Content Hub - VFX Plate Generation & Delivery User Guide

VFX Plate Generation & Delivery allows a production to share the necessary assets for VFX plates from a cut with the VFX vendor. Content Hub can deliver either full sources or trimmed clips. This workflow is done via the mailbox page in Content Hub. Please note for any production using VFX Plate Delivery documentation for that workflow can be found here.

A prerequisite to use this workflow is that the production would need to have imported all original camera footage during the course of principal photography prior to creating a submission for VFX Plate Generation & Delivery. Currently this pipeline is under a limited release. Any production wanting to opt into this workflow should consult with the production workflow specialist assigned to the project to ensure they’re fully informed of production requirements and tool capabilities.

High Level Workflow Walkthrough

An assistant editor creates a submission where an asset list (EDL, XML) is loaded.
Assets from the list are then matched against the original camera files (OCF) imported during the course of production to Content Hub.
Assets are transcoded to ACES 2065-1 in Uncompressed EXR format based on the frame ranges defined on the EDL and the handle configuration at the submission level.
A package is created that contains the resulting EXR files, CDLs files in .cc and .cdl format, and the EDL that was used.
Submission is made available to the production via workspaces and automatically delivered to the VFX team via Media Suite Desktop Client.

VFX Plate Generation & Delivery Walkthrough

Log into Content Hub, navigate to your project, select the mailbox tab.

Figure A

Click create the new submission button in the upper left corner. This will automatically launch a new submission window where you will select VFX Plate Generation and Delivery from the drop down and then fill in all necessary fields. When naming your submission it will need to be unique and not contain any illegal characters like spaces. Once the submission is configured click create.

Figure B

From the new screen click Import Asset List (.edl) and navigate to your EDL, or simply drag and drop the asset list. For help formatting your EDL please refer to the guide found here.

Figure C

A configuration page comes up with the following options:

Target Asset Name - It allows the user to filter the EDL per Locator color. If a color is selected, the name defined on each locator comment will be used to name the resulting EXR plates
Framerate - Set the correct base framerate for the project
Handles - The tool will trim the clips and add your handle selection at the beginning and at the end of each clip.
- You can also select ‘match to source’, which means that we will not trim the media and we will deliver the whole clip to the designated recipient.
Resize Settings - If the capture resolution is higher than UHD, the user can decide to downsize the clips in a submission to UHD dimensions. If the production has specific framing needs, please reach out to the Production Workflows Specialist assigned to your production. Click here to know more about our current resizing logic.

Figure D

Select import and then all the assets in the list will populate the submission.

Figure E

You’ll see how the page refreshes and how assets will start to be updated. There are 4 possible statuses for each clip:

Pending - Content Hub is looking for a clip in the project’s assets library that matches the name and timecode range requested by the asset list.
In_Progress - Content Hub is transcoding the plates to EXR
Failed - It may fail because:
- There are no matching sources
  - The asset has not been imported
  - There are multiple clips that match the criteria
  - The source is imported, but is in a format Content Hub does not support
    - Click here to check that the format you’re trying to transcode to EXR is supported.
  - Technical error
Completed - Clip has been found and is ready for download.

Tip: If there are failed items, you can click on the ‘status’ button, and Content Hub will provide a description of the problem.

Figure F

You can also add any necessary notes. Whenever you’re done importing the assets and adding notes, you can submit the pipeline. You don’t need to wait until all assets have been completed.

Figure G

After submitting the pipeline, and when all assets are completed, located and trimmed, media will be available for download in workspaces.

Figure H

Figure I

Simultaneously, the VFX Vendor will receive an email notifying that there’s a new available submission for download.

Figure J

An automatic download will also be triggered at the VFX vendor using Media Suite Client.

Figure K

Delivery Packages

When the VFX Vendor downloads the submission it will include the following:

Plates
- Format: EXR Uncompressed
- Color Space: ACES 2065-1
- Embedded source timecode
Embedded camera header metadata
CDLs - If they were present on the EDL used
- in .cc and .cdl format
EDL used for the submission

Resizing Logic

Our current logic for resizing is based on providing the user with the biggest UHD resized plate as possible. If resize is chosen, Content Hub will look at the original resolution of the file, identify what’s the aspect ratio. If the source file aspect ratio is bigger than 1.77 (the UHD container), Content Hub will resize to UHD based on the height. We won’t apply any crop, therefore we’ll respect the original frame and aspect ratio Example:

Original File: 8192x4320 - Aspect Ratio: 1.89
Resize: 4096x2160 - Aspect Ratio: 1.89

If the original frame has an aspect ratio lower than 1.77, then we will perform the resize based on the width. We won’t apply any crop, therefore we’ll respect the original frame and aspect ratio. Example:

Original File: 4448x3096 - Aspect Ratio: 1.43
Resize: 3840x2673 - Aspect Ratio: 1.43

CHANGE LOG

6/25/2021

Updated screen shots to match unified pipeline naming

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