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AAF workflow update
Hello,
I have done a few jobs now coming from aaf avid with mixed results. I want to know with the latest version of resolve (9.1.1) what will and wont come thru in an aaf compared to say an xml from fcp7 – sizing, constant speed changes, dissolves, etc.
For the most part I have had no problems but on my last Avid aaf job (which was a RED job) there were constant speed changes on all of the clips but my renders did not have them. I used offline reference quicktime to make sure the framing/sizing and everything matched up for the R3D’s I was reconnecting to in order to grade with – which it did, and then i was asked to render out 5k tiff sequences for each clip and the AE artist said the speed changes were not in my renders so they had to re-apply those constant speed changes in AE to make each clip exactly :15 seconds as it was in Avid using the offline version of the r3d media which they edited with..i imagine mxf or whatever offline version of the media.
I am curious why that happened and of course also what to tell Avid editors to do to there timelines in order to properly prep for an aaf resolve roundtrip workflow. I would imagine its best to have them remove everything and give enough handles if dissolves or speed changes are to be re-applied to my renders?
My next job in a few days will be from avid using aaf and will have a mixed of RED & 5D so i just want to make sure to tell the editor exactly the right way to prep this timeline and make an aaf – especially in that I don’t have Avid and cant fix anything. Should I maybe also have them make an edl in case there is an issue with the aaf? This brings up a question for me which is for example if its fcp7 xml i usually import to fcp first just to check to see if everything is cool – maybe i’ll remove extra empty video tracks above or whatever but can you do this with aaf’s if you have avid media composer on your system – that is, clean up and check aaf’s created on another system?
Thanks
Andrew -
3 Replies
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[andrew smith] “can you do this with aaf’s if you have avid media composer on your system – that is, clean up and check aaf’s created on another system?”
Yes, of course. Sometimes a big advantage to get rid of text generators, graphics, and so on that can corrupt the aaf round trip. Two years ago, a series started each episode with a text disclaimer, which apparently convinced the edit system on the round trip that the whole show was a text generator and so we’d get 44 minutes of black back in Media Composer. Deleting that first generator fixed the problem, and very often I really don’t want the bars, slate, countdown…. that sort of thing. Also really helps to have a chase Quicktime if you are in doubt about picture content — sizing, speed changes, flops, and so on. Or whether the editor has ‘trowelled on’ a color filter (you don’t see in Resolve) that is going to screw up the grade on the return trip….
jPo
“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
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On the issue of speed changes. If the Avid editor just leaves the speed changes (Timewarps in Avid speak) on the clips, Resolve will not burn the speed effects into the material it renders. And as an editor I say that is generally good. Mainly because Resolve’speed changes are incredibly basic compared to the options available inside Avid. (Fluidmotion on a ramped speed effect?) So what you see is by design and rightly so. If the editor really does not want to do any work on the material you are color correcting after you are done, then I can say they should bake those effects that Resolve will not understand into those clips and cut them into the sequence / AAF they send to you. Timewarps being one of the most obvious.
As an editor I look at the AAF workflow as a great way to have a colorist do what they do best to individual clips while giving ME the editor the ability to tweak / refine the cut once they are done. I do not look at Resolve as a finishing tool. It is to limited.
Ready to be flamed ….
Jef
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Ok great thank you for the info guys!
Jef I see the problem with baking out speed effects when its R3d and 5D like that last aaf job – otherwise maybe that is best if speed effects are included in a sequence.
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