Does Canon XF MXF files works ok with After Effects CS6 on Mac?

Summary: This article will focus on talking about how to transcode Canon XF MXF files to Adobe After Effects CS6 compatible format for Canon XF MXF and AE importing workflow on Mac.

Canon's XF series camcorders like Canon XF100, XF105, XF300, XF305 record high-definition MXF video with its own XF codec. 

Does the Adobe After Effects CS6 support Canon XF MXF footage? 

Hi All.. we are considering picking up a Canon XF-100 as our acquisition camera. However I heared that these MXF files can't work with After Effects natively. Will we need to transcode via Prelude? Thanks... 

This is for .MXF files shot on a Canon XF300. Things were working fine, but suddenly I am unable to open those mxf files in AE CS6. Even projects previously created with AE CS6 now won't open, and give me the 'file damaged or unsupported' error message in AE. Why does this happen? Any help would be much appreciated. 

As above, much to the disappointment of filmmakers that are not familiar with the .mxf format, the footage created with Canon XF Camcorders can't be imported to After Effect CS6 smoothly. If you need to edit Canon XF MXF in Adobe After Effects CS6, you are suggested converting the Canon MXF clips to an AE friendly format.  

And here  the professional and powerful MXF to AE Converter can help you do the job. With it, you can easily transcode Canon XF .MXF files to Adobe After Effects accepted AVI, MOV, MPEG or other formats that After Effect can handle well. Below is a quick guide of converting Canon XF .mxf to .mov for editing in After Effects CS6.

Before processing:

1. Back up/Transfer the Canon XF MXF footage to Mac computer – copy the whole XF video folder to your computer hard drive, not just the individual .mxf files.

2. Install Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac ($29). Click here to download a free trial for test.

Step-by-step Guide: Convert Canon XF.mxf to AE CS6 supported format with best  video quality

Note: this is a Mac oriented solution. For Windows users the Pavtube Studio offers alternative MXF Converter for PC, which is very similar to the Mac MXF Converter.

Step 1. Launch the Mac Canon MXF Converter for After Effects. Click “Add Video” and browse to a Canon .mxf clip and the software will add it to file list. Repeat the operation to load multiple mxf videos. Or you may click the “Add Folder” button to import all the .mxf files in the XF file structure.



Step 2. Click on “Format” and choose “Click on “Format” and choose “MOV(AVC) (.mov)” from "Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas" as the best codec for editing Canon XF MXF file in After Effects CS6.



Tips: You may also use AVI, MP4, MPG, QuickTime mov or any other format that AE supports.

Step 3. Click on “Settings” to redefine output quality. You can also set a different video resolution (1920×1080/1440×1080/1280×720/720×480), frame rate (24p/30p), bitrate, audio channels, etc. For users who would like to retain exactly the same settings (without any quality loss), set target settings the same to source video.

Step 4. Click “Convert” to start transcoding Canon XF MXF to MOV for After Effect CS6 editing on Mac.

After conversion click “Open” to find .mov videos and import converted .mov files to Adobe After Effect CS6 for editing.

If your MXF files have 2 audio tracks or more, here is another worth-buying software from Pavtube named iMixMXF with multi-track preserving and mixing features. You can download the trial version to have a try!

Related links:

Convert MXF on Win/Mac
MXF files not read by Premiere Pro CS6
Transcode MXF to MP4
Convert MXF to multi audio tracks MKV

Seamlessly transcode MXF to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing

Having so many MXF collections, and don't know how to edit/play MXF on Mac? You come to the right place. Get the easiest solution here!

Maybe you are a video lover. Have you ever encountered such problem that when you have shot many MXF footage with your lovely camcorder, looking forward to play or edit these mxf files on your mac, but only get the error message. Now just read the article to learn how to solve it in detail.

What is MXF?

According to Wikipedia, MXF is a file format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. MXF format is often used by more and more professional camcorders like Sony XDCAM, Panasonic P2 and Canon etc. to store video, audio, and programmed data.

What is the problem?

The fact is that MXF is MXF is a container or wrapper format which makes it incompatible with most of popular Mac editing software including iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere ,etc and not playable by many video players and portable players on Mac. Therefore, it will be like a mission impossible for us to edit/play the MXF video footage on Mac directly due to the format issue.

How to solve the problem?

To transport MXF to Mac for post production and playback without the format restriction, we had better convert MXF videos to something more common, like H.264 encoded MP4 video with a solid and intuitive MXF to MP4 Converter for Mac.

Pavtube iMixMXF which is strongly recommended to conduct the MXF to MP4 Conversion on Mac seamlessly. It is professionally designed to deal with the problems of edting/playing MXF on Mac. Particularly it features with keeping multiple audio tracks. In other words, it can help you to transcode MXF to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing in a very short time. Refer to the following guides to convert MXF to multi-track MP4 on Mac.

Step 1. Download and install Pavtube MXF audio Mixer. Transfer the MXF files to HDD first and then click "Add" and browse to source .mxf video clips.



Step 2. Click on "Format" and choose "Multi-track Video>Multi-track MP4 (*.mp4)". This format will let you convert MXF to Multi-track MP4 H.264 video at 1920Χ1080 resolution and keep full HD quality.



Step 3. Click "Convert" to start transcoding MXF recordings to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing on Mac.

Spare a few minutes to have a look at how to convert MXF to MP4 on Mac quickly and precisely.

After conversion click "Open" to find 1080p HD shootings in MP4 format and use them freely in QuickTime Player,Final Cut Pro and many other media players/editing software. Now you can import MXF on Mac for editing and playing MXF files on Mac without causing any problems.

Additional Contents

If you don't want to get multi-track videos or your videos has less that two audio track, you can try Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac (only $29), an alternative professional MXF to MP4 Converter and a good partner with your simple and efficient MXF to MP4 Conversion workflow on Mac.

Related guides:

Convert Sony HandyCam video to MP4
Transcode AVCHD MTS to MP4
Panasonic FZ200 MTS to MP4 Converter
MXF to AVI/WMV/MOV/MP4/MPEG on Win/Mac
XAVC to AVI/MOV/MP4/MPEG/WMV/FLV
P2 AVC-Intra 50/100 MXF to AVI/WMV/MPG/MP4/FLV

Adobe After Effects Renders Taking Forever? You Can Speed Them Up with Network Rendering

If you don’t have the latest and greatest system (and even if you do), there is a great way that you can actually speed up your renders in Adobe After Effects. If you’ve got another computer system or two hanging around collecting dust, you can put those machines to good use by setting up Network Rendering in AE. Check out the tutorial below from Aetuts+ to get the full scoop and get your renders flying:

 

It’s great that the other machines don’t need another license of After Effects to actually participate, so you can take as many systems as you want and as long as they are on your network, you can get Network Rendering up and running. Faster is faster, so even if it’s an older system, shaving off a few minutes from a render can be a big deal in the end (especially if it means you can go home early, or move on to something else sooner).

Check out this link for more information on different render setups in AE.

Who has set up Network Rendering? What would you recommend if you’ve faced any issues?

Links:

How to Set Up AE for Network Rendering on Multiple Machines — Aetuts+
Automated rendering and network rendering — After Effects Help