Project sharing Formats (AAF, MXF, OMF, etc) Are they useful?

Maybe we should start a table. What software exports what format best to work with in other software.

Great idea! I recently had a long back and forth getting an AAF to work from Premiere in either Nuendo or PT’s HD. Editor finally found a solution by downgrading his Adobe rig to the previous version. OMF’s however seem to transfer flawlessly from any version of Premiere. I have had only one editor successfully send an AAF from Resolve and that took a good 3 or 4 tries before he got it right. john

I never really had problems with AAF from Premiere, if the editor knows how to export it. I deal mostly with AAFs from premiere. Nuendo 8 made problems in the beginning, but they get solved very fast. Maybe sit down with your editor, check his work, try things out.

Before you do anything, you must specify what exactly is working and not working.
For example, someone might claim that the export from FCPx through X2Pro works just fine, but that’s only half of the story.
The files might be in their correct place, but all metadata from the original files is stripped, leaving anyone who needs to conform or reconform dead in the water. So there is export/import of files, file & track information, fades, automation, clip gain and metadata.
And probably a few others I have forgotten…

So it’s a hell of a job.
Fredo

Next stop for mankind is Mars it seems, and down here, we’re not even able to make an easy export format that “just works”.

Yeah, I agree with Fredo. It actually gets a bit complicated and it gets so pretty quickly. I recently had a job where media exported/imported fine via AAF into Pro Tools… except the video editor had left “tracks” “muted” or whatever it was called (Premiere) and so media wasn’t exported. A strange concept to me, as it would seem intuitive that any selected track gets its media exported regardless of whether or not it is muted. You’d think that media should get exported and included in the AAF, only with those track’s regions muted. But no.

So, there are a bunch of combinations that we encounter in real life over time that aren’t obvious when doing testing… I still think it’s worth doing though.

I recently upgraded my computer and installed DaVinci Resolve, so if there’s a concerted effort (or not) I can probably go through media exchange between Nuendo 7 and Resolve 14 and post results for those that are interested. I think we’ll see more content coming out of Resolve in the future, though clearly less than the other three…

Latest Resolve AAF export works fine. But the way to create a AAF in Resolve is pretty complicated.
Just did a complete movie. Worked more-ore less OK.

Fredo

Yeah,i think to a large degree it’s not our job teaching editors how to operate their software, but many times that may be easier than dealing with failed exports. So it may be worth while noting procedures that work as well as any pitfalls or restrictions.

In my limited test, Resolve 14.2 now exports PT AAF with handles correctly.

AAF from Premiere version 11.xxx seems to be doing ok. If they’ve upgrading to v12 you’re buggered. Or they are, whichever way you see it…

I usually recommend AAF when people are sending me stuff from Premiere because that’ll keep the automation, but having had to go back to OMF half the time to get the projects across, it’s actually a blessing in disguise getting it without the automation. :wink: