Am I the only one who's gotten EDL import to work?

rmack350 wrote on 4/15/2004, 6:29 PM

Did I hear a pin drop?

Rob Mack

Cheno wrote on 4/15/2004, 6:50 PM

I know that your code may serve useful to a few on the forums.. How are you running it?

mike

Spot|DSE wrote on 4/15/2004, 8:17 PM

How is Vegas managing the fades and transparency information from the FCP/3600 EDL?

filmy wrote on 4/15/2004, 9:55 PM

There has been a script available that allows for CMX edl export. You can import as CMX as well - However both have been extremely limited. So my question beyond what has been asked already -

How does your method allow for import of time code and tape numbers? Does it handle more than one video track? More than one (stereo) audio track? As Spot asked - how about things like dissolves and other transitions?

Biggest question - would you like to share your script?

winrockpost wrote on 4/16/2004, 6:46 AM

Depends on your meaning of work.
as others have asked, , are you getting all info upon importing ?

Trichome wrote on 4/16/2004, 10:33 AM

and as others have asked...
would you share your script...???
;)

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 10:57 AM

Hi Folks
Thanks for replying to my message.
First, I was REALLY hoping to get a response from a Sony support person or developer here. Their party line has been "EDL import is very restricted" and very little else.

About a year ago I tried to get EDL import to work. All I could get was events on the timeline in the proper place with the proper media file attached BUT showing nothing or only the last frame of the media for the whole event. Is that everyone else's experience or have you done better?

Anyway, I decided to give it another go and "debugged" the Vegas datastructures using the Scripting API and MessageBox print statements. Figured out what was going wrong with my import and did some math on the resulting events to fix it. It worked.

I'd share the script BUT - I feel that Sony should really acknowledge the BUG - what I see is clearly a bug as opposed to a limitted feature - and fix it. Plus, I've no income right now and, if Sony won't just fix the bug, am considering going the "Excalibur" route and packaging the thing as an "Import Wizard" for sale at a reasonable but not free price.

Opinions? Sony response?

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 11:00 AM

Oh - forgot to mention - the fix works for multiple tracks. The EDL was cuts-only so I haven't explored what if anything Vegas now tries to do with transitions and, if they do attempt to import them, what, if anything, I'd have to do to repair their attempt.

Trichome wrote on 4/16/2004, 11:03 AM

by all means, if you got the goods, you should get something for your efforts.
please keep us posted as to the fade imports...

TVCmike wrote on 4/16/2004, 11:18 AM

I don't blame you at all, Joe. The import/export function has long been a sore point of Vegas. I'm hoping Vegas 5 will bring AAF and EDL import and export, even as an add-on. As much as some people would like to believe that Vegas is the be-all and end-all finishing tool, not everyone should fit into that mindset.

I think if you offer it at a reasonable price, you can certainly give a lot of new options for users of Vegas. Thanks for your efforts, and let us know when and where you decide to offer it for purchase if you do.

Lanzaedit wrote on 4/16/2004, 1:48 PM

JoeSh wrote:
<<The EDL was cuts-only so I haven't explored what if anything Vegas now tries to do with transitions and, if they do attempt to import them, what, if anything, I'd have to do to repair their attempt.>>

Talk about tossing a bone! But if you really have something {and I hope you do}, it seems like you would have tried sequences that have transitions, effects, etc. BEFORE you posted your EDL message.

John

filmy wrote on 4/16/2004, 2:13 PM

Sounds promising however - a large part of the EDL issue is Vegas being able to take the information and actually use it at something other than a media only level - that is why I mention/ask 'what about timecode and tape number information?' Even in your cuts only tests are you able to 'recapture all media' if need be? Or does your script use the same "all media must be on the hard drive in the same folder as the edl" scenerio?

Beyond that does your script also allow for *export* of the Vegas EDL to a full useable EDL in another program - that means will it export all the timecode and tape number information.

So - looking forward to hear about more testing on your part. It sounds good so far - but how usable is it in the real world if it is cuts only and does not bring in timecode and tape number info?

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 2:22 PM

Hey, I'm a film editor. I've even edited features. But, since I'm used to originating and finishing on film, and I do indie features, I try to keep opticals to a minimum. In the film world an effect equals an optical. In DV land it ain't so. But, for the short I'm working on, straight cuts are all I need.

I wrote this stuff to make my workflow happen. Not to make a tool for general use. Now that I've gotten it to work I wanted to see what people thought, and if I'm just repeating work that's been done before. Thus I posted.

To me, a cuts-only EDL import is plenty interesting. Do others agree? I just took a look at what FCP exports when a transition is involved and, as far as I can see, there isn't enough information there to preserve say, the length of a transition. The name of the transition is mentioned but that's about it. The transition is NOT reflected in the timecode. As far as I can see.

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 2:29 PM

Timecode is there. However, it appears that Vegas does NOT have the reel name in its datastructures. That's held in the .sfvidecap file. Maybe they'll address this in V5? Of course it's always possible to rewrite the whole EDL importer and get around this and many other problems - but I'm trying to get something to work WITHOUT Sony's help or even their source code. Now if I HAD the EDL import code...

So I guess for filmy at least, if you can't EXPORT an EDL with reel info then what I have isn't interesting. I'm concentrating on IMPORT 'cause I cut on FCP but want to finish on Vegas. I THINK there are a lot of people who want to do the same - but I could be wrong...

filmy wrote on 4/16/2004, 2:37 PM

>>>So I guess for filmy at least, if you can't EXPORT an EDL with reel info then what I have isn't interesting. I'm concentrating on IMPORT 'cause I cut on FCP but want to finish on Vegas. I THINK there are a lot of people who want to do the same - but I could be wrong...<<<

Not saying that - I would love to be able to import a project that was cut on another NLE but I would also love to have all the tape/timecode info retained, as well as dissolve and fade info. On the export side - same thing. The feature I have been cutting I did on Vegas because at the start I was told it never had to go to another NLE but than when the film was 98% cut I get an email saying to back it all up so they can do the color correction and any little tweaks in Premiere. Well, can't do it..I can't export a Premiere project nor can they just rebuild the cut by loading up the Vegas EDL/sfcap files in Premiere. THe current CMX script is too limited.

And the reverse of that - as you say - using Vegas to finish a project cut on another NLE the same is true. I couldn't just take the EDL from another NLE and load it up in Vegas and have vegas rebuild the project.

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 3:24 PM

Yup. It sure is a shame. The two biggest "features" I wish for in Vegas are:
- Robust Import/Export to FCP - maybe reverse-engineer FCP3 and FCP4 project file format? This would essentially buy you all of FCP's EDL and OMF capabilities, as well as allowing an easy migration path from FCP to Vegas.

- UI compatibility "mode" for FCP users. FCP got the market from Avid by essentially copying Avid's UI and then making improvements to it. But mostly FCP is Avid running on a Mac. If FCP users could run Vegas without having to learn a new paradigm you'd have people flocking from FCP to Vegas just like you did from Avid to FCP.

I'm fairly convinced that you could do the latter without breaking Vegas' current UI. In fact I'd love to consult on such a project. As it stands I'm pretty close to having to upgrade my Mac so I can go to FCP4. Wish I didn't have to do that.

Nat wrote on 4/16/2004, 3:50 PM

Once you learn the ui of vegas it is sucha pain to work with anything different. The power of Vegas is it's UI.

JoeSh wrote on 4/16/2004, 3:57 PM

I don't want to turn this into a Vegas vs FCP thread. But I've heard quite a few people who are dyed-in-the-wool Vegas users mention that, when they tried FCP, they really liked its cutting interface.

That plus the fact that if you're going to change something you'd better make it a LOT better to justfiy the change makes me believe that Vegas would be much better off if one COULD cut on it in the customary manner.

Do you really believe that Vegas' CUTTING UI is its strength? If so, would you elaborate? What's your workflow and how does it compare with what I detailed earlier?