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RED WORKFLOW
(v.1.2; 08/19/2008)by: Brandon Kraemer
FORWARD
This document is intended to be a work in progress, much like the RED camera system is. With the recent release ofthe Software Developers Kit for the RED camera and future 5k cameras in development, the post production pipelinefor RED will continue to evolve quickly over the next coming months and years. Most of the software described withinare in BETA release and are prone to bugs and frequent revisions.The RED camera itself has software builds that can be updated. BEFORE YOU BEGIN A SHOOT, CONFIRM WITHTHE CAMERA RENTAL AGENT AND CINEMATOGRAPHER WHAT BUILD THE CAMERA IS ON AND IF THAT ISCOMPATIBLE WITH YOUR WORKFLOW.Current documentation for the post production workflow is hard to come by and there is no centrally organizedlocation to get a full workflow explanation. This document will hopefully bridge that gap for the time being. At the endof this document are links to useful resources, and a diagram of what the RED file names mean.The RED workflow is unique and will require some adjustment in the way it is approached. RED is more than just acamera, it is also a software telecine pipeline. It is an extremely flexible file format capable of working in virtually anysized format up to 4K resolution, any pixel aspect ratio, any frame rate and most any file type or codec. How thepipeline is approached is also flexible and will depend on factors that include the final medium and the amount offootage to be ingested. An important consideration is that anytime a RED camera is used, color correction must be apart of the workflow because of the color space that the RED camera captures in. More detailed information aboutthis is explained within.
RED WORKFLOW BASICS
RED media is created by the camera as a .R3D file. This is a proprietary RAW file format that has a tremendousexposure latitude sensitivity and a definable format size, up to 4K resolution. From a cinematography perspective, theRED camera is balanced to 5000 degrees Kelvin, or a little warmer than daylight balance and always exposes to theRAW files as 320 ISO. Currently any adjustment that might be made on set to change the appearance of the camerais simply for demonstration purposes. The raw files will always be 320 ISO and 5000K.Also important to note is that the RED camera shoots in a 2:1 aspect ratio. In a 4K workflow this would mean the .R3Dfiles would be 4096 X 2048. The camera can also shoot in the 16:9 aspect ratio for a 4096 X 2304 frame size. Thiswould not really matter unless the final output was 4K. 2:1 is the standard setup.The RED camera creates QT proxy files, which point to the RAW file and can be viewed with QuickTime 7.4.5 if theRED QuickTime Codec is installed. These proxy files need to be stored in the same directory as the .R3D files to workproperly. The QuickTime proxy files can be used for viewing and editing, and they contain all the metadata ofthe .R3D files with in them. The RED camera automatically creates 4 proxy files for each .R3D file and labels themwith the following nomenclature:_F for Full, _H for High, _M for Medium, and _P for proxy. High is equal to 1/2 the .R3D file frame size, Medium is 1/4and Proxy is 1/8 the .R3D file frame size. For an example, a RED 4k file has a frame size of 4096 x 2048, so the _Hfile would be 2048 x 1152, _M = 1024 x 576, _P = 512 x 288.While these proxy files may be large enough for the finished format and have no compression, they are NOT suitablefor final output. This is where the RED workflow is unique because of it's native .R3D file formats proprietary colorspace. The proxies are used to make edit decision lists in the form of XML, and these XML files will be used tonavigate the process of transcoding the .R3D files using 1-light color correction into the final master clips. Thesetranscoded and color graded clips are then re-linked into the edit system and shared with other work-flows.
FINAL CUT PRO WORK-FLOWS
There are basically three ways to use .R3D media with FCP: FCP Crimson Redcine Workflow, FCP RedcineWorkflow, and FCP Log and Transfer Workflow. Each has it's up and downside. These work-flows are sure to changeas the software catches up, but currently these are the available options.
I. FCP CRIMSON REDCINE WORKFLOW
 
Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 16.
The best way of working in FCP with lots of media currently is the method known as FCP Crimson Redcine Workflow,which takes advantage of the QT proxy files for offline editing, then roundtrips the XML metadata via an applicationknown as Crimson Workflow, and then uses Redcine software to transcode the .R3D files through a 1-light telecineprocess. Redcine outputs as any number of QT codec formats, file sequence formats, frame dimensions and framerates.These transcoded renders are then re-linked in FCP, again via Crimson Workflow's XML translation software, and canbe further color corrected or shared with compositing and animation artists. This method, while complicated, deliversthe best quality and takes full advantage of the RED cameras latitude. It also affords the ability to begin editingimmediately with out front end transcoding and speeder workflow by using lower res proxies.The following is a detailed description of how to approach this workflow.
Step 1: FCP Import and XML Export
Import the RED footage by opening the finder and finding the parent directory that contains all the folders from theshoot. Simply drag this folder into the FCP project. This folder becomes a bin. Each shot has its own folder andcontains 4 proxy files in each of the proxy sizes (F, H, M, P). Determine which proxy size you want to use, Mediumhas the best system response. Edit as you normally would and export an XML file of the finished sequence usingApple XML Interchange Format, version 4, choose save the project with latest clip metadata option. The resulting fileis named Sequence.xml.
Step 2: Crimson Workflow XML Import and Export
Launch the application Crimson Workflow. Choose the source sequence (Sequence.xml). Next, add to the SearchFolders directory the parent directory that contains the .R3D media for this project. Then select MATCH. This findsthe .R3D files and matches them to your XML metadata file.Next, tab over to the Intermediate menu and make sure Use "Cowboy" intermediate is selected. This pre-cuts yourmaster clips so the following process in Redcine is based on your edit. Select the Add Prefix option as well.Next tab over to Redcine and chose Export Redcine XML. This creates a file called Sequence_telecine.xml. It alsocreates intermediate alias files to Crimson Workflow's working directory: Documents/Crimson Workflow Documents/ Intermediates/Project. You will use both the telecine.xml file and the intermediate alias in the next step.
Step 3: Redcine Import
Launch the application Redcine. Select Load All and navigate to the folder created by Crimson Workflow thatcontains the Intermediates. These files look like .R3D files, but are alias that have altered metadata. Select thisdirectory and click load. You will now see the master .R3D files loaded into Redcine, but they are not yet matched tothe edit. To do that go to project settings, select open project and open the Sequence_telecine.xml file. Thisconforms the clips in Redcine's library to your XML and now on the timeline you can see your shots in context as youmake 1-light color correction decisions, do repositions, etc. Please see the Redcine Workflow section for more in-depth information about this step.
Step 4: Redcine Export
Once the project settings, shot settings, color settings have been made to the clips in the timeline you will need torender these out to the appropriate file format. From the Output Settings select the file name specifications option fromthe field that contains the default file name, #S.mov. From this pop up window, select Separate Folders and Input FileName. This will create individual clips that match the originals when you render out that will be re-linked in FCP. Ifyou do not select separate folders, it will render out as one movie, which is not what FCP needs.Next, choose your format. This can be any number of formats, but for FCP you will need to use QuickTime for the fileformat as FCP does not support image sequences. (DPX workflow would require Glue Tools as a conversion tool.)Next select the compression setting, Apple ProRes 422 HQ or Uncompressed 10 bit 422 are both good options. SetQuality to Lossless and the Process level to Full.Set the Output Path to the drives that you want the media to playback from and click the big red go button to begin thetranscoding. Redcine will create an event folder for each shot to be rendered, with in that folder is the actual render.
 
Be sure to save the Redcine project by overwriting the telecine.xml file with the Redcine project file. This re-links yourwork in Redcine with Crimson.
Step 5: Crimson Workflow Roundtrip XML
Back in Crimson Workflow, select the Frame tab and select the output frame size to match the frame size yourendered to in Redcine, such as HD 1080. Then click the Roundtrip tab and click Generate Roundtrip XML tab. Thiswill save an XML file called Sequence_roundtrip.xml.
Step 6: FCP Import Roundtrip XML
Back in FCP, go File, Import XML and select the roundtrip XML file. This creates a sequence that re-links thetranscoded media to this new timeline. From this point, you can further color correct, exchange media with graphicsworkflow and other wise finish the project with in FCP.
II. FCP/GRAPHICS REDCINE WORKFLOW
Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 16.
An option for ingesting media into FCP for editing or ingesting plates directly into graphics workflow would be to firsttranscode all the necessary footage first using Redcine and then import the files it creates directly into FCP. Thiswould be an appropriate workflow if there was a minimal amount of original source footage to work with. A 17 second4K source clip takes about 8 minutes to transcode to SD 720 x 486, almost a 1:40 ratio of realtime.This workflow would also be appropriate if specific .R3D files were to be ingested directly to a graphics workflow.Various file sequence formats are available including .tiff and .dpx (cineon + metadata) formats.For more detailed information, please see the Redcine Workflow section.
III. FCP LOG AND TRANSFER WORKFLOW
Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 15 v2.2.5.
The other process for working with RED footage in FCP is known as the Log and Transfer process. This uses a plug-in that allows the Log and Transfer interface to transcode the .R3D files into Apple Pro-Res 422 HQ compression filesat 1/2 the native size. If the native size is 4k, the shots will be ingested as 2k. There are drawbacks to this method inthat there is no manual 1-light color correction to covert the color space of the RED camera to the REC 709 HD colorspace, this is arbitrarily done by the ingestion tool. This negates a lot of the latitude that the RED format affords, andcreates 2k master clips that are VERY difficult for FCP to work with for the editing process with out powerful hardwaresetups. 2K clips do not play easily in real time.Expect this process to be improved as the software continues to develop, currently it is not a good option.To use this method, you would select the folders that contain the .R3D files with in the Log and Transfer tool and addthe selection to the queue. Be sure that the preferences are set to Native and that remove advanced pulldown andduplicate frames is left unchecked. Transcoding the clips is slow, 20 seconds of media takes over 3 minutes, so theratio is almost 1:10 what is real time.There is a known bug using this method. Currently audio is only available from channels 1 and 2. This workflowdoes not support channel 3 and 4 audio. Also, when setting the in point for ingest, the clip may not load into thequeue properly. Changing this point by a frame or two will usually correct this.
REDCINE WORKFLOW
Note: Supports RED ONE cameras up through Build 16.
Redcine is a very powerful tool with the ability to transcode .R3D files into almost any sized file format, at most anysized pixel aspect ratio and virtually any frame rate. It is the current tool of choice for changing the color space andgamma curve from RED-space to 709 HD color space, adjusting white balance and manipulating RGB balance andluminance curves for advanced 1-light color correction. It also allows for scaling and reposition of the 4K elementswith in the project settings format and other useful options. The following is a very general overview of how theworkflow with in Redcine is used for transcoding clips.Before you use Redcine, make sure your monitors color space is set to Adobe 1998 or SMPTE-C with a gamma curveof 2.2. This is the standard monitor setup for working with video.
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