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I thought you all might be interested to know how I’ve managed to use Automator’s new “Watch Me Do” feature to automate a rather complex sequence of events.
It’s pretty useful for repetitive tasks like the one I’m doing now which is replacing a set of 4 pictures in a simple animated sequence.
The steps executed are as follows.
- opening the inserted picture’s properties page,
- copying each picture’s filename (which has been strictly standardized for the execution of the next step, for more details check my post on standardized filenaming conventions)
- pasting it into LiveType
- stripping away the .jpg to make it a “title” (ie Alexandre Pato.jpg becomes Alexandre Pato)
- saving as the same filename but replacing .jpg with .ipr,
- returning to FCP, importing the newly created LiveType file
- inserting it into the graphic sequence
- repositioning and proceeding to the next item.
Because of certain ways that FCP works it is sometimes necessary to have certain conditions in place before the scripts work (eg auto-select tracks are toggled by cmd-numpad0).
There is no absolute deselect or select, so if a sequence has all, none or some auto-select tracks enabled, you do not know how the shortcut cmd-numpad0 will react, either selecting all or deselecting all. In my case, I made it such that all working sequences had all auto select track disabled.
That said, it opens a vast array of options which I think is very exciting in an incredibly nerdy way.
Here is a full list of the commands automated in this script.
Note that certain commands are not bound by default and my recommended non-default FCP keyboard binds are listed more completely in Get Fast FAST
Prerequisites
- Playhead on first frame of first image
- Image sequence with 4 images to be inserted placed directly after it
- Each nested sequence has image to be replaced selected
| Command |
Result |
| Cmd-5 |
Select Effects palette |
| Cmd-3 |
Select Timeline.The timeline needs to be selected, but if I only put a cmd-3 when it’s already selected, it deselects. Hence the cmd-5 first, as deselecting the effects palette does not affect the execution of the script. |
| Cmd-numpad1 |
Auto-select video track1 |
| x |
Select image1 |
| Cmd-x |
Cut image |
| Ctrl-g |
Close gap.This brings the next image in the sequence into place to be processed |
| left arrow |
Playhead to the last frame of the 5-layer image sequence. |
| cmd-numpad1 |
Deselect auto-select video track 1 |
| cmd-numpad1 |
Deselect auto-select video track 2 |
| opt-enter |
Open video nest |
| Opt-v |
Paste attributes of copied picture to pre-selected placeholder picture |
| click |
Select contents |
| Enter |
|
| Cmd-9 |
Open picture attributes |
| Cmd-c |
Copy filename. |
| Escape |
To clear any open dialog boxes |
| Mouseclick LiveType in Dock |
|
| Escape |
To close any open dialog boxes |
| Cmd-2 |
|
| Cmd-1 |
This is the same as selecting the Effects palette, then the timeline: selecting a non-crucial window first to ensure that selecting the desired window does not deselect it if it is already active |
| Cmd-A |
Select all text |
| Cmd-V |
Paste copied filename. In episode 1, this is Alexandre Pato.jpg |
| Down |
Go to end of text |
| backspace x4 |
Pressing backspace 4 times removes “.jpg” from the end of the file name: Alexandre Pato. |
| Up x2 |
Go to start of text |
| Opt-delete x3, then Delete |
This deletes the file label. (“Episode 1: Connections”) |
| Cmd-shift-S |
Save As |
| Cmd-V, backspace x4, enter |
Pastes filename, deletes “.jpg” |
| Escape |
Clears any dialog boxes |
| Click FCP in dock |
|
| Cmd-I |
Import |
| Cmd-shift-G |
Go to folder. Automator is set to then navigate to /Volumes/disc/folder/livetype |
| Cmd-2 |
Switch to Detail mode. You should set it to sort by Date Modified, with newest at top |
| Up |
To select newest |
| Cmd-3 |
Switch back to 3-column view |
| Enter |
|
| Cmd-5 |
Select Effects Palette |
| Cmd-4 |
Select File Browser |
| Enter |
Open imported LiveType file in Viewer |
| Cmd-3 |
Select Timeline |
| Home |
Move playhead to start of sequence |
| Cmd-numpad3 |
Autoselect video in Track 3 |
| x |
Mark placeholder LiveType clip on Track 3 |
| F6-3 |
Set Viewer Video Patch to Video Track 3 |
| F10 |
Overwrite placeholder LiveType |
| Home, Enter |
Select and Open LiveType file |
| Cmd-shift-] |
I’ve bound this to Navigate tabs, this opens the Motion tab |
| Tab, 100, tab x3, 250 |
Set scale to 100, locate to x=0, y=250 |
| Cmd-5 |
Select Effects Palette |
| Cmd-3 |
Select Timeline |
| Ctl-w |
Close nested sequence tab |
| Cmd-numpad2 |
Deselect autoselected video track 2 |
| Right |
Move to next image |
The cycle repeats with the next image but selecting a different track in the image sequence.
This process takes 8 minutes 26 seconds for Automator to execute. I only take about 3, but with more than 80 of these to do, it is very tedious. I scripted it to do about 12 episodes at once, then left to do other errands.
The hard part creating an automated workflow is that even your pauses are recorded. You can’t take too long to think about the next step, or you’ll have to manually edit the pause duration after the record.
Also, you sometimes need to pause longer so the software can catch to the steps executed, eg. opening a complex sequence, moving from a single video layer section to one that has many layers, etc.
Building custom workflows yourself isn’t complicated. You just need to be clear the exact steps required.
The Sudden Rise of FCP
July 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment
I was trained on the Avid Meridien platform and my first time using FCP was on my very first job which I took on part-time while I was in my final year at Film, Sound and Video in Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
My employer at that time had a G4 running FCP v1.2.
It was slow, unstable, crashed a lot, lacked realtime effects support and dissolves needed to be rendered.
Suffice to say, it failed to make much of an impression. It was an interesting mix of a NLE with some motion graphics capability but lacked many of features we have been spoiled with on the Avid.
In the interim, I worked on the Avid Meridien based systems and transitioned to the Adrenline when that line was EOLed. I became overly familiar with the Avid error messages to an embarrassing extent.I remember a producer quizzically looking at me when I started explaining to her about DRAGON Error messages, BUFFER OVERRUN and UNDERRUN codes.
Progress
During that time, under the auspices of Apple’s ProApps department, FCP improved. Enough for Walter Murch to decide that he could do Cold Mountain on it. Before that, Rules of Attraction, Full Frontal and The Ring had also been cut on it.
It was a necessary response from the company now that Avid had decided to migrate to Windows XP for the Adrenaline, Mojo series of Media Composer. Apple no longer had a video killer app solely available on the mac platform.
Apple had to get marketshare back somehow set that in motion by purchasing Keygrip from Macromedia and renaming it Final Cut Pro.
Apple’s G5 became the biggest dongle in the world for the new fastest growing NLE.
Avid’s regression
Avid still had a dominant installed userbase and felt no need to compete with Apple on the basis of their disruptive price point. DVXpress was deemed to be their equivalent product line, but the restriction of it’s maximum output resolution to DV25 without additional hardware meant that it’s usefulness would be restricted to the hobbyist/prosumer/budget/boutique production house.
Avid’s workflow for footage originating on tape is first class.
The media management tools, offline/online media reconnection all save us loads of time by storing it in the omf media database and enabling simple and mostly painless media management.
However, importing files to Avid, has always been a pain for the exact same reason.
Importing video files in particular is akin to pulling teeth. The files have to converted to omf media on import before they can be used.
If the current show I’m editing was done on the Avid, I would easily be converting up to 80% of my footage.
Also, the disruptive price point of FCP meant that a lot of boutique production houses were sprouting up. Final Cut Studio meant any one man operation with $2500 had the tools (not unnecessarily the skills) to compete with a production house with an Avid and graphics department.
This has resulted in the freelance editing market shifting from 80% Avid, 15% FCP, 5% others in 2002 to what seems to be a 70% FCP, 25% Avid, 5% others pie. (These numbers are obviously not scientifically gathered, it’s just me asking other freelancers the percentage of jobs they do on each platform.)
Apple’s complacency
Apple hasn’t really been pushing the boundaries of what FCP can achieve. The impression that Avid seems to have given up on competing with them for the budget/boutique user demographic seems to have left them free to their own devices. Both companies neglected to have a booth at NAB.
There are numerous bugs that have existed from the first version I used (v1.2) to this very day.
Particularly annoying are the edit to tape compression error, the keyframe editor redraw bug, inconsistent render file linkages and the fact that every point update breaks the project file.
I think the problem with FCP is that the Proapps team seems to find it cooler to add new features than fix existing bugs.
The Future
I hope Avid continues to try to compete with FCP.
Competition is necessary for innovation and I think the best work we’ve seen from both developers were when they were fighting for marketshare. It would be great if Quantel, Sony (Vegas/xpri), Media 100 got back into the mix. The key to FCP’s sudden increase in marketshare wasn’t Avid users throwing away their Meridien and Nitris Boxes. It was the multitude of new users investing in hardware/software that was no longer priced out of their reach.
This market is ever expanding and it would be a great pity, not to mention a missed opportunity, if other companies allowed Apple complete dominance of this space.
Categories: FCP · editing
Tagged: apple, avid, comment, FCP, hardware, software