Splice Now

I recently stumbled on a whole new set of features in Adrenaline, and now, having spent a couple of hours with the help files, I’m confused. Avid has obviously spent a lot of effort on this, but the new capabilities are explained so awkwardly that I’m not surprised nobody I know is aware of them. It seems that the features could work in a typical feature or TV environment, but not until more functionality is added.

MultiRez and Dynamic Relink allow you to create two sets of media files, one, say at 14:1 and the other at 1:1 — that apply to the same master clips. You can edit with the 14:1 media and just use the 1:1 material for output. The system will automatically switch from one to the other depending on what you’re trying to do. Sounds pretty good huh? Why didn’t anybody tell us about this?

The answer begs the question of how existing editors learn (or don’t learn) about new features in Media Composer. This applies to all kinds of new capabilities, many of which are underutilized in Hollywood. Examples include sophisticated effects like SpectraMatte (way better than the old Avid Chroma Key Effect) or the new motion tracker, or timewarp motion effects, as well as much more mundane stuff like volume graphing or clip colorizing (described here).

Avid’s help files are broken up into little chunks of information, with the result that you often have to wade through a lot of pages before you get an overview of a new feature and how you might actually use it. MultiRez is no exception.

MultiRez allows you to associate multiple media files with the same master clip, and, even better, allows you to have sections of a master clip available at various resolutions. That’s revolutionary and could be the foundation for a slick DI conforming engine. But one key feature appears to be missing — the ability to re-digitize a sequence without decomposing.

The docs imply that MultiRez is aimed at news environments and “is available only on Avid editing systems that have the Avid Interplay Media Indexer installed.” I guess that means that it requires Interplay, and that’s probably why nobody I know has heard of it.

I’m hoping that Avid makes this facility available to the rest of us. It sure would make the conforming process simpler. Meanwhile, the help files need some redesign. Most important, it’s time that we take a thorough look at how existing editors learn about Media Composer improvements. New features don’t help if nobody knows they’re there.

Technorati Tags: avid, edit, film, video

Much as I want to love Adrenaline, we’ve had our share of problems in the last couple of weeks, all related to turnover — problems with OMFs, EDLs and cut lists, as follows:

OMFs — If you want to deliver OMF media to sound and any of your media is MXF, you won’t be able to export. MC offers no help — you just bomb — and you’ll have to suss the problem out for yourself, cutting your sequences down and redoing the export until you finally find the errant clip or clips. This is a double gotcha since MC really wants to create MXF media now, and you have to turn off MXF file creation in several hidden places to make sure you don’t get any (see this post for details). In our case, it was a sound effect clip. Check your media drives and look for an “Avid MediaFiles” folder (as opposed to an “OMF MediaFiles” folder). Your MXF files are going to be in there.

EDLs — In MC version 2.7.2 and 2.7.3 you simply can’t make audio EDLs. Yes, you read that right. You’ll crash or see an error message. The solution is to upgrade to version 2.7.5 or 2.7.6. Loading a newer version of EDL Manager won’t work. In our case, after an upgrade to EDL Manager 23.7.5 we were unable to run MC at all and had to revert both MC and EDLM. For your system to work properly MC and EDLM versions must match (that is, the digits after the dot must be identical — MC 2.7.6 goes with EDLM 23.7.6). If you don’t want to upgrade MC (we’re in a critical period and can’t risk it), the workaround is to load a later version of EDLM on a standalone system and make your lists from there.

Film Lists — Unless you’re satisfied with Avid’s Web template you’ll crash when you try to make a list in FilmScribe 23.7.2. The solution is to replace your FilmScribe template folder with a new one from Avid. The problem is that most vendors don’t know about the fix, but I’m told that MC 2.7.6 / FS 23.7.6 includes it.

All in all, this is not much of a testament to Avid’s ability to test their software in a real-world, Hollywood-style environment. Turnover to sound and online/DI is mission-critical for us and when we need to do it, we need to do it now. And it’s not much of a testament to the now-forgotten decision to split off FilmScribe as a separate application. One key rationale was that as a standalone ap, it could be updated more quickly. But if we can only use the version that matches the installed version of MC that rational doesn’t hold up.

The silver lining to all of this is that MC 2.7.6 is supposed to be stable and fast and include a host of bug fixes — including everything mentioned here. I’m hopeful, but only time will tell.

Technorati Tags: avid, edit, film, video