RED RAW proxy workflow

REDCODE RAW records to .R3D files, usually split across the .RDC and .RDM folder structure the camera writes, and the data adds up fast. A full day on a RED Komodo or V-Raptor at 6K or 8K is routinely 1 to 2 TB, and because R3D is wavelet compressed RAW it also leans on the GPU to debayer on playback. Keeping several shoots on one SSD is not realistic, and scrubbing R3D directly on a laptop drops frames even before you add effects.

You do not need the R3D on the local disk to cut, though. You need a light proxy to build the edit, and the R3D only at the finish, where the colourist wants the real RAW for the debayer and grade.

Sanbila uploads the R3D to cloud storage on import, with an automatic backup copy, keeping the whole RAW container intact and never transcoding the original. The proxy is encoded on the Sanbila cloud, H.264 or ProRes Proxy at the resolution you pick, so your GPU is not busy debayering while you cut, and only that light proxy sits on your SSD.

You edit on the proxy, and at the finish Smart Relink reads your timeline, from an FCPXML, Premiere XML, EDL or AAF, and streams only the R3D clips you actually used back from the cloud over a virtual drive. DaVinci Resolve, which colourists usually grade RED in, then debayers the real R3D with its RED settings, IPP2 and all, so the grade is on true RAW, not a proxy. A feature documentary with terabytes of RED no longer needs a 10 TB local array; the originals live in the cloud and stream the handful of clips the cut touches.