What is correct PROJECT SETTINGS for Storyboards Project

I realize this sounds like a no-brainer of a question, but I'm just not getting it.
I'm working on an animation series for TV, and of course, the first process is to do an animatic or leica sequence. I am aware that one can easily start a new project and just drop one of the storyboard files onto the timeline, and violia, it should automatically install the correct sequence settings. But, either I keep getting the dreaded red line in the time line, or green or blue, which eventually turns red after a handful of shots get placed in the timeline. I shouldn't be getting any coloured lines at all -- grey, I believe is what I'm after.
So I'm guessing that the Project Settings are incorrect.

So from the massive list of Sequence Presets & Capture Presets, etc., what would the correct settings be for jpeg Storyboard panels?
And when I start receiving animation quicktimes (these would be low rez for offline purposes) what would the Project Settings be for that?

I'm sure it's quite simple, but darn that red line! Suggestions? Yes, I am using FCP 7.0 on a MacPro.

I should also mention that the project is being set to 16:9 1920 x 1080. All the boards are coming to me in that format. Could resize the boards to 1280 x 720, but we're working in a 16:9 format for this show.

i'd say stick with 1920x1080.

if your source images are 1920x080,that will mean less image processing, & less rendering

as you're getting still images, there is no native video format for them, so just choose what you want.
ProRes, or some flavour would be the go, i'd say.

PRores LT, while light-on for disc space, makes for slower renders, in my experience, so don't go there.
(disc space is not really a problem for you i'd imagine)
so that'd leave ProRes422 or ProRes HQ

what format are your still images?

rendering will be a given for you, i'm afraid.
as i said there is no "native" video format for your still images, so FCP will always be rendering.
even if you start out with a grey line, eventually FCP will reach the limit of what it can do in real time, with the amount of RAM available to it.

one approach is to work in smaller sequences, scene by scene, perhaps,
then compile your assemblies in to a "master" sequence, and render.

with lots of motion effects, you may well need to re-render sections that you copy from one sequence into another.
that seems to be the way FCP works, unless there is a solid, un-moving "Base" underlying the moving shots.
(it's the only explanation i have at present for why i need to re-render some, but not all, sections of edits that i copy from sequence to sequence)
you could work with a base of slug underneath everything, but i think that might be more trouble than it's worth.

RED LINE
two things to mention here:

1.
turn your timeline's RT settings from "Safe" to "Unlimited"
for current sequences, that's the small RT button top left if the timeline.
for all future sequences, go into your FCP System Settings, (Shift Q) Playback Control pane.
no red line, ever! (but lots of Orange, and eventually very poor playback unless you render)

2.
also in FCP System Settings you will find the Memory and Cache pane.
in here you can up the amount of RAM available for still images.
it'll never be enough, and i don't know what side-efects you'd get from putting it up to 100%,
so maybe start by doubling it from 10% to 20%.

as to wether you should set your sequences to RGB, or YUV, i wouldn't know.
Strypes, might, though.



all the best,
nick

Hi Nick,

Thanks so much for taking time to respond. Extremely appreciated!

First of all, some stats: this computer is a MacPro 3.1, with dual core Intel processors. 8gb or ram, so this is NOT an issue.
I have a separate internal drive (that I use for media) with more than 500 GB remaining, so again, don't think this is an issue.

Others in the past had suggested upping the Still Cache, and I've done that with this project too. I'm at 75% now. Dare I go to 100%?
So far, 75% hasn't caused any system "meltdowns" or any noticeable hiccups.

As per your suggestion, I have set the Sequence Preset to Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) 1280x720 48 kHz.
The Capture Preset is set to: HDV-Apple ProRex 422 (HQ), although there's nothing to "capture" so it may be irrelevant.

In the EASY SET-UP, I've selected HD, since it gives me a Frame Rate choice, which for us, is 23.98 fps. Animators like to animate at 24 fps. If I select Apple ProRes 422 here, the Rates are NOT available (not good).

As a test, I got the board artist to give me a few test boards as TIFF's rather than JPEGS.
I popped a few TIFFs on to a new sequence, but still get GREEN lines, which is better than RED, but eventually the timeline will give me red lines and I'll have to render anyway.
Since TIFFs are 4 times the file size of JPEGS, and JPEGS will get me the same (green-line) results, I'll probably use this format instead of TIFFs. Remember that the animatic is just for in-house viewing and directors/producers/broadcaster screenings. Never for broadcast, so the quality of these images aren't really important.

Regarding Effects: most of the effects I use are mainly dissolves & wipes. Matts & Texts are used frequently as well. Also, i use key frames for zoom ins/outs, or pans on the storyboards. Nothing extremely effects-heavy.
Each episode is only 10 minutes, so to use smaller sequences is a possible idea I may try, though once I put them all together and changes are implemented, the entire timeline could become unrendered, which is a real pain.
Surely Final Cut can handle a 10 minute project with simple jpgs images without having to render all the time.
But i guess, as your corroboration shows, it's just not going to happen.
Seems that FCP (and probably most other NLE software) is really biased towards tape or digital video sources.

Having said that, there are lots of animated series being made for TV, not to mention Feature Films, and many houses use FCP for editing. So I wonder what their work-around solutions may be. Surely not all of them are hobbled by this handicap.

Thanks again, Nick for your input.

Yes, as Nick said, there's no 'native' video format for still images, so it can't playback without eventually needing render.

You could move to PP CS6 if you wanted less rendering, because although it often displays a render line, it can still playback perfectly fine most of the time. FCP8 would probably have been a similar story, but sadly we never got that, and FCP7 is, what, three years old? That's a long time in the post world. It's becoming old software.

"I have set the Sequence Preset to Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) 1280x720"

we were talking about 1920x1080
or is that a typo?

good idea to test various formats, even if it didn't lead to much!

"Each episode is only 10 minutes, so to use smaller sequences is a possible idea I may try, though once I put them all together and changes are implemented, the entire timeline could become unrendered, which is a real pain. "

hopefully not the ENTIRE timeline! unless you are making changes across the entire timeline, that is.
in which case make some changes in one section, then render,
then move on to the next lot of changes.

i can see how a angle change could force a render on an entire timeline, if you had a mask, say, as a top layer, and you rippled a shot underneath that was early in the sequence.
the trick here would be to blade the mask, and ripple that, too.
(been doing that for the past month on our 2.35 feature!)


cheers,
nick