PipelineAudio: 'nother question

H2000 wrote on 4/22/2005, 12:47 PM
I wanted to ask you since you tested V6 and have access to PT systems: Are you able use the AAF export in Vegas to go to PT and back?

I know you have mentioned using AVTransfer, but I just wondered whether it could now be done with just V6. (I realize PT makes you buy their converter program or whatever, but I assumed you guys probably had it). Nuendo 3 also has AAF compatibility. So, I just was wondering if any of this has been tested with Audio in V6. TIA

Comments

CDM wrote on 4/22/2005, 1:04 PM
I tested it as much as I could with Pro Tools on a Mac and it worked.
H2000 wrote on 4/22/2005, 1:11 PM
That's some good news! What exactly converts? All edits and envelopes? Plugins too?

As I understand the AAF file is like an EDL, i.e it doesn't actually contain the media. Were you testing with standard .wav files or .bwf files?
PipelineAudio wrote on 4/22/2005, 6:40 PM
I kept getting stuck since I mix mono and stereo files on the same track so often. I didnt give it a worthwhile test yet, I am sorry.
CDM wrote on 4/22/2005, 8:04 PM
good point - i didn't see what would happen with mono and stereo files. let !e try that...
H2000 wrote on 4/22/2005, 9:22 PM
CDM: can you also tell me if you are doing this using standard MS wave files or does ProTools need BWF files?
CDM wrote on 4/23/2005, 5:15 AM
I was doing this with standard wave files.
thankins wrote on 4/25/2005, 8:02 AM
Here's some info that you may find helpful. These are notes from our AAF developer.

AAF Export
Usage: From the main menu of Vegas 6.0, choose File, Save As, then choose “Edit Protocol Compliant AAF File (*.aaf)” or “Avid Legacy AAF File (*.aaf)” for “Save as type” to save a project as AAF file. In the case where you have WAV encoded BWF files on the timeline (as opposed to MEPG encoded BWFs) you could choose "Edit Protocol Compliant AAF" and then check the option to Embed Media on the File->Save As dialog.

Video/Audio Cuts: Supported.

Effect: Video stretch is exported as AAF’s “Video Speed Control” effect.
Audio stretch is not supported because there’s no corresponding effect defined in the AAF SDK. Note: If a stretched audio clip has a PlayRate/Speed faster than 1.0, then the clip is converted to a non-stretched audio clip, and trimmed to match the original stretch duration. If a stretched audio clip has a PlayRate/Speed slower than 1.0, then the clip is converted to a non-stretched audio clip, with looping added to match the original stretch duration. Other Video/Audio Effects are ignored.


Transition:
Any Video transition (including Cross Fade) is exported as AAF’s “Video Dissolve”. Any Audio transition (including Cross Fade) is exported as AAF’s “Mono Audio Dissolve”.

Embedding AIFC/WAVE Audio: "Edit Protocol Compliant AAF" files may contain embedded AIFC or WAVE encoded data. (This includes BWF). Embedding media is accomplished by checking the associated checkbox on the File-Save As dialog. When you have audio media that’s not in AIFC or WAVE codec, the audio will not be embedded in the AAF file.

Additional Notes:
1. Tracks which have both mono and stereo audio are ignored during export because the AAF specification does not allow mono and stereo audio to be put in the same track.
2. For still image media in Vegas, the length is 0 and FrameRate is 0.0, which is not allowed in AAF. AAF requires the length of media larger or equal to the length of clips using that media. Thus, when we export still image media to AAF, we set its length to be a large constant value – 1080000 frames.
3. When exporting Vegas projects with offline media to AAF, because we cannot determine detailed info about the offline media, we set the length of the offline media to be a large constant value – 1080000 frames, and if the media is audio, we set it to be stereo.

Log file:
After an AAF export, a log file with name of $AAF_FILENAME.export.log is created in the same directory as the AAF file, where $AAF_FILENAME is the name of the AAF file (including .aaf extension).



AAF Import
Usage:
There are two ways to import AAF file(s).
1. From the main menu of Vegas 6.0, choose File, Open, then choose an AAF file to be imported. This would import the AAF file into a new Untitled project.
2. From the main menu of Vegas 6.0, choose File, Import, AAF, then choose the AAF file(s) to be imported. This would import the AAF file(s) into the current project.

Note: The file name of the AAF file(s) to be imported need to have the “.aaf” extension, otherwise they will not be recognized as AAF files.

Video/Audio Cuts: Supported.

Effect:
Only AAF’s “Video Speed Control” effect is imported. Other Video/Audio Effects are ignored.

Transition:
Any Video/Audio transition is imported as a Cross Fade in Vegas.


Extracting Embedded AIFC/WAVE Audio
If there is audio media in AIFC or WAVE codec embedded in the AAF file, it would be extracted to $AAF_NAME.extracted.%d.%s.aif or $AAF_NAME.extracted.%d.%s.wav, where $AAF_NAME is the AAF file name, and %d is the number of extracted files so far, and %s is the name of the embedded audio (which could be empty). If the embedded audio in the AAF file is not in AIFC or WAVE codec, then the audio is not extracted.

Log file:
After an AAF import, a log file with name of $AAF_FILENAME.import.log is created in the same directory as the AAF file, where $AAF_FILENAME is the name of the AAF file (including .aaf extension).

-Tim.