Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

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Chris Maier

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Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostFri Jan 03, 2020 8:51 am

Hi all,

here is a little background information:

I am working on project containing 200+ compound clips.
Each compound clip contains a demo video of product, a text overlay showing the name and the reference number of the product and a client logo. (three video layers plus stereo audio)
The name of the compound clip is also the reference number plus the name of the product.
This makes exporting easy as the individual files have the correct file names.

Now I need to export also unbranded versions (no logo, no text...).

Is there a better way to do this then this way:

- decompose every single compound file
- delete / disable the text and the logo layer
- build 200+ compound clips
- name them manually according to clients needs

Especially the naming operation is very time consuming.
QUESTION: So is there a chance to edit compound clips without "loosing" their names?

Or was I complete wrong in the first place?
Any workflow suggestion?

Thank you in advance!
Chris
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Andrew Kolakowski

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostFri Jan 03, 2020 9:41 am

Python scripting could probably help in your case, but this needs some knowledge.
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Vit Reiter

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostFri Jan 03, 2020 4:05 pm

Use "Open in Timeline" instead of "Decompose in Place" for Compound clips.
This allows you to edit the contents of the Compound clips and keep the Compound clips with their original names.
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostFri Jan 03, 2020 6:36 pm

Thank you both!

I will try the second advice before considering to learn more Python... :ugeek:

Chris
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Jan 04, 2020 8:44 am

Why do they have to be compound clips? Why not just do the video tracks as layers on the Edit page and let it play?

That way, when you had to do a textless version, you'd just turn off the one track with the text (assuming you laid out the tracks this way).

This is one of those things that you have to decide upon before doing the project (or creating 200 compound clips), unfortunately. You can use Optimized Media to help with playback speed, if that's an issue, but I'm not sure if Compound Clips are the best way to go here.
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Jan 04, 2020 9:26 am

Marc Wielage wrote:Why do they have to be compound clips? Why not just do the video tracks as layers on the Edit page and let it play?
Hi,
thank you for joining the conversation.

I am using compound clips as I need to export 200+ individual video files from that single project.
I tried earlier to use only three layers separated the "clips" by cutting them, but while exporting "individual files" DR does export three files (logo, text, video) instead of one file (containing the video with logo and text) per clip.
In this forum I was advised to use compound files which worked for me.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=88204&p=491682#p491682

But I still don't like the workflow...
Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Chris
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSun Jan 05, 2020 1:41 am

Chris Maier wrote:I am using compound clips as I need to export 200+ individual video files from that single project. I tried earlier to use only three layers separated the "clips" by cutting them, but while exporting "individual files" DR does export three files (logo, text, video) instead of one file (containing the video with logo and text) per clip. In this forum I was advised to use compound files which worked for me.

I would circle back and ask why you're doing the finishing in another program. If you finish entirely within Resolve, you can do this a lot simpler, faster, and easier.

If this project demands finishing in another program, then I'd tell the editor or whoever is doing the finishing to handle all the titles and graphics, and just worry about color-correcting the "video" backgrounds. Export all those as individual files, along with an XML, and let them handle all the graphic/title/logo elements and final delivery.

Note you would have this exact same problem going between Premiere and Avid, or Avid and FCPX, or FCPX and Resolve, or any other combination of editing software. It's not what I would call an efficient workflow. You can use a sledgehammer and do it your way, but only with a lot of time and trouble.
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostThu Jan 09, 2020 6:59 pm

Thank you Marc,

actually I did all the finishing in Resolve myself (and made all the named compound clips).
The client asked afterwards for unbranded versions of the clips for backup purposes only (future change of the client logo etc. etc.).
I guess this work (delivering unbranded versions) was for the archive only...

But I am not happy with my personal workflow.
And I am pretty sure that I will have a similar job in 2020.

Maybe I will export the complete timeline as two clips (one branded and one unbranded) and use a lossless cutting software to separate the clips. Maybe not?

Thanks,
Chris
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Igor Riđanović

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostFri Jan 10, 2020 6:41 pm

I'm not sure at what number of clips (200 or more) you'd draw a line to automate this project. Certainly 1,000 or more would warrant a full automated solution.

I would approach this using Fusion comps instead of compound clips. Fusion comps are fully programatic and you can create them via scripting.

I'd cut the product clips manually on the timeline (or automatically if there is no need for human editorial input). Then I'd have a script iterate through the timeline clips and create a Fusion comp for each. The comps would have a text presumably inherited from the clip name. And they would have the logos. I assume there is some pattern where you can assign certain logos to certain product names.

You wouldn't need to mess around with making an unbranded version yourself. You'd just run the script the second time with an option to not include the logos.

Another way to do this would be to edit in three layers like Marc suggests and then use scripting to handle the rendering for you. It would mark ins and outs, and inherit names from the clip names. Come think of it, this is a simpler solution of the two.
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Jan 11, 2020 10:58 am

Thank you Igor,

scripting could be a solution for future projects.
I will take a look at the possibilities and crosscheck the level of my python skills.

Chris
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Oct 23, 2021 8:03 am

Marc Wielage wrote:If you finish entirely within Resolve, you can do this a lot simpler, faster, and easier.
Hi again,

now I am ahead of the same job again.
Recording a live demonstration of a 200+ products and producing individual clips of each product in two versions (branded and unbranded).

The unbranded versions contains only the graded footage and the file name has to be the item number of the product.

The branded versions in addition containing the client logo (static) as well as an (animated) lower third in two lines (product name and item number). The filename has to be the item number as well.

The client provides an excel sheet containing the product names and item numbers.

I am not very satisfied with my current manual workflow.

@all: Please feel free to share you thoughts, tips and tricks!

I would love to do the complete grading and finishing within Resolve, but I would take different approaches in consideration.

I found this interesting one on Youtube:

Auto Generate Motion Graphics from a Spreadsheet


Thank you in advance!

Chris
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Andrew Kolakowski

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Oct 23, 2021 8:14 am

I dynamically generate DPP slates with ffmpeg, so very similar task.
It can babe done in many ways but about each requires special knowledge.
Look at this:
https://macrogenerator.azurewebsites.net
which may let you achieve what you need with Resolve.
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Oct 23, 2021 10:02 am

Andrew Kolakowski wrote:Look at this:
https://macrogenerator.azurewebsites.net
which may let you achieve what you need with Resolve.
Thank you Andrew, unfortunately I forgot to mention that I am working on a Mac and the tool you mentioned is only available for Windows.
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TheBloke

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Oct 23, 2021 10:45 am

On macOS check out Keyboard Maestro. It's not specifically for any one application, but it can create powerful macros to control any app. It can send keyboard shortcuts, move the mouse, click on things, read the screen to look for text (via OCR) or particular images at certain locations (like "if you see this icon at this co-ordinate, click on it"), and loads more.

https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/

There's also Resolve's own scripting API of course - if you're someone who codes a bit, or is interested to learn. It does have many limitations, so might not be able to do what you need. But it might be able to do part of it, and could then be combined with an external macro program like Keyboard Maestro.

Eg KM could trigger a Resolve script, wait for the script to finish, then finish off the task by doing keyboard shortcuts, mouse actions, whatever.
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Andrew Kolakowski

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSat Oct 23, 2021 11:22 am

ffmpeg -i sourcepath.mov -filter_complex "[0]split[base][text];[text]drawtext=fontfile=Arial.ttf:text='Mark Simson': fontcolor=white: fontsize=44: box=1: boxcolor=black@0.8:boxborderw=10:x=(200):y=(900),format=yuva444p,fade=t=in:25:st=0:s=125:alpha=1,fade=t=out:250:25:alpha=1[subtitles];[base][subtitles]overlay" -pix_fmt yuv422p10le -c:v prores -c:a pcm_s24le outfiele.mov


This will draw text which looks like this
Screenshot 2021-10-23 at 13.05.50.png
Screenshot 2021-10-23 at 13.05.50.png (278.93 KiB) Viewed 1442 times


You control: position (in pixels from top left corner), font type, font size, font color, box color and opacity (@0.8 value), box border (10 pixels). Then time it appears in video (s=125 in frame numbers, will be subtracted by fade in time), fade in/out times (both 25 frames here) and how long to keep text (this is difference between out:250 and s=125 frames, so 125 frames, but will be actually subtracted by 50 frames (25 for fading/out).
In example above overlay starts at 4 seconds (s=125-25 frames for fade in time) and last up to 9th second and then 1 sec fade out (so ends at 250th frame). Full visibility if from 5th to 9th second.
End result saved as ProRes and PCM.
You just now add bit of code which takes file after file with equivalent text and job done :D

I could write it for you (in Python), but not for free.
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Chris Maier

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSun Oct 24, 2021 4:49 pm

Thank you Andrew, thank you Tom,

I know I was also accepting solutions outside of DR, but I was hoping for a great workflow within DR.
(As @Marc Wielage challenged me / us ;-) )

So far I would / will use the CSV to Motion way, but I am not satisfied by using this kind of workaround.
I still have a few days to decide.

Thx
Chris
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Andrew Kolakowski

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Re: Editing 200+ compound clips - workflow advice?

PostSun Oct 24, 2021 6:48 pm

Resolve scripting is your fired, but I'm not sure if it's powerful enough (and you need to know Python).
I did not look into it, but I think it would not cover all your needs.

Resolve is not anymore just a grading tool, it can do much more today, but this may be bit too much for it.

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