Features

Autodesk® Backdraft® Conform software is a remote assistant utility for data wranglers and assistant editors. The software provides ingest, assembly, and conform tools to get a project started; comprehensive media management tools to keep it going; and output and archiving tools to wrap it up.

Remote Project Management

Create and modify Autodesk projects from a central location. Setting up new projects from Backdraft Conform offloads administrative operations from the creative seats. This also makes it easier to duplicate project settings across multiple seats while reducing human error.

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Remote Media Management

Clip Library

With Clip Library, which provides a hierarchical structured system for organizing all elements of a project, much like bins found in other editing applications, you can create nested source areas for clip organization and multiple record areas, which is useful for versioning. You can efficiently manage multiple projects on multiple seats from Backdraft Conform, loading new sources, viewing ongoing work, and outputting clips for the entire facility.

Offload CPU-Intensive Tasks

Initiate noncreative tasks from Backdraft Conform. Use Backdraft Conform to perform CPU-intensive tasks such as proxy generation and resizing media.

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Editing

Gestural-Based Editing Toolset

With its Autodesk® Smoke® editing interface, Backdraft Conform is designed for basic editing tasks, enabling assistant editors to make adjustments after conforming a timeline.

Multichannel Audio Editing and Mixing

Backdraft Conform includes a full range of audio tools for complete audio finishing. Input and link audio to your video clips. Deliver versions with different language tracks for different markets.

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Conform

Automatic Batch-Capture from EDL

Minimize time and effort with efficient Batch capture. Automatically digitize the media required to assemble a conformed EDL into a timeline clip.

Media Unlinking and Relinking

Quickly disconnect your original clip metadata from the captured media with the Unlink/Relink tool, so you can go back and recapture the media at a different resolution or version. Tools for efficient media onlining and offlining are at the core of the editing process. Media linking enables relinking of entire projects to new media without having to re-edit your timeline.

Conform from OMF

Import OMF files with audio media to simplify the conform process. Edit information is maintained with multiple video and audio tracks, dissolves, timecode, tape source, and more. Embedded AIFF-C and WAV audio media is supported. Editors can also export an edited sequence as an OMF file with audio media.

File-Based EDL Conform

Use file-based EDLs to conform edits by importing (or soft importing) data files from a standard file system. This provides the capability to data-conform, enabling an editor to conform 2K (or greater) film projects directly from film scans residing on a central server. This capability is increasingly important as facilities implement digital intermediate and data-centric workflows.

Conform from AAF

Quickly conform from an Avid® system offline with AAF support. The AAF format contains more data than is available in an EDL. Backdraft Conform automatically re-creates the timeline with most transitions and effects intact, significantly reducing the manual work required to replicate a complex timeline.

Conform from Apple Final Cut Pro XML

Auto-conform multilayered, effects-rich Apple® Final Cut Pro® sequences in Backdraft Conform using the FCP XML interchange format.

Conform from Panasonic P2 MPX and Compressed Media—New

Streamline all workflows from broadcast to digital intermediate (DI) with native playback of streaming media formats, including Panasonic® P2 MXF and compressed QuickTime® files.

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Effects Rendering

Render Effects

Process unrendered effects, or launch an Autodesk® Burn® remote rendering job directly from the timeline or clip library. Offload CPU-intensive processing from the creative seat.

Integrated Backburner Monitor

Quickly monitor Burn jobs with the integrated light version of the Autodesk® Backburner™ monitor.

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Video I/O

Multiformat Capture and Playback—New

Capture and play back audio and video from the industry’s most common high-quality media formats. Ingest, view, and output media conveniently from a central location. With real-time uncompressed HD and SD video I/O, you can easily maintain the highest-quality content through compositing iterations and other processing tasks, thereby eliminating worry about generation loss, color space conversion errors, or image degradation. Backdraft Conform now supports native playback of streaming media formats, including Panasonic P2 MXF and compressed QuickTime files.

RGB 4:4:4 Dual-link and HSDL I/O

Quickly ingest high-resolution images while preserving their pristine quality. The high-speed data link (HSDL) offers a fast and reliable means of importing or exporting uncompressed 2K, 10-bit RGB images to or from Backdraft Conform.

VTR Emulation

Backdraft Conform is capable of emulating a VTR for either input or output. Other edit controllers (devices or applications) can control Backdraft Conform as if it were a VTR. For instance, in a typical telecine transfer process, a da Vinci color-grading system can control Backdraft Conform as if it were a VTR, digitizing color-corrected video frames directly to the framestore.

Media File I/O

Import/export all common industry-standard image, video, and audio file formats. A complete range of industry-standard media file formats is supported, now including Panasonic P2 MXF and compressed QuickTime files. Use Backdraft Conform to load and export footage for creative artists throughout your facility. This helps increase productivity and enables artists to have the correct footage and versions at their disposal.

Soft-Import and Publish Image and Audio Files

Directly read and play back files from standard file systems on open storage devices without having to copy them to the Autodesk® Stone® file system, saving disk space and reducing versioning errors. Once files are soft-imported, they are usable within all modules as any other clip. Publish allows you to export your finished results while keeping links on the Stone file system.

File Export Integration with Autodesk Cleaner XL 1.5

Launch an Autodesk® Cleaner® XL encoding job directly from Backdraft Conform to easily encode video file formats, including QuickTime, MPEG, and AVI. Encoding tasks are carried out on a separate Windows® PC and managed via the Autodesk Backburner application. This provides a clean workflow, and client-facing editing functions can be performed on an inexpensive standard office PC connected to the facility network.

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