Conform Overview

Use Conform to troubleshoot imported timelines and to link segments to sources.

Events List

Displays the events that make up the sequence displayed in the Timeline area. Selecting an event in the list also selects it in the Timeline. You can sort the list using by clicking the column headers. Linked events are usually displayed, but if you are only interested in unlinked events, you can hide the linked events from the Display Options box. If the Events list displays the message All Sources Linked, the selected sequence is already conformed.

The data displayed in the Event list is one of the following colours:

Red

This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain no source that matches this criteria.

Yellow

This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain more than one source that matches this criteria.

White

This information is used as a match criteria, and the Potential Matches contain only once source that matches this criteria.

Grey

This information is not used as a match criteria.

Note: Lock a track and select Filter Locked Tracks to exclude that track's segments from the Events list.

Sources list

The Sources list displays all the information about the sources found when using Set Search Location or Set as Conform Search Location, from the contextual menu. From all the potential sources, Flame uses the criteria you set using the Match Criteria box to filter in potential matches. From there, you can select the right source and link it to the selected event.

Disable Display Options > Filter Potential Matches to show all the sources. If you select an event with no matches, it shows the full list, in order to allow for force linking.

In the Media Panel, click the Conform tab to display only the Sources list.

Note: If you have a Sources Reel in your current Reel group and you have not set a Conform Search Location, the Sources Reel of the current Reel group is used as the default search location.

Conform Player

Pressing the Preview button displays the Conform Player. The Conform Player dynamically toggles the Source and Record Player, based on the current selection. The Source Player displays the source selected in the Media Panel, the Record Player displays the event selected in the Timeline.

Compare Mode

The Compare button toggles between the currently selected single view mode (Primary Version, Secondary Version, Stereo) and the currently selected dual view mode (Blend, Difference, Vertical Split, Horizontal Split, Angle Split, Side by Side).

You can edit the Compare mode, using the "Edit Compare Modes" dialog window accessible from the Conform Player Options drop-down menu. The comparison is always made between the content of the current sequence Secondary track and either the current source Primary Track (if the currently selected sequence segment is unlinked) or the current sequence Primary Track (if the currently selected sequence segment is linked).

Timeline

The Timeline displays an open sequence, with controls similar to the ones found in the Timeline tab. Unlinked segments are boxed in red.

Editing Events for Conforming

Whenever you import an AAF, XML, or EDL, you can encounter conforming issues. Most of these issues are problems that can be resolved by editing the contents of the sequence: a file path (files were moved), a file type (different transcoding), a tape name, or even a source timecode.

You can edit any of the following columns, unless the track containing the segment is locked. You edit most of these fields directly in the events list, unless otherwise noted. And modifications to the timeline updates the Events list, so slipping a segment updates its Handles in the Events list.

Event #

Only EDLs specify a Event number value, for reference. Or you can set manually an Event number, if needed, as this data can be used as a number for Publish.

Segment #

A sequential index (from 1) indicating the relative position of each segment; gaps are not indexed unless they have a Timeline FX applied. You cannot edit this field directly, but changing the position of the segment in the timeline updates this

Media

Displays the segment's track. You can only edit the audio tracks, for audio patching, using either the calculator (click the field), or by click-drag.

Tape

Tape name if present in the imported sequence file.

Source In and Source Out

You can edit these fields using either the calculator (click the field), or by click-drag.

• If the selected segment is unlinked, you can edit Source In and Source Out without affecting the head & tail. Use his to fix source timecode issues in AAF and XML sequences.
• If the selected segment is linked, the modifications are interactive and similar to a slip: heads & tails are updated based on the linked media. In this case, you cannot change the timecode outside of the media boundaries.

Name

The name of the segment.

Shot Name

Used in the Shot Publish workflow, this links segments with the same Shot Name together to form a Shot.

Comment

The contents can come from a variety of sources, but in an EDL conform this field contains additional conform instructions.

File Location

The path to the referenced file.

File Name

The file name, without the extension. When you import a sequence, a file's name is broken in two: the name in the File Name column, the extension in the File Type. To edit the extension, you edit the File Type column.

File Type

The file extension, to edit if the referenced files were actually transcoded to a different format.

Bulk Editing in Conform

You can edit each field one at the time. But sometimes you need to update multiple file paths (because the files are not where the XML says they are), change the start timecode of a multiple sources.

Bulk editing multiple file locations:

1. Shift-click or Ctrl-click segments to select the ones that need their file location to be updated.
   
2. Click any one of the selected file location.
   

   Note how non-matching characters are replaced by an asterisk.

3. Edit the file location to the correct path.
   
4. Press enter to update all the selected locations.
   

Bulk editing Source In timecodes with an offset:

1. Shift-click or Ctrl-click segments to select the ones that need Source In to be updated.
   
2. Click any one of the selected source in to display the calculator.
3. In the calculator, enter the offset.
   
4. Click Add to offset the selected source in by the specified value.