Automatic Transcoding

Some Premiere Pro clips can't be represented in DaVinci Resolve as they are, either because Resolve can't decode the source format, or because it can't reproduce the visual or audio result of an effect applied to the clip. For these cases, CrossFlow can automatically render ("transcode") the affected clip through Adobe Media Encoder before sending the project to Resolve, so the baked-in result is preserved instead of being silently lost.

This is optional and on by default: the switch next to Transcode Options turns it off entirely, and each category can be turned off on its own. When Transcode is on but no clip of the project needs it, CrossFlow skips Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder entirely and goes straight to the conversion. The categories are:

• Clips sourced from an After Effects project via Dynamic Link (.aep)
• Clips sourced from an After Effects Graphic (.aegraphic)
• Adjustment layers carrying an effect
• Titles and graphics, rendered with their alpha preserved (a static title exports a single frame, an animated title exports the full clip with alpha)
• Clips with an Object Mask / Mask AI applied (if left disabled, the clip keeps referencing its original media and its Masks folder is simply copied alongside the converted project instead)
• Clips with an unsupported Video Effect
• Clips with an unsupported Audio Effect

The last two categories are not a plain on/off. As soon as a project is selected, CrossFlow scans it and lists every effect it actually uses, under Effects Found In This Project, with one checkbox each and how many clips carry it. Every effect starts ticked, which means "a clip carrying this effect is worth transcoding". Untick the ones you do not mind losing, or that Resolve handles well enough on its own: clips carrying only unticked effects then keep their original media. A clip carrying an unticked effect and a ticked one is still transcoded, which bakes in both.

Two effects start unticked, because each already converts to something usable without a bake. Lumetri Color is normally the very thing you go to Resolve to redo, so the clip keeps its original ungraded media. Warp Stabilizer is applied as Resolve's own Stabilization instead, which stays adjustable there; tick it if you would rather have Premiere's exact stabilization baked in. Note that with Transfer Stabilization off there is nothing for Resolve to apply, so a stabilized clip is transcoded either way.

Your choices are remembered from project to project, so an effect you never want to trigger a transcode only needs unticking once. Effects you unticked on other projects are listed under the two lists, with a Reset All button to bring everything back to ticked. Whatever you untick, the conversion still reports those clips as Reduced Fidelity in Full Details, so nothing is lost silently.

A color grade has three sensible outcomes rather than two, so Lumetri Color gets its own control instead of a checkbox in the effect list:

• Transcode the clip to keep the grade: a graded clip is rendered through Media Encoder so the grade is baked into the new media.
• Keep the grade if the clip is transcoded anyway (default): a grade on its own is not a reason to transcode, but when a clip is transcoded for another effect the grade goes into the render with it.
• Always discard the grade: a grade is never a reason to transcode, and a clip transcoded for another effect renders ungraded, ready to grade in Resolve. Your own project is untouched: CrossFlow renders from a throwaway copy and switches the grade off only in that copy.

An effect you have switched off in Premiere with its own fx toggle is ignored everywhere: it never causes a transcode, never appears in the effect list, and is never reported as lost.

Two extra options sit apart from the list above, under Optional baking. Unlike every category above they are off by default, because neither is about something Resolve can't reproduce:

• Force Transcode of Keyframed Clips: Position, Scale, Rotation, Anchor Point, Crop, Opacity, Volume and Pan keyframes are already transferred natively as real, editable Resolve keyframes (see Effects). Turn it on only if you would rather have that animation baked into the media. Clips whose animation genuinely can't be transferred (per-channel Volume) are always handled by the unsupported Audio Effect category instead, whatever this option is set to.
• Force Transcode of Time Remapped Clips: Time Remapping is transferred natively as a real, editable Resolve retime curve (see Time Remapping). Turn it on only if you would rather have the speed changes baked into the media.

You can also choose the Transcoded Files Folder (by default, a "Transcoded with CrossFlow" folder next to your project) and the Transcoded Filename Suffix appended to transcoded files.

Using Automatic Transcoding requires both Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder to be installed on the computer running CrossFlow.

Premiere Pro and Media Encoder after the transcode: when CrossFlow had to open Premiere Pro or Adobe Media Encoder itself for the transcode, it closes them again once the transcoded clips are in place, before DaVinci Resolve builds the project. Both can use a lot of memory, and DaVinci Resolve needs it too: on a computer short of memory, Resolve can stop responding. An application you had already opened yourself is never closed, and Media Encoder stays open if it is rendering something else. The transcoded project (ending in "_CrossFlowed") is saved next to the transcoded clips, ready to open.

Transitions between a transcoded clip and its neighbor: if a transition (a Cross Dissolve, for instance) sits between two clips and only one of them needs transcoding, CrossFlow bakes the transition itself into the transcoded clip, so it still plays correctly in the converted Resolve project. If both clips on either side of the transition need transcoding, the transition is replaced by a straight cut instead.

Encoding Presets#

Two dropdowns let you choose which codec transcoded clips are rendered with:

• Video Encoding Preset: ProRes 422, ProRes 422 LT, ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes 4444, Cineform RGB 12-bit (Windows only), H264 MP4 Adaptive Bitrate, or H264 MP4 Fixed Bitrate.
• Alpha Encoding Preset: used for transcoded clips that need an alpha channel (transparency) preserved: ProRes 4444 or Cineform RGB 12-bit (Windows only). It is only shown when the Video Encoding Preset above doesn't already carry alpha itself.

Picking Cineform RGB 12-bit adds a Quality slider (1 to 5). Picking an H264 preset adds a Bitrate slider: with "Adaptive", the value is the target bitrate at 1920x1080 25 fps and scales up or down for each clip's actual resolution and frame rate; with "Fixed", every clip uses that exact bitrate.

Media Encoder's Queue#

Adobe Media Encoder keeps its unfinished jobs from one session to the next: if it was closed, or crashed, in the middle of a render, those jobs are back in its queue the next time it opens, and they would be rendered along with CrossFlow's. So right after the analysis, when some clips need transcoding, CrossFlow looks at what Media Encoder still has waiting:

• Nothing waiting: the conversion goes on.
• Only jobs left over from an earlier CrossFlow conversion: the conversion goes on, and CrossFlow empties Media Encoder's queue as soon as Media Encoder opens, before adding its own jobs. Nothing is rendered twice.
• Other jobs waiting too (your own exports, for instance): CrossFlow lists them and asks. Clear the Queue removes every waiting job, yours included, before CrossFlow adds its own. Keep Them leaves the queue as it is, and Media Encoder renders those jobs along with CrossFlow's.
• Media Encoder is already open: CrossFlow can't see its queue then, so it asks you to check it, and you can continue or cancel. It doesn't ask when that same Media Encoder session already rendered a whole CrossFlow conversion without errors, since its queue was emptied then.

If you cancel to check Media Encoder, the conversion is kept as an "Unfinished Task": click Continue Task once you are done (see Continuing an Interrupted Conversion).