Blackmagic Forum

Hello everyone!

I usually don't post on forums unless I have exhausted every solution or other forum thread first. Any tips to solving this would be greatly appreciated.

SUMMARY:
DaVinci Resolve will not re-link back to original source files (Black Magic Cinema Camera DNG files) when roundtripping back from Avid Media Composer via AAF.

BACKGROUND:
We shot a film using the Black Magic Cinema Camera in RAW. I am using DaVinci 9.1.1lite.013 to conform the footage to DNxHD36 for offline editing the film in Avid Media Composer 6.5.0. After the edit is complete, I will bring back to DaVinci to grade off the original DNG source files from the BMCC.

THE ISSUE:
Roundtrip from Avid to Davinci using an AAF file will not work. When importing the AAF, Davinci claims that, for example, "4 of 4 clips were not found," despite me selecting the proper folder where the source DNG footage is.

CURRENT WORKFLOW:
I have tested this several times before committing a full project to it, which is why I'm now confused how it is not working. The workflow is based mainly off this YouTube post.



1. Shoot BMCC
2. In DaVinci, open reel in Media Pool, basic one-light color grade and Render all clips to MXF DNxHD36 clips (placed in AvidMediaFiles folder "2"), then export AAF sequence for Avid.
3. In Avid, import AAF sequence to ingest new MXF files. Edit movie.
4. In Avid, export sequence as AAF, checking "AAF Edit Protocol"
5. In DaVinci, import AAF sequence, checking "Automatically set project settings, Automatically import source clips into media pool, Ignore file extensions when matching, and Link to source camera files"
*This is where DaVinci tells me that it cannot find the files.*
6. Render graded sequence as MXF DNxHD at highest resolution, and export AAF for transfer back to Avid.
7. In Avid, import AAF to link to new online MXF files.

In my initial tests with the Black Magic files, this workflow worked several times. I could use DaVinci to grade the original DNG files and then export to better MXF DNxHD files for final Online work. However, it will not work now and I do not know why.

ATTEMPTS TO FIX ISSUE:
I have tried every combination of unchecking/checking those boxes in steps 4 and 5 with the same results. The only exception is when I uncheck "Ignore file extensions when matching, and Link to source camera files" which links the sequence back to the low-res, MXF DNxHD36 files.


I am currently stuck without any other solution to online my edit from the Black Magic DNG source footage.

Does anyone have a clue as far as how to fix this problem? Or perhaps is there a better way to go from an offline Avid sequence to DaVinci that can re-link to the source DNG files that I specify?

Thank you in advance for your patience and support.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Barry


Avid Media Composer 6.5.0
DaVinci Resolve 9.1.1lite.013
Apple iMac 27" 3.6 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB DDR3 RAM
OS X 10.8.4
G-Drive 2 TB

Hi BDogBogo,

I'm having someone look into this for you.

Thank you Tony!

Please let me know if you need any more information. I will be checking this post throughout the day.

UPDATE WITH SOLUTION

Good news everyone! I think I may have found the solution.

The short explanation is this:

• In Davinci, locate the reel(s) that you require to conform and "Add Folder to Media Pool" prior to importing the AAF in the Conform panel.
• When DaVinci asks you to select another folder to search, CLICK NO.


Here is a LONG explanation of what I believe I was doing wrong and how I discovered the solution:

From what I can tell, I was operating in DaVinci without having clips already in the Media Pool, so when I imported the AAF, DaVinci just couldn't put the pieces together.

In my experiments to find a solution, I chose a sequence in Avid that had two scenes. These two scenes used 2 reels of footage ("Day 2 Card 1", and "Day 2 Card 2").

In DaVinci, I opened the "Day 2 Card 1" project that I used originally to export the low-res MXF files. Curious, I thought, "Hey, maybe the AAF will work if I used the original project itself?" So I gave it a whirl, and after importing the AAF (with settings same as above - Ignore extensions & Link to source camera files) I got the same dialogue box saying that clips could not be found. HOWEVER, I decided to click NO this time, and when I closed the dialogue box, DaVinci found the clips. I clicked "Find in Media Pool" on the clips and discovered that DaVinci was referencing the DNG files! Success!!

Bouncing off this discovery, I opened a brand new project in DaVinci. Instead of importing AAF right away, I first located the two reels that I needed and added them both to the Media Pool. Then, upon importing the AAF, DaVinci opened the same warning dialogue box:

"17 of 17 clips were not found. Do you want to select another folder to search?"

I again clicked NO.

The second dialogue box appears with the following:
- Several yellow boxes state that the mxf files "can't be found."
- Green box next to "0 of 17 clips have been found"
- Green box next to "0 source clip(s) have been imported into the media pool."
- Green box next to "Use Offline_Reel01AB as the new timeline name."

RESULT: DaVinci populated the timeline with my edit using the original camera DNG files.

I know this is a very detailed explanation, but in case someone else has a similar issue, I figure it wouldn't hurt to share it so it's online in the forums.

Thanks for reading. You may now consider this DaVinci issue resolved.

No pun intended.