Back into Color all sorts of messed up!

N

Norseman

New member
Hey All,

I just started working with Color and I am having some problems getting my footage back into FCP 6...right.

I send to color and do my thing and when I try to send the material back it stretches it AND crops the edges off...thoughts?

When I go to the "Geometry" tab in color it's 4:3 letter box just fine but my view on the left shows it's stretched like it's trying to turn the image into a 16:9 and not taking into account the black bars of the letter box...that make sense?

Any help would be rediculously appreciated!!!

Thanks!
Norseman
 
Have you taken all the steps necessary to properly prep a FCP timeline for Color? Providing more info would be helpful as well (machine setup, specific codec you are working with, etc.,).


-A
 
Could you be more specific for the setup Q's? I'm getting off and Avid and walked into this project where the footage was already captured...I believe with the generic setting...I'll double check, but let me know, thanks!!!

What are the necessary steps? Don't you just "send to" - "Color"?

Bare with me :)

N
 
Hard to say without knowing your project details (what kind of footage you are using, etc.), but checking that you have the correct settings in "Setup" > "Prjct Settings" would be a start. Make sure that you have the right resolution, quicktime export codec, etc.
 
First thing I would do is check out this tutorial CreativeCOW. I'd also suggest getting the DVD, located on the same page, called "Stop Staring and Start Grading with Apple Color" as it does a very good job of demystifying the interface and letting you know what all the settings do. You also should read the manual and the release notes as there are a number of workflow related things in there that can be useful.

Basically, everything that goes into Color needs to be bare bones. Put everything on V1, no mixing of frame rates, frame sizes or codecs. No freeze frames or other gfx. No multiclips (or collapsed multiclips). No clips w/speed changes. Only use Color 'safe' codecs such as DV, DV50, DVCpro, ProRes, or Uncompressed. If you have the latest version of Color XDCAM HD/EX and HDV are supported but they are still kinda sketchy from what I've heard. PAL footage has issues, 23.98 footage sometimes has issues, and Red footage is kinda it's own thing. If you are working w/interlaced footage that has it's own set of problems (which I go into more detail about if you are working w/it).


-A
 
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I'll took a look at the tutorials and my issue is present as soon as it hits color...stretched...I'll take out the 1 or 2 transistion that are there and I already have everything as condenced to 1v and 2v but I don't think that's the problem. I'll get you all my specs asap.

I can tell you I shot HDV with the Canon A1 (24f). The Geometry" tab in color it's 4:3 letter box just fine but my viewer on the left shows it's stretched. When I import it's stretched and cropped...

I want to say the person who captured for me didn't set up the time line correctly since you have to render every time you make an edit. I also think they captured with the "generic" setting...they just didn't know about the easy set up steps. So that, I fear, might be my issue here. The sequece is telling the export to do something funky...that sound familiar to anyone?
 
Color doesn't like HDV. :(

The best approach would be to export the clips to ProRes and send that to Color in a new sequence and work in ProRes from then on. If you have a decent machine, working in ProRes is great.

You can either convert the original media to ProRes in Compressor (and start over) or you can use the Media Manager to up-convert your existing project (read up on it in your manual before you play with it since it can really mess up your work).

Alternatively, you can go through each clip in your final sequence and batch export them with some extra handles (so you have enough extra content for transitions). Then reimport them back into FCP, recreate the final sequence now using ProRes (without any filters, transitions, etc.) and send that to Color.
 
Here are my settings: 720x486 aspect CCI 601 NTSC (40:27)
Pixel ratio NTSC - CCIR 601/ DV 720x486


I will try playing with some pro res stuff...I could export my seq then re import into a seq and remake my cuts/edits then send to color....? Sound like something to try?
 
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