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Relinking avid mxf in media pool to original camera files
Here is the basics of my issue…
This is an old project, about 3-4 years old I’d say. The film was offlined in Media Composer and then sent to Resolve via AAF linking directly to the DNxHD transcoded media files in the avid media folder, so the media pool is filled with dnxhd mxf files with the usual avid names vaguely resembling the original camera files names.
this was a long time ago and the project was unfortunately archived wrong… the media files were deleted and only the Camera original (mostly ProRes quick-times and a few XDcam folders) were backed up and archived (along with the Avid project files and all the various other sources material like audio mix wavs and PT session, graphics, AFX files and renders, etc). The resolve project was archived, but only after the media files had been deleted, so all the media was offline of course, except for a few files that did not come from the avid media directory (a small minority of VFX shots).
Now forward to today, the films have to be translated, and I need to go into the resolve project and re-render some clips that had superimposed titles that need to be translated.
Is it possible to automatically relink the offline media files to the original camera files? I tried to select all then “relink selected” and point to where the camera originals are, but it did nothing. What I was able to do was load the camera files into the media pool (in a separate bin not to mix things up) and individually “force conform selected clip to timeline” which work, conforming at the appropriate time code, but is a real pain for a 1hr movie… even if I only do the clips that need re-rendering, that’s still about 100 clips…
is there any other way? Am I stuck doing it the manual labour way?
Pierre P. Blais
Multimedia performance and VFX artist
Pierre P. Blais Productions
Perception Films
https://www.vimeo.com/user1771129 -
3 Replies
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There are change-source-folder strategies with “loose naming” convention but it does depend on clip names, reel numbers and identical time code. Other than that, the Mark 1 Human Eyeball.
jPo
“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
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Most relinking problems will be a result of the of original transcodes not being done correctly to track the tape name/reel id.
If those transcodes are in correct, then your eye has more information as to what shot belongs where than Resolve does.
If you still have your avid offline, you can check to see what it is calling the tape names or Reel id’s. If it matches the original file name, then you should be able to relink. If it says something like MMSMOB.01 then you are in trouble. There are some incredibly time consuming work arounds I’ve done in the past from within Avid to re edit the raw clips into Avid based on the original clips duration, but you may find it easier to just manually relink in Resolve.
Glenn
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My advice if the loose parsing doesn’t work: hire an inexpensive assistant editor to sit down overnight and conform it all by hand. If you pay the assistant $20 an hour (which is not unreasonable), he’d get the whole thing done for $200. From where I sit, this is a miniscule price to pay for valuable color-correction room time.
Not organizing and archiving files for longterm data retrieval is a recipe for disaster. I’ve had to piece together projects that were 10-15 years old before, and it can be an absolute nightmare. I worked on a 20-year-old project where we took an existing feature and expanded it back out for a “director’s cut,” and we had to use outtakes, dupes, and all kinds of crap. Getting the sound together was worse. Now, imagine this kind of thing 50 years from now, with 100 different possible file formats…
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