Exploring XML Conform Options in DaVinci Resolve

Very helpful series.

One thing I like to do with the reference track is to change the composite mode of the reference clip to ‘difference’. If the reference is a perfect match that should result in a solid black output. If there are any differences they will show up as ghosting. It’s a lot faster to spot that then any other opacity/crop technique. At least for the initial survey.

Lastly, I’m wondering if using other formats than XML between Premiere and Resolve are more up to date? I know AAF is supported by both, but have tried recently if that yields to better results.

Careful merging down the 2nd video track because you don’t know if there were transparency or layer effects applied to v2.

I agree with Greg, watch those transparencies on track 2 they have bitten me more than once.

Further, I don’t understand why I am liking this series so much.
I’ve had my fair share of difficult conformes and am so glad they occur less these days. And jet, I really enjoy watching Patrick problem solve his way out of this one.

Do you have any suggestions on how to make your client understand the difficulties of conform?
I notice that most of my clients (even editors) don’t understand that conform takes time and has to be done with care.
They act as if it might be a problem with Resolve or even me, and that it should just work.

Also, @Patrick, have you moved away from working with the offline reference clip completely?
If so, can you tell me a little about that decision?

100% correct! I may add some VO into this Insight, saying such since it comes across as a little cavalier as I watch this back with fresh eyes.

At the start of every job I make a *very big point* of always asking the editor if they have ANY multi-track effects I need to know about? If the answer is yes, then I go shot-by-shot when simplifying the timeline – verifying that there isn’t a multi-track effect I’m about to blow away.

In ‘Giants’, the editor specifically said, as I was dong the original conform, “Sorry, I forgot to remove the video tracks for the soundbites on Track 1. You can delete all of those.”

Of course, I never trust that the editor hasn’t forgotten – so we’ll catch this problem in the next Insight as we verify the timeline against the Offline Reference movie.

There’s a German word for enjoying watching the suffering of others – especially if you’ve suffered the same 🙂 I can’t spell it so I wont try – but here’s the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

When I quote a job, I always quote the Conform separately from the Grade. When I quote a full day for Conform and a full day for Delivery on a 2-hour timeline… this really motivates the client to have their editor do most of the work of getting whipping the timeline into shape for me.

Once a client understands the cost of the Conform, they can make the choice to switch to the easier flat-file ‘baked’ workflow or this more complicated individual shot ‘unique filenames with handles’ workflow.

RE: Offline Reference – I still use it. But not during the conform. You’ll see why as we wrap this up in a few Insights from now (I’ve got two more Insights on this topic recorded and at least one more after that).

Jan – 100%!

I LOVE the Difference mode. I don’t like using it when it’s a long timeline and the Conform is my first opportunity to watch the ‘locked’ picture. With Difference you just see a black screen. If I don’t know the job, then the Conform serves double-duty, allowing me to learn the content as well as verify the XML import.

I’ll go over the Difference mode in this series, thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks Patrick,

I’ll be sure to emphasize the conform phase more when I quote a new project. And I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the next parts.

As to the Schadenfreude; (we have a similar word in Dutch)
I’d like you to know that I do not soo much take pleasure in your suffering, but feel comforted by the fact that I’m not the only one to get into these situations.

Anyway, Thank you for sharing!

i am curious why you stopped working with the reference movie function. i do love it and use it all the time. and why didn’t you use the use reel name from filename option but startet all over again? isn’t it a better starting place to have certain clips clearly offline? (because the file isn’t found!).

but else, yes, a little bit of schadenfreude sweetens the day 🙂

Hi Patrick

I tend to do Premiere to Resolve conforms all the time and my method is to prep what I can in Premiere first before going into Resolve. So I just duplicate the offline timeline and make a Resolve prep copy. From there I flatten the timeline to V1 (leaving any transparencies on V2 if they are there). I also put my Offline ref movie in my prep timeline, that way it carries across with the xml and I don’t need to add it later. I have noticed that resizing issues can many times be due to editors using “Scale to frame size” rather than “Set to frame size” in Prem. I’m enjoying this series.

Jon – Thanks for that ‘Scale to Frame Size’ vs ‘Set to Frame Size’ Tip! That may make it’s own Insight once I’ve explored it a bit more!

Yes, I always try to have the editor do ALL this work (although I don’t ask them to put the Ref Movie in, since I’m already having them do enough work). They know the material. They know what elements can be dropped to V1 and what needs to stay on multiple tracks. They don’t have to make guesses about anything, since no one knows the job better than they do.

In this case, Mike did follow my instructions – but forgot to delete the extraneous V1 stuff. And when working with outside clients, this happens all the time. No matter how explicit or well written your instructions – steps get skipped or overlooked. Especially since they frequently don’t know the ‘why’ of what we’re asking. To them, it looks like ‘busy work’.

As you’ll see soon enough – I haven’t stopped working with the ‘Add As Reference Movie’ command. I just use it later in the pipeline. At the end of this series I’ll cover odds and ends from these comments… including a bigger discussion on this topic as well as effectively using the ‘Difference’ mode when conforming.

It would be nice if the “Edit Index” view had an indicator that flagged any clips that have been adjusted in the inspector at all. That way when conforming there would be an easy way to jump to the clips that need special consideration.

Regarding AAF exports – I find they rarely are more reliable since they contain less information about our timelines than most XML formats. AAF is fine for straight-cuts and dissolves timelines. But if the XML fails on import, the AAF will likely fail since the metadata that AAF defines is much more restrictive. Still – as a troubleshooting step I’ve tried AAF exports (but they’ve yet been able to solve a problem for me that existed in the XML export).

Patrick maybe you can do a public preparing for color session video for editors then we can all send it to our clients.

Great suggestion!