AVID – How To Export an .aaf and QuickTime export to Davinci Resolve After Relinking to 2K or 4K Native files

NOTE THIS IS NOT A RELIABLE WORKFLOW IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER CODECS IN YOUR TIMELINE.

IF YOU HAVE FOOTAGE IN YOUR TIMELINE THAT WAS RECORDED ON THE Canon C100 (AVCHD,) (not C300 that is okay) Sony A7s (.mts) or F3 (AVCHD) or Canon 5D or 7D (.h264) or Panasonic HMC150 (AVCHD) or any other camera

that does not record ProRes or DNxHD or DNxHR then don't use this workflow.  Use this workflow 

AVID – How To Relink to your Original Camera Footage And Re-Transcode for Online Conform to UHD or 4K

This is for projects with footage that was shot using the Sony PMW F5, Panasonic Vericam LT or that was recorded on a PIX or Ninja or on the Arri internal SXS cards using the ProRes codec.

1. Duplicate the sequence and put in a new bin.

2. On the duplicate delete any titles you made in AVID.  Try to get all your video clips down to the V1 track and or V2 track.  If you can get the video track down to one that is easiest.

3. Next attempt to modify the video tracks down to 1 or 2 tracks if possible.

4. NEXT - Export DnxHD Quicktime for "Resolve" as reference

See this wikidoc How to make a DNxHD QuickTime

NOW PREP AND EXPORT THE TIMELINE FOR RESOLVE FOR COLOR GRADING

1. Close project and hide the AVID media files so that AVID doesn't relink to the old transcoded media. Change the name to the AVID MediaFiles folder.

   Change from this
   To This
   Relink to the Storage volume that the CAMERA ORIGINAL FILES  .r3d or ProRes or the Sony F5 XAVCHD files are on.  Go to >Tools>Source Browser
   Choose to Link not Import Navigate to the RAW Footage folder for each card Or each day of cards and the folder Locate the original Native Pro Res .movs QuickTimes or  XAVCHD or .r3D etc. Click on Link
   The clips will load into the Bin shown here from each card you linked to. Do this till all the cards are linked and the files appear in the bin.

   
   
   

   When all the cards are re-linked and loaded up in the bins Go to each of the bins and select all the footage in each bin by using the keyboard shortcut "command a" on a mac Do this in all the bins that contain your camera masters that are linked in AVID Once all that is done then> Open the Bin that contains your final duplicated sequence that you want to link the newly linked files to
   Right click the sequence to relink and choose Relink >Managed Media
   Use the standard relinking options after the AMA media has been mounted Choose Selected Items in All open bins Choose to relink by Tape Name or Source file Name
   If that doesn't work choose Choose to relink by Tape Name or Source file ID
   Change the timeline Clip Color to show AMA clips as a different color so you can make sure you are linked to the "Native" ProRes .mov QuickTimes Go to the Timeline "fast menu" Choose Clip Color
   Choose a color for the AMA clips and make sure the "checkbox" is checked for Linked Clips
   Notice in this timeline only part of the clips turned purple. You should have the entire timeline show purple clips so that you know all the clips are relinked.
   On AVID timeline, you can -Match Frame>Find Bin>Reveal File to double check the files are relinking back to the original native 2K or 4K camera files
   Once the media in the timeline is relinked to the Native Camera files the timeline should look purple (or whatever color you chose for AMA in clip color) showing that the files are relinked to AMA media. You now need to remove any "Color Transformations" or Resizing that you did in AVID because your want Resolve to have the most original version of the media. Select the timeline in the bin > Go to Clip > Refresh Sequence > All This will remove all the LUTS, Resizing, TimeWarps etc. . . Note here if you have a timewarp effect (slo mo or speed up) it's best to "Bake In that shot" What this means is export that shot with the motion effect as a "ProRes" QuickTime and then bring it back in and overwrite that clip in the sequence.
   Check to see if your timeline has any multicam edits. Right click the timeline and choose Commit Multicam Edits
   Click OK here on this message The sequence will be copied and the group edits committed
   If you don't have any grouped clips then no modifications will be made but it is good to check because Resolve won't work with an .aaf that is exported from a sequence with grouped clips
   Last put the space back into AVID MediaFiles so your audio and Offline media comes back online
   Back in AVID The next step is to export the .aaf Go to >File > Export
   Note when exporting a .aaf for a "ProRes" AMA linked timeline you can only use the "Link To" method
   To create the .AAF file from a ProRes.mov AMA linked timeline Choose LINK TO on both Audio and Video Must have Link To selected as the "Export Method" for both the Video/Data Details and the Audio Details tabs shown here
   The .aaf for the color correction. Example shown here.	You will have to bring all the original "Native" Quicktimes that you relinked the timeline to and this .aaf to the Resolve color correction session. Ex: bring the hard drive with the quicktimes on it and this .aaf file
   The deliverable for the "Resolve" session will be the folder or folders that contain the ProRes .mov files and the .aaf file	See this link for instruction on how to import the .aaf and media into Resolve.  Davinci Resolve - Final Conform and Color Correction Project Setup - Import .aaf or .xml and Quicktime