Flix Preferences

To access Flix's Preferences, navigate to File > Preferences.

Note:  These preferences can be enforced at the Studio and Show levels, see Settings & Preferences in Flix for Production.

General Settings

Show Splash Screen

Enables or disables Flix's splash screen at start-up.

Enable Autosave Enables or disables autosaving of sequence revisions.
Autosave Frequency Set Flix's autosave to 5, 10 or 30 minute intervals.

Allow Save Comments

Enables or disables the option to save comments for revisions.

Reset Preferences

Resets all preferences to their default values.

Logs Opens the file location for Flix client logs.

Third-Party Apps

General

Sketching

Sketching Tool

Specifies the external application used to edit panels, Adobe Photoshop or Storyboard Pro.

Editorial

Editorial Tool

Specifies the external application used for editorial roundtripping, Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere.

Editorial Clip Name

Specifies the naming convention of panels exported as clips for editorial.

Note:  This setting also determines the naming convention used for clip names in editorial publish email notifications.

Editorial Sequence Name

Specifies the naming convention of the sequence exported to editorial.

Note:  The chips located under the Editorial Clip Name and Editorial Sequence Name preferences show what information type you can include in the filename format. Click a chip to add it to your filename convention. See Setting Naming Conventions for more information.

Publish Directory

Sets the location where Flix stores published files for Editorial. The chips, located at the bottom of the preferences panel show what information type you can include in the filename format. See Setting Naming Conventions for more information.

Note:  Flix automatically creates missing directories if they don't already exist.

Tip:  Environment variables can be used to construct publish and export paths. For example, %USERPROFILE% on Windows and ${HOME} on macOS.

Adobe Photoshop

Executable

Specifies the file path to the version of Photoshop you want to use.

Note:  The Executable directory setting for both Windows and Mac is available at the studio or show level, for cases where multiple users might be on different operating systems.

Panel Open Behavior

Specifies how to open panels in Photoshop:

Open as Separate PSD - opens the selected panels in Photoshop as separate .psd files.

Open in Layer Comps - opens the selected panels in Photoshop as layer comps in a single file.

Open in Timeline - opens the selected panels in Photoshop in the Timeline, as frames in a single file.

Always Open Master Image

When enabled, opening a panel in Photoshop opens the master image, if one exists. Flix opens the .psd file with all information including hidden layers and empty groups.

Send Annotation as Layer

When enabled, annotated panels open in Photoshop with their annotations shown on an additional layer.

Install Plugin

Installs the Photoshop scripts to run the Photoshop actions. Restarting Photoshop is required after installing the Flix plugins.

Note:  Photoshop 2022 support requires some extra set up before you install the plug-in:

• Launch Photoshop 2022 through the Creative Cloud application at least once before you start the Flix Client.

• On Windows, you must run Flix with administrator permissions to install the plug-in.

See Installing Plug-ins for Photoshop 2022 for more information.

Adobe Premiere

Marker Type

Choose whether Flix sends Timeline or Clip markers to Premiere.

Timeline markers apply to a particular timestamp in the sequence and appear on the timeline.

Clip markers apply to a whole clip within a sequence and appear at the beginning of the clip.

Note:  The Marker Type you choose means that Flix only reads that type. For example, if you have Clip selected and Editorial add Timeline markers in Premiere, they are ignored by Flix.

Highlight New Panels

Sets whether new panels appear as highlighted clips in your Premiere sequence.

Avid Media Composer

Codec

Specifies the type of Avid video codec used for exporting to Media Composer:

DNxHD 36 (DNxHD LB)

DNxHD 45 (DNxHD LB)

DNxHD 115 (DNxHD SQ)

DNxHD 120 (DNxHD SQ)

DNxHD 145 (DNxHD SQ)

Note:  Higher data bit rates generally produce higher quality images, but the files exported require more storage space and take longer to transfer.

Clip Duration

Specifies the default duration for clips sent to Media Composer in frames. (For example, 480 frames or 20 seconds for a 24fps show).

Use Flix Timing

Toggle ON to send every panel as a clip retaining its duration set within Flix. This is useful to retain the timing established by a recorded pitch, saving you time and avoiding redoing work. See Preserve Sequence Timings from Flix for more information.

Warning:  Use Flix Timings must be enabled if you want to send camera move keyframes from Storyboard Pro to Avid. If you disable this control, you can only send .mov files to Avid and the Panels with Camera Move control is disabled.

Enable Mark In

Toggle ON to include a Mark In point on each clip.

Mark In

When Enable Mark In is ON, sets the frame on which to set the Mark In point. The default is 120 (5s in for a 24 fps show).

Enable Mark Out

Toggle ON to include a Mark Out point on each clip.

Mark Out

When Enable Mark Out is ON, sets the frame on which to set the Mark Out point. The default is 360 (15s in for a 24fps show).

Warning:  Setting your Mark Out point to a value lower than the Mark In point may create an unreadable .aaf file.

Panels with Camera Move

Choose whether to deliver panels with camera moves from Storyboard Pro to Avid Media Composer as a .png file with the Motion Effect applied, or as a QuickTime.

PNG and 3D Warp - this option preserves the camera move keyframes from Stroyboard Pro so that you can edit them in Avid and send them back to Flix without having to reproduce the effect.

MOV - the camera moves from Storyboard Pro are burned into the clip so you can't adjust the keyframes.

Warning:  Use Flix Timings must be enabled if you want to send camera move keyframes from Storyboard Pro to Avid. If you disable this control, you can only send .mov files to Avid and the Panels with Camera Move control is disabled.

New Clip Color

Sets the color of new clips in your sequence.

Color Range

Sets either Full or Legal range color for publishes to Avid.

Note:  The default color range is set to Full.

Enable Audio

Controls whether audio is available in Avid Media Composer or not.

Storyboard Pro

Executable

Specifies the location of the Storyboard Pro executable file on your computer.

Note:  The Executable directory setting for both Windows and Mac is available at the studio or show level, for cases where multiple users might be on different operating systems.

Export

Export Path Set the path for your exported Flix sequence.

Export Camera Moves

Toggle ON to update Camera Moves in Storyboard Pro.

Export Markers

Marker updates are not currently supported in Storyboard Pro.

Exporting

Exporting

Filename Format (Dialogue, Audio, JSON, CSV, QuickTime, PDF)

Specifies the filename convention of your exported files for Dialogue, Audio, JSON, CSV, QuickTime, and PDF files.

Note:  The chips, located at the bottom of the preferences panel show what information type you can include in the filename format. Click each field to reveal which information type is allowed. Invalid info types are grayed out. See Setting Naming Conventions for more information.

Filename Format (Original Artwork, Image)

Specifies the filename convention of your exported files for Original Artwork and Image files.

Default export path

Sets the default location where Flix stores exported panels.

Note:  Flix automatically creates missing directories if they don't already exist.

Tip:  Environment variables can be used to construct publish and export paths. For example, %USERPROFILE% on Windows and ${HOME} on macOS.

QuickTime Export

Include Dialogue

Toggle ON to export dialogue as subtitles when exporting from Flix to QuickTime.

Note:  Ensure your video player has subtitles or closed captions enabled to display the exported dialogue.

Audio

Audio

Input Device

Specifies the audio input device to use when recording audio.

Output Device

Specifies the audio output device to use when playing audio.

Panel Browser

Panel Browser

Swap Panel ID with Index

Swaps the position of each panel's unique ID number with the Panel Index (a panel's position in the sequence).

Markers

Toggle ON to add a button on the Panel Browser for adding markers in a sequence.

Marker Name Format

Specifies the naming convention of markers.

Animated Panels

Sets the default preview behavior for animated panels:

Preview all frames - Animated panels show all available frames in the panel viewer.

Preview first frame - Animated panels only show the first frame in the panel viewer and the Trim Animation control the Properties is disabled.

Note:  You can override this preference on individual panels by clicking the icon in the top left to select Preview all frames or Preview first frame. Changing this preference does not affect individual panels that you have set manually.

Shot Number Format

Minimum Length

Sets the minimum character length for your marker numbers.

Note:  Your marker name format must include the [shot_number] chip in order to display the shot number.

Increment

Sets the value of increments between markers. For example, if the shot number format is set to increments of 10, your first marker is labeled 0010, your second is 0020, 0030 etc.

Advanced

Advanced

Temp Directory

Specifies where Flix stores temporary files.

Asset Cache Directory

Specifies where Flix caches your assets temporarily to improve responsiveness.

Clear Local Asset Cache

Click to remove the temporary files stored in the local asset cache directory.

Disable Panel Reuse

In the normal course of operation, Flix's intelligent versioning system automatically attempts to reuse an existing panel revision instead of creating a new panel ID or new panel revision.

For troubleshooting and test purposes, you may want to disable versioning by enabling this preference. When enabled, Flix always creates a new panel ID or new panel revision instead of reusing an existing panel revision.