Ask & Answer Smoke 2013 Questions

[BKM]

I was one of the demo artist at NAB and I have had my hands on the Smoke 2013 for about a month.
There is only so much you can gleam from videos and blogs. So if you want any first hand info on features shown at NAB or my impressions, please feel free to ask.

[Anonymous]

I run the post-production department of a small content provider. We are in the middle transitioning from FCP 7 to FCP X. So far I am very happy with X for our workflow (and I am not here to fight about FCP X). My questions have to do with importing FCP X XML to Smoke.

1. We do a lot of Multicam work. Will Multicam timelines transfer to Smoke? If so will the media be flattened or will I some how retain the ability to switch cameras in the Smoke timeline?

2. I understand that nodes can be added to source clips which retain that information when used in the timeline. Can I import a multicam timeline from FCP X, access and grade and color correct a source clip (which has been cut into hundreds of clips in the timeline), and then have all of the timeline clips retain the color correct (or any other filter, mask, or transform) that has been performed on the source clip?

3. Does the audio environment in smoke translate FCP X Roles into tracks? Really any information about how audio travels from one application to the other would be helpful.

We are coming from a situation with FCP 7, where we did very little with graphics and effect in After Effects. Frankly, budgets are tight (as are deadlines) so we have mainly been limited by time constraints. Most of what we have done in the past has been done directly in FCP 7 (sometimes round tripping to Motion, which is a very limited program). I'm hoping that the FCP X to Smoke on Mac pipeline will allow us to up the production value of the content we produce.

[yunsiknoh]

I see. I guess I will wait for the beta release.
I hope Smoke 2013 works with OSX 10.6.7.

Thank you.

[Grant.Kay]

Hi BaebleMusicPost,

You are more than welcome to ask questions here about Smoke 2013 🙂 As far as we're concerned we would like Smoke to interface with whatever we can including FCPX.

I did some testing and Smoke 2013 can indeed conform an XML from FCPX. Granted I did not use the multi-cam features but I did build an edit and bought it into Smoke.

From what I saw in the Alpha build, Smoke rebuilds a timeline and it does split out the audio tracks into proper audio channels. Due to the nature of the FCPX storyline, the timeline in Smoke doesn't look pretty but everything appears to be there.

In FCP 7.0, we would have to commit the multi-cam clip down before importing it into Smoke. When conforming in Smoke, the timeline would link back to all the original sources and you could still refine the edit and effectively finish it.

Depending on what is supported for FCPX conforming in the final release is still to be determined but I would encourage you to sign up for the Pre-Release Trial in June and start testing the workflow to see if it fits.

Hope this information helps and welcome to the AREA.

Regards
Grant

[summerfun1984_1]

Will there be an option of changing the R3D settings (e.g. to User and then REDLog Film) without having Smoke to put in some default values for gamma, iso, etc? Cause right now, when you change the camera settings to user settings, all the original data is gone (like iso etc). Can’t the camera settings just stay and be editable?

Thanks!!

[zoigevich]

Regarding multicam suport i think it will depend on future implementations of XMLX, as at this point xml doesn't suport information on multicam comps and there is no suport for precomps as well. So even if you adjust sync in master clip they are become subsequences and those won't pe translated. There fore in order to bring your project in to smoke make sure to brake all subseqs apart. It's just this version of xml work.

[zoigevich]

Again regarding desktop. One of the key features to me in smoke is desktop it self. The ability to render clips for comps direct to the smoke's desktop, without reimporting back, is huge time saver.
how 2013 deal with that as there is no desktop tools anymore?

[BKM]

You won't need to render clips through desktop tools as much since you can do most of that work in the node based compositor of ConnectFX. There are some desktop tools that need to be there, and the developers are aware of it.

You can also ass effects directly to a source clip, without putting it into a timeline.

[rjino4732]

Here's another hair brained idea. Wouldn't it be cool if Autodesk offered an upgrade path from Smoke on Mac particularly to users who made the initial investment before 2013? Upgrade to what i'm not sure but for those who are not sympathetic to the timeline-centric direction could an option be made available?

Just thinking out loud.

[Anonymous]

Here's another hair brained idea. Wouldn't it be cool if Autodesk offered an upgrade path from Smoke on Mac particularly to users who made the initial investment before 2013? Upgrade to what i'm not sure but for those who are not sympathetic to the timeline-centric direction could an option be made available?

Just thinking out loud.

there is an upgrade path: buy FLAME 😉

a sidegrade option would be cool.

[rjino4732]

I guess I would define upgrade by saying: some token transfer of current investment level into higher grade option.

This of course is meant partially in jest; however it would not be unprecedented.

[Anonymous]

Hi All

So what's going to be the deal with burn licenses? Will you still be limited to one per smoke , I suppose at that price you could just buy smokes for the burn license.

With the obvious decrease in computing power we are facing with the apparent demise of MacPro's is there any reason we can't pimp out a Hackintosh with the correct cards/drivers ?

Is there anyone running multiple Smac's off a shared/centralised storage ? Can you forsee any problems with the 2013 version and this arrangement?

I know the beta is about to start and will Autodesk be open to suggestions, such as the need for projectors in action or the addition of particles ? Then it truly would be a one stop package... well at least for us

[hansvons]

With the obvious decrease in computing power we are facing with the apparent demise of MacPro's is there any reason we can't pimp out a Hackintosh with the correct cards/drivers ?

I can see only am increase of computing power when looking at the development of the MacPro. No one at Apple is saying that they will abandon the MacPro. It's all geekery and useless rumors.

If you want to build a hackintosh, no one is stopping you. But you won't get a comment or even an approval by Autodesk.

Hans