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hillary_knox
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"roundtripping" FCP7>AE>FCP7 - rendering 1 frame difference

May 3, 2012 3:44 PM

Trying to do something theoretically super-simple: take a series of shots from an FCP 7 timeline into AE, do noise reduction, render out individual shots, replace original shots in FCP with noise reduction'ed version. Simple, right?

 

The problem I'm having is that when I bring the NR'd clips back into FCP, things are one frame off - in different directions, depending upon different settings. I can slip/nudge things by 1 frame in FCP to make it 90% work, but then there aren't any handles to cover the slip. Yes, having clips with handles would solve the problem, but I don't happen to have that in this case.

 

Video files originated on a Canon DSLR 23.976 fps, transcoded to ProRes same frame rate, cut in FCP7 in a 23.98 sequence, sent to Resolve for grading & render, back to FCP for re-assembly. When I bring the graded files into AE, it seems to believe that the frame rate is 23.975. I've tried all combinations of things, from fully Automatic Duck, to pump-action Duck (i.e. creating a comp at various frame rates, 23.976, 23.98; interpreting the "23.975" footage to both frame rates), but nothing seems to be working quite right. Everything is always off by 1 frame in some direction or the other.

 

This is like the simplest possible thing, and I can't believe that I have to ask about this publicly, but, there you have it.

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

479 Views   4 Replies   Latest reply: hillary_knox, May 5, 2012 9:06 AM
 
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  • Todd_Kopriva
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    1. Todd_Kopriva,
    May 3, 2012 9:06 PM   in reply to hillary_knox
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    It seems that the underlying problem is that something is giving the wrong frame rate. It should be 23.976, not 23.98 or 23.975. I think that Final Cut Pro actually uses the correct frame rate of 23.976, even though the UI confusingly rounds up to 23.98 in user-visible controls.

     

    Can you check the movies that are coming out of each step of your pipeline and see where the wrong framerate is being introduced?

     

    What are the exact version numbers of all of the software that you're using here?

     
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  • hillary_knox
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    2. hillary_knox,
    May 4, 2012 1:20 PM   in reply to Todd_Kopriva
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    So, now all is well. The fix was to use the most/least useful piece of software from Apple: Cinema Tools. Did a batch reconform to "23.98" (or 23.976 in real numbers), and then all was well.

     

    This isn't the first time Cinema Tools has come to the rescue...which Adobe product would I use to do an instant batch reconform like that?

     
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  • Todd_Kopriva
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    3. Todd_Kopriva,
    May 4, 2012 5:08 PM   in reply to hillary_knox
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    You can conform to a specific frame rate in After Effects.

     

    I admit to not being familiar with Cinema Tools, so I can't immediately say what would match the functionality that you have there.

     
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  • hillary_knox
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    4. hillary_knox,
    May 5, 2012 9:06 AM   in reply to Todd_Kopriva
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    You mean when you Interpret Footage in AE? Or something else?

     

    In this case, I tried interpreting footage to the correct frame rate and still things ended up being 1 frame off. I'd just like to be able to not have to rely on Cinema Tools in the year 2012 to solve this issue

     

    I guess the cool thing that Cinema Tools does (in this case) is that it re-writes the frame rate in the movie file header itself, as opposed to whatever happens in Interpret Footage. Whatever the difference is, it seems to make all the difference.

     
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