Release Notes for Flix 7.0.0

Release Date

25th January 2024

For a detailed guide on upgrading to Flix 7.0.0, refer to the Upgrading to Flix 7.0.0 section at the bottom of this page.

New Features

Maya integration

The new Maya extension in Flix 7.0 bridges 2D and 3D to create efficient workflows that enhance story visualization. Complex environments and dynamic camera moves can now be sent to Flix as panels in the form of Snapshots or Playblasts of 3D scenes in Maya. And to immediately see if your 2D shots work in a 3D context, bring Flix panels into Maya for reference when building 3D scenes.

Reimagined Photoshop plugin

The Photoshop plugin has been rebuilt from the ground up, including improved UI customization and expanded functionality. Customize your workspace with new extension resizing, button customization, view options, and more. Plus explore the new actions — Replace Thumbnails, Replace Layers, and Replace Selected Frames.

Email notification preferences

Customize your email preferences to ensure you only receive email notifications from the specific projects or teams that’re relevant to you, reducing the volume of automatic emails in your inbox and allowing you to focus on what matters.

Source File Library

Browse and locate all source files with their associated panels in one easily accessible place — regardless of their origin — with the Source File Library. Flix 7.0 makes collaboration even smoother by providing one central place for team members to store and find all source files.

Adobe Premiere Adapter improvements

Flix 7.0 includes improvements to the Premiere Adapter that enhance editorial workflows and timeline review. The Multitrack Adapter provides a new, more efficient way to process XMLs. Following an import from Premiere into Flix, you can now see all of the panels that were used to create reference panels in Premiere, making the review and cleanup process quicker and easier. Customization options that were previously only available for Media Composer have been added for publishing to Premiere. Plus the preferences UI has been updated following user feedback.

Adobe Photoshop & Premiere 2023/24 qualification

Upgrade with confidence to the latest versions of your favorite artistry tools with Adobe Photoshop and Premiere 2023/24 qualification in Flix 7.0.

Single Sign On (SSO) support

Enhance the security and user management possibilities of your pipeline with Flix 7.0’s Single Sign On (SSO) support. With SSO, pipeline teams can quickly and easily add and remove users as needed, and implement Multi-Factor Authentication for greater security.

New extensions management system

In the latest update, the Flix client and extensions have been decoupled, with the introduction of a new extensions management system. As well as providing the flexibility to update extensions independently of Flix releases, this system also provides one single place to install, manage, and view all of your extensions and extension versions at once.

New metadata system

The new metadata system in Flix 7.0 enhances automation and pipeline integration possibilities. With this system, you can define, assign, edit, and retrieve metadata for Users, Shows, Episodes, Sequences, Sequence revisions, Panels, and Panel revisions. In addition to this and many other possible uses, when combined with the Webhook system it can be used to drive external asset and production tracking tools such as Ftrack and ShotGrid.

General remote client (GRC) API

With this powerful new API, you'll have everything you need to create custom integrations to interact with the Flix Client in a more dynamic and flexible way. Whether you want to build new integrations with other third-party or in-house tools, or simply create scripts to automate production tasks, the GRC API gives you the tools you need. We even provide examples to get you started.

VFX Reference Platform 2023

Maintain pipeline security and optimisation with Flix 7.0’s full support for VFX Reference Platform 2023. These updates include qualification for Rocky 9 as a fully supported operating system for the Flix server. Plus, with Python 3.10 support you can continue to use the Flix SDK and create custom integrations for Flix 7.0 with the latest version of Python.

Third-party qualifications

With Flix 7.0, users can run Flix natively on macOS 14.x (Sonoma) ensuring you can use Flix on your operating system of choice, and still receive all relevant security and feature updates. What’s more, upgrading to the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere will maintain seamless integration with Flix 7.0, and databases can be fully updated with MySQL 8 qualification for optimized security.

macOS Sonoma support

With this update, you can run Flix natively on macOS 14.x (Sonoma) ensuring you can use Flix on your operating system of choice, and still receive all relevant security and feature updates.

Feature Enhancements

  • ID 406910 - Preferences: Add ability to decide which users receive email notifications upon publishes
  • ID 416676 - Photoshop: Ability to hide/remove unwanted buttons from the CEP
  • ID 416682 - Photoshop: Allow buttons layout to adjust based on window size and shape
  • ID 417861 - To Editorial: Include dialogue as a separate track
  • ID 417877 - Export: Include Dialogue when exporting a CSV
  • ID 548952 - Add an example config.yml file
  • ID 459387 - Create an installer for the Photoshop plugins for Windows and OSX
  • ID 466168 - Add Selected and Replace Selected Frames options to the Photoshop actions
  • ID 479328 - Allow local and LDAP users at the same time
  • ID 521534 - Add Support SSO allowing for MFA (Provided by IDP)
  • ID 522204 - Allow the panel browser to be shrunk further
  • ID 523411 - Allow custom metadata to be assigned to sequence revisions
  • ID 435657 - To Premiere: Add the preference to choose the new and old clips label colour
  • ID 537382 - Add support for a more recent database

Bug Fixes

  • ID 388514 - [PUBLIC] Server Hostname should be remembered by default regardless of the 'Remember me' tick box or login method used
  • ID 394833 - Animated panels now appear as a different colour when importing to Premiere timeline
  • ID 413549 - New UXP Photoshop Plugin no longer requires Photoshop Generator feature to be enabled
  • ID 426952 - The selection of a panel in the Panel Browser using a Cintiq pen is accurate
  • ID 429213 - Flix Timing, Mark In and Mark Out options now apply when publishing to Premiere. Clip Duration remains an Avid-specific option, as Premiere always defaults to a set clip duration for still images. As we do not set the clip duration when publishing to Premiere, still panels will use a default mark out of 1 hour if the Mark Out option is disabled
  • ID 430928 - Using 'Save As' in Photoshop no longer versions up the panel in Flix
  • ID 436019 - Users can now choose the label colour for new clips when publishing to Premiere
  • ID 437579 - Clip duration now depend on the Still Image Default Duration set in the Premiere Preferences (default is 5 seconds)
  • ID 439129 - The Placeholder icon displays the correct direction when using Drag and Drop action using a Cintiq
  • ID 458109 - Flix client now has a new improved UI login page to make login and navigation easier with different types of login methods
  • ID 463898 - Panels deleted in SBP that are still used in Flix Sequence will be displayed correctly when reconforming to SBP
  • ID 470376 - Updated to ensure that when opening panels in Photoshop they open in the same order as in the panel browser in Flix
  • ID 494185 - Resolved an issue that caused an error when attempting to open Flix multiple times
  • ID 508599 - Updated the create show modal to ensure that all fields are correctly populated before being able to proceed to the later steps in the wizard
  • ID 508674 - User can choose between sending animated panels as prerendered animations, or as static images with keyframes when publishing to Premiere
  • ID 512254 - Improve the UI feedback for user preferences when settings have been enforced at a studio level
  • ID 519504 - Show, user and group API PATCH requests now respect empty lists to remove users or groups from those entities
  • ID 526381 - Resolved an issue in the export modal that caused contact sheets to be selected for export when selecting all, despite no contact sheets being available
  • ID 526744 - Resolved an issue where the banners in the export modal would hide part of the modal's contents
  • ID 526747 - The position of the information message on
  • ID 527084 - Updated the export modal to not clear the contact sheet selection when using the select all option
  • ID 535461 - Update user preferences to have single, dynamic configuration pages for sketching tool preferences (Storyboard Pro and Photoshop) and for editorial tool preferences (Avid and Premiere Pro)
  • ID 537390 - Selecting a panel now does not scroll the view to centralise the selected panels
  • ID 537539 - An OpenAPI schema is now available for the General Remote Client API
  • ID 538149 - Updated the Flix Client to include the version number in the window title and application executables and shortcuts
  • ID 539792 - The checkboxes in headers of the notification preferences can be used to select/deselect all to quickly change the state of every option
  • ID 541010 - Changing the duration of a REF panel in editorial will now relink if the panel has already been created as a REF in Flix, when publishing back to Flix for a second time
  • ID 541782 - Flix Photoshop plugin has now have a responsive layout which adopts buttons positions. It supports vertical and horizontal layouts
  • ID 541789 - Flix Photoshop plugin is now groups buttons which have similar functionality and display icons
  • ID 541798 - Action buttons can be added to the favourites group by right clicking and selecting Add to Favourites
  • ID 541848 - A menu item can be removed from the favourites dropdown by right clicking and selecting the Remove from Favourites button
  • ID 542293 - The Show API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542294 - The Panel revisions API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542295 - The Panels API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542296 - The Sequence revisions API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542297 - The Episodes API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542298 - The Users API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542299 - The Sequences API model now supports the new Metadata model as a new field
  • ID 542642 - New Flix Photoshop is now display the project Tracking Code opened in the Flix application in the footer
  • ID 542679 - Users can restore the button sections they have hidden by clicking on the restore section menu item
  • ID 542684 - The Photoshop plugin can be changed to Icon Only mode in the menu
  • ID 542721 - The Flix Client will publish an event with its state so that plugins subscribed to this event can determine whether Flix client is in a state to receive requests to create panels
  • ID 542741 - Users can now hide the buttons and sections that don't use often in the Flix Photoshop plugin and can restore it via the menu when they needed
  • ID 542915 - Updated the new show, episode and sequence dialogs to better support keyboard navigation. Resolved issue with the new sequence dialog that would give an error for the tracking code input before interacting with the form
  • ID 542944 - Flix plugin display the opened show aspect ration in the footer - if there is no show opened it will nothing
  • ID 543619 - Users can now use the same output path and format for exporting and publishing by ticking the Same as checkbox. The option can also be enforced by an admin at the studio level
  • ID 543675 - API users can now create new panels in the active Flix revision via the API
  • ID 543689 - Flix remote client api provides an endpoint which returns the detail of the current opened project details
  • ID 543695 - The current status of the Flix Client can be retrieved via the Flix Client API
  • ID 543886 - Resolved an issue that would incorrectly block sequence revision export and publish actions after a server disconnect
  • ID 543892 - Updated the export modal to disable the audio export option if there is no audio attached to the current sequence revision
  • ID 543900 - Update the export modal to ensure that the Select All checkbox state correctly reflects the current selection state of export options
  • ID 544041 - Users can set in preferences for the panels to open in the Photoshop plugin as source files
  • ID 544096 - Dialogue can now be exported in SRT format. Removed target_editor field from dialogue export endpoint in favour of new format field
  • ID 544334 - Fixed an issue where an HTTP request containing malformed group data could cause a server panic
  • ID 544727 - Using the 3D Warp effect in Avid will no longer create a 1 frame panel in Flix
  • ID 545863 - Files transferred to the Flix Client from the Flix Server will have all null characters trimmed
  • ID 546977 - Fixed an issue where a Flix Server using MySQL 5.7 would generate database backups that could not be imported using MySQL 8.0
  • ID 547443 - Added preliminary support for SSO using SAML and OpenID Connect
  • ID 547448 - Flix native users are no longer prevented from logging into Flix if either LDAP/AD or SSO is configured on the Flix Server
  • ID 547687 - Added support for manipulating metadata to the Python SDK
  • ID 548001 - Resolved an issue where deleting the last panels in a sequence revision would disable the panel duration input
  • ID 548468 - Panels previously published to Premiere, then back to Flix with a Premiere motion effect, will be correctly relinked in Premiere when published a second time
  • ID 548943 - Flix now can successfully save a revision in which only a new mov or existing mov has been imported
  • ID 548952 - Added an example configuration file (config.example.yml) containing the set of available configuration parameters to the Flix Server build output
  • ID 549605 - You can now send a snapshot of a 3D scene in Maya to Flix as a new panel or panel revision
  • ID 549606 - When sending a new or replacing panel to Flix, users can also include the Maya ASCII or Binary file as source file, by ticking the relevant box. This file will be visible in Flix as a source file attached to the panel sent from Maya
  • ID 549609 - The Flix extension for Maya now provides a floating window that allows you to interact with Flix from Maya
  • ID 549611 - You can now send a playblast of a 3D scene in Maya to Flix as a new animated panel or panel revision
  • ID 549614 - Users can now see the latest panel sent from Flix in the Latest From Flix section in Maya
  • ID 549615 - You can now choose to display or hide annotations for panels sent from Flix to Maya
  • ID 549616 - The Maya extension now displays the status of its connection to the Flix Client in its footer
  • ID 550158 - Update the selection of animated frame trims to use an exclusive upper bound, to prevent single frame trims displaying as a zero frame duration
  • ID 550594 - Flix Server HTTP API documentation can be accessed from the Flix Server on the new endpoint `/docs`
  • ID 550834 - Users can now use Flix panels as references to start building Maya scenes and blocking out their shots
  • ID 551473 - The master server has been renamed to leader server
  • ID 551938 - Flix now display a new menu item Extension Manager which opens a new window to display available and installed extensions
  • ID 551946 - You can now install Flix extensions using the Local Extension Manager
  • ID 551967 - Flix displays a yellow banner when any of the extension has a new update available. Users can click on update to update to the latest version or skip this revision button which will stop reminding the user about the update. If the user click on the close button it will remind the user in few hours
  • ID 551973 - Flix Server will now poll a Foundry cloud hosted HTTP server for any updates to Flix published extensions. This polling will happen at most once per hour, and only the lead server will perform the HTTP calls. If a new extension has been pushed by the Flix team, the Flix Server will automatically download the extension file, verify it's content, then alert all Flix Clients a new extension is available to download and install. This service is enabled by default, and can be disabled with the new config option: extension>http_fetch_enabled. See the example config file for more details on configuration
  • ID 552197 - Resolved an issue where large requests to the Flix server would break if going via a proxy with limits on the request URI size
  • ID 552475 - Users can now chose which shows they receive emails for when a sequence revision is published to editorial, and when a sequence revision is created from a publish back from editorial. If unset manually, default behaviour is users will receive emails for both publish events
  • ID 552566 - Flix Crash Errors in the client now display a stack trace which can be copied into a support ticket
  • ID 552643 - Fixed incorrect handling of mark-in on prerendered media when publishing an AAF from Avid to Flix causing unexpected gaps in sequences
  • ID 553454 - Multiple annotations drawn without saving in between can now be saved in one go
  • ID 553605 - Resolved an issue that would incorrectly scroll the panel browser when selecting multiple panels
  • ID 554394 - Improved stability for Flix Server with a Flix Client has a slow connection
  • ID 554863 - The Flix Server configuration file now provides the mysql_transaction_timeout option which allows you to increase the default maximum allowed duration of a MySQL transaction. Use sparingly, as a very high timeout has the chance of causing deadlocks that prevent interaction with Flix until the timeout takes effect
  • ID 555281 - The sequence revision browser now updates the published status of each sequence revision more readily and no longer displays out of date cached data
  • ID 555283 - Flix panels published to Avid for shows with aspect ratios of 1.85 or wider no longer create erroneous horizontal grey bars at the top and bottom of the image
  • ID 555933 - Fixed an issue where file transfers using the Python SDK would fail if the Flix Server has been running for more than 30 days
  • ID 555964 - Flix Source File Library window displays all the source file from all shows which the current users are assigned to
  • ID 555970 - It's now possible to filter source files by show, sequence, user and date in the source file library
  • ID 555973 - The library now only contains panels from the panel browser and source files are shown in a separate Source File Library
  • ID 555982 - The /download page on the Flix Server has had the graphics updated to match the Flix Client log in screen
  • ID 556933 - Updated additional Flix windows to support save prompts when attempting to close. Updated closing the main Flix window to also attempt to close any other opened windows
  • ID 556951 - Flix now provides the option to scan for possible data integrity issues before and after a database migration
  • ID 557779 - Updated CSV exports to contain a more specific set of fields with human-readable column titles. Resolved an issue causing malformed CSV exports depending on exported panel properties
  • ID 558268 - Opening a source file from Maya in Flix will now open the file in Maya
  • ID 558767 - Groups can now be sync'd in Flix from Okta when Flix Server is configured with SSO. Group config options have been added to the Flix Server config file, please see the example config file for more details
  • ID 558841 - The Flix Client no longer crashes when deleting a group from the Group Management console
  • ID 559650 - Source file library display source file from different shows according to the related aspect ratio
  • ID 560985 - Autosaves no longer incorrectly revert panel versions
  • ID 561705 - Users will see a login successful page when their SSO login attempt has succeeded with a button to redirect back to Flix
  • ID 561834 - Users with the correct permissions to edit admin users can now assign and edit the groups of admin users in the user form
  • ID 561991 - Flix Server internal processes defer image dimension calculations to reduce time taken to load content of the Source File Library from minutes to less than a second
  • ID 562350 - The Python SDK now comes with an example showing how to automatically create a show in Flix from an existing ShotGrid project
  • ID 562352 - The Python SDK now comes with an example showing how to automatically create a new version of a sequence in ShotGrid whenever a sequence revision is published in Flix
  • ID 562417 - Thumbnails will now be transcoded in batches when importing multiple panels into a sequence revision; this will result in earlier and more consistent feedback, loading thumbnails for panels whose uploads are complete while incomplete uploads continue
  • ID 562431 - Source file library will display a context sensitive message when filters do not match any source files, which is different if there are no source files available to the user on the Flix Server

Known Issues

This section covers new known issues and gives workarounds for them, where appropriate.

  • ID 541963 - Keyframes added in Avid to a non 1920xX image will have incorrect keyframes when exported to SBP
  • ID 542921 - UI : Filter dialog for columns in the data table is wrapped incorrectly
  • ID 542922 - UI: When comparing sequence revisions, the added and removed icons do not display correctly
  • ID 542930 - UI: Disclaimer input on the branding page has inconsistent styling compared to the other text inputs
  • ID 544723 - [S] Avid: Removing camera move from panel causes it version up instead of relinking with original still panel
  • ID 546134 - From Premiere: Could not import WMV file
  • ID 547143 - Error for insufficient privileges should prompt to logout, not reload or exit
  • ID 547144 - No warning when setting the executable path for Photoshop to any other app
  • ID 547745 - [S] API: Episodes require full model to patch
  • ID 547748 - [S] API: Shows require full model to patch
  • ID 548445 - [B] Importing the same REF MOV from premiere twice will be displayed as an errored panel the second time
  • ID 548454 - UX: the import panel revisions drop down menu stays visible after the import has completed
  • ID 548463 - Keyframes persist when versioning up a panel that has camera moves to a static panel
  • ID 548470 - Simultaneous imports into a fresh show can cause transaction timeouts when attempting to create a blank asset
  • ID 548843 - The default resolution for PS thumbnail templates is in PPCM
  • ID 549036 - [S] From Editorial: Gap panels cause "could not extract origin details" warning in the server logs
  • ID 545825 - From Premiere: REF panels are not relinked in Flix
  • ID 549876 - Avid: Hidden tracks are shown in Flix
  • ID 550599 - Export dialogue does not default to the correct format for the current editorial application
  • ID 550604 - To Premiere: Dialogue exported to premiere gets dropped if a previous panel has dialogue that contains a single number on a line that is not the first line
  • ID 550607 - To Premiere: Dialogue ends one frame early if there is no dialogue on any following panels
  • ID 551203 - [S] To Premiere: images which are taller than they are wide will have a different zoom level in Flix vs Premiere
  • ID 552836 - From Avid: Import of AAF with audio and dissolves misaligns audio playback
  • ID 554343 - From Premiere: All REF panels in a revision are versioned up if a panel has its duration changed in editorial
  • ID 555685 - Unhelpful install errors in extension manager
  • ID 556908 - Maya and PS plugin status does not leave "Ready to Send" if user is in a sequence revision and then logs out
  • ID 557644 - macOS: Password prompt appears twice when updating an extension via the Local Extension Manager
  • ID 558547 - Logging into a different server install then logging out will provide incorrect remembered hostname
  • ID 559156 - Windows: Cant uninstall or upgrade the Maya extension while it is open
  • ID 559180 - When dragging a source file into the sequence revision, receive an error
  • ID 559193 - Unable to version up/update a source file
  • ID 564263 - A user of the same name and type can be created in Flix

System Requirements

Flix Server

Note:  Flix Server is built and tested exclusively on Intel processors. Running the Flix Server on AMD processors may lead to unexpected runtime errors.

Linux

Note:  The volume where the /tmp directory resides should have at least twice as much free space as the largest AAF imported into Flix. We recommend at least 16 GB, which is enough for most studios.

Item Requirements

Operating System

• CentOS 7 64-bit (this will be deprecated in future releases)

• Rocky 9

RAM

At least 16 GB

CPU

A 64-bit Intel processor @ 3.2 GHz, or higher

8 cores, or more

Flix Client

Note:  Flix Client is currently not available on Linux. Other operating systems may work with Flix Client, but have not been fully tested.

macOS

Article:  For more information on Foundry products and supported macOS versions, see Foundry Knowledge Base article Q100592.

Item Properties

Operating System

• 12.x (Monterey)

• 13.x (Ventura)

• 14.x (Sonoma)

RAM

4 GB

Processor

ARM-based Apple Silicon M1 processor or Intel processor with 64-bit support

2 GHz or faster processor with SSE 4.2, or later

Windows

Item Properties

Operating System

• Windows 10

• Windows 11

RAM

4 GB

Processor

A 64-bit processor @ 2 GHz, or higher

Third-Party Application Support

Note:  Photoshop support requires some extra set up before you install the plug-in, see Installing Plug-ins for Photoshop for more information.

Application

Supported Versions

Adobe Photoshop

CC 2022, 2023, 2024

Adobe Premiere

CC 2022, 2023, 2024

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

Storyboard Pro 2020 (20.10.2, or later) and 2022

Avid Media Composer

2020, 2021, 2022

Upgrading to Flix 7.0.0

This update requires end users to upgrade Flix Client to version 7.0.0.

If you're running a Mac with an ARM-based Apple Silicon M1 processor and you want to switch to using M1 natively, you must download and install the M1-specific Flix Client manually from:
https://www.foundry.com/products/flix/download

Note:  If you use the Flix Client auto-update feature in a version earlier than 6.5.0, the client will be updated to the latest Intel version using Rosetta emulation.

Additionally:

  • The new Transfer Utility port must be accessible on each server and all clients. The default port number is 9091, but the port can be changed by setting the client_transfer_port parameter in the config.yml file to a different port number. See Flix Server Options for more information.

From Flix 6.3.7, or Later