Making a DCP from FCPX

I'm trying to make a DCP from a FCPX edit. I've edited a 20 minute short from 4K RED footage , round tripped it as an XML to DaVinci Resolve for color correction and then added titles and effects created back in FCPX. Davinci is capable of creating all the files for a DCP but if I create a new XML with the titles and effects added Davinci can not correctly read the titles or effects. Has anyone been dealing with DCP requirements using FCPX?

You've probably already thought of its, but just create a "baked in" version after your round trip from resolve, i.e. export a master file from FCPX with titles.

Then just bring in the backed in master file to a new Resolve timeline and make the DCP from there.

What is your DCP for? A film festival?

Oops Double post.

Thanks so much for the quick response. Just after I posted I tried exactly what you suggested and was able to get it into Davinci. Created a ProRes 444 file out of Final Cut and imported it back as a new project. Then XML the new project to DaVinci. Yes, some of the festivals we have applied to won't even accept a DVD for viewing but want a DCP even for consideration. From DaVinci I'm delivering a TIFF 16 bit XYZ file to convert to JPEG 2000 files. I'm using this open source Open DCP program to create a jpeg 2000 file, etc. First time I've tried this and I'm really flying blind at this point waiting for JPEG 2000 , MXF, encryption and audio to kick in to my brain in some comprehensive way. Anyone who has been through this I would love to hear from. Thanks again.

I've only done this once so I'm hardly an expert, however I did find a couple of walkthroughs online which helped. My starting points were, I think, this film and this page .

In the end, my audio files were 1 frame shorter than my video (which I think was an old FCPX 10.mumble bug with a blank frame at the top or tail of the initial export): my lovely projectionist found time to run the job through his own battle-tested workflow so I never got to see my own DCP projected. To my eye the audio was a frame out, but if I'm honest that could be on the master so I chose not to look too closely. Ahem.

I found the process time-consuming and a little unnerving, since it's hard to check things have worked correctly. But it's not particularly hard once you really get into it. Hint: work with a 10-second test sequence until you're comfortable with the toolchain.

Will try the ten second idea and check your on line suggestions. Thanks. Scary part is you have no way of actually viewing what you've created short of a theater projector. And other unknowns: Converted to JPEG 2000 files from TIFF and Open DCP says it's will convert color space from RGB to XYZ but when I checked a JPEG frame it comes up as color space RGB? Anyway, back to the playpen for me.

You can preview the DCP in Davinci, full quality for 15 sec with sound, for free. You can also preview the DCP in a demo version of the Easy DCP player. The JPG 2000 files should look way more washed out than the TIFFs if you open up the image files individually in preview. I just made a couple of trailers from FCP X, I used "send to compressor" to make the 24fps TIFFs(originally 23.97). Just to be safe I exported the audio from the project file directly from FCP X and then imported it into a custom 24fps timeline and exported it again.

If you are looking at the RAW JPEG2000s and Audio elements before bundling them, you can actually preview it in Photoshop in the XYZ color space, which is crazy. Depending on your memory and speed you can watch segments of your show pretty well.

I have only delivered one DCP for a film festival last year. After I spent a ridiculous amount of time making the DCP, I sent them the file and they called back and said "What is DCP? Can you just give is a BlurRay?" Apparently they didn't sent me the wrong submission requirements.

- T.

To be honest I haven't tried Resolve for DCPs (I should do).
But what I know for sure that they don't support (sub)title tracks for a DCP package. As mentioned above the (sub)titles have to baken to the picture.
While you can create DCP title tracks with my tools or even the free www.michaelcinquin.com/tools/dcp/DCP_subtitling you still have to create a package.
The free OpenDCP or DCP-o-matic are very picky with those files and it's more than close to impossible to convince them to accept a title track.

Easy DCP is a very easy to use and reliable toolset but the price is probably way to high for a one time usage.
The Easy DCP Player + demo will give a short preview of your DCP package – and it is industry proven

I haven't tried Quvis as well (even though our former company had been their European distributor for a few weeks for the first release before they went bankrupt). As far as I can see they also don't support title tracks.

Finally I think in many cases it's way easier to use a service to create the package – even though it will cost some money.
I don't know where you are located and how long your movie is. Recently some South America of mine used indiedcp.com/ ind Burbank and where happy both for their service, quality and price.

Also keep in mind that it might be needed to deliver the package on a Linux EXT3 formatted drive. You can do this with www.paragon-software.de/de/home/extfs-mac/features.html .

- Andreas