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User profile for user: toddf007
toddf007 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

ProRes Rendering and Compressing HELP ME PLEASE

First off, I'm a new-be. I am using 2 Canon 7D cameras for shooting my videos. I am putting together several sequences as chapters in a DVD. We are using a green screen. I have had several issues and have just been using trial and error to get through everything. I will say that I have had success in using the H.264 render setting and then SEND TO Compressor using ProRes 422 HQ Codec. I then put that into iDVD and everything seems to work great. The problem is the resources needed, file sizes & TIME. At first we wanted to use DVD Studio, but later found out how easy iDVD was to use so decided (FOR NOW) to just use iDVD. I know it's not Pro user, but at least it's automatic.

This last time before rendering I changed the sequence settings to ProRes Rendering. First I tried doing like I had always done and SENT TO Compressor (PR 422 HQ). After about 4 or 5 hours, I got a FAILED Error. I then tried just PR 422 and got the same thing. I then used the Batch Export method. Everything SEEMED to work, but when I went and played one of the clips a large portion of the green screen was showing through. If the FCP Timeline the chroma key was perfect.

The next method I used was EXPORT > QuickTime Movie and that worked for the green screen, but only brought in one of the clips. I selected all of my sequences so it would bring in all of the chapters, but it only brought the first one. Can you not bring in multiple chapters at a time when using this method. Is this a good way to go anyway. I hope someone can help me.

I do have another question while I'm on some of this rendering and multiple clips thing. Is there any way to render multiple sequences at once or do I have to render one and wait for it to complete then start another?

iMac 27" i7 Quad Core, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 9, 2011 6:51 AM

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User profile for user: Studio X
Studio X
User level: Level 7
27,229 points

Mar 9, 2011 6:59 AM in response to toddf007

This is the project flow that will work everytime.

1. import your material as ProRes. ProResLT is most appropriate for material from that cam.

2. edit in FCP in a ProResLT sequence.

3. export each sequence using Export QT movie> Current settings> Self contained.

4. open up Compressor, drag in all the movies, apply the DVD preset appropriate for the total DVD running time

5. take the resulting m2v and ac3 files into DVD Studio Pro, build and burn your DVD.

6. be happy because it all works.

You will note h.264 plays no role in this process.

x
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User profile for user: toddf007
toddf007 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Mar 10, 2011 7:55 AM in response to Studio X

Thank you SX for taking the time to answer my questions. Your 5 step process seems very simple and sounds like it should work. I am still confused though on several points. I will address each step separately.

1. import your material as ProRes. ProResLT is most appropriate for material from that cam.

- I don't think I totally understand the "Import as ProResLT". Right now I have been grabbing each original movie file from FINDER and dragging them into the BIN in FCP. I build my sequence and then after everything is edited the way I want it I add the Chapter Marker and go into SEQUENCE SETTINGS and change the RENDER CONTROL > change to APPLE ProRes 422 [HDV, HDCAM HD/EX/HD422 only].

I don't see anything at all about Importing material as ProResLT.



2. edit in FCP in a ProResLT sequence.

- I "think" look above at #1 to see maybe how I'm not understanding how to do this.



3. export each sequence using Export QT movie> Current settings> Self contained.

- Do I need to Render everything first? When Exporting to QT Movie can I send multiple sequences (Chapters) or do I have to do each one individually? That would save a lot of time doing all of them at once vs. sitting in front of the computer waiting 30 min. for each one and then starting the next.



4. open up Compressor, drag in all the movies, apply the DVD preset appropriate for the total DVD running time

- Here is another place I've been TOTALLY confused. Since I really do not know what the **** I'm doing, I have been hitting SEND TO COMPRESSOR from FCP. When in Compressor I have been "GUESSING" which ProRes Codec to add to my movie. I have been using ProRes 422HQ. Please note, I was using this ProRes in Compressor only in movies that I did BEFORE finding out about changing the Sequence Settings>Render Control to ProRes in FCP. SO, these were all H.264.

- Should I go and send the QT Movie to Compressor? How would I know which Codec to add to the movie? Does the movie get rendered in the process or do I need to render in FCP before doing any of this?



5. take the resulting m2v and ac3 files into DVD Studio Pro, build and burn your DVD.

- Can I just send them to iDVD for now to keep things very simple and idiot proof. At least until I feel more comfortable using DVD Studio Pro? I think my biggest hurdle is building the menus in Photoshop the way I would want everything to look. Isn't that the most common way to build your look? I don't own Photoshop nor do I know ANYTHING about using it.



6. be happy because it all works.

- This is my favorite step. Is there any way to just go straight to step 6?



I hope I have made everything clear. In a nutshell, I'm just a confused individual, lol. I may not be smart, but I can lift heavy things, lol
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User profile for user: toddf007
toddf007 Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Mar 10, 2011 9:10 AM in response to David S.

I "Think" I understand that??? So, would I take my original camera footage straight to Compressor FIRST and apply the ProRes 422LT to it and then bring THAT file that's run through compressor into my FCP BIN to be edited in the sequence? If so, that seems easy enough to me. It just doesn't follow anything I've seen or read about to date. Everything I've seen has me bringing the original camera footage straight into FCP.

Now, if this is the case, what about all of the countless hours that have been spent editing all of my footage to date? Is that all a waste and do I have to start over again with the original video files? What about the separate audio files that were recorded? We never use the audio from the camera. We have a studio and use pro mics and then line the video and audio up in FCP. Does those audio files also need to be run through compressor first or do I just bring those files straight into FCP?
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User profile for user: jvolino
jvolino
User level: Level 1
46 points

Apr 8, 2011 10:44 AM in response to toddf007

Todd:

I'm not sure where you've seen dragging original footage straight from your camera to the FCP timeline. That's definitely not recommended. I'm not sure how you did the editing directly from your orignal H.264 clips without rendering the timeline. Maybe you've got a high-horsepower Mac?

Anyway there are two approaches that you will normally see people use:
1) Log and Transfer: With this method, you mount your SD card on the Mac, and look at thumbnails of all your clips. You can select those that you wish to keep and which to ignore. Then you tell Final Cut Pro to transcode the selected clips to ProRes 422. They will end up in a bin in your project.

See:
http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/eosmovie_pulginarticle.shtml?categoryId=124
and:
http://www.patience.tv/blog_files/6996080f6dd90fcf20a65734df6f1a22-4.php

and just google "canon dslr final cut pro workflow" to find many more discussions and tutorials. Taking this approach also adds timecode to your clips which is important for helping Final Cut Pro to keep track of how they are used in sequences and if you ever have to go back and edit an old project.

2) Use Compressor to Convert Clips to Prores: As described in the post above, you can also just dump all the .MOV files from the camera into a batch in Compressor and select the ProRes LT preset and submit the batch. For a quick and dirty tutorial on this approach see: http://youtu.be/k7mKpKRLfMI

CREATING MOVIES FOR DVDs: Generally you should do as the poster above stated, which is to create a Quicktime movie file and then use Compressor to convert that to the MPEG-2 format you'll need for DVD Studio Pro. The "Send to Compressor" command should have been removed from FCP a long time ago because it's notoriously unreliable. If you'd rather use iDVD, then you should be able to open that same Quicktime movie file directly in iDVD - don't bother to use Compressor; iDVD does it's own conversion to the necessary files for DVD output. However, you should know that you are seriously wasting your time shooting on a 7D if you take this approach because iDVD will not create very good quality encoding on the DVDs.

AUDIO FILES: Yes, you can still use your own audio recordings on the timeline if you convert to ProRes using the workflows above. Transcoding the audio doesn't add much overhead, so it's not going to be a waste to still transfer that along with the original footage, and it gives you a reference for sync'ing the master audio.

Overall, I strongly recommend taking a little time to better understand the Final Cut Studio suite and invest in a few books or video tutorials (see http://www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/Store/catalog/index.php or lynda.com as starting points.)

--JV

Message was edited by: jvolino
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ProRes Rendering and Compressing HELP ME PLEASE

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