trying to make an OMF and having trouble

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Robert Sands
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:57 am
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

trying to make an OMF and having trouble

Post by Robert Sands »

I just finished a score for a movie (10 weeks work) and I have to deliver it tomorrow (Monday). They told me that they want me to deliver it as an OMF so they can just bring it into their movie editing/mixing file (I think they're using PT but not certain) and all of the 65 cues will be in place with any fader moves that I put in. I have all of the cues in a DP session file layed out again the picture just like the finished film will be. I did a "save as" in DP (9.01) and choose OMF Interchange and just choose all of the default settings. All I wind up with is a 353 kb file. My DP file with all of the cues in it is 5.1MB. I then tried it and choose "copy all audio files" instead of the default "reference existing audio files" and it took all of the audio files in the project and saved them separately in the folder I was saving the OMF in. Like tons of files - everything in the soundbites window whether they are final cues or earlier ones that I have changed throughout the process of scoring the film - ridiculous. What the heck am I doing wrong? And I'm getting nervous. lol Please, can someone tell me how to save a DP file as an OMF with all the finished cues in it?
apanacci
Posts: 566
Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 10:01 pm
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Location: Toronto

Re: trying to make an OMF and having trouble

Post by apanacci »

Do you see the OMF file amidst all the audio files ? If you do import it back into DP and see how it goes.
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Don T
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Re: trying to make an OMF and having trouble

Post by Don T »

Hello,
You may be able to embed the audio if the files are 48/16. If not then check the box "reference audio files only" The OMF file will be small and you will have to deliver your audio folder with the OMF. If all goes well everything will open properly after PT links the audio.

Try "copy audio files" then choose embed or just include as .wav. You can also consolidate files which will only include audio currently in the sequence + whatever extra you choose as safety (handles at either end of each soundbite).

You might also try to export as "final cut pro XML" which PT will also import.

I also have PT on my system so I can check the import, create a project then give them the PT session folder and audio which they can import directly.
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Morpheo
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Re: trying to make an OMF and having trouble

Post by Morpheo »

Robert Sands wrote:I just finished a score for a movie (10 weeks work) and I have to deliver it tomorrow (Monday). They told me that they want me to deliver it as an OMF so they can just bring it into their movie editing/mixing file (I think they're using PT but not certain) and all of the 65 cues will be in place with any fader moves that I put in.
Indeed, I assume you deliver stems and not your complete multitrack sequence/editing?
Robert Sands wrote:I have all of the cues in a DP session file layed out again the picture just like the finished film will be. I did a "save as" in DP (9.01) and choose OMF Interchange and just choose all of the default settings. All I wind up with is a 353 kb file. My DP file with all of the cues in it is 5.1MB. I then tried it and choose "copy all audio files" instead of the default "reference existing audio files" and it took all of the audio files in the project and saved them separately in the folder I was saving the OMF in. Like tons of files - everything in the soundbites window whether they are final cues or earlier ones that I have changed throughout the process of scoring the film - ridiculous. What the heck am I doing wrong?
You're not doing anything wrong, that's normal (for DP...) If you want to be sure only the necessary audio files will be exported, first go to your soundbites window and "select unused soundbites", then "remove from list". No need to save if you still want them once you close your project. So, oncee the unused soundbites are removed, now you can export your OMF (maybe even AAF which is the preferred format nowadays). If you have volume or pan automation, they will be exported as well, but if your tracks are final stems, maybe everything is at 0 and you don't have to worry about that.

In the OMF/AAF export dialog, you can leave the first 3 "enforce..." options unchecked. Choosing "Interleaves" will not make any difference, Pro Tools will import everything as mono tracks, which is not really a big deal.
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