Global Decode Quality Question - Just Making Sure

[tangierc]

Hey folks. Perhaps I am overthinking something and briefly confused, but it can't hurt to ask to be absolutely sure. Does the global decode quality setting in the inspector for a clip apply to wherever that clip exists or for all BRAW Toolbox created clips in the open library? I ask because I noticed that when I went into the inspector and selected Global settings, this was set to Force Full Decode Quality. At the same time my clip decode quality shown in the parameter metadata just below the global setting was set to eighth. I just want to insure that the images I see and export are full quality. I also opened that workflow extension to make sure it was set to Force Full Decode Quality.

[latenitefilms]

If you have Force Full Decode Quality ticked, then this basically tells the BRAW Toolbox renderer to render EVERYTHING at Full Decode Quality across the board. If this is ticked EVERYTHING will be rendered at Full Decode Quality.

[latenitefilms]

Everything that's already rendered should just be playing back the ProRes files on disk, so they should be fast anyway?

You can delete all your render files via the File > Delete Generated Library Files... buttons:

[MathewWelsh]

Thanks very much, I'll give this a try in the morning. Much appreciated!

[MathewWelsh]

no luck.
I turned off background render in my settings.

I deleted generated clips, then I restarted FCP. Then I went into a number of clips to look at the Global Settings. When I opened the BRAW tools in the inspector, it showed that Force Quarter Decode Quality was checked, but on all clips, the parameters below show that it's still on Automatic HD. See screenshot.

Is there still something else I'm not doing correctly?

[latenitefilms]

Pressing the "Force" tickboxes doesn't actually change the Decode Quality dropdown in the Final Cut Pro Inspector (as you may have different clips with different decode qualities) - it just affects how we render things, so you should see a visible difference in the Viewer. Make sure you have your Viewer in "Best Quality" mode. How dramatic the changes look really depends on the resolution of your original BRAW footage, and what your timeline resolution is - ie 8K clips in a HD timeline will look different than 8K clips in an 8K timeline, etc. "Automatic (HD)", tries to determine the optimal decode quality for your BRAW footage for HD output.

[MathewWelsh]

Okay, bear with me for a clarifying question: I'm trying to understand the difference between working with proxies (using normal prores footage in a normal FCP workflow) and using Decode Quality with BRAW through your Toolbox.

Are you saying that the Global setting just affects exports and renders?

So if I'm seeing chugging in the system, as FCP slugs through 6K footage as I play my timeline in the viewer, this is because the footage is still 6K. It's ONLY when I go to export that it will render and export at 1/4 size (1/4 of 6K)?

Here's a question: Now that I've deleted the generated files, and turned off the background render, and set the global settings to Force Quarter Decode, should I turn back on the background render, so that as FCP renders while I work, it's rendering in 1/4 size, and then as I work the edit, FCP will always be referencing those new 1/4 size files, and it will have an easier time wtih playback, thus SORT OF emulating the experience of working with proxies?

Have I got that right?

[tangierc]

Thanks Chris for clarifying. Had a bit of a panic as I have been delivering files to the color team, but have had Force Full Decode Quality on for a while. In my mind perhaps I was thinking that by changing the global setting, the metadata setting would dynamically update to match the global. Since I saw something different, it gave me pause to question what was actually happening. P.S. Spoke about you on RichardTaylor TVs Final Cut Pro 12th celebration recently. Looking forward to what you come up with for Sonoma and BRAW with the new media framework.

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On Jun 28, 2023, at 4:54 PM, Chris Hocking ***@***.***> wrote: If you have Force Full Decode Quality ticked, then this basically tells the BRAW Toolbox renderer to render EVERYTHING at Full Decode Quality across the board. If this is ticked EVERYTHING will be rendered at Full Decode Quality. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#143 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACJCKTSSNK6C2PTJKKTG24TXNS72ZANCNFSM6AAAAAAZXZGMP4>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[latenitefilms]

Unfortunately I've been able to get zero information out of Apple about the new MediaExtension Framework. It requires a special entitlement, but there's zero information on how to get the entitlement: