Force relink

[Jeremy Garchow]

I do all relinking in Pr or Resolve depending on what I need out of the timeline.

I hope this gets better in X, too.

[Bill Davis]

It’s just my opinion, but Zi’ve always questioned whether the same kind of rekindling is *possible* in X.

It’s based on range descriptions stored in a database. What does the program do if the end address if the clip is altered by something like a signal timing shift? My clip THINKS it should have 10,000 audio samples, but the idiot driving it forced it to re-link to a copy of the same footage – but sampled at 44khz rather the original 48khz (just a maybe plausible imagining)- so there’s content that’s just not there. How does the database manage storing pointers to samples or frames that are just not there?

Database systems like CERTAINTY. This address will ALWAYS be this address.

I know this description is woefully imprecise and probably technically incorrect, but the IDEA that the pipe you cut for the project that needs to be 18 inches is suddenly 17 – and the system has to accommodate varying pipe lengths everywhere – well that’s a mess, isn’t it?

Just musing aloud.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Oliver Peters]

All NLEs are databases. If your media is stored externally, the internal pointers merely direct the software to that external file. There’s no technical reason this couldn’t be done, as long as the user accepts possible errors. Obviously it gets down to whether Apple wants to add such flexiblity, given the fact that they’d get the blame for a lot of user errors.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Scott Witthaus]

[Oliver Peters] “It would really, really, really be nice if a “force relink” feature were added so that mismatched media files could be relinked”

Oliver –

Can you explain this a bit more? How does this situation present itself where you need to “force” the program? It’s been too long since Avid was in my market for me to remember what Media Composer did or didn’t do!

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Michael Hancock]

I find myself wishing for a Force Relink when I’m updating stock footage and stock music. I download the comp files, which are watermarked, then after the edit is locked and the music/footage is purchased I need to update my sequence with the unwatermarked version.

In FCPX, if there’s even a 1 frame difference, it won’t relink, and sometimes it just flat out refuses to link even if the files are identical in length/name. At that point there’s no way to force it to relink, which means I spend a lot of time recutting my music/video. Avid’s batch import worked the same way – if there is any difference in file length, it refuses to batch import, which is a real nuisance.

Premiere, on the other hand, has a Replace Footage option where you can force it to relink to any other file, and if the new file is longer it doesn’t matter. If it’s shorter it doesn’t matter. It will still relink, and gives you a visual indication in the timeline that media that used to be there no longer is (hashmarks on the clip – it’s kind of clever).

—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor

[Simon Ubsdell]

This one feature is why we can’t migrate our business to FCP X.

For the vast majority of the projects we work on, we need the ability to relink “temp media” to “finished masters” and with FCP X – just as with Media Composer – this is a non-starter. As you say, Premiere obviously handles this just fine with the Replace Footage option.

I realise that we have a niche requirement in this regard but it’s a requirement that’s fundamental to how we run our editing business.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo-uk.com

[Scott Witthaus]

[Michael Hancock] “Premiere, on the other hand, has a Replace Footage option where you can force it to relink to any other file, and if the new file is longer it doesn’t matter. If it’s shorter it doesn’t matter.”

Sounds handy, but will this also affect the in point you had on the temp image versus what you have on the final footage? Meaning, do you have to go back and check every force relink to be sure it’s the in and out you wanted?

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Oliver Peters]

[Scott Witthaus] “Oliver – Can you explain this a bit more?”

Michael and Simon pretty much answered it. I’ve run into problems with FCPXML roundtrips. A clip will be there, but black and no “missing clip” icon. I realize this is a problem with the FCPXML, but if you attempt to relink you get all sorts of mismatch errors that cannot be overcome. In all roundtrips using a mix of software, FCP 7 was far easier to work with than FCPX.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Scott Witthaus]

[Oliver Peters] ” In all roundtrips using a mix of software, FCP 7 was far easier to work with than FCPX.
“

A good reason to limit as much as possible….

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Oliver Peters] ” I realize this is a problem with the FCPXML”

At least in the case I helped you on, it was a problem with the FCPXML that Resolve wrote, not with the overall FCPX structure.

If we added the proper data, the FCPXML worked just fine.

I think that the little I know how to tinker with FCPXML, it seems very viable and fairly robust system for such a ‘new’ interchange format.

Bill, I have a longer answer for you, but I have to find the time to write it.