Features

With the plugin, you can link, play, edit and transcode ARRIRAW footage via AMA in Avid editing products. It supports the linking of complete volumes as well as single clips. The clips may consist of MXF wrapped ARRIRAW frames and PCM Audio or be sequences of unwrapped ARRIRAW frames,  *.ari files accompanied by PCM audio Wave files. Furthermore, this plugin is able to link and decode sequences of Codex HDE encoded ARRIRAW frames in *.arx files or MXF wrapped Codex HDE encoded ARRIRAW essence.

In addition, the plug-in reads and interprets the important metadata that is encapsulated in the ARRIRAW media and is able to automatically apply embedded Look LUTs.

Evaluation

The downloaded copy of the plug-in runs in demo mode. A nablet logo will be printed into the decoded images but otherwise, the plugin is fully functional. To purchase a license key please visit the nablet site.

After the plug-in has been unlocked by a license key, you can continue to use the clips that were previously linked in demo mode. You do not need to re-link them. The logo will disappear after the key has been validated by the plugin. However, transcodings and video mixdowns have to be re-done since they have been encoded with the logo in the source image.

Requirements

Supported Avid Products

• Avid Media Composer from v8.6 up to the latest releases

Supported Operating Systems

Windows

• Windows 11
• Windows 10 64-bit

Mac

• macOS 12 (Monterey) (Intel, Apple Silicon via Rosetta 2)
• macOS 11.00 (Big Sur) (Intel Mac only)
• macOS 10.15 (Catalina)
• macOS 10.14 (Mojave)
• macOS 10.13 (High Sierra)

System Requirements

Debayering and processing of ARRIRAW frames require a lot of resources. For a fluent workflow your editing system shall meet the requirements below:

• A powerful CPU with at least 8 logical cores. Preferred is a workstation with dual Intel Xeon processors.
• On Windows PCs a high-end GPU with support of CUDA or OpenCL (1.2 or above). For CUDA the NVidia driver version must be 397.44 or higher.
• On Mac PCs a high-end GPU that supports OpenCL (1.2 or above).
• A fast I/O that is capable to read 600 MB/s and more. Recommended are SSD and RAIDs.

Change Log

• v2.5.0
  • Supports footage shot with the new ARRI ALEXA 35.
  • Supports the new RDD-54 MXF format with ARRIRAW or Codex HDE compressed essence.
  • Detects and applies an embedded Look LUT.
  • Uses ARRIRAW SDK v7.0 and Codex HDE decoder SDK v4.0.2.
  • Approved for Windows 11 and macOS 12 (Monterey) (Intel, Apple Silicon via Rosetta 2).
• v2.0.4
  • Fix: Plugin failed to load under Media Composer version 2018.11 or earlier on Mac systems.
• v2.0.3
  • ASC_CDL values are set in the bins ASC_SOP and ASC_SAT columns.
  • Mac version approved for macOS 10.15 (Catalina).
• v2.0.2
  • Fix link failures when there are Mac OS phantom files on the media.
  • Detect audio wave files also in the video root folder of HDE encoded media.
• v2.0.1
  • Fixed incorrect clip frame rates in metadata.
  • Support proper linking of ARRI clip folders as clips.
• v2.0.0
  • Support linking and decoding of Codex HDE encoded ARRIRAW frames in *.arx file sequences.
  • Uses ARRIRAW SDK 6.1.1
  • macOS version is now notarized by Apple.

Installation Procedure

Prerequisites

You cannot install the AMA Plug-in while the editing application background services are running. Make sure you stop the services before installing AMA Plug-Ins. The stop/start background services icon is on the Media Composer menu bar (Macintosh) or taskbar (Windows). Once you have installed the new AMA plug-in, restart the services. See “Starting and Stopping Avid Background Services” in the Media Composer Help.

Install Instructions

Windows

1. Download the installer package and unpack it.
2. Double-click the EXE file in the extracted folder to run the installation.
3. Follow the instructions provided by the installer. Read and accept the End User License. If you already own a license key file pass its path when asked. If you used a temporary key file that you received for test purposes you can update it now with the key file you purchased.
4. During the installation, any previous version of the nablet ARRIRAW plug-in will be updated.

Mac

1. Download the installer archive and unpack it.
2. Double-click the DMG file to mount the image. A folder with the plug-in package opens.
3. Launch the PKG file to run the installation.
4. Follow the instructions provided by the Installer application. Read and accept the End User License. If you already own a license key file pass its path when asked. If you used a temporary key file that you received for test purposes you can update it now with the key file you purchased.
5. During the installation, any previous version of the nablet ARRIRAW plug-in will be updated.

Uninstall Instructions

Windows

1. Open Windows Control Panel and launch “Programs and Features”.
2. Select nablet ARRIRAW Plug-In and then select Uninstall.
3. Next, select Yes to confirm the removal.

Mac

1. Locate the directory Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA/nablet.
2. Delete the .avx file.
3. Delete the license key file .key
4. Empty the Trash to erase the files from the system completely.
5. Locate the directory:
   Users/Shared/Library/ApplicationSupport/nablet/nablet_ARRIRAW_AMA_Plugin 
   and delete it with all its contents.

Verifying the Plug-in Version

After installation, the plug-in is available to Avid Editing products. To confirm whether the plug-in was properly installed and verify the version follow the steps below:

1. In Media Composer's project window hit the Info button
2. A list starting with version and license information for Media Composer will appear.
3. Scroll down to find the AMA Plugin Info.
4. Confirm that the nablet ARRIRAW Plug-in is listed and the version matches the one that you've installed.

Operation Procedure

Folders and Clips on ARRIRAW volumes

ARRIRAW Frames are either stored in an MXF container or as a sequence of *.ari files in a folder. An ARI file is a single ARRIRAW frame with metadata.

Below is the typical folder structure of a volume with MXF-wrapped ARRI RAW clips

The structure is simple. The folder M002R00H on the left represents the volumes root folder. This folder contains the MXF files. In order to give the plugin the opportunity to detect the folder as an ARRIRAW volume, the folder must also contain the two metadata files *.ale and *.bin, in the sample above they are named M002R00H_AVID.ale and M002R00H_BIN.bin. If these files are missing the folder cannot be linked as a volume as described later and the MXF file must be linked manually. In order to have a quick and convenient workflow where you can link a whole volume with one click do not remove these metadata files from the volume.

The structure of a volume with clips that consist of *.ari  or *.arx file sequences looks a bit more complex

Here the folder S002R6ZJ on the left again represents the volumes root folder, but instead of MXF files, you find other folders which each represent a clip. You will notice that the naming style of those 'clip' folders is similar to that of the MXF files.

Inside such 'clip' folder it looks like below

On the right, you see the ARI files which each represent a single ARRIRAW frame. Audio is stored in the folder wav on the left. The folder xml contains some metadata.

But now forget about this internals again. You will not have to deal with the single assets directly but with the 'clip' folder only when you use the plugin to link a clip.

Linking the footage

You can either link single or multiple clips out of an ARRIRAW volume or link the complete volume, which is the preferred method for a fluent workflow.

You can not link *.ari or *.arx files directly. Instead link the clip's folder as explained on the previous page. It is not possible to just link only one or a specific number of frames out of sequence.

Linking to an ARRIRAW Volume

1. From the menu bar, select File->Input->Source Browser.
2. When in the Source Browser dialog, make sure that Link is selected, not Import.
3. Specify the desired destination bin or request to create a new bin.
4. Navigate to the desired volume.
5. Select the volume root which must be the volumes parent folder, e.g. M002R00H or S002R6ZJ from the examples on the previous page.
6. Hit the Link button on the bottom right. Media Composer will choose the nablet ARRIRAW plugin automatically and all clips contained in this volume will be linked into the specified bin.

Linking to ARRIRAW files

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar, select File->Input->Source Browser.
3. In the Source Browser dialog, make sure that Link is selected, not Import
   
4. Navigate to the desired ARRIRAW MXF file(s) or .ari clip folder(s).
5. Media Composer will not assign the plugin for MXF files automatically!

   Select and right-click the desired MXF clips and select Link with->nablet ARRIRAW”. For *.ari or *.arx sequences just select the clip folders.

6. Hit the Link button on the bottom right.

Transcoding

Do not attempt to transcode a linked clip from within Media Composer's Source Browser as offered when you accidentally tried to Import instead to Link. Always link the footage as described above. When done, navigate to the bin with the linked clips, then select the desired clips, right-click and select Consolidate/Transcode. In the Consolidate/Transcode dialog select Transcode on the top left. For details about the further settings please refer to the Media Composer manual. Once the transcoding is completed the transcoded file(s) will appear next to the linked source clip(s) in the bin.

Note that you cannot Consolidate ARRIRAW footage. Consolidation is only possible for footage with a codec that Avid natively supports, which is not the case for ARRIRAW.

Source Settings

The Source Settings allow you to modify how the footage is treated.

In order to view the Source Settings window, you must right-click a clip or a selection of multiple clips in a bin and select Source Settings... If multiple clips were selected the first one is shown on that dialog, but changed settings can be applied to all of the selected clips.

There are three tabs in this window, Linked Plug-in, Color Encoding and FrameFlex that affect how the
image appears.

With the FrameFlex tab, you can change the dimension and framing of the image.

On the Playback Rates tab, you can modify the frame rate.

With the Color Encoding tab, you can add and remove Color Transformation LUTs and Look LUTs.

If the global Color Management Settings are configured to insert a color transformation automatically upon linking, for most project color spaces a matching LogC3 or LogC4 LUT will be applied already when you link the footage.

If no color transformation was inserted automatically or you wish to change the transformation e.g. because you had changed the project color space after linking the footage you can choose from the color ARRI LogC3 or LogC4 LUTs which the plugin installed.

Automated insertion can also take effect after the color transformation was deleted or if automated insertion upon linking was not enabled. Hit the Auto button in the Color Adapter section and in most cases an ARRI LUT that matches the project color space gets inserted. If not apply it manually.

In order to use ASC CDL values that may be embedded in the source clip, make sure the Color Management Settings are configured accordingly. Check the option “Use CDL values from ASC_SOP
and ASC_SAT bin columns when available”.

If the “Uses CDL Values...” option was active before the clips are linked, the values will be
automatically applied for the color transformation instead of the built-in LUT. Otherwise hit the Auto
button to update the color transformation.

Note that ASC CDL values are not applied if they are at the default values (1,1,1)(0,0,0)(1,1,1) (1).

On the Linked Plug-in tab, you find controls to adjust the White Balance, Exposure and Sharpness of
the clip. Initially, the values for Color Temperature, Tint and Exposure which were found in the clips
metadata are used.

Color Temperature can be adjusted on the appropriate slider in a range of 2000 to 11000 Kelvin, and Tint in a Range of -16.0 to +16.0.

Exposure can be adjusted in the range from ISO 160 to ISO 6400 in steps of 1/3 of a stop.
Sharpness can be adjusted in a range from -5.0 to + 35.0. The default is a value of 0. Note that the Sharpness setting takes effect only when full resolution frames are requested. So make sure the Avid Video Quality menu is set to Full Quality (see below) when you monitor the settings adjustment. How the sharpness changes can best be viewed at the full-screen display on a secondary monitor after you hit the Apply button.

To reset the custom settings to the values at recording time choose Clip Meta Data settings above. To reset them to generic defaults choose the Default settings above.

If the clip has an embedded Look LUT a checkbox Apply Look will appear which allows to enable or
disable the application of the Look.

Hover with the mouse over this control to get more information about the Look.

Note: On some versions of Media Composer the first attempt to change a value does not take effect. To
overcome this, toggle a setting one time, e.g. switch between Clip Meta Data and Default and back. After that, any further changes will take effect.

The image preview on the Linked Plug-in tab shows the image in the format before any Color Transformation LUTs and Look LUTs have been applied. Switch to the Color Encoding tab to view the final effect of your custom settings after the LUTs have been applied and thus how the will image will appear in further processing, or use the full-screen display on a secondary monitor to view the final image.

Applying a Look LUT

If you wish to apply a specific Look LUT make sure that on the Linked Plug-in tab the Apply Look option is disabled in case the clip came with an embedded Look. You can choose from Look LUTs when you switch the Color Adapter Type to User Installed LUTs.

Look LUTs shall be placed before the Colorspace LUT. You can easily move them around in the Color transformations list to achieve the correct order.

Look LUTs must have been installed previously. This can be custom Looks, but the plugin also ships with a set of ARRI ALF3 Look LUTs which you can use on LogC3 footage.

The installer for the ARRIRAW Plugin copied folders with 3D LUTs onto your system.

On Windows OS they reside in

"C:\ProgramData\nablet\nablet_ARRIRAW_AMA_Plugin\”

on a Mac in

"Users/Shared/Library/ApplicationSupport/nablet/nablet_ARRIRAW_AMA_Plugin/"

The folder “ARRI_Look_Library_LogC_LUTs” provides a huge selection of ARRI ALF3 Look LUTs. In order to use those Look LUTs in your editing projects, it is required to install them in Media Composer.

To do so proceed as follows:

• Open a project and on the project page hit the Settings tab.
• Scroll down and double-click Color Management. The Color Management Settings dialog appears.
• In the Install LUT section, specify whether the LUTs shall be embedded in the current project installed to be shared or both (for details refer to the Media Composer manual).
• Hit Select LUT file and navigate to the "ARRI_Look_Library_LogC_LUTs" folder located as
  described above.
• Select all LUTs or the ones you intend to use.
• Hit Open and be patient. After a few seconds of silent processing, you'll be informed that the LUTs were successfully installed.

There are two more folders with ARRI LogC3 and LogC4 color reference LUTs, but normally you won't need these. Only if your version of Media Composer does not recognize and provide the Installed ARRI LogC LUTs under the Generic color adaptors, you should install them in the same way as described above for the Look LUTs. To apply such a color transformation LUT then select it from the Color Adapters of type User Installed LUTs.

Avid Playback Settings

The playback quality in the Avid applications can be configured using the Video Quality Menu in the Timeline window. When the Avid Video Quality menu is set to Full Quality the full 8K, 6K, 4K or 2K image is being decoded. At a Draft Quality setting an image of 1/2 resolution is being decoded and the Best Performance option an image of 1/4 resolution is decoded.

For a fluent playback, it is recommended to choose Draft or Best Performance mode. To view images in
the best Quality, choose Full Quality mode.

Known Issues and Limitations

• For real-time playback of ARRIRAW footage, set Avid’s NLE Video Playback Quality setting to Draft or Best Performance.
• After transcoding a clip or after performing a video mixdown, which always requests the plugin to provide frames in the highest quality, some versions of Media Composer will not reset to the desired lower Video Playback Quality when playing back the source file or timeline. Toggle the Video Quality setting once when you encounter a performance loss during playback.
• On some versions of Media Composer the first attempt to change a value on the Source Settings Linked Plug-in tab does not take effect. To overcome this, toggle a setting one time, e.g. switch between Clip Meta Data and Default and back. After that, any further changes will take effect.