[Ryan Holmes]

[Sam Rappold] “But if FCP7 can’t read the R3D files, how would I be able to check for errors, since all the footage will read as offline?”

Sam – that’s a good point! It’s Saturday…my brain isn’t working. I stop thinking sometime around 6PM on Friday! 😉 Sorry about that…

Technically speaking, since Premiere Pro outputs a FCP style XML you should be able to take that straight into the 7toX app and then into FCP X, thereby bypassing FCP7 and never having to worry about your raw r3d files not relinking.

Here’s what the Intelligent Assistance website says regrading 7toX:

Requirement: An application that exports Final Cut Pro XML (such as Final Cut Pro 7 or 6, Premiere Pro CS6 etc.)

I’m not sure if that means that CS5 would work though. I don’t think Adobe changed much in their XML export between CS5 and CS6 (but I’ve been wrong before as you so effortlessly pointed out! 😉 You should probably drop them a line and check for yourself before moving forward: info@AssistedEditing.com

Otherwise, I’m guessing you’d need to create proxy files of your r3d’s and then jump from CS5 to FCP7, fix errors using the proxy files, export XML from FCP7, ingest into 7toX app, being translated XML into FCPX, relink to r3d files. That would be a pain though. Hopefully you can go from CS5 to the Intelligent Assistance app and be done.

Technically if you need to CS6, Adobe offers a free 30-day trial. So you could just upgrade your project to CS6, XML out and into 7toX, and then into FCPX.

Clear as mud?! 🙂

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

[Lowell Johnson] “does final cut x handle r3d then?”

As of last Fall when Apple released the 10.0.6 update it could handle RED files. According to Apple’s white paper workflow for RED inside of FCP X you can drop RAW r3d files directly into FCP X, transcoding to ProRes is optional. I have not worked with this type of media in FCP X so I can’t verify….your mileage may vary….

https://images.apple.com/finalcutpro/docs/RED_Workflows_with_Final_Cut_Pro_X.pdf

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

You’d probably have to go CS5–>FCP7–>FCPX.

XML out of CS5 into FCP7. Fix any errors there. Then from FCP7 you’d export another XML file and open that in a program called 7toX ($10 in the App Store) in order to translate the FCP7 XML into the correct language for FCP X:
https://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/7toX/

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

It’s not clear from reading your post, did you load the footage into PluralEyes or FCP?

In order to sync all the cameras up you’ll need to load the various cameras and audio into PluralEyes first. Sync in PluralEyes, and then export out a XML file to FCP.

If you are in PluralEyes and it can’t sync it may be because it can’t decipher the audio cleanly enough to line everything up. I’ve had it fail to line stuff up occasionally….it’s not bulletproof, but it is pretty good. It works far more often than it fails. I think in “Preferences” there’s a “Try Harder” or “Try Really Hard” option, which may help in your case.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

You can still buy the discs of the Adobe software at EDU prices…you don’t have to marry the cloud! 😉 I’m sure somewhere from Adobe can chime in on your post, but I’m an EDU purchaser as well and I don’t buy into the Creative Cloud. I just buy the good old fashioned discs from Adobe at traditional EDU pricing.

Their educational portal still points you to several educational volume pricing options: https://www.adobe.com/volume-licensing/education.html

If nothing else just purchase the software from a reseller that deals with edu pricing:
https://www.journeyed.com
https://www.govconnection.com
https://www.academicsuperstore.com

I’ve even bought stuff from Amazon and B&H Photo for the school at correct educational prices.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

If you move to Premiere a 27″ iMac would be a pretty good choice. I believe Adobe has a 30 day trial for CS6 as well. PPro is what I primarily use now and with an Nvidia GFX card it’s a great app (PPro taps into the Nvidia architecture via the Mecury Playback Engine). I think you’d experience good gains as well if you move to FCPX with a new iMac.

I don’t think you’ll see a tremendous performance boost if you buy a new machine and continue to run FCP7. It should work fine if you do, but there’s not going to be a $2K speed boost! 😉

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

And if the OP stays in FCP7 all it can take advantage of is 4GB of RAM because it’s a 32-bit app that’s not written to take advantage of modern computer architecture (same goes for the any video card in FCP7). Now any modern NLE will take advantage of more RAM, better video card, more cores, etc. – FCPX, Premiere Pro, and Avid are all 64-bit apps that can turn the most out of your computer.

Motion on the other hand probably would benefit from the spec bump in the video card, especially if you get layer heavy in your comps.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

PluralEyes 3 will solve your syncing problems (provided you sent scratch audio to the cameras as well). So much easier and faster than trying to do it manually.

https://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/pluraleyes/

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

[Angelo Lorenzo] ” if it has to be a compressed codec then h.264 at ~100mbps, 4:2:2 all-i will at least give you some good performance for editing in terms of CPU usage and scrubbing, a good quality image, and at half the bitrate of ProRes HQ.”

If you’re going to go to this length, why not just transcode the ProRes(HQ) file to ProRes422 or ProRes(LT)? You’re not gaining anything by going to h.264, even @ 100mbps, 422 (which may or not be 10-bit depending on how he transcodes it….so it could even be 8bit). The lost time via transcode alone is probably not worth it. ProRes422 (about the same data rate as you’re describing) or ProRes(LT) (lower than the data rate you’re describing) would do the OP well. Plus it moves to other apps pretty seamlessly (Smoke, Resolve, etc.).

Plus we’re discussing 2 different segments of the post-production pipeline: editing and archiving. I understand the OP doesn’t want to archive ProRes(HQ), but in the actual edit h.264 doesn’t make much sense.

I don’t think it’s bad to edit h.264 footage, but when you’re starting with ProRes(HQ) footage moving to h.264 seems like a larger loss of information than I am willing to accept.

Just my $.02

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes

[Ryan Holmes]

Workflow should be:
(1) Record to BlackMagic Hyper Deck Studio Pro
(2) Transfer ProRes(HQ) files
(3) Edit using ProRes(HQ) files OR transcode them down to a lighter weight ProRes version – either standard ProRes422 or ProRes(LT)
(4) Delivery: export various versions – DVD, YouTube, Vimeo, Blu-ray, etc.
(5) Create an archive using either ProRes(LT), ProRes(Proxy) or high data rate h.264 file

Like John says, going from ProRes422(HQ) to h.264 is throwing any most of your data, even if you do a 50mbps or 100mpbs h.264 (but at those data rates just use ProRes(LT) anyway). Plus if you plan on going to other apps for additional color, graphics, etc. h.264 isn’t a very friendly codec to move around. ProRes, on the other hand, is.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
vimeo.com/ryanholmes