Avid offline to Resolve online

Hello,

I just finished an Avid offline of a 90 minute movie. The colorist is in another state so I need to send him a drive. I am making an AAF from the avid sequence and linking to the media, so my question is about copying the specific clips from the finder level. Do I copy the entire card structure, sending many more clips than necessary, or do I just find the enclosing .mov or .mxf in the card structure and send that? I want to make sure it relinks, but also don't want to include many other clips that are unnecessary.

Thank you!

Jake

Hello,

I just finished an Avid offline of a 90 minute movie. The colorist is in another state so I need to send him a drive. I am making an AAF from the avid sequence and linking to the media, so my question is about copying the specific clips from the finder level. Do I copy the entire card structure, sending many more clips than necessary, or do I just find the enclosing .mov or .mxf in the card structure and send that? I want to make sure it relinks, but also don't want to include many other clips that are unnecessary.

Thank you!

Jake

Hi Jake.

if still relevant for you, hope this helps.

this is a tricky question because it doesn't have one definite answer.
1. not all cameras store metadata similarly and create the same folder structures.
in Alexa, BMD cameras or RED you can quite easily separate only the needed shots for the online/color work since metadata is shot based and folder structures are simple. In other cases folder structures are complex labyrinths of data and messing with them can lead to all sorts of issues.
2. Resolve works with a "Link to" AAF from Avid and is capable of reading Avid media files in their MXF form directly from their folders. this means that in numerous cases (most mid/low range cameras) you could use a good transcode from Avid as your new source files, whether in DNX (HD or HR) or Prores. Transcoding a lot of formats to PR/DNX in 4:4:4 variations (and even 4:2:2 in many cases) won't loose quality, but will allow you to consolidate and send a slim Avid MXF folder along with a linked AAF file.

The chapter in the Manual about Avid workflows (page 621) is also very informative.


hector

In this case I think consolidating the sequence to the new drive should work. There are plenty of options within Avid's consolidate & transcode that will allow you to just copy used media to the new drive. When it's finished just open the consolidated sequence in Avid then and export the AAF from there.

In this case I think consolidating the sequence to the new drive should work. There are plenty of options within Avid's consolidate & transcode that will allow you to just copy used media to the new drive. When it's finished just open the consolidated sequence in Avid then and export the AAF from there.

when possible it is a good and simple option.. it doesn't work with RAW footage though and a lot of productions want to go native in grading (even with formats inferior to RAW)

the only really safe way to get this done IMHO is to conform in Resolve yourself, and make a Resolve archive of the conformed project to send to the colorist

i say this as colorist who get alot of projects cut on the far side of north america, and have an assist at my end on the west coast working with the editor across 4hr timezone diffrence on the east coast to sort and send missing / not linking clips for a series

alternitivly you might find an assist local to you and haev them conform + archive

the only really safe way to get this done IMHO is to conform in Resolve yourself

Conform in Free/Lite version, and export drp. Five thumbs up.

jPo, CSI

You guys are very clever...I see what you're doing!

First, thank you all! This is incredibly helpful.

I posted this in a state of panic about a week ago. Since then, I did consolidate the Avid sequence to DnX115 with handles, and that linked up perfectly in my copy of Resolve. I still am having major trouble with an AAF where Resolve links to the original footage (which the colorist prefers). Part of that trouble is the assistant haphazardly ingested footage into Avid, sometimes with the source path, sometimes not, sometimes the source path is wrong.

My question now is: Will it make a huge difference in picture quality if the whole 95 minute movie is CC'd in DnX 115 as to the original footage? I am not a colorist, and have not used resolve, so that's why I'm asking. This is a documentary that will play in film festivals, possibly theaters, and then eventually streaming through various platforms.

The cameras used during filming were:

Sony FS7 (shot custom mode 1920x1080, baked in)
Canon XF100
Mavic Pro (shot 4K)
GoPro (shot 2K)
iPhone

The majority of the film is the FS7 and the XF100. So do I need to somehow link all the original footage into resolve, or will DnX115 be a comparable resolution for final delivery?

Again, can't thank you all enough for your input!

Jake Diamond
jakediamondnyc.com

The cameras used during filming were:

Sony FS7 (shot custom mode 1920x1080, baked in)
Canon XF100
Mavic Pro (shot 4K)
GoPro (shot 2K)
iPhone

The majority of the film is the FS7 and the XF100. So do I need to somehow link all the original footage into resolve, or will DnX115 be a comparable resolution for final delivery?

Again, can't thank you all enough for your input!

Jake Diamond
jakediamondnyc.com

Jake.

its borderline... FS7 is capable of better than DNX115 compression. It shoots 10 bits in HD which DNX115 won't retain and for that reason only I'd go higher (the X variants which retain 10 bits) or native.

as for the XF/Mavic/Gopro/iphone 115 should be ok.
Though again, considering storage is probably not that of an issue.. even going DNX 4:4:4 should't be too much and definitely will maintain all relevant data and more.

This would mean relinking to originals in Avid, then Transcoding sequence only.

With this much different formats. maybe better (and faster, and simpler) to go consolidate with transcoded files than to use original sources.

hector.

its borderline... FS7 is capable of better than DNX115 compression. It shoots 10 bits in HD which DNX115 won't retain and for that reason only I'd go higher (the X variants which retain 10 bits) or native.

as for the XF/Mavic/Gopro/iphone 115 should be ok.
Though again, considering storage is probably not that of an issue.. even going DNX 4:4:4 should't be too much and definitely will maintain all relevant data and more.

This would mean relinking to originals in Avid, then Transcoding sequence only.

With this much different formats. maybe better (and faster, and simpler) to go consolidate with transcoded files than to use original sources.

Okay, great. This saves me so much of a headache, and I've also learned quite a bit. I'll consolidate to DnX 4:4:4 and call it a day. Whew. What a relief.

Thank you so much Hector!!

Jake
jakediamondnyc.com