Hello there, I'm currently working as an assistant editor on a feature documentary project and am planning ahead a little bit since I believe the producers will likely rely on me to finish / online the film when we picture lock.

I have been doing a bit of research online about workflow guides but it seems that almost all the tutorial videos involve finishing in Resolve, or they talk about Avid to Resolve roundtrip. The thing is, the transcoded proxies the editors have been using were not generated in Resolve. They were generated in Avid using AMA-link + transcoding, so I am not sure if it is a good idea to finish / conform in Resolve. We will likely work with a colorist though who will color the interviews in Resolve, but I am thinking it probably makes the most sense for the conform to happen in Avid (using the colored clips generated in Resolve by the colorist).

Basically I am looking for some kind of comprehensive online guide / video that can tell me everything I need to know to finish the film, and I will likely need to work with the sound mixer + graphic artist + colorist and send them what they need, and combine what they send back into a final conform sequence,  so any kind of workflow guide that covers these aspects will be most appreciated. I have been poking around online and am only able to find guides relating to specific aspects / tasks, but unable to find some kind of "big picture" workflow guide!

Any advice will be most appreciated. Thnak you!

Its brave that you are considering this but its a skilled job. 

I'm currently teaching conforming to a bunch of operators who already have a lot of experience and it there are a lot of steps to get right.

I'd strongly suggest either getting an experienced freelancer on board (and looking over their shoulder) or take it to a post house (and asking to sit in)

I presume you aren't under any time delivery pressure so that helps.

Re the actual conform. I'd normally take my offline sequence (and only that sequence) into my online Avid.

Do the conform prep to send the AAF to Resolve. As you say in Resolve they can then link to original media. It doesn't matter that Resolve didn't make the proxies.

The online editor has to manage the effects that Resolve can't handle and ensure the colourist produces media in the correct way so you can rebuild any efffects in AVid after the grade.

Then you have to prep the final graded timeline, add the final mixed sound. Export for an AQC, have an eyeball QC done and resolve any fixes.

Thank you Pat for your advice!

Sounds like I will be totally out of my depth if I decide to take on the job. Maybe I should suggest to the producer to bring in someone and then I can play an assist role and learn!

That's what I'd do. 

In most cases I would recommend to relink all proxies within Avid.

As a second step remove all colour adapters (clip->refresh sequence).

Third do a 1:1 or at least DNxHR HQX video mixdown.

That's what you can send to grading. (Expect to get DNxHR HQX in return)

After grading put all numbered clips in a folder within the MXF Folder, let MC create a database and drag & drop the db-file to a bin. Now you have all graded clip, you can edit above your original sequence. 

That's it. In a more advanced workflow you can deliver a edl to grading as well.

But scene detection in resolve is pretty good and to get a working edl demands a little experience as well.

Good luck. Sebastian

That is one workflow but my preference is to send an AAF and retain a the edits in Resolve and send back individual MXF and an AAF to relink in Resolve. 

It's a little bit more complex but gives greater control.

And these posts show just 2 approaches. Both have advantages and disadvantages and knowing these is key to managing the workflow. 

I agree with Pat.

I've been onlining in and out of Avid for years. We used to go to DS for online from an Avid offline.

Then Resolve, which is where I do my color now.

I would suggest if your proxies were done in Avid, you would actually have far less issues going to Resolve, then if they were done in Resolve.  I say this because the meta data needed for this round trip is routinely not turned on in Resolve when the proxies are made.  In Avid you don't have to turn it on, it is just there.

Either way, my typical workflow now is to offline in Avid

AAF to Resolve for color, and output a a highres mxf file back for Avid.  I call this the Color Pass or Color Master. It is a single file, whcih i bring back into Avid.  Duplicate my offline timeline, and swap out the edits in Avid for the single color master.  If you need to recreate fx from offline in the master version, you would then razor those shots up, and bring in the effect from the offline version of the timeline, or simply put your color master on an upper track and transfer effects around.

I typically don't do the "round trip" workflow anymore, where i export individually color clips out of Resolve to relink in Avid. There is nothing wrong with it...i just prefer a single color master.

Hey Pat! I wanted to know what exactly happens after the grading is done in Resolve. Do we send it back to Avid as AAF, or a Single file, or something of that sort? If yes, then how or what exactly do we export? Cause my Avid Timleine has quite a lot of effects and it'd take a whole lot of time to rebuild those effects in Resolve.
Is there any way of bringing back the colored clips from resolve into Avid (in lossless format) and then copy the effects onto the new clips?
Also, do we export the Final Deliverable file from Resolve or Avid?

Any other additional advice will be most appreciated!
Thanks!

Your setup sounds like it would benefit from a true round trip workflow.  You send an aaf from Avid to Resolve, and do the color in Resolve.  From Resolve you send an aaf back to Avid (Which can be done using the AAF Export preset in Resolve.)

This creates individual clips out of Resolve that you would then populate back into an MXF folder in avid, and create a database for that folder.  You then import the aaf that Resolve created, and your timeline is put back together, except it now has colour.

If you are working on a multicam timeline, make sure you commit your multicam edits in Avid before creating your list.

In this workflow you don't do any effects in Resolve.  All your effects from Avid will disappear when you are working in Resolve, but the whole idea is that when you go back to Avid, that aaf brings all those effects back.  In other words, if you are in Resolve, and you know that shot had a resize on it in Avid, and it doesn't have one now, don't worry about it, the resize will reappear when it returns to Avid. (Don't add another one in Resolve.)

As well, any color effects you did in Avid will have to be removed, as they will be added on top of the color you did in Resolve, which would typically be too much color.

And finally, it is key to note that you can't do anything to the timeline in Resolve from an edit standpoint. ANYTHING!

If you trim an edit out by 10 frames, or swap shots around, or in and out, those changes will not be reflected in the AAF that goes back to Avid.   The timeline Avid gets back is the same as what it sends out.

I would suggest you do a small test, and make sure you are aware of how to get opAtom mxfs out of Resolve and into Avid.

Hey Glenn! Thank you so much for the reply. 
Just wanted to know what exactly happens after I successfully send the AAF from Resolve to Avid (colored timeline). Do I link back the DNx files from Resolve's AAF to original camera media inside Avid for final Render? But even if I do so, the colors go away and the RAW files are only visible.
 
This is the part where I get stuck. Please help me out.

Thanks!

What Pat and Glenn, say re Resolve is spot on. I do a lot of finishing and the real reason for roundtripping is the limited toolset in Symphony and the need (here in the UK) for AS-11 delivery, which until recently you could not do from Resolve.

The alternatives to round-tripping are, do it all in Symphony - not impossible but getting very creaky - we still do it this way a good deal of the time, for broadcast. Or use the Baselight Editions for Avid plugin, which is a very comprehensive colour grading solution right there on the Avid timeline. 

The other thing I don't think that has been mentioned is, for finishing and grading you will need two essential tools, regardless of the workflow used: A Grade 1 reference monitor, properly calibrated to you working colourspace and an external waveform monitor, that you will constantly be referring to - software scopes are not enough.

Rishav Acharya:

Do I link back the DNx files from Resolve's AAF to original camera media inside Avid for final Render?

No, that would defeat the purpose of all the work you did in Resolve.  Resolve is here to do your color on your camera raw files. You have to link your timeline in Resolve to your Camera originals.  Once it leaves Resolve, your images are done from an Uprez, color standpoint.

Cut your sequence in Avid

Duplicate your timeline and call it  "***_ to Color"

Clean up your timeline of any unnecessary clips on tracks from the offline process.

Commit your multicam edits.

Export a reference movie. I would put source name and source timecode burn in on if you are not totally familiar with the footage.

If you want at this point you can relink to camera raw inside Avid.  It isn't necessary, but could make the online in Resolve go easier if your list is already pointing to the raw files.

Export a list (AAF-video tracks only)

Close Avid, and Open Resolve.

In Resolve, import your reference movie and your list.

If you have never relinked to an AAF inside Resolve, you may want to brush up on those settings to get Resolve to relink to Camera raw clips.

Once everything is relinked to camera raw inside Resolve, you would do an Avid AAF export.  There is a button in the delivery page for this.  If you click this button, Resolve will know it needs to send an aaf back to Avid.  There are other settings you can tweak as far as file codec, but essentially you want to export OP Atom files back to Avid.

Back in Avid you will do your import workflow, as i described in an earlier post.  Again, do a test roundtrip so you understand how this works.

Avid will now have rull rez, colored, master clips on its timeline for you to complete the process.