Importing and Exporting OMF and WAV Files on Lightworks by Patrick Gregston Open Media Framework (OMF) is a digital media standard that supports the interchange of video, audio, graphics, animation and effects across different applications and platforms. The standard was established by a group of manufacturers to allow material and edit decisions to be easily transferred between their often diverse systems, and since its original development has continued to evolve. It is now dubbed OMF2. Typically OMF file transfer takes place via fixed or removable digital storage media, but it can also be performed in a shared-storage type environment. No longer can sound editors using a system like Pro Tools accurately claim that picture departments need to use a particular editing system to support efficient or high-quality sound post production. Among the new features in Lightworks V6.0 software is support of OMF2 file interchange. Using the Import/ Export tool, assistants can now convert Lightworks-format audio material (.S24 files) in edits and shots to and from OMF2- and WAV-format audio files. The conversion includes an OMF "composition" which contains all the information in a standard EDL, plus extra data such as scene and take names. No longer can sound editors using a system like Pro Tools accurately claim that picture departments need to use a particular editing system to support efficient or high-quality sound post production. Audio Export To export a shot or edit, first display it in a gallery or database. Drag the Import/Export tool from the Toolbox over the gallery or database containing the shots or edits to be exported. Left-click on the Import/Export tool and the Export panel will be displayed. At the top of the panel is a button that shows the current export format. To change the selection, left-click on the button. A menu pops up with the available sound formats: OMF2 Audio, WAV Mono (exports left sound channel only) and WAV Stereo (exports audio channels 1 and 2, discards any others). The total size of the material selected as OMF or WAV files will be displayed on the panel. In addition, each tile in a gallery will indicate the size of the file in MBytes. For a database, only tagged records will be exported. Select the destination of the exported files using the Destination Disk button. Any of the system material drives or the optical disk should be available. An indication of the space available on the selected destination drive in MBytes is shown on the Export panel. Click the Do It button to start the export process and display a progress bar. On completion the files created are copied to the appropriate directory as follows: WAV - This directory is created from the root of the drive, if it does not already exist. One WAV file is exported per shot. OMF2 - This directory is created from the root of the drive, if it does not already exist. The export function automatically creates the composite file, which contains all shots and edits in their target format clumped together. The name of the composite OMF2 file is displayed on the data monitor, along with a list of cookies exported by the source shots. This information is also stored in a log file that is created and saved in the same directory as the OMF2 file on the material drive. Audio Import The Import panel allows multiple files to be selected for import from different directories. To display it, left-click on the Import/Export tool while it is positioned over an empty (gray) area of the graphics screen. The button at the top of the panel displays the format of files that can be imported. To change the selection, left-click on the button. A menu pops up with the available formats: WAV Mono (imports a single audio channel) and WAV Stereo (imports stereo audio as channels 1 and 2). The Choose Files button displays an Import Files dialogue box which is used to select the file(s) to be imported. The dialogue box includes a Source Drive button that allows any drive to be selected. Use the Previous and OK buttons to navigate to the desired directory on the selected drive. Highlight the desired file(s) by left-clicking on the name(s) and then press OK. (Note: Only files of the type selected for import will be displayed in the Visidir.) Here are a few things to keep in mind: The List Selected Files button can be used to display a database of the files currently selected for import. The Change Database Format command on the Database menu can be used to choose the information displayed about the selected files, including their name, size, creation date and time, and full path name. The Destination Disk button selects the drive to which the material will be imported. The Any Disk option will import material to whichever drive has the most space available. The Import panel displays the total size of any selected file in Mbytes. The Do It button starts the import process for the selected files and a progress bar is shown. Assistants should check with the audio post house to confirm that their audio systems are OMF2 compliant. For a list of OMF-compliant applications, check out the Avid web site . There you have it. Thanks to John Portnoy for his help in getting this information to you.   Patrick Gregston is a Guild Board member representing assistant editors. He can be contacted via email   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 19, No. 6 - Nov/Dec 1998   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700