FCPX and smpte timecode

[Andreas Kiel]

Simple answers:

No and No

Andreas

Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools

[Michael Sanders]

Apparently you can do this by creating a Motion 5 effect. Google it and you’re find loads of people who have written ones.

Michael Sanders
London Based DP/Editor

[Tapio Haaja]

Well you can easily build timecode generator in Motion (there’s timecode effect in Motion) and drop it to top storyline. Also you can build timecode as an effect and drop that to the clip and it will actually read original timecode from the clip.

Best
Tapio Haaja

On-Air Promotion Producer
https://avseikkailuja.blogspot.com/

[Jeremy Garchow]

You need to publish a filter from motion to do use burn in.

Fcpx won’t read burned in tc, but if the file has actual tc track in it, fcp x can use it.

Not sure of any NLE that can decipher burned in tc, kind of an interesting idea, though.

Here’s a free tc reader: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/335/11462

Jeremy

[Michael Cox]

I’ve done that but I have a weird situation where the timecode generator starts at a different timecode than the picture its attached to. I attach the timecode generator as a clip at the first frame, and then change its duration to roughly match the duration of the storyline…see attached shots. Don’t know how to fix it!

[Andreas Kiel]

You’ve to understand the difference between a generator and an effect.
As far as I can see in the screen shot it’s a generator. This will create something which might be useful but not wanted. If you want TC per clip you have to create an effect, which is pretty easy to do with Motion.

– Andreas

Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools

[Bouke Vahl]

Jeremy,
When i started out with Premiere (1995), i used that exact function…
Simple OCR that had to be trained to recognize the font.

Can’t be hard to write nowadays, but i can’t think of a workflow where i would need it nowadays, since we got LTC, VITC and timecode in metadata (inside the clips as well as in databases…)

Back then machine control was difficult, and one would ingest from VHS viewing copies since pro decks were expensive. All that has changed…

Bouke

https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pros

[Jeremy Garchow]

Bouke-

That’s pretty nuts!

I can’t think of a good reason for it either, although it seems the o.p. could use it.

[Andreas Kiel]

I agree that this ‘old fashioned’ stuff is pretty useless in todays world.
But not to long ago we used it to split lab rools using both burnt in keycode and timecode. Was very effective.

Anyway, who is using lab rolls.

-Andreas

Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools