Forscene to import Avid AAF in new edit software release
A new iteration of Forbidden’s Forscene editing software will be released on November 24 and will be immediately available to all clients of the post production platform. The functionality introduced in this release enables new Avid workflows and increases efficiencies on multitrack productions. Many of the new features were requested by longtime Forscene client Princess Productions, who was integrally involved in the development and testing process.
“We’ve been using Forscene for the past five years to save time and money in edit — particularly on factual entertainment series and high-shoot-ratio productions,” said Paul Jones, head of post production for Princess Productions, part of the Endemol Shine Group. “The new features are currently being put to the test on series 3 of Channel 4’s ‘The Island with Bear Grylls’ in a workflow that sees complex multivideo and audio track sequences move from Avid to Forscene and back again, which would not have been possible before this release. Working with the Forscene product development team has delivered a solution that allows our teams in Panama and London to collaborate on edits the day after the footage is shot.”
The ability to import Avid AAF files — and autoconform timelines based on this data — is one of the release’s much-anticipated features. Long-form broadcast clients often log and create rough cuts in Forscene and then move to Avid to complete their edits. This new feature means that clients can now move seamlessly between Avid and Forscene at any point during the offline edit.
In one scenario, clients can use the feature to make Avid sequences available for review by parties in different locations. Rather than exporting a QuickTime® clip from Avid and then importing it into Forscene, clients can now make the actual Avid timeline available in Forscene.
In another example, the feature allows production and post teams to collaborate on cuts. Once an editor has refined a sequence created in Forscene, he or she can recreate the Avid timeline in Forscene for the production team to continue working on it.
Other noteworthy additions to Forscene’s feature list include:
• Support for up to 12 active video tracks and 24 audio tracks on the timeline
• The unique ability to concurrently see all video tracks in a sequence during playback — and to easily toggle between this multidisplay grid view and the usual top-down view of video layers
• The option to publish audio-only clips in a variety of formats
• Faster publishing for video content with added graphics and overlays