MediaHub Reference: Browsing for Files

The MediaHub consists of two panels: the browser and the MediaHub tabs. Use the browser to locate the files to import, or the location where to export your clips. Use the MediaHub tabs to set you media and sequence import options.

MediaHub Browser

The MediaHub file browser displays two sections:

The Autodesk Network lists other Smoke, Flame, or Lustre workstations on the network, and can be used to import files from those workstations.
The Local Devices displays the hard disks, external disks, and other storage devices that appear under the Devices category in the Finder. Use the Local Devices to access local storage.
Tip: Network volumes connected to your workstation appear in Local Device.

General Tab

Cache Source Media button

Enable to create a managed copy of the media in the application storage; this copy is a transcoded version of the original media, using the Cached Media Compression Format as the transcode target. Disable to link to the media of the imported clip, without transcoding or copying the media.

Enabling Cache Source Media ensures that the application is the sole owner of the media, preventing the media from being modified by an external source. With Cache Source Media disabled, the application decodes the clip on-the-fly and there is no transcoding.

You can always change your mind after importing a clip: right-click the clip and select Media > Cache Source Media to transcode the media and copy it to your local storage. Right-click and select Media > Flush Source Media Cache to get rid of the transcoded copy and refer back to the original media.

Alpha Channel Processing box

Select how alpha channels of RGBA media is processed on import: discard alpha channel information, create a matte container for the clip and its alpha channel, or create an RGB clip and another clip for its matte.

Add Comp on Container button

Enable to activate the Comp effect on the matte container and enable matte transparency. Disable to mute the Comp effect.

Cached Media Compression Format field

Displays the compression format applied to clips imported with Cache Source Media enabled. Defined for the project, in the Cache and Renders tab of the Project dialogue box.

You access your project's settings in File > Project and User Settings.

Resolution Presets box

Select a resolution for the new clip. Select Custom to specify a non-standard resolution.

Fill box

Select a fit method to be applied to the selected clip.

Select:	To fit:
Centre/Crop	The source image, centred, over the destination resolution frame. If the source is larger than the destination, it is cropped. If the source is smaller than the destination, it is surrounded by a black border.
Crop Edges	One edge of the source into the destination resolution frame without stretching or squashing the frame. Excess parts of the source frame after resizing are cropped. If the source—after the one edge is resized—is wider than the destination, its overhanging left and right edges are cropped. If the source is taller than the destination, the upper and lower edges are cropped.
Fill	The source, width, and height, into the destination resolution frame. This process, if the source and destination resolutions do not have the same aspect ratio, can distort the image.
Letterbox	The source to the destination resolution frame without squashing or stretching it, and without cropping the source. If the source is wider than the destination, black bars fill the top and bottom of the destination frame. If the source is narrower than the destination, black bars fill the right and left sides of the frame. In all cases, the entire source frame is fit into the destination frame.

Resize Filter box

Select the resize filter to apply to the clip; all but the Impulse filter are rendered using the GPU. This box does not appear if you select the Centre/Crop fit.

Select:	For:
Lanczos	Excellent and sharp results. Recommended for upscale and downscale. Expensive to compute.
Shannon	Excellent and sharp results. Results are sharper than Lanczos in small details. Recommended for upscale and downscale. Expensive to compute.
Gaussian	Medium quality and softer results.
Quadratic	Medium quality and softer results.
Bicubic	High-quality results, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscale and downscale.
Mitchell	High-quality results, but not as sharp as Shannon. Use for both upscale and downscale.
Triangle	Low quality results that are fast to compute. Use for downscale.
Impulse	Very low quality results that are fast to compute. Use for downscale.

Width field

Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.

Height field

Displays the custom width resolution of the clip. Editable.

Aspect Ratio Presets box

Select a standard frame aspect ratio. Select the Set to w:h option to set the clip to use square pixels. Select Custom to define a custom frame aspect ratio in the Aspect Ratio field.

Aspect Ratio field

Displays the custom render/output aspect ratio. Editable

Bit Depth box

Select the render/output bit depth of clips.

Scan Mode box

Select the scan mode of clips.

Still Duration field

Specify a duration for stills, repeating the last frame as required. The result is the same as if you had trimmed out the stills in the Timeline to the specified duration.

Pixel Ratio box

Use From Source to import using the information specified by the file. Use Square Pixels to ignore the file specification and use the Width x Height ratio, when file metadata is not set correctly.

Use LUT button

Enable to apply the LUT displayed in the Applied LUT field to the clip.

LUT Format box

Select the type of LUT to apply to the clip.

Applied LUT field

Displays the type of conversion LUT applied to the clip, either imported using Import, or edited using Edit.

Conversion LUT Type box

Select a basic LUT type, EXR Display, PhotoMap, or Gamma correction.

LUT Editor Access button

Click to open the LUT editor.

Note: When importing content using the Use LUT options, the selected LUT or Colour Transform options become Preprocessing options that can be edited from the Timeline FX editor. In addition, these parameters are shared with Lustre when content is imported in Source Grading mode, or when no Timeline FX are applied to the timeline segment.

Format Specific Options

Show All Formats button: Disable to display only the format of the file selected in the MediaHub browser. Enable to view or edit import options for any of the available file formats.
File Format box: With Show All Formats disabled, File Format displays the format of the file selected in the browser; if more than one file is selected, File Format displays the formats of the selected files. With Show All Formats enabled, select the file format to view or edit its import options.
Options Category box: Select the set of options to view or edit.

AAF & XML Import Options

Media Options

Link to Files button: Enable to create a sequence with track segments that link to the original media. Disable to import an empty shell showing only the structure of the sequence, without references to files.
Preferred Media button: Select which, of either offline intermediates or original sources, to import when both are found by the application. Only used when importing AAF sequences.
Consolidate on Import button: Enable to import only the segments of the sources used by the imported sequence. Enabled when Use Timecode is enabled.
Maximum Handles field: Displays the maximum number of handles (head and tail) allowed for each event in the sequence. If the sequence also sets the amount of handles, the application imports the sources using the lowest number of handles set between Maximum Handles and the sequence. Editable.
Save Sources Separately button: Enable to also import each source referred to in the sequence. The application imports the sources in the same folder as the imported sequence, in the Media panel.

Relative Search Options

Search and Import Files button

Enable to locate and import the media listed in the sequence, using the selected Search Criteria options but not the file paths the sequence might contain. The media found is imported as segments of the sequence. Enabled if Link to Files is enabled.

Directories Up field

Use to expand the search to parent directories. The application searches for media to match by going down any folder structure, starting with the directory from where the sequence file is imported.

Note: When setting the Directories Up field, keep in mind that the application navigates through the whole directory structure. This means that the higher up you go in the folder structure, the longer the conform takes.

Use Filename button

Enable to use the filename specified in the sequence as a match criteria.

Use Timecode button

Enable to use the source timecode specified in the sequence as a match criteria. Enables Consolidate on Import.

Use Tape button

Enable to use the tape name specified in the sequence as a match criteria.

Use UMID button

Enable to use the starting SMPTE UMID in the sequence as a match criteria. This is only used with MXF files and is ignored in all other cases.

Use Resolution button

Enable to use the resolution specified in the sequence as a match criteria. If this option is disabled, the Smoke applies a Resize FX to the media found to make it match the resolution specified in the imported sequence, if required.

Use Frame Rate button

Enable to use the frame rate specified in the sequence as a match criteria. Disable to disregard the frame rate; try slipping the clip and using a timewarp in the timeline after loading the timeline to correct any frame rate discrepancy.

Be careful when using the Use Frame Rate search option with FCP XML files, especially if the FCP sequence is using multiple frame rates. With Use Frame Rate enabled, Smoke uses the frame rate of the sequence's edits as a match criteria to relink to the correct sources: if the frame rate of the considered source is 24 fps while the edit is at 30 fps, that source is not a potential candidate. Whether or not Smoke relinks the considered source to the edit has nothing to do with the frame rate of the sequence.

But, if you are importing an FCP sequence, Smoke timewarps the edits so that they match the frame rate of the imported sequence. For example, an FCP sequence @60fps contains edits @50fps: Smoke timewarps the edits to 60 fps as it imports the sequence. Whether or not edits are relinked to their sources has nothing to do with this: if Use Frame Rate is enabled, Smoke only relinks the above edits if the sources are matching the edits' original frame rate, in this case 50fps.

EDL Import Options

Media Options

Link to Files button: Enable to create a sequence with track segments that link to the original media. Disable to import only the structure of the sequence, not linked to the media files.
Consolidate on Import button: Enable to import only the segments of the sources used by the imported sequence. Enabled when Use Timecode is enabled.
Maximum Handles field: Displays the maximum number of handles (head and tail) allowed for each event in the sequence. If the sequence also sets the amount of handles, the application imports the sources using the lowest number of handles set between Maximum Handles and the sequence. Editable.
Save Sources Separately button: Enable to also import each source referred to in the sequence. The application imports the sources in the same folder as the imported sequence, in the Media panel.

EDL Options

EDL Frame Rate box: Select the frame rate applied to the imported EDL. Defaults to the project's.
EDL Conversion button: Enable to convert the EDL to another frame rate using the settings defined by the Conversion box.
Conversion box: Select the option that corresponds to the type of conversion that you want to apply to the EDL. The conversion scripts that appear in this list depend on the frame rate of the EDL you are loading.
Fix Timewarp Match Frames Errors button: Enable to fix match frame errors. When you import an EDL that contains dissolves or timewarps, a match frame error may occur. This can cause an unwanted cut at the point where the timewarp begins in your EDL. Match frame errors occur when the in point of the second edit in a dissolve is not the same timecode as the out point of the previous shot.
Pulldown Removal button: Enable to remove 2:3 pulldown when loading the EDL. The resulting sequence is @ 23.976 or 24 fps, depending on the setting of the Pulldown Original FCM box.
Pulldown Original FCM box: Select the Frame Code Mode that matches the EDL that you are loading. If you are loading multiple EDLs, the same mode is used for all of them.
Multi-Assemble button: Enable to assemble into one sequence multi-selected EDLs. Each EDL will appear on a different video track, based on the selection order.
If you drag-and-drop a folder with multiple EDL, it creates either a single video track sequence or a single sequence with multiple video tracks, based on the Multi-Assemble option. With Multi-Assemble enabled, the alphabetical order defines the video track assigned to each EDL.
Varicam button: Enable if the EDL is links to material with a Varicam. You must also select a frame rate from the Varicam Frame Rate box.

Jobs

The Jobs tab displays ongoing and completed background processes. Use the Jobs tab to monitor the import and export processes.

Actions box: Select from the list an action to perform on the selected job.
When aborting the processing of a file sequence, frames already processed are retained. For example, if the Status column reads 20 of 44 when you click Abort, 20 of the 44 frames of the clip remain. Aborting a streaming file cancels the whole process, there is no partial processing.