Editor is doing a Cutdown in Resolve. What export formats to request?

Matchbox
#1

Hi -

What would “Letter to the editor” look like for DaVinci Resolve?
I know it’s sort of addressed in the bottom of the letter, but I wonder if this info is still best practice.

Are we getting reliable AAFs from Resolve?
Does it do XML export?
I had horrible experiences w/ an older version botching pro tools transfers, tho I’m told it’s “better now”

proposed Idea is:
The editor and director cut down the show w/ mix stems loaded, then supply some sort of edit list format which I load into Matchbox and conform from.

As it’s a doc produciton, probably voice will conform differently from sync sound (aka interviews cut over other material) so it’ll be multiple conforms for “DIA-VO” vs “DIA-SYNC + PFX + FX”

-jeremiah

#2

Good point. Resolve recently added support for OpenTimelineIO (OTIO) which Matchbox already supports. SO that would be my recommendation. Initially, their exports weren’t 100% awesome but I think that’s been “resolved” and it’s definitely going to be better than their AAF exports.

From the OTIO sequence of the new cut you’d load into the NEW timeline of Matchbox, select the clips for DX stem, FX stem or whatever make sense… and “Promote Selected…” from the Matches menu.

Seems like an extra step, but it makes sense once you try it and offers lots of flexibility about which stems you use to conforms different tracks.

#3

This is my workflow sheet I send to editors I work with. A screenshot of Resolve settings is included.

#4

Excellent! Thanks for sharing that.

I work largely in documentary style forms, and source audio is rarely consistent and orderly, so I don’t use sound metadata always, and have not dug into the details of what makes it work and what breaks it. So I appreciate your details on that front.

I’ve had mixed results with soundfile metadata coming from Premiere via AAF; certainly external WAV is the best.

OTIO is a new format to me; I’m not sure who is supporting it. Could be promising, then again I sometimes fall into a consipiracy theory that companies constrain interoparability as a business strategy.

-jeremiah

#5

OTIO is an effort (initially from Pixar) to standardise timeline data between all the different DAWs, NLEs, VFX pipelines. I think we were the first to support it in a real product, but we are now seeing it start to arrive in other products like Resolve.

It has its limitations, but it’s an open source project which will get better with time. Right now I’d say that’s the best bet to get from Resolve -> Matchbox.

#6

interested in you concern and warning about video tracks in the AAF:

“• TIP: When exporting an AAF file, it’s preferable to remove all video files from the sequence before
initiating the export. Numerous errors can occur if picture is kept present in the session.”

Video tracks can make matching in Matchbox really powerful and removes the need for EDLs. That said… AAFs can be flakey depending on which NLE they are coming from.

#7

In my experience here:

From Premiere: Video in AAF can be flaky.
I always request XML from Premiere, and have had good experiences with that.

From AVID, I’ve had good experiences with AAF. It’s so simple, it makes me happy.

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