AE Work with XDCAM

[Max Kaiser]

Howdy,

I've read enough here to know that After Effects works with XDCAM footage on the mac. I've just purchased AE, and when I try to import my XDCAM footage, I don't see the XDCAM codec listed as one of the types. I've got all the latest FCP stuff rolling... do I need to reinstall FCP?

Thanks!
Max

[Jim Eckert]

Did you use the XDCam Transfer software to convert it to Quicktime? If not, I don't how else to import it into AE. It doesn't recognize MXF files.

[Greg Boston]

Jim is correct. I don't use AE but unless it can work with native MXF files (unlikely), you'll need to use XDCAM Transfer to bring in and re-wrap the hi-res files to .MOV format. Then, if you have the latest FCP 5.1.2, the Quicktime codecs for all XDCAM data rates will be present and those codecs should be available to AE. Not sure why you aren't seeing them listed. Do they show up in FCP?

-gb-

[Max Kaiser]

Greg, yes, I do see the xdcam codecs in FCP. I wondered if it was because I installed AE AFTER FCP. Any chance of this? Do I need to reinstall? It's kind of a big deal, of course, because now you have to install all the updates, etc.!

I am able to just drag the xdcam footage into the stage to work with it, but it is very pixelated and refers to the footage as xdv6 footage. Don't know what that is. When I render it out and take it back to FCP, it is still very pixelated.

I'm trying to do some chroma keying here that will ultimately wind up in SD. I was thinking maybe I should just downconvert the footage to DV50 animorphic or something and then work with that in AE? Any thoughts?


Thanks,
Max

[Max Kaiser]

Sorry, also, I should mention that, yes I pulled the footage via xdcam transfer and am working with them as .mov files. The footage was originally 35mbr, 24p stuff.

Thanks again,
Max

[Greg Boston]

Max, it sounds to me like AE doesn't hook into the QT engine like other apps do. If it doesn't know what your footage is, and pixelates it, there is something missing. Since everything is good in FCP, you might try taking your footage out of there in 10-bit uncompressed (large files, I know) and seeing if AE will work with it that way.

I'd try to ascertain what HD formats AE understands, then bring your footage out of FCP in one of those formats.

-gb-

[Jim Eckert]

Originally Posted by Max Kaiser

Sorry, also, I should mention that, yes I pulled the footage via xdcam transfer and am working with them as .mov files. The footage was originally 35mbr, 24p stuff.

Max -

I haven't worked with 35 CBR footage yet because I haven't upgraded to the new versions of the XDCam transfer (v1.1) & FCP 5.1.2, which allow you to edit 35 CBR. However, the footage I've worked with (25 VBR/23.98) has worked just fine in AE 7. I'm assuming since you just bought AE, it is version 7.

Also, installing AE after FCP shouldn't be an issue. If anything, it should be the correct way to do it. What version of Quicktime do you have? 7.1.3 is the latest. What happens when you open the .mov file in Quicktime? If you hit CTRL+I, it should bring up the Movie Info window with stats. What codec/format is it displaying?

[Max Kaiser]

Yes to everything, Jim. Basically, when I open AE and go to composition, under the presets (which is where I presume I would see the settings) I see very few, very basic settings - not at all like what I see in FCP where I have a long list of them.

If I just import the XDCAM footage, it calls it xdv6 footage. I can drag and drop it on to the "make new composition" icon and it comes up in the composition window, but it is very "jaggedy" - and it needs rendering.

Thanks,
Max

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Jim Eckert

I haven't worked with 35 CBR footage yet because I haven't upgraded to the new versions of the XDCam transfer (v1.1) & FCP 5.1.2, which allow you to edit 35 CBR.

Solely in the interest of accuracy Jim I have to comment that you do not need the newer version of XDCAM Transfer to work with 18 & 35 mb with FCP. You do have to have FCP 5.1.2 because it's the app that is supplying the codecs.

The new version of XDCAM Transfer offers increased ingest speed on G5 systems, recognizes essence marks, and has some additional shortcut keys to name a few. XDCAM Transfer was never the limiting factor on working with the additional bitrates, that was Apple's part of the puzzle.

-gb-