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Filed under: Cameras •Post Production •

RED Workflow Redux

Introducing RedRushes

Fortunately there is now another tool: RedRushes. Currently bundled with the latest version of RedAlert, RedRushes is a very simple program designed to batch render R3D files into a useable format without a lot of headache. There’s no sophisticated image processing involved so you’re basically getting a one-light transfer: you can create a color profile (.RSX file) in RedAlert and apply that across the board to all the clips or you can use a preset. As my footage is headed for broadcast I used the Rec709 color and gamma settings.

This is the first screen of RedRushes, with five clips loaded and ready for processing. The options are:

Debayering Quality: Deanan of RED suggested that for 1920x1080 I was probably fine using Half Res (High). He suggested I’d save a lot of time over the Full Res (maximum) setting and the difference between the two after scaling wasn’t enough to warrant the extra processing time. He was absolutely right: as an experiment I tried Full Res and watched RedRushes slow to a crawl. Half Res (High) processed clips fairly quickly and there was no noticeable difference after scaling to 1920x1080. (RedRushes processes clips three at a time and gives you plenty of information concerning how far along you are in the process.)

I left Timecode at External/TOD (presumably “time of day”) because the alternative was edge code, and that didn’t apply here. Clip timecode was preserved through the transformation to ProRes.

Look Source was Camera, as I didn’t create an external Look reference (.RSX file). Color Space and Gamma Space were Rec709 as I intended this footage to be broadcast, and as RedSpace (my on-set color and gamma reference) is basically a brighter Rec709 spec I knew I’d be in the ballpark.

Under Resize I picked the built-in 1920x1080 setting. Deanan suggested using Mitchell or Gauss as a resample filter as they were a good compromise between sharpness and softness, but I ended up going with CatmulRom just to see how sharp the footage got. I didn’t notice any extreme sharpness, and I added some post diffusion anyway to enhance the mood of the spots, so no harm done through experimentation.

For output I chose Quicktime Movie and ProResHQ. I chose an output folder and let it rip. I processed about two dozen :30 clips in less than three hours. Not bad, and no crashes!

I shot this project very differently from past RED projects: instead of treating it like a film camera, and setting T-stops strictly by metering, I opted to use RedSpace for monitoring and a combination of zebras and RGB histograms for exposure. RedSpace appears to be a brighter version of Rec709; RED’s Rec709 comes across as very dark and RedSpace fixes that. I set my zebras at “103”, assuming that I was working on the usual IRE scale of 0-109, and opened up the T-stop on the lens until I was just clipping the highlights. This gave the chip maximum exposure, eliminating noise issues that I’ve had in the past from putting the shadows and midtones too far down in the mud.

The result was that I was able to run my footage through RedRushes, using the Rec709 settings, and get dailies out the other side that looked very much like what I saw through the camera. In most cases I was then able to do my color correction in Final Cut Pro (using Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Looks) without banding issues, although I did have to re-transfer two shots through RedCine in order to do a more careful primary color correction. (Beware shots with blank, even surfaces. They are a PAIN to color correct without banding!)

RedRushes biggest weakness, however, is that it doesn’t process audio. It’s a mystery to me why RedCine and RedRushes don’t deal with audio, but that’s the reality. We recorded double system sound on this project but there was a delay in my getting the audio files for editing.

I did find a solution, though, so let’s move on to the next page…

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Thanks for the report, Art. But surely you mean *low* signal-to-noise ratio on reduser.net? Or has it suddenly become a fast and efficient way to find out what you need?  [grin]

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  09/14  at  12:42 AM

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Yes, thank you, Adam. I made the change. I must’ve been crazy to write that. Crazy! Reduser.net is a great resource as long as you have infinite amounts of time.

By the way, Deanan of RED tells me that as of 9/2 RedRushes does transcode sound. I checked; I downloaded it on 8/31. Argh! The article has been updated to note the new audio capability.

Posted by Art Adams  on  09/14  at  11:02 AM

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At the LAFCPUG Supermeet at IBC yesterday, Apple demo-ed RED support in FCP for the upcoming update.

FCP will be able to work with the RED files directly. It will allow you to create 2K projects using 4K RED footage.

Log and Transfer will rewrap the 4K R3D in a QT (no transcode) and preserve all metadata (as well as what you add). On the (2K) timeline FCP will do on-the-fly downrez.

When you send a timeline into Color all RAW parameters are available in the Primary Room in a “Red” tab. There you can edit the RAW parameter like WB, exposure, etc.

Should be something to look forward to…

George/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  09/15  at  06:01 AM

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I wonder, will that be FCP 6.0.5, or FCP 6.1… or FCP 7.0? Did the Apple folks give any hints? (I know, I know: “Apple does not comment on unannounced products”, but still…)

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  09/15  at  10:07 AM

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As I understood it’s the next FCS point release, so 6.0.5 I suppose. It seemed pretty much “finished” to me. It was the only new feature demo-ed.

George/

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  09/15  at  02:44 PM

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I have found that Redrushes, even at a half resolution, renders moves at a snails pace.  25 hours of render time for 2 hours worth of footage.  The log and transfer window within Final Cut does the rendering for about an hours worth of footage in 4 hours time.  Soooo much faster.  And the color is identical to what was shot whereas Redrushes washes out that color.  So, I don’t understand why you would use this program?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  04/27  at  10:30 AM

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“I don’t understand why you would use this program?”

Sure, it’s slow, but it allows you to change the gamma space and color space settings of the imported clips, which FCP will not (see http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/apple/story/redfcp_native_redcode_importing/). If you prefer to use ProRes as an online format (as opposed, say, to using ProRes offlines, then conforming REDCODE in Color), the RED Alert! / REDrushes combo gives you much better control over the conversion process.

It also has the advantage of being free and unlicensed. You can set up a conversion workstation or two and have REDrushes grind through your clips while your editing system remains free to run FCP for editing tasks.

That’s not to say it’s a better way to go than FCP’s Log & Capture; it’s just different. Different workflows for different needs, that’s all.

Posted by Adam Wilt  on  04/27  at  12:34 PM

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