Anyone figured out a workflow for FCP to AE?

[Dustin Bowser]

Does such a workflow exist that would allow for editing of proxies in Final Cut Pro, and then somehow exporting an EDL/XML or something to After Effects that would then be connected to the native R3D in After Effects? It would be something like the FCP to Color workflow, except you would be finishing in After Effects. Anyone have any ideas?

[BigLu]

Even thought I understand AE CS4 can work with the Proxies / the R3D nativity.
I convert my files to Either DPX, Uncompressed or ProRes 422 before I do anything.
Espcially if im gonna start cross platforming files.
Reduces issues, bugs, and potential problems down the line.

[Dustin Bowser]

When converting to DPX, do you still maintain all the color space control and latitude that you have when working with Red Raw? What do you use to convert to DPX? I'm sure this has been covered a bunch of times so I'll go look now, just thought I'd ask while you were here.

[Kenn Michael]

If you have Premiere CS4 and Clipfinder:

Finish your cut in FCP with proxies, ProRes, whatever.
Export an XML.
Bring the XML into Clipfinder and have it 'conform' the XML - it changes the edit references from whatever you were cutting with to the original R3D files.
Open the newly conformed XML in Premiere Pro CS4. It will open natively and connect to your R3D files.
Save the project and use dynamic link, or just directly open the Premiere project in AE.
Boom. Original R3Ds in 4K resolution, still in original 12bit space.
Works great and looks great.

[Dustin Bowser]

If you have Premiere CS4 and Clipfinder:

Finish your cut in FCP with proxies, ProRes, whatever.
Export an XML.
Bring the XML into Clipfinder and have it 'conform' the XML - it changes the edit references from whatever you were cutting with to the original R3D files.
Open the newly conformed XML in Premiere Pro CS4. It will open natively and connect to your R3D files.
Save the project and use dynamic link, or just directly open the Premiere project in AE.
Boom. Original R3Ds in 4K resolution, still in original 12bit space.
Works great and looks great.

That's seems like a really doable workflow. I have all the necessary software. I'm trying it now, but for some reason I can't get the "reconform" from Clipfinder to relink with the R3D. When I import the Clipfinder XMP into Premiere, it's still just connected with the proxy Quicktimes and not the R3D. Is there anything special I need to do within Clipfinder other then "Run conform on FCP XML"

[Kenn Michael]

Run conform should do it.

Does the conform settings screen come up? Is ClipFinder able to find and reconnect the R3Ds properly?

Try opening up the conformed Clipfinder XML in a text editor and look to make sure that the clips are referencing the .R3D and not the .mov

[Dustin Bowser]

Oh OK, actually I guess the clips themselves were fine. It was that the sequence that came into After Effects still had the size/framerate of the proxy edit from FCP. I just changed the composition settings to be the same as the footage and I'm golden!

I had another question about Red and After Effects that I might as well ask here since you guys are amazing.

When installing the R3D support for CS4, there is a part at the very end of the install instructions that tell you how to edit the "Interpretation Rules" so that the imported R3D comes in using REC 709 color space rather than the super washed out and flat RED RAW. I was wondering, is there any way, instead of REC 709, to change that text file so that it uses any of the other color spaces? Like Red Cine?

[Fredrik Callinggard]

I find Automatic duck to be the best option for workflow between FCP-AE-AVID-PROTOOLS

[Kenn Michael]

There's no interpretation rules yet for 'RedSpace', but you could emulate it pretty closely with a custom 'curves' setting.

[Kwan Khan]

hmmm,..

[Dustin Bowser]

There's no interpretation rules yet for 'RedSpace', but you could emulate it pretty closely with a custom 'curves' setting.

If you had a spare second is there any chance you would be able to throw one together and save it as an effects preset?

[Curtis Abbott]

I am working on a project now AE CS4 that was edited in FCP. Once the editor was done it was ran through Crimson and rendered out 1080 ProRes files. Then opened the XML in Premiere Pro CS4, saved it. Then in AE went to File - Import - Adobe Premiere Pro Project. It worked great, every cut was on a separate layer and in order.

It's amazing how all the Adobe products are working so well with each other and FCP.

[Dustin Bowser]

I'm actually really surprised how easy and seamless this workflow is. So far it even seems better than the FCP to Color workflow, which is supposedly integrated.

Now that I'm in After Effects and I have all my beautiful 4k footage, since my final delivery format is only 2k, do you know if there is a way to just easily work in 2k so actually working with the footage isn't a behemoth task? I know there is a "Red Settings" option under "edit" and there is a dropdown to choose 4k,3k,or 2k. Is that where I should be looking or is that only to tell After Effects what the size of my source footage is?

Thank you guys so much for your help today too, you are amazing!!

[Uli Plank]

Just reduce the viewing resolution in AE. If you want something faster, you need to transcode first with a batch app like Clipfinder to a high-end format like DPX in 2K for film-out or even ProRes if your final medium is HDTV/Blu-ray.

BTW, I also like the FCP -> AE workflow (I don't like editing in Premiere), but it's usefulness depends on the amount of VFX or compositing needed. IMHO Color is the better grading app when compared to Color Finesse. You can't keyframe directly in CF and it lacks quite a few features Color has. OTOH, AE has much better tracking and masking, and rendering quality of CF grades is excellent, just as Color's.

Well, you can't have it all in this price range, but if you have FCS and CS4 around, you can attack just about any job, albeit slower than with the big guns.

[shaneholloman]

Does such a workflow exist that would allow for editing of proxies in Final Cut Pro, and then somehow exporting an EDL/XML or something to After Effects that would then be connected to the native R3D in After Effects? It would be something like the FCP to Color workflow, except you would be finishing in After Effects. Anyone have any ideas?

1. Export XML from FCP's timeline
2. Import XML to Premiere CS4 with latest update from Adobe and RED.com
3. Use Dynamic Link to send to AE from Premiere
4. Enjoy

NB: Read the adobe and red update read-mes thoroughly! The updates require some attention to detail, but after that you'll be rockin

[Camilo Ganado]

Hi im just testing the FCP to AE workflow and get stuck in the conform with the clipfinder.

Does the conform settings screen come up? Is ClipFinder able to find and reconnect the R3Ds properly? the ClipFinder doesn't reconnect properly this time, i never have this problem before and i do it some times before, the message i get is this one... "Clip file "/Volumes/MARS/PRUEBAS/C039_0326G9.RDM/C039_C001_032619.mov" not found. Used original clip file in new XML file" "Replaced 0 of 4 clips"


Try opening up the conformed Clipfinder XML in a text editor and look to make sure that the clips are referencing the .R3D and not the .mov I look to it, and the clips that are referencing is the .mov, so i decided to change it manually but didn't work, when importing to PR he ask me for the .R3D, when i pick it up, the name is the same, with the _M.mov.

[Camilo Ganado]

1. Export XML from FCP's timeline
2. Import XML to Premiere CS4 with latest update from Adobe and RED.com
3. Use Dynamic Link to send to AE from Premiere
4. Enjoy
Shane, u must pass throw Clipfinder, otherwise PR and AE will work with the proxies.

[Obin Olson]

or just open the XML and do a "FIND REPLACE" and type under find: .mov and replace it with: .r3d





If you have Premiere CS4 and Clipfinder:

Finish your cut in FCP with proxies, ProRes, whatever.
Export an XML.
Bring the XML into Clipfinder and have it 'conform' the XML - it changes the edit references from whatever you were cutting with to the original R3D files.
Open the newly conformed XML in Premiere Pro CS4. It will open natively and connect to your R3D files.
Save the project and use dynamic link, or just directly open the Premiere project in AE.
Boom. Original R3Ds in 4K resolution, still in original 12bit space.
Works great and looks great.

[SandeepDey]

This seems like reason enough to explore Color Finesse.