The Flame Learning Channel

Part 3 continues the Connected Conform Workflow and production progresses with the VFX. You’ll now start using Batch to create a more complicated composite with node based compositing. This will cover proper shot naming for VFX work as well as the Smart Replace function for automatic shot replace when rendering and replacing the same VFX media across all the sequences in the Connected Conform. And perhaps you might receive another version of the edit that also needs to be added to the Connected Conform even after the VFX work!

Part 2 picks up from where you left off at Part 1 where you conformed the first edit in Flame and created the Connected Conform. Shortly after a new version of the edit was supplied and this was added into the Connected Conform. Now you’ll start adding standard VFX to all the sequences using the Shots Sequence. This allows you to apply the VFX once and it affects all the sequences within the Connected Conform. As as always… you will get revised edits of the production at any point and you’ll deal with that when it happens.

In this set of videos, you'll experience the Connected Conform Workflow with an enhanced usability through the Flame 2018.2 Update.   The Connected Conform workflow allows you to share the same sources and VFX across multiple timelines.   So if you're working on any production that has multiple versions or cut downs of an edit, you can make changes anywhere and all your sequences will remain in sync.  The 2018.2 update now allows you to add more edits to the Connected Conform even at different stages of production.   It would be nice to receive everything at once but realistically you get your first edit and more sequences get added as time moves on.   So you'll be learning how to handle this situation.

This video picks up from part 2 when you have just conformed a sequence using Open Clips. At this point if you want to start versioning your media, you have two choices. If the media already exists, than you will use the Multi-version Open Clip. If the media does not exist yet and you want to create a place holder that can be monitored for media, than you will use the pattern Open Clip. The pattern Open Clip scenario is more common as new versions are typically introduced as the production progresses. So this will be the main focus of this video.

In this video, you start your way through the key stages of accessing the Open Clip workflow. This video takes you through an example of creating Open Clips on import with the new Open Clip Creator. So you can create Open Clips without any scripting knowledge and get started straight away. Open Clips are treated as regular media clips when working in the Flame applications. So you can import, Conform, Edit and apply VFX using Open Clips.

In this video, you are given an introduction to the Open Clip Workflow in the Flame Products. The Open Clip allows you to version external media within your master timeline. So as new versions are delivered from other applications, CGI or VFX, you can choose to use these new versions or automatically update the Open Clips to reflect the latest version of the media. The Flame 2018.2 Update introduce a new easy way to create open clips without any scripting knowledge allowing anyone at any skill level to take advantage of this powerful workflow.

In this video, you’ll learn the correct workflow to trim multiple segments in the sequence simultaneously. Trimming multiple edits comes down to selecting the segments correctly and not selecting the cuts or transitions between the edits. You’ll also learn how to select multiple segments in the sequence using the Timeline Search window.

In this short video, we look at how to slip media under a Timewarp TimelineFX. Normally when it comes to a speed change, speed ramp or timewarp, if you have to slip the source media, any applied VFX animation to the segment is also slipped with the footage. That might be fine in most cases if you want to change the start point of your media and keep the VFX animation in sync to the source media. However there are times when the VFX keyframe animation starts at the right time but the footage does not. So there is the requirement to slip or slide the underlying media but not the keyframe timing of the timewarp. This quick tip show you how to do that!

In this extended video we discuss the fundamentals of Sequence Publish for sharing media from Flame to external 3rd party applications. Sharing media can refer to the source media but it can also include any media caching or renders done in Flame. So when it comes to sequence publishing, media is being source from multiple locations to give you the most comprehensive sequence sharing experience possible. This advanced level video covers the sequence publish process as well as detailed explanations as to how each of the options affect the sequence publish. Ultimately this will allow you to output your sequence to the rest of your facility to establish a collaborative workflow for a variety of tasks including VFX shot distribution, media grading, media versioning and much more! We also discuss media linking at the operating system level to create multiple links to the same media dataset which can be much faster as well as better manage your disk space when performing a sequence publish.

In this video, we’ll continue to look at the Gmask improvements and focus on the selection enhancements that affect the Gmask splines and to some degree extended bi-cubic vertices as well. Using a new set of selection rules, it easier than ever before to mask or rotoscope your work without worry about overlapping objects in the composite.

A few versions back we introduced the Action Gmask and Gmask Tracer node in Batch. This masking and rotoscoping tool is built to take on every day post production tasks but there is always room for improvement. Based on user feedback, there have been some enhancements in the Flame 2018.1 update and this will affect Gmask display preferences and general vertex selection. This video will cover the display preferences and another video will cover the vertex selection.

In this update video on Batch Paint, we’ll run through the updated workflow using the consolidate feature when painting brush strokes on a canvas. This was introduced in Flame 2018 but it has been modified in the Flame 2018.1 update for technical reasons and user feedback.

This video takes you through the workflow of using the Keyboard Shortcut Editor to customize your own shortcuts or hotkeys. In the Flame 2018.1 update, the workflow has been updated to clarify the shortcuts in new categories. The on-screen keyboard has also been updated to dynamically show you what keystrokes are available for newly assigned keyboard shortcuts. This new built-in functionality should make assigning keyboard shortcuts much easier than previous versions of Flame.

When working in Flame, you can use all the new Marker functionality to keep track of your work within the Flame Products. However there is always the scenario when your producer or client is not around and you need to send them a draft version of the sequence. Now you can already burn information into the image using the burn-in metadata tool and this can provide details such as tape name, timecodes, segment information etc. In the Flame 2018.1 update, you can now burn marker information into the image as part of the burn-in metadata layers.

This video will run through the updated functionality with Markers and Segment Markers in a clip or sequence. These redesigned tools will help you stay informed when working with a sequence as well as carrying over a wealth of information when importing sequences from other editing applications.