[Michael Rooney]

[Michael Gissing] “In other areas standards have been agreed to like AAF, OMF AES-31, EDL etc”

Sure there are clearly defined standards for AES-31 and even for some EDL ‘flavours’ but that doesn’t mean that everyone fully supports or adheres to those standards and as far as AAF and OMF goes the word ‘standard’ should never be used in the same sentence.

The [unnecessary] complexity of OMF, AAF (and MXF) make them a “Use at your own risk format.” Although there are other formats that can be in the same category, these three are the worst. They are self proclaimed standards that never should have been created. Although the container format is always a standard, the methods of describing data within the container are not. They each have multiple ways of describing the same thing and since everyone has a slightly different way of doing things within the containers, they might as well not exist at all. To call it any kind of standard really is a stretch. OMF is literally a format within a container format. AAF and MXF are much worse because they are a format within a container within a structured storage format.

Anyway, I thing you get the idea of what I think of those formats as far as ‘standards’ go 😉

http://www.aatranslator.com.au

[Michael Rooney]

Our last release of AAT did include support for the Vegas VEG file and rest assured that our next release has significant improvements in this area.

We strive to make conversions as simple and easy as possible but the PTF format is not a very tolerant format and some jiggery and pokery can be required depending upon the content and makeup of the source session.

Registered owners should never hesitate to contact us directly if they have questions, concerns or suggestions as we are here to help them and also help others through improvements and enhancements.

[Michael Rooney]

I’m not sure I can agree with that given that there are 2 distinct flavours of AAF produced by Avid themselves all from the same ‘specification’ – the PT flavour and the Media Composer flavour.
Then of course you can start throwing in variants from pretty much everyone else from X2Pro, Auria, Nuendo, Logic, STP and the list goes on.

It would seem to me that there must be some issue with the specification if so many get it wrong or there is so much scope for ‘interpretation’ – maybe it was intentionally written this way?

This is nothing new we have seen this all before with OMF where we have seen blatant disregard for that specification from the likes of Sonar And Steinberg through to just minimum support from others.

I suspect that the resources Sony put in to AAF would have been better spent in other areas rather than try and hit Avid’s moving AAF target.

IMO you get more value out of providing stems than trusting anyone’s flavour of AAF 😉

Just saying…..

[Michael Rooney]

I really think the guys at Sony don’t deserve too much criticism in this area – IMO the blame really lies squarely with Avid.

Most people think there is such a thing as a ‘standard’ OMF and a ‘standard’ AAF but the fact is that this is so far from the truth it is laughable

If you successfully export either an OMF or AAF from anywhere and have it successfully read somewhere else then don’t bother buying a lottery ticket as you have just used up all your luck LOL

The fact is that both formats vie for the most complicated and obtuse formats known to man and yet contain far less detail than a simple Samplitude EDL text file

Most implementations are either flawed or don’t adhere to the ridiculously complicated ‘specification’ or both so don’t be too harsh towards the folks at Sony

Now as to converting a Veg file to a PTF yes AATranslator does that quite simply but there a couple of caveats – no midi, fx or stretched audio is converted to PT but then you weren’t expecting that from an OMF or AAF were you?

All audio either needs to be mono (just like an OMF) wav files (yes unknown to most all audio is treated internally as mono in PT versions 9 and earlier), however, AAT will do its best to do the necessary conversions.

We continue to expand and improve AAT in all areas including Veg conversion so if the OP wants to send me a test Veg file via the AATranslator web site I’d be more than happy to convert it to PT for him – and yes the info converted far exceeds that of any mere AAF or OMF 😉

[Michael Rooney]

The only viable way of converting from previous versions of AA or CEP is by using ses2sesx

https://www.aatranslator.com.au/ses2sesx.html

[Michael Rooney]

Yes, you need mediasweeper.

https://www.mediasweeper.com.au

Works for CEP/Audition ses & sesx and AA3 xml sessions as well as Reaper and Vegas sessions.

Too many features to list here but essentially will remove unused media or copy used media to another location.

[Michael Rooney]

The only way to do it properly is to use ses2sesx.
Not only does it convert CEP & AA sessions it will convert the internal and some external vst fx.

https://www.aatranslator.com.au/ses2sesx.html

[Michael Rooney]

Just a thought – you might want to consider using AATranslator to convert from a Vegas XML to a PT session file (PT5). You will get far more information converted than could ever be hoped for using an OMF. Things like markers, bpm, and a whole lot more.

There is a link on the AATranslator web site to a conversion guide that outlines what details get converted for each format.

[Michael Rooney]

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all OMFs are created (or even read) equally (and that includes ones from Digitranslator).

OMFs come in 4 flavours :-
1. embedded
2. reference
3. lucky if they are read by anything
4. any combination of the above

AATranslator will convert a Vegas script (XML) or Vegas EDL (txt) to either an embedded or reference OMF (can optionally convert audio to aif) which PT can read. The ‘handles’ are provided and from memory the metadata is maintained

Contact me via the aatranslator web site and I will sort something out for you for this project of yours

[Michael Rooney]

FWIW As far as a low cost solution goes the AATranslator team are currently working on adding FCPXML support. At $59 thats probably as low cost as it’s going to get.