[Peter Berg]

Hi Sean,

It’s true that for shows like you describe, it’s most likely faster to stay within the Avid world. It does add at least a few hours per sequence every time we send out to Resolve. While I can do more advanced color work faster and Resolve gives better color results, I can online and color a show (with just basic color correction) faster by just staying in Avid.

Have you used Avid at all before? Symphony and Media Composer and really the exact same thing, except Symphony has a few extra features that make finishing a little easier. Plus the color corrector is much improved from Media Composer to Symphony.

If you do know Avid at all.. I bet you could figure out Symphony pretty quickly. The tabs are pretty straight forward and do give you a pretty good amount of control. Secondaries are quite weak in Symphony and that is where it falls short.

I’m sure there is some good training out there. I know Avid does have some classes which might be helpful. Did you check out their site?
https://www.avid.com/us/support/training

Hope that is helpful to you.

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

In their official document they list 10.7.4 and 10.8 for Resolve 9.

Although I hope that 10.6 will still work. Were there big changes in 10.7 and 10.8 that would affect Resolve performance?

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Somebody likes to live dangerously….

[Peter Berg]

Hi Jesse,

Unless you absolutely need any of the new Version 9 features, I strongly urge you to hold off on upgrading.

I am running into some new problems that I did not have with Version 8. Also 9.0 seems a little bit less stable.

I would have stayed with 8, but there was an audio playback bug (with UltraStudio) that would not be fixed in Resolve 8.

I’ve always found it better to wait till my big projects are done, before I change anything on my currently working system.

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Craig,

We are both in agreement that the workflow does not work if on the Avid side the media is not “linked”. But why should that matter?

You even said, that you always relink back to the original media, therefore every project needs to be relinked to the original media. So why should it matter if the offline cut is linked to low res Avid media or not? As long as the proper metadata is in the AAF for all the clips in the timeline, that should be all that is needed.

This problem has everything to do with the way Resolve is reading some metadata in the AAF. Can you tell me that it’s technically impossible to take an AAF that is not ‘linked’ to media (although has all the correct metadata for the clips) and re-link it to other media with the same metadata?

I would think the Blackmagic engineers could find out what metadata in the AAF is keeping the timeline from re-linking and make it so Resolve could re-link to the matching media.

Maybe you wouldn’t find it helpful.. but I know I sure would. And if we want to see this work, then I would love for the Blackmagic team to take a look at this issue. I’m almost positive you won’t get Avid to change their AAF structure to accommodate the Blackmagic workflow. Basically that takes away some of their business (people who could use Symphony instead). And if the AAF workflow works for their software (we send unlinked AAF’s to Protools all the time), why would they go and change it? Do you work for Blackmagic by the way?

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Sorry Craig. I have to disagree with you. I don’t think this problem is in Avid’s court. The metadata is fine. I can see that the Reel/Tape names and Timecode metadata is in the AAF just fine, and Resolve can read it.

We just need Blackmagic to allow Resolve to actually re-link the files. I would have thought the checkbox ‘Link to source camera files’ would be the fix. But maybe there is a bug with that checkbox option in the AAF import? That checkbox should break any existing link if Resolve finds matching media in the media pool.

If I bring an EDL over it can relink to the footage without being linked to the offline low res media. I’m sure there must be a way to make an AAF re-link to the RED high res media as well. I know that Resolve can make a new AAF, so they have the knowledge about how to modify and create AAF data.

I just don’t see how you can blame Avid when the necessary metadata is there in the AAF. Resolve just needs to be allowed to link to the matching media. I’m not sure if there needs to be another check box to allow that, or if the ‘Link to source camera files’ checkbox could be used to allow the linking. Weather the AAF is linked to low-res Avid media (which I never get or need anyways)or not linked to that low-res media, I would like Resolve to be able to re-link to the matching media in the media pool. Is that really asking too much from Resolve?

I just know how this could save me lots of time and make Resolve an even better tool. So that’s why I am bringing it up.

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Chris… glad to know that I am not alone in my mystery. Still a mystery why we can’t force the Resolve to automatically re-link to that media. Adds quite a bit of time in the conform process. Sounded like version 9 might fix this problem.. but it seems not.

Craig… on the Avid side the media is indeed offline. There are many projects where I only get an AAF or an Avid bin. I don’t have the low res Avid media available (why would I need the low res media, if I am re-linking to R3D files?).

In Resolve, my workflow is to always add the media into the Media Pool first. Makes it easier for me to organize the media. So I add all the RED media into the Media pool and then import the AAF. Even though the TC and Reel numbers match, Resolve will not link to the RED media.

Can this be fixed please?

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Thanks Craig. Great suggestions.

We did make sure to Commit Multi-cam edits before we export the AAF. Also in looking at the R3D Reel number and also the Reel number in the conform EDL area in the Conform page, they match exactly.

For example one of the shots has the Reel in the conform EDL as ‘A076_C002_0516PN’ and in the media pool window right above it I see a clip in the bin I pointed to with a Reel No as ‘A076_C002_0516PN’. Also the shot is about 1 second long and the timecode of the clip (per the conform EDL window) is well within the TC of the clip in the media pool.

Should re-link shouldn’t it? Or does Resolve not re-link media when the AAF that is exported had ‘Media Offline’ (wasn’t linked to any actual media at the time)? Is there some flag in the AAF that tells Resolve that the clip was offline, and thus Resolve won’t re-link those clips to any media files which are in the media pool?

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

Hello Anish,

Thank you for the email. I see that command now when I right click on the audio file. That has been changed from the way it worked in 9 Beta 3. So that was a bit confusing.

Also the manual is now incorrect. It still describes it the way it worked in the Beta. Can that be fixed so it matches how the software now works?

Also I am finding that when I first link the offline video track and audio chase track, the system does not play them back smoothly. But if I restart Resolve, it seems to fix itself.

Strange.

-Peter

[Peter Berg]

I hear your points Sascha, but in my world things haven’t been quite as rosy. I was in the middle of a few big projects and did not want to migrate to a beta software (or even a new version) at this point.

But we found a bug where Resolve would not output audio smoothly from the timeline. The audio was breaking up and not usable for my client sessions. Blackmagic recommended to switch to the the new beta software fixed that bug, but it put me in a bad place.

Stay with the software that I was the most familiar with but not have good audio playback, or switch to a very different software version which was still in beta. I didn’t have time to learn the differences between 8 and 9 (and there are quite a few UI changes).

I know other companies that will still offer bug fixes with their previous releases and don’t basically force you to upgrade (And in this case to very different software which was still beta).

If I was a student or just trying the software for the first time, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But when you have multiple deadlines to meet and the pressure is building, as a business owner I don’t appreciate the way that Blackmagic handles their software bugs/updates.

Any how long have we been asking for the option to duplicate a timeline? Should be an easy fix for them.. but I don’t believe it’s been added in V9. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

But that is just my experience.

-Peter