Autodesk+RED Workflow Guide

The RED One camera and its ability to capture large frame size, RAW-format files has certainly ignited the imagination of filmmakers and videographers. But its unusual file format and requirements has also created a lot of head-scratching among users trying to find the most efficient way to send RED footage through a normal production pipeline.

To this end, Autodesk just released a white paper that covers using RED One footage with their Smoke, Inferno, Flame, Flint, and Lustre systems. It covers shooting, lighting, color spaces, proxies, going from offline to online, audio, finishing and final output including suggested settings, as well as an appendix on RED-specific applications and where they fit into the workflow. In other words, this isn’t a brochure; it’s a mini-handbook for users that describes the current recommended practices in some detail.

You can download the white paper here. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of some of its suggestions:

Anything Worth Backing Up…

Recently, there was a good discussion on the MediaMotion After Effects list about archiving projects. Some use RAIDs and shared network storage devices; some use tape drives such as the Quantum LTO-3; some use stacks of DVDs; some use raw hard disks with adaptors like the Wiebetech ComboDock (which Art Adams wrote about a few weeks ago). However, three universal themes emerged:

After Effects CS4 is Shipping

For those who might have missed the news, Adobe Creative Suite 4 started shipping this past Wednesday. Users are already receiving their pre-orders.

After Effects users looking to upgrade need to be mindful of two issues:

• As reported earlier, AE CS4 will not run on pre-Intel Macs.
• Not all CS3-compatible plug-ins are compatible with AE CS4; some will need upgrades. So far, most of these upgrades seem to be free or available for a nominal charge.

Fortunately, there’s information out there to help you through this upgrade decision and process:

Interview over on Motion.TV

One of our plans for this blog is to also talk about the business of being a motion graphics artist - how to work with clients, as well as how to keep your own ship in order. Unfortunately, we haven’t had time to do much of that so far (among other things, we’ve moved). However, Lilian Dregalla interviewed us for the motion08 conference, where we had a chance to muse about subjects such as understanding the purpose behind each motion graphics task you take on, as well as some of the philosophy behind our books. You can read it here.

Meanwhile, we’re about to hit the road, speaking at VidXpo in Denver next week, and then speaking at motion08 in Albuquerque the week after. Hope to see some of you there! Afterward, we’re hunkering down to finish a new edition of After Effects Apprentice (for CS4), and then hopefully this winter we can get back to some of the topics we want to blog about up here.

The content contained in our books, videos, blogs, and articles for other sites are all copyright Crish Design, except where otherwise attributed.

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