Avid AAF to Resolve Relink MXF to R3D

[Mike Most]

There are a number of threads here about this, but I’ll mention it one more time..

When you import clips into the Media Pool, you must select a method for identifying tape names. This is done in the Configuration pane called “Timeline Conform Options.” You have to enable the “assist using reel numbers from the” checkbox. In the case of R3D files, using “embedding in source clip file” should work. This setting controls what reel name is assigned to the clip when it’s put into the Media Pool. If you don’t select one of the options, there is no tape name assigned. That’s why you can’t relink. You need to make Resolve assign tape names that match those you had in Avid. You should read the Resolve manual section that describes this for a better understanding of this.

[Barry Liu]

I already did that in Resolve for it to show the Reel names.

The problem is Resolve isn’t showing these clips as offline, but as black clips instead. Like Slugs in FCP.

[Barry Liu]

Weird thing is only the clips that were .mxf files in the timeline are black. The quicktime .movs show as offline and can be reconnected with DPX properly named in the reel column.

Why only the .mxf show as black clips instead of offline? They’re the most important to conform.

[Jamie Allan]

I would suggest trying the following (Working under the assumption your offline and online clips have the same naming conventions)

New Project

Conform page

Load AAF with following settings:

Import clips to media pool automatically
Set project automatically
Ignore clip filename extensions

Hit go and navigate to the R3D media parent folder (make sure the MXF media isnt anywhere near it)

That should do the trick

Jamie Allan
Post Production Consultant
DaVinci Specialist (Linux/Mac)
Jamie@Jigsaw24.com

Jigsaw Systems Ltd. – IT & Broadcast specialists for the UK
https://www.jigsaw24.com
https://www.jigsawbroadcast.com

[Andi Winter]

have you tried at import of the aaf the option “ignore file extension”?

then it ignores the mxf ending and if you have the right tape name assigned in the media pool it should reconform correctly…

in the conform tab, also look at the file list to check if the tape names are ok!

hope that helps.

[Barry Liu]

I tried those settings earlier in the day. Still didnt fix it.

However, after hours of testing, it turns out it was because if I did not have the mxf files in Avid when I made the AAF, the clips will show up as black instead of Offline when the AAF is loaded in Resolve.

When I got the MXFs into my Avid Mediafiles folder and made an AAF, it showed up as offline clips instead of black if I did not choose “Automatically import clips”. Which is what is needed since I can add the R3D files into the media pool to conform the show.

This is the same with XMLs as well! I made an XML from an FCP project that I did not have the offline quicktime files for. And when I imported that XML into Resolve, it showed as black clips instead of offline.

Funny thing is if I edit the XML and add the to it for each clip, even if the line of text was copied and pasted to a file that doesnt exist, I can then load that XML to Resolve and it will show the clips as offline with the proper reel name and timecode for me to link to the R3D files. Not black clips anymore, yay!

Hope Resolve addresses this issue. Itd be ideal for us just to receive a bin from a client and make our own AAFs or XMLs. There is no reason for Resolve to not show the clips as offline when I do not have the source clips to begin with.

[Mike Most]

Hmmm. Did you try decomposing prior to making the AAF without the source clips? That might re-establish needed metadata on a per-clip basis so that the AAF can properly identify its sources.

[Barry Liu]

Just gave that a try.

Did not work 🙁

[Andi Winter]

very strange. never had that issue.

last time someone was sending me an avid project, i opened it up
and had all files offline of course. i made an aaf and reconformed
it with the r3d in davinci.

[Mike Most]

Interesting. I actually had a very similar problem about two weeks ago, where I was handed a project without the original MXF media and an AAF that they had generated. Unfortunately, they had generated it without having the “use AAF edit protocol” selected (as I had told them to do, but they conveniently ignored what I told them) and when trying to do a roundtrip back to Avid, most of the shots had to be slipped for proper sync. So as an experiment I tried making a new AAF and, like you, it wasn’t able to relink to any new source clips.

My guess is that this is an Avid issue – either a problem or a condition, depends on how you look at it. When the AAF is created, it’s probably using metadata that is not available unless the media is on line. AAF’s use information like frame offsets that may not be available if the media isn’t. So although the AAF doesn’t require any of the source media when relinking to alternative source media (like the original camera files), creating it does require information that is not available when source media is not present and linked. Remember that AAF is a file format that includes the option of embedded media, so it’s a rich container that might require information that comes directly from the media at creation time. That’s my guess, anyway. So my conclusion is that this is not really a DaVinci problem, it’s simply a condition of how AAF’s are generated.