Ultimate feature request..
by Blase Theodore
on
Sep 8, 2008 at 2:51:24 pm
This, in my opinion would solve a lot (or possibly all) my problems quite simply.
Is there a way/option to have color render the file name to have the same name, timecode, and codec as its source?
Footage would be graded to a new media location which would end up looking identical to the old one. Any import complications could be easily worked around, and you just grade and re-point your media in FCP or AVID.
Aside from checking the media managed project itself for glitches (which is FCP's problem, not color's) this would eliminate issues with:
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by walter biscardi on Sep 8, 2008 at 3:09:06 pm
[Blase Theodore]"Is there a way/option to have color render the file name to have the same name, timecode, and codec as its source? "
It already has the same timecode and codec as the source. No clue on the file name side of things, but I can see that being a BIG problem for FCP. Color files are only the render files, not the entire raw clip. So if you render something out of Color with the exact same name, FCP will have issues re-connecting since there will be two files with the exact same name.
So I don't think it's wise to have Color create a file with the exact same file name, even though it would reside in the Color Render folder and the original clip resides in the Capture Scratch folder. FCP has enough media management problems as it is, don't want to add any more.
[Blase Theodore]"Aside from checking the media managed project itself for glitches (which is FCP's problem, not color's) this would eliminate issues with:
No that won't solve any of those issues. Those are Color issues, not FCP. Color cannot correctly interpret those type of situations so that's why the renders are always messed up. To solve the issues you mention, Color will have to be updated to be able to correctly interpret all of that information via XML. Not sure what the limitations are of XML quite honestly, that could be where the bottleneck is too.
Keep in mind, Final Touch (Color) was never designed for Final Cut Pro or a video editing workflow. It was wholly designed to compete with traditional color grading solutions in the film grading world. In fact it was never designed to work with Quicktime movies originally. So the fact that it even works, and works well with FCP is a major step forward in the application.
The only things I would like to see added to Color are the ability to recognize stills and the ability to properly interpret speed changes. I don't think you would ever be able to send a Nest into Color because Color always refers back to the original media so it would see every layer individually.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by Manuel Wenger on Sep 8, 2008 at 4:14:19 pm
I´d prefer to see a "bake all" feature in FCP, something like an intelligent Media Manager who creates a new folder with a new project with like with the common Media Manager plus it bakes all clips with a Effect on it as an independend QT as you would do it now manually.
Manuel Wenger
DOP / DIT / Digital Colorist
Munich - Germany
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by Blase Theodore on Sep 8, 2008 at 4:41:37 pm
Walter, I use this technique all the time. I have duplicate media in different directories and just point FCP to the applicable one. So long as they're in entirely separate directory paths, FCP doesn't have a problem.
You're right though, color already can match the timecode and codec. I wasn't sure though when using mixed formats in a timeline, does Color match the codec and the format or just the codec? (We'd need both in my argument). Can you confirm/clarify this?
In the meantime, I see the short term opportunity for a third party solution. I'm going to explore the idea of hiring a programmer and just doing it myself.
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by Joseph Owens on Sep 8, 2008 at 6:26:53 pm
Well, there are some render formats that COLOR simply won't do (Long-GOP for example) and that would take a fundamental re-write.
I get the feeling that you simply want COLOR to be Final Cut.
COLOR only copes with one format successfully. But hiring someone to write work-around plugins, although tempting because we never know when or if there will be another update/grade/version, would be re-inventing the wheel. And we really should be seeing something soon-ish.
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by Blase Theodore on Sep 8, 2008 at 8:01:57 pm
JP,
Not at all. In fact I want even less integration. I'm suggesting that FCP should not be attempting to send all that metadata (scaling, timewarps, transitions) to color. And color shouldn't need to try and preserve it to send it back.
I also have skepticism with "baking" away all our problems into the timeline. I think we should always grade from the source when possible. (long GOP being an example of an exception)
In this proposed solution, Color only grades loaded footage, and renders them identically to their source. FCP gets repointed, and never even sees the swap. The project is just the way it was, but graded. Albeit with a change in sequence codec perhaps.
(the render codec would be uniformly ProResHQ or unc, but each clip's framerate would have to match the orig clip's.)
I agree that third party workarounds should seem unnecessary, but I'm getting a little "impatient", and this is actually pretty easy to pull off.
Re: Ultimate feature request.. by Charles Taylor on Sep 14, 2008 at 8:09:58 pm
Agreed - I would love to see this. Currently I do a tape-to-tape style workflow to avoid this (render out QT file of whole sequence, then import that file and a cut list EDL). This would be much simpler.
