Import and Link Shots with Conform in Hiero and Nuke Studio

Level

Experienced

Version Required

Hiero 12.2 and laterNuke Studio 12.2 and later

Conform with Hiero or Nuke Studio

Conforming describes the process of matching up the footage from a shoot with edit decisions to create a meaningful timeline. Hiero and Nuke Studio accept sequences either from EDLs (edit decision lists), OTIO (OpenTimelineIO), AAFs (advanced authoring format), or Final Cut Pro XML files from a specified directory structure containing the source media files. Hiero and Nuke Studio attempts to conform the media, warning you if there are missing media.

Hiero and Nuke Studio conform EDLs into single tracks, and OTIOs, AAFs and XMLs into multi-track timelines. You can either conform into a brand new timeline, or into an existing timeline by adding new tracks. For example, when conforming multiple EDLs into the same timeline, you would add new tracks for each EDL sequence conformed.

The full course, Nuke Studio Tour, is available here:
https://learn.foundry.com/course/4146/view/nuke-studio-tour

Check out Nuke Studio for Beginners to learn how to get started with Hiero and Nuke Studio:
https://learn.foundry.com/course/1018/view/nuke-studio-for-beginners

Importing Sequences

Nuke Studio allows you to import your EDL, OTIO, XML, or AAF sequences in one of two ways, depending on your preferences. Either:

Navigate to File > Import EDL/XML/AAF or Import OTIO and then use the browser to locate the EDL, OTIO, XML, or AAF, and then select the file and click Open to import the sequence,

OR

Drag-and-drop the EDL, OTIO, XML, or AAF files directly from a file browser into the interface.

If you’re importing an EDL, bear in mind that there is no guaranteed frame rate information included in the file, so an Import Options dialog displays.

After importing the EDL, OTIO, AAF, or XML the Conforming workspace displays and the spreadsheet and timeline are populated with offline clips - media with an unknown location.

Note: The Event column represents the clip’s position on the timeline, not its event number from the edit.

Notice that clicking entries in the spreadsheet highlights the corresponding shots on the timeline?

The spreadsheet, timeline, and Viewer are linked together when viewing sequences. If suitable screen real estate exists within the current workspace, double-clicking a sequence forces the associated panel to open automatically. If you want to close a single panel in a linked group, hold the Alt modifier while closing the linked panel, otherwise all panels in the group are closed.

Note: If you imported an XML sequence, you may find that the application has automatically matched media for you.

Any transform, crop, or retime edit decisions from third-party software .otio, .xml or .aaf files are represented using soft effects. These effects are imported along with the shot to which they're associated.

Once your EDL, OTIO, AAF, or XML sequences are imported, it’s time to begin the conform process to match the offline shots in your spreadsheet with the source clips on disk. You can conform sequences by searching on disk or by pre-ingesting the required clips into Nuke Studio.

Conforming from a Browser

Browsing to the project folder or file location is the easiest way to get your shots online and ready go. Hiero and Nuke Studio check the folder you select and any folders inside that, so there's no need to select multiple locations. You can even specify your disk's root folder if you're not sure where the files are, but this could take a long time if you have a lot of footage on disk.

  1. Click Match Media on the spreadsheet and use the browser to locate the source folder containing the correct media.
  2. Note: Match Media can also be used on selected events in the Spreadsheet view.

  3. Click Open to display the Conform Options dialog.
  4. Nuke Studio uses a set of conform Rules and file name Patterns to match candidate media files on disk to the events, or shots, in a sequence:

    • Rules - sets the offline media properties to match to the corresponding spreadsheet entry during conform. Rules that rely on information that doesn't exist in the event or candidate clip are ignored, and some rules compound others to identify a better match.
    • Rule Description
      Umid Match a file’s unique material ID (UMID) – that is written into the file's metadata on creation – to the candidate media’s UMID. If either, or both, lack a UMID this rule is ignored.
      RedTapeName Match a RED-style camera reel name from the event to the candidate media name.
      RedName Look for a RED-style camera file name in the event that matches the candidate media name.
      ReelName Look for the event's reel name in the candidate's media name.
      FullPath Match the event's entire filepath to the candidate media’s entire filepath. The Event is the first field in the Spreadsheet view, the order in which shots appear on the timeline. Candidate media is the media that Hiero or Nuke Studio is testing the conform rules against.
      FileName Match only the event's file name (no path) to the candidate media’s file name.
      FileHead Match the event's file name head (no path, file extension, or padding) to the candidate media’s file name.
      PartialName Look for the event's name in the candidate media’s name and vice versa.
      FolderName Look for the event's name in the filepath of the candidate media.

      All rules are enabled by default, but you may occasionally need to disable rules if they cause incorrect matches between a particular edit and set of source clips.

      Tip: Use the Select/Deselect All buttons to quickly enable or disable rules.

    • Patterns - sets the inclusion and exclusion parameters during the conform, separated by spaces. For example, *mov *dpx would only include or exclude .mov and .dpx files. You could also conform by name, such as BR_Shot*, which would only include or exclude source clip names starting with that string.
    • Tip: It’s always a good idea to be as specific as possible with search locations during conforms, but if the need arises, conform Rules and Patterns can save time.

  5. Enable Accept best timecode match... to use the nearest source timecode match to conform the event, if no rules are matched.
  6. When Ignore clips with non-overlapping timecodes is enabled, any potentially matching source clip whose timecode doesn't overlap the shot in question at all is ignored.
    Disabling Ignore clips with non-overlapping timecodes causes to fall back to the other selected conform rules, even if the timecodes don't overlap.
  7. Check Conform shots that already have media if you want to update all timeline shots. By default, the application doesn’t try to conform events that are not offline.
  8. When Split sequences is enabled, any non-contiguous file sequences found by the conform are split into separate clips, in the same way as when the split seq option is enabled in the file browser.
  9. Click OK to begin the conform process.
    Hiero or Nuke Studio attempts to conform the edits with the selected media. A dialog box informs you of the success rate once the conform is complete.
  10. Successfully matched media is placed in a new Conform bin in the project.

    Note: You can display the conform Rules matched for each spreadsheet object by hovering the cursor over the required entry.

Conforming with Pre-ingested Media

You may have already imported the source footage your sequence references into Hiero or Nuke Studio. For example, if you conformed a sequence previously and you now have another version from editorial, the source clips already exist in the project. Or you may have imported footage into the Project bin to review or organize your media using tags.

See Ingesting Media for information on getting media into Nuke Studio.

If your footage is already in the Project bin, you can drag-and-drop media from the Project bin onto the Match Media button.

Follow the Conform Options instructions described previously to complete the conform process.

If you want to conform a single entry in the spreadsheet, drag-and-drop the media from the bin view onto the required entry in the spreadsheet.

Conforming individual, pre-ingested media doesn’t require Conform Options because Hiero and Nuke Studio already know the exact location of the media and trusts your decision to replace a shot.

To learn more about Hiero and Nuke Studio or request a trial license, go to:
https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke-family

Check out the latest Hiero and Nuke Studio documentation here:
https://learn.foundry.com/hiero/docs
https://learn.foundry.com/nuke/docs

 
 
 
 


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