About Sources Sequences

The purpose of the Sources Sequence is to simplify the conform of multiple sequences: in a single operation, you can link all the sequences of the Reel group to their sources.

You create a Sources Sequence with the Create Sources Sequence button, in Conform. Only one Sources Sequence can exist in a given Reel Group. Creating a Sources Sequence where one already exists overwrites the existing one.

A Sources Sequence is the result of the analysis of the sequences located within the Sequences Reels of a Reel Group: it is an aggregate sequence of all the sources present in the sequences. The Sources Sequence enables sharing of sources across the connected sequences.

The Sources Sequence contains a single video track (and as many audio tracks as required). This track contains the longest instance of source media referenced by the connected sequences, with the order of the segments based on Tape or File Name, then Timecode (also known as EDL C-Sort mode).

Note: One could distribute the Sources Sequence for source grading; relinking to the new, graded, sources will update all of the connected sequences.

Information Shared Between Connected Sequences

The creation of a Sources Sequence connects together the sequences used to create it. This allows you to use the Sources Sequence to perform a number of source operations that are automatically carried to every connected sequence.

Operations that propagate to all sequences connected by the Sources Sequence:

• Linking and unlinking segments from their media.
• Caching and flushing source media cache.
• Generating proxies.
• Editing source clip metadata, such as source timecode, tape name, or any format option such as debayering settings.
• Editing format specific options such as R3D or ARRIRAW options.
• Editing source clip pre-processing options, such as LUT or resize.

Note: The segments of the Sources Sequence are not connected to segments in the original sequences, only the sources themselves. You need the Shots Sequence to share segment metadata.

How the Sources Sequence Is Created

Since the goal of the Sources Sequence is to simplify the conform of multiple related sequences, the Sources Sequence creation process tries to consolidate the different sources from the many sequences to simplify the Sources Sequence. It does this using the following steps.

1. It find the longest sequence of the group.
2. It determines how many different sources are referenced by the longest sequence.
   • The Sources Sequence creation process finds out which one of Tape Name, File Name, and Name has the most different occurrences. For example, if out of 10 segments there are 3 different Names, 4 different File Names, and 6 different Tape Names, then 6 different sources are considered to exist.
   • If two segments refer to the same source and:
     • If the start timecode of one event is within 100 frames of the end timecode of the other event, Flame Premium consolidates those 2 segments into a single one in the created Sources Sequence.
     • If the start timecode of one event is at least 101 frames from the end timecode of the other event, Flame Premium considers that the segments are unrelated, and creates 2 independent segments in the Sources Sequence.
3. Once the longest sequence has been analysed, the process analyses the other sequences, trying to consolidate the sources together using the same criteria as above.

When all the sequences and sources are consolidated and connected, the Sources Sequence is built, its segments ordered by Tape or File Name, and then Timecode (also known as EDL C-Sort mode).

In addition, if Limit Handles is enabled and the sequences are unlinked, Flame Premium adds the specified amount of handles to the segments in the Sources Sequence, or less if the specified interval of a source's timecodes does not allow it by being too short.

Finally, the segment names used for the Sources Sequence are the one from the original sequences, not the media file name.

Managing Sources in Connected Conform

When working in Connected Conform, creating a Sources Sequence connects together the different sequence by the used sources. This means that changing the Format Options or the Pre-Processing settings on a segment in one sequence affects every other occurrence of that source.

To prevent this from happening, you can create an new and exclusive link between the segment you wish to isolate and its source by duplicating that source.

To duplicate a source:

• Right-click the segment with the source to isolate.
• From the contextual menu, select Duplicate Source.

Using Duplicate Source does not duplicate any media: it only ensures that the segment now has independent Format Options and Pre-Processing Options from the other shared segments. Also, this does not break Segment Sharing enabled by Connected Conform: you can still Sync Segments across sequences. Finally, a clip derived from a segment to which you applied a Duplicate Source (through Copy & Paste, Duplicate, or simply a cut) behaves as usual, in that it shares the same source as the clip from which it is derived.

To see how Duplicate Source works:

1. In Connected Conform, with the Sources Sequence created, Link to Sources making sure Save Sources is enabled.
2. Select a segment shared across the connected sequences, and through the Pre-Processing options, apply a visible letterbox resize.

   Verify that this affects all shared segments across the connected sequences.

3. Apply Duplicate Source to that same segment.
4. Unlink that same segment.
5. With Save Sources still enabled, select Link To Media Files.

   In the Sources reel, you can now see a duplicate source gets added. This is because Duplicate Source creates a new link to the source, forcing Flame Premium to consider it as a completely different source. And if you disable the Letterbox resize from the Pre-Processing options, it only affects this segment.