batch export of jpegs at makrer positions!

[David Roth weiss]

Because exporting stills requires setting both an in and an out point at each location, I doubt it would work.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Post-production Supervisor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY

[Mike Simpson]

hmmm….i wonder whether there are any applescript experts around that would be able to work their magic and tell FCP to do what i need.

I’m not sure whether automator can help..any thoughts?

[Steven Gonzales]

Final Cut Pro is not applescriptable.

If I had this task, I think I would export the movie as a self-contained quicktime. Then I would export xml, or some format that would give me a list of the timecode location of my markers.

Then you could write a still frame export script in applescript with that timecode info using the exported movie opened in Quicktime, which is applescript aware.

The applescript dictionary for quicktime player has “frame” available:

frame?n : A reference to a frame (sample) in a QuickTime movie track.
elements
contained by tracks.
properties
contents (anything) : the contents of the frame (deprecated – use ‘sample data’ instead)
duration (integer) : the duration of the frame
index (integer, r/o) : the index of the frame
time (integer) : the time at which the frame starts

I don’t think it would be easier or faster than exporting each individually, but if it was something you have to do regularly, this might help.

Another option (if you have enough disk space to use temporarily) would be to export your movie from final cut as an image sequence, then find the images you need, and trash the rest.

[Mike Simpson]

!!!!!! i’ve got a lot to learn there.

thanks for the help on the quicktime side. I did wonder whether i’d be able to do it that kinda way but had no idea how to even start with applescript as i’ve never ever used it!

As far as the second option…disc space is definitely too limited but nice lateral thiunking.

any more for any more????

😉

[Gary Barr]

Hi,

I do this a lot as well and I’ve found a workflow if you’re interested…

create a ‘stills’ sequence

then drag the sequence you want to get the stills from into the viewer from the browser

go through the sequence marking ‘in’ and ‘out’ on each frame you want to make into a still (don’t go forward by one frame or anything, just mark ‘in’ followed immediately by ‘out’), and drag these frames one at a time into your ‘stills’ timeline or easier across to the canvas each time

you’ll end up with a stills sequence of all your frames ready for export

do a QT Conversion export as a ‘still image sequence’ to whatever format and location you please

only downside is they’ll just be named ‘stills1..2..etc.’. but this works very well, and much better and quicker than exporting each individually

Gary.

[Mike Simpson]

Cheers for that Gary.

i like the idea of that but one of the most important things for me here is to have the jpegs named correctly.

I was trying to see if i could save some time but doesn’t look that hopeful just yet.

If i ever find anything that works i’ll be sure to post it….howeevr if i use that method for anything i will be endebted (is that right?) to you!

Mike

[Gary Barr]

no problem, couldn’t you just rename them in Finder afterwards though? a pain alright, but surely still quicker than exporting one at a time?

Gary.

[Mike Simpson]

yeh, i mean that would be possible.

the task at hand is exporting stills of specific people so it would probably take longer to create the stills sequence and export as you suggest, which i like by the way, then rename the jpegs in finder as we would have to go back to the sequence to find out the persons name.

time wise, i guess it’s just easier to do a quicktime conversion export whilst in the correct place in the timeline, where the persons name is mentioned. That way we name it at this point and it’s done.

I was just looking for a batch export option that would be quicker.

I guess we could crreate a seq for each still, name the sequence and then do a batch export but not sure that even that would be quicker.

Guess i’ll still think about this one as it’d be cool to work it out.

thanks again