Update! With the last update, Premiere Pro can now import the XML of FCP 7 flawlessly :-)

There are several ways to go from FCP to AE (I really like FCPToAE) but what about if you edited all your project in FCP and you need to import into Premiere? (Sometime it happens...).

Adobe worked hard improving Premiere and they did a very good job. A nice  feature is the possibility to import a FCP XML into Premiere but Apple changed something in the latest FCP (7) and now it doesn't work anymore. Some people reported that you have to use the XML version 4, without audio and effects in order to work and export an xml, importing into a system with FCP6 and exporting another xml.

I've found another method and it works also with audio.

1 From FCP 7 export a XML version 4

2 In Clipfinder choose Tools - Run conform on FCP XML file

3 In Xml input file choose the xml you have exported from FCP

4 In Xml output file choose a name that you want

5 Uncheck all the options 

6 In clip directories add where your source files are

7 Run Conform

8 Import the new Xml into Premiere

9 Enjoy!

During Reducation 001 Michael Cioni said the debayer capabilities of Redalert and Redcine were superior compared to Color debayer function and it would have been better to transcode the R3D files to other codec prior importing into Color. Also Color 1.5 still uses the old color science so if you want to use the new color science is better to adjust color settings in Redalert or Redcine. 

This is our 4.5K HD FCS 3 workflow, it's highly subjective so just take it as a tip, if you have different solutions you are welcome.

1 Shoot at 4.5K (I use Profile SC 4.1 or you can use the standard Redspace/Raw 320 ISO)

2 Transcode with Clipfinder all R3D files to 720p 1k high prores LT

3 Edit in FCP

4 When finished export an XML

5 In Clipfinder choose import clips from FCP XML 

6 In Clipfinder choose Tools - replace MOV with R3D

7 Adjust color settings and transcode the R3D files to 2k normal prores 4

8 In Clipfinder choose Tools - Run conform on FCP XML file and adjust sequence width and height to 1920x1080

9 Open the new XML in FCP and you should have a 1080p timeline with 2k prores 4 files that fit the sequence

10 Check sequence settings (compressor, field, render at 10 bit)

11 Send to Color and grade

12 Send to FCP, finish the project and export in the format you like for delivery

This is the first post dedicated to "tech stuff", there's also a new category called Tech where I'll add workflows, tutorials and our best practices to work with digital files. Some people call here in the studio asking how managing the Red files...what we can say...there are a lot of ways to manage R3D files, the workflow I'm going to explain is quite easy and it's a good starting point:

Questo è il primo post dedicato alle questioni prettamente tecniche. C'è anche una nuova categoria nel blog chiamata Tech dove aggiungeremo workflow, tutorial e i nostri migliori metodi per lavorare con i file digitali. Alcune persone chiamano qui in studio chiedendoci come gestire il file Red...che posso dire...ci sono molti modi per lavorare con gli R3D files, il workflow che sto per illustrare è abbastanza semplice ed è un buon punto di partenza:

Thanks to Nick Shaw, Hans-Georg Daun, Rowland and me now the workflow with Apple Color is really easy:

1 Shoot 4k/2k 16:9 or 2:1

2 Drag the RDM folder in CLIPFINDER

3 Choose M proxies for 4k and H proxies for 2k

4 Drag the clips to FCP bin and make your edit with M (for 4k) proxies and with H (for 2k) proxies

5 When you finish your editing duplicate the sequence, put all the clips on the first video track and remove all the effects

6 Send to Color

7 Close Color project

8 Open CLIPFINDER and choose the Color project you want to fix, use the “looping bug” fixer in the Tools menu

9 Reopen Color project

10 Enjoy!

For longer projects with many hours of footage you can first trascode with Clipfinder the r3d files to mov files (choose 1/4 resolution proresSQ, it's quite fast) and then reconnect the mov with the proxies with Clipfinder (read the help of Clipfinder how to do it), then send to Color.

Note: Footage is fed into Color via the equivalent of a “half res high” decode, not quite as good as decoding full 4K and scaling but good enough (really good) for almost any HD finish and TV projects. If you want the maximum quality (full debayer decoding) you can use Clipfinder, Redcine or Redalert but the workflow discussed above is very straight forward, really fast and easy.