Crimson Workflow

From Redhax

Contents 1 Loading an XML Sequence 1.1 To Create a Final Cut Pro XML Sequence for use in Crimson. 1.2 Opening an XML Sequence in Crimson 2 Matching 2.1 Status Column 2.2 Match Rule 2.2.1 Recognize camera 2.2.2 Substitution 2.2.3 Regular Expression Replacement 2.3 Search Options 2.4 Match and Clear 2.5 Pick 3 Intermediates 3.1 Cowboy Intermediates 3.2 Finding Your Intermediates 3.3 Loading an intermediate in Redcine 3.4 Troubleshooting Cowboy Intermediates 3.4.1 Detecting the Problem 3.4.2 Solving the Problem 3.5 Other Reasons for Failure 3.6 Trimmed R3D Intermediate 3.7 No Intermediate 4 Redcine XML 4.1 Export Settings 5 Troubleshooting Redcine

[edit] Loading an XML Sequence

Loading and matching are demonstrated in this video: http://www.crimsonworkflow.com/videos/

[edit] To Create a Final Cut Pro XML Sequence for use in Crimson.

Select the Final Cut Pro sequence you wish to export in the Browser, then select File->Export->XML... (It is very important that you export only one single sequence) Use the Apple Interchange Format Version 4 Leave the box "Include Master Clips Outside Selection" unchecked. Leave "Save Project with latest clip metadata" checked.

[edit] Opening an XML Sequence in Crimson

Load Crimson Select Source Sequence Choose at the top of the window Find the XML that you exported from FCP

[edit] Matching

Matching is the process of associating proxy footage with original materials such as R3Ds. In most Red Workflow situations very little information is needed to help Crimson match up materials.

[edit] Status Column

The status column indicates the current status of the file with regards to matching. Status are as follows:

• Empty: No match has been attempted.
• Found: An R3D file has been found and can be processed and roundtripped.
• User: The R3D file has been selected by the user. Equivalent to found except, that the clear button will not clear User clips.
• Multiple: Multiple R3D clips have been found that match the pattern. The the first file found will be selected by default. The user can use another pattern to narrow the selection or use "Pick" to select the clip manually. Selecting the "Exhaustive Search" checkbox will instruct Crimson to look for multiple clips.
• Missing:The search pattern exists in the proxy filename but no corresponding R3D file has been found in the search area.
• Pass: The search pattern has not been found in the proxy filename. The clip will pass through the roundtrip untouched.
• Demo: Behaves the same as pass.

[edit] Match Rule

The match rule determines what pattern is used to recognize and find R3D files.

[edit] Recognize camera

This option is used in most situations it finds the Camera-Roll_Take_Date pattern generated by the camera.

So:

• In the case of a normal proxie: B005_C001_080325_M.mov will be matched to B005_C001_080325_001.R3D.
• In the case of a transcoded proxie: A061_C007_080109_M-Apple ProRes 422.mov will be matched to A061_C007_080109_001.R3D.
• Any filename that still contains the entire camera data such as: joebobX002_C053_070912_A025mangled_his_filename.mov will be matched to X002_C053_070912_001.R3D
• Filenames that do not include the camera generated string will be assigned a status of Pass

[edit] Substitution

With this option Crimson will search for one small part of the filename and replace it with something else so for example it can search for the string of character _H.mov and replace it with _001.R3D effectively substituting a High Proxie with an R3D file.

• So for example when _M.mov becomes _001.R3D on the filename B005_C001_080325_M.mov it will become B005_C001_080325_001.R3D
• Whereas _H.mov becomes _001.R3D on the file 'B005_C001_080325_M.mov' will cause the clip to have a status of Pass because '_H.mov' is not present in the filename.

[edit] Regular Expression Replacement

Advanced users can check the "Perl/Python Regular Expression" checkbox to cause the substitution algorythm to find a Python Regular Expression (REGEXP) and expand it based on a template. (Expression becomes template.)

The expression template pair for camera filename recognition is ([A-Z][0-9]*)_(C[0-9]*)_([0-9]{4}[A-Z|0-9]{2}) becomes \1_\2_\3_001.R3D. You may find that slight modifications of this pair are of great benefit.

A good reference for regular expressions can be found here.

[edit] Search Options

The Search Folders table is used to specify multiple top level directories or volumes that will be searched by Crimson. The plus button at the bottom right of the search folder table in Crimson allows you to add a folder from the list. Selecting folders and clicking the minus button removes them from the list. There are several other options for searching:

• Search In Source Path will tell Crimson to first search inside of the folder containing the proxy file regardless of what search folders are specified. Since the Red One camera places proxie files in the same directory as their original files this is often all that is necessary.
• Exhaustive Search will tell Crimson to continue searching after it has already found an R3D file leading to clips of status 'Multiple'.
• Search Depth determines the number of nested folders that Crimson will traverse when attempting to find a file. The default is 4. Unlimited is actually 100.

[edit] Match and Clear

Matching is a cumulative process in Crimson. The Match button will attempt to find files based on the parameters you specify. If you Match once, change the parameters and Match again Crimson will attempt the match again but will not touch change clips with status Found or User. The clear button will clear all clips except for clips with status User, starting the process over.

[edit] Pick

Files can be manually linked using the Pick button in the Match tab table. Filenames can also be modified manually by typing in the table. Once a file is renamed manually it will have the status 'User', which is the same as found, except that it will not be affected by the Clear button.

[edit] Intermediates

Intermediates are a facility of Crimson designed to facilitate the use of Redcine in post production. Redcine is designed to act as the digital equivalent of a film to tape machine. This means it is designed to process footage in the order that it was shot only. It has no facilities for importing sequences or edit decision lists.

Creating what I call an "intermediate" solves this problem in part. An in film terms an intermediate is a copy of your cut negative. It will eventually be transferred to a print. In terms of Redcode, we could create an copy of all of our footage, rename it, so that the roll numbers are in the order of our cut, and feed it into Redcine as cut material. A trimmed R3D intermediate would be exactly this. Copies of R3D files with the frames being used in the sequence only included.

A "Cowboy" Intermediate takes this notion to another level. Instead of creating copies the cowboy intermediate is an alias or link to the original R3D file. Redcine sees a file with a name created in the order of your intermediate. So you have in effect created the appearance of a copy of your sequence without the time and storage space neccessary to make an actual copy.

[edit] Cowboy Intermediates

In the intermediates tab you will find a radio button for "Use Cowboy Intermediate" this starts the intermediate engine in Crimson. Cowboy intermediates are so lightweight (about 4 kilobytes per link) that Crimson generates cowboy intermediates automatically and updates them interactively as you work. At any point the intermediate can be loaded into Redcine and Redcode files will be opened in order. If you quit Crimson, your intermediate will remain in places as you left it.

[edit] Finding Your Intermediates

By default Crimson creates a folder in /Users/YourUsername/Documents/Crimson Workflow Documents/Intermediates/TheNameofYourProject/ All of your intermediates can be found in this folder.

[edit] Loading an intermediate in Redcine

Intermediates are loaded in the same way that R3D files are loaded into Redcine. Think of them as R3D files with helpful names. Load your intermediate into Redcine, by selecting Load All... , then navigate to your intermediates directory. Once you have found it click select.

Keep in mind we always must load the intermediate before we load our Redcine XML. Intermediates and R3D's are the dough. XML is the cookie cutter.

[edit] Troubleshooting Cowboy Intermediates

In some situations, after loading a cowboy intermediate Redcine sees the files with the wrong filepath. This results in an error method, "fails to load construct".

This is a complex bug, and I am searching for a complete fix. But for the time being there is a solution built into Crimson.

The problem arises because an intermediate located at /Users/Your_User_Name/Documents/...etc will be seen by Redcine as residing at /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Your_User_Name/Documents/... The prefix /Voumes/Macintosh has been added. In some situations it even sees the path as /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Documents/... etc.

This is a difficult problem to solve without getting under the hood of Redcine. But the fix is to detect the problem and solve it by modifying your Redcine XML, to match what Redcine is seeing. Crimson contains a facility to do this but it requires the user to detect the problem and enable the solution.

[edit] Detecting the Problem

If you "Load All..." your intermediates and your XML will not load. Save a temporary copy of your Redcine project, with the intermediates loaded in to your desktop. Do this by clicking save and saving a project to the desktop. Changing the end of the filename to .xml will create an XML file instead of a Redcine .rcn file. You must change the filename to .xml IN REDCINE, before you press save. Now open the Text Edit program in your Applications folder. Take a look at the XML file. About ten lines down you will see a line such as <source>"/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/MyUserName/Documents/Crimson Workflow Documents/Intermediates/Crimson Demo/Z000001-A007_C001_071027_001.R3D"</source>

The presence of "/Volumes/MyHardDrive" where MyHardDrive is the name of your boot drive indicates that you must change the filepath to solve the problem.

[edit] Solving the Problem

In the Intermediates tab in Crimson Workflow, there is a section entitled Troubleshoot Cowboy Intermediate. Enter the name of your boot drive: the boot drive is by default /Volumes/Macintosh HD/ but users often change the second part. If you notice that there are repetitions in the Redcine XML enter the number of Repetitions in the cycle box. (If you put /Volumes/MyDrive/ and cycles 3 for example, you will be adding the prefix /Volumes/MyDrive/Volumes/MyDrive/Volumes/MyDrive/ ) Finally select the Add Prefix checkbox.

or follow these steps:

1. Load your intermediates into Redcine

2. Export an XML file from Redcine by changing the file extension to XML in Redcine as you save a project.

3. Look at the XML file from Redcine in a text editing program.

4. Look at the XML file from Crimson in a text editing program.

5. Look at the difference between the <source> tags between the two files. For example- Crimson says: /Users/RogerCorman/Documents/... Redcine says: /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/RogerCorman/Documents/...

So to get Crimson on the same page as Redcine we need to add the prefix "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" to every file reference that Crimson is creating.

6. Go into Crimson.

7. Type the prefix that you need into the box labeled "what is the name of your boot drive"

8. Check the box to enable adding the prefix.

9. Regenerate your _telecine XML

10. Return to Redcine and attempt to load the construct.

[edit] Other Reasons for Failure

Special characters in your browser names and filenames can trip up the process. Underscore and dash should be ok. A through Z, a through z, and 0 through 9 are also good characters to use. Apostrophe and quotes are known to break it currently.

[edit] Trimmed R3D Intermediate

Not yet enabled. The main advantage of this will be portability.

[edit] No Intermediate

By selecting No Intermediate you are enabling Crimson's pull list mode. In this mode you can transfer clips to Redcine, but you cannot watch them in sequence order, and you cannot see multiple clips from the same source media. Clips that follow another clip that pulls from the same source media, will display event number "dup" for duplicate.

Crimson will automatically combine in and out points on files that include multiple clips so that the minimum neccessary space from those takes will be rendered. But unused space between multiple clips will still need to be rendered in Redcine. When multiple clips pull from the same source file, they cannot be colored independantly.

In no intermediate mode, one will enter Redcine, and "Load All..." all of their source R3D media before loading in their Redcine XML.

[edit] Redcine XML

Intermediates are the first part of the connection to Redcine, the second part of that connection is the ability to generate and read Redcine XML.

In the intermediates tab you can set the location and name of the file you would like to create or read. This file is by default the name of your project concatenated with the word telecine. So FreeWillie2.xml will default to FreeWillie2_telecine.xml and be found in the same folder.

[edit] Export Settings

Crimson gives you a choice of how much media you want Redcine to render.

• Use In and Out Points

This option is the only way to see the sequence in Redcine with the cuts in the proper position. If you render from Redcine in this mode, you will have the shortest render time. You will not be able to modify your cut once you roundtrip into XML.

• Use Handles

This option allows you to add a certain amount of material to the beginning and end of each clip. This will allow you to make minor adjustments to the cut after you have rendered. Enter the number of seconds and frames in the fields to the right, to specify how large the handles should be. (The formula is (Seconds * Frames Per Second) + Frames = Number of Frames To Add.) If the handles reach beyond the beginning or end of the media, they will automatically be cropped. Start Frames and End Frames add frames to the front or back of the clip in addition to 'Frames'. Setting 'End Frames' to -1 will remove the additional frame that is the default in a Final Cut workflow.

• Use Complete Takes

This option allows complete freedom to continue editing after rendering. All of the media in each take that is selected will be rendered. Caution however, if you send Complete takes to REDcine in Cowboy Intermediate mode then each time a clip takes a cut from a source file, the file will be rendered in its entirety. This may be useful because it still allows you to color clips independantly but a better option is often to use Complete takes with No Intermediate.

Modifying Export Settings in the Redcine tab, also modifies the same settings in the REDline tab.

[edit] Troubleshooting Redcine

Redcine can only load roughly under 150 2GB chunks of R3D at once. If you load more it will lock up. If you are using the Redcine pipeline then, you will need to break your sequence into pieces.