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Workflow suggestions for editing in FCP and making credits/ titles in AE?
Hi all,
I’ve been looking for a good workflow suggestion for editing in FCP7, then making titles and credits in AE. My instinct is to export the final edit from FCP and bring it into after effects, add titles to that, and then export only the title and credit layers to layer back over my FCP timeline. However, AE doesn’t seem to support TC and I can’t hear the music from my edit to know if the timing feels right. Not to mention the render time in FCP if I put a graphics layer over the entire edit… There must be a better way to do this. What are your thoughts?
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3 Replies
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There are different ways to work between FCP and AE, as well as many things to consider. In my opinion, which is ‘best’ depends on a particular project’s needs (length, amount of AE work, number of editors, etc.) and the editors’ preferences. That said, a few things to consider …
You can export a reference movie or low-res version of a FCP edit to use in AE.
In AE’s top dropdown menus, just check Composition>Preview>Audio to preview audio.
You can change the timecode of any AE timeline to match any imported file.
No reason to put an AE graphics layer over an entire edit in FCP … just the parts where the graphics are needed. Also, the codec you work with in FCP and the codec you render from AE can sometimes be the same and, thus, reduce rendering.
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Thank you. I figured out the audio issue – I hit the “.” key on the numeric keyboard and viola, audio preview. But them you have to do that for each new render (or each time it plays) so a bit annoying but will work.
Also, you wrote:
“No reason to put an AE graphics layer over an entire edit in FCP … just the parts where the graphics are needed.”I’m not sure how else to be positive the graphics are frame accurate, short of exporting with a tc burn in and making note of where I put my in out points in ae for render. Tips on frame accuracy anyone?
Many thanks.
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Not sure why it’s annoying to use the period key for RAM previews (very different from “renders”) … just think of the period key as a play button … and by all means, step away from the spacebar, if that’s what you’ve been using thus far.
About laying AE graphics over a FCP edit with frame accuracy, if you put a graphic over a reference movie or proxy of a FCP edit at a particular timecode in AE, the only way I can think of it not being frame accurate at that same timecode back in FCP is if you’re working in different frame rates in FCP and AE, which is a whole other can of worms, which I can’t think of a good reason to open.
Perhaps I misunderstood what you were getting at, but jotting down times or even putting one-frame timecode indicators at the beginning of each graphic and cutting those frames in FCP seem far simpler than re-rendering an entire FCP edit for an empty graphic layer.
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