…Do your work in AE. Export out of AE with an intermediate codec. Essentially this will be your “master” file from which you can archive or make derivates. Take that “master” file into AME and churn out your deliverables – mp3, mp4, wav, whatever.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

I may be wrong about this….but I thought AAC was, by nature, a Variable Bit Rate compression format. So AME allows you to set “precedence” meaning you want to force it, as much as possible to conform to either “Bitrate” or “Sample Rate”…but even within the precedence their is still allowance for it to slide as needed.

I’m not sure a great way around this other than your previously described work arounds for trying to get a file to conform. It may help to run the file through as an completely different format (Quicktime file with PCM audio) and then convert that back to h.264 with AAC audio and see if it forces it into the mold?

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Has you tried other formats – ProRes, DNxHD, etc? See if it’s hanging up on the export type?

You can also use the AE Render Queue instead of AME to output your media.

Additionally, try clearing out the media cache in AME (under the media tab within preferences).

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Ryan Holmes]

Calling Canon is free. So no worries there.

You can try a different battery. Or try plugging the C100 directly into power (using the battery charge station which doubles as the DC power brick). Nothing of what you describes sounds like you damaged the camera. It’s likely just coincidental.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost