Yamdu imports Movie Magic Scheduling schedules directly from the Movie Magic schedule file (.msd).
This works for Movie Magic Scheduling 6 and, via the built-in MMS 6 export, for Movie Magic Scheduling 10.
The import reads scenes, sets, cast members, background actors, shooting days, days off, breakdown elements, travel days and banners and lets you link them to your existing project data. The older PDF route for Movie Magic Scheduling 6 still works and is described at the end of this article.
Importing Movie Magic Schedules
To import your MMS schedule, follow these steps:
Get the .msd file. For MMS 6: Use your schedule file as it is already a .msd file. In MMS 10: Open your schedule, click File and then Export MMS6 (.msd file). (The MMS 10 file itself (.mmsx) can't be imported, always use the .msd export.)
Check cast members and background actors. Yamdu takes the cast members from the Movie Magic category that assigns Board IDs automatically, usually the category named Cast Members. Make sure every cast member has a Board ID - those without a Board ID will get the next free number. Yamdu uses the IDs to match cast members across scenes and to assign the cast IDs in your project.
Background actors come from the category named Background Actors. If your schedule uses another name, for example Extras, rename the category to Background Actors before you export. Otherwise Yamdu will use the category that follows the cast category, which may not be the one you want.
In Yamdu, open the Shooting Schedule and click Add and then Import shooting schedule.
Upload a .msd file from your device or select a file you already uploaded to files and documents.
Choose the strip board you want to import and click Next. (Only necessary if more than one board is included). Movie Magic schedules can contain several boards, Yamdu lists the boards that have scheduled strips.
Yamdu analyzes the board and recognizes scenes, sets, characters and breakdown elements. You can import all of these as new or link them with existing information in Yamdu during the import process.
Note: The Wardrobe and Makeup/Hair breakdown categories from MMS are ignored by default as the respective Yamdu categories require these to be assigned to a character. You can still import both as new categories.
Click Save once the review is complete. Yamdu creates a new shooting schedule version with the shooting days, scenes and banners of the board.
Important to note:
Imported per scene: scene number, synopsis, set, interior/exterior, time of day, page count, script day, cast members, breakdown elements and background actors.
Imported per shooting day: the scheduled strips of the day, banners and the shooting date. Days off and holidays of the Movie Magic calendar become off-shooting days. Company travel days between two shooting days become travel days. Travel days or days off before the first or after the last shooting day are not imported.
Only scheduled strips are imported. Strips in the boneyard or in an unscheduled area are skipped.
Times: estimated times and shoot times are not imported yet. Yamdu's scheduled time and estimated time stay empty for imported scenes.
Times of day: Day, Night, Morning and Evening, including their Spanish, German, French and Italian equivalents, are mapped to Yamdu's environments. Other values are imported as custom environment types.
Board Names: Movie Magic Scheduling 10 exports name each board "Board name - Default". Pick the board by that name.
Episodes: Movie Magic schedules are imported without episodes, as the export does not include this information. Episodes can be assigned to scenes in Yamdu after importing.
Legacy PDF Import Option
To import your MMS schedule, follow these steps:
Download our Movie Magic strip layout: Yamdu_Layout_1_0.msl
Open your Movie Magic Schedule in Movie Magic Scheduling 6 and select Design > Strip Layouts in the top menu.
Click "Import Strip Layout(s)" and choose the file you just downloaded (it will probably be in your Download folder and will have the file extension .msl).
Make sure all cast members have a Board ID and add IDs if any cast members are missing it.
For the import to work there has to be at least one day break included. If you want to import a schedule for a single day, please select the last scene in the Stripboard and click "Insert Day Break"
Select File > Print/View in the Movie Magic top menu and choose "Yamdu_Import_Layout_1.0" from the Strip Layouts list and uncheck all check-boxes EXCEPT "Stripboard", "Banners" and "Day Breaks" so that only those three are selected and click "Print" afterwards
PC: In the print menu click on the drop-down menu for the printers and select "Microsoft print to PDF" and click "OK" afterwards
MAC: In the print menu click the PDF dropdown and select "Save as PDF..."
Choose a filename and save the file to your preferred location
In the "Shooting Schedule" area of Yamdu, select "Import shooting schedule" > "Select file from your device" and then select the PDF you just created and click "Next"
Yamdu will then analyze the file and create the schedule for you. Yamdu will recognise if you have already created scenes, characters or sets in Yamdu that are part of your schedule and you will be able to link with these existing objects.
When you are done click "Save" and Yamdu will create the schedule and its scenes, characters and sets for you.
NOTE: In Movie Magic the "est. time" field is used to indicate how much time will be needed to shoot the scene in hours and minutes. In Yamdu this will be transferred into the field "scheduled time", which we use for this purpose since Yamdu already uses the field "estimated time" for the duration of the scene in the movie itself.