Conformation

In Storyboard Pro, you can export your storyboard project to Final Cut Pro 6, an Apple third party editing software, edit it, and then import the changes back into your Storyboard Pro project using the conformation feature. The conformation export will produce an XML file containing all your animatic project structure, as well as images of your panels. You can then import it into Final Cut Pro and it will recreate the animatic.

This section includes the following topics:

Export Project
Exporting Selected Panels
Exporting Tracked Panels
Import Animatic

Export Project

To export your entire storyboard project:

  1. Select File > Conformation > Export Project.

The Export Project dialog box opens.

  1. In the Destination Path section, click the Browse button and specify a folder in which to save your exported files.
  1. In the Options section:
Export one image per layer: Keeps your layers on separate images instead of flattening each panel’s layers into one flat image file. You can also select the Always Nest Layers option to nest your scene's layers inside one single clip. When this option is deselected, layers will not be nested into clips and will export as individual video tracks. This is true as long as a panel has either layer motion or a camera move, as it is not possible to export both without nesting. If a panel contains both motion on layers and a camera move, the panel will be nested into the V1 track.
Export Camera Frame: Includes the camera frame’s black border.
Maintain image size throughout scene: Prevents image files from being different sizes depending on the camera frames and movements on each panel. To avoid the image from being pixelated when the camera is zoomed in, the image must be rendered larger. The area where the camera is the most zoomed in must be the same size as the project resolution. This means that the rest of the image has to be exported in proportion to the smallest area. Consider the following example:

Bitmap Format: Lets you select a bitmap image format:
Targa (*.tga)
Photoshop (*.psd)
Portable Network Graphics (*.png)
Jpeg (*.jpg)
Export markers at scene beginning: When this option is enabled, chapter marker will be placed at the beginning of each scene. These markers are used to find the in point of each scene when conforming from Final Cut Pro to Stage. The marker are named "Scene: NAME_OF_SCENE" and have a unique scene ID and chapter marker as their comment.
Export Scenes Reference Track: Generates PNG images with the scene named burned in. When exporting to Final Cut Pro, this option must be enabled. The track will be used by Stage when conforming the XML from Final Cut Pro to find the scene in the XML.
  1. Select the additional information you want to overlay on the exported images. This information will be added to each image and will be specific to the panel. Here are the choices:
Burn-In: Adds information specific about the panels and their position in the Timeline.
Print Time Code: Prints the project timecode on the images as an overlay on your video.
Print Scene Names and Panel Numbers: Prints the scene names and panel numbers as an overlay on your images.
Print Additional Duration: Prints an additional duration on your video, defined by the Units and Repeat drop-down menu.
Units: Choose either you want the additional duration information to be displayed using Time Code or Frames units.
Repeat: Choose either you want the additional duration information to be the duration per Panel, per Scene or per Sequence.
Camera Grids: Adds boundaries to the images that indicate what the Camera includes or excludes.
Project Safety: Prints the safe area on your video—see Safe Area.
4:3 Safety: Prints the 4:3 safe area on each panel of your storyboard that has a camera movement—see 4:3 Safety.
4:3 References: Prints the 4:3 area on each panel of your storyboard that has a camera movement—see 4:3 Safety.
  1. Select the Open folder after export option to open the folder where the files are stored when the export is complete.

Exporting Selected Panels

To export selected panels:

  1. In the Thumbnails view, select the panels you want to export to a third party software.
  1. Select File > Conformation > Export Selected Panels.

The Export Selected Projects dialog box opens.

  1. Set your export options in the Export Project dialog box.

Refer to the Export Project topic above to learn more about the options available.

Exporting Tracked Panels

In Storyboard Pro, you can track changes in your panels and you can use the conformation feature to export tracked panels only—see Tracking Changes and Export Project.

To export tracked panels:

  1. Once you have tracked panels in your storyboard project, select File > Conformation > Export Tracked Panels from the top menu.

The Export Tracked Panels dialog box opens.

  1. Set your export options in the Export Tracked Panels dialog box.

Import Animatic

Once you have imported your project’s conformation XML into Final Cut Pro 6 and completed editing, you will need to export it once again as an XML file to bring it back into your Storyboard Pro project.

NOTE: Refer to your third party software’s user guide to learn how to export the animatic project in an XML file format.
IMPORTANT: You can only reimport a modified conformation XML file into the original project from which it was first exported.

To import an animatic:

  1. In your original storyboard project, select File > Conformation > Import Animatic Project.

The Import Project dialog box opens.

  1. Click the Browse button and locate your XML file.
  1. In the Options section, the Process Audio is enabled by default, which means that the audio tracks will be conformed as well. Deselect this option if you do not want to conform the audio.
  1. Click OK to return to the Import Project dialog box.

The Report section displays information relative to the conformation process. If an error happened during the conformation process, this is also where the details relative to this error would appear.