ProRes Interoperability Workflow

It is possible to import and export ProRes footage to and from Autodesk Smoke, Flame and Lustre applications. To accomplish this, you must have access to a Mac computer running Autodesk Backburner (which is automatically installed if you are running Smoke on the Mac computer).

For information on installing Backburner, see the Installation Guides.

This workflow demonstrates how to import ProRes footage from a Final Cut Pro .xml into Smoke and send the conformed sequence to Lustre for grading in Source Grading mode. We then export the graded ProRes sources from Lustre to relink them with the original Smoke sequence, preserving all metadata and soft effects.

Importing the ProRes footage and sequence into Smoke/Flame

To import a ProRes sequence into Smoke/Flame

Click the Conform tab.
From the contextual menu, select Load new FCP XML / AAF.
Navigate to the Mac computer with the ProRes media (with xml) on your local network.
Select the FPC XML.
Enable Consolidate on Import (recommended).
Set your Max Handles (recommended).
Click Import.

The sequence is now open in your Flame Premium workspace.

Once you are ready to grade the source files, save your sequence to the Lustre shared folder.

Then, launch Lustre, navigate to the project where you saved your sequence, enable Source Grading and drag and drop the sequence to the storyboard. Your sources and the sequence are automatically imported to your Library. You are ready to grade your sources.

Once you are satisfied with your grades, you have a few options:

Option 1

Render the sequence back to Smoke/Flame for further enhancement. Lustre creates new (graded) sources and a new sequence (containing all the metadata from the original sequence). The format of the footage is no longer ProRes media. Instead the sources are in uncompressed RGB, on the Smoke/Flame Standard fs.

See Rendering and Exporting in Lustre.

Option 2

Render the final version from Lustre as one sequence in an uncompressed format to a location outside the Standard fs.

See Rendering and Exporting in Lustre.

For more details on rendering media in Lustre, see About Rendering in Lustre.

Option 3

Export the final version from Lustre to a compressed format to a location outside of the Standard fs.

Note The sequence must be rendered prior to exporting.

See Rendering and Exporting in Lustre.

For more details on exporting media from Lustre, see Background Media Export.

Option 4 (Linux Only)

Export the graded sources from Lustre to the ProRes format and relink the graded sources back to the original Smoke/Flame sequence, for further enhancement.

NoteThe sequence must be rendered prior to exporting.

Exporting the Graded Sources from Lustre to the ProRes Format (Linux Only)

After having rendered the sequence in Lustre, you can set up a Source Grade export.

Access the Render / Export menu.
Set your export destination. This must be a Mac computer running Backburner. The Backburner manager.host file must be edited to have the Flame Premium or Lustre Linux system as the Backburner manager.
To edit the manager.host file
1. From a shell, login as root.
2. Navigate to /usr/discreet/backburner/cfg/manager.host.
3. Open the file for editing with a text editor.
4. By default, the backburner manager is set to localhost. Change this to the name or IP address of your Flame Premium or Lustre Linux workstation.
5. Save the file and exit.
In the Render / Export menu, select Source Grade Renders, under Media Origin.
Select Video & Audio, under the Region buttons.
Select QuickTime under Video File Format.
Select one of the ProRes codecs under Compression.
Press Export.

Footage taken from "Face Divided", courtesy of Red Truck Productions.

Lustre begins exporting the media.

NoteIf the sequence is not rendered, Lustre automatically starts a render before exporting.

Updating the Sequence with the Graded Sources

Once the media is exported:

Launch Smoke/Flame.
Click the MediaHub tab.
Navigate to the folder containing exported ProRes sources.
Drag the folder to the Media Library in the Media panel.
Still in the MediaHub, navigate to the folder containing your original sequence and drag it to the Media Library in the Media panel.
Click the Timeline tab.
Select the original sequence you just copied to the Media Library in the Media panel.
This displays the sequence with all of its sources unlinked.
Click the Conform tab.
The list of unlinked media is displayed on top of the sequence.
Select the folder containg your exported ProRes sources.
From the contextual menu, select Conform Set As Search Location.
Your sources are found. A green check mark appears next to the matched sources.
Click Link Matched Sources.
Your original sequence is assembled with the new graded ProRes sources, with all its original metadata intact.

You can now continue refining your graded sequence. This workflow can be repeated as many times as you wish. When you are happy with your sequence, you can render or export it to the format of your choice.