Relinking ARRI RAW files for editing in Davinci Resolve

Hi together,

I'm now editing in Davinci Resolve, since around a year. But ARRI RAW files have made me work on other NLEs for the below explained reason.
I have a project shot on ARRI ALEXA XT, HAWK Anamorphic 2x, ARRI RAW. I imported the footage in the media page and usually make proxys straight away by exporting the files to ProRes422 Proxy or DNxHD LB and relink them afterwards by making the media offline and relink them in the media page. Usually that works perfectly but in the case of ARRI RAW it's never relinking although the Reelname, Timecode and Framecount are perfectly in sync. I don't know if it has anything to do with the filename as the ARRI RAW files have the Framerange in the filename or not but it seems like I can't get a workaround witch sadly is a resolve killer for all my projects shot on Alexa.
I know there is the function to generate optimised media but as I'm coming from Avid and Premiere Pro I need the option to work on other workstations as well and I didn't found a workaround to move the optimised media easily from workstation to workstation. Also it happend a few time to me that resolve crashed and I couldn't relink the optimised media witch was also a pain (escpecially if you have 8TB footage to transcode) so I prefer the classic way of working with proxys. And yeah I also want more performace than using Resolves proxy (half or quater res) mode.

I also attach a screenshot. I hope anybody has a workaround for this as I'm dealing with this issue since a while now.

Thank you guys.
Best Ben

MAC OS Davinci Resolve 15.2.1

Just in case you want to see my comform options. There you go
*and yes I also used Embedded in source clip

Hi there,

your workflow sounds kinda weird, you shouldn't relink your footage that way. Just export the files as Proxys and import your AAF/XML and link it to the source files. Sorry to say it that harsh, but it looks like a simple workflow problem :/

We only use the "source clip file name" option in the conform settings, so you might give that a try for the next Proxys you render from Resolve or at least give it a test run.

Anyway, that doesn't help you now. I'd try to not do any weird relinking, that is only meant for relinking the same files again; import the raw files in their own bin, when importing your XML/AAF and direct to that folder. If it doesn't link, deactivate the "assist" option altogether and re-import the AAF/XML and see if that works; often that helps.
Also, I don't really know where your timeline is coming from, but when it's from Avid I'd make sure you use an AAF and from Premiere an XML.

Best,
Lucas

Hi Lucas,

thank you for you reply and time. I'm totally aware of the workflow when using Resolve just as an Proxy Encoder and for Grading afterwards. I would have no problems to roundtrip to another editing system and getting back to resolve with a XML or EDL afterwards. The problem only exists when I'm not going to another editing NLE and staying in Davinci Resolve.
To clearify again, I want to export Proxys from Davinci Resolve and want to use them straight away to edit them in Davinci Resolve so no other NLE will be involved.
And it can't be that I have to export and XML out of Resolve with all the 29 h sourcefootage and import that straight away again just to relink the files, right? All other NLEs have features for that.

And yeah, for sure I rendered the Proxys with "source clip file name" checked.

Thanks.

Don't know if this helps. But lately when I import an xml, Resolve doesn't connect immediately to the raw files even if I select the correct bin. I then select the timeline and choose 'Reconform from bins...". This seems to work.

It could be that in my case I have different settings for import and reconnect... But it something I didn't use to have a problem before and now I have to add that extra step make it work.

Hi Lucas,

thank you for you reply and time. I'm totally aware of the workflow when using Resolve just as an Proxy Encoder and for Grading afterwards. I would have no problems to roundtrip to another editing system and getting back to resolve with a XML or EDL afterwards. The problem only exists when I'm not going to another editing NLE and staying in Davinci Resolve.

In your case, the original source files should have the same folder name and folder structure. Rename your proxy files as X, and rename the folder of the Arriraw with the proxy file folder name. Both the folders should be in the same drive. This is the way to cheat the NLE (Resolve in your case).

Another way of doing it is renaming the Proxy folder, which will result in your project showing offline. Then drag the original Arriraw footage into your media pool. Quit Resolve, open it again. Your files should be linked.

Hope this helps.

Hi guys, first of all thank you for your thoughts on my problem. I already tried all of your suggestions and tried to find out what advantages every of them would have in my workflow. More to that below.

Franciscovaldez:
So what I did in that case was, set up my project with all the ARRI RAW files in it. Create a master timeline with all my footage in it, selected all clips, disabled "conform lock". Imported all the Proxys from the Media Page into a new bin. Selected the master timeline and clicked "Reconform from bins" Choose the proxy folder, timecode and reelname in sourceclip and let it run. This actually kinda worked. It replaced at least most of the clips. Strange was that not all of my clips where replaced. Also it affected only one of my timelines. If I have multiple ones it wouldn't work as expected, I guess. It also did strange things to the clip settings which were set to anamorphic so I ended up with a timeline now knowing what is proxy and what not. Turning the conform lock off also seem to irritate resolve as the clips had conform error warnings on them, although the timing of the clips still seemed right.

Krishna's method:
I see how your solution could work. But shooting with ARRI ALEXA RAW files means having image-sequences and a whole lot of subfolders. To recreate them all it would be more work than efficient in any way. Especially when having more that 5days of shooting and multiple scenes a day. So I sadly can't adapt to your solution.

I really can't see how a program like Davinci Resolve doesn't have such a funktion. I shouldn't be to complicated for the programmers to include that.
I know Resolve is quite new on the editing side of things but thats definitely a big bummer for professional usage.

Thanks guys, hope someone has an indepth solution that works on professional productions.

*just wanted to add, that my clipmarkers are also gone when reconforming to other media with rightclick on timeline / conform bin

And it can't be that I have to export and XML out of Resolve with all the 29 h sourcefootage and import that straight away again just to relink the files, right? All other NLEs have features for that.

That's right, but hacking things with pseudo-relinking is also not the way to go. The relink-function is meant for the same media, not for transcoded media after all :/

As for all the other NLEs, at least for Premiere that Proxy-function is fairly new (and I encountered two projects, not mine, where it totally destroyed the TC).
However, the optimized media function that you dislike for this (for good reason of course) is exacly that, and from what I gather offers the same limitations as e.g. Premieres approach for internal Proxys. So Resolve does it like many other NLEs (Avid is a special case here I guess).

Anyways, that doesn't help, huh
I'd just treat it like any other project to be honest. Render your Proxys, you need to do that anyway as you want to work in Avid/Premiere as well. Then import the Proxys normally, edit with them.
Now I see two scenarios when you are done editing: first would be to just set the Proxys offline (by e.g. renaming their folder, not deleting them out of your library) and then force-conform with the RAW media. This is also pretty hacky again, so I'd definitely don't do that.
Second, just export XML/AAF from Resolve, re-import into the same project but link to the RAW media. It's a 20sec workaround and should even save every single thing you did, unlike an AAF/XML coming from Avid/Premiere. And as you want to edit in Premiere/Avid anyway, it shouldn't be a big hassle as you need to import from them also? It's really fast and no hacking involved, and you stay "connected" with the other apps

Best,
Lucas

I want to export Proxys from Davinci Resolve and want to use them straight away to edit them in Davinci Resolve

I don't think exporting is the best option for proxies.

Optimized Media is the better option, I think.