Working with RED (rd3) files and .mov files (from 5D Mark III) in FCPX, having trouble

Hey guys!

So I am a neophyte editor and not very experienced with various codecs and their uses. I use FCPX, and for a recent project I was given footage that came from two sources: a RED camera and a 5D Mark III.

I figured out pretty quickly I needed the RED Apple Workflow Installer, downloaded that, and started to import. It took about 16 hours for import, and after 24 hours the "transcode and analysis" was at 5%, so I stopped it. All files made it into FCPX, though some are in optimized media and many of the rd3 files are in native.

In the events browser I am unable to play through the rd3 clips without dropped frames, the ones from the 5D are fine. However when placed into the timeline, the rd3 clips will play without dropped frames after rendering.

I am hesitant to go to town on this footage just yet. First I would like to get the rd3 clips to play in the events browser without dropped frames (they really won't play pack at all, it's pretty bad). I am also worried that there will be problems I am not yet aware of working with the two different codecs on the same project.

I have heard that the RED Cine-X program can be used to create a Pro Res 422 codec from the rd3 clips and import to FCPX. I have installed that program and am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to use it.
Here are my questions:

1. If I transcode the rd3 to a Pro Res 422, will I lose the 4K resolution or any information with that file?
2. Any instructions for using RED Cine-x to transcode and not necessarily for a color grade?
3. Is there another codec that would be better/more useful?
3. How to I get the 5D footage to Pro Res 422 to match, and do I need to do this?
4. I am planning on correcting in DaVinci Resolve Lite. What are the steps with the codecs I need to take to make this possible for the best grade?

Thank you so much for any tips and advice, I am very grateful for it!

Hi, to answer your questions,

1. No you can export ProRes 422 higher then 1920x1080, you will lose some metadata.
2. I would go over there learning site
3. Useful for grading or editing? Editing = ProRes for colouring = RAW (REDcode)
4. Not sure what you mean to match? But you can transcode the files in Final Cut Pro X (Optimize) or Compressor
5. Again you want to use the RAW files.

On the performance side, what are your specs of your Mac that you are working of and where and how are they stored?
Sounds like performance issue...

Feel free to contact me if you need any help...

Hi Curly,

This step-by-step guide made by Sam Mestman (FCPWORKS) for the We Make Movies collective is a great resource to learn all you need to know about the FCPX-RED-Resolve workflow:

www.moviemaker.com/diy/movies-better-fcp...ilm-workflow-part-1/
www.moviemaker.com/diy/movies-better-fin...rt-2-by-sam-mestman/

I hope you find it useful.

Cheers,

Jesús
@jesus_edits

Hi Aleysha, welcome to the forum.

I won't add much to the excellent replies of Scrubs and Jesùs. Quite a challenge for a new editor to be faced with a mix of R3D and MKII footage!

- As Scrubelicious said it is best to work with the RAW R3D media if you intend to grade your FCP X edit in Resolve. So there is absolutely no need for creating ProRes files in RedCineX if you will do the final grade in Resolve, it is much better NOT to do this. Just import the R3D files and the MKII files in FCP X. Do NOT import the media into your Library but keep them external. This will make your life much easier.

- You can work with native R3D in FCP X, but the playback performance will entirely depend on the performance of your system. When playing native R3D clips you should set your Viewer playback performance to "Better Performance" and never to "Better Quality".

- If this still does not work because your computer cannot handle it, you can transcode your clips to Proxy media and edit in Proxy mode instead: select all your clips in the clip browser, R-click the selection and choose Transcode Media > Proxy Media. When the proxy media have been created you just need to switch the Viewer mode to Proxy. When your editing is done, just switch the Viewer to Original again. This is a perfectly seamless process that is unique to FCP X.

- There is absolutely no need to transcode any of your R3D clips to Optimized media. Proxy media take up much less drive space and the quality is more than good enough for editing.


- Ronny

I am on an early 2011 MacBook Pro, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 and 16GB ram. Also working with an external hard drive.

Thank you so much!

Hello!

Thank you so, so much. There are many challenges for a self-taught newbie, but I have amazing people like you guys to help me figure things out!

One clarifying question for now:

--I now realize that I have been checking boxes and doing things during importing that I was taught to do, but really haven't understood what exactly I was doing. When importing, how do I not import to my Library but keep the files external? I am working off a library of my external hard drive, is that what this means? Or is there another way to import footage but bypassing putting it into any library?

- If you check "Copy To Library" it will make a copy of the original file inside the Library (managed media).
- If you check "Leave In Place" it will make a "link" file inside the library, that points to the original file, which is outside of the library (external media).
- If you check "Optimize" it will make a full resolution ProRes copy inside of the Library (managed media).
- If you check "Proxy" it will make a quarter to half (depending on original) resolution ProRes proxy file.

Now, you need want to "Copy To Library" and "Optimize" at the same time, that's just silly, you end up with both original and ProRes versions, and FCPX will only read the ProRes version.

I'em guessing your external hard drive is a USB single drive?
To make your day easy as Ronny suggested let Final Cut Pro X transcode your RED footage to a Proxy.
When you are done all you do export your XML to DaVinci using the original footage.

If you like keep media where it is select "Leave files in place" and you can also select "Create Proxy media" from the Media Import window.

Hello!

So I did exactly as described. I clicked "leave files in place" and "create proxy". It transcoded overnight, my footage is in the event, voila.

However in my playback preferences there is not an option to just work in proxy. I have included a screenshot. Also to the right if you can see, apparently the footage is in original, optimized and proxy (the green circles in the inspector).
How on earth did this happen? I am on version 10.1.4, did the option to work solely with proxy get taken out or did it change locations? And how did I get optimized out of all this?

I am still getting crazy dropped frames, but I suspect it is because FCP is not working with the proxy version of the files.

I cannot seem to get this website to accept the png screenshot I took. Still trying.

Hi Curly,

Can't see the picture. Maybe the upload didn't work?

The proxy playback option was moved from the Preferences to the Viewer's menu (top right corner, click on the switch icon) in version 10.1. You will find it there.

I don't know why Optimize shows in the Inspector with the green dot. Probably you imported media with the "Create optimized media" turned on by mistake? It's the only explanation I can think of.

To delete unwanted Optimized media, select the event/s where the clips are, and go to the following menu: "File > Delete Generated Event Files..."

Click only the "Delete Optimized Media" checkbox and that's it! You should be good to go.

I hope it helps. And good luck with the project!

Jesús
@jesus_edits