EDL import

Community Ideas for Ardour
#21

I do semi big film projects completely in kdenlive and having a chance to interchange the sound with ardour would be fantastic (stems do work for some projects, but for most they dont…). the only linux way i know to import / export from NLE to DAW would be from lightworks export aaf to mixbus… but with that you run into other problems (lightworks being picky about drivers etc…), so not really an option…

#22

The other problem I remember with EDL conforming was that it was a hugely time consuming process. At the time I was working for the BBC (so typically I’d be working with TV programmes of about 55 mins duration), To conform that lot from DAT cassettes would usually take us the best part of a day. Is it a quicker process these days ('cos presumably you now conform from files somehow - rather than from tape?)

#23

Import an EDL in Davinci Resolve:

  • Import all your raw video assets into the Media bins.
  • In the Timeline Management pane, click load to import your EDL (Same thing in Lightworks)

    • Using the import EDL addon in Blender:

  • Open Blender.
  • File > User preferences > Addons > Categories > Import – Export > Import – Export Import EDL > Check it.
  • Click button > Save user settings (so that setting will be used each time you start Blender).
  • Close the user preferences window.
  • Change the combo box in the top bar saying Default to Video Editing.
  • To the right of the time line you’ll see EDL import (if not, maybe Blender needs a restart after enabling the addon?)
  • Click the open folder button under the offset line and select your edl file.
  • Click ‘Refresh Reels’.
  • Add paths to the missing reels using the open folder buttons.
  • When all is set click ‘Import video sequence (.edl)
  • The time line should now show your EDL project.
    • #24

    BTW. EDL parsing can be taken from this C++ script: https://sourceforge.net/projects/edl2aaf/

    #25

    " I’m still not really 100% clear what Ardour users would gain by being able to import/export via EDL. "

    I don’t know if my use case fits here, but I would like to automate some stuff in ardour like:

    • from a specific directory:
    • create a new session
    • import all .wav files into the session
    • import all .mid files into the session
    • create markers at different positions
    • create groups from specifed tracks
    • insert an LV2 plugin on each midi track
    • save the session

    Is it possible somehow today?

    In lua for instance, or with OSC?
    Or even in C++, calling some functions directly?
    I could also try to generate a .xml file directly…

    #26

    In C++ anything can be done, since Ardour is written in C++ and you can modify the source code. Many things are possible from lua, but not all. As people try to do things in lua, we tend to add new functionality/access from lua to make it possible for them to finish.

    I also don’t know why this comment is attached to this thread … which is about EDL, not scripting/extending/working with Ardour.

    #27

    Thank you Paul for your answer.
    I started another thread here:
    https://community.ardour.org/node/14233

    I originally posted here, because I think that EDL import would be a good way to help with my use case, as well.

    #28

    I’m currently in the process of adding a feature to Flowblade (Linux video editor) that will do something similar to what is requested here. We’re building an Ardour project export feature into the Flowblade video editor. Essentially, once you’ve hit picture lock in Flowblade, it will be able to export a brand new Ardour project complete with transcoded WAV files, an Ardour project file that references the clips, etc.

    Not exactly an EDL, and not exactly built into Ardour. And it only works with Flowblade. But it is a way to get a structure NLE timeline into Ardour for post-production sound editing using open source tools.

    The current status, as of this writing, is that I have created a standalone Python 3 script that will convert an exported Flowblade MLT XML file (kind of like an EDL but with more information) into a brand new Ardour project. A new Ardour project directory and project file are created, and the audio from all of the audio and video assets inside of Flowblade is transcoded into WAV files and placed in the Ardour project. Eventually we want to move this functionality from the standalone script into Flowblade itself.

    If anyone is interested, the relevant (still in progress) Flowblade ticket is here: https://github.com/jliljebl/flowblade/issues/666

    1 Like
    #29

    @ratherlargerobot That is very good news, thanks for telling about Flowblade :slight_smile:

    #30

    Very interesting project. Though, if I understand correctly, MLT is used in quite a few video editors (https://www.mltframework.org/projects/). If the script was integrated into Flowblade, the users from e.g. Shotcut or Kdenlive wouldn’t be able to use it. Maybe it should be its own project, and have its own repository to make it available for all the editors - and maybe be contributed to by all these users ?
    Regards

    #31

    Edouard, you are correct, MLT is used by a number of Linux video editors. If anyone wants to use the work that was done in Flowblade as a starting point for an independent project or integration into other video editors, I’m all for it!

    However, when editing these days I only use Flowblade, and don’t really have the time available to commit to testing on all of the other programs or start a new independent project like that. Additionally, the script as it currently exists makes a few assumptions about the MLT XML structure that hold true for Flowblade, but may or may not hold true for other editors. It might work with other editors, but I haven’t tested it.

    Since starting this effort, Robin Gareus also mentioned on the Github thread that Ardour is planning on supporting the Pixar OpenTimelineIO format in the medium to long term. That looks very promising, because it is open source, has a simple JSON format, Pixar is involved, and looks like it will eventually be able to do audio/video/3D project timeline interchange between all sorts of formats.