Best FCPX or Compressor codec for uploading to Vimeo?

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Level 1

112 points

Best FCPX or Compressor codec for uploading to Vimeo?

4K project. What is the highest resolution I can upload to Vimeo? If I export a ProRes 422 it's a 70GB file (which would probably take a day or two to upload). If I do a straight H.264 from FCPX it's a 9TB file (which is a 2.5 hour upload).

The ProRes makes a really clean image when converted by Vimeo's converters.

But. The straight H.264 has artifacting in the gradients of the numerous animation sections. Ugly.

Is there some halfway point where I might hope to get cleaner gradients? And have a file no bigger than 15-20GB (which will be an allnigher upload)?

I have Compressor, but use it rarely. If that might help?

All ears, Ben

Posted on Mar 26, 2022 3:18 PM

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Answer 1

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 26, 2022 3:31 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Aha! H.264 as 10-bit. I get it. I'm going to Compressor right now...

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,819 points

Mar 26, 2022 3:30 PM in response to Ben Low

You can export from FCP to HEVC 10-bit using an Apple Devices preset, or you could use a Compressor preset in FCP. Either way it will be very slow. Do not use Send to Compressor, not to the current version on an Intel machine.

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,819 points

Mar 26, 2022 3:22 PM in response to Ben Low

HEVC 10-bit would be good, smaller file, high quality, but slow to process depending on the system. The M1s seemed to be tuned for HEVC and do it very well.

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Answer 4

Mar 28, 2022 8:28 AM in response to Ben Low

Create a new Compressor setting, and choose Quicktime instead of "Apple Devices".

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,819 points

Mar 28, 2022 9:05 AM in response to Ben Low

What computer is this? There’s a problem sending to Compressor with Intel machines.

Apple Devices sizes are limited by Apple for their devices.

Create a custom preset either for use in Compressor or in FCP.

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Answer 6

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 26, 2022 3:27 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Mmm. I'm still on a 2019 machine (MacBook Pro) Tom. I'm thinking the M1s is the new processor? Would I still be able to create an HEVC 10-bit? And how exactly? I must be slipping. I've never used HEVC 10-bit before.

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Answer 7

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 28, 2022 8:17 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom,

I'm having some trouble getting things to work. I decided to make a ProRes 422 HQ master of the film, then use the master to make the HEVC 10-bit. Going straight from the original timeline seems to be continually choking or crapping out - there are a bunch of animated segments with 20 stacked clips. But even using the ProRes HQ master My problem now is that Apple Devices 4K doesn't let me do a 4096 x 2160. In fact, the only 4K choice is 3840 x 2025.

Might there be another way to come at this? So I can get a HEVC 10-bit 4096 x 2160?

Ben

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Answer 8

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 28, 2022 8:54 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Aha! Thank you Luis. Will try. Will report back.

What do you think about using a ProRes 422 HQ master to make the HEVC, instead of coming directly from the original timeline?

I notice my 4 minute ProRes 422 to HEVC 10-bit test is taking what looks like may be an hour to render out.

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Answer 9

Mar 28, 2022 9:00 AM in response to Ben Low

Ben Low wrote:

Aha! Thank you Luis. Will try. Will report back.

What do you think about using a ProRes 422 HQ master to make the HEVC, instead of coming directly from the original timeline?

I notice my 4 minute ProRes 422 to HEVC 10-bit test is taking what looks like may be an hour to render out.

I don't see any inconvenient in doing a ProRes master and converting that to HEVC.

HEVC 10-bit encoding of 4K material is a computationally intensive process and can depend a lot on the mac you are using.

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Answer 10

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 28, 2022 9:13 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hi Tom. Thanks. I did listen to you yesterday, for sure. So I'm not trying to 'send to Compressor' with the Intel chip. I think I may have something buggy in this particular 'project'. I've created a new timeline/project and brought over all the clips ... but I keep getting the pop-up that either I've got a plug-in that has become defunct (which I can't find), or the 'Optical Flow' has not finished computing ... even though I've deliberately 'rendered' all the clips which have 'Optical Flow' selected.

Thus the reason for making the ProRes 422 HQ master ... (I can't see any missing plug-in exclamation marks etc., and the Optical Flow looks smooth).

I've just set up Compressor to do the HEVC 10-bit at the proper ratio. Am running a test. Will report back once it's done.

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Answer 11

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 28, 2022 10:05 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I'm wondering if I use ProRes LT whether I would get a better version than doing a H.264 or HEVC? I'm not so concerned about the size of the file (if I can get the 20 minute film to 10-15GB). I'm just seeing that this HEVC 10-bit is going to take 6 hours to render ... and I can still see a bit of artefacting in the gradients.

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Answer 12

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 26, 2022 3:33 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I'm going to try straight from FCP. Will report back. Thank you kindly Tom.

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Answer 13

Ben Low Author

Level 1

112 points

Mar 28, 2022 10:06 AM in response to Ben Low

Ooops. That's still going to be almost 60GB's. Back to the HEVC.

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