pushparaj santhosh Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 Hello. I recently shot a film with alexa sxt on arriraw format and a great deal of the footage involves VFX. Now what is the best format to give for VFX work after base grading? Is it DPX or EXR because the cg company is insisting on DPX output but I heard EXR is a superior format because it retains a lot more detail. Can anyone explain the difference between the two formats and will it make a difference in the final grading stage? Thanks in advance ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Froehlich Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 EXR can technically retain more detail because it has the option of 32 bit color. DPX only goes to 16bit. But in the vast majority of cases 32 bit is unnecessary and 16 bit is more than adequate. EXR can also hold multiple channels, but again that is not useful when delivering plain footage. I've found that DPX is often used for footage, while EXR is more common for animations and renders. Maybe their workflow is dependent on DPX files (some programs can be tricky or not even work with EXR). Maybe they don't want to store extraneous 32 bit color data. Supposedly some programs (Nuke is an example I've found) work much faster with DPX than EXR (but I don't have personal experience with that). There could be a lot of reasons, but ultimately it probably comes down to this: That is their workflow and deviating from it can cost more time, money, and headaches than trying to accommodate formats they aren't used to for truly imperceptible quality improvements. Are they giving you more specs to match, or did they only specify DPX files? If they're requesting 16 bit, DPX should be perfectly adequate. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pushparaj santhosh Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 @Adam FroehlichThanks a lot mate. Much appreciated ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Sponsor Robert Houllahan Posted June 21, 2021 Site Sponsor Share Posted June 21, 2021 I think 16bit RGB DPX is good for almost anything, remember that is 16bits per color channel. No film scanner I know of scans to EXR so if your doing a film scan it would already be a DPX to EXR conversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Paolantonio Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 47 minutes ago, Robert Houllahan said: I think 16bit RGB DPX is good for almost anything, remember that is 16bits per color channel. No film scanner I know of scans to EXR so if your doing a film scan it would already be a DPX to EXR conversion. We're implementing it on our 70mm scanner, kind of just because we get it for free with some of the libraries we're coding with, so why not? But if we add HDR to the scanner (which will likely happen in a few months), it'll be nice to have a 32bit container to put it in . I can't even comprehend what working with 14k files like that is going to entail, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Tyler Purcell Posted June 21, 2021 Premium Member Share Posted June 21, 2021 13 minutes ago, Perry Paolantonio said: I can't even comprehend what working with 14k files like that is going to entail, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there! Very fast storage! EEEK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Paolantonio Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, Tyler Purcell said: Very fast storage! EEEK! Nothing about this will be fast. Big, yes. Fast? nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Tyler Purcell Posted June 21, 2021 Premium Member Share Posted June 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, Perry Paolantonio said: Nothing about this will be fast. Big, yes. Fast? nope. For sure not fast lol ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now