MollyDB
Level 1 (4 points)
Video

Q: Can I Color Grade an FCP 7 project in Premiere?

I just completed a project in FCP 7 and need it to be color graded. The guy I was going to hire only has FCP X and Premiere. Is there a way for him to grade the project in premiere and then convert it back to an FCP 7 file without losing quality?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 16, 2016 12:09 PM

by Meg The Dog,Solvedanswer
Meg The Dog Meg The Dog
Level 6 (11,118 points)
Video
A:

Yes, you can work with your project in Premiere by exporting an XML of your project. Premiere Pro can read XMLfiles generated by FCP-7. The person getting the project must get, in addition to the XML of the project, ALL PERTINENT MEDIA to reconnect to (if necessary) on his system.

 

Regarding returning the files to FCP-7, do you mean you want the color corrected files to show up as editable files on your system? What exactly do you want the colorist to return?

 

Quality should not be an issue as long as you are working in codec such as ProRes.

 

MtD

Posted on Jun 16, 2016 1:42 PM

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MollyDB

Q: Can I Color Grade an FCP 7 project in Premiere?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Meg The Dog,Solvedanswer

    Meg The Dog Meg The Dog Jun 16, 2016 1:42 PM in response to MollyDB
    Level 6 (11,118 points)
    Video
    Jun 16, 2016 1:42 PM in response to MollyDB

    Yes, you can work with your project in Premiere by exporting an XML of your project. Premiere Pro can read XMLfiles generated by FCP-7. The person getting the project must get, in addition to the XML of the project, ALL PERTINENT MEDIA to reconnect to (if necessary) on his system.

     

    Regarding returning the files to FCP-7, do you mean you want the color corrected files to show up as editable files on your system? What exactly do you want the colorist to return?

     

    Quality should not be an issue as long as you are working in codec such as ProRes.

     

    MtD

  • by Shane Ross,

    Shane Ross Shane Ross Jun 16, 2016 6:29 PM in response to MollyDB
    Level 8 (42,989 points)
    Jun 16, 2016 6:29 PM in response to MollyDB

    There is no smooth round trip from FCP to Premiere and back, not like in COLOR or even Resolve. But it MIGHT work. It SHOULD...as the guy who created AUTOMATIC DUCK, software designed to get timelines out of and into FCP from other apps, went to work at Adobe for a couple years to impliment it directly into Premiere.  But this will bear testing. AND...if your colorist only uses those tools, and you have your needs, it's up to them to make it work smoothly. That's why you hire them.  If I were him, with those skills, I'd want to test it out.  Currently I use Resolve for things, and I have a client who works in FCX and wants something back from Resolve in FCX so they can do the finals from there. So, I am asking them for a test sequence SO I can ensure this works smoothly. 

     

    So the logistics for getting it from FCP 7 to Premiere and back are one issue. If he uses FCX...then simply getting two apps makes this work...7toX and Xto7, both by intelligentassistance.com.  LOSING QUALITY? Well, there's going to be one level of compression, that happens when you grade and render out. This is typical of ANY color grade. But if it's ProRes material, then that will be fine. ProRes can be recompressed 6-8 times before you notice a difference.

  • by MollyDB,

    MollyDB MollyDB Jun 17, 2016 7:08 AM in response to Meg The Dog
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Video
    Jun 17, 2016 7:08 AM in response to Meg The Dog

    I will be getting a mix from my sound guy so I want to be able to put the two together. I guess the color guy could actually do that for me and export the project from Premiere?

  • by Meg The Dog,

    Meg The Dog Meg The Dog Jun 17, 2016 9:28 AM in response to MollyDB
    Level 6 (11,118 points)
    Video
    Jun 17, 2016 9:28 AM in response to MollyDB

    Yes. You can finish the edit in Premiere Pro.

    As Shane points out, it is an entirely different process when you want to go back and forth between systems.

    One note: XML is an extremely terse transfer language, and if you have complicated effects or compositing going on in your FCP sequence, those effects may (will likely) not transfer via the XML. Cut points, dissolves a few other basic effects, and the exact media used are pretty much all that XML transfers.

    As Shane says, test everything.

     

     

    MtD