DCP through FCPX/Compressor

Hey guys,

Sam here… some of you guys know about this, and some of you don’t, but you can actually make and view your own DCP’s using Compressor (or in FCPX), and it’s ridiculously easy.

We demoed this for folks who visited the FCPWORKS suite at NAB, and I even had one of my We Make Movies shorts (Agnes) screen at the NAB StudioXperience 4k Filmmakers Showcase. The only reason I was able to get them what they needed (a 4k DCP) was because of the Wraptor Plugin/DCP Player combo. Given my timeline and how quickly I needed to turn it around, I just wouldn’t have bothered with the other solutions due to their complexity and inability to easily check/preview the DCP on my Mac. Honestly, the workflow for this is so easy, I kind of felt like I was cheating or something. In my mind, DCP creation was supposed to be hard. That’s no longer the case. Thanks Quvis.

Anyway, in order to make a DCP through Quvis Wraptor in Compressor, here’s what you need to do:

• Buy the Wraptor 3.1 for Apple Compressor ($699)… you can also try the watermarked version for free.
• Buy the DCP Player ($699 to own) or rent it ($60 for 30 days, $360 for the year)
• Download and install the plugin in Compressor
• Export a master file of your movie (Prores XQ, 4444, or HQ are your best bets), with your audio channels laid out according to your DCP requirements
• Drag the file into compressor
• Apply the Wraptor plugin, configure for resolution (2k or 4k), frame rate, and number of audio channels
• Set your destination
• Export
• Check it using the DCP Player Software
• Bring it to the theater or upload to a server

You can also set up a custom Compressor setting that you can use right in FCPX from your timeline.

When it’s done exporting, you’ll have a DCP folder that you can preview right on your Mac using the DCP Player software. It’s going to automatically interpret the color space of your DCP file to display on your Mac pretty much the way you’ll see it in the theater.

In terms of quality, there’s no difference between what we were able to see on the Quvis DCP in the theater vs. the very same file encoded by the Studio’s post house.

On a new Mac Pro, with the recent Quvis 3.1 upgrade, you should see near real time encoding for 2k DCP’s (it will take longer for 4k).

The main difference between what Quvis does vs. the free Open DCP software is the ease of use, render time, and higher quality of the signal to noise ratio in the DCP’s you’re generating. Bottom line is that if you find yourself needing to deliver to DCP regularly, the Wraptor/DCP player gives you the best bang for your buck.

One small thing to note… encrypted DCP’s are not supported yet… so if you find that you need that, you’ll need to get additional 3rd party software to encrypt the DCP.

Anyway, for you FCPWORKS customers out there, if you find yourself running into issues, hit us up at workflow@fcpworks.com and we’ll help you out.

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