Does X work with RED footage natively or does it transcode?

Might be jumping into FCPx for a project.

I never understood if X is able to edit RED files natively (like Premiere) or does it need to transcode them (even in the background or something)?

If it does the latter, would it be better to just transcode before bringing it into the program?

It can handle them natively.
But you need fast drives and a CPU that can handle the processing.

The proxy workflow in FCPX, once you get your head around how FCPX handles all forms of media, is easy to deal with.
Put your RED files on the media drive you want to play them from, import using the "leave in place" option and see how well it handles the native media. If it's slow or stuttering, you can generate optimized (PR422 versions of the media) or proxy (PR Proxy versions) to mitigate those issues.
Actually that's not true. They make a special case for RED files where the Proxies are PR422. Not sure what the Optimized versions are.

Optimized and Native can be used at the same time, mixed together. To use the Proxy files everything must be converted to Proxy.

There's more to it than that if you're just dipping your toes in the FCPX waters but that's the RED picture or at least a rough sketch of it.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Interesting, so it can work natively,. specifically with Red Dragon files? Is there an option to lower the playback quality (1/4, 1/8, 1/16) without going to proxies.

As far as I know, all RED files present to the NLE in the same manner, the only difference between Epic, Scarlet, and Dragon would be their size and the bandwidth required to play them. The ability to play them natively depends on your drive speed, bus speed and CPU/GPU capabilities.

No there is no levels of proxy. Not within FCPX. The choices within FCPX are Native, Optimized and Proxy and, as I mentioned above, the proxy files for RED footage are APR422, so drive space might be an issue if you are dealing with tons of RED material.

The benefits of using Proxy within FCPX is that FCPX manages all of it and you can switch between Proxy and Native/Optimized with one click. You don't see the proxies as separate clips or anything. FCP deals with it all internally. You can import your native footage, tell FCPX to make proxies and while it's doing that begin synching, organizing multicams, adding keywords (reccomended!), assigning roles (needed for external audio post) and begin editing. All this can be done while proxies are being generated in the background. You can also begin editing, depending on the speed of your system, and when the proxies are ready to use, you change the setting which is easily located up above the Canvas (FCP classic terminology).


Now, there are workflows that people are using that include making proxies outside of FCPX and importing into FCPX. With proper and careful media management, you can switch between the native and low res files but it requires a relinking procedure that would be simple for say a commercial but time consuming if you were cutting a feature or high ratio documentary. In a real world situation though you would only relink at the end before exporting or sending off to conform/CC or post mix.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Jeez, just reading all these new steps for FCPx, makes me gun shy. Furthermore, I forgot that you need to upgrade your OS to even run the program. I'm still on 8.5 and don't want to upgrade unless there's some speed benefit to the two main programs I use, FCP7 and Premiere.

The last version to work on 8.5, I think is 10.0.9. Am I missing major features with that release or will I be okay?

I think 10.2 was a big upgrade. Can't tell you whether all your upgrades are worth it or not. Do you need multicam? Are you finishing in the box or going to a Post House and delivering for broadcast or DCPs for projection?

The steps are nothing. You can import and go. The steps I outlined are for being organized, prepared for multimodal finishing.
If you want to import and edit, do that. Make proxies in the background. Edit. If your system cacks out, switch to proxies. If not, don't.
It's no more steps than anything Premiere or FCP7.
It IS a new interface and there are new ways of doing things you have to get used to but that's FCPX not RED.

If your system using Premiere can handle playing native Dragon RED files it should handle them in FCPX.
There won't be any speed benefit to upgrading an OS. There might be some benefit to switching to software that is 64bit but I think the latest Premiere is 64bit so I don't think going to FCPX for a faster system will turn out well. Some will tell you that they got really fast in FCPX once they got over the paradigm shift hump and I would tend to agree with them. But not everyone likes it or gets it.

To quote the DimeStore Buddha " The answer lies within each editor, not in the software, the hardware or at NAB"

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

10.2 is a big upgrade and seems to run faster. I'm running it on Yosemite 10.10.3. Once in awhile while working in FCPX I get the spinning color beach ball of death. Have not tried Red footage but FCPX was able to work with Arri Alexa 4K footage.

It seems there is an option to choose the quality of the playback, although it is it very limited:

Quote
Apple website
Better Quality: Choose this option to display full-resolution video frames in the Viewer. This setting may decrease playback performance for high-quality, large-frame-size video.

Better Performance: Choose this option to display video in the Viewer at reduced resolution. Decreasing the size of the media maintains playback performance even for very large media files.

I'd love to go with X 10.2 just to be up to date but I really don't want to upgrade my OS, so I may stick with 10.0.9 and hope I don't need any other features.

Joe, be sure to burn the FCPX app that is in your apps folder to a DVD or something. If for some reason you blow a your boot drive you will not be able to go to the app store and download the 10.0.9 version of FCPX. But if you have it saved somewhere and you drag it into the new apps folder and go to the app store. It will see it and it will activate it. This happened to me and I was glad I saved a copy.

Thanks for that tip

So after all this I think I'd like to transcode RED footage, edit in FCP7, bring edit into FCPX (7 to X), and from there reconnect to the RED originals.

Can this be done? Maybe through Resolve, then back to FCP X?