Davinci Resolve and Apple Color: which is “better”? +PVC

Walter Biscardi has been doing a series on installing and working with Davinci Resolve, and has folks asking a lot of questions about it and Apple Color, especially "which one is better?"

Here's an excerpt; see also the recent Resolve is our Alexa by Scott Simmons on PVC:

'Which one is better depends on your particular application and how you like to work. If you work with Avid or Adobe Premiere, well then right now Resolve is your best choice because it has an easier workflow to / from the application because it’s a third party app, not a proprietary Apple app. If you work with Final Cut Pro, well then you can go either way.

Color works with traditional color wheels and rooms. Resolve works with curves and nodes. Color can operate very well with just a mouse and a keyboard. Resolve requires a control surface such as a Tangent Wave panel to work efficiently. Color has a ColorFX room that can utilize third party plug-ins. Resolve does not have an FX room. Color has a one point motion tracker. Resolve has a motion tracker I have termed “Ludicrous Tracker” (look up “Spaceballs The Movie”) because it’s just ridiculously good.

Color uses an XML workflow that supports speed changes, graphics and multiple video tracks from FCP. Resolve currently uses EDL and AAF using a single video track only. Resolve has better controls over Luminance and the Node architecture can make it easier to alter a scene after it’s been graded. And the comparison list goes on and on….'

Update: Scott Simmons "kicks the tires" with some DaVinci workflow tests, and [later] Oliver Peters has a First Look: Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve for the Mac.

Update 2: At Postworld Mike Most looks at DaVinci 2K, DaVinci Resolve, Autodesk’s Lustre, Filmlight’s Baselight, Digital Vision’s Film Master, Quantel’s Pablo, Assimilate’s Scratch, and Iridas’ Speedgrade in Grading The Graders, Part 1 and Grading the Graders: The Long Awaited Part 2.

Export AE project to Final Cut Studio with Premiere +Avid +switching

Transfers of projects between After Effects and Final Cut is usually a one-way affair, export to AE and render, so there's been plenty of solutions of various cost and effort from Automatic Duck, Boris XML Transfer, Popcorn Island, Dale Bradshaw, etc.

But what if you want to export an AE project to Final Cut? A quick answer, with more resources hopefully forthcoming, is to use Dynamic Link to Premiere Pro, then export a Final Cut Pro project XML file. The project could then be sent on to Apple Color too.

By the way, you can also export to Avid with AAF or export an edit decision list (EDL). Note that trial versions of AE and Premiere are not licensed to support some features, but the log file (FCP Translation Results) describes any translation issues. Some good news is that XML from Premiere Pro CS5 does import into Final Cut Express 4.0.1. [update: read about some bug fixes for XML in Premiere Pro CS5 (5.0.2) update: bug fixes and CUDA support; there may be some inconsistencies though.]

Joost van der Hoeven of Animotion posted a video overview of the new Premiere CS5 feature in Exchange between Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro CS5 (it's also on Adobe TV now):

Premiere Pro CS5 and Final Cut Pro Exchange from animotion on Vimeo.

Update: Todd Kopriva posted about Premiere Pro overview documents for Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer users. Users switching platforms at this point may only be about money at the lower end, since Premiere is still 3rd choice in the NLE hierarchy. For context, see Final Cut Studio 4: a double scoop.

There's really no secret about the kinds of things Adobe could do to improve usability and mindshare beside luring the lukewarm from the Apple camp -- assuming that there are goals in addition to short-term sales. There's plenty of advice aimed at Apple that Adobe could implement. Beyond constant drumbeats pleading for Avid-style media management and Trim Mode (see FCP-List for pro/cons), there are more examples in the feature request list at FCPro.TV and advice from Oliver Peters on Improving FCP and Media Composer, although it's the Avid features missing from Premiere that are important.

Adam Wilt's FCP/Color workflow

When Adam Wilt talks, people listen...

For lessons learned in RED FCP/Color roundtripping, and a suggested FCP/Color workflow for RED clips, see RED+FCP+Color: Making It All Work.

A shot across Color's bow

Fini comments on the recent post from ProLost that discusses a filmmaker who used both Colorista and Magic Bullet Looks to finish an entire feature:

"I've found the control surface easily doubles my productivity (you can read my initial experience here). So a 90 minute feature color corrected with a mouse could easily take 5 working days... just for the initial grade. And that's without even getting into establishing a look. And look creation in Color is an exercise in patience + fortitude + luck..."

Update: Fini explicately asked for control surface support in the next version of Magic Bullet; Steve Hullfish has a quick look at the JL Cooper Eclipse panel in his new blog CUT.N.COLOR.

Hullfish on secondary color correction

The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction by Steve Hullfish, a hands-on companion/redo of an earlier book, was released recently. Below is Steve 's explanation of secondary color correction using Apple Color done for the Avid-L2 list and posted on the Colorlist; a small QT version is on The Moving Pictures Collective. (via Prolost)

More colorist stuff can be found at the Fini blog, [update] which now says Color 1.0.2 is broken.

Color podcast

Flippant News notes Studio006, a nice FCP Color Podcast (series), as Studio Daily complains Again with the Color, PrepShootPost asks former Apple mates Would Someone Please Make Color Work (for features), and others ask FCS 2-Ready for Prime Time?

It looks like Magic Bullet was timed about right.

Update: Previous posts show other resources for Color. Online forums can be found for Color at Apple's Color Forum, The Color List, Creative Cow, 2-Pop, etc.

Experiences with Color are varied. Jason Mitchell shared his experience on SF Cutters:

"Just colored a narrative feature in Color using DVCProHD 1080i24p shot on the HVX200. It dealt with the material wonderfully well. I prepped it to output 1080p24 ProResHQ for the render (floating point) and the results were awesome.

I do know that Color doesn't like interlaced footage, but I had conformed the material into 24p before sending the projects to color (had to break it up into reels).

Read the instructions closely and it won't give you any trouble. Mainly, pre-render into their own movies all still images, speed changes and nested FX sequences. Move everything down onto one track (or as few as possible). Cut it into 20-minutes sections (or less if your sound mixer desires)."

Color bars FCP<->Color

Again from the armchair... not only are there now sometimes color display or conversion issues among AE, QT Player, FCP, and Shake (see FreshDV notes Apple's 'color compatibility'), but also between Apple Color and FCP. Could be another reason for a Universal Color Metadata format. For more see various threads on the ColorList, for example this one: anyone try sending color bars back and forth from FCP?

Update: BTW, Walter Biscardi has a new video tutorial on Apple Color: Building Vignettes in the ColorFX Room, with other at Creative Cow.

A look at Color

Oliver Peters, a regular on the FinalCutPro-List, has a review in Videography of Color, Apple’s new pro-level color grading application. Apple has demo movies.

Update: as a reminder, previous Color items include FreshDV's NAB Video Podcast - Apple Color Exclusive Demo, a tutorial at Ken Stone's FCP site Creating Node Trees in Apple Color, Stu Maschwitz's Color My Impression.

Update 2: Oliver has another review of Color at DV, First Look: Apple Color.

Color needs correction?

Apple's Color is the subject of more critical commentary at both Red User (via HD4ND) and Prolost (whose Colorista could gain from Apple missteps).

Editors' Reactions to Apple Color

from Terence Curren on videos from the latest AlphaDogs' Editors' Lounge: "Apple wouldn't let Studio Daily shoot the demos, but there is a demo from NAB and interviews with several end users."

Coen Brothers talk Color

The Coen Brothers discuss Apple's rebranded app Color. Looks like the DV Rebel has options.

tig (telecine internet group)

Interested in FinalTouch for professional color grading on the desktop? I don't have enough inspiration to track the discussions at the telecine internet group:

'The tig (telecine internet group) is a collection of people worldwide with interests in color correction or grading images originating in cameras using film, video, or raw data as record media. The tig was originally formed in 1994 for the telecine community ("telecine" in this case meaning "video film") as a mailing list with associated webpages.'