LUMIERE created XML files to 'facilitate the migration of project in FCP.'

Question

I recently purchased Lumiere so that I could work with material shot on the JVC GY-HD100U camera in FCP. I understand that FCP is due to for an update soon, but alas, I'm unable to wait. That being said, I have followed the various steps to create mov files from the compressed MP2 files generated through Lumiere. The supposed last step before beginning the edit in FCP is to decide whether or not to 'create FCP XML' or not.
1. What purpose does using XML files instead of the .mov files serve in FCP? It is an option in the import files drop down... What gives? For that matter why and what are xml files function here? Pretty Green, I know
2. Can I edit using the custom 24p Apple Intermediate Codec I was told to create usinf the mov files instead, and then online, or convert the timeline to full resolution just the same using the mov files?
3. If I am getting an error message when trying to import the XML files and am therefore unablr to do so... any ideas why? I had one file with 'acceptable errors'. The log read that there was a path problem with the audio files, which I was unable to fix. The other files would not import at all. Why?
4. What is the best way/codec for editing HDV - outputing te best image resolution without a Xserve raid or the like...
I know this probably reads like questions for a Lumiere forum, but I have tried and received no answers... Any insights appreciated, as my deadline is fast approaching.
-Thanks
Tom.

Answer 1

Maybe this will help from the Lumiere HD forum on their site (http://www.lumierehd.com/forums/showthread.php?t=576) :
720p EDITORIAL WORKFLOW USING JVC-GYHD100 AND FCP5.0
By Jon Farhat
CAPTURING AND EDITING
JVC GY-HD100 720p > LUMIERE HD > FINAL CUT PRO 5.0
Workflow Steps:
1. Launch Lumiere HD and begin with the CAPTURE/PRINT tab.
2. Enter your Logging information into the fields labeled REEL, DESC., SCENE and SHOT. The program with create a name for you based on this information and place it in the NAME field.
3. You can also check AUTOINCREMENT. Doing this will create a Name based on the Scene Name and will add a Shot number starting with 1. Each time you capture a new take, the shot number will increase as well as appear as an extension to the file name as indicated in the Name field.
4. Click on the DESTINATION button to choose a folder for your raw Transport streams. The files placed in this folder will have the naming convention, DESCSCENE1.m2t. Note that these files have the Audio and Video multiplexed together.
5. Use the toggle controls to line find your desired take and back up a while to add a little pre-roll. (Note: LHD does not do Batch Capturing so you have to click the CAPTURE and STOP CAPTURE button for each take.
6. Once you have captured all your takes and placed them in your working folder, click on the PROGRAM STREAM tab.
7. Click on the DESTINATION button in the PROGRAM STREAM VIDEO area. When the navigation window opens, click on NEW FOLDER and create a folder called “Video”. Select OK to choose your new folder.
8. Click on the DESTINATION button in the PROGRAM STREAM AUDIO area. When the navigation window opens, click on NEW FOLDER and create a folder called “Audio”. Select OK to choose your new folder.
9. Now click on the SELECT M2T FILE(S). IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have used the Autoincrement function, or have sequentially numbered files, no not select the folder housing your m2t’s but rather drag select across all your takes, starting from the lowest number to the highest. Then click OK.
10. Now you are read to split the raw m2t transport streams into a separate AIFF audio file, which will be placed in the Audio directory you created and and M2V video file which will be placed in the Video Directory. It is important that the audio files and video files are in these separate directories.
11. Choose the PRESETS pull-down menu In the REALTIME TIMELINE CODEC window. Select OTHER.
12. In the COMPRESSION TYPE Pulldown menu, select APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC.
13. Select the FRAMES PER SECOND pull-down menu and select 23.98.
14. Select the OTHER button in the COMPRESSOR > PRESET.
15. In the SIZE section, choose the SOURCE button. Note that you can also create a smaller dimension such as 720 x 406 (16:9 aspect ratio) since this is only used as a proxy in FCP to edit with. But if you have the memory and speed, working in the full 1280 x 720 is preferable. These files will not be rendered into your final master. After you edit with this proxy codec, you will use Media Manager to build a new timeline from the full size raw capture images. It is on this new full-size timeline that you will color correct your movie as well. (Discussed later in this document)
16. In the FINAL CUT AUTOMATION section, check the CREATE FCP XML box, and UN-CHECK the ANAMORPHIC box.
17. Click on the AUDIO FILES? Button and either double-click on the AUDIO directory you created which houses your AIFF’s and then click OPEN or simply select the directory once and then click OPEN.
18. Now click on the SOURCE button in the SOURCE/DESTINATION section. Open the Video folder which houses your de-multiplexed m2v video files.
19. Click on the DESTINATION button in the SOURCE/DESTINATION section and select NEW FOLDER and call this “project name”_REALTIMES. This is where your .mov files which are compressed with the AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) will be placed.
20. You are now ready to hit the GO button. So, what are you waiting for, hit the GO button now!
21. When the Quicktime settings dialog opens, confirm your SETTINGS, FILTER and SIZE settings under the VIDEO sections. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure to select the SOUND > SETTINGS button and change the SAMPLE RATE to 48kHz, 16 bit, Stereo.
22. After Lumiere HD creates your file(s), another window will open asking you to input your XML FILE NAME. Do this then click OK.
23. When you view your “REALTIMES” directory, you will notice that you now have matching files to your demultiplexed Video files. For instance, if your file was named, DESCSCENE1.m2t then then Realtime file you use for editing will be named DESCSCENE1.mov. The XML file will also appear in this destination directory.
24. Open Final Cut Pro. Let’s start by creating a new EASY SETUP preset. (You will only have to do this one time since no Easy Setup setup exists for AIC 24p in FCP. From then on, you will start FCP and simply go to Easy Setup and select this Project Preset before you import your XML skipping to item 29 below) Select AUDIO VIDEO SETTINGS. Under the SEQUENCE PRESETS tab, select APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC 720p30 from the scrolling menu. Note that we are going to create a preset for 23.98 from this one by changing the frame rate. All other settings are the same as the 720p30 preset.
25. Select the DUPLICATE button. In the SEQUENCE PRESET EDITOR change the NAME to “Apple Intermediate Codec 720p24” Go ahead and also change 30 to 24 in the DESCRIPTION text box.
26. Confirm the following settings in the GENERAL tab.
a. FRAME SIZE: 1280 X 720
b. ASPECT RATIO: HDTV 720p (16:9)
c. Make sure the ANAMORPHIC (16:9) box is UNCHECKED.
d. PIXEL ASPECT RATIO: Square
e. FIELD DOMINANCE: None
f. EDITING TIMEBASE: 23.98
g. TIMECODE RATE: Same as Editing Timebase
h. QUICKTIME VIDEO SETTINGS: Apple Intermediate Codec.
i. QUALITY: Desired setting based on your system capacity.
j. AUDIO SETTINGS: 48kHz, 16-bit and a Default Config:
27. Click OK, then select this new Preset once you return to the AUDIO/VIDEO SETTINGS dialog and then click CREATE EASY SETUP.
28. When the EASY SETUP dialog opens up create type in the NAME field, “HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 720p24” Enter a description and then click the CREATE button. Save in the CUSTOM SETTINGS pull-down menu.
29. Let’s start by closing all open Projects and stay in FCP. It’s always good to have a separate 720p project for all your JVC HD-100 sequences. Select EASY SETUP and select your new “HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 720p24” Of course you will still be in the basic program now with no Projects or Sequences, but your system is now configured to import the XML and the sequence presets will match perfectly. (Keep in mind we did all this to circumvent a bug in FCP5.0)
30. Now go to FILE > IMPORT > XML and select the XML file you created in Lumiere HD. Select CHOOSE. When the IMPORT XML window opens, select the CREATE NEW PROJECT in the DESTINATION pull down menu. Make sure your DEFAULT is APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC 720p24. Make sure all buttons are checked, including OVERRIDE WITH SETTINGS FROM XML. You should be able to simply check this override box when importing into any open FCP session and create a new project with the XML settings once the bug is fixed in FCP.
31. This will create a new project named after your XML, and a directory of all your real-time clips called “project name”_REALTIMES.
32. You will also notice that the clip names do not end with .mov but rather end with .m2v. These names actually access the AIC compressed .mov files as this naming convention in the browser is simply a means to locate the uncompressed transport streams later with Media Manager once you have finished editing.
33. Now you can start editing. When you drag a clip to the Timeline, the corresponding AIFF audio file will also travel with it and be locked to the Video. However, until Timecode sync is offered in LHD, you may need to re-sync via the Clapper slate as mentioned above. However, unless you are using very long takes, the sync is within fractions of a frame and isn’t perceptible.
34. Edit away but avoid doing things like color correction or final rendering of effects until you are done with the need to work in real-time.
35. Once you are finished editing, move to the next section.
GOING ONLINE
FINAL CUT PRO 5.0 > LUMIERE HD > JVC GY-HD100 720p
CONNECTING ORIGINAL MEDIA: ONLINE OPTION #1
1. Select sequence in your browser.
2. Choose FILE > MEDIA MANAGER.
3. Media Manager Settings:
a. Media: CREATE OFFLINE
b. Set Sequence to CUSTOM
c. 1280 X 720
d. Pixel Aspect Ratio: SQUARE
e. Anamorphic Box: UNCHECKED
f. Editing Timebase: 23.98
g. Timecode rate: SAME
h. Compressor: NONE or HDV720p30
i. Audio: 48kHz, 16 bit, stereo default
j. Project name: ONLINE 720p24
k. Go to ONLINE 720p24 tab in the browser. Double click on the sequence. (Note: the is currently an issue in LHD’s XML function in that it will not transfer the REEL NAME to the clip. You will have to select all your clips to add the reel name, otherwise the the clips will not be made “Offline”. You can always right-click on the clip an select the MAKE OFFLINE function. )
l. Save project name: ONLINE 720p24
m. Go to ONLINE 720p24 tab in the browser and double-click on the sequence. (clips should be offline if the reel name is added in the brower.)
n. Select all the clips in the browser in the ONLINE 720p24 sequence and choose RECONNECT MEDIA.
o. Point to the original digital negative clips that you demuxed in LHD. (ignore mismatch warning and all your clips should reconnect.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above routine for going online worked will with FCP4 but now there exists a BUG in FCP5 in the Media Manager function.
BUG REPORT: When doing an offline and choosing "based on clip names" (which are NAME.MOV), Media manage will add .MOV to the source name resulting in NAME.MOV.MOV.
This is happening in FCP5. It never happened in FCP4. We've used this freature extensively before for online/offline editing workflow. The advantage of using clip name vs. file name in the browser is that you can edit a proxy and always keep track of its online version by naming the clip the same name as the online version. Now that it ads .MOV to the name, it's unusable - or you have to reconnect by hand rather than using hte "connect the clips based on relative paths" option.
CONNECTING ORIGINAL MEDIA: ONLINE OPTION #2
STICKING WITH APPLE INTERMEDIAT CODEC.
For now, it is possible to stick with the Apple Intermediate codec when going online and back through LHD to the JVC HD-100. If so, choose NONE compression when exporting a Quicktime from FCP for use in LHD. However, the best case will be to use the above option #1 when Apple gets around to fixing their bug with Media Manager.
Otherwise, you will have to reconnect all your clips to the original m2v’s manually to avoid the codec altogether.
About the Apple Intermediate Codec
The Apple Intermediate Codec is a high-quality video codec that Apple developed for use as an alternative to native MPEG-2 HDV editing in an HDV workflow. Instead of editing the MPEG-2 HDV data directly, you can capture video from the tape source and then transcode it with the Apple Intermediate Codec to optimize the video data for playback performance and quality.
Working with the Apple Intermediate Codec is less processor-intensive than working with native HDV. Unlike MPEG-2 HDV, the Apple Intermediate Codec does not use temporal compression, so every frame can be decoded and displayed immediately without first decoding other frames. The drawback of this codec is that it requires three to four times as much bandwidth and hard drive storage space as MPEG-2 HDV.
Data rates for the Apple Intermediate Codec are variable; the data rates and storage needed may vary slightly, depending on the complexity of your footage. Images with a lot of detail have a higher data rate, while images with less detail have a lower data rate.
Format and Data rate
MPEG-2 HDV 720p30……….2.5 MB/sec. (equivalent to 9 GB/hr.)
MPEG-2 HDV 1080i60/50……….3.3 MB/sec. (equivalent to 12 GB/hr.)
Apple Intermediate Codec HDV 720p30………. approximately 7 MB/sec. (equivalent to approximately 25 GB/hr.)
Apple Intermediate Codec HDV 1080i50………. approximately 12 MB/sec. (equivalent to approximately 42 GB/hr.)
Apple Intermediate Codec HDV 1080i60………. approximately 14 MB/sec. (equivalent to approximately 49 GB/hr.)
Frame Aspect and Dimensions
MPEG-2 HDV and Apple Intermediate Codec feature a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio for all resolutions.
The 1080i format features 1080 lines (1440 pixels per line), interlaced, using non-square pixels to display a screen ratio of 16:9 (equivalent to 1920 x 1080). The 720p format features 720 lines (equivalent to 1280 x 720) with a progressive scan.
Color Recording Method
Both MPEG-2 HDV and Apple Intermediate Codec HDV record a 4:2:0 component (Y´CBCR) digital video signal. Each sample (pixel) has a resolution of 8 bits.
Note: This article was based on information from the HD and Broadcast Formats document (in Final Cut Pro 5, choose HD and Broadcast Formats from the Help menu).
EXPORTING QUICKTIME TO LUMIERE HD > JVC GY-HD100
1. Use the following settings when feeding a Quicktime file back to Lumiere HD if you plan on generating a 720p24 transport stream to the JVC GY-HD100 or BR-HD50.
2. Quicktime settings:
a. Resolution: 1280x720
b. Frame Rate: 23.976 (23.98)
c. Progressive
d. Audio on whole track.
e. Audio Settings: 48kHz, 16bit, stereo
f. Square Pixel.
3. Open LHD and select the TRANSPORT STREAM tab.
4. Select JVC 720p/24 (GY-HD100, BR-HD50) in the pulldown menu.
5. Select the HDMASTER tab and then choose your .MOV file.
6. Select the DESTINATION BUTTON under the TRANSPORT STREAM section.
7. Now return to the CAPTURE/PRINT tab in LHD and select the print to tape button. Choose your new edited TS (transport stream) file and Click OPEN and it will print to tape automatically.
Special Thanks to the following for their input to this document:
Frederic Haubrich
Neil Boone
Apple Docs: Article number 301599
Jerry