Avid Media Dailies Using Resolve - rec709 camera footage

Make necessary changes in the following area in the Project Settings.

Master Settings

Color Management 

General Options

Master Settings

set Timeline Resolution to the resolution you plan on using in Avid for the offline edit. Most likely 1920x1080

set the Timeline Frame Rate to match your footage and frame rate you will be using for offline edit in Media Composer.

Color Management

make sure Color Science is set to DaVinci YRGB

make sure Timeline Color Space is set to Rec.709 (Scene)

make sure Output Color Space is set to Same As Timeline

make sure Input Lookup Table is set to No LUT Selected

make sure Output Lookup Table is set to No LUT Selected

General Options

check the box for Assist using reel names from the:

select the radio button for Source Clip Filename

Your other defaults should all be fine. If you have further questions about the project settings please contact Tech Services.

Once done click Save

Now to import your footage into your project.

Select the Media page at the bottom of the interface.

In the Media Storage browser window navigate to your footage.

I usually just import all the footage in all together. But you can organize your footage how ever you like into bins down in the Media Pool. (If you have questions how to do that then please contact Tech Services)

To import all your footage to one bin, navigate to the top folder that holds all your footage you wish to process. This could be a Day folder or a folder above that which contains all the Day folders.

Right click and choose Add Folder and SubFolder into Media Pool

Once your clips are added to the Media Pool make sure the Reel Name is correctly filled in.

Since your footage is already in rec709 you will not need to apply any LUT or CST to your footage.

If you have footage that does not match your project/timeline frame rate it is assumed that it was meant to be slow-motion footage. You will need to select all clips that do not match the project/timeline frame rate, right click, and choose Clip Attributes.

Then set the Video Frame Rate to match your project/timeline frame rate.

At this point you can sync your clips to your production audio if you like. I personally prefer to do my audio sync in Media Composer. But to each their own. If you want to sync your clips to production audio now, then please refer to the wiki on syncing audio in Resolve.

Next, you will select all your clips and then right click and select Create New Timeline Using Selected Clips.

Go ahead and name the timeline. I usually do something like…

ProjectName_AllFootage_YYYYMMDD    or    

Proj_Day#_YYYYMMDD

Proj_Day#_Cam#_YYYYMMDD

But choose something that you can use later to identify what the timeline contains.

Load the Timeline in the Edit Page.

At this point I often just strip off any audio that may have been recorded on camera, but you can keep it if you like. Either way is fine.

While on the Edit Page go up to the Media Pool and right click on the timeline and choose Timelines > Export > ALE.

Save the ALE to a place you will be able to access to import into Media Composer.

Next you can go to the Color page and set any Output Blanking you may want.

Next you can choose to add a burn-in of your source timecode and source file name for visual comparison later when doing your conform.

Go up to the Workspace menu and select Data Burn-In.

A window will open that you can use to add all sorts of data. I usually use Source Timecode and Source Clip Name. You can then set your font, color, position, etc. If you want to save your setting to use again you can click on the three dots in the upper right of this window. (NOTE: this setting will be local to the computer you are working on)

The next step is to do the Delivery/Export/Rendering to Avid media.

Go to the Delivery Page and make sure the timeline you want to export is loaded (if you have more than one timeline).

First you need to select a location to Render/Export to. So click on the Browse button and navigate to where you want your Avid media to render to. This does not have to be your final Avid MediaFiles folder. It can be anywhere and you can move the files later.

Next, under the Video options set the following:

Individual Clips

√ next to Export Video

Format: MXF OP-Atom

Codec: DNxHR

Type: DNxHR LB (or your preferred type - if you need explanations of the difference see the Wiki on the difference in the Avid codecs)

Resolution: Timeline Resolution

√ next to Use Constant Bit Rate

If you want to use or not use burn-in you set that under the Advanced Settings. Choose your choice from the Data Burn-In drop down. You have the option of Same as Project, None, or a saved preset.

Now move on to the Audio options.

√ next to Export Audio if you are planing on exporting audio, uncheck if you are not planning on exporting audio. (I usually uncheck it because I sync in Media Composer)

Codec: Linear PCM

Channels: Same as source

Bit Depth: 24

Now move on to the File options.

Filenames use: Source name

your other options should be fine.

Once you have all your settings done click on the Add to Render Queue button at the bottom left.

This will add your job to the Render Queue on the upper right.

Do this for each timeline you wish to render.

Once ready, select all you jobs you wish to render so they have a white box around them and then click the Render All button at the bottom of the list of jobs.

This will create all your Avid media for the clips.

Once the render/export is done you can quit out of Resolve.

Next, navigate to where the media was created and move/copy it to your Avid MediaFiles/MXF/# folder. If you need assistance with knowing where this is see the wiki that covers Avid media management.

Now launch Avid Media Composer. Open or Make a new project. The resolution and frame rate should be the same as what you chose in Resolve.

In a new Bin import the ALE.

You should now have all your clips in your bin, but they will be offline. You now need to relink them. One thing to note is that the entry in the Tape column for each clip should match the Name of the clip, sans the file extension.

To relink your clips to the media that you rendered and moved to the correct media file folder you should select all the clips that were created in the new bin by the ALE and right click, then choose Relink>Managed Media.

This will open a window that has a few settings you need to check.

In the Relink selected items to: section

Media on drive: Choose the drive where you copied the media to in the Avid MediaFiles folder.

UNcheck the option Relink only to media from the current project.

In the Relink by: section

Confirm that Timecode is set to Start

Confirm that Source Name is set to Tape Name or Source File ID

√ the box next Ignore extension

UNcheck the box next to Match case shenanigans comparing source name

The other defaults should be fine.

Click OK

Your clips should now all be online.

You can now sync your production audio.