Harmony Premium Node View – To export a QuickTime movie, for both immediate playback and lossless format for compositing

There is another interesting option when using Premium to export a movie. This is to use the Node feature. 

On first view, the process might seem rather complex and confusing. This will be a first introduction, for one particular purpose for now. There is a logic to it. The process makes sense and is intuitive. There are useful purposes with the methodology. We will delve into Nodes again with Harmony effects.

First, you will need to go to the Node View. It’s often bundled with other windows like Colour. If you can’t find it, as it might have been closed by a previous user, you should reset the work area. To do so, go to the Main Menu > Windows > Workspace > Workspace > Default.

Click on the Node View Window to locate the “Write” node, in the lowest region of the cluster.

In the Node View, select the Write node, and then click on the yellow button at the left-side of the node. This will open a Layer Properties Window. 

From the Layer Properties, select and adjust in the following tabs:

• Image Sequence: “Select” or “deselect” the button, whether or not you wish to export/render image sequences.
• Image Folder & Movie Folder: from here you can select the Choose Button to designate where outputs of where Images and/or Movies will export to. By default, they will go to the “frames” folder in your Harmony project folder.
• Image and Movie Filename: Here you can add a given name for the files you plan to export.
• Start = the frame number from which the sequence will begin
• Leading Zeros = the amount of zeros/placeholder digits in the numeric sequence
• Image Format = The file format for image sequence. You should select PNG
• Colours = Colour + Alpha, to include a transparent background
• Depth (bits / channel) = 8
• Movie: “Select” or “deselect” the button, whether or not you wish to export/render a movie.
  • Movie Options: Click the Customize Button to select the compression settings. From the Movie Settings Window, choose the following:
    • Video:
      • Codec: Select one of the following:
        • Apple ProRes 4444 (Legacy), to include a transparent layer or alpha channel, for compositing purposes in After Effects
        • H.264, for immediate playback purposes and a much smaller file size
    • Audio:
      • “Deselect” if there is not a sound file, “Select” if there is.
      • Settings:
        • Compressor: None
        • Rate: 48.000 kHz
        • Size: 16 bit
        • Use: Stereo
• Press Close to complete the settings.

With the Write option the settings can actually remain for several renders; that is, if you don’t need to change anything. Consider them to be your own default settings.

To Export the files, go to Harmony’s Main Menu and choose File > Export > Render Write Nodes. Once you select, a Render Write Nodes Window will open:

• Range: You can choose either “All Frames,” for example., the work area on the Timeline, or Selected Frames, where you can enter specifically “From” and “To” particular frames.
• Leave “Field Composite Options” unchecked.
• Press OK.
• “Select” Preview. This will open the Harmony Player after the render.