Feature Request: OMF Export

Please can we have OMF Export capability asap. Until then I can't take Resolve seriously as an editor.

And the export XML, import into Premiere, export OMF workflow is fraught with issues, if only dealing with the bug infested monster that Premiere has become.

AAF also works fine for Pro Tools. Speaking as somebody who occasionally jumps from Resolve to Pro Tools, I can tell you AAF will work in this case. From the v12 manual, p. 976:

Selects the appropriate settings for exporting (a) an H.264 reference movie of your timeline with a video data rate of 10,000 Kb/s, (b) each of the individual audio clips used in that timeline, and (c) an AAF of the audio portion of the current timeline that’s formatted for import into Pro Tools, or any other digital audio workstation (DAW) software that’s compatible with AAF import.

We don't all use ProTools.
AAF is only a halfway house.

For example, from Premiere I can export a complete OMF with embedded audio in minutes, and pull it straight into Samplitude. But in Resolve, if I try an AAF export from the Timeline menu, the audio from the Red footage is not embedded.

If I try the ProTools Round Trip preset, I get an MXF file which I can't import into Samplitude. And when Samplitude tries to open the AAF file that is generated, it won't read the embedded MXFs.

OMF would be great.
I haven't tried the Premiere XML option but have used XML export from R12 then imported into FCP7 then exported an OMF from there with no problems.
You do have to make sure all your audio layers are set to mono in R12 otherwise just one channel of the stereo layers is sent.
James

+1 for OMF

AAF also works fine for Pro Tools. Speaking as somebody who occasionally jumps from Resolve to Pro Tools, I can tell you AAF will work in this case. From the v12 manual, p. 976:

Selects the appropriate settings for exporting (a) an H.264 reference movie of your timeline with a video data rate of 10,000 Kb/s, (b) each of the individual audio clips used in that timeline, and (c) an AAF of the audio portion of the current timeline that’s formatted for import into Pro Tools, or any other digital audio workstation (DAW) software that’s compatible with AAF import.

I tried that and all it did was create one big MXF file. The AAF Round Trip preset creates a bundle of MXF files, but not one AAF file. And then it fails with COM Operation failed HRESULT.

We definitely need an OMF embedded or non-embedded export feature.

Has anyone actually used the 'Export to Protools' delivery option in Resolve 12 to successfully send a AAF file and associated audio files to ProTools on a separate system?
Its not working for me at all.
Its all good to quote the manual but that doesn't mean it works.

It's busted. Manual entry is wishfull thinking i guess
Even more busted if you have anything else then mono audio tracks .

+1 this is sorely needed if people really wanna edit with resolve!

Yes, this would solve many problems with my workflow. Firelight is nice, but it's not as widespread as ProTools and so far my reference ProTools preset AAF files are rife with issues.

omf is cool....but a real AAF with handles or entire audio clip, bringing metadata with him would be great.
I'm editing a big movie on resolve but I'm afraid that when I''ll finish and I will have to export for protools it will be a huge problem with roundtrip and export that I already know, will not make the sound guys happy.
BM please do something for film editors, add a working aaf export. Right now it works only with pro tools 10, and no metadata at all, no volume from editing, no display name...
please...please ...please...

+2

1) OMF is needed for DAWs other than ProTools. For example, working with spatial audio is easier in Reaper than ProTools. OMF's with the option to include handles or full media is required. This is currently the best route I've found, and even this is broken now in 15.2 b/c the Premiere XML preset removed wav as an option and it trims the media and has no "include handles" option:

2) AAF with the option to include media (with handles or full source clips) is also a must. in 15.2 I've been getting unusable AAF exports and am going to have to do the above Premiere round trip just to send audio to get mixed. And even then, I'm going to have to manually extend clips in the timeline to get handles preserved.

Sending audio out of Resolve to anything but ProTools is super-de-duper broken right now

If you’re working in Reaper, Vordio allows almost seamless interchange with Resolve: http://vordio.net.
Version 6 due in January will improve the workflow further.

OMF is a legacy format with severe limitations. Thankfully, as an industry we've moved on from OMF.

If you’re working in Reaper, Vordio allows almost seamless interchange with Resolve: http://vordio.net.
Version 6 due in January will improve the workflow further.

OMF is a legacy format with severe limitations. Thankfully, as an industry we've moved on from OMF.

I wish we had moved on from OMF, but it is still a supported method to move Avid audio into ProTools.
I must deal with it every day doing series production.

We still need OMF, as ProTools is still a market leader in the field of Audio.

If fairlight is the market leader, then Blackmagic can do whatever you guys like.

+a million

This is now entering nightmare territory. I've spent the last 24hrs trying to move a simple edit to Reaper by any means possible. Resolve and Premiere define image sequences differently, so I have to hand conform every single clip one at a time if I want to use the above linked OMF workflow.

Resolve is REALLY broken on audio exporting:

1) There is no option to export source audio trimmed with handles, in original file format
2) There is no XML export that doesn't transcode the media
3) There is no OMF export of any kind
4) There is no bundled AAF export with source media included
5) The Premiere and FCP XML options do not allow .wav anymore (the video above shows .wav used to be an option)

You can say that the industry has "moved on from OMF" but that doesn't make it true. Also doesn't make it possible to get an edit from Resolve with the source media. I think a hand conform in Premiere is the only route right now.

I wish we had moved on from OMF, but it is still a supported method to move Avid audio into ProTools.
I must deal with it every day doing series production.

Even Avid regards OMF as deprecated. They suggest using AAF and MXF going forward, and have done so since 2009.

I've spent the last 24hrs trying to move a simple edit to Reaper by any means possible...There is no OMF export of any kind...There is no bundled AAF export with source media included

The biggest issue here is that neither OMF nor AAF are supported natively by Reaper, so a third party tool (such as Vordio) will always be required to produce a compliant Reaper Project file.

That will not change any time soon according to the Reaper developers.

Resolve is REALLY broken on audio exporting

Just tested exporting a .FCPXML from Resolve 15.2 (033) using the Final Cut Pro X preset, input in to Vordio 5.5.1 to create an .RPP Project, which opened without issue in Reaper 5.962 (64bit).

With a Reaper .RPP Project file as source, and producing a .FCPXML file via Vordio, also imports without issue in to Resolve 15.2 - so the reverse process is also functional.

This should work for the Windows versions of these applications, since it also functional on Linux systems.

@Reynaud Venter – the FCP/FCPX/Premiere XML options all transcode the audio, and don't offer an option that includes handles. There is no option to preserve source files, and for some reason Resolve's audio format options don't include any standard audio codecs like wav, aac, etc:

Screen Shot 2018-11-18 at 2.26.32 PM.png (59.21 KiB) Viewed 12476 times

In other NLEs (this example is Premiere), there is the option to include the source audio, or trim it with handles, and include or transcode in various formats like OMF and AAF. Resolve only has transcode, and doesn't do handles, both of which are problematic:

Screen Shot 2018-11-18 at 2.27.34 PM.png (149.98 KiB) Viewed 12476 times

Also, for reasons unknown, Resolve's AAF export doesn't have any options, so including video, audio, or both is not possible. As an example of what I'd expect in an AAF exporter, here are Premiere's options:

Screen Shot 2018-11-18 at 2.27.43 PM.png (197.51 KiB) Viewed 12476 times

OMF may be "deprecated by the industry" but so is EDL, and I've certainly used that export type numerous times since it was "deprecated". Not every interchange format works every time, but right now none of Resolve's options are working as I'd expect them to.

Vordio does work. I exported an XML from Resolve and imported to Vordio and created .adl (AES31) with the source material copied in the destination directory. It can grab the entire source of the audio. Free version is limited to 3 minutes. This successfully imports into Nuendo. I don't know how on my first try i converted my entire project, 6 minutes long.

+1 for OMF.

Also we need the provision to create single mono discrete files for each channel in interleaved 5.1/ 7.2 tracks.

The possibility to export OMF or AAF is my only need as an editor right now !!!
Davinci works fine but this is a huge problem for me and it became bigger each day. I have to deal with sound departments that right now mostly work on pro tools and a simple task as doing an aaf and send it to sound editor is always a crazy complicated task that takes a long time to find a solution.
Rigth now the aaf delivery option for pro tools give you an aaf file and recreate mxf files that takes the name from the video clip they are synched with. NO way to relink to the original audio files, NO metadata from the sound recorder, lots of out of sync and missing tracks. A huge mess.
So I ended tryng to do round trips with differet editing programs in oder to get a usefull aaf, but it's
not working fine anyway. So the mess became a nightmare. I have to rebuilt manually the time line in avid in order to give metadata and the possibility to relink to the original audio files. It's a totally crazy situation. If you work on Premiere you don't get metadata but the aaf or the omf works preatty well. In final cut pro x you can't export omf or aaf but with X2PRO with an xml you can get decent aaf. We need a solution with davinci as soon as possible! I hope even in 15.3 this huge pronblem could be addressed. It would change my life as a professional editor(dealing mostly with feature film or long form documentaries). Am i the only one that experience this situation?

+1 OMF.

Any word on this being implemented as a new feature?

Last version of da Vinci, 15.3, implemented the aaf export but the problems with aaf are still there. It's Been a long time that i write on this Forum Only about this subject but its very rare that someone from Black magic respond about this very basic and foundamental issue. So let's Hope they see Soon this weak point of their software, and I have to Say this Is the Only complaints I have about davinci that i love. But this Is a problem that you can't Hide under the carpet if you have to really work with this software.

I don't know if BM want to keep people on for Fairlight and becuase of that don't implement OMF or a compatible audio delivery. Not a single colleague that I work with Fairlight. I mainly export sound for Nuendo, OMF most of the time. If i have a project that has a lot of sound I have to use Premiere, or maybe export an XML from Resolve to Premiere and make an OMF. But every operation like this has a bigger chance for errors.

I mainly work with sound guys that use pro tools, and dealing with feature films when I have to export audio it's Always a nightmare. If you try to make round trip trought Premiere or Avid it doesn't work because if you have synchronised clips the xml or the aaf aren't able to relink in other softwares to the all the original audio files, you get a lot of files named localhost and there is no way to find a solution. edl doesn't bring any audio too. So you have to stick with the pro tools preset export that is slow, expecially if you want huge handles since you can't relink to the entire original files, and you get a lot of mxf files named as the video files, lots of missing tracks or localhost files and lots of audio is out of sync!!! and even if you are able to bring more or less the audio you have on you timeline with this aaf you dont get vital metadata for sound editor, like tracks name or take numbers or even the name of the original audio file to try to relink or re edit someway. If only there were the option to flatten the synchronised clips maybe a round trip with aaf or xml would be less difficult. As a professional editor this is a huge problem using davinci, I think this is a problem most of the people wants to step in davinci has to be aware. And hopefully BM would bring a realible solution soon, I think it's about time...

+1 OMF please

Well guys, any news?
If no news about this, I guess we can make a class action

I wish we had moved on from OMF, but it is still a supported method to move Avid audio into ProTools.
I must deal with it every day doing series production.

Even Avid regards OMF as deprecated. They suggest using AAF and MXF going forward, and have done so since 2009.

That's interesting. Could you suggest a good workflow with Davinci?

Could you suggest a good workflow with Davinci?

What is the destination workstation?

Resolve provides both Avid and ProTools AAF presets.

Conformalizer, X2Pro, Vordio, and AATranslator are alternate options.

+1 OMF 2.0 Export is a basic requirement on an NLE.
It maybe older than AAF, but it works and is reliable unlike Davinci's AAF export.
We are using OMF in the post facility I work in to get TVC's / Content into pro-tools on a daily basis, with a guide Pro-res LT picture for the dubbing mixer.
Embedding full clips / or with handles, and it just works.
Ideally it should be added to this beta version.

From a workflow perspective, Resolve does feel a bit like a companion app to Media Composer and Pro Tools. Good Luck if you use any other DAW.

Supporting only AAF is fine. It's the way the support has been implemented that poses a problem.

AAF files from Premiere Pro do not crash my DAW immediately. They "just work." AAF files from Resolve 15/16 crash it 100% of the time (both Avid and Pro Tools presets).

I totally agree with what avclubvids wrote upthead.

Importing an AAF is crashing your DAW ?
Thats a new one. I have to literaly import a nuke to crash any of my DAWs. What DAW are you using out of curiosity ?

P.s +1 for vordio and aatranslator, the best swiss army knife tools i used over the last years for getting stuff out of resolve into daw’s
Less used recently as do most of my stuff direct in fairlight now.

AAF files from Resolve 15/16 crash it 100% of the time (both Avid and Pro Tools presets)

would look very closely at the DAW, since Resolve produced AAFs have opened without issue in Pyramix, Nuendo, and ProTools Ultimate by myself and colleagues.

AAF files from Resolve 15/16 crash it 100% of the time (both Avid and Pro Tools presets)

would look very closely at the DAW, since Resolve produced AAFs have opened without issue in Pyramix, Nuendo, and ProTools Ultimate by myself and colleagues.

Samplitude Pro X4 Suite

Works fine with AAFs from other sources.

Samplitude Pro X4 Suite

Works fine with AAFs from other sources.

No longer have an available Sequoia license to double check, but logging the issue with the Magix developers would be my first call.

i would be very happy if this annuncement will be true soon:

• Ability to render broadcast wave files with support for metadata when exporting timelines to Pro Tools
• Improved handling of video codec defaults and audio file names when exporting timelines to Pro Tools

most of my sound editors ask for aaf, omf is a little bit old fashion, instead metadata are indispensable when you deal with feature film or long form documentaries. The ability to relink the original audio files in pro tools would be also nice, because when you synch clips in davinci no aaf or xml or edl make possibile to relink original audio files.

Piero, 90 posts asking for the same thing is a little too repetitive.

yes, you are right! I'm basically happy to edit in Davinci, and I suggest others editors to check this software, except for this problem of the relink of audio in pro tools that each time I finish a project I have to find a solution. So I only write about this. When there will be a simpler solution I promise I will stop writing about this. Right now it’s still a nightmare having to round trip with avid, conformalizer and than pro tools, while I think the solution to this could be simple and could help a lot of editors that have to the deliver sound with metadata so the sound editors could easy understand what microphone have to use and witch take is edited, in order to find some alternatives. Maybe I’m the only one that has this need...or maybe not.

Samplitude Pro X4 Suite

Works fine with AAFs from other sources.

No longer have an available Sequoia license to double check, but logging the issue with the Magix developers would be my first call.

AAF files out of Media Composer work just fine (just checked). So I'm sticking with "Samplitude is fine." I haven't met a piece of software that causes this issue outside of Resolve - yet.

Not defending either software, but any software should be written in such a way that it does not crash when it reads an unsupported or broken file. It should just say : i do not support this or this file is corrupt.
If it crashes its badly written and should be adressed.

Besides that Resolve has and always had obvious problems with audio export. Thats the only thing i have always struggeled with and where it not for tools like aatranslator or vordio , i would have dropped Resolve like a sack of potatoes and missed out on all the amazingness resolve has given me over the years.
Maybe one day that part is also adressed and solved permanently, but file exchange between different programs is in its core something not a single program has done or can do 100% correct. Ever. It will only ever work if every program is the same , has the same features implemented the same way. Thank god they dont. But thats why standards are never realy standards that cover everything but the lowest common denominator.

Not defending either software, but any software should be written in such a way that it does not crash when it reads an unsupported or broken file. It should just say : i do not support this or this file is corrupt.
If it crashes its badly written and should be adressed.

It can also be completely avoided - as other products do - by supporting common audio formats like [B]WAV and AIFF.

I never even knew this was an issue until I tried importing a Resolve AAF.

Besides that Resolve has and always had obvious problems with audio export. Thats the only thing i have always struggeled with and where it not for tools like aatranslator or vordio , i would have dropped Resolve like a sack of potatoes and missed out on all the amazingness resolve has given me over the years.

Resolve's AAF export has issues beyond what I outlined in my post, but tools like AAT/Vordio can side-step it by using FCPXML as a source, which completely works around Resolve's mediocre AAF export. That's a workaround, it doesn't fix the inherent problems

This has nothing to do with Resolve "Audio Export," per se.

AAT is $200. Vordio only works for Reaper, IIRC, and I don't/won't use that software.

Maybe one day that part is also adressed and solved permanently, but file exchange between different programs is in its core something not a single program has done or can do 100% correct. Ever.

I'm having trouble supporting this statement, considering every other NLE I've tested - even one that had AAF support implemented and not updated [at all, since then] in 2012 - seems to work. They seem to have gotten it "mostly right" on the first go...

I think that most applications can support Interchange in a workable [and largely compatible] manner, by avoiding obvious "trouble areas." Most DAWs will just ignore features in the AAF file that they don't support. Most NLEs will either default to a more interoperable Audio Format, or give you a choice on which to use in the AAF Export.

Resolve's AAF Export works fine for what it's designed for... Pro Tools users. But this does create problems for a lot of people who do not use Pro Tools.

It will only ever work if every program is the same , has the same features implemented the same way. Thank god they dont./quote]
This makes literally no sense at all.

But thats why standards are never realy standards that cover everything but the lowest common denominator.

[/quote]
This is why supporting older, deprecated standards like OMF is actually a viable alternative, and often a good strategy. The format is basically locked, and doesn't change, which makes it less of a moving target and very reliable for those people who use it. It's why a lot of people still demand them. OMF support in DAWs is fairly robust, at this point...

But you need Premiere Pro (or Avid) to generate that, unless you play interop musical chairs with different formats and utilities to get it out of Resolve.

Resolve's AAF Export works fine for what it's designed for... Pro Tools users. But this does create problems for a lot of people who do not use Pro Tools

As mentioned previously, Resolve produced AAFs open without issue in Pyramix and Nuendo.

yes, you are right! I'm basically happy to edit in Davinci, and I suggest others editors to check this software, except for this problem of the relink of audio in pro tools that each time I finish a project I have to find a solution. So I only write about this. When there will be a simpler solution I promise I will stop writing about this. Right now it’s still a nightmare having to round trip with avid, conformalizer and than pro tools, while I think the solution to this could be simple and could help a lot of editors that have to the deliver sound with metadata so the sound editors could easy understand what microphone have to use and witch take is edited, in order to find some alternatives. Maybe I’m the only one that has this need...or maybe not.

You're not the only one who need this! Like you, I try to suggest others to use this, but no way to relink audio is a big no no. And no one ever has given you any solution either.

Where did you get the quote from your previous post with regards to future improvement?

it's on the page of the Release of DaVinci Resolve 16 public beta…
I tried pro tools preset on 16 beta 2 and you can have wave files if you export quick time video but no metadata or original audio files name so far in the aaf. So I hope it's going to work soon in the next version.

Gotcha.

It's useless without the metadata or original files name... Hope it's going to work soon!!!

Resolve's AAF Export works fine for what it's designed for... Pro Tools users. But this does create problems for a lot of people who do not use Pro Tools

As mentioned previously, Resolve produced AAFs open without issue in Pyramix and Nuendo.

Congratulations.

Fixed Problem in Samplitude Pro X4:

1. Export to Pro Tools
2. Select QuickTime Container -> DNxHD CODEC -> 720p Resolution (Higher Resolutions/Quality = Waste of Time) - Important
3. Other settings as needed (Channels in Different Files, etc.)
4. Render
5. Export H.264 Master
6. Select QuickTime Container -> H.264 CODEC -> Choose Resolution (720/1080p) -> Quality Least/Low (As Required)
7. File Name same as that used for the AAF File
8. Add to Queue -> Select "Replace"
9. Render

Adding H.264 (in MOV or MP4) would remove the need to re-render the video, but it's fast at low quality.

I think the issue with Resolve is its use of MXF Op-Atom for this export template, and Samplitude/Sequoia wants MXF OP-1a. - Op-Atom does not work... When I exported from Premiere Pro to MXF Op-1a and then Replaced the DNxHD file with an XAVC-Intra video in the same container, it loaded without issues. If I try to replace the Resolve generated MXF with one using a different CODEC, it crashes... Probably because the DAW hasn't been designed to handle that exception. It wasn't until this morning that I realized the "somewhat subtle" differences.

Sticking to QuickTime avoids that issue, since any intermediate can go in that container, and making it easy to swap out the file with another that uses a supported CODEC (or simply render with that CODEC, if the NLE allows you to choose when exporting the AAF).

+1 OMF export for Cubase/Nuendo!

Latest version allows you to export AAF without a video file, so the workaround for DAWs that have issue with that container is no longer necessary. You just import the AAF and then add in whatever supported video format you decided to render out afterwards (which won't be referenced in the AAF).