AE With FCP, ahhh! Help please!!!

T

theNetwork

Member
If anyone could help clear some stuff up for me I would really appreciate it. So I have been using FCP on a mac for a while and just starting to get a little more complicated with the things I want to do. I have search here and there and can't figure out what way I'm suppose to go about this.

I have heard you should edit a rough edit on fcp send the peaces needing AE to After Effects, then send each individual peace back to fcp, then to color, then back to fcp, then to compressor. but I have also heard to send it to AE last and that should be the final step. So I'm confused, I hope this makes sense.

Can anyone help me with the path I should take to use AE properly? (I.E. fcp ->AE->FCP->COLOR->FCP->COMPRESSOR->DVD STUDIO->DVD)

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
It depends on what you're doing and about a million other things. You just need to pick a workflow, test it, then use it. We go from FCP->AE and finish in AE. We used to use Color, but I don't really see any reason for it anymore. We're not colorists here and we can just as easily color correct with AE and Colorista with the adding pain of going through Color, as well as the extra rendering/generational loss. Render out a final high-res file from whatever your finishing app is then use that in Compressor to DVD.
 
Thanks! I guess there is no wrong or right just what is right for you project. So I think I am going to do it the way I have been doing it and just work on my work flow.
 
My experience pretty much mirrors oneifinite's. I haven't messed with color extensively, but it seems like you end up with a full edit - I'd rather go piecemeal in AE for most things.

The biggest thing for me is remembering to render OUT of AE to ProRes; Animation files choke my FCP (6.x on a current mac pro).

The other thing is: if you're trimming footage in FCP, your clip may be way longer overall than what you're actually using in your edit, which can add a lot of time to AE renders. I tend to note my in and out points, and then stack adjustment layers over just that area - the render zooms up to the retouch/effects, slows down, than ramps back up when past it. If I change an edit and end up needing more, I can open the AE project and extend adjustments to fit. If you keep your rendered clips the same length, you won't have synch problems going back to FCP.

I've never checked to see if there's a way to "Send a clip to AE" - I just do "reveal in finder", make a project, render it out and then "reconnect media". Is there a slicker way than that?
 
We use Automatic Duck to transfer our FCP sequences to AE. Brings it all over perfectly, with handles, separate clips, a couple of clicks and we're done. It's pricey ($495) but worth it. There's also scripts that help over at aescripts.com
 
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