Avid to After Effects back to Avid Workflow

[mmka1985]

Hello fellow Avid MC users,

Been using and training in Avid for a few months after not using it for almost 5 years and now see what I've been missing. I know with Automatic Duck (which is free and awesome) or Boris AAF, I could send an Avid project to After Effects. My question is, what is a tried and tested workflow for bring said AAF export back to Avid? Should I render out as DNxHD and re-transcode or use the AMA and simply import it back into the project file? Any tips or suggestions are highly recommended. I've been an FCP and Premiere user for the last 4 years and know the workflow for dealing with After Effects and bring it back in. I just want to know a workflow for Avid so that I can turn it into my number 1 or 2 editor of choice.

 

[bruceallen]

I'd say use DNxHD and AMA to your advantage and reap the hard drive space benefits (eg like ProRes with less gamma issues - try rendering out DNxHD 220x/175x from AE and loading it up via AMA in Avid?

Personally I don't use AMA much yet - just output DNxHD Quicktimes and do a Fast Import, or Animation codec and import into Avid (then Avid transcodes it to DNxHD). AMA for graphics is not common procedure at our workplace because all of the editors share a gigantic Unity, so you actually want all of the media in a central storage spot, not pulling from the graphics server via AMA the whole time.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com