WARNING: Changes to the following files may cause irreversible damage to your project. This article is intended for users with advance understanding of the Flame project file structure.
This article will briefly explain the BFX metadata structure and how it can be converted to a regular Batch setup structure (loadable directly in the Batch module).
The info may be useful in extreme cases, when a library become corrupted beyond any recovery (the procedure for recovering a corrupted library can be seen on this InfoByte: How To Recover a Corrupted Library). So, even restoring some BFX setups from the culprit library may save your day.
A batch setup contains a file (with .batch extension) and a folder (with same name as the file).
E.g.: A batch setup named “Batch_sample” contains:
Batch_sample_001 <- folder (contains all batch’s nodes)
Batch_sample_001.batch <- file (contains batch metadata)
Note: You may have also a <setup_name>.batch.p file which is the browser’s proxy. This file can be (re)generated any time from the batch setup.
A BFX is a batch setup applied to a timeline’s segment.
As an example, for simplicity, I created a library named “bfx_library” which contains one clip named SMPTE_100 which has an applied BFX.
The BFX has the same structure as a batch setup but it is saved within the project’s library - under the history folder.
E.g.: ls /opt/Autodesk/clip/stonefs#/<project_name>.prj/Workspace#.wksp/
…
bfx_library.000.clib <- file (library’s binary metadata)
bfx_library.000.clib_hist <- folder (contains FX and BFX setups data)
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f <- folder (contains all BFX’s nodes = batch folder)
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f.hist <- file (contains BFX metadata = .batch setup file)
…
With more complex timeline clips (with more BFX setups on multiple segments) in the library, there will be more BFXs metadata files and more FX/BFX folders will be in the library history folder.
Here are the steps to convert the BFX, for my example, to a “classic” batch setup:
1. Copy the library history folder to a different location:
E.g. Copy in /var/tmp:
cp -r /opt/Autodesk/clip/stonefs#/<project_name>.prj/Workspace#.wksp/bfx_library.000.clib_hist /var/tmp
2. Go into the library history folder:
cd /var/tmp/bfx_library.000.clib_hist
3. List the folder content (ls) and you’ll get something similar:
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f.hist
4. Rename the .hist file as a .batch file:
mv h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f.hist h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f.batch
5. List again (ls) and you should have:
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f
h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f.batch
Now, in Flame’s batch module, you can load the “h1e0e8e0a_5991b043_0006702f” as a regular batch setup.
Note: There is no way to match a clip from a library to its BFX setup file based on existing naming convention. You should convert and open each library’s history setup one by one until you recognize the setup you are looking for.
