Release Notes for Flix 6.3.4
Release Date
12th August, 2020
For a detailed guide on upgrading to Flix 6.3.4, refer to the Upgrading to Flix 6.3.4 section at the bottom of this page.
Feature Enhancements
General
• ID 431714 - Environment variables can now be used to construct publish and export paths. For example, %USERPROFILE% on Windows and ${HOME} on macOS.
Editorial/Production
• ID 413507 - Updates during imports from Editorial have been improved. Information is now provided from the initial upload through to completion.
• ID 432454 - Flix now displays a warning when you attempt to import an .aaf file larger than 1 GB, recommending an audio mixdown prior to exporting from Avid. Audio mixdown helps to reduce the file size and speeds up Editorial imports.
The warning can be dismissed by clicking Continue if you want to proceed with .aaf files larger than 1 GB.
Under the Hood
• ID 434647 - With a view towards long-term support of Flix 6.3, the 6.3.4 release adds support for server-only patch releases. This means that server-only bugs can be officially released in a patch release of Flix Server, such as 6.3.4-1, without requiring a Flix Client upgrade. This should minimize the burden on tech teams having to upgrade Flix Client apps for end users, and increase our responsiveness in delivering critical bug fixes.
• ID 437215 - max_seats and current_seats can now be accessed by admins from the /info endpoint.
The new /users/current endpoint returns a list of active access keys and their associated users.
The new /authenticate/key/{keyID:[a-zA-Z0-9]} endpoint deletes the access key matching the provided key ID and logs out the user associated with that access key.
Note: An example Python script demonstrating usage of these endpoints is provided on our Scripts GitHub Repository along with the 6.3.4 release.
Migration Tool
• ID 411263 - Migration from Flix 5 now includes the original creator of each revision in the comment field of the sequence revision in Flix 6.
Bug Fixes
General
• ID 364960 - Improved the reliability of the information provided in the status bar at the bottom of the panel browser.
• ID 396517 - Improved progress updates when clearing the local cache.
• ID 401067 - All panel filters are now cleared when leaving a revision.
• ID 404693 - Changing an artist's email from an LDAP Server now forces an update on login.
• ID 432196 - Title chips are now validated and any characters unsupported by your OS are replaced during export.
Additionally, a warning label appears when constructing Export and Publish paths containing Title chips. Some characters allowed in Show/Episode/Sequence titles are unsupported by certain Operating Systems, such as / (forward slash).
• ID 434284 - Images with widths/heights smaller than 1000 px no longer generate thumbnails exceeding the maximum 1000 px thumbnail width/height.
• ID 437338 - The 100 Show limit in Flix Clients has been removed.
• ID 437377 - You can now open logs from multiple servers at the same time.
• ID 437876 - Group Management no longer displays extra truncated group names for users.
• ID 438868 - Up to 500 sequences can now be displayed for each show. It is not possible to create more than 500 sequences per show.
• ID 439019 - Windows only: Improved drag and drop functionality when using a Cintiq or tablet.
Editorial/Production
• ID 429320 - Information about duration for animated panels in the dialogue text file is now correct.
• ID 431972 - Episode Tracking Code and Title chips are no longer ignored when used to resolve the Editorial Sequence Name.
Note: We always recommend using Tracking Code instead of Title chips when constructing naming conventions and export/publish paths for Shows, Episodes, and Sequences. Tracking Code chips avoid using characters unsupported by your OS.
• ID 431974 - The Editorial Sequence Name now contains the correct Episode/Sequence Title when set in the preferences.
Note: We always recommend using Tracking Code instead of Title chips when constructing naming conventions and export/publish paths for Shows, Episodes, and Sequences. Tracking Code chips avoid using characters unsupported by your OS.
• ID 432692 - Improved error handling when attempting back to back imports when using two different AAFs with the same name. Flix previously displayed an error message, despite the publish being successful.
• ID 437520 - Reconforming panels from Avid in Flix now reuses existing dialogue and does not export empty dialogue files.
• ID 438386 - The Sequence Revision listed in the email when publishing from Premiere is now correct.
• ID 438903 - Smart quotes are now replaced with dumb quotes in dialogue metadata sent to Avid to avoid displaying unsupported characters in your Sequence Monitor.
• ID 441109 - Files with the uppercase .MOV extension are now published to Avid correctly, avoiding the PMM_INSUFFICIENT_MEDIA error in Avid.
• ID 442381 - Clips in Avid overlapping a clip with effects on a lower track now import in Flix with the correct duration, trim in and trim out. This fix avoids missing media when subsequently publishing animated ref panels back to Avid.
• ID 442758 - Improved the reliability of the DNxHD converter to prevent blank panels being generated in .aaf files sent to Avid.
• ID 443425 - Fixed a race condition in the Transfer Utility which would occasionally cause a client side crash during Avid publishes.
Story/Production
• ID 414126 - Improved error messaging after failed import from Storyboard Pro (SBP).
• ID 419353 - Animated panels are now sent to SBP with the correct duration.
• ID 429950 - Autosave has been disabled when entering dialogue to avoid the cursor unexpectedly moving to the start of the dialogue.
• ID 436046 - Multi-line dialogue from Flix is no longer flattened on a single line when sent to SBP.
• ID 436358 - Camera keyframes located on the last frame of a panel in SBP now retain the correct value when returning to SBP from Flix.
• ID 436436 - Changing the order of Dialog, Action Notes, Notes, and Slugging panes in the SBP interface no longer stops the dialogue from being imported into Flix.
• ID 436804 - Animated refs added in Avid are now sent to SBP as thumbnails to avoid missing codec issues creating blank panels in SBP.
• ID 437298 - Imports from SBP no longer version up panels unnecessarily.
• ID 437318 - Updating the duration of a panel in SBP no longer versions it up when re-importing in Flix.
• ID 440951 - The Master PSD now opens correctly when double-clicking on a panel with Always open master image enabled in the preferences.
Under the Hood
• ID 441563 - Database backups were not always reliable when restoring large databases unless the MySQL’s max_allowed_packet option was increased.
• ID 435519 - Deleting the Flix temporary directory from the OS temp directory caused Flix Server to fail.
• ID 437148 - Temporary files generated when publishing to editorial were not cleaned up on the server.
• ID 437455 - Attempting to log in with a deleted user account displayed a misleading error.
• ID 442260 - Access keys could be extended for longer than 24 hours from the current time.
Migration Tool
• ID 442015 - Migrations from Flix 5 incorrectly matched the Show Title rather than the Show Tracking Code.
System Requirements
Flix Server
Mac |
Sierra (10.12), High Sierra (10.13), Mojave (10.14) 4GB of RAM |
Linux |
CentOS/RHEL 7 (recommended) or 6.10 and higher, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS A 64 bit processor @ 2GHz or higher 4GB of RAM |
Note: Flix Server is currently not available on
Flix Client
Mac |
Sierra (10.12), High Sierra (10.13), Mojave (10.14) 1 GB of RAM |
Windows |
Windows 10 An SSE2 capable Intel Pentium 4 processor, or later 1 GB of RAM |
Note: Flix Client is currently not available on Linux. Other operating system versions may work with Flix, but have not been fully tested. If you have any problems with a particular operating system, please contact the Foundry Support Team here.
Officially-Supported Third-Party Applications
Applications |
Supported Versions |
---|---|
Adobe Photoshop |
CC 2017, CC 2018, CC 2019 |
Adobe Premiere |
CC 2017, CC 2018, CC 2019 |
Avid Media Composer |
8.9, 8.10, 2018.12.10 |
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro |
6 (14.20.4) |
Note: Older versions may work, but they haven’t been fully tested with Flix 6.5, so they cannot be listed as officially supported.
If you have any problems with a particular application's version, please contact the Foundry Support Team here.
Upgrading to Flix 6.3.4
From Flix 6.3.3
• PS Plugin update - see Manually Installing the Photoshop Plug-in for End Users for more information.
From Flix 6.3.0, 6.3.1, or 6.3.2
• DB upgrade (v25 -> v26) - see Upgrading Flix for more information.
• PS Plugin update - see Manually Installing the Photoshop Plug-in for End Users for more information.
From a pre-6.3 version
• DB upgrade ( -> v26) - see Upgrading Flix for more information.
• Asset migration recommended, but not required.
Note: Although not required for 6.3, we recommend performing the asset migration eventually, as future minor (for example 6.5, 6.6) and major (for example 7.0, 8.0) releases may not support assets stored outside show subdirectories.
• PS Plugin update - see Manually Installing the Photoshop Plug-in for End Users for more information.
• Server config changes - see Server Configuration for more information.