Final Cut Pro to Color Correct in Vegas

Daygola814

Daygola814

Well-known member
I recently got a job to color correct a film. The film was cut in Final Cut Pro. I was wondering what the best way would be to export it from Final Cut Pro to Vegas (running on a Windows XP box) and then after color correction in Vegas.... sending it back to Final Cut Pro...

What would be the best way to do this while keeping the best possible quality. I was also wonder since Macs use a FAT32 file system and Windows uses NTFS, would I have problems sending it back to the Mac?

Also, I do have other software... (Premiere, After Effects, Combustion) and I'd be willing to use those to color correct... but I'm working on a Windows XP PC and the stuff is coming from and going back to a Mac.

Thanks!

-Paul Del Vecchio
 
Hi Paul, I've done this a couple times. I've had success using both uncompressed AVI and just an image sequence with separate wave file. I've had some weirdness trying to use .mov as the transportable format.
 
Mark...

Mark...

Mark,

So can you give me a quick workflow as an example? FCP can output AVI files? I didn't know that.... I thought FCP was solely Quicktime... on another note... doing it either with uncompressed AVI files or image sequences... I'd still have to put the edit points in at each cut so that I could color correct each individual clip anyways, correct?

Thanks,
Paul Del Vecchio
 
If you have a predominantly jump cut edited project, you could export that across from FCP as one rendered block, and add the splices in at each jump cut then CC each clip from there. For transitional and overlaying layers, etc, you would likely have to import each of the clips and try and rebuild them in your Vegas timeline, then CC each clip as desired, then apply the relevant transitions/fx. Alternatively, if you take the FCP completed transitional edit, keyframe your CC (can do in Vegas?), so that your keyframed CC transition begins at the start of the transition (say frame 1 of a 30 frame dissolve), then at the end keyframe point (frame 30 of the dissolve) you have your new CC setting fully ramped/interpolated to effect CC on the next clip. The results depend on how aggressive the CC effect is, and how each clip is affected during the transition, to determine if you can get away with it or not. Being a "film", I am assuming it is a feature length production, thus I would say it becomes a time/cost/quality assessment to be made, if a paying client.
 
File System Difference

File System Difference

Christopher Barry said:
If you have a predominantly jump cut edited project, you could export that across from FCP as one rendered block, and add the splices in at each jump cut then CC each clip from there. For transitional and overlaying layers, etc, you would likely have to import each of the clips and try and rebuild them in your Vegas timeline, then CC each clip as desired, then apply the relevant transitions/fx. Alternatively, if you take the FCP completed transitional edit, keyframe your CC (can do in Vegas?), so that your keyframed CC transition begins at the start of the transition (say frame 1 of a 30 frame dissolve), then at the end keyframe point (frame 30 of the dissolve) you have your new CC setting fully ramped/interpolated to effect CC on the next clip. The results depend on how aggressive the CC effect is, and how each clip is affected during the transition, to determine if you can get away with it or not. Being a "film", I am assuming it is a feature length production, thus I would say it becomes a time/cost/quality assessment to be made, if a paying client.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the help. That was my plan - to put the splices in at each edit... just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing it an unnecessarily difficult/inefficient way...

But what about transferring files from the Mac to the Windows XP box and then back to the Mac. Will I run into any problems with the different file formats (FAT32 and NTFS)?

Thanks,
Paul Del Vecchio
 
Hi Paul, I'm not a FCP expert so I can't help you much there. The company I worked with was able to provide me uncompressed AVI (It might have been uncompressed MOV). I'm pretty sure I have used both successfully in the past. In my most recent case, they had footage they wanted integrated into an already existing piece I had in Vegas. We used an external firewire drive to move the files between the two machines (PC Formatted). Hope that helps -
 
i assume the edit is LOCKED ... what kind of files are they now ( as in QT .mov but are they 8/10 bit ? 4:2:2, 4:1:1 color space ? ...
if 8 bit 4:1:1 why not have them put it to Dv tape ..as long as they haven't done any CC it should be original data ?
then you capture - color correct .. then output back to tape ....

if they give you uncompressed 10 bit files then i would CC in AE ...
 
Generation Loss

Generation Loss

Thanks guys...


They were shot on mini dv (Sony PD150 I believe) so they're 8bit, 4:1:1. I talked to him about putting it out to tape... but if I put it back to tape after color correction, aren't we losing a generation there? I know that if there was nothing done to the footage(it is simply just edited, no color correction, etc), then there is no generation loss... but if I color correct it then export it to tape, am I losing a generation when he puts all the sequences together in a final timeline in FCP?


Thanks,
Paul Del Vecchio
 
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