Avid to After Effects Round-Trip (for ProRes or DNxHD footage)

by Nicole Goode

v.1.0 - September 22nd, 2015

This workflow is intended for exporting your DNxHD clips from Avid Media Composer 8.6. to After Effects
CS6 for VFX compositing and back. This workflow is best used after doing some basic colour correction of
your footage.

Step 1: Exporting your clips from Avid to After Effects

1. Make sure your sequence is onlined to AMA clips, so that you will be working with high quality footage
(see “Onlining your Sequence” workflow)

2. Mark IN and OUT points on the clips you wish to export. Select only the video track the clip is on.

3. Right-click on the record monitor and select Export.

4. Under export settings, click Options.

5. Export as: QuickTime Movie

Select: Use marks

Use selected tracks
Include Inactive Audio Tracks

6. Click Custom. Then click on Format Options.

7. Once the pop-up window is open, click on Settings under Video rubric.
8. Under compression type: change it to Avid DNxHD Codec

9. Your resolution should be set to 1080p/25 DNxHD 185 10-bit (unless you are working with a different
frame rate on your project). Click OK.

10. Choose the folder you wish to save your project in and click Save.
Step 2: Bringing your files into After Effects

In this step, we will take our newly exported clips and put them into After Effects for VFX

1. Open up a new composition and name it: YourName_ProjectNumber_MonthYear_AE_VFX

2. Use the following preset: HDTV 1080P 25 (unless you have a different frame rate or image size)

3. Set the duration. It should not be shorter than the length of your original clip. (e.g. if your clip is 10
seconds long, your composition should be at least 10 seconds long as well)

4. Click OK.

5. Press Ctrl+I to import your footage

6. The footage will now appear in your AE project window. Drag and drop the clip onto your composition.
Step 3: Setting your AE project colour space

In this step we will set up the colour space of our project so that we are working with an accurate
representation of our footage.

1. Double-click on your project settings

2. Under Color Settings: Change the Depth to 16 bits per channel.

3. You are now ready to compose your VFX!

Step 4: Exporting your clips from After Effects to DaVinci Resolve or Avid Media Composer

In this step we will be exporting your clips with VFX applied so they can be brought back to either DaVinci or
Avid.

1. When you are ready to export your files back to Avid...

Click File > Export > Add to Render Queue

2. Click on Lossless in the Output Module to adjust the export settings

3. Change the Format to QuickTime

4. Click on Format Options. Then change your video codec to Avid DNxHD.

5. In Codec Settings, change your colour levels to 709, alpha uncompressed and resolution to 1080P/25
DNxHD 185 10-bit

6. Click OK. Then click Render.

Step 5. Importing your clips back into Avid

1. Link and transcode your VFX clips into the Avid bin. Set the transcoding resolution to DNxHD 185 10-bit.

For further details, consult the “Creating and Transcoding your Avid Project” workflow sheet.

2. Mark IN and OUT points on your clip. Then replace the old clip with your new VFX clip.