Import XML

It would be great to be able to import an XML where Video Enhance AI would automatically select the in and out points of clips in a timeline. This would save a lot of work manually setting the in and out points.

Sounds like something that would be part of the command line version. Though I hear that was discontinued. They really need to make AEAI command line focus first. I’m willing to bet more than half the people who use it only need the UI for a small amount of time to pick the best settings for a lot of footage.

The project I’m working on right now needs a lot of work done to the footage before it can be processed in VEAI. All of those steps I could do in a script, but then, I have to manually do the processing in VEAI, so I haven’t bothered to make the script yet.

I just wanted to suggest that feature, because a Plugin-version (for OFX in my case) would not come up, as I see it. Than I Asked myself, how could I integrate it anyway. Most of the time it is neither an option to process the whole clips, nor the time to set INs and OUTs matching the edit. An XML would solve that and brings VEAI more in an professional environment.

With TVAI 3 changing to command line, I made my script. It’s a monster in many ways, but it does similar things to what you’re describing. I’m guessing it wouldn’t really help your situation though because ffmpeg seems to cut at certain intervals and not at exact frames like I’ve seen other editors do.

+1 for XML support. My suggestion is using the FCP7 V5 format. It is a legacy format, but comparably simple, well documented, and almost any NLE which can export XMLs supports it.

However, all common interchange formats for video editing software derive from and represent timelines showing a sequence of segments of media files (clips) with start and end time code. Topaz VAI isn’t designed to show something like this. With the current paradigm, the most obvious way to handle an imported XML would be a series of input files listed under the Export column with an in- and out-mark on each representing the in- and out-points of the segments addressed by the XML, but that would be fine, at least for me.

I don’t see any XML, or any other file made by TVAI to save settings, ever being able to work with another video manipulating software. I still think it is an essential feature for productivity.

I am not referring to XML export from Topaz VAI, because there is no timeline. I am referring to XML import into Topaz Video AI in a way that we can split multiple clips in an NLE and move the result at once to Topaz VAI for rendering.

Currently I use software to split clips prior to entering Topaz, because I need my work to be reproducible. Work done in Topaz is unfortunately volatile, because I cannot save and restore the workspace.

Ah okay. Yes! Very useful feature.

Implementing it shouldn’t be rocket science for the purpose, because the parser needs to evaluate only clip-paths and start/stop TC per segment and can skip everything else.

This would be an extremely useful feature but it doesn’t seem like Topaz concerns themselves with improving workflow so I doubt this will ever happen. A pity, because this addition would save lots of people hundreds of hours, myself included.

Thanks for joining the party. What’s the reason that you think that Topazlabs don’t concern themselves with improving workflows?

Because a few simple tools would obviate the need to select clips in another program and laboriously transfer timecode to Topaz. Not incorporating xml is one, no audio in preview is another because if selects have to be made on the basis of the audio, that also sends you out of Topaz. It seems clear that Topaz’s focus is on their tools but not at all on anything that would make integrating them into workflow easier.

My first contact with the software was with v2.4 I found it very difficult to use. Think, they have done a lot to improve the usability since then. However, I still see a lot of issues and some missing features. FCP7 V5 XML import would be very helpful, at least for what I usually do, but since the original feature request is over 2 years old and collected only two votes, the interest of the community doesn’t seem to be very high.

This would be extremely helpful. Or to be able to use an EDL. In order for any of this to work, actual timecode needs to be implemented instead of just timeline counter time