[Mike Most]

I didn’t say it doesn’t support DNxHD. I said it doesn’t support DNxHD in Quicktime, which is true. Why, who knows. But it doesn’t, although for many reasons I wish it did.

What you suggest is not an uncommon workflow. It just isn’t what was asked. What was asked was whether the ProRes files could be relinked in Avid. The answer I gave is a way to do that. There are other post flows that don’t require that – yours, for one. But that’s not what was being asked, so that’s not the answer I gave.

In your workflow, the only information that must be in both the offline and the final graded files is the tape name and time code. And the tape name must be the same in both renders, which means that you must use either the file name (using the formatting string) or the embedded tape name when bringing the files into the media pool. The actual file names are irrelevant, as is the issue of the new shots not starting on the same time code as the originals. However, I would also add that it’s useful to render the graded files in this kind of approach using handles, and needless to say, they must be rendered in source mode.

[Mike Most]

You’re not wrong. A color temperature control is basically a variable matrix.

[Mike Most]

>>hopefully avid will have lut support with their new release at the end of this year.

Hopefully they’ll have lots of things, like direct support of relinking to external formats, support for DPX and other file sequences, and support for common video hardware like Blackmagic and Aja cards. Possibly even some support for their own hardware, like the MC Color and MC Transport panels. But I don’t work for Avid, so I have no inside knowledge of any of that.

Resolve doesn’t so much “strip” audio as it doesn’t render audio at all, regardless of format. Once again, it might be nice if it did, but it was designed as a grading program, not a transcoding engine. That isn’t stopping people from using it for other purposes, though. It’s funny the things that people with come up with when you start giving them good software for free…

[Mike Most]

I didn’t say it doesn’t support DNxHD. I said it doesn’t support DNxHD in Quicktime, which is true. Why, who knows. But it doesn’t, although for many reasons I wish it did.

What you suggest is not an uncommon workflow. It just isn’t what was asked. What was asked was whether the ProRes files could be relinked in Avid. The answer I gave is a way to do that. There are other post flows that don’t require that – yours, for one. But that’s not what was being asked, so that’s not the answer I gave.

[Mike Most]

No, that will not work. Avid uses tape name to relink to different resolutions of Avid MXF files, but it uses Source File to relink to AMA files (which would be necessary if you wanted to bring in ProRes). There is no simple way to create a Source File entry in the MXF metadata other than using Avid software to create the MXF. There are various workarounds for this, but they require a clear vision of what you’re going to do in post. If you want to do what you’re suggesting, one way to do that would be to generate DNxHD encoded Quicktimes and importing those into Avid. Unfortunately, Resolve doesn’t currently support the DNxHD Quicktime codec, so that isn’t an option. You can do this with Assimilate Scratch or other software, but not with Resolve.

Your best bet in this case is probably to generate Quicktime files using ProRes (LT, perhaps) or some other supported codec. Make sure the files are named exactly the same as the original ProRes source files. Generate an ALE from Resolve. In order to use AMA relinking to the original files, you’ll have to edit the ALE to contain a column called Source File, and put the full file names into that column. You can then import the ALE into Avid, and Batch Import (transcoding to DNxHD) from the graded Quicktime files you created in Resolve. Avid will ask you whether it should use tape name or source file, select source file and let it rip. You should then be able to relink to the original ProRes files when you’re done cutting by opening them in a bin as AMA files, selecting all of them, and then using Relink, specifying relink to selected files in all open bins. Enable AMA relinking and everything should link up.

This is a rather convoluted procedure, to be sure. But unless and until Avid issues their next release, it’s the only way to do what you want without doing some serious hacking that is likely beyond what individuals without direct knowledge of and access to Avid’s software should be doing.

[Mike Most]

The switches you mention are used to override default behavior. Resolve was originally written to deal with file sequences, primarily DPX sequences. In a DPX file, time code can be embedded in the header, or you can use the common convention of assigning the time code as part of the file name, usually done as a total frame count based on 24 frames per second. The switch forces the software to look at the header first, and I believe that works regardless of the actual source format. The Reel numbers switch does something similar in that it forces the software to look in the file for a reel name rather than use the directory name, which is a common convention when dealing with file sequences.

In linking material to an EDL, there is always more than one criteria because it is generally assumed that time of day time code – if used on the original material – will often repeat day to day, as will reel numbers if the production crew is not careful to update them. So in order to identify clips uniquely, more than one criteria is usually required. Conflict resolution is offered when all match criteria do not agree and an exact match cannot be found, or if there are duplicates in both reel and time code if both are available. Resolve, like most conforming programs, offers the operator the ability to specify different combinations of match criteria depending on the source files, their format, and how they’re organized in order to allow for successful conforms in different circumstances. Matching the right criteria with the project’s particular circumstances is part of the job of the conforming artist, as they can vary with each project.

[Mike Most]

There’s a Mac Automator script called R3D Collector floating around that does that. But it’s also a pretty straightforward scripting task for anyone who has used common scripting languages like Python.

[Mike Most]

Very clever workaround! I’ve got to try that.

[Mike Most]

For R3D, you can generally use the “tape name embedded in header” option. For Canon, the path name method should work, as you mentioned.

[Mike Most]

Probably no harder than user definable presets on the Render page.