File Format for Compositing Export

[b0kaJ]

hey,

i am wondering what file format is needed for the final export out of my comp-software to feed the editing-department.

is it a .TIF-sequence? or is it possible to import .EXRs into fcp, avid etc...

what is the common file format of the industry?


thx,


b0kaJ

[Gentle Fury]

depends on what they are using to edit and how savvy/lazy the editor is.

[scrimski]

FCP likes quicktime, so your best bet would be converting file sequences with something like QT Pro.
You may pretty much import everything into Avid, it will create it's own file format(mxf or omf).

Tiff is OK, most TV stuff is still 8bit, 16bit is a bit of a waste since even DigiBeta or HDCam only output 10bit.
If you do a lot of grading/comp work and edit on FCP get your hands on GlueTools, it creates Quicktime containers using dpx or cin files.

[beaker]

fcp7 added native image sequence support. Though if you want to make it easy for the editor then you can make your own wrappers for them with quicktime pro by simply doing "file > import image sequence" and then doing a "file > save as" and pick "save as reference movie".

Most editors don't know how to handle image sequences unless they work on something like a Smoke.

[alkali]

Wait, they JUST now added sequence support to FCP??

[scrimski]

Yeah and it still sucks.

[Dotcommer]

Hahah, yeaaah.... FCP has gotten really lame in my eyes. I usually cringe when I have to start doing some editing in it and remember I can't use image sequences, and it can't do any kind of useful cached playback.

[beaker]

Wait, they JUST now added sequence support to FCP??

no, it has always supported them but it was always clumsy at it because you had to create the quicktime wrappers to use them properly in the timeline.

Most editing software doesn't support image sequences very well unless you using an online editor like a Smoke.

[alkali]

I dunno... I've used Premiere for a long time with image sequences (starting back in high school with Pro 1.0) and it has always worked fine... faster than cutting clips in most cases. Granted, back then the machine I was using it on was a dinosaur by today's standards, and everything was DV resolution, but it wasn't horribly inefficient or broken, and for the most part that functionality has remained unchanged. I just find it odd that this is just now making it into a so-called "industry standard."

[scrimski]

no, it has always supported them

That's a negative. It has been added in Version 5 or 6 and never worked the way it should so most folks still wrap it into a QT movie.

Most editing software doesn't support image sequences very well unless

liquid does a quite fast and solid sequence import, Avid handles them OK(wraps them into an omf or mxf file).

[Gentle Fury]

That's a negative. It has been added in Version 5 or 6 and never worked the way it should so most folks still wrap it into a QT movie.
liquid does a quite fast and solid sequence import, Avid handles them OK(wraps them into an omf or mxf file).

Actually you have always been able to use image sequences...you just had to trick it. You could import a folder of images and change still duration to one frame...then put those one frame images all on a timeline.....of course you would have to render the timeline to use it....so its easier to just make a mov...but its always been possible.

[beaker]

That's a negative. It has been added in Version 5 or 6 and never worked the way it should so most folks still wrap it into a QT movie

If you reread what I said, I was talking about loading qt wrapped image sequence. They have always been supported in all versions of fcp because it just sees them as a quicktime file.