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Export a reel as a timeline

When the reel's final polish belongs in an NLE, Shotwork writes the edit as a timeline file rather than a video: every cut lands on the same source frames, and cards, music and overlays arrive as their own items to keep working on.

Before you start

  • A reel whose problems list is empty. Missing or offline clips and a clip that cannot be trimmed as asked all block the export, and the reel settings panel names each one.
  • A saved reel, ideally: the timeline lands next to the .swreel file. An unsaved reel exports to a Shotwork Reels folder in your home folder instead.

Steps

  1. In the reel settings panel, under Export, set Format to Final Cut Pro XML (.xml) for Resolve, Premiere, FCP or OpenTimelineIO (.otio).
  2. Click Export Timeline….
  3. If the reel holds restricted shots, Shotwork lists them and asks Export anyway?.
  4. Read the Exported message: it names the file, and the assets folder if one was written.

What happens

Shotwork writes <reel name>.xml (or .otio) beside the reel. Every picture that the NLE needs but does not have as a file goes into one <reel name>_assets folder next to it: color cards, title cards, and a still per shot for the overlay template. If the NLE reports those offline on import, relink once to that folder and all of them come back.

Inside the timeline:

  • Clips reference your original source files, with in and out points written in each source's own frame rate. Where a clip lands on the reel is left to the NLE's conform, which it does in its own timebase.
  • Gaps stay gaps, the same length.
  • Cards are clips of the PNGs in the assets folder, named after their template or color.
  • Music is the song file itself on one audio track, starting where the music lane had it and playing from the same point in the file. Volume and fades are the NLE's to redo; Shotwork notes the values it used in the clip's metadata.
  • Fades on clip edges arrive as dissolves.
  • Overlays are a separate video track of stills, one per shot, not a burn-in. Deleting the track is one keystroke; a burn-in would be forever.
  • A clip's Scale punch-in rides along as the clip's Zoom in FCP XML, and as metadata in OTIO.
Why the cut points are written in the source's rate

Each clip's range is written in its source's own frame rate, not the reel's. Expressing an in point in timeline frames would round it into a different timebase and could shift the cut by up to half a frame, which is exactly the silent drift Shotwork exists to avoid. A reel that mixes frame rates is declared as such and each clip is left in its native rate; the NLE conforms it and tells you what it did.

Which format to pick

FCP XML is the interchange format every NLE reads, so it is the default. OpenTimelineIO is the newer open format; Resolve reads it natively in recent versions and Premiere needs a plugin. Both carry the same edit.