Final Cut Pro to After Effects Scripting without the hassle
One of the most popular pieces of content here is Moving Between Final Cut Pro and After Effects: The Scripting Option. I think the idea of using scripting to move between Final Cut Pro and After Effects resonated with people working in a production environment.
Unfortunately, the post was more of a tech demo of the kinds of things that were possible with After Effects scripting and less of a practical demonstration for non-technical users. I still urge non-technical folks to dip their toes into the scripting waters, it can be really rewarding, but the challenges presented in “rolling your own” in this situation may be a bit much. So, I decided to write a small application to provide a way for readers who don’t want to deal with the scripting hassle to use some of the techniques I described in the article.
FCPToAE (working title) is an application for OSX 10.4 and above designed to create a .jsx file from a Final Cut XML file for import into After Effects without the hassle of scripting the different parts yourself.
How to use FCPToAE
1. Download and run the application2. Open a valid Final Cut XML file exported from a sequence with File:Open. It’s important that you export a sinqle sequence from FCP and not a project or you will get an alert when you run the .jsx file. Any version of Final Cut XML (1-3) is fine.You should end up with something that looks like this:
For this version, the only column that is editable is the first column which allows you to make an individual clipitem active or inactive in After Effects. This is handy for not importing FCP native items like Bars and Tone and Slug, although there is rudimentary support for placeholder images for those items.3. Click the Export to After Effects button and save the exported .jsx script4. In After Effects, select File:Scripts:Run Script File and navigate to your exported script file.5. When I run from the above, I get something that looks like this:
In After Effects:Preferences make sure that “Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network” is checked and “Enable Javascript Debugger” is unchecked. “Enable Javascript Debugger” being unchecked allows us to substitute placeholder images if we are unable to get a valid path to your footage. You might want to enable it if you want to troubleshoot a path problem.FCPToAE is designed to work on the same machine that the project was created. If you run the exported .jsx file on another machine the script will attempt to use a placholder image which you can replace with File:Replace Footage in After Effects. If you run the script from Windows you will also need to replace the placeholderImagePath variable in the script with a valid Windows path and substitute the correct image and path in var placeholder in the import section of the script.
I’m not sure where this application will end up. I’m contemplating producing some shareware workflow applications and functionality from several of the small utilities I’ve released will definitely be wrapped in. I’m working on improving my Cocoa interface design and programming skills and slowly but surely feel like I’m approaching the point where there might be a product in there somewhere. I’d love to hear from readers about the kinds of workflow problems they’d like solved in creative workflow applications.
I do know what it is not. It’s not a replacement for Automatic Duck. Wes Plate has put years of work and effort into his product and it shows in the polish and constant new feature introduction with each version. If you use this functionality daily, you owe it to yourself to not try and cut corners and buy Automatic Duck. It’s really worth it.
UPDATE 10.11.2007 Today is the first public release of the AE CS3 stand alone version of FCPToAE. This version uses the native E4X xml parsing in AE CS3 to handle xml parsing. Move the unarchived .jsxbin to the scripts folder, run from the Scripts Menu and point the script to your exported FCP-XML file. New experimental features in this version include Cross dissolve support, and keyframed values for Scale, Rotation, Positon, and Anchor Point (keyframed ease is due in the next version). Since this is the first public release I would expect bugs and would appreciate bug reports.
deprecated legacy version for AE7
Since my updates on this script have slowed dramatically I’m posting the source to the CS3 version of the script. If you make any improvements send them my way and I’ll integrate them. I’m also open to contributing to an open-source project for Final Cut to AE scripting if anybody wants to get the ball rolling on a code depository, etc.
01.30.2009-Chris Roe from croe design contributed sub-clip support and text layer importing.
Please send beta feedback and bugs to dale(at)creative-workflow-hacks(dot)com.
changelog of previous bug fixes and changes
Creative Workflow Hacks » Blog Archive » MOVING BETWEEN FINAL CUT PRO AND AFTER EFFECTS: THE SCRIPTING OPTION said,
April 17, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[...] I’ve posted a small application and tutorial at Final Cut Pro to After Effects Scripting without the hassle for those that find the scripting presented here a little daunting. The following article covers the steps and ideas encapsulated in the application if you’re more interested in the process for learning to script After Effects and Final Cut Pro yourself. [...]
BlogaCine | Blog Venezolano de Cine » De FCP al AE, sin pagar ni programar said,
April 27, 2007 at 6:51 am
[...] FCPtoAE es una aplicaci�n que, a la manera del Automatic Duck, permite transferir un proyecto de Final Cut Pro al Adobe After Effects. Su desarrollo est� apenas en sus fases iniciales �es una versi�n alpha�, aunque tampoco es que se trate de algo muy complejo puesto que se vale de las funcionales del FCP para exportar data en XML, y de la capacidad del AE para usar scripts de Java. [...]
Waffle said,
May 29, 2007 at 8:47 pm
It works. Thank you so much.
espe said,
June 3, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Hi
The whole thing is going well until I click on export to after effects. I get a wrong chime from the mac. And it does not export.
Am I the only one ?
Dale said,
June 3, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Hey espe,
Why don’t you send me the xml file and the jsx export and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s going on?
Dale
Dale said,
June 3, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Hey espe,
Just re-read your comment and realized that it wasn’t exporting at all. Is it possible that you’re using 10.3 or below. This app is 10.4 and above. If not, just send the xml file, it’s possible that it had some data I wasn’t expecting.
Dale
paul said,
July 8, 2007 at 3:34 pm
when can we expect the next beta? are you updating for use with AE8?
Dale said,
July 8, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Hi Paul,
I’ve uploaded a new beta. Changes and additions are minimal because I’m overwhelmed with some projects at my day job (as you may have noticed from the lack of site updates). I’ve definitely got AE CS3 compatibility on the agenda.
Best,
Dale
nico said,
July 9, 2007 at 6:08 am
This works like a dream! You’re going to save me a lot of hassle, and my company loads of money. Thanks alot dude.
Pat said,
July 16, 2007 at 1:34 pm
i’ve exported my XML but when i run the script in AE my sequence is all over the place. things are missing or not in the right order. i’ve tried with XML 1, 2, and 3. I’ve also included master clips and not. Nothing seems to work with it.
I’m on a PowerMac G5 Quad, FCP 5.1.4, AE7. Any thoughts?
I’d really appreciate the help. This is an awesome hack and would greatly assist me in some upcoming projects.
Thanks.
Dale said,
July 16, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Hey Pat,
Why don’t you send me a copy of the xml and the jsx file and I’ll see if I can figure something out.
Best,
Dale
Eran said,
July 23, 2007 at 3:33 am
Is it possible to use a similar approach for a Avid to AE workflow ?
Dale said,
July 23, 2007 at 8:30 am
Hey Eran,
Sure, the concept would be the same. I just don’t have daily access to Avid workflows. I’m sure there is somebody out there who could tackle that problem.
Dale
mrsclean said,
August 3, 2007 at 3:55 am
Hi,
This looks promising for us infrequent transformers, although I think I might be doing something wrong. I export an XML file from FCP, and try to open the file from FCPToAE and nothing shows up. Odd.
Using AE CS3 and FCP 6.01, tried all 4 XML formats.
Am I just not following the instructions well?
Thanks
Dale said,
August 3, 2007 at 11:25 am
mrsclean,
Why don’t you send the final cut xml and the jsx file from the program to dale(at)creative-workflow-hacks(dot)com and I’ll take a look.
Best,
Dale
Want To Go From Final Cut Pro to After Effects? said,
August 11, 2007 at 9:43 am
[...] FCPToAE Please make sure you Digg it! digg_bgcolor = ‘#ff9900′; digg_skin = ‘compact’; [...]
Oskar said,
August 16, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Hi first I would like to thank you for your effort to solve a very annoying problem (FCP to AE transfere).
When I follow your step by step instructions the move between FCP an AE works very well when I transfer DV-sequenses.
When I try to transfere a HDV sequense into AE all the files and the composition gets transfered the problem is that the composition lacks references to the clips (eg. it is empty). Do you have any idea what I do wrong?
—
FCP 5
AE 7
Dale said,
August 16, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Hi Oskar,
No, it’s probably not anything your doing wrong. I’ve had some issues with HDV sequences, can you send a sample XML & JSX file and any other info that you have so I can take a look?
Thanks,
Dale
Rob said,
August 21, 2007 at 7:58 am
Hi mate,
I have just tried the above with HDV sequences and it finds the files etc but when I open in AFX the comp is empty… (tried with DV and fine)
I turned on the de-bugging as you said and it came up with an error fist time but wont now.
Great product though!
Dale said,
August 21, 2007 at 8:41 am
Hey Rob and others working with HDV sequences,
I’ve also gotten other reports with problems with HDV sequences, can one of you guys send me the problem XML, the JSX from the export and any error messages from AE and/or FCP.
Thanks, I’ll try to get to the bottom of this.
Dale
James P. said,
August 26, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Amazing work! You’re onto something here for those of us who don’t need the bells and whistles (or pricetag) of Automatic Duck’s comprehensive list of features. However, I have a question.. I get up to the step where I import the jsx file — all o the assets come through just fine but the sequence is converted into an empty composition (although it’s the right length, there’s just nothing in it).
Any suggestions? You can email me at poppiesny@yahoo.com and I’ll forward you all the files so you can check it out..
Thanks!!!
Dale said,
August 26, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Hey James,
thanks for the kind words. Yes, there seem to be a few sequences that are exhibiting the problem you’re having. I’ve a got a few leads on what’s causing this bug, but please send your files my way and I’m sure it will add to the info to get things working correctly.
best,
Dale
Tom D said,
September 4, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I dont have HDV files but I get basically the same as above, unable to execute script at line XXX, AE error: Unable to call “layer” because of parameter 1. The range has no values.
I will send you the script and xml files.
thanks for your work, td
deborah barkow said,
September 19, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Hello!
I have had to move my project from a g5 / fcp 6.0 to a G4 / fcp 5.0.4
So I selected all of my most recent sequence and made an xml 3
When I try to open it up into fcp 5.0.4 I am asked for a “translation file.”
I don’t know where to find this, and am therefore not able to open the sequence at all.
Any advice?
Thanks so much.
DBarkow
Dale said,
September 19, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Hey Deborah,
The translation file is an XSLT file that allows you to translate the xml file into something Final Cut understands. So it sounds like it doesn’t understand something in your file. I’d try going back to version 2 XML, I think FCP 5.1.2 was the first version that supported version 3.
Creative Workflow Hacks » Blog Archive » FCPToAE going (mostly) CS3 Only said,
September 20, 2007 at 4:16 pm
[...] a quick heads up that I’ve decided to focus my efforts on FCPToAE and related tools to the CS3 Suite only. With a strong subset of ECMA-357 (E4X) (pdf link) parsing [...]
Steve Kirby said,
September 26, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Dale,
This is great! Thanks for your generosity in sharing this with everybody. I’ve never owned Automatic Duck because I only need this kind of thing once in a while so its perfect for me. This will be up there with BGRenderer or CSTools for me – I only wish I had the time to contribute more myself. Thank you again.
Kai Pradel said,
October 3, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Great app and EXACTLY what I was looking for. Definitely consider marking this into a real application. Automatic Duck is just a little steep at $495 for the kind of stuff we need it for and your app did the job just fine.
Thanks,
Kai
Todd in Arizona said,
October 6, 2007 at 3:29 am
I’ve been fighting a project all day, trying to get some fast moving sports footage (DVCPRO HD) out of FCP into AE7 without losing a bunch of quality and getting the “jaggies”. Pulling my hair out! I downloaded your app in in five minutes have a problem solved that’s plagued me all day!
I’m doing more and more in AE so I can see your app being indespensible! I too choked at the Automatic Duck price, but this is definitely worth a contribution…let me know if there’s a place I can send a donation so you can keep up this great work.
Thanks a ton.
Dale said,
October 11, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Hey Todd,
Thanks for the kind words. At this point, the biggest contribution you can give is detailed bug reports. grin. In all honesty, I’m uncomfortable asking for donations while the script is still in beta, maybe a bit down the road.
Thanks again,
Dale
Edward said,
November 6, 2007 at 2:05 am
Are there still problems with HDV? When I run my jsx script in AE there is nothing in the timeline. All the clips are on the left column… any ideas? Thanks
Dale said,
November 6, 2007 at 10:54 am
Hey Edward,
There has been a lot of error correction added, but if After Effects is not able to place the footage in the layer you can get an empty sequence. One workaround, is to place the footage in a temp folder and when the script runs it will place placeholders which you can then do a replace footage on. A bit of a hassle, but probably worth it.
By the way, are you using the AE CS3 native version db_FCPToAE.jsx ? or the older AE 7 version FCPToAE ? I’m putting a lot more effort into the AE CS3 version these days. Also, I’d love to see your FCP-XML file to see if they’re is anything I’m missing.
Thanks,
Dale
After Effects CS3 « Audiovisuelles Synapsengewitter said,
November 9, 2007 at 9:12 am
[...] Effects CS3 hey ho – für alle User von CS3 ist der Automatic Duck Terror vorbei. Hier findet ihr ein Script, mit dem ihr über XML Daten aus Final Cut in After Effects [...]
Alan Hatchett said,
November 15, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I just downloaded the new CS3 version and it works mostly well but there are a few instances I’ve encountered that arent right.
I’m using a 720p DCVPROHD timeline and it comes into AE with the incorrect pixel ratio. Not huge.
Also, I routinely use subclips inside Final Cut to make it easier to work with long captures, but the timecode seems to get completely fuzzed in the transfer to AE.
Dale said,
November 15, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Hey Alan,
Can you send me a copy of your xml? I’d love to check the pixel ratio, I thought I had DVCPROHD covered, but I must have missed it.
Subclips… yep, still unsupported. It’s on the list, up after Shape layers, and general plugin support, hopefully I’ll be getting to it soon.
Thanks for the feedback,
Dale
beni said,
November 16, 2007 at 6:37 pm
HI.
thank you very much for this fantastic script, as dale said in the previous post i working with DVCPROHD aswell and the pixel aspect ratio is not right apart fron that i haven’t notice anything.
thank you very much.
beni said,
November 16, 2007 at 7:06 pm
the import works fine but it does;nt import the audio tracks, it comes with the original audio in the video.
in my editing i have clips of several size adjusted in fcp in the timeline, i explain myself.
my sequence is 720p 50 but i have several clips bigger, hd for instance and several pal scaled to the sequence settings, when i import the xml in AF all come in the original size and not the size in the sequence in fcp.
great work anyway it saves lot’s of renders.
thanks.
Dale said,
November 16, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Hey Ben,
Are you using the db_fcpToAe.jsx? That version supports scaling and basic attributes.
And you’re right, Audio tracks aren’t supported and is actually pretty low on my dev list. The vast majority of feedback is that it is a fairly low priority for the kinds of things folks are trying to do with it.
Thanks for your feedback
Tim said,
November 18, 2007 at 3:26 am
Great tool. One question, does this support slomo’d clips? I’ve got a music clip I’m doing right now where just about every clip is slowed down and I would love a way of pushing it all over for comping in AE without the substantial cost of alternatives.
Thanks
Tim
beni said,
November 18, 2007 at 6:15 am
hi dale.
i am using db_fcpToAe.jsx. i’ve done it a few for times, still imports some clips in diferent sizes and some clips are out of of the comp in after, it’s a long comp in FC, around 4 minutes and 6 or 7 come in diferent sizes, for me it’s not a mayor problem to fix them, it saves me lots of time, but if you want me i can send the xml file.
thanks.
Dale said,
November 18, 2007 at 10:45 am
Hey beni,
Yes, please send your XML. It’s the part of the project I’m working on right now, and it will be helpful to see anomalies.
Hey Tim,
Time remapping is on my dev list but is currently unimplemented. Hopefully, you can keep up with the beta cycle and send feedback when we get there.
Thanks for the feedback guys,
Dale
beni said,
November 18, 2007 at 2:12 pm
hi dale.
where is the email address to send it to.
thanks
beni said,
November 18, 2007 at 2:21 pm
ok, no worries i have sent it already
Lucas Negrao said,
November 19, 2007 at 10:13 am
hey dale, your script has always worked for me with small sequences but now i am trying it with a 70 minute and it keeps saying the xml is invalid. i am with final cut 6.1 and after cs3.
Dale said,
November 19, 2007 at 10:23 am
Hey Lucas,
Are you using the db_fcpToAe.jsx since you’re on AE CS3? Either way why don’t you send me the XML and I’ll take a look dale(at)creative-workflow-hacks[dot]com
Dale
Postscript said,
November 20, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Hi there,
tried the Script for CS3 – worked like a charm
except on several clips that were out of time.
(the only way they differ from the other clips is that the “Master Clips” are longerL 3.30 min compared to 20-30 sec on the other Master clips).
Hope I was clear enough ..
Is this a known issue ?
Dale said,
November 20, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Hey Postscript,
I’ve got a few issues with subclips that I need to address. Want to send your xml file and I’ll take a look?
Dale
Chris Upton said,
December 3, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Beta has expired! Please post new version! Thanks so much.
Dale said,
December 3, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Hey Chris,
I’ve updated the AE 7 version and I’ll check on the CS3 version tomorrow a.m.
Thanks for the heads up,
Dale
apo said,
December 4, 2007 at 3:15 pm
hi Dale,
thanks for the script, but i can’t use it..
it only imports clips in after effect, but doesn’t put the clips in the timeline
i’ve even tried with simple sequence, with just 3 clips.
i’ve tried xml 1, 2, 3 and 4 but it doesn’t works..
i’m using fcp 6.0 e ae cs3..
any ideas?
maybe i’ve done something wrong.. i don’t know
thanks a lot
Dale said,
December 4, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Hey apo,
Sometimes After Effects doesn’t seem to be able to place the footage in the timeline after importing. I’ve especially seen this on HDV sequences. A workaround is to place the footage in question in a temp folder different then the footage location in the XML, then run the script and the script will place a placeholder in the timeline you can then select the placeholders in the project window, right click, hit replace footage and point it to your temp footage folder. It’s a bit of a workaround, but that usually works.
Best,
Dale
apo said,
December 4, 2007 at 3:50 pm
ok i’m tring
i’ve already red this in another post, but i’m not working with HDV just dv.. but now i’ll try and report the result
thanks a lot again
apo said,
December 4, 2007 at 3:56 pm
hi Dave,
it doesn’t work
now i’ve all my placeholder in place of my clips but the sequnce is already empty.
i’ve used xml 3
any suggestions?
Dale said,
December 4, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Hey apo,
Why don’t you send me your xml file? dale{at}creative=workflow-hackscom
Dale
Rick said,
December 5, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Can you update, or add more details on how to use the new version with CS3. The old beta worked perfectly, now I don’t know what to do with the new CS3 file. What is the Script Menu?
-Rick
Dale said,
December 5, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Hey Rick,
Sure, no problem.
1. first download and unzip db_FCPToAE.jsxbin
2. move the .jsxbin file to the scripts folder in the AE CS 3 app folder
3. launch AE CS3
4. under the File Menu you should see a Scripts Menu Option with a list of available scripts
5. select db_FCPToAE.jsxbin
6. point to your exported sequence FCP-XML in the next dialog
that should do it. I’m also working on a GUI Script panel, but that part isn’t ready for release yet. Give me a shout if you have problems.
da espe said,
December 9, 2007 at 7:10 am
I got the same problem as Apo
Dale said,
December 9, 2007 at 11:07 am
Hey espe,
I was able to help Apo out. Why don’t you send me your xml file?
What kind of format are you using? Are you using subclips? So far, this problem seems to be either a format or subclip issue.
Have you tried the placeholder workaround above?
Thanks,
Dale
Michael said,
December 13, 2007 at 11:18 pm
If you can email me back, after i pose these questions, i would so appreciate it. I am running fcp2 and after effects cs3, I have this running on a imac. Transporting in my video to fcp, then sending a uncompressed avi, to after effects, once I do my effects, then render out to dvd, I am getting a still distorted look on my video, can you help me on this.
Thanks michael
doubtthereality@yahoo.com
Tony Rain said,
December 16, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Hello Dale,
First off, GREAT app! I’ve been searching for an app that can achieve getting my FCP timeline into AE so that I can effect each shot. This appears to be the best that I’ve found. This is really great! I’m cutting a DVCPRO HD, 23.976, low budget music video in FCP using multiclip to keep several clips in sync. I’ve expoted the xml and imported using db_FCPToAE into CS3. All clips import and populate the comp. The issue I am running into is that every few clips the wrong clips appear for a few shots then the clips become in sync again, then the wrong clips appear for s few shots, then back to in sync etc. I’m wondering if the multiclip is affecting the outcome of my db_FCPToAE import? If you have any pointers or work arounds to overcome this issue I’d greatly appreciate it! One thing that I haven’t tried is to locate the shots that are incorrect then go back to FCP duplicate my sequence delete all shots that did come across correct leaving the shots that didn’t come across, then xml that sequence and try the import?? But if you have a better more efficient fix I’d love to hear.
Thanks so much!
TonyRain
Dale said,
December 16, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Hey Tony,
Thanks for the feedback. Your hunch was right, multiclips aren’t supported right now. There are some commands to “collapse” sublicps into a single sequence as a workaround, but I”m not sure if there is the same for multiclips. I’ll have to do some research.
Best,
Dale
Tony Rain said,
December 17, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Hey Dale,
thanks for your response. So, it was either get rid of multi clips or not use db_FCPToAE.jsx. Bye Bye multi clips! Your app is way more valuable for what I am trying to do. So, I over cut my original clips without using multi clip and everything is lining up now. Thanks so much! This is going to really help me concentrate on the effects and what I’m trying to achieve rather than how do I get my clips into AE and make sure I have the correct handles, for transitions, etc.
I know in an above post you said you did not want a donation but please email me if that changes!
Thanks,
Tony Rain
Strive Films
Brett A. Noe said,
December 18, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Dale,
This is just awesome! I just used it and for what I do, color grading footage with either straight cuts or cross dissolves, it’s perfect! I often work from proxy files so it doesn’t matter if the footage links don’t work. I just reload footage to the originals and presto!
I agree with Tony. For what I do I’d pay for this to not have to pay for Automatic Duck. $500 is a bit steep for my indie budget.
Thanks for all the great work!
Brett A. Noe
Director of Photography
http://www.noeland.us
Tony Rain said,
December 18, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Hey Dale,
Everything worked perfect on a MAC but now I’m attempting to import via AE on a windows system because there are several useful plug-ins on the windows system. When I run the script place holders import and populate the comp. Is there a way to have the media import from going cross platform or do you recommend just reconnecting to the original media? I’m thinking because I’m going cross platform the script doesn’t interpret the correct path to locate the media?
Thanks MUCH!
Dale said,
December 18, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Hey Tony,
Yes, the best way to work with Windows is to run the script with placeholders and reconnect the footage. If you work from a single media folder it’s not to much of a hassle because AE will reconnect the rest of the footage once it finds the first file. It’s more of a hassle if you have lots of media folders, but all of the workarounds I’ve tried to coerce Windows paths have not been too effective.
Dale
Brett A. Noe said,
December 19, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Dale,
Everything ran fine last night on my system at home (AE CS3, G5). I’ve been trying this morning on two different machines. One is identical to my home system, the other is an 8-core. It creates a comp, but nothing else. I tried it using the same XML file as last night.
Any ideas?
Brett A. Noe
Director of Photography
http://www.noeland.us
Dale said,
December 19, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Hey Brett,
I’ve been having a few issues with import into comps. Can you send a copy of your troublesome XML?
Thanks,
Dale
Brett A. Noe said,
January 3, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Dale,
I just tried to run FCPtoAE and it says it is expired. What should I do?
Brett A. Noe
Director of Photography
http://www.noeland.us
Dale said,
January 3, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Sorry Folks,
I’ve re-uploaded unexpired betas.
Dale
Berto said,
January 31, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Dear Dale
Thanks for the hard work on this program. Adobe should buy it from you and make it part of the next cs release.
Now to my problem. I imported and got an error massage saying {“Could not set layer Attribute, with error” Because of parameter 2. Value “undefined” of element 0 in the array is not a valid float.}
When I open the comp the files are there and the sequence is intact. I am editing in fcp 6 with AE CS3, I did only strait cuts, but did have some pan and scan , I am only editing storyboard tif photos. When I look at the time line non of the pan and scans came thru or the zooms. But every thing else seems to be there. The audio did not come thru but that not to much of a big deal. If I did something wrong please let me know. If pans and scans and zooming are not supported the that would be good to know so I can plan head. thank you.
Dale said,
January 31, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hey Berto,
Thanks for the feedback. Things have been brutal at my day job, so I haven’t made as much progress on the script as I’d like. Why don’t you send me your xml file so I can take a look and see if I can figure out what kind of problems you are having.
best,
Dale
Jeremy Schulz said,
February 2, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hi Dale,
I’ve got a class full of thankful students who are using FCPtoAE, but the current version (specifically the AE7 version) has expired. Any chance of re-upping a new beta?
Thanks for all your work!
Dale said,
February 2, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Hey Jeremy,
Sorry about the beta expiration, I’ve uploaded a new AE7 version. My dev setup for the AE CS3 version is at work and I’ll upload a new CS3 version first thing Monday. Again, sorry for the lack of development and blog updates while I claw my way out of the weeds on some big projects.
Best,
Dale
Jeremy Schulz said,
February 3, 2008 at 2:04 am
No worries Dale.
1) It’s free.
2) It works.
3) You’re responsive.
4) It’s free *and* it works(!).
—
Rock on.
Tim said,
February 5, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Hey Dale, does this tool work with 25p and 50i projects? I’m trying to transfer across a project with XDCAM EX 1080p25 and the the clips are in the right place in the AE timeline (in terms of cut points) but the footage is all wrong.
Dale said,
February 6, 2008 at 11:25 am
Hey Tim,
That’s weird. I’m not sure if it’s a frame rate problem, sounds more like an internal naming problem in the xml file. Why don’t you send me an example xml with the problem and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s going on.
Dale
flo said,
February 28, 2008 at 2:37 pm
hey his seems to work really great i just face one major problem i cant render he project i get the failure -54
you have no permission to open this file
and the rendering stops
any idea?
Daniel Annefelt said,
March 4, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Big super thank for this script!
We’re proud owners of the Auto Duck plug, but haven’t upgraded to the CS3 version yet. Under the deadline knife I decided to test this script.
Lo and behold! It worked like a charm for my cuts only edit.
One shot that was time speeded in FCP went out of whack, but that was expected and easily corrected.
Again, thanks, and let me know if I can help with testing etc.
-daniel
Bob Flood said,
March 4, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hi
just for Yucks, I took about 5 shots that i had layered on three tracks in FCP (5.1.4 on dual core intel) and exported an xml of the sequence.
then I tried your current version of the strictly CS3 “converter” and kept getting messages like “main is busy” and “main cannot complete” in the extenda script window.
sooo I tried running the AE7 and CS3 version, and even after I download the latest I get “Beta expired”
Do i need to export an XML from a sequence that only has video on one track?
ie, does the converter, or XML, deal with multiple video tracks?
hope this helps and or can get me an answer, please?
thanx for doin this!
Dale said,
March 4, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Hey Bob,
Sorry about the AE7 version, I let it get out of sync with the CS3 version and it expired. I’ve reuploaded the AE7 version and it should be good.
As far as the “main cannot complete” it sounds like scripting engine is locked, does it go away when you quite AE CS3 and the Extendscript editor?
The scripts are designed for one sequence which can have multiple video tracks.
Hope that helps,
Dale
Bob Flood said,
March 5, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi
I am pretty new to this “scripting” thing, but i am a quick learn, so i am probably missing something obvious.
It seems all the other files in the AE Scripts folder, the onse that come with CS3, have the extension .jsx, whereas your has .jsxbin. Is this file an archive? do i need to change the extension(s) to say .jsx.bin and then Unstuff that?
and the specific error messages i get is:
Target engine ‘main’ is busy!
or
Cannot execute script in target engine ‘main’!
thanx again for your patience
Bob Flood said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hi
tried latest version of “FCP to AE – AE7 to CS3″. it generated a .jsx from my XML
but when AE CS3 imported it, nothing seemed to happen. I did the same process with a larger sequence, and this time I got a timer indicating something was happeneing, but then nada.
oh well I am gonna tray a restart and some other simple stuff, and see if anything changes.
bee eph
Dale said,
March 5, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Hey Bob,
It sounds like the scripting engine in AE CS 3 is locking up some how. You’re able to run the other scripts in the scripts folder without a problem?
The AE7 version is for AE7, it won’t work in its current state in CS3.
Dale
Jon said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I keep getting the message “Beta has expired” and there is no new update here on the site. Anyone help?
Dale said,
March 5, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Hey Jon,
The links above should be current betas. I haven’t done release notes since there have been minimal changes. Are these versions still giving you expiration problems?
Dale
Bob Flood said,
March 5, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Dale
man do i feel stoopid. I did not have the CS3 “project” window open, so i did not see that in fact i did import some clips. However it does not look complete. I will endeavor to research this further
am using the CS3 only version
more to come
Bob Flood said,
March 5, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Dale
man do i feel stoopid. I did not have the CS3 “project” window open, so i did not see that in fact i did import some clips. However it does not look complete. I will endeavor to research this further
am using the CS3 only version
more to come
Bob Flood said,
March 5, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Dale
2 things:
first, when i use the CS3 version i only get 2 of the 5 or so files involved, so i only get 2 layers
second, the AE7 version works Better w CS3 than the CS3 version. The only issue i see is that one or 2 of the layers are in the wrong place.
The sequence I am using for export consists of one still, a tif, and about 4 shots from the same videotape.
would it help to sedn you the XML and both of the CS3 projects ie the AE7 conversion and the CS3 conversion?
bee eph
Dale said,
March 5, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Hey Bob,
sure, why don’t you send me your files. I’m in the middle of a big project at my day job, so my dev time is limited right now, but I”m hoping to get bug fixes and new development started up again soon.
Best,
Dale
Jon said,
March 7, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Hey Dale,
Just tried downloading the current link again and it works. Odd…for some reason for the past couple of days it wouldn’t work. Kept telling me it had expired and I needed to download a new version. Thanks for the quick response.
Final Cut Pro 2 After Effects « creative|ideas said,
March 11, 2008 at 3:50 pm
[...] now. -Automatic Duck: Don’t know if I can justify the cost for the times I would use this. -FCPtoAE: A small application to take the XML file from FCP and create a .jsx that AE can import. It’s [...]
Dave Smith said,
March 11, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Just wanted to say thanks for the script. I’ve been using it on some 2 camera shots that I needed to color match the shots and couldn’t get the results out of FCP. I have to say the script worked great. I did notice it didn’t bring in the extra audio clips but that’s easy enough to fix and has been mentioned here.
One problem I ran into was when I ran the script it opened up the ExtendScript Toolkit 2. I thought it hadn’t done it’s job until I looked at the project panel. Don’t know what that’s all about.
Dale said,
March 11, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Hey Dave,
Thanks for the feedback. The Extendscript Toolkit is launched because I’m writing debug specific info to the Console during beta. So, if you have a problem I can ask what did the Console report, where did it fail, etc. Ideally, I’d make that a UI option so that you’d have the option for debug info, but honestly I just haven’t gotten to that point in the dev cycle. Sorry if it was confusing.
Dale
Jimmy said,
March 18, 2008 at 4:45 am
Hi Dale.
First thank you so much for the wonderful work, FCPtoAE is very helpful and a real money saver for a broke person like me (:
second, I wanted to ask – is there any chance that the “Speeded video” issue will be fixed anytime soon?
Dale said,
March 18, 2008 at 10:13 am
Hey Jimmy,
Thanks for the feedback. By, “Speeded video” do you mean Time Remapping? If so, yes, that’s on the dev list. I’ve just had to slow down my development schedule on the script due to time constraints at my day job.
You might take a look at what Ross Gerbasi is up to at
http://www.popcornisland.com/downloads
I think his script is dealing with time remapping.
Best,
Dale
Logan McMillan said,
April 21, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hi,
Can’t unzip the jsxbin file – what is the way to do it?
Cheers
Dale said,
April 21, 2008 at 9:05 am
Hey Logan,
Should be just an ordinary .zip file that would unzip via winzip or mac zip utility. I’ll take a look to make sure it didn’t get corrupted in my site hacking fiasco.
Dale
Logan McMillan said,
April 22, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Hey Dale – no worries – its working!
Brilliant piece of software!!
Good job.
Bigred said,
April 24, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I love you.
Sitting here at 1.34 am trying to work out how to shift my sequence of 100+ shots to AE (doing some funky pan and scan stuff) and found your site…
Scratched my head as to what to do (new to mac, new to scripting). Found your instructions about half way down this page (move them to the top of the page for numptys like me). Click, click, footage in AE.
Just shouted out loud and clapped at my machine. Feel a bit of a saddo but this is ace. Going to save me a LOT of time.
If we ever bump into each other in RL I owe you a few beers! I may well have to be buying my neighbors some to apologise for the noise…
Thanks again! Top chap!
et said,
April 27, 2008 at 12:04 pm
does this software work on leopard operating system
Dale said,
April 27, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hey Ed,
I haven’t put much dev time into the AE7 version, but I wold think it would run fine on Leopard. Are you having any issues?
Dale
Melissa said,
April 30, 2008 at 5:28 pm
This is wonderful! Great work. You are a life saver. It worked great for me. I just have a quick question (I began to read all of the comments but didn’t get through them all so if its already been answered please ignore me). None of my final cut generated text clips translated to AE. Is that just the way of things or did I do something wrong?
(OSX 10.4.11 AE CS3 FCP 6.0.3)
Thanks!
Dale Bradshaw said,
May 1, 2008 at 9:23 am
Hey Melissa,
Thanks for the feedback. You’re right, text clips aren’t supported in this version. They are on the feature list to implement, but since this is a side project it may take me a while to get it in place.
Best,
Dale
Jon Walker said,
May 5, 2008 at 11:57 am
Tried updating latest version of FCP to AE and it keeps telilng me beta expired and redirecting me to the site. Has the link been updated?
Dale said,
May 5, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Hey Jon,
All of the files should be updated now. Sorry about that.
Dale
Jerry Witt said,
May 5, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Fantastic!
Took me a little while to figure out because you made the process even simpler. The new documentation should be:
1. Download db_FCPToAE. Place this in the Scripts folder where your After Effects CS3 application is located.
2. In FCP export your cut sequence as XML (I used version 2)
3. Launch After Effects CS3, go to the Preferences>General tab. Check the box “Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network”. (Allow “Enable Javascript Debugger” should be unchecked by default)
4. Under the File menu select scripts and then hi-light db_FCPToAE. In the dialog box, point to the XML file you exported earlier.
That’s it!
Like I said, Fantastic. I have used Automatic Duck in the past and I have spoken to Wes on a few occasions. He’s a great guy and it’s a great product. Just a bit too rich for my blood. I didn’t export video enough for it to get a ROI from it. I would instead make notes of my cuts and chop them up manually. This is SO much better and SO SO much faster.
Thank you Dale. You should put a PayPal donate button up here. The first paying job I use this on, I would be inclined to send a little cash your way.
Jon Walker said,
May 6, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hey Dale, I’m still getting the same message even from today’s download that the beta has expired. Any suggestions?
Dale said,
May 6, 2008 at 9:48 am
Hey Jon,
I just downloaded both versions to a fresh machine and they run fine on my end. Are you sure you’re not getting a cached version or something?
Dale
Jon Walker said,
May 6, 2008 at 10:21 am
Will try again had the same thing happen last time until it finally worked. I’ll give it a shot. Thanks.
Jon Walker said,
May 6, 2008 at 10:30 am
Trashed old version restarted and downloaded again from the link to no avail. Still getting same message of beta expiring.
Dale said,
May 6, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hey Jon,
I tried to email you the latest versions, but your email bounced. Why don’t you send me an email and I’ll see if I can get you fixed up.
Dale
Jon Walker said,
May 6, 2008 at 11:03 am
Can’t find your email…can you post it for me?
Dale said,
May 6, 2008 at 11:05 am
dale[at]creative-workflow-hacks(dot)com
mcplop said,
May 11, 2008 at 10:48 pm
this looks great.
can this script be reveresed so that AE comp layers can be imported into FCP as a set of clips?
this would be awesome for a specific archiving project I am working on.
Jonathan McGaha said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Using the AE7 version and I’m getting the beta expiration notice. I can set my computer back a month and it works fine but that’s pretty annoying. Thanks.
Dale said,
July 4, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hey Jonathan,
I took the beta expire out. Since I’ve had a hard time finding the time outside of my day job I need to devote to this project I’m looking to open source the project and hopefully somebody can pick up the baton on development. It’s going to take me a bit to get the project set up but for now I’m going to take out the beta expire stuff on the AE7 project and next set it up for the CS3 script . More to follow.
Dale
Gav said,
July 9, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Following your intrustions and a little help your script worked great.
Though I am having a little trouble with somthing unrelated to it, but i hope you dont mind me asking as someone else might have come across the same problem.
The timeline appears after i import the xml into AE3, but there is no picture, even when i click on one of the video files nothing shows up. There is sound, which makes me belive that it is probably a quicktime or codec problem.
Anyone able to offer advice? Im using FCP 5.0.4, quicktime 7.5, AE3. When I import the file seperatly it works. but not when i go through FCP first. the clips are also HD and im using a panasonic hvx200 camera with a p2 card.
thanks
Gav
dermessie said,
July 30, 2008 at 5:45 am
Hey folks,…
got stumbled over a little thing which should be taken account of.
I got trouble logging some clips in FCP caused by drop frames. In the end I got two Clips with different in-/out-points (same media content) . FCP shows the wrong media length.
So after exporting to AFX the media in-/out-points are messed up.
Clipname_01 (length in FCP 2 min, original file on hd app. 22 min)
Clipname_02 (length in FCP 12 min, original file on hd app. 22 min)
Clipname_01 + Clipname_02 are the same source files on tape, but 2 different captured files on hd.
yes, i know, confusing
but as so often, I recognized it first after the cut
In FCP there no problem relating file management.
If sb got a work around,..let me know…
Cheers
fulgencio said,
August 1, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Hi
i have tried the software, but can get it worrking
when i do it the clips are imported but not the timeline
am i doing something wrong?
i´m not an expert on AE
thanks
Dale said,
August 1, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Hey fulgencio,
You want to make sure you have a sequence selected when you export the XML so you don’t get an import of just the browser. Hope that helps.
Dale
fulgencio said,
August 2, 2008 at 11:06 am
hi Dale
i have tried selecting everything.
and selecting only the sequence but not the clips
the results are always the same
i get the clips imported and a sequence file (wich appears as a black video clip)
but no timeline
same thing with db_FCPToAE
FCP 5.1.4 DVCpro HD 25p (non-native) and AE 8.0.0.247 (i gues it is just 8.0)
i´m trying with just a 3 files editing, no effects, no text…
maybe i could send you the xml and export file to see if you find out
my email is fulgencio@microsurco.com or fulgenciomartinez@yahoo.es
thanks for all
f.
Martin Roe said,
August 18, 2008 at 6:36 am
Hi Dale,
AMAZING work. Thank you so much! I have one (huge) project to send through and didn’t want to buy a product for one gig, and you just saved me days and days of work!
Thank you so much.
Having read the comments, I gather you know that it tells me the beta has expired and to get the latest version, even though I downloaded it today – i think from reading the notes that i have the latest version nonetheless – which is awesome!
Anyway, thanks again!
Martin
Drew said,
September 8, 2008 at 4:45 pm
DALE! Yeehaw! Your script is zippy, it works, and I love it. Dale for President! I owe you beers.
~Drew
PS you just saved me 6 hours of really annoying work – and untold hours in the future! SWEEEEEEET!
annoyed said,
September 14, 2008 at 4:05 am
sorry dude but neither of both programs is working. the cs3 only script beta period has expired, why dont you post a new one?
the other script causes AE to crash all the time.
Dale said,
September 14, 2008 at 9:12 am
hey annoyed,
The CS3 script has the beta expired message, but continues to function rather then quit. I’ll take a look next week and dig out the expired message, but it should work for you in the interim. It definitely makes the bad usability hall of fame in the mean time. grin.
The AE7 program doesn’t have any active development and works in AE7/Tiger and I haven’t tested it in any other environments.
Dale
Directors Notes | DN EP 107: Thunderheist: Jerk It - That Go said,
September 25, 2008 at 2:40 am
[...] Benassi – Satisfaction Red Digital Camera Company Twixtor Apple Final Cut Pro Adobe After Effects FCP to AE Scripting Automatic Duck Nikon D90 Share This Post Hide Sites Related [...]
Karl said,
October 14, 2008 at 8:19 pm
thats fantastic,
thanks heaps. ive been learning AE on my own, mostly through forums, and this really has helped me get through some shonky workflow problems.
Txus said,
October 25, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Yo man, thanks ever so much..
For people as skint as i am.. this has really made a difference..
i was looking for the duck on the cheap side, u know what i mean.. and found this and think its tops…
Don´t get me wrong, I tend to buy programs once i used them, learned and if i make money w them… so i really think u should put a paypal cheap inn..
thanks again an in advance for this piece ond for further ones
tx
wesley said,
November 6, 2008 at 4:45 am
I have shot a show on the new Sony Ex1 cameras, format XDCAM EX 1080p25 (35mb/s VBR). I edit my program in Final cut 6. When I am done I have exported a quick time movie, self contained. Imported this in after effects, worked it, and then exported it with the XDCAM codec as above. When I import it to final cut it does not need a render but it does not play correctly, it either freezes or strobes as if though it is dropping frames, infact I assume that is exactly what it is doing. Further I have exported an xml in final cut, imported a jsx in AE worked it, and then exported using the XDCAM codec and ended with the same issue. I don’t know if there is a way to export an XML or JSX in AE, this might help, not sure though.
Please I really need help.
Thanks
Wesley
TankU Man said,
November 10, 2008 at 3:05 am
Karl, get some dvds man, the usual suspects are all good. (TT, Lynda, VTC, FXPHD, A. Kramer) I wasted 3-5 years learning AE in forums b/c the Adobe books were lame to me and I kept reading my Meyers 30X to get the concept of an alpha channel. I learned in 1-4 weeks with dvds what I spent 5 years in and out of with other methods. Oh, lovely script btw, just back for a refresher version. I rocked out a green screen music video last Spring with this, or was it Popcorn Isle, can’t remember. But I’m using this for some speed editing gs content and it rocks.
ben said,
December 2, 2008 at 8:43 pm
wow just saw this.
anything new going on with it?
leo said,
January 13, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Grande, veramente grande lavoro…
ho un poco di problemi con fcptoae esporto in xml da final cut 6.0.3 ma in after effect 7.0 ho un sequence vuoto ed i file video ma non è corretto quando li metto sulla timeline.
Help
moi a.k.a. VJ camuflage said,
January 21, 2009 at 8:09 pm
sweet works great! been looking for this for ages! thanks a lot from a VJ in mexico city.
Derek said,
January 25, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Thank you! I’m using it to transfer to AE on windows, and this saves a lot of time.
Redlogic Limited said,
January 26, 2009 at 12:30 am
What a great bit of scripting works a treat.
Have had Automatic Duck on a couple machines we setup in 2005.
But this is just fantastic – works just as well.
O for Awesome !
jeff said,
January 29, 2009 at 11:53 am
Can this script be modified to take into account using subclips within final cut? When subclips are used, the starting point of the imported clip is modified, and the subclip inpoint value is not read and the clip starts at the incorrect frame. A few of us in our shop have an idea on how to fix it, but it would require modifying the script. If it’s possible, shoot me an e-mail and we can give you a better idea of the problem.
Thanks,
Jeff
Dale said,
January 29, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Hey Jeff,
Yep, definitely a short coming of the current script. I’ve posted the source above, if you make any improvements can you send them my way so I can integrate the changes?
thanks,
Dale
leonardo said,
January 31, 2009 at 9:28 am
multilayer please for fcptoae versione after effect 7
Dale said,
January 31, 2009 at 10:15 am
Hey leonardo,
The AE 7 version has stopped active development and is unlikely to change much from its current state. The CS3 and CS4 versions are much more robust.
Dale
Makana said,
February 13, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Hi Dale,
First off, thank you for this great script! It blows my mind how you were able to achieve this and it is much appreciated.
I am having some issues. I first used the script in November and I was having problems similar to what Westley said on November 6th 2008 that my picture of was strobing and freezing on RAM Preview and rendering. I noticed that when I purge all of the system memory, video memory, etc in After Effects the problem goes away. I’m not sure what the reason is but I have noticed this one two separate formats for HD: DVCPRO HD (720p 60fps) and now HDV (1080-24pA).
I’ve tried to use the version of the script on this website but it gives me an error when I select the script in the File>Scripts menu:
Unable to execute script at line 1. Expected: ;
I am able to run the previous script from November but I’m getting those problems with select clips. The one thing I think it may be is that in this case now (HDV 1080-24pA) is that the footage is actually in 29.97 but Final Cut is removing the advanced pulldown, where AE and the XML file may not know what to do with those remaining 5 frames in limbo each second.
My previous project was shot at 60p, and I was editing in a 23.98 timeline.
I realize these are two different problems, but I’m hoping the new script will fix the issue… i just cant get it to run. Can you think of anything that may have affected it?
Thanks again! -I really appreciate everything you’re doing to help the community
-Makana
Dale said,
February 13, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Hey Makana,
I’ve definitely had issues with HDV import. It seems to flake on footage import for some reason I haven’t been able to figure out. I’ve tried wrapping it in a try{}catch structure which allows the script to run usually, but still doesn’t import the footage. Hopefully I’ll come up with something.
On the current version not running, are you trying the .jsxbin or the .jsx file? If you’re using the .jsxbin why don’t you try the .jsx file, which may also give me more debugging info that you can send my way.
Best,
Dale
Makana said,
February 15, 2009 at 2:19 am
Hey Dale
Wow! Fast response, you really do have Super-Hero status! – Thank you!
I tried the .jsx version and though it did run, and it did import the footage I am still getting the same problem. I would hate for this problem to persist because I captured the footage incorrectly, but I have only noticed the strobing/repeating for some certain layers consistently on RAM Preview and Render.
I did check one of my strobing cuts and it is in fact on frame 26 of the original footage. I’m attributing it as my fault since it’s a 23.98 fps sequence in FCP and I’m trying to cram 29.97 source footage. The whole HDV 24pA/24p conundrum has been killing me for almost a year.
I really appreciate the support for this script. AD is great but the personal attention to your script is phenomenal! Much appreciated!
stig said,
February 16, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Where is the download link for the app? I can´t find it.
Dale said,
February 16, 2009 at 2:45 pm
hey stig,
yes, I need to clean up a bit around here. The best link to use for CS3 and above is
db_FCPToAE.jsx, that is the source .jsx version.
Dale
HENK LOORBACH said,
February 18, 2009 at 7:14 am
hi!
i’ve been trying and trying and im very new to this scripting thing.
but if i double click the db_FCPToAE.jsx, extended script toolkit 2 sarts up and nothing else, nothing seems to look like the examples given in your article. am i a complete dumbass? maybe there’s a tip you can give me?
thank you in advance in anyway!!!
henk
HENK LOORBACH said,
February 18, 2009 at 7:27 am
ok
i needed to try all options, not just 9 out of 10.
i got it to work!
fabulous. thank you so much, this saves sooooo much time!!
kayopes said,
February 25, 2009 at 7:59 am
HEi!
Got problems..i can see the clip exported in AE but not the timeline….
Can you just tell me why?
Dale said,
February 25, 2009 at 9:50 am
hey kayopes,
Sometimes the script has problems with the media. A workaround is to hide the media in a different folder or run the script on a different machine and let the script place placeholders. Then reconnect the media and it should work fine. If you continue to have problems, you can send me your XML file and I’ll see if I can figure out what’s up.
Dale
Travis said,
February 26, 2009 at 2:14 am
When I try and run the script in CS3 it just says:
Unable to execute script at line 1. Expected: ;
How can I fix this…? What’s it hanging on?
Dale said,
February 26, 2009 at 9:40 am
Hey Travis,
Are your running the .jsx version of the script?
db_FCPToAE.jsx
Try that first.
Dale
Travis said,
February 27, 2009 at 9:31 pm
oh got it! WOW this is amazing. Although a lot of my edits are off a frame or two…
Dale Bradshaw said,
February 28, 2009 at 9:54 am
Hey Travis,
glad you got it working…
// Although a lot of my edits are off a frame or two…
really? want to send my your FCP XML so I can take a look at why that might be?
Dale
Gopal Balaji said,
March 14, 2009 at 6:33 am
Will FCP to AE for CS4 coming soon
Dale said,
March 14, 2009 at 10:43 am
Hey Gopal,
Have you run into any AE CS4 specific issues? I hadn’t heard of any to this point and would consider the current script AE CS3+. I’m hoping to get back into active development soon so hopefully new features will appear soon.
Best,
Dale
Jon Auten said,
April 11, 2009 at 11:25 am
OH THANK YOU! You just saved me from 3 days worth of work.
Jonas said,
April 27, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I’ve been trying, but can’t seem to make this work right. Whatever I do I end up with an empty composition. It has the correct name and resolution, but no contents. The project is DVCProHD – P2 files.
I’m sending you the XML files now, in case you will take a look. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Been using to latest .jsx script.
Maybe I’m just doing something wrong.
Dale said,
April 27, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Hey Jonas,
I took a look at your xml, and it looks like it is missing a element to the media source files. I’m working on a work around using placeholders, check your email and see if we might be able to work something out.
Best,
Dale
Arnfinn said,
May 1, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Hey. Had a look and this looks really interesting. Just wondered if there is supposed to exist an object model/object library/type library for after effects cs3. It does not show up in the help menu of extendscript toolkit and I haven’t been able to find any information of it online.
casey said,
May 7, 2009 at 10:31 am
Works great, exceept it doesnt bring in aif audio files — i use it all the time! Thanks, plus way better than the duck!
Andrew said,
June 1, 2009 at 3:46 pm
This is a great script! Keep up the awesome work!!!
Rino said,
June 12, 2009 at 3:35 am
Works great
and easy!
Thanks,
Rino
Workflow: Final Cut Pro to After Effects III | Zombie Noir said,
June 19, 2009 at 10:15 am
[...] blog-entries, posting in forums about it and making a video tutorial today I accidentally found FCPToAE. It is a script for After Effects that does the same as my method but without the need to start [...]
Andrew said,
July 15, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Especially after sifting through the many enthusiastic comments following your article, I’m slightly embarrassed that I can’t get this to work. When I download the zip archive, I get a file which is a .jsxbin. When I double-click, it opens in ExtendScript Toolkit 2 and asks me to select a language. Whatever language I select from the list ends up looking nothing like your examples. Similarly, I’ve also tried to run it in After Effects to no avail. What is it that I’m doing wrong?
Andrew said,
July 15, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Ok. Now I used the source of the script from your site in ExtendScript Toolkit 2, and it seems to work, provided I haven’t done anything to complicated in Final Cut. I’m still slightly confused how I can the .jsxbin file to work as intended. Regardless, the fact that I successfully imported a Final Cut Sequence into After Effects is kind of amazing. So, thanks.
Dale said,
July 15, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Hey Andrew,
My apologies, I need to clean things up around here. As you noted in your follow up there is really no reason to run from the .jsxbin when the .jsx is a much better option to just run from the script menu in After Effects. I’ve got a lot of clean up and updates planned for when I can spare some extra cycles so thanks to you and all of the readers for your patience.
Dale
Andrew said,
July 16, 2009 at 11:21 am
Dale, the script is the thing–it’s awesome. Thanks for taking the time to lay it all out. The DV Rebels guide, a really great resource by Stu Maschwitz, lays out a method of “onlining” an edit in After Effects, but it requires reassembling your FCP edit in After Effects–a nice theory, albeit a slightly less nice workflow, unless, of course, you were willing to purchase Automatic Duck. The FCPtoAE script has some difficulty with translating a retimed clip along with some other limitations that a plug-in like Automatic Duck would likely overcome (I think), but if you use FCP to concentrate on nailing your edit and not rely on its capable but not entirely satisfactory FX, it’s actually feasible to do all that FX and color correction in AE. Many, many thanks.
Paul said,
August 19, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Hello,
great script, got all my video in AE but i´m not sure how to get it back from there to FCP…
thanx
Paul
Daniel said,
September 12, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Have you ever ben able to fix the subclip issue? I haven’t seen any update. Is there a workaround? I have MANY subclips in my sequence which makes FCPtoAE unusable for me in this project.
I wish I had known before I started in FCP.
Cheers!
Daniel
Dale said,
September 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hey Daniel,
Chris Roe added subclip support in the current version.
http://www.creative-workflow-hacks.com/downloads/db_FCPToAE.jsx
Are you still having issues?
Dale
Daniel said,
September 13, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Thanks so much Dale! That got my clips coming in with the right timing and placement. I have a new problem now. I am not able to import any sound only clips…only clips with picture and sound.
Any thoughts?
Dale said,
September 13, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Hey Daniel,
Can you send me the problem xml file? I’ll take a look, but it might be a little bit…watching some football today. grin.
Dale
Daniel said,
September 23, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Hey Dale,
I sent the file but I haven’t heard from you. Any thoughts on why I can’t import the audio clips?
Cheers!
Daniel
Dale Bradshaw said,
September 23, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Hey Daniel,
Thanks I got your stuff. Just haven’t had a chance to dig into it.
Best,
Dale
gbtvswzq said,
October 18, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Thanks for a lot!
It work very well.
If it can contain speed date ,will be perfection.
Daniel A said,
October 27, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Hi Dale..!
Thanks a lot for your script..! It is very useful for me. I dont know if I could use it to communicate FCP and After Effects in a PC. I’ve been trying and I have some problems. Should I have to modify file paths or anything else in the jsx file..?
Any clue will be usuful.
Regards from Spain,
Daniel
Dale said,
October 27, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Hey Daniel,
I’ve put some failsafe stuff that is supposed to work on PC’s by importing placeholders where you can just reconnect the footage, but I haven’t done extensive testing. What kind of problems are you having?
Dale
Daniel A said,
October 28, 2009 at 11:13 am
Hi Dale,
Thanks for your response..!
I execute the script generated by the xml file with FCPToAE in my PC After Effects and I receive a message “This version of FCPToAE only supports Mac filepaths. FCPToAE will use AE placeholders” Then I have a composition in the proyect but no files added. In addition, the composition is empty. On the other hand if I execute the script db_FCPToAE, I select the xml file obtained in FCP, I dont receive any message, and as a result I have the same empty comosition and the source files are named in the proyect but with a broken link (the color bars are shown) If I replace the file with the original source, the composition is still empty.
What should I do..?
I guess I could try to modify the code of the script in placeholderImagePath and in the clips path of the var “decoded_data”, but I am not really sure. And what is AE expecting from the filepath as a windows path..? “X:/folder/folder…/ example.mov”, for example..? or some kind of different nomenclature? I’ll be trying, please any help will be great..
I will tell you when I obtain any result..
Daniel.
Dale said,
October 28, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hey Daniel,
The idea is to get the composition to have placeholders like you’re getting in the project window, but in the comp.
A workaround I’ve used in the past, is to stay on the Mac but change the containing footage folder for the duration of the import so that it imports placeholders into the comp, save the AE file with placeholders, move that to the PC and replace footage, then of course change back the containing footage folder on the Mac. This works best when you have a single footage folder, and don’t have things scattered in your projects.
Dale
Blaise said,
November 1, 2009 at 6:52 am
Hi Dale,
Works great !
But… I don’t succeed in importing a nested sequence with all its material from an FCP timeline into AE.
Is it possible or not ?
Blaise
Selah V said,
November 6, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Hey Dale
I’ve been trying to use the FCP to AE application, using CS4 and Final Cut Pro 6.
I have no issues exporting the XML or opening that in the FCP to AE application you created, or to export that into a script for AE.
I do however have two problems in After effects.
When I run the script, it opens all the clips and a created composition.
The problem is that when I open the comp, I notice that some clips are missing, or they start shorter than what they should be.
In an effort to deal with this, I wanted to use a reference video that would run underneath the sequence in the comp from your program, so that I could spot the mistakes, but the video that I import refuses to be longer than 9 seconds, while my total comp is 1m22.
Any suggestions? Your application seems to be the best alternative to Automatic Duck, and the roundtrip through Premiere to make an AE composition crashes the premiere, so I’m a little stuck right now having to do my effects and grading the super long way, which will chew up too much time.
Thanks for your help.
SV
Dale said,
November 6, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Hey Selah,
hmm. not sure what’s up. maybe a frame rate mismatch? That could cause issues if it was being mishandled somewhere.
Have you tried the Popcorn Island guys stuff to see it might work a little better for how your project is set up?
http://www.popcornisland.com/after-effects/final-cut-2-after-effects/
You can also send your XML stuff as a bug report, but I’m in the middle of a big project right now and I’m not going to be able to look at it right away.
Best of luck,
Dale
Selah V said,
November 6, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Thanks heaps Dale
Their script worked brilliantly. Sorry not to use yours, but kudos for recommending someone else’s product.
Cheers
SV
Georgie said,
March 10, 2010 at 11:16 am
Hi,
I´m following the steps and and it all goes fine except the sequence is empty in AFX,
all the files are there but no sequence, I´m sure I´ve missed something as when I
import the xml into FCPToAE there dos´nt seem to be a sequence either..
Help?
Dale said,
March 10, 2010 at 11:21 am
Hey Georgie,
Can you send me an an example of your xml to dale@creative-workflow-hacks.com so I can troubleshoot?
thanks,
Dale
Georgie said,
March 11, 2010 at 8:16 am
Hi Dale,
The xml I sent you was just a test to see if it works.
The process I followed is as follows, let me know if I´ve missed something.
1. Right click on the sequence in Final Cut and export as XML, save.
2. Open your clever FCPtoAE script program, open the XML from that program
3. The files appear, click export to After Effects, saving a jsx. file
4. In after effects file/run scripts and locate the jsx file and select.
5. The files appear but without the sequence..??
When u have a mo could u let me know if I´ve got it right, I´m using AFX CS4
and Premier v 6
Many Thanks
Georgie
Dale said,
March 11, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hey Georgie,
You are using an older version of the script for AE7. Try running this version and see what happens.
http://www.creative-workflow-hacks.com/downloads/db_FCPToAE.jsx
Best,
Dale
Georgie said,
March 12, 2010 at 8:47 am
Thanks Dale,
I ran this script in the source section of ExtendScript tool kit of AFX,
When i hit play it asks me for my XML and loads it all perfectly into afx
but when I double click my sequence in AFX it is still empty?.. no layers..
Don´t get it…
Dale said,
March 12, 2010 at 9:30 am
Hey Georgie,
that’s interesting. Sounds like AE is having a problem importing the clips to the timeline. I’ll take a look at the xml you sent and see if I can see what’s up.
Best,
Dale
Georgie said,
March 15, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Thanks soo much Dale,
This is twisting my melon, thank god fro super brains like you!..
G