P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS
by Coubiak
on
Apr 6, 2007 at 9:28:49 pm
Hi everyone !
I'm currently editing a short film with some footages shot in DVCPRO 50 with the Panasonic HVX200. I found a really good workflow tutorial to import my footage in Avid and edit them but the thing is that now I want to export them into After Effects to do some compositing work but I don't want to loose my 4:2:2 quality ! So here is my question : How shall I export my footage without breaking my "workflow transparency" ?
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by MHancock (promoboy) on Apr 7, 2007 at 12:18:45 pm
If After Effects is on the same system as your Avid, export a Quicktime Reference from Avid. AE will read it like a quicktime, but it will actually be a pointer to your original media, so you won't be compressing on export. Do your AE work (I'd set your comp to 16-bit just to be sure to preserve your color). When you render from AE choose the Quicktime Animation codec--it's lossless and works great. Import into Avid, drop into your timeline, repeat as necessary!
If After Effects is not on the same machine as your Avid. export a self contained Quicktime Animation file from Avid, then repeat the above steps.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 7, 2007 at 3:17:27 pm
Fantastic ! I thought about the QT Ref solution but I wasn't sure that once in AE I wouldn't loose my 4:2:2. Thanks for the quick answer ! I'll keep you posted.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 8, 2007 at 6:14:49 pm
Hi again !
I just tried what you suggested and it seems that it's not really transparent. One I import my footage back in Avid the footage looks slightly blurry just like when you loose some resolution. I've got an Avid Mojo and a PVM14 and I can tell that the native footage looks definitely sharper.
Thanks anyway, if you think about something else, please keep me posted !
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by atreeves on Apr 8, 2007 at 8:56:07 pm
Traditionally this is the way I moved renders back and forth as well. If you're seeing some compression loss you might try re-importing your quicktime ref. back to AVID and to a side by side comparision of the same frame and shot (say w/ a 50% wipe). I would also open your QT REF in AE and export that clip right back out as a ANIMATION clip and as a AVI or QT Uncompressed clip. Pull those back into AVID and side by side them again w/ the original.
I suggest this because this should give you a good idea of where your loss is coming from. Though I have to admit, Anim & Uncompressed should both look perfect.
Not sure what version of AE you're on, but 7 will open OMF files directly. While I haven't researched it much, you might also try openning them directly in AE and comparing to the QTREF exports.
If you find where you're loss is, please let us know. I'm curious to hear.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 9, 2007 at 7:27:44 am
Thank you very much for the detailed test, I will definitely give it a try. The thing is that I don't know how to create a 16 bpc comp in After Effects like MHancock sugested and I think that could be the reason of the loosy quality. When I go into the project settings window I cannot choose 16 bpc, the 8 bpc is set as default and cannot be modified, do you know why ? I know this doesn't belong to the Avid Forum but since I started the thread here I thought it would be no big deal. I hope it's all right.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by MHancock (promoboy) on Apr 9, 2007 at 11:52:34 am
When I get to work I'll check exactly how to change your comp to 16bit and post directions--I'm afraid if I try to do it from memory I'll screw it up royally!
Regarding the softening of your footage--a couple of caveats. When you export your footage Avid, if you choose lower or upper field first, make sure you interpret your footage correctly in After Effects. Click the file in your project window, right click, interpret settings (Ctrl+F is the shortcut). If you exported lower field first, check lower field first. If you don't interpret your footage correctly it won't render out as crystal clear as it should. ALso, when you're rendering from AE--if you're working in an interlaced project, make sure you render with fields. This will also keep your footage looking clear when you reimport it into Avid.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 9, 2007 at 1:10:04 pm
Thank you very much for the good tip but unfortunately I work on a 25P project and I check the "interpret footage" option and it doesn't seem to come from here ! Anyway I apriciate your help and I'm eager to know how to create a 16bpc comp !
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by MHancock (promoboy) on Apr 9, 2007 at 1:33:00 pm
To create a 16bit comp--go to File-->Project Settings (on a PC the shortcut is Alt+Shift+Ctrl+K). A box will pop up where you can change your bit settings--I know on AE7.0 you can choose from 8, 16, and 32. 16 should be fine for what you're doing. Hope this helps you! Also, don't forget to set your Render Settings for 16 bit as well.
Michael.
PS. Note, I believe there are some effects that are only 8 bit. Rendering these in 16 bit won't make them 16 bit, but 16 bit will take advantage of 16 bit effects. There's probably a list in the AE help file that lists all 16 bit effects.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 9, 2007 at 2:44:13 pm
Thanks for the tip Micheal ,the thing is that when I open the projects settings window here is what I get : http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/1869/16bpcmx1.jpg, I cannot choose my resolution and I realy don't know what the problem could be ! If you think about a solution I can't wait to know it !
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by james andrew on Apr 11, 2007 at 5:16:37 am
Since last summer, I've done several editing projects with Avid Express Pro using DVCPRO HD MXF files from p2 cards. The only way I found to export to After Effects, do my work, and then reimport to Avid with no noticable image change was to export my source shots as true, uncompressed HD. After doing my work in After Effects and rendering out my movie as an uncompressed quicktime, I would reimport into Avid with no image change.
For your case, I suggest you export your source shots as 720x480 quicktimes with compression set to "none." Do your work in After Effects, and then render out your movie uncompressed. I think you'll find that upon import, you'll have no image loss.
p.s. Why do people always recommend using the Animation Codec for normal footage? It's designed for animation, i.e., material with large, solid areas of color, you know, like animation is.
Re: P2 WORKFLOW AVID TO AFTER EFFECTS by Coubiak on Apr 11, 2007 at 9:24:33 pm
Thank you James,
I came close to your workflow those last two days. I've done several effects ,pretty important work on color and sky replacement, and it seems to be asolutely transparent but it takes a lot of disk space but it doesn't matter : Quality first !
Thanks for your help ,I guess we could say this thread is solved !
