[Andy Mees]

whether your titles are safe will depend on how the 16:9 source is converted to 4:3

if its letter boxed then your titles should be just fine as long as they are 16:9 safe
if its cropped, either as a 14:9 crop with shallow letterbox, or as a full 4:3 crop then you do need to be sure that your titles will remain safe

i’ve a simple fxscript plugin I made for myself for this, you’re very welcome to use it if it helps… you can grab it from https://web.mac.com/andymees

[Andy Mees]

did you back up the MP4’s only or the full BPAV folder structure of the SxS card? you need the folder structure of XDCAM Transfer won’t be able to work its magic

by the way, topic’s tend to come up pretty regularly so for future reference, a quick search is often the fastest way to find the answer to many questions

[Andy Mees]

Vientienne was last week Rafael … and if that wasn’t you I was throwing back the margaritas with then who the heck was it?

[Andy Mees]

not sure if this would help or hinder, but I have a freebie text filter that can be applied to a clip rather than a generator that is applied to a sequence

its possible it may be useful to you as you’re trying to associate the titles to clips rather than timelines. you can grab it from https://web.mac.com/andymees

possible workflow would be as above except director downloads clips, opens in FCP and adds subs as needed, then saves, zips and sends you his project file. you then open the project and reconnect.

when the cut is locked you can prep final subs using whatever tools / plugs /method that you see fit

[Andy Mees]

hi Jan

from the Help menu > Automator Help

Recording your actions
You can create automations by having Automator record what you do. Automator can record your keyboard and mouse events and create a custom action. This new action, called a “Watch Me Do” action, contains the recorded series of events. When you run your workflow, the recorded events are executed.

NOTE: For Automator to record your actions, “Enable access for assistive devices” must be selected in the Universal Access preferences.

To have Automator record what you do:

Before you begin recording you should consider where the recorded actions should begin. You may need to set up the environment before you start to record. For instance, if you expect that an application would be open when the workflow is used, then you should open the application before you begin recording.

In an Automator workflow, click Record. The Automator:Recording message appears with the stop button.

Perform the series of steps that you want recorded.

When you have finished the steps you want recorded, click the Stop button.

Click Run to test your recorded actions.

You can adjust the settings of the action to change the way your recording performs:

■ If you want to remove an event from the list, select the event and type Delete.
■ If you want to set a timeout limit for user action, adjust the Timeout using the up and down arrows.
■ If you want to change the speed the recording plays back, adjust the playback speed using the slider.

Best
Andy

[Andy Mees]

why not create your own templates, Adrian? easy enough to do using nests. apply the motion effect to the nest then you an just drop your clips into /edit in the original sequences. save the project file for quick and easy re-use in future.

[Andy Mees]

have a little look at Preference Manager … Jon Chappel and his buddies over at Digital Rebellion have put together this sweet little FCP helper app that they offer up for the princely sum of a zero dollars (although a simple thank you is always nice)

with it you can save a list of preferences that you can then recall as needed. this lends itself to any situation where you set up different capture scratch locations for different projects as you can save a set of prefs for each of these projects. simply restore the project prefs set before opening FCP with that project

its a workaround of course … but its a workable workaround at least

[Andy Mees]

a somewhat unusual request Jan, which is why the feature does not exist … but of course you can manually add sequence markers at 3 second intervals which will achieve what you want (ie a visual reference in the timeline to which your edit decisions will snap if you so choose)

move your playhead to the beginning of your sequence (press Home key
press the following 5 keys in sequence

1) +
2) 3
3) .
4) Enter
5) M

repeat until you have enough of these timeline markers to suit your needs

you can easily set up an automator action to do this using Automators “Watch Me Do” feature

have fun
Andy

[Andy Mees]

Scott

Andres Kiel’s TCR Plus app/filter combo can do this for you. Its a four part process whereby you first apply his filter to your clips as needed, then export an XML of your sequence, then run that XML through his app, and finally reimport the XML as produced by his app back into your project … the resulting sequence will have all the info. Yes its rather a long winded process, but none of the steps are either slow or difficult to perform and it is the only solution available that I’m aware of for what you’re looking for.

https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/tcrPlus/index.html

Cheer
Andy

[Andy Mees]

Very true Walter. The MXO2, if and when it delivers on all its promised features will certainly offer a cost effective alternative for those without the budget or need for the IoHD hardware. I’ll reserve judgement on performance comparisons until it ships, but Gary’s point below is also very well made.

Its got to be good for all of us though that companies like AJA, MXO and others remain competitive in these spheres, Choice is great.