FCPX, R3D, and me! NOW YOU KNOW Production Blog

Just an update on how things are going.

On-set logging with MovieSlate and running it thru ShotNotes is working out very well. The first block of shooting has been ingested and logged.

I've decided to segment the job into 4 Libraries (unmanaged)- one for each block of 10 episodes shot. In this way I'm hoping to reduce the possibility of running into the "large Library slowdown" that some people report.

Cutting using the R3Ds in "better performance" mode has worked very well. I think I've quit FCPX once or twice in the last week if the app seems slow.

We've delivered our first rough cut to the production company-and they were very pleased. Only 38 more to go!

One thing I'd like to see return to X from 7 is sync indicators. With more complicated edits I find I am breaking some audio apart from the video. While I'm usually doing this for the express purpose of breaking sync to tighten or replace dialogue, always knowing where sync is would definitely be a benefit.

Re: sync indicators – one sneaky trick is to drag a clip, audio and video both, down below the primary storyline rather than detaching audio and moving it independently of video. That way you know exactly where sync is: it's still with the clip.

Not applicable in all circumstances and I agree, on occasion it would be useful to get back to sync (or to know how far out one is), but I've found the 'below the line' trick to help on a couple of occasions.

I'm already with you. Though if I'm looking to unlink audio, it usually means that I'm planning on doing some serious slicing and dicing. Which also means sync is probably less important. I guess I just miss those handy little indicators. I definitely think they should return, and you should definitely be able to relink detached audio and video.

Hey, tomorrow's Tuesday- there's already new MacBookAirs supposed to come out- you never know...!

Hey Guys. Just a bit of an update-

Things are progressing very well. Out of 39 Episodes, we've delivered Rough Cuts of 16, and have received picture locks from the broadcaster for 4 episodes.

We're starting to do test handoffs for online picture and sound next week.

Audio-wise, using X2Pro to export AAF files for ProTools. I got a little friction that I wasn't giving them OMFs, but I was insistent that there would be no changes needed to their workflow, and that they would likely see better fidelity this way than with FCP7 OMF exports.

I'll be doing my own crash-tests of sequence XML exports to Resolve here, checking on the fidelity of cut. This may take a bit of back and forth.

Some guidance from anyone on the best way to prep a sequence to pass off. Right now all media lives in unmanaged Libraries. Ultimately, the cut will be made up of ProRes422HQ files rendered from AE, and R3D location footage (including RMD files). What's the simplest way to port all the material necessary for a cut to a small portable drive? Will FCP X move over full RED folders including HDRX and RMD files in a Consolidate Project?

Essentially I need to copy all material in the cut from an unmanaged X Library on my RAID, to a new unmanaged Library on a portable drive. Keep in mind that the Library I'm working with contains 10 episodes, of which I'll be delivering 2 a week.

Thoughts?

Good morning Marcus! I saw this just before getting three fillings at the dentist so it gave me something to think about while the drill was doing it's thing.

It's pretty simple, what I do is make a new library, then copy the project to it. When you drag that new library to your portable drive, your original media folder in the library will contain all the files referenced in your cut.

The Red files are each in their own folder complete with their respective .RMD files. I don't have any Red footage that has HDRX, but I'm pretty sure anything that is in an .r3d file's folder will be there. All FCPX does is copy Red footage 'as is' to the library.

Now you said you want that footage to be in an unmanaged library, just do "show package contents" on the copy of your library and drag your original media folder somewhere on the drive. When you open FCPX your media will be offline, drag the folder back in to the event and it should relink everything.

The XML RT even in Resolve 11b1 is still picky, if it doesn't work right, I use Xto7.

It's good I'm not the only one gets occasional flack about giving AAFs. They always change their minds when they try one out. Glad this project is going so well.

Hey Darrin. thanks for posting.

I think I was making this too complicated in my head. I think there's an extra step you didn't mention, but here's the process I just tested to a second RAID drive on my machine.

1. Create new Library "Episode 8"
2. Copy final EP08 Project from existing Library to new "Episode 8" Library- don't copy any proxy or optimized media.
3. Now in the new "Episode 8" Library, select the EP08 Project and Consolidate Project Files. This is what copies all media used in the project to a new location. The dialogue gives you the option to put them in the "Episode 8" Library [Original Media folder] or an external folder of your own choosing. So I'll create a folder called EPISODE 8 MEDIA.

Now I have a drive with a completely self-contained unmanaged version of the Project. And my FCPXML will reference these new files.

I can only imagine that the online house will be working with some flavour of Resolve 10. Hopefully as close to 10.1.5 as I can get- but it's a big post house so who knows how far back they'll be.

We'll see what happens with the AAF files- but if I have to go thru the laborious process of converting them to OMFs, won't I loose all my Role data? I think AAFs will be fine, the PP co-ordinator is probably just being conservative.

(3. Now in the new "Episode 8" Library, select the EP08 Project and Consolidate Project Files.)

I did forget one thing, you are copying from a non managed to another non managed. So, yep I forgot a step.

This is something I recently realized, if you copy an event to a new library from a managed library on the same drive as itself, that library if you have 'calculate all sizes' checked in "show view options" in the finder, that library will show what size it would be if it had all the files inside of it even though it's still all symlinks.

What is cool about this is if you drag and drop that copy of the library to another drive all the real files follow. In away, I have 43GB on a 6TB drive with 3TB free. Mind exploding..

Yeah. This is good news. I've been belabouring going thru this process cause I thought it was going to be a headache. I should have known better.

Still need to test XML exports into Resolve 10- see what comes across. There's no FCP X colour corrections, just tweaks to the RMDs on location footage. But I need to test fidelity for
• sync clips (do they translate or do I need to break them apart before I export the XML)
• conform and transform
• transitions
• alpha graphic elements

On the AAF side, I need to test how keyframes come thru. Do the handle ones on the ends of audio come thru, or just the old fashioned ones.

No matter what issues you have, it can't be worse than this:

nofilmschool.com/2014/06/ultimate-unbrea...ony-davinci-resolve/

Just an update on my drive to update to 10.1.2-

Last week I'd prepped for Online delivery: FCPX 10.1.1 to Resolve 10.1.5. Everything working well. One media file not relinking for some reason but easily replaced.

Today I set aside time to see if I could safely upgrade to 10.1.2. I knew that Resolve 11 Beta was importing FCPXML 1.4 well, but that Resolve 10.1.5 would not (which is the version of Resolve that the online house is using).

Thanks to people on this forum I came up with two possible scenarios for getting around this. With FCPX 10.1.2 and Resolve 11 on another machine I did the following.

1. Created a test Project with a Consolidated media folder on an external drive.
2. Opened this project in 10.1.2 on the second machine, then exported FCPX 10.1.2 XML
3a. Opened the XML in Xto7 and exported FCP7 XML
3b. Opened the XML in Resolve 11 Beta and then exported FCPX 1.3 XML
4. Attempted to open both in Resolve 10.1.5.

RESULTS
Xto7- Edits came thru, but neither scale or positioning of clips did.
Resolve 11- Edits came thru. Scale seems to have come thru, but position did not.

These are not complicated timelines. The only really essential info is reframing. In neither case did both these come thru the conversion process into Resolve 10.1.5.

Unfortunately it seems I'm still stuck on 10.1.1 for now.

UPDATED TO ADD-

It looks like the fault is actually back farther than the XML created by either Xto7 or Resolve 11.

I rechecked each step, and while the all my scale and transforms were updated successfully in the conversion from FCP X 10.1.1 to 10.1.2, the 10.1.2 XML when imported into Resolve 11 DOES NOT maintain proper scaling and position information.

So Resolve 11 itself is not translating the FCPXML 1.4 info properly.

How many edits have rescaling? I'm going to guess from past experience "most of em".

I still have nightmares from the FCP7 days where directors and producers would nitpick up to the deadline, then say "Great it's done! Now just render a master out right now!" Even though it was explained to them I still had to redo everything in Color by hand. Matching all the reframing up to a reference video was painful.

I would stay in 10.1.1 too in order to avoid ever having to do that again.

It's a puppet show with generous framing, so... yeah... a lot of reframing to remove puppeteer's arms and heads.

What surprises me is that it's the FCPX 10.1.2--->Resolve 11 that's failing.

I thought for sure it would have been in the return trip back to Resolve 10.1.5.

Again, I might take the hit if I was doing the work in Resolve myself, but it's someone else.

I am going to do some further testing to see if different Spatial Conforms work better, like "None", which is the way I had everything before I found it that didn't work between 10.1.1 and Resolve 10.1.5

This might be a good thing to email Dr. Greg from Intelligent Assistance about.

Even though as you deduced, it's most likely a R11 beta issue, he may have a fix.

UPDATE 2

Scaling is coming across fine from 10.1.2 to Resolve 11, but position numbers are not. X and Y aren't being translated properly to Pan and Tilt, even though the ratio for the numbers is the same.

Manually inputing the same numbers in X to Resolve fixes the shot.

Definitely be emailing AI- they can probably correct the issue before BM can update Resolve 11.