Premiere to Davinci

[Thomas Smet]

I bring my raw footage into Resolve first. Do a little rough cut of the shots I know I want to use -- grade them in Resolve -- export them as individual graded ProResHQ clips (making sure to have handles) -- and then use those new clips as my raw footage in Premiere for the edit. Works great with no round tripping needed and I don't have to look at ungraded S-LOG during the edit. And if decide to make a grading change, I just go back to Resolve, make the change, export with the clip(s) using the same name to the same location, and Premiere automatically updates with the new version. It might not work for a documentary with a 100:1 shooting ratio, but it works great for me.

This is the workflow I used with Assimilate Scratch as well. Only difference is I did it on all the raw footage. Took a little longer to process but once I had it I didn't have to worry about it.

Can also work in reverse for the OP where he can remove the slow motion effects from Premiere from each clip and send to Resolve just the cuts. Do the grade in Resolve and then render each clip as a new set of source clips to replace the material in the Premiere project. Then apply the slow motion again in Premiere.

The movement of clips between programs should be just that, the clips. If the OP wants to use Premiere thats fine but then he just needs a better workflow where he either grades the clips first and then edits in Premiere or just edits a rough in Premiere first, sends to Resolve and then finishes in Premiere. Either way expecting effects to move over just isn't going to happen. Every program handles slow motion differently and while on the surface it may seem like a simple action it really is not.

 

[Guest]

in that kind of workflow, is it worth even going through Davinci? Doesn't Adobe and Apple both have selective coloring and power windows?

Only reason I ended up with Davinci is the extra control to go deeper, but I get pretty specific with mattes and motion tracking and so on. So, I can only work with final edits. But if going for general looks, are the other programs not good enough yet? I've found Adobe to making pretty good ground lately.

 

[Joshua_G]

I bring my raw footage into Resolve first. Do a little rough cut of the shots I know I want to use -- grade them in Resolve -- export them as individual graded ProResHQ clips (making sure to have handles) -- and then use those new clips as my raw footage in Premiere for the edit. Works great with no round tripping needed and I don't have to look at ungraded S-LOG during the edit. And if decide to make a grading change, I just go back to Resolve, make the change, export with the clip(s) using the same name to the same location, and Premiere automatically updates with the new version. It might not work for a documentary with a 100:1 shooting ratio, but it works great for me.

Editing wise, what can you do in Premiere that you cannot do in Resolve?

 

[Doug Jensen]

in that kind of workflow, is it worth even going through Davinci?

ABSOLUTELY!!!
If you are under the impression that you can even come close to replacing the speed, flexiblity, and great tools of Resolve with the crude color correction control in an NLE then you don't know very much about Resolve. Look deeper and you will never go back.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Editing wise, what can you do in Premiere that you cannot do in Resolve?

Lots of the things. Biggest of all is that time is money and I'm always going to be a faster editor in Premiere. Just being able to create a 100% custom GUI layout across two monitors in Premiere is a big reason right there. There's no way to that in Resolve, which is okay for grading, but would really suck for editing. The bins are easier to use. I like the timeline interface better. The titler is better. Premiere interfaces better with the other Adobe products. The list could go on an on.

I'll admit that if I looked closer at the editing tools in Resolve (not grading) maybe I would jump ship from Premiere and do everything in Resolve, but for now I am quite happy with workflow and I am not looking for a change. Besides, Premiere comes free with the rest of the Adobe CC suite so there is no financial reason to abandon it.

Right now in 2018: Premiere is the best NLE and Resolve is the best color grading program. That is why I use both. Simple as that.

 

[Doug Jensen]

But if going for general looks . . . .

That is not color grading.

 

[starcentral]

I'm editing my footage in Premiere and wanting to color correct in DaVinci but having problems exporting XLM, AAF, and/or EDL.
Constantly getting errors and it's not letting me continue.

Biggest reason I am seeing is that of the effects I have on my clips;
> Slow motion
> Speed Ramping
> Image Flip
> Motion Blur

How am I supposed to get around this?

Im not sure if I want to switch over and start editing in Resolve.
IF I can work this around I would stick with it and just color correct in Resovle. But if not, I might be switching since I've heard good things lately.

But how can I fix this issue???

I just finished coloring the feature film HUNTERS MOON which was cut in Premiere using RED RAW 4K original footage with the XML sent to me to use in DaVinci Resolve. All clips relinked successfully, but a few of the clips with freeze frames, slow motion etc.. did not have the effect in DaVinci Resolve - which is fine, you don't need them too if you are going to do your master render and file output from Premiere anyway.

For example here is a section of my DaVinci timeline and how it interpreted a freeze frame coming from Premiere:

From what I read on your posts it sounds like you're saying the clips with slow motion are not appearing at all on your DaVinci timeline? Did you by chance use Adobe dynamic linking on your Premiere timeline? It is very strange that DaVinci will not find that clip. As a simple test drag that slow motion original clip into your media pool, then import XML file. If it still can't find it then there is something wrong in your XML file that was generated by Premiere. Check your premiere timeline for anything funny. Try removing the slow motion on your premiere timeline for now and export a new XML, import XML to DaVinci, see if that works.

Sometimes for problematic clips I just add them to the very end of the timeline in DaVinci and color them if only a few. Otherwise you can also just drag the original clip in place on your DaVinci timeline where it needs to be and recreate the slow motion, or just leave it full speed and reapply the slow motion later in Premiere again. If you have dozens of shots like this, then it probably makes sense to get your XML working instead so you save time and don't have to adjust everything manually.

 

[Guest]

ABSOLUTELY!!!
If you are under the impression that you can even come close to replacing the speed, flexiblity, and great tools of Resolve with the crude color correction control in an NLE then you don't know very much about Resolve. Look deeper and you will never go back.

What kind of grading choices are you making on these rough cuts?

 

[Doug Jensen]

What kind of grading choices are you making on these rough cuts?

I'm not sure what you mean because I am making all of my grading choices on my rough cut of the raw footage before I export them as new clips. I rarely ever have to come back and change anything after the first grade. Also, when I say rough cut, I mean choosing shots I want to use, trimming tails and heads of those clips , etc. I am not putting clips in narrative order or anything like that. It is a more a culling down of the raw footage and not a rough cut of the actual production I'll be cutting together in Premiere.

 

[Guest]

It is definitely a fascinating way to work!


Luckily I don't have to edit, so I won't have to figure out a workflow.

 

[starcentral]

What kind of grading choices are you making on these rough cuts?

I'm not sure what you mean because I am making all of my grading choices on my rough cut of the raw footage before I export them as new clips. I rarely ever have to come back and change anything after the first grade. Also, when I say rough cut, I mean choosing shots I want to use, trimming tails and heads of those clips , etc. I am not putting clips in narrative order or anything like that. It is a more a culling down of the raw footage and not a rough cut of the actual production I'll be cutting together in Premiere.

For purpose of discussion, it sure would help to mention the types of projects people are working on when discussing their workflow(s).

Doug already mentioned he is not cutting the project first but doing his color pass on all raw footage, exporting, then cutting. This could be a great workflow process if shooting ratio is very low or clips are just being assembled in a light edit, and there is not a lot of extensive grading being done with masks/power windows on take after take etc..

For narrative or commercial projects with a lot of cutting / edits, number of shooting days, etc.. this process would probably not work very well. ie. It would not make good use of time for example to get into major color correction, power windows, and artistic choices on footage that might end up on the cutting room floor. In this case edit is first, and then the edit is brought in for colouring later.

 

[Doug Jensen]

Yes, I agree completely . . . two different workflows for different types of projects. Just one minor correction to what you wrote, I don't grade all my raw footage -- just the clips that I'm pretty sure I will want to use in my edit. So if I have six takes or variations of a shot, I only grade the best one and ignore the rest.