Remote Work Flow

[Jeremy Garchow]

As long as he has the same media and he gave you his project, export the sequence as an XML.

I have been doing this all day today, it works.

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.04 <> Kona 2
ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 4105 Fibre
OS 10.4.2 <> QT 7.0.3

[Wes Plate]

You should be able to simply send the FCP project file back and forth. You’ll have to reconnect media each time but otherwise it should work.

The other post about using XML isn’t bad, however round-tripping via XML is not entirely lossless.

— Wes Plate
Automatic Duck

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Wes Plate] “The other post about using XML isn’t bad, however round-tripping via XML is not entirely lossless.”

What do you mean by that?

The reason why we aren’t trading projects is that we are both working on the same project at the same time, my project is the “master” project as all of the finishing will be done there. My coworker is a busy guy, so he edits on a powerbook sometimes at home, or wherever he happens to be at the time. I didn’t want him to send me an entire project as his project has the same name, even if it had a different name it would mean every time that I open the project with a different name, it would create media folders in the FCP documents folder. Once he finishes a part of the sequence, he sends over the XML, I import it and reconnect the media. It’s been working like a charm. It’s much easier to keep track of sequences than to keep sending projects back and forth. It could get confusing really fast with different versions of projects, or projects of the same name. So, I chose to use the XML route. When you say it’s not lossless, I don’t get it. He has the exact same media I do, what am I losing?

By the way Wes, the pro AE import kicks bootie. Got it all up and running today and my AE guy loves you for it.

Jeremy

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.04 <> Kona 2
ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 4105 Fibre
OS 10.4.2 <> QT 7.0.3

[Jason Mccaffrey]

Thanks for the advice, guys, but it still ain’t working. Whether we send the FCP project file or the XML file we get the same error message. “Error: Wrong File Type”. It then proceeds to open FCP, just not the project we’re trying to get finished. What are we doing wrong here?

Jason

[Wes Plate]

When you email the FCP project file BE SURE you zip it first. If you don’t the file type information can get lost and then the file becomes unopenable. Another way around it is here (this is from a post I made on Apple’s discussion board)…

This happens to us quite frequently, customers send FCP project files without first Stuffing or zipping them and the files wind up unrecognized by FCP.

FCP HD 4.5 does not have an extension for its project files like FCP 5 does, so you need to fix the file’s File Type. I used to use a free program called Quick Change to change the file type to FCPF and the file creator to KeyG, but making an Applescript droplet proved to be easier in the long run.

Here’s the script, you are free to use it…
https://www.automaticduck.com/products/FCPProjectTypeHelper.app.zip

Here’s how you use it…
https://www.automaticduck.com/products/FCPProjectTypeHelper.mov

I hope that helps you.

— Wes Plate
Automatic Duck

[Wes Plate]

It has been our experience that a sequence that is round-tripped via XML will not be exactly the same when it comes in as it was when it went out. I can’t remember all the cases, they can be obscure, but they were like stereo pair audio becoming A1+A2 audio. There were other things too, but if its working for you that’s great. Just know that there is a possibility of this kind of thing happening.

— Wes Plate
Automatic Duck

[Jeremy Garchow]

Cool, thanks Wes.

[Craig Anderson]

It may sound obvious, but are you both on the same version of FCP? I once tried to open a file created in FCP 4.5 on a computer with only FCP 4.0, and got a similar error message to yours.

Craig