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The Smoke Learning Blog

Workflow: XML & DPX Image Sequence conforming - 2011 style!!!

By - - Flame , Smoke
Duration
22 mins
Last modification: 16 Sep, 2017

Hi Everyone!!!!


I hope you all had a good week!!!! I did a fun Smoke for the Mac presentation in Amsterdam and special thanks to the Apple dudes for hosting us!
Right!!!! Down to business!!!

2011
Conforming Image Sequences into a Timeline


This popular request deals with using individual image files being used in a timeline as opposed to using movie files as part of the final conform in Smoke or Flame.


This workflow of using image sequences dates back quite far to the film days where 35mm negs where scanned by a film scanner which produced an image sequence (mostly DPX files) to be used in the conform. This is still being done today however there are so many workflows now that it is difficult to keep track of.


For example, we can work with Red R3D files natively but I have seen a lot of post facilities would grade directly onto the Red R3D files and render off a DPX image sequence which would be conformed at the finishing stage.


The main point in all of these workflows is that the typical creative cut/off-line stage never uses the image sequence but normally reference movie files (QuickTimes for FCP and MXFs for Avid). The key is to maintain the exact matching metadata between the reference movie files and the image sequence to make conforming the image sequence work properly.


In this video blog, I will take you through the workflow and point of the recommended steps you should follow to make image based conforming successful.


This might not be what you are doing in your daily work but it is informative and I do look at setting up import rules, search criteria and timeline formatting which is used in all sorts of conforming


This video blog is best viewed at 1:1 in full screen mode


The features shown are applicable to version 2011 of Flame and Smoke (Mac and Linux)


I hope this has been informative today and remember the 7 steps I mention at the end of the video blog!


I am back in Amsterdam again next week for AV Manifestatie so if you’re in the area please come and say hello but I will be back here very soon!!!


Stay safe where ever you are!!!!


Signing off


Grant
 

 

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Tags
  • Flame
  • Smoke
  • Resources
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Design Visualization

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12 Comments
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| 8 years ago
Thank you so much for the video, it is really helpful . I have no problem when working with MOV files by follow the steps, however, it doesn't work on my DPX files, I have exact same file name and I did the same thing as what I did on mov file, it just showed that the files is unlinked. Is there anything I am missing? would you please give me some advice on that? Thanks a lot!
Edited by KcfQKtZp 8 years ago
| 9 years ago
That makes sense. I will begin the media copy tonight and try the relink in my library after that. I can see this may take awhile if you have a large amount of files on your drive volume, but not sure which clips are needed for your EDL conform. I will post the results later. Thanks for all the help.
| 9 years ago
That's strange. It should not store a local copy if the option is off. Potentially it could be because you unlinked the old timeline and used it to relink the media. Try this approach. Start from scratch in a clear library. Import your edl with no media. Now switch to the gateway and browse to your media. Double click on one clip to call up its settings in the bottom UI. Check store local copy is off. Set your tape and timecode settings. Enable the dual screen split with the gateway and library. Drag and drop a clip from the gateway to the library. Confirm that the clip is not storing a local copy. One this is confirmed, drag all your media into the clip library. Do a relink from library. The EDL should link to the media. Now delete all the imported clips except the conformed timeline. This is absolutely safe. Now consolidate the timeline and store the timeline clip as a local copy. Good luck!
| 9 years ago
Hello Again. So, I have my unlinked EDL in my clip library and my Gateway open to my DPX sequences on the external drive. I have STORE LOCAL COPY disabled. With the EDL selected in my library reel I still hit Relink to Gateway right?. It still appears the files are coming in locally. I see the files pending in my library and backburner shows the files are coming in too. Is this right? Even though this is happening should I go ahead and consolidate the the EDL in the clip library, then hit store local copy? What about all the files coming into my library? Will they just be reference files. Sorry if there is any confusion. learning...
| 9 years ago
Thanks Grant! I'll give it a go and see how it works.
| 9 years ago
Hi, by consolidating the EDL before relinking might not do the trick because Smoke will still consider the DPX sequence a clip and wont just choose the bit based on the EDL's consolidation. What probably will work is if you do it a slightly different way :) Do not consolidate your EDL and relink it to the DPX media. The difference is that you do not store it as a local copy. This means that your footage will be instantly accessible and no space lost on the framestore because you're linking to the original files. Now that the timeline has linked to the remote media, go to the tools menu in the clip library. Select the consolidate option and consolidate the timeline to whatever head and tails you want. Finally you can go to the store media menu and click STORE LOCAL COPY. This means that Smoke will only store a local copy of the consolidated media and than you should be good to go.... Regards Grant
| 9 years ago
hello. I have a question in regards to Relinking media from an external hardrive or volume. I would like to bring in DPX files from an external hardrive with an EDL. I want to store a local copy, but only the file length (timecode) needed for the EDL to conform. I'm tying to save space on our framestore and not bring in the whole clip beyond what is needed for the EDL. Every time I hit relink from gateway, it brings in the whole clip, beyond the heads and tales. Hitting consolidate on the EDL before relink doesn't seem to help the problem. Is this possible? Thanks. ..and great tutorial.
| 9 years ago
Did I say /Great show of the xml/part! thx, Peter
| 9 years ago
Hi Peter, Select the timeline in the clip library. Go to the tools menu and you will see an option which says STORE MEDIA. Click on this menu button and choose STORE LOCAL COPY. This will start creating a localized version of the timeline in the background. You could load the timeline to the desktop to start working on it while the process takes place. As frames are localized, they will be instantly available to the timeline. Hope this helps. Regards Grant
| 9 years ago
Is there any way to stonifise the media once conformed and I am happy with it? I can´t find anything in the tool set. Peter Törnestam, The Chimney Pot - Stockholm, Sweden
| 10 years ago
Hi Marc. By metadata I am talking about tape name, timecode, file-resolution, bit-depth, framerate and aspect ratio. If all this metadata matches the metadata in the XML than you should be able to do a successful conform. If something does not match (with the exception of tape name and timecode which are crucial), it is still possible to conform bu the media will be subjected to unnecessary resizing. Hope this helps. Regards Grant
| 10 years ago
Grant, you say that all the meta-data must match. can you tell me EXACTLY what in the metadata needs to match? is it more than simply the TC and tape and tape name? thanks, Marc