TOPIC:

Conduit2 at DVGarage

"Conduit is a nodal compositor that can stand on its own, or sit inside of Motion and Final Cut Pro, or After Effects and Photoshop. Nodal compositors provide a powerful flow-chart approach to compositing. Rather than thinking in layers, each node applies an operation. This approach is very popular in high-end facilities because it provides a very open ended way to create composites that are customized to each challenge."

It's interesting that for many years people were talking about Motion converging with Shake, which (apart from Motion stealing Shake's Optical Flow technology) never actually materialised. Remember the rumours about Phenomenon?!

Having Conduit, especially the new improved Conduit, inside Motion vastly enhances what you can do and now with the power to make more of that accessible inside FCPX as well, is a really encouraging development. Nodal compositing adds so much extra power over layer-based solutions, and the ability to really get in there and manipulate the RGBA channels at a basic level means that you can get really high quality keys that simply aren't possible with ready-made plug-ins (at least in my view).

It would be nice to think that Conduit can keep growing, and maybe even acquire a new lease of life from this - as Goestas would like! It's still a long way from being a Shake or a Nuke, especially in the roto department, where the whole Final Cut suite has always been badly lacking, but it's a start.

Motion picked up almost everything form Shake but the nodal workflow. 3D workspace is from Shake, and other things. Apple gave us behaviors rather than a nodal workflow.

Conduit isn't as high end as Shake, but it's fun to have around to work with, that's for sure. I remember when it first came out, it was really exciting.

For roto work, I've actually gotten a LOT done inside Motion. But if you want real power, you have to invest in Mocha, and that interface is still sort of clunky, but it's there when you need it.

I just noticed that Conduit now has its own category, thank you! I have been busy getting ready for a shoot in October by messing around with low-end stabilizer rigs, but I promise I will pick up on this thread again soon. I also acquired some of the alternative color grading tools for FCP X, so the plan is to create some simple Conduit templates for stuff that is specifically complementary to mLooks, Color Grading Central, Luca, DVShade, Finisher etc. rather than trying to duplicate.

btw. I'm most impressed (value for money) so far with the clever mLooks bundle, do you think it deserves a topic category as well? I have some burning questions about how to prep footage so that the presets act as intended. Actually, this applies to all of them, but since so far mLooks is the most customizable, I'd love a thread!

... until I have more time. (Should this go here or in the "free templates" thread, now I'm confused.

Anyway, here's a quick Chroma boost / blur / Luma sharpen FCP X effect based on the Conduit engine and functioning in YCbCr space (what Conduit quaintly calls YUV space). The controls should be self-explanatory, except for:

The presets at the top override the sliders, unless "all off" is selected. They are meant as examples for more quick presets you/I could add.

The luma punch applies a simple s-curve to the luma channel. Very effective, even/especially if you didn't already shoot in CineStyle mode.

The luma sharpen applies a basic 3x3 Matrix, the "standard" setting is most useful.

The edge effects below the effects radio button are a bit useless, it was a quick way for me to get some luma "blooming" happening, but I'm not happy with it. The bias goes from softening the highlights to emphasizing the dark edges (sort of cartoony look).

For an example where I use this template (subtly) together with mLooks "film grain" see here .

Have fun!

I have flirted with Conduit time and time again. It always intrigued me.

I even bought it when it cost money.

Does anybody know of decent tutorials Online?

I find it a little tricky to get my head around!

@ goestas

Are we neighbours?

I am in Rixdorf, Berlin!!!

Your linked video is called

Richardkiez Berlin