Automator Action: Final Cut Pro XML to Tape Log via Markers
I’ve never spent much time with Apple’s Automator technology. Which is a little strange, considering how interested I am in automation and workflow technologies. I think some of it is a sense that it seems inaccessible, it doesn’t seem clear how to make things generalizable enough to be useful, and at least part of it is my aversion to Applescript as a scripting language That said, it’s clear that there is a lot of power available with Automator and I’ve started to dip my toe in the water and seeing If I can learn a few things and maybe create something useful.
This is the first fruit of my experimentation. I often need to make a tape log of a sequence in Final Cut Pro, and a quick way to get the sequence details into a text file could be useful. The most approachable way to address the problem seems to be with markers. You can store all of the values I need for a tape log in a marker - item number, name, description, length and the starting timecode. So, that’s how we’ll approach it.
1. First, we’ll need to add a marker at the time in the sequence we’d like to add an item. A quick way to add a marker is to hit the m key twice, or go to the menu item Mark:Markers:Add . When we do that we’ll get something that looks like
2. We’ll want to rinse and repeat for each item we want in the log.
3. Export an FCP-XML file of just the single sequence of interest. A possible upgrade for this action would be to do a version where we pick the sequence, but for now the Action is just set to work with a single sequence. Any version of the Final Cut XML spec should work just fine
4. Launch the workflow, markerToLogWorkflow.workflow which should look like this.
5. Run the workflow by pressing the run button. You can set options by selecting or deselecting the checkbox for items. When I run the workflow I get a text file looking something like…
That’s about it. Next up will probably be digging into Indesign Automator Actions so that we could flow our log into a nicely formatted document. Another interesting Action might be to do this in reverse adding Markers from a producers Excel, Word Doc, or XML File, but I’m happy with this as a start.
So, what do I think about Automator? It definitely takes a little getting used to, but if Apple continues to improve features, I’ve heard rumors of cool Leopard upgrades, then I think it will be a good application to add to the mix.
Zip Archive of Action and Workflow
You’ll need to move the markerToLog.action file to your Library/Automator folder for the Workflow to work.
Aaron Dennis said,
October 25, 2007 at 10:54 am
Very nice.
You’re idea “Another interesting Action might be to do this in reverse adding Markers from a producers Excel, Word Doc, or XML File” is very intriguing.
I’m working on a documentary with lots of interviews. I’m transcribing them using InqScribe. It would be amazingly useful to take the InqScribe exports (XML or other) and import them into FCP to add markers to a clip using the timecode. Then I could convert the markers to subclips based on the interview questions and answers…
I wonder if this is possible…
-Aaron Dennis
Dale said,
October 25, 2007 at 11:07 am
Hey Aaron,
I’m not familiar with InqScribe, but if it has a data format it’s likely to be transferable and mungable. If you send an example I can maybe give you some pointers on how to address the problem.
Best,
Dale
Mark said,
February 28, 2008 at 5:58 am
Dale,
This is a great little tool. I’m no expert on Automator, but I wanted to have a crack at editing this so I can remove the preceding 01: and the frames from all the timcodes to get it into a format I need. Is there source of your Automator action available?
Thanks
.Mark.
Dale said,
February 28, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hey Mark,
Sure, I can make the source available. Just shoot me an email and I’ll bundle it up for you. Also, if you uncheck “Line Numbers” in the markerToLog section of the Action it should eliminate line numbers. You can also add or subtract other items in the text file at this stage of the workflow.
Best,
Dale
Robert Smith said,
May 6, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Did you ever happen to try making the reverse import into FCP?
Dale said,
May 7, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hey Robert,
I haven’t followed up with this project. It was more of an experiment and the demand was fairly low compared to some of my other projects.
Dale
Robert Smith said,
May 8, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Are you in the freelance market? Perhaps we could pay for some further experimentation?
Andrew Hamilton said,
May 29, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Dale
You’re my hero of the day bro! I can’t tell you how long we’ve been looking for a solution to export our sequence markers to a sequential text file. We tried xml2text
which is a Swedish application that only accepts Paypal in the Dutch language. I just tried out XML Reader, it didn’t do what we wanted. I found your great post, downloaded the action and workflow, fired up automator and it works better than we hoped.
We use mostly Avids (blah) and this function is built into those systems, but strangely enough, FCP still has no function like this built in.
Thanks again for this post. My life is easier as a result of your work!!
Andrew Hamilton
DVD Editor
Ultimate Fighting Championship
http://www.ufc.com
Dustin said,
July 1, 2008 at 4:49 am
Hi, this is a great workflow hack.
Just thought you might be interested that the cool new feature in Leopard you talked about in the end of the article have come to fruition.
I’ve got a post on the application of the new “watch me do” function. Just thought you’d be interested if you’re into automation.
http://luminoir.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/using-automators-watch-me-do-function-to-automate-fcp-commands/