Visual Effect Shots - Which Codec??

C

Caffey

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm currently putting together a feature length film that we shot on an HVX200 last summer. The film has a fair number of visual effects shots that we're assembling in After Effects, Shake, etc.

Our timeline is assembled with 720p 24fps (960x720) DVCPRO HD footage - and we're typically building our effect shots in 1280x720 resolution with the same frame rate.

I'm wondering what the correct codec is that we should be using when we export these visual effect shots. I've been told that we want to, obviously, export lossless quality shots for color grading in our final edit, but there's a few options to choose from:

1) Animation compression
2) Apple ProRez 422 or 422 HQ
3) 10-bit Uncompressed

I've been getting a lot of different answers from different sources. Anyone have any input on the matter? Thanks in advance for your advice!
 
Hi Caffey,
Not knowing your workflow I would suggest QT Animation Codec. It has been the best I have seen when comping together effect shots via multiple programs.

D.L.
 
Thanks D.L. - not sure if this info would change anything but we're essentially doing the following:

1) Recording - DVCPRO HD 720p (960x720 - 1280x720 actual) 24fps

2) FCP capture through P2 import

3) Editing in FCP - DVCPRO HD 720p60 preset @ 23.98 fps

4) Exporting visual effect shots as TIFF image sequences

5) Assembling visual effect shots at 1280x720 resolution @ 24 fps

6) Exporting Animation or ProRez 422 HQ QuickTime clips

7) Importing visual effect shots in FCP timeline

8) Final color grading using FCP COLOR
 
Why not just export TIFF out of AE and import that back into your Final Cut timeline? Seem like this is what you are using to export from Final Cut.

I would stick with that.

If you need something else, I would use QT animation.

D.L.
 
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