Hey all -

Working on a 90 doc and about to picture lock. At a post house and they have Resolve and Davinci, etc.
My problem is that my first time director needed screeners and submissions and the ability to see a final project to make final decisions blah blah blah.
He now wants to use the in house color correction gear to finish. Which (as I have explained to him) means that I need to disassemble dissolves, overlays, vignettes, luma dissolves, Nattress effects, Magic Bullet, CGM filters (thank fully I didn't use my Sapphires - oy) and key frames (of which there are a bagillion - think "Kid Stays in the Picture)

So here is my question for you all.

A) Does the program Color roundtrip seamlessly with FCP 7? How does it compare to Resolve or Davinci? Is anyone out there badass and looking for a gig??

B) Is there another workflow that I might consider before exporting separate pieces bringing them back in to FCP then reexporting back to them for final layback??

Thanks as always,

Troy

>A) Does the program Color roundtrip seamlessly with FCP 7? How does it compare to Resolve or Davinci? Is
>anyone out there badass and looking for a gig??

The DaVinci Resolve has a pretty mean tracker. The ?Davinci? (are you talking about the 2K plus?) That would be old, and that's a tape to tape color corrector.

Apple Color works okay with FCP7, but there is a conform process, where you need to strip out effects and stuff. So it is not seamless either.

My pick would be to go with the Resolve, then Color, then the Davinci 2K, as tape workflows are very limiting and clunky.


>B) Is there another workflow that I might consider before exporting separate pieces bringing them back in to FCP
>then reexporting back to them for final layback??

Yes. The Resolve is able to take a media managed (consolidated) sequence and an XML, just like Apple Color. The issue is what kind of media do you have in there? Mixed formats? The Resolve can take multiple frame rates? But it's good to test that out first.

What kind of effects are you talking about? If they are color correction effects (eg. film looks, highlights diffusion, vignettes, etc), you get much more control over them in a color grading environment. Keyframes and roto are more easily done in a finishing/compositing software.

You should remove speed ramps and transitions other than dissolves. Also, if you have composites, best to split that up. The Resolve can render out QTs with handles and spit out an XML for re-connection back in FCP7.


If you want to know about conforming for Apple Color, Walter Biscardi has a video tutorial for that. The Resolve workflow would be somewhat similar, but a lot less clunky.

[library.creativecow.net]

And this is why I do not recommend polishing up effects in the offline, but only do them up as proof of concept and to work on the timing. You have time to fine tune them later with more sophisticated tools (eg. After Effects, Smoke, Resolve, etc..)



www.strypesinpost.com

Working in ProRes 422HQ but there are stills, archival footage, Motion Projects, AE files, animations on and on ...

So you are saying that Color can't round trip like a Motion or Soundtrack Pro ... hmmmm - that is a bummer - or a big ol' project at least ...

I couldn't get around the polishing with this director unfortunately ... and knew this day was coming.

So basically doctor, the diagnosis is that there is no easy solution. I am facing a disassemble and reassemble.

Correct?

Yes. That is called "the conform".



www.strypesinpost.com

I wrote a little post years ago about an automator script that can help you "bake" in clips to keep the effects (eg. stills, archival footage, etc..). The script basically exports the clip that you marked and brings it back into the timeline, saving you a bunch of keystrokes and mousing around. Downside is that you won't get handles on those shots.

[strypesinpost.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks man.
#rollsupsleeves

It's been a bit since I worked in Color but I don't think Color likes mixed frame rate or mixed raster footage nor does multicam footage. I remember on more than one occasion having to break a project into multiple sequences based on like media types and it can really be a pain when you have two 'incompatible' media types right next to each other in the timeline and you have having to grade them to look similar.


-Andrew

For Color, it like sequences of no longer than 12-15 mins or around 200 cuts. Usually I break it up into segments.

Color does not like mixed formats all or mixed codecs. The Resolve is more forgiving in this regard. Multicam is a bit of a mixed bag. I had it mess up really bad once on multicam in the FCP6 days after Apple supposedly fixed it, but last time I tried a test sequence in FCP7, it worked, so whatever. But the workaround for multicam is fairly easy. Use Media Manager to create a new offline sequence without inactive multicam clips, and reconnect. Matching footage is part of the day job of a colorist, so I won't worry about that too much.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks!

I think I will be exporting the film in sequences and turning off certain layers and then rebuild by dropping them back into my sequence and copying and pasting filters effects etc back onto color corrected clips. Seems like Resolve is the only solution. And I'll try to employ the export workaround that you posted Strypes ...

Thanks again!!

strypes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For Color, it like sequences of no longer than
> 12-15 mins or around 200 cuts. Usually I break it
> up into segments.
>
> Color does not like mixed formats all or mixed
> codecs. The Resolve is more forgiving in this
> regard. Multicam is a bit of a mixed bag. I had it
> mess up really bad once on multicam in the FCP6
> days after Apple supposedly fixed it, but last
> time I tried a test sequence in FCP7, it worked,
> so whatever. But the workaround for multicam is
> fairly easy. Use Media Manager to create a new
> offline sequence without inactive multicam clips,
> and reconnect. Matching footage is part of the day
> job of a colorist, so I won't worry about that too
> much.

Weird, I wrote up a reply but the internet apparently swallowed it. Cliffs Notes of my reply: The 200 cut rule of thumb was addressed in 1.5.x (I routinely did 400-500 shot grades w/o any problems or slow downs). By "'incompatible' media types right next to each" I meant something like mixed frame rate shots next to each other in FCP which means they'd have to be imported and graded in separate Color projects. Certainly doable but a royal pain if it is a common occurrence.


-Andrew

Ah. I always stuck to the 200 cut rule as a rule of thumb. I generally send it to color segment by segment. Makes saving faster.



www.strypesinpost.com