XDCAM and After Effects at DVinfo.net

Tim Allison · March 18th, 2008, 09:36 AM

I hope this is the right forum for this question. Since it deals with XDCAM, I figure it's relevant.

Anyone with any experience working with XDCAM HD video in After Effects? Does the native XDCAM codec work well within After Efffects, or should I ingest shots that I know I will use in AE with another codec?

Hornady Setiawan · March 18th, 2008, 10:35 AM

from Avid MC, i always use "same as source" that is DNxHD.

from FCP, i use either : QT PNG or QT Animation or Uncompressed 8 or 10 bit.
there's a bit of color change in FCP to AE.

:)

Paul Gale · March 19th, 2008, 02:26 AM

I'm not sure that AE supports XDCAM MXF files - I've not tried it directly though. I do know that Premiere doesn't support them directly without plugin support or a Matrox Axio system (which does support MXF in both Premiere and AE). I have an Axio system and use XDCAM HD MXF files in boths apps fine.

Tim Allison · March 19th, 2008, 07:42 AM

Silly me, Paul. Since I use Final Cut Pro, I assume everyone else does too. That's a bad assumption. The MXF file wrapper is not a problem within the Mac version of After Effects. The XDCAM Transfer software allows Final Cut and AE to see the file as a Quicktime movie.

I was mostly wondering if the long-GOP MPEG worked well within AE. AE kind of works on a frame-by-frame basis, and as we all know, XDCAM MPEG doesn't really work that way.

Jeremy Doyle · March 19th, 2008, 09:32 AM

I haven't had any problems with it, other than taking forever to render and I'm on an octo with 8 gigs ram. I usually render out of AE as animation, but I've been using pro res a bit now too, since I have my XDCAM timelines in FCP to render Pro Res.

March 18th, 2008, 09:36 AM	#1
Tim Allison Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Starkville, MS Posts: 96	XDCAM and After Effects I hope this is the right forum for this question. Since it deals with XDCAM, I figure it's relevant. Anyone with any experience working with XDCAM HD video in After Effects? Does the native XDCAM codec work well within After Efffects, or should I ingest shots that I know I will use in AE with another codec?

March 18th, 2008, 10:35 AM	#2
Hornady Setiawan Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Jakarta, Indonesia Posts: 103	from Avid MC, i always use "same as source" that is DNxHD. from FCP, i use either : QT PNG or QT Animation or Uncompressed 8 or 10 bit. there's a bit of color change in FCP to AE. :)

March 19th, 2008, 02:26 AM	#3
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	I'm not sure that AE supports XDCAM MXF files - I've not tried it directly though. I do know that Premiere doesn't support them directly without plugin support or a Matrox Axio system (which does support MXF in both Premiere and AE). I have an Axio system and use XDCAM HD MXF files in boths apps fine.

March 19th, 2008, 07:42 AM	#4
Tim Allison Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Starkville, MS Posts: 96	Silly me, Paul. Since I use Final Cut Pro, I assume everyone else does too. That's a bad assumption. The MXF file wrapper is not a problem within the Mac version of After Effects. The XDCAM Transfer software allows Final Cut and AE to see the file as a Quicktime movie. I was mostly wondering if the long-GOP MPEG worked well within AE. AE kind of works on a frame-by-frame basis, and as we all know, XDCAM MPEG doesn't really work that way.

March 19th, 2008, 09:32 AM	#5
Jeremy Doyle Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Brainerd, MN Posts: 287	I haven't had any problems with it, other than taking forever to render and I'm on an octo with 8 gigs ram. I usually render out of AE as animation, but I've been using pro res a bit now too, since I have my XDCAM timelines in FCP to render Pro Res.