Cross NLE transfers

Matt Brabender · September 28th, 2005, 12:09 AM

I have a project being worked in Sony Vegas which needs to be loaded into Premiere Pro 1.5 and Avid Xpress Pro HD.

How do I do this?

The project at the moment is PAL dv25, stills and audio (dv & narration).

Any pointers in the right direction would be grand.

Thanks :)

Christopher Lefchik · September 28th, 2005, 10:09 AM

I suppose you mean that you need the project transferred, with edits preserved, so that you can make further changes. You can do this with an EDL list. An even better option would be to save the project file as an Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) file, as I believe AAF can transfer more project information than an EDL list can. I believe Premiere Pro and Avid support AAF; I would think Vegas could, though you will have to check.

Still, be aware that not all project information can be transferred between different editing programs using EDL and AAF, especially when it comes to more advanced features likes effects.

Matt Brabender · September 28th, 2005, 05:40 PM

I was reading about EDL's in vegas and it said the one it generates isn't suitable for other programs, so I guess it has to be AAF.
We tried saving the vegas project as AAF and importing it into Avid. It imports all the clips and media but everything is offline.
How do I sort this out?

Premiere gives us an error "The importer reported a generic error" and then nothing happens.

Any clues?

I'm not too concerned with having every last detail of the project transfer, it's just to see the outline and where the cuts are.

Christopher Lefchik · October 3rd, 2005, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Brabender

We tried saving the vegas project as AAF and importing it into Avid. It imports all the clips and media but everything is offline.
How do I sort this out?

You will need to relink your offline clips in Avid back to the original source files. I've never used Avid so I can't give the steps on how to do this; you will need to check the Avid help file to find out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Brabender

Premiere gives us an error "The importer reported a generic error" and then nothing happens.

Hmmm, I don't know. Are there any AAF format options when exporting AAF from Vegas? Perhaps some of them need to be changed so that Premiere Pro will import the project file. I've never exported AAF before so I don't know.

Richard Alvarez · October 3rd, 2005, 04:54 PM

If you imported the AAF files only, then of course, there is no media connected to them so it is all "off line". You will have to capture/import the media for the clips as well. They will be captured as OMFI files. Then they can be relinked to your time line... bob's your uncle, it's done. But again, don't expect more than cuts or dissolves to transfer. Effects are very different from system to system.

Matt Brabender · October 3rd, 2005, 05:16 PM

oh ok
I thought because I had the original avi's etc... available on the hard drive that I would be able to relink the bin items and avid would transfer them to omfi files.
So I have to either recapture or physically copy the original avi's into the bin and wait for them to be transfered to omfi?

cuts are all we want at the moment so that's cool

Richard Alvarez · October 3rd, 2005, 05:57 PM

You either have to recapture the clips, or convert them from Quicktime source. Avi won't do. Avid looks for OMFI files

Matt Brabender · October 3rd, 2005, 07:11 PM

ah ok - I always thought avi was almost a universal kind of file.

I did drag and drop some avi's into the bin and it said it was converting, but the relink function didn't find those - do I have to name them specifically to match the clip names or should avid find them?

I keep getting this message when trying to recapture using the "batch capture function" ... "cannot perform this capture because the current preroll value for this deck would cause the preroll point to be set before 00:00:00:00
You need to advance the IN point, or set a custom preroll for this operation

I followed the manual instruction but cannot find the preroll method pop up menu

Sean McHenry · October 4th, 2005, 07:44 AM

QuickTime ref files? Send the timeline out as a QT Ref file? Suck that into whatever needs the files next and keep the process going?

I have never had to do that but you might give it a try. That's how I get files from my Avid to Sorenson, Canopus ProCoder and Encore DVD.

I have sent segments from Avid to Premiere Pro in the past for various effects I didn't have in Avid. Re encode them on output from Premiere as DV or QT Ref files and reimported them as new clips into Avid. You should be able to move DV footage and QT Ref files without quality loss. They stay digital throughout the process.

Sean McHenry

Richard Alvarez · October 4th, 2005, 08:42 AM

Matt,

The timeline and AAF file, have specific names and timecodes for the clips. If a clip was named Real One or R1.09.20 or such, then the imported or captured clips MUST have the same names. If you don't name them, they will remane 'offline'. If you name them incorrectly, then the sequence will be assembled incorrectly.

A Quicktime Reference file, is just that... a 'reference' file. It does not contain media. When you export a QT reference file from avid to sorenson, what the system exports is a file, that REFERENCES the media that's on the hard drive. It does not, in fact, contain any media. But it is a smaller file because of that. A Quicktime Reference file, moved to another workstation where the media is not present, will not have a 'reference' to link to, and will be useless.

Matt Brabender · October 4th, 2005, 10:51 PM

I think that may be the best option - to export a QT reference of the timeline.

Thanks for your help and patience :)

Michael Best · January 3rd, 2007, 08:17 PM

Any advancement with the AAF issue a year later? So it's just a marker and doesn't contain any info? How is info saved as an OMFI file?

September 28th, 2005, 12:09 AM	#1
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	Cross NLE transfers - how? I have a project being worked in Sony Vegas which needs to be loaded into Premiere Pro 1.5 and Avid Xpress Pro HD. How do I do this? The project at the moment is PAL dv25, stills and audio (dv & narration). Any pointers in the right direction would be grand. Thanks :)

October 3rd, 2005, 07:11 PM	#8
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	ah ok - I always thought avi was almost a universal kind of file. I did drag and drop some avi's into the bin and it said it was converting, but the relink function didn't find those - do I have to name them specifically to match the clip names or should avid find them? I keep getting this message when trying to recapture using the "batch capture function" ... "cannot perform this capture because the current preroll value for this deck would cause the preroll point to be set before 00:00:00:00 You need to advance the IN point, or set a custom preroll for this operation I followed the manual instruction but cannot find the preroll method pop up menu Last edited by Matt Brabender; October 3rd, 2005 at 08:08 PM.

October 4th, 2005, 07:44 AM	#9
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	QuickTime ref files? Send the timeline out as a QT Ref file? Suck that into whatever needs the files next and keep the process going? I have never had to do that but you might give it a try. That's how I get files from my Avid to Sorenson, Canopus ProCoder and Encore DVD. I have sent segments from Avid to Premiere Pro in the past for various effects I didn't have in Avid. Re encode them on output from Premiere as DV or QT Ref files and reimported them as new clips into Avid. You should be able to move DV footage and QT Ref files without quality loss. They stay digital throughout the process. Sean McHenry __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

September 28th, 2005, 10:09 AM	#2
Christopher Lefchik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: US Posts: 1,152	I suppose you mean that you need the project transferred, with edits preserved, so that you can make further changes. You can do this with an EDL list. An even better option would be to save the project file as an Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) file, as I believe AAF can transfer more project information than an EDL list can. I believe Premiere Pro and Avid support AAF; I would think Vegas could, though you will have to check. Still, be aware that not all project information can be transferred between different editing programs using EDL and AAF, especially when it comes to more advanced features likes effects.

September 28th, 2005, 05:40 PM	#3
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	I was reading about EDL's in vegas and it said the one it generates isn't suitable for other programs, so I guess it has to be AAF. We tried saving the vegas project as AAF and importing it into Avid. It imports all the clips and media but everything is offline. How do I sort this out? Premiere gives us an error "The importer reported a generic error" and then nothing happens. Any clues? I'm not too concerned with having every last detail of the project transfer, it's just to see the outline and where the cuts are.

October 3rd, 2005, 04:54 PM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	If you imported the AAF files only, then of course, there is no media connected to them so it is all "off line". You will have to capture/import the media for the clips as well. They will be captured as OMFI files. Then they can be relinked to your time line... bob's your uncle, it's done. But again, don't expect more than cuts or dissolves to transfer. Effects are very different from system to system.

October 3rd, 2005, 05:16 PM	#6
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	oh ok I thought because I had the original avi's etc... available on the hard drive that I would be able to relink the bin items and avid would transfer them to omfi files. So I have to either recapture or physically copy the original avi's into the bin and wait for them to be transfered to omfi? cuts are all we want at the moment so that's cool

October 3rd, 2005, 05:57 PM	#7
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	You either have to recapture the clips, or convert them from Quicktime source. Avi won't do. Avid looks for OMFI files

October 4th, 2005, 08:42 AM	#10
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Matt, The timeline and AAF file, have specific names and timecodes for the clips. If a clip was named Real One or R1.09.20 or such, then the imported or captured clips MUST have the same names. If you don't name them, they will remane 'offline'. If you name them incorrectly, then the sequence will be assembled incorrectly. A Quicktime Reference file, is just that... a 'reference' file. It does not contain media. When you export a QT reference file from avid to sorenson, what the system exports is a file, that REFERENCES the media that's on the hard drive. It does not, in fact, contain any media. But it is a smaller file because of that. A Quicktime Reference file, moved to another workstation where the media is not present, will not have a 'reference' to link to, and will be useless.

October 4th, 2005, 10:51 PM	#11
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	I think that may be the best option - to export a QT reference of the timeline. Thanks for your help and patience :)

January 3rd, 2007, 08:17 PM	#12
Michael Best Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Oceanside Harbor, CA Posts: 446	Any advancement with the AAF issue a year later? So it's just a marker and doesn't contain any info? How is info saved as an OMFI file?