You can export clips containing images, video, and audio to be encoded by Cleaner XL into one of a variety of formats, using the Export Image menu. You can export clips containing soft-imported segments as well.

Note the following considerations when encoding with Cleaner XL:

• You can export clips with or without audio, as well as clips containing audio only, from the Export Image menu. The Cleaner option is not available from the Export Audio menu.
• Cleaner XL can only encode 8-bit clips. Clips of a greater bit depth are automatically resized to 8 bits upon export.
• You cannot export clips with a matte or encode RGBA files when exporting to Cleaner XL.
• You cannot export a range from a clip to Cleaner XL.

To encode media from Smoke with Cleaner XL:

1. Open the clip library containing the clip that you want to export.
2. Select the clip. You can select a clip with or without audio, or a clip containing audio only.
3. Click Export Image.

   The Export Image menu and file browser appear.

4. From the File Format Box, select Cleaner.
   NoteIf you selected an audio clip to export, then Format will be automatically set to Cleaner.

   The Cleaner Export menu appears.

   
   

   (a) Name field  (b) Output Profile field  (c) Output Profile Description field  (d) Destination Path field  (e) E-mail Notification field  

5. If necessary, click the Name field to activate it, and edit the name for the exported clip.
   NoteTo avoid filename compatibility issues upon export, underscores will be substituted in your filename in place of any of the following characters: ` # ~ @ $ % ^ & * ( ) [ ] { } < > \ | / ! ? , ; : ' "
6. Confirm that the Destination Path field contains the correct path where the output job will be saved on the Cleaner XL render node. Normally, you do not need to change this. This information should have been entered by your systems administrator when Cleaner XL was installed. If the Destination Path field is not properly configured, your jobs will not be encoded. For more information, see the Using Cleaner XL with Autodesk Vissual Effects and Finishing Applications Guide.
7. Click the Output Profile field.

   The file browser appears displaying directories containing output profiles.

   You can select an output profile, which indicates what format to encode to and related parameters. For example, you can output a QuickTime movie in NTSC for streaming to DSL.

   
   

   Output profiles are divided by output file format, with audio only profiles in their own directory.

8. Click a directory containing the format to which you want to encode.

   Depending on the format you select, output profiles may be further subdivided by category. The Handheld directory contains all the profiles for handheld devices, such as Palm^® and Kinoma^®. The audio directory is further subdivided by output file format, such as MP3, QuickTime, and Windows Media^®. All other directories are subdivided by output format, such as Film, NTSC, or PAL, and by aspect ratio, such as 4:3 or 16:9.

   
   

   (a) QuickTime Output Profiles divided by output format and aspect ratio  

9. If necessary, select a subdirectory containing the output format to which you want to encode.

   Output profiles appear in the file browser.

   
   

   (a) QuickTime Output Profiles for NTSC, with a 16x9 aspect ratio  

10. Select an output profile.

    You are returned to the Cleaner Export menu.

    The name of the output profile you chose appears in the Output Profile field, and its description appears in the Output Profile Description field.

    
    

    (a) Output Profile field  (b) Output Profile Description  

11. Optional: Enable E-mail Notification and enter a valid e-mail address.

    When the job is done, a notification message is sent to this address.

12. Click Send Job.

    The job is sent to the Cleaner XL render node where it is encoded, using the parameters in the output profile that you selected, and saved in the destination folder on that render node.

    TipWhen encoding media files using Cleaner XL, the entire job is encoded on the same render node. When encoding a single job, no load balancing is done and additional render nodes on the Autodesk Backburner Distributed Queueing System do not increase efficiency. If you are encoding more than one job at a time, additional jobs are routed to available render nodes. This may affect your choice of output profiles, as larger output files may take a long time to encode.