rendering a movie
 

What is the best possible way to render a movie when you import it to Final Cut, render it then import it to After Effects and render it to be used in DVD Studio Pro to burned into a DVD? How do I keep the best quality possible?

thank you

mirko

www.monke.co.uk

I'm not exactly sure what you want to do. What does "rendering"
mean, to you?

I have just shooting a 3 min. film. I want the end product to be on DVD. I will be using FCP to edit and then AF. I wanted to know what's the best way to save my files through this process to have the best quality when authoring on DVD.

Workflow questions!

1.) Export your edit to the Quicktime Animation Codec, Millions of Colors.

2.) Import the Animation file into After Effects. Do what you need to do there (effects).

3.) Render your AE Comp back to Animation Codec, Millions of Colors.

4.) Import this file into FCP, render it out to the applicable MPEG-2 codec (where ever you]re at, PAL or NTSC), create your menus in iDVD or DVD Studio Pro and burn baby burn.

Now for the commentary:

Depending on how much work you have to do in AE, it might be best to render out your scenes from FCP separately and bring them into AE individually. That way you're not applying the same effects (color, motion, whatever) to your entire piece...breaking it up scene by scene (shot by shot) will allow you more control/flexibility in your creative decisions. You can do it this way or import your entire piece--breaking it up is how I'm accustomed to working to cut down on render time. If you have any other questions or need further clarification on your workflow...feel free to ask.

Michael:

I also do a lot of work in AE, albeit with a Media100 sysytem. The only part of your workflow that I question is the initial render to the Animation codec.

If the FCP project originated in DV, exporting it with the Quicktime DV codec will not recompress the image unless there is a transition or effect applied, and would keep the file size (and AE render times) much lower.

It's not that the image will degrade at all using the Animation codec, as it is truly lossless, but my general rule of thumb is to never add an extra compression step unless entirely necessary.

Doesn't FCP also have an option to export a timeline to AE? That way, all the original media files get exported as an AE Comp. Or am I thinking about Automatic Duck?

Scott,

Yes--it's Automatic Duck that allows you to import your FCP timelines into AE. The reasoning for my initial compression to Animation, as you've already stated--is that it's lossless. I've compared footage for keying and what not, and find that going with the Animation Codec yields the best results. It's not so much about adding another compression in your step because you won't lose any quality.

In going the DV Codec route and bringing your work into AE, do you then render out in animation , or go back to the DV Codec again for your renders? If you render to the DV Codec going out of AE, you're adding two steps of DV compression in your workflow when you should only have one (at the end-either DV to tape or MPEG 2 to DVD). As far as rendering a clip originating with the DV Codec back to Animation directly in AE--I'm not sure about this, but I always thought it was best to have the most data (larger file sizes) for your footage when applying effects or other manipulation processes. Speed is an issue if you're using the Animation codec with a slow processor (like mine), but as far as file size goes--the cost of large storage has gone down a lot in the past few years. There's also the Microcosm codec available which can be purchased through a 3rd party--I used it when it was beta and the file sizes for the quality it was kicking out were astounding (astounding as in small--although it was slower than the Animation codec to render but it preserved 16 bit color depth).

At the end of the day everyone finds their own workflow for different reasons...my reasoning is larger file sizes=more image data to work with when manipulating. I hope I clarified things a bit.

exporting to DV?
 

Hi Micheal, thanks for your advice regarding the workflow process. I have another similar question for you. How do I export my rendering from Final Cut to a mini DV tape and what are the best settings to do so? Is it with Print to Video?

thank you.

mirko