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Offline DPX workflow


Juha Mattila

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Hello all!

Im new with offline workflow so bear with me. I have DPX files which I need to edit offline. I have old Final Cut Studio 3 and Im tend to use Color to make proxies and then edit with FCP. Is there something I need to take in to account when I do that? Will the Color make automatically necessary metadata for EDL so I can relink my DPX files flawlessly?

DPX files are mede from super8 scans so there is no camera timecode.

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The only metadata in EDL is timecode and reel name. Don't mess them up and relinking should be straightforward, but not necessarily automatic - in online, you'll need to link each reel from the EDL to a folder with DPXs.

 

Camera timecode is used extremely rarely nowadays. If there's timecode on a film shoot (and smart slates are used), it comes from the sound dept.

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I've never tried that workflow. Color can be glitchy as all get out, so relying on it to do one of the most critical aspects of your workflow, maybe risky.

 

I did the same workflow with FCP7 and DaVinci for a few years before moving to Avid and it worked great.

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Thank you Tyler!

 

What do you mean by Color been glitchy? Your are saying Resoleve would be better option for crating proxy files. Can you open that little bit?

 

I was thinking to get Resolve and I actually also have Media Composer 5.5 but I got to admit (shamefully) that I have never use it because I have been too comfortable with FCP7.

 

I would be gratefull to read suggestions what would be best workflow in my situation.

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Well, I mean the application "color" was made in the mid 2000's and it was discontinued in 2009, so it's a bit out of date. It's also limited to 2k as it's max resolution.

 

DaVinci is a complete tool, so you can import your media, make proxy's and then bring it back into it for color. It's also up to date with really nice LUT's that work. So when you do your final color you can get a good base to start with.

 

Media Composer 5.5 is SUPER old and junk anyway. Heck, I use Avid 7 and it's WAY outdated.

 

So yea, best workflow would be DaVinci and FCP7... that works well! :)

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I would stick to Resolve. It's current, it's updated frequently, and it's going to work with your workflow as long as your drives can move the files fast enough. One thing to bear in mind with Resolve is that if you have a DPX sequence but you use Quicktime for proxies, you can't easily relink them to the DPX later. There are ways to make this work, but it's tricky. If you need an image sequence workflow, work with image sequences through the whole process. This will require much faster disks than you'd need with, say, ProRes files, but it will eliminate headaches later.

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Actually Color supports 4K resolution but I wasnt planning to do grading my self so maybe it would be safest to use DaVinci for conversion so there wont be any any problems.

Huh, my version for sure didn't support 4k, it just crashed when I asked it to do anything over 2k.

 

DaVinci is the safest way for sure. Just make pro res files and you're good to go.

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