Exporting From Avid Media Composer

AAF

1 - Select your final sequence in the bin and right click to choose export, or go to File > Export.

2 - Attach any external drives etc. if needed and create a folder for your AAF etc. to be exported to.

3 - At the bottom of the export window select ‘Untitled’ from the Export Settings.

4 - In the Export Settings window, select the following:

  • Export As: AAF

    ☑ AAF Edit Protocol

    ☑ Pro Tools 10/12 compatibility

    ☐ Use Marks - only tick this if you need to restrict the part of the timeline you are exporting. Normally as the final sequence it should be free of any extra material.

    ☐ Use Selected/Enabled Tracks - again only tick if you have a reason not to export all audio tracks.

    ☑ Include Inactive Audio Tracks - you may wish to make the audio mixdown tracks inactive for monitoring purposes in the edit, but these need to be exported in the AAF.

    ☐ Enable Mask Margins - only relevant to video export - unchecked.

    ☐ Include All Video / Data tracks in Sequence - unchecked.

    ☑ Include Audio Tracks in Sequence. Depending on MC version, also select ‘All Tracks’.

  • Audio Details > Export Method: Consolidate Media

  • Handle Length: 150 Frames

    ☑ Include Rendered Audio Effects

    ☐ Render All Audio Effects - unchecked

    ☐ Flatten Audio tracks that Contain Effects - unchecked

    ☐ Remove Track Effects - unchecked

    ☐ Add Audio Mixdown Tracks - unchecked

    ☑ Convert Audio Sample Rate to: 48kHz

    ☑ Convert Audio Bit Depth to: 24 Bit

    ☑ Convert Audio File Format to: WAVE

  • Media Destinations:

    • Video / Data:

    • Audio: Embedded in AAF

5 - Finally click ‘Save’ at the bottom to save these as the new AAF export settings under ‘Untitled’, or if you prefer, select ‘Save As…’ and give it a new unique setting name e.g. ‘AAF Audio Export - Pro Tools’ which you can use next time!

You should then return to the directory window where you can check the location the AAF is being exported to and give it a name. Click ‘Save’ and be patient; it may take a while!

The resulting AAF should appear as one .AAF file in the folder you created earlier and the file size for a normal sequence created this way should be in the order of GB. If it is KB or MB (unless the sequence is very short), then it may be that it has been exported ‘linked’ rather than ‘embedded’. If there is a separate folder there with media in, then it may have been exported as ‘Copy All Media’.

Video

1 - Select your final sequence in the bin and right click to choose export, or go to File > Export.

2 - Attach any external drives etc. if not done already and create a folder for your exports.

3 - At the bottom of the export window select ‘Untitled’ from the Export Settings.

4 - In the Export Settings window, select the following:

  • Export As: MOV

    ☐ Use Marks - only tick this if you need to restrict the part of the timeline you are exporting. Normally as the final sequence it should be free of any extra material.

    ☐ Use Selected/Enabled Tracks - only tick if you have a reason not to mixdown all audio tracks.

    ☐ Include Inactive Audio Tracks - unchecked

    ☑ Video

    ☑ Project Raster

  • Image:

    • Preset: HD 1920x1080

    • Aspect Ratio: 16:9

    • Pixel Aspect Ratio: 1.000:1

    • Source Scaling: Stretch

  • Frame Rate:

    • Output Frame Rate: 25fps

  • Colour Space:

    • Output Colour Space: Rec. 709

      ☑ Keep as legal range

  • Compression:

    • Codec Family: DNxHD

    • Compression: DNxHD LB

    • Color Depth: 8 bit

    ☑ Audio

    • Format: PCM

    • Mix: Stereo

    • Sampling Rate: 48000 KHz

    • Bits per sample: 24

5 - Finally click ‘Save’ at the bottom to save these as the new Quicktime export settings for ‘Untitled’, or if you prefer, select ‘Save As…’ and give it a new unique setting name e.g. ‘QT Export - Pro Tools’ which you can use next time!

You should then return to the directory window where you can check the location the Quicktime video is being exported to and give it a name. Click ‘Save’ and be patient; it will take a while!

The resulting video file should appear as one .MOV file in the folder you created earlier and the file size for a normal sequence created this way should be in the order of GB.

EDLs

1 - In Media Composer go to Tools > List Tool

2 - In the List Tool set ‘Output Format’ to File_129

Tracks are best exported as Video and Audio separately and in groups of up to four.

3 - Select up to four tracks you wish to export under ‘Tracks:’.

4 - Double click your sequence to load it into the List Tool

5 - Click ‘Load’

6 - Select ‘Save List’

7 - Name and save with your AAF and Quicktime

8 - Repeat for other groups of tracks

A typical set of EDL files might be something like:

My Sequence V1-3

My Sequence A1-4

My Sequence A5-8

My Sequence A9-11