Resolve Workflow 11.1 – FCPX Workflow = awesome

Sam here…

So, looks like the BMD guys with the latest Resolve update have filled in some MAJOR holes in the FCPX-Resolve workflow and it is now approaching “I’m not really too worried about it” roundtrip status which, I think, as a colorist, I don’t think I’ve ever said out loud about any 3rd party color roundtrip workflow.

We’re almost there with FCPX-Resolve now, so hats off to the BMD team. It’s kind of awesome what they’ve been able to do.

With the Resolve 11 Beta, I wrote a revised list of what was/wasn’t working on FCPX-Resolve roundtrip here:

http://www.fcpworks.com/resolve-workflow-test-results/

The basic takeaway was that things were getting really close, and I was pretty blown away with how much work they’d been able to do with speed changes… and my only real major complaints were with synchronized clips.

Anyway, I just ran those exact same XML’s through the same roundtrip in Resolve 11.1 and everything worked pretty much perfectly (except for the usual suspects that have never worked like color and Ken Burns).

Synchronized and multicam clips came in without issue. Sync N Link clips came through fine once I added the media into the media pool directly. Even the Speed changes that I was having difficulty with previously imported without issue (although I did need to fix a few things on roundtrip).

The point is that my ins and outs for everything came in correctly, and I didn’t was able to get all of my footage from FCPX to Resolve with all kinds of effects and craziness largely without a problem.

I’ve been a colorist doing this stuff since FCP7 was in its heyday, and I’ve never been able to get a timeline in and out of an application with such a small amount of conforming.

This is a pretty huge accomplishment by the Resolve team. On behalf of editors/colorists everywhere – thank you. You’ve made our lives easier.

A couple quick workarounds that may help you if you run into problems:

1. Detach audio from your FCPX sequence – Resolve still doesn’t do the audio thing so well. When you have a locked FCPX cut, duplicate your project (you should already be doing this anyway), then in the one set to go to Resolve, select all your video clips, detach audio, and then delete all the audio out of your timeline (you can also just disable all the audio from your clips in the patch panel from the inspector).
2. For Sync N Link Clips – If you find they aren’t coming in correctly through direct XML import, add the original video media into a bin in the media pool directly and things should reconnect in Resolve automatically.
3. Speed Change Roundtripping – If you see a speed change roundtrip into FCPX as a still frame… something weird happened, but your clip should actually be fine. In your roundtripped FCPX timeline, simply select the clip that is appearing as a still image and matchframe it. Your ins and outs should still be correct for the overall clips. Cut it back into your sequence, and just reapply your speed change, and things should be fine now (at least they were for me).
4. Just send your video and don’t expect your effects to work – Expect to do some copy pasting of titles and paste attributes for effects when you roundtrip (although you might get lucky which is sort of awesome).
5. Double check spatial conform settings on roundtrip – If you did some spatial conform work, double check stuff, especially when it comes to Sync and Multicam clips when you roundtrip. You may find that a clip may come back in incorrectly on roundtrip, but if you adjust the spatial conform setting, it will fix the problem.

Bottom line – This workflow is now rock solid and in my opinion is the best roundtrip workflow for any NLE-Color Software I’ve seen (even better than FCP7-Color roundtrip).

Things are really starting to come together in post, and it’s nice to see companies actively working together and improving things for the end user.

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