Using RED Media with Final Cut Studio This document describes the best practices for following a digital cinema postproduction workflow with Final Cut Studio using media recorded with the RED camera. Minimum processor requirements for using the RED plugin with Final Cut Studio: • Dual 2.0 GHz or faster Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor (the RED plugin is only compatible with Intel processors), with a minimum of 2 GB of RAM. • Rendering at 4K resolution requires a minimum of 512 MB VRAM.
• The image data of 3K REDCODE media is also kept intact during ingest, but this resolution is not supported by the real-time effects architecture of Final Cut Pro, so it may be an inconvenient format with which to edit. • Regardless of how you ingest 2K REDCODE media, the resolution is kept the same. Shooting 2K Versus 4K REDCODE Media Since only 2K resolution is supported by the real-time effects architecture of Final Cut Pro, you might think that shooting 2K is the easiest resolution to work with.
Choosing the Appropriate Timecode Track for Each Magazine The timecode recorded by the RED camera is always non-drop. The timecode that is recorded for each clip depends on what the RED cameraʼs Display menu is set to when the clips are recorded. There are two choices in the RED cameraʼs Display menu: • Time Code — This is the default, which is set to record timecode matching the cameraʼs “time of day.
Example of four archived directories of RED media. The name of each RDM folder is used as the reel name for all the media it contains. If youʼre using a RED Drive, you should copy the entire contents of the drive to a new folder every time you fill it up or are finished with a particular part of your shoot.
Archiving RED Media Using Disk Images For additional protection, consider copying the contents of each CF card or RED Drive into a disk image thatʼs sized appropriately for the contents using Disk Utility. You can use the Disk Image from Folder command to copy the entire contents of a mounted volume into a disk image.
For your reference, each RDC folder contains media files with the following extensions: • .R3D — This is the high-quality REDCODE raw image data itself. Since thereʼs a 2 GB limitation on file sizes, longer clips may consist of multiple “spanned” R3D files. In this case, every file must be present for the clip to be readable. R3D filenames with suffix numbers (such as _001) should never be altered, as this will make them unreadable by the Log and Transfer window. • .
Method 1: Transcoding to One of the Apple ProRes Codecs You can transcode R3D media to any one of the Apple ProRes codecs. The one you should choose depends on your planned workflow: • ProRes 4444 – Suitable for high-quality ingest of 4:4:4 chroma-sampled/RGB color space media, mastering of HD and 2K media for output to 4:4:4 tape formats, and mastering of 4K media intended for film output.
Choosing an Apple ProRes codec for transcoding REDCODE media 4. Optionally, you can choose a color option from the RED FCP Log and Transfer plugin submenu of the Action pop-up menu. By default, this is set to As Shot, but you can choose any other option from this submenu with which to preprocess the ingested clips. More information about this option appears below. 5.
If necessary, you can choose other color preprocessing options from the RED FCP Log and Transfer plugin submenu of the Action pop-up menu. The image preprocessing options found in the RED FCP Log and Transfer plugin submenu By default, there are five options: • As Shot — The Default. Uses each clipʼs internal metadata to preprocess the clip. The result should look nearly identical to the image as it was monitored during the shoot.
Optionally, you can export your own color preprocessing preset using the RED ALERT! application (available for free from www.red.com) and use it to preprocess transferred clips in different ways. To export image-processing presets from RED ALERT! to use in Final Cut Pro: 1. Open RED ALERT!, and choose File > Open R3D to open a REDCODE media file to use to create your preset. 2. Use the controls at the left of the RED ALERT! window to adjust the image in order to create the look you want. 3.
compatible applications. This is faster than transcoding to any of the Apple ProRes codecs, and provides the highest quality along with access to the native REDCODE settings when using Color, but the resulting media is more processor-intensive to work with. To ingest RED media as RED QuickTime files: 1. Mount the volumes that contain your archived RED media. 2. Open the Log and Transfer window, and choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu (the menu with the gear icon). 3.
• The name of the RDM directory that encloses each set of archived RDC directories (that contain the source R3D files) is used as the reel name of ingested clips. • The name of each R3D file is used to create the universally unique ID number (UUID) (also referred to as the Clip ID) for each ingested clip. This ID number, which is not user-accessible, is used to track the correspondence between ingested clips and the original source media from which they came.
Note — When you automatically adjust a sequenceʼs settings in this way, the Video Processing tab of the Sequence Settings is automatically set to “Render 10-bit material in high-precision YUV” for the highest-quality output. Creating a “RED Using ProRes” Sequence Preset in Final Cut Pro If you plan to work on lots of projects that use native RED QuickTime files in Final Cut Pro, you may find it convenient to create a custom sequence preset.
Recommended sequence preset settings for RED media edited in Final Cut Pro 5. If you decide to use Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), then click the Advanced button in the QuickTime Video Settings area to open the Compression Settings window, in order to access the “Enable 4:4:4 chroma filtering” option for the maximum image quality when rendering the final output of your program. When the Compression Settings dialog appears, select the “Enable chroma filtering for 4:4:4 sources” checkbox and click OK.
Note — This option is only available when the sequence is set to use one of the Apple ProRes 422 codecs. 6. Lastly, open the Video Processing tab, and select “Render 10-bit material in highprecision YUV.” This is the highest-quality setting for rendering and exporting RED QuickTime media. 7. Click OK. Warning — Do not, under any circumstances, choose REDCODE as the compressor for your sequence settings.
Real-Time Performance in Final Cut Pro Using RED QuickTime Media Because native RED QuickTime media is extremely processor-intensive to work with, youʼll want to use Unlimited RT while you work. Otherwise, you may need to do a lot of rendering. Rendering Native RED QuickTime Clips That Use Effects RED media is read-only in Final Cut Studio applications; you can neither render nor export media using the REDCODE codec.
• Donʼt use the Motion tab to create animated pan and scan effects. Instead, use the Pan & Scan tab in the Geometry room of Color, which lets you scale, recenter, change the aspect ratio of, and rotate your clips, and which can be keyframed. Pan & Scan effects are rendered along with your grades when you render DPX or Cineon image sequences out of Color.
can work in Color at higher quality with access to all of the raw linear light image data in the R3D file, as Color can bypass QuickTime and use the RED framework directly. You gain the ability to render your project at 4K resolutions in Color. • Disadvantage — Reconforming is an extra step that requires good organization. Stage 1 — Ingest Using ProRes, and Perform an Offline Edit 1.
Recommended Media Manager settings for native RED QuickTime reingest 4. Click OK. 5. When the Save Project dialog appears, choose a location to save the new offline sequence youʼre creating, then click Save. 6. When the new media-managed project has been created, save and close the original project file before continuing. Itʼs also a good idea to set the Master Clips bin as the logging bin before proceeding with reingesting the originally archived RED media. 7.
8.1. Click the Add Volume button in the upper-left corner of the Log and Transfer window. 8.2. Choose the folder or disk image that contains your archived RED media, and click Open. 8.3. If you have RED media in other folders or on other hard drive volumes, repeat steps 8.1 and 8.2 until all the RED media referenced by your project has been added to the Log and Transfer browse area. 9. Lastly, right-click the new offline sequence thatʼs been created, and choose Batch Capture from the shortcut menu.
As a result, all 4K clips that match the resolution you chose have their scale parameter reset to 1.000000, which is the native resolution of your media. 4. You also need to open the User Preferences tab of the Setup room and check the Render Proxy setting before you render, to make sure that your project is rendered at the correct resolution. For more information, see Using Proxies in Color.
• Advantage —Using an EDL and Cinema Tools database to move your sequence into Color and relink it directly to the native REDCODE media eliminates the added step of reingesting using the Log and Transfer window. Relinking using a Cinema Tools database is fast: you can relink to media on multiple hard drives in one step. Working with REDCODE media provides all the same advantages as working with native RED QuickTime files.
8. Click OK. The Cinema Tools database is automatically saved. When youʼre finished adding REDCODE media, quit Cinema Tools. Important – Cinema Tools derives the reel name of all clips from a particular RDM folder using the name of the RDM folder itself. For a successful reconform process, itʼs essential that the name of each RDM folder match the reel name of each corresponding event in the EDL being imported.
Recommended EDL Export Options settings for Color 3. Click OK to accept the EDL Export Options settings. 4. When the Save dialog appears, choose a location and click Save. Stage 4 — Import the EDL into Color, and Relink Using the Cinema Tools Database 1. Open Color. 2. When the Projects dialog appears, locate the EDL you exported during Stage 3, and click Open. 3.
5. When the Source Directory dialog appears, locate the Cinema Tools database you created in Stage 2 (it will have a .ctdb file extension), and click Choose. 6. Click Import in the EDL Import Settings dialog. A new Color project is created from the EDL, and the REDCODE media referenced by the Cinema Tools database is automatically relinked to the clips in the Color Timeline. Stage 5 — Render the Color Project 1.
Workflow 4: Work and Finish Using REDCODE This workflow consists of working in Final Cut Pro with transferred RED QuickTime clips from the very beginning, eliminating the reconform step completely. • Advantage —This is an efficient workflow that skips the need for reconforming, and gives you access to high-quality image data when you grade in Color. Ingesting RED QuickTime media is fast when compared to transcoding. This is a good workflow for projects such as short-forms and spots.
Primary In Room Parameters for RED Media in Color When RED QuickTime media is sent to or imported into Color, a RED tab appears in the Primary In room, next to the Basic and Advanced tabs. There is no corresponding RED tab in the Primary Out room. The RED tab appears in the Primary In room whenever a RED QuickTime clip is selected as the current shot, and provides access to RED-specific parameters. The RED camera writes linear light image data to the R3D files that are recorded.
For clips that were imported with native color metadata, the RED tab provides access to the clip Color, Color Temp, and View metadata originally written by the RED camera. However, this metadata can also be overwritten during ingest using a custom colorprocessing option in the Log and Transfer window. These parameters are provided so that you can begin grading each clip in the state at which it was originally monitored during the shoot, or at which it was ingested using the Log and Transfer window.
boosts or lowers the maximum value of the corresponding color channel, and scales the midtones while pinning the bottom of the channel to 0 percent. Lowering does the opposite. The overall range is 0 to 10, where 1 is unity. • Contrast — Available in the RED cameraʼs Color menu. Raising the contrast boosts the highlights and lowers the shadows, while leaving the midtones centered around 50 percent unaffected.
Important — Changing the ISO setting of your RED camera does not alter the recorded data. However, since it changes the lightness of the image youʼre monitoring during the shoot, it will influence how you light the scene and adjust the cameraʼs iris.
Important — Whenever you work with proxies, itʼs a good idea to review your grades at Full Resolution at least once before rendering your final output. Minimum and Maximum Levels for RED QuickTime Media In Color, RED QuickTime media is processed in its native RGB color space. This does not allow for processing values above absolute white (100 percent) or below absolute black (0 percent).
