• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Lay Off Script…Is this possible?

  Posted by Trent Diggity on October 17, 2005 at 2:16 pm

  When we do layoffs, things are always inserted at the same times. color bars for the first 45 sec, 5 sec of slate at :50 and then the movie 1 min. After that its always the slate on the :50s and the movies on the 1 min marks. So my question is this. Is there a script that we could run that would setup our layoff? I’m sure we’d have to name our files in a particular way but other than that it seems like it should be possible. I’ve never written any scripts nor do i know alot about this sort of thing. Can anyone shine some light on this? if not, any ideas on better streamlining this process.

  I’m working in both Final Cut Pro 4.5 and 5.

  Thanks for the time.

  Will Macneil replied 20 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Rob Forsythe

  October 17, 2005 at 2:54 pm

  The way I accomplish this to create a project called (are you ready?) “New Project”.

  I set up all the windows, presets, and bin headings the way I prefer.
  I have a “clean” Timeline with :30 of Bars & Tone, a generic slate (even a version with an animated countdown).
  I save the project in this “ready” condition and LOCK the file in the Mac’s “Get Info” window.
  This keeps this “master copy” from being accidentally modified.

  Then, when I want to begin a new project I go to my FCP Documents Folder and double-click this “New Project” and, after FCP opens, I immediately “Save As” the REAL name of my project.
  When you do this, you’ll automatically have both your original “New Project” locked file and the Newly-named unlocked (ready to edit) version.
• 

  Steven Gonzales

  October 17, 2005 at 3:08 pm

  I believe that Final Cut Pro is not scriptable with Applescript. There is a work around, which involves turning on Universal Access (which facilitates use by those with physical limitations) and scripting that to manipulate the user interface. Here’s a rather old article about scripting unscriptable applications in OS X:

  https://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07102

  There is also the third party product QuicKeys which can be used to customize and record scripts:

  https://www.cesoft.com/
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  Will Macneil

  October 19, 2005 at 8:09 am

  You might take a look at Traffic. It was on the LAFCPUG website a few weeks ago. It’s a node based system where you can run a sequence through a series of operators like set start TC to XX:XX:XX:XX, insert black at xx:xx:xx:xx, insert slate at xx:xx:xx:xx, etc.

  W

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