[Andy Mees]

if you’ve not already done so, download and install the XDCAM Transfer app from Sony’s website
open it up and and set the Preferences > Import tab >> Import Location to your Media Drive
use XDCAM Transfer to log and/or transfer your media to your Media Drive (as QT mov’s)

thats pretty much it, other than the above its like any other project.

[Andy Mees]

how is it when you open your converted AVI file back into FCP? what does it report for its format properties in the clip info (cmd-9)?

what steps are you taking to create the avi exactly? am assuming:
export > using quicktime conversion…
w/ format >avi >> options >> video settings >> compression type > DV/DVCPRO – NTSC

[Andy Mees]

and what is it you want to export to Premiere? the original (16:9) XDCAM EX source clips or the (4:3) DV downconvert?

[Andy Mees]

No not directly… but all those transitions can be opened up into FXBuilder and can be modified to suit your needs, that means you can add your own Ease controls. Here’s how:

Right click (control-click) the Cube Spin transition and choose Open in Editor…

In the resulting FxBuilder window you will be able to see the lines of FxScript code that describe the effect … and right there at the top in the first few lines is the code which identifies the plugin ie give’s it it’s Id, defines it’s type (what it is), it’s name (as appears in the effects bin) and it’s group (where it appears in the effects bin)

You’ll want to start your hack by changing the name of the effect, or else you’ll end up with 2 identically named effects which will be difficult to tell apart. OK. So give it a new name
eg transition “Cube Spin”;
becomes transition “Andy’s Easy Cube Spin”;

A few more lines down and you’ll see the “input” commands which create an effect’s user controls
You going to need to add one extra input command for each of your Ease In and Ease Out controls eg
input easeIn, “Ease In”, Slider, 0, -1, 1;
input easeOut, “Easy Out”, Slider, 0, -1, 1;

Scan through the text of the rest of the script and you’ll see that some of the lines of code address a variable called Ratio. Ratio is predefined variable used by FxScript that represents how far through an effect you are, where Ratio=0 at the beginning of the effect, and Ratio=1 at the end of the effect
This is the crux of the biscuit right here. Its the variable that dictates the progression of an effect and its what you’ll want to modify in order to slow down or speed things up.

First you’ll need to create a new variable to hold the modified Ratio value eg
float myRatio;

Then you need to use bit of maths magic to give it the new value that represents the original Ratio value as modified by your Ease controls … I’m no maths guru, I just went to Google and searched for the equation that defines a bezier curve as thats basically what we are doing here, turning a linear ramp into a acceleration curve. Adapting that equation for our relatively basic purposes gives us the following bit of FxScript:
myRatio = 1.5*(1-easeIn)*power((1-Ratio),2)*Ratio + 1.5*(1+easeOut)*power(Ratio,2)*(1-Ratio) + power(Ratio,3);

OK. With that bit of magic, as Ratio proceeds regularly from 0 to 1, your modified value myRatio will also progress from 0 to 1 but will speed up or slow down depending on your Ease In and Ease Out control values. Woot!

Finally, you need to actually use this new value instead od th eold one … go through the script then and replace all the occurrences of the variable Ratio with your new variable myRatio
eg rotate3D(target3d1, centerofspin, angleofspin*Ratio, 0, 0);
becomes rotate3D(target3d1, centerofspin, angleofspin*myRatio, 0, 0);
etc

Thats it. You’re done. Now go to the FxBuilder plugin window and choose Create Plugin, save it with a suitable name to your users plugins folder (~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Pligins) … quit and relaunch FCP. Your new effect should be there right next to the old one. Try it out, play with the controls … groovy huh?

You can use the exact same method (and code in itatlics) above to hack Ease controls into any of the built-in FxScript plugins … go crazy 🙂

Good luck
Andy

[Andy Mees]

[walter biscardi] “f you have media on multiple drives there can be momentary lags when FCP switches from drive to drive to access a file. Can cause a crash.”

if true, a sad illustration of the fallibility of technology ie when computers just crash for no damn good reason

[Andy Mees]

what format /codec is your original footage ingested as?

[Andy Mees]

I think you might find that the files ystem format of the miniDVD (UDF) is not supported on your version of the Mac OS. UDF filesystem support was only introduced to OS X with the latest release 10.5.
If upgrading isnt an option then you might try installing ReadDVD from Software Architects, or try accessing the disc in Parallels, Bootcamp or a PC and grabbing the files from there.

[Andy Mees]

>every clip I had imported had a twin file in the bin

this is a long time FCP bug that resurfaced relatively recently … it has been widely reported as fixed in FCP 6.0.3

>I have the one that is designated for FCP

if you are working solely with XDCAM HD then you need only install the XDCAM Transfer Utility

if you are working with or intend to work with XDCAM EX then will also need to install the SxS Device Driver and the XDCAM EX Clip Browser software, and you may also want to install the FCP Log and Transfer support plugin

>Someone recommended to update FCP to the newest version …

as noted above re the evil twin clip bug

>what is the process of naming the discs? All of them appear in the transfer utility as “untitled”. Do you name them in the camera?

you can name them in camera, you can also name them directly in the transfer utility in the information pane at lower right (make sure the disc has not got the write protect tab across and that rec inhibit is not enabled on the deck

[Andy Mees]

well they’re not going to pay through the nose Peter, but think how often we hear this complaint … it seems plain that folks are generally averse to bouncing their clips out to Motion or Livetype in order to do basic titling tasks, and that they’re unhappy with the basic titling plugins that are built-in.

as you say, it ought to be pretty straight forward to write … so make it a freebie

[Andy Mees]

In the Log and Transfer window, click on the little sprocket icon that appears at the top right of the clip list pane … you’ll get a drop down menu with the options to Add Custom Path… and Preferences… Choose Preferences to see the Import Preferences sheet