Vegas to Davinci Resolve Workflow (How to properly do it)

Gal-rubinshtein wrote on 4/28/2020, 9:50 AM

Hey, my company is looking into moving to Vegas Pro, but I have a major concern I would like to ask about first.

My colorists are working on Davinci Resolve, so I would like to be able to edit on Vegas (as it is the best editing NLE in my opinion), and export an XML to colorgrade in Resolve. is this possible? right now everytime I try to export a rough cut from Vegas to Resolve, it doesnt load all the media due to the fact that Vegas doesnt read my R3D file's timecode, so Resolve can't match the files. The solution for this would be either manually inputting the timecode into each video file (which is very time consuming), or transcoding my media into a format of which vegas can read the timecode from (which is out of the question cus im loosing all my RAW data)

What I've been doing so far is editing my stuff in vegas, then render a "Vegas Intermediate 444" file (depending on your footage), Import to Resolve and use the "auto scene cut detector" to split my clip and color grade. this is fine I guess but it makes me unable to keep my RAW files.

Any idea on how to make it work?

Comments

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 4/28/2020, 11:04 AM

My usage is probably not much like what your company has in mind because I do almost everything in Vegas and pop over to Resolve only for color tweaking. Usually with the unedited clips as they come from the camera. Export the LUT from Resolve, bring it back to Vegas, and do all the other work there and lose nothing. Since I don't have the Studio version of Resolve and cannot pull h.265 stuff in, I might make an intermediate. Perhaps scene-stubs marked off in Vegas as regions and rendered with a batch script. But for my purposes frame grab jpegs pulled out of Vegas work well enough. In any case, I export 65-point LUTs from Resolve and that's the only thing I bring back into Vegas.

Gal-rubinshtein wrote on 4/28/2020, 11:25 AM

My usage is probably not much like what your company has in mind because I do almost everything in Vegas and pop over to Resolve only for color tweaking. Usually with the unedited clips as they come from the camera. Export the LUT from Resolve, bring it back to Vegas, and do all the other work there and lose nothing. Since I don't have the Studio version of Resolve and cannot pull h.265 stuff in, I might make an intermediate. Perhaps scene-stubs marked off in Vegas as regions and rendered with a batch script. But for my purposes frame grab jpegs pulled out of Vegas work well enough. In any case, I export 65-point LUTs from Resolve and that's the only thing I bring back into Vegas.

Hey Howard, thanks for the reply.

I can see a few downsides in this workflow, but sure, it works :)

Lemme ask you though, does the LUT you export from Resolve look the same on Vegas?

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 4/28/2020, 12:09 PM

It does on the preview screens, as long as the video level ranges match... I use the SeMW extensions on the Vegas preview screen to quickly bounce in and out of studio and pc level ranges. Z-cam camera log-luts I've been working with lately work the same on both too. I've never rendered out of Resolve, however, so I don't know anything about that.

Musicvid wrote on 4/28/2020, 12:45 PM

See if this recent advice from @Kinvermark helps with your timecode import issue:

Kinvermark wrote on 4/25/2020, 4:22 PM

I use a FCP7 xml to send to Resolve, WITHOUT COPYING media. The xml passes the file path and Resolve finds the media - no problem.

FWIW, I also prefer cutting in Vegas, and it is more than just familiarity with the software. Vegas is more agile and it is easier to get a precise pacing of cuts due to the way it handles overlaps and transitions. It is quite different from other NLE's in this way.

@Gal-rubinshtein

adis-a3097 wrote on 4/28/2020, 2:45 PM

@Gal-rubinshtein

Out of curiosity, did you try coloring your R3Ds in Vegas?

Kinvermark wrote on 4/28/2020, 3:15 PM

or transcoding my media into a format of which vegas can read the timecode from (which is out of the question cus im loosing all my RAW data)

 

@Gal-rubinshtein

That is the best way to go. You won't lose your RAW, because you will re-conform your imported XML timeline In Resolve back to the RED RAW files for finishing (colour work, final render, etc.)

I would suggest rendering 8 bit Grass Valley avi files as proxies from Resolve. Vegas will read the TC and edit very smoothly. (Plus DR rips through these super quick.)

NOTE: FCP7 XML only supports simple cuts and dissolve transitions (no end fades), plus cropping and pan/zoom keyframes. No FX, etc. - but it can be a nice workflow!

Let us know how you make out. :)

 

(PS Please test my assumptions, as I don't work with RED footage. But I see no reason why this won't work.)

 

 

 

Gal-rubinshtein wrote on 4/28/2020, 3:17 PM

@Musicvid

 

@Kinvermark (Might help you)

Thank you for your reply!

I tried exporting an XML without including the media, same problem :(

BUT, a method that surprisingly worked, was to export an AAF, open it in Premiere, and then export an FCP XML from Premiere and import to Resolve

This time there were no errors and the timeline from Vegas is now showing up perfectly on Resolve.

I hope this post helps some Vegas editors out there.

Thank you all for your help.

Musicvid wrote on 4/28/2020, 3:26 PM

Brilliant work, and I hope you give yourself the Solution on this one (but don't make a habit of it).

Kinvermark wrote on 4/28/2020, 4:10 PM

Glad you got it working!

Do check, though, that the clips aren't moving within the events (i.e. shifting from the actual edited position according to timecode) - it is a bit suspicious that Vegas can't read your TC, but somehow it gets through AAF (maybe AAF doesn't need TC, I don't know.)

 

Kinvermark wrote on 4/28/2020, 4:13 PM

BTW, I don't normally make proxies or export the media when Vegas creates the XML. It just works. So the workflow is somewhat dependent upon the source media type.