CornerCut wants to solve NLE interchange for good

CornerCut is a new browser-based tool that translates project files directly between NLEs without XML. Its first conversion engine moves Premiere Pro timelines to DaVinci Resolve, with Avid and Baselight support on the roadmap.

CornerCut is one of those simple ideas that could prove to be extremely useful given the complexity of modern editing workflows and working with multiple clients all of whom run a different NLE. It's essentially a pure data translation tool, and allows you to move your entire timeline, including automation, keyframes, audio routing, and remaps, between non-linear editing systems.

"CornerCut was born out of a very specific, industry-wide frustration: the heartbreak of losing crucial timeline data, like complex time remaps, audio automation, and bezier transforms, every time you migrate a project between non-linear editing systems," says the company. "For too long, video editors and conform artists have accepted broken XML transfers and hours of manual rebuilding as just "part of the job."

Those days might be over soon. The initial version of the browser-based tool allows you to drop Adobe Premiere edits into a webpage and get back DaVinci Resolve files, converting prproj into drp directly with no XML required.

More conversions to come

It was built by Sasha Sibley and is just the start. "Resolve --> Premiere is likely next on the list, since most of the logic will just need to be reversed, but is at least a month or two away," Sibley tells us. "The others I'm considering doing are Avid --> Resolve and Premiere --> Baselight (which has been getting requested a lot)."

At the moment the tool is in beta as Sibley is testing it to iron out any kinks. Several significant hurdles have already been cleared. For example, CornerCut applies additional frame-resolution logic beyond standard interchange to cope with the fact that Premiere and Resolve use different frame-timing math for speed ramps. Some edge-case drift remains, however. Bespoke plugins and handling mixed frame rates and resolutions are also significant challenges.

As a result, the tool is currently free. "Haven't decided on pricing yet. Right now, I'm super focused on making the software as robust as possible," Sibley writes.

Check it out at https://cornercut.com and we'll update when more conversions are added.