FCP to AE - with no plug-ins

[Guest Sao_Bento]

I stumbled onto this article on PVC - it contains the link to a script that can import an FCP timeline into AE while maintaining most of the transitions and properties that you would want. I figured it will come in handy for some folks around here.

 

http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/motiongraphicsvizfx/story/move_projects_from_fcp_to_ae_seamlessly_and_free/

[Dansayshi 0]

I stumbled onto this article on PVC - it contains the link to a script that can import an FCP timeline into AE while maintaining most of the transitions and properties that you would want. I figured it will come in handy for some folks around here.

 

http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/motiongraphicsvizfx/story/move_projects_from_fcp_to_ae_seamlessly_and_free/

 

 

Thanks for this! I'm pretty sure this is going to come in pretty handy!

[Nerra 0]

Thanks Sao, this will definitely come in handy!

[drnz 0]

hmmm...I've had mixed results with this and stopped futzing with it after a few trys. I'd be curious to hear other people's experiences. I've always thought $500 for a glorified XML parser (Automatic Duck) was a bit outrageous.....

[Guest Sao_Bento]

hmmm...I've had mixed results with this and stopped futzing with it after a few trys. I'd be curious to hear other people's experiences. I've always thought $500 for a glorified XML parser (Automatic Duck) was a bit outrageous.....

Agreed about AutoDuck. I own it, but they lost me when they started getting this whole convoluted product lineup going. I already have enough stuff to confuse me - something like this should make your life easier, not harder.

[culpfiction 0]

This FCP to AE can be an amazing time saver. For me, it's particularly handy for chroma work.

 

Once you edit an entire green screen sequence in FCP, in less than 1 minute you'll have every single shot on a separate layer in an AE comp and referencing source footage. No exporting or transcoding. From here, you can easily copy keylight settings to similar angles without having to break up an export or something.

[anothername 0]

A word of warning if you upgraded to FCP 7. There seems to be problems with the xml export. A lot of the free scripts out there don't work anymore (although having checked since the recent Pro Apps update) and you can't import into premiere either. Importing your xml into FCP 6 then re-exporting it solves the problem. Automatic Duck still works fine though.

 

Running into this problem while on a really tight deadline is what prompted me to finally buy automatic duck. I have to say after using it and seeing how well it recreates most of the features of your FCP timeline compared to the free scripts, yes 500$ might seem a bit steep, but if you go from FCP to AE a lot in your workflow it is more than worth it when you consider how much your time (and sanity) is worth.

[mofx 0]

I was just looking for this earlier today, nice.

[Mousel 0]

A word of warning if you upgraded to FCP 7. There seems to be problems with the xml export. A lot of the free scripts out there don't work anymore (although having checked since the recent Pro Apps update) and you can't import into premiere either. Importing your xml into FCP 6 then re-exporting it solves the problem. Automatic Duck still works fine though.

 

Running into this problem while on a really tight deadline is what prompted me to finally buy automatic duck. I have to say after using it and seeing how well it recreates most of the features of your FCP timeline compared to the free scripts, yes 500$ might seem a bit steep, but if you go from FCP to AE a lot in your workflow it is more than worth it when you consider how much your time (and sanity) is worth.

 

FCP 7 came with a new XML script, version 5. Just select 'version 4' from the drop down menu when prompted and everything should work out fine.

[anothername 0]

FCP 7 came with a new XML script, version 5. Just select 'version 4' from the drop down menu when prompted and everything should work out fine.

 

I tried exporting to XML v4 and V3 straight from FCP 7 only thing that worked was exporting as xml 4 importing into FCP 6 and re-exporting again from FCP 6. Saw some posts on other forums where people had same issues so I don't think it was anything wonky with my project in particular.

 

Just tried now since the last pro-aps update and seems to be working again.

[Mousel 0]

Ah, I see. I didn't upgrade to FCP7 until the new ProApps update was released. Glad to know it's back to work.

[hotbuttertrucker 0]

automatic duck has been awesome, but with this there is no reason to shell out that money. Worked great for me since I haven't upgraded FCP yet. Guess I get to spend it on jellybeans...

[froj 0]

This is good. Ran into a few issues when I tried first time:

 

• last clip shunted to the beginning and lost it's cross fade

• When using disabled clips they come across too so have to delete all clips that aren't enabled and wanted

• when using a lot of tracks (music video with 10 tracks synched up - hence the ton of disabled clips)I got a weird error:

 

'Unable to execute script at line 546. After effects error: Unable to call "setValueAtTime" because of parameter 2. Value 16.52 out of range 0 to 16.5.'

 

If anyone knows what that could possibly mean and how to specifically avoid it? I fixed it by dragging all my layered clips down to 1 level and it worked fine.

 

So.. great script for free! Thanks to the creator and thanks to Sao for posting