There are several ways to compare two versions of a cut using a "change list," but none of them are as simple or elegant as Marvin's changes tool.
Using the shot id noted in each clip's marker, Marvin looks for the following:
- shot added
- shot omitted (cut from sequence)
- shot moved to a different act/reel
- head or tail extended, trimmed, or slipped
- rescan is required (if handle lengths were provided)
- clip or tape name changed
- marker color changed
- marker comment changed
Begin by clicking the changes button from the home page to open the import menu.
- Select the type of file to be imported
- Click select old cut..., navigate to your file, and click Insert
- Click select new cut..., navigate to your file, and click Insert
- Click compare
file types
| file type | description |
| Doom (dcut) | DCUT files are specially formatted exports from Marvin's shots tool and contain the most amount of data to compare including marker, cut, and source details. |
| Doom (dsub) | DSUB files are specially formatted exports from Marvin's subcaps tool and contain only cut timing information, but they can be useful for quick and simple comparisons. |
capabilities
- modify, add, duplicate, and delete changes
- sort, search, hide, and filter changes
- export markers with change notes
- export csv and xlsx files for spreadsheet compatibility
- export a pdf file for printing or emailing
notes
The changes tool can only compare apples-to-apples versions of a sequence. This means that you can easily compare act 2 of the Editor's Cut to act 2 of the Director's Cut, but you can't compare a VFX turnover of scene 10 to the whole Studio Cut without some additional work. This mainly relates to how markers are typically renamed during the turnover process and whether multiple plates are involved or speed effects are applied.
Marvin is a GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) tool. If you import junky data, then it can only export junky data. To function correctly, sequences should be cleaned up prior to running a comparison. This includes removing add edits or extraneous markers and making sure the intended changes are reflected on all video tracks versus only on upper layers that aren't simplified down.
There are basically two options for comparing a specific scene pull to a longer sequence. The first method is to sub-sequence the scene and essentially re-prep it as if you're turning it over again. Alternatively, remove the markers from every other scene, and then ensure that the remaining markers are named consistent to those in your pull sequence.
As long as the shot id in each marker is formatted the same between the two cuts, Marvin can compare them. Otherwise, it can only assume that shots were either added or omitted between the different versions.
Marvin can only compare two cuts using the provided handles in the DCUT file (from the shots tool). If the "old" sequence contains changes since the shots were turned over, it's possible that a rescan may be missed. For example, consider a shot that was already slipped 8 frames in a previous cut with 10 frame handles. If it was slipped again in the same direction by 3 frames in the "new" sequence, now putting it outside of handles, then Marvin would not report it as a rescan during a default comparison because it is unaware of the cumulative effect of the previous changes. To prevent this from happening, you should update the handles for all affected shots prior to exporting the DCUT file and importing it into the changes tool.
If you see three white dots (ellipsis) in the bottom-right corner of the notes field, there is additional text in the field that is not immediately visible. Click into the notes field to see and scroll through all of the text.