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X-FX Handler update
Some of you will know the app from a Rippletraining episode – for those who don’t know the app or what it is good for:
X-FX Handler will extract the FX information (Motion Templates) out of the XML and list them. Usage of them for every clip (in a timeline) is listed. Same can be done for fonts as well. Latter is pretty helpful since FCPX will often enough replace missing fonts by “Helvetica” with a very small font size without notification.
There are 3 ways to use the application plus an extra option.
First get a list and then modify an existing XML (10.0.9 not recommended – 10.1.x or higher recommended).
The application scans the XML for any “effect” entry and the base settings.The result will be listed in a table view showing what have been used how many times.
This information allows to get an overview of the FX used in your timeline which you won’t have inside FCPX.The application also allows the remove, disable and enable FX within the XML. The XML can be imported into FCPX again to have a copy of your original timeline with modified settings – might be helpful for reviewing versions.
Second usage is to create a report about the used Motion Templates (using the licensed version)
This will scan the XML for used templates only and check the availability and the details.
You can save the report either as formatted text or as a tab text file for import into a data base.During launch the application will scan the actual FxFactory library (probably other engines will follow) for the available plugins. The launch therefore will take a like bit longer than expected for such a simple app.
Once the application is launched open a project fcpxml file by pressing cmd-O or just drag the the XML to the application’s icon.
To check fonts used in effects you can just use the complete scan of the XML or extract fonts only.
The extra option will allow to create needed “Template Directories”. A common user error is to create those with wrong or missing extensions.
Using X-FX’s option to create those will ask for a password – you must be an administrator to use this option.Requirements:
OS X 10.6 thru 10.13
XML 1.3 thru newestDownload:
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/X-Files/X-FXHandler/XFX%20Install.dmgSpherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil -
7 Replies
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Thank you for the update. I don’t use this often but when you need it, it’s a life saver.
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
I wanted to try this software as I’m having some probs with lost plug-ins while opening older projects, but it looks like it might be broke now for FCPX 10.14.10 and/or Mojave?
I get the following warning message when trying to launch: ” “doesn’t understand the “<<event XML Indt>>” message. (-1708)
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Rikki,
X-FX isn’t working on system versions Mojave and higher.
For an easy check of external plugins and fonts you can use X-Library Check (http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/start.html -> X-Library Check)
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Thanks Andreas – I’ll take a look at that. All the best.
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Works a treat and very useful. Cheers.
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X-FX is so valuable I created a High Sierra boot disk so I can run it when needed. Provided your Mac hardware will run High Sierra, you can boot to High Sierra, copy the .fcpxml file there and run the utility.
The source machine can be running Catalina and recent versions of FCP. Only the destination machine running X-FX must be on High Sierra. There’s a better chance of it working if you export the oldest available .fcpxml version supported by FCP.
Note there are two steps in the procedure: (1) Create a bootable High Sierra installer and (2) Run that installer to create a portable USB High Sierra startup drive. So you might briefly need two external drives until the bootable disk is created. Once created you can boot the machine while holding the OPT key and select the High Sierra startup drive.
Creating a bootable High Sierra USB drive: https://mackeeper.com/blog/post/450-how-to-make-a-bootable-high-sierra-installer/
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Doh – even simpler for me – I have an older laptop running something pre-Mojave – it might even be Mountain Lion! – just didn’t think of running the xml file over to that – in my head I just felt it had to be all on the one machine – so obvious now you mention it. Thanks.
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