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Lizzie_Jo_Websites__11
Inspiring
July 1, 2017
Answered

The appropriate way to export a file from SpeedGrade CC 2015...?

  • July 1, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 3450 views

The source footage I am working with is a .MOV format. Recorded in raw from my Nikon D3400. After I load the files into Speedgrade and finish editing and color grading, I get completely lost at the appropriate way to export the color graded files out of Speedgrade for use in Premiere Pro.

Whenever I save the file it takes around 2 hours and exports at file that is 250GB! That is absolutely enormous and I don't think I am doing this right? I sure hope not. I have been using Premiere Pro for a long time, but I have not really touched Speedgrade before, so I am a beginner with this program.

The other thing is that once it is all finished, not of my media players can actually play back the file. What is it that I am doing wrong. Obviously the default settings in Speedgrade do not work for what my intention is. I just wanted to export it back out as the same kind of file for use in Premiere Pro CC.

If someone could help me solve this problem I would really appreciate it.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Greg Popp

I continue to use and love SpeedGrade for my projects, and I'm able to use SpeedGrade on my 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina display - even with 4K footage and an external "cinema display".  It's all about the workflow, and here's what I recommend.

Cut first.  Don't try to use SpeedGrade as a transcoding tool.  Depending on your system, either cut your native MOV files directly in Premiere Pro, or do as I do with both my Phantom 4 4K files and Canon 1D-C Motion Jpeg files and transcode (using Media Encoder or MPEG Streamclip) to an edit friendly codec - I use ProRes 422 at full 4K resolution.

Once your cut is locked, you export an EDL and import that into SpeedGrade, relinking your ProRes files in SpeedGrade.  Coloring and grading then is INCREDIBLE and blows Lumetri away in my opinion.  Depending on the project, you can export a 422 ProRes master or a DPX file.  Keep in mind you don't have to export the entire project or all the Video tracks at once.  You can work on several EDL exports and REBUILD the master in Premiere in higher video tracks right on top of the original edit - checking everything as you go by toggling the tracks on and off.  A final "ProRes" export from Premiere is the final step - and I then use Apple Compressor to make smaller files for Vimeo, YouTube, etc. 

Happy to help further, or I recommend the excellent book Adobe SpeedGrade - Getting Started by Alexis Van Hurkman.  Learned everything I needed from that excellent resource.

Cheers.

3 replies

G
Greg PoppCorrect answer
Inspiring
July 4, 2017

I continue to use and love SpeedGrade for my projects, and I'm able to use SpeedGrade on my 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina display - even with 4K footage and an external "cinema display".  It's all about the workflow, and here's what I recommend.

Cut first.  Don't try to use SpeedGrade as a transcoding tool.  Depending on your system, either cut your native MOV files directly in Premiere Pro, or do as I do with both my Phantom 4 4K files and Canon 1D-C Motion Jpeg files and transcode (using Media Encoder or MPEG Streamclip) to an edit friendly codec - I use ProRes 422 at full 4K resolution.

Once your cut is locked, you export an EDL and import that into SpeedGrade, relinking your ProRes files in SpeedGrade.  Coloring and grading then is INCREDIBLE and blows Lumetri away in my opinion.  Depending on the project, you can export a 422 ProRes master or a DPX file.  Keep in mind you don't have to export the entire project or all the Video tracks at once.  You can work on several EDL exports and REBUILD the master in Premiere in higher video tracks right on top of the original edit - checking everything as you go by toggling the tracks on and off.  A final "ProRes" export from Premiere is the final step - and I then use Apple Compressor to make smaller files for Vimeo, YouTube, etc. 

Happy to help further, or I recommend the excellent book Adobe SpeedGrade - Getting Started by Alexis Van Hurkman.  Learned everything I needed from that excellent resource.

Cheers.

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Legend
July 4, 2017

Great comments, and I second about the Hurkman book!

Neil

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
L
Lizzie_Jo_Websites__11Author
Inspiring
July 5, 2017

Thank you for the comments! I will go through everything that the two of you listed, and then get back to you. Hopefully one of these options will wind up being my solution.

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    July 2, 2017

    For a second option ... if your projects are too big & involved, especially ... you might want to consider Patrick's little PrPro project file converter application, discussed in this thread ...

    Update: My little Speedgrade/Premiere Project Converter still works with 2017

    Shortly after Adobe de-linked PrPro & Sg (which was sweet ... ah well ... ) a Mac user posted a manual 'hack' of a .prproj PrPro project file, where you would change one character, re-save, and then you could open that file in SpeedGrade as if in Direct Link mode. Save your work in Sg, then re-hack the file, change the one character back, and open in PrPro just fine. Continue working.

    I worked out how to do it in a PC, and posted that ... then fellow user Patrick created his nifty little app for PC that does the above automatically. It's only PC I think, and you can't work with AE comps on a sequence, those have to be rendered out as full media files from AE and then used to replace the comp on any sequence with AE comps.

    Other than that, it takes just a few seconds, and then you don't have to worry about exporting from Sg.

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    L
    Lizzie_Jo_Websites__11Author
    Inspiring
    July 3, 2017

    Yes, I tried making my own preset, and found one for .MOV, and yet I got the same result. The file was 250GB and would not open in any media player. QuickTime was installed, that was the format used , and before importing the files into speedgrade , everything was working great.

    Is exporting files out of speedgrade not something you would usually do? I do not understand why this is so difficult for me.

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    July 3, 2017

    I won't be really at the studio to make a good screen-grab or two until Wednesday or Thursday, but would be interested if you could post a screen-grab of the settings in your options box. Again, I prefer using Cineform for holding the quality better than an mov file, but still ... I'd like to look at your settings.

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    July 2, 2017

    I highly recommend going into the SpeedGrade "Help" file in the Wrench icon, and getting to the manual. The export settings for SpeedGrade date from the days before Adobe when it was Iridas ... that's back a ways! And they don't seem particularly obvious any more.

    I can't run Sg on my laptop (and I'm at home at this time) ... but when exporting, I always needed to create my own preset in Sg. So I'd change things as needed for a short export to test, check the output, go back and test with altered settings, until I got what I wanted.

    I did find that normally I wanted to export in Cineform YUV, I think it was.

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
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