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What this script does
How to install fcp2ale
How to use fcp2ale
The settings
Limitations and things to watch out for
History
Credits
| FCP Batch List | ALE log | field is |
| Name | Name | required |
| In | Start | required |
| Out | End | required |
| Tracks | Tracks | required |
| Reel | Tape | required |
| Shot/take | Take | optional |
| Scene | Scene | optional |
| Comment 1 | Comments | optional |
| Log Note | Descript | optional |
| Label | Label | optional |
| Aux TC 1 | Auxiliary TC1 | optional |
| Aux TC 2 | Auxiliary TC2 | optional |
| Aux TC 3 | Auxiliary TC3 | optional |
| Aux TC 4 | Auxiliary TC4 | optional |
Important!
In addition to the fields marked "required", fcp2ale requires the fields
Type
and Audio to be present in the FCP Batch Lists. The
Type
field is used to determine which entries in the Batch List are Clips and
SubClips. The Audio field is used to determine which audio channels
should be added to the final log.
Scripting Additions are AppleScript extensions that provide extra functions
to AppleScript. If you want more information about Akua Sweets or Dialog
Director then look here:
http://www.akua.com/Software/AkuaSweets/index.html
http://www.hylight.demon.co.uk/DialogDirector.html
Step 1
Export the bins or the whole project you want to convert as batch lists.
Either open each individual bin, make sure the required Columns are visible,
clear the In and Out points of ALL clips and select menu File ->Export->Batch
List (tabbed), or, if you want to export all the bins in a project, make
sure the required Columns in the browser window are visible, clear the
In and Out points of ALL clips and select menu File ->Export->Batch List
(tabbed).
The required Columns are: Name, In, Out, Tracks,
Audio,
Reel
and Type.
If any of these columns are missing (not visible in the browser/bin
window when you do the export) the script can not produce a proper ALE
log.
It is very important that you clear the In and Out points of all clips as it is the In and Out points that determines the Start and End point of each clip in the converted ALE log. I find the best way is to select all bins and clips in the browser, cntl.-click on the In (or Out-) point Column (not in the header!) and select clear.
Step 2
Drop the FCP Batch List file(s) on the fcp2ale icon, check the settings
and hit "Convert".
When the script run for the first time it will load the default settings
that will be fine in most cases. It will ask for a place to store the ALE
files.
Step 3
Load the ALE logs into Avid and that's it!
Open Settings Window at startup
If turned on, this will open the Settings Window when you drop FCP
Batch Lists on fcp2ale. Turned off, it will use the settings from
last conversion.
Convert:
Choose to convert either all Clips, all Clips and SubClips or SubClips
only present in the FCP Batch List.
Map Audio Ch. 1 (2) to:
Usually clips in FCP Batch Lists have only 2 channels of Audio. With
this option you can map audio channel 1 and 2 in the FCP Batch Lists to
channel 3 and 4 in the ALE log using different combinations. Useful if
you want to load audio channel 3 & 4 from Betacam SP into Avid, or
just all 4 channels from Digi-Beta.
Audio Rate:
Select Audio Sample Rate for the ALE log.
Resolution:
Select Video Resolution for the ALE log.
Video System:
Select PAL or NTSC TV standard for the ALE log.
ALE Batch List Destination
You can choose to:
1. fcp2ale will ask for a filename and a folder to save the ALE log
in for each bin converted.
2. fcp2ale will ask for a folder where the ALE logs will be saved.
fcp2ale will use the bin-names as filenames.
3. Use a default folder to store the ALE logs. fcp2ale will use the
bin-names as filenames.
The button "Choose" will let you choose a default folder to store the
ALE logs.
The button "Reveal" will open the default folder in the Finder.
Clear the In and Out Points of the project you want to export from
FCP!
There is a bug in FCP which prevents the data of the Length Column
to be written to the Batch List. This is why the script uses the In and
Out Points to determine the Start and End of each Clip. You could of cause
also use this as a feature if you want to trim the length of some Clips
before you make the Export...
fcp2ale uses memory!
If fcp2ale starts to slow down during a conversion, assign more memory
to the script.
Custom Columns in Avid.
fcp2ale creates a custom column Label in the ALE log which coincide
with the column Label in FCP.
It is not part of the standard (logistics) Avid Bin Columns, but are
visible in the bin window when you import the ALE log.
Clips not located inside bins in FCP Browser window.
Clips which are not located inside bins in FCP when you do a export
of all clips and bins in a project will, when they are converted in fcp2ale,
sometimes
end up in the wrong bin. This is because of the way FCP writes the
Batch List. Clips and bins are exported in the order they appear in the
FCP Browser
window. If a group of clips are listed before a bin in the Browser
window, these clips will be saved in one bin by fcp2ale. However, the next
clips not
located inside a bin will be appended to the bin listed above them
instead.
To avoid this make sure all clips are located inside a bin.
fcp2ale Version 2.0.1 (06.03.01)
Bug fixes only.
Under certain circumstances the script could not handle clips or bins
with names shorter than 5 Characters. - Fixed
Video-only clips could not be converted - Fixed
fcp2ale Version 2.0 (02.03.01)
A complete rewrite. The script can distinguish between Clips and SubClips,
more fields are converted, new interface, etc.
Information about Akua Sweets can be found here:
http://www.akua.com/Software/AkuaSweets/index.html
Information about Dialog Director can be found here:
http://www.hylight.demon.co.uk/DialogDirector/DialogDirector.html
Any comments or bug reports are welcome. Please send mail to: peter@dharmafilm.com
25.03.2001
Peter Enggaard Reventlow
Love all, Serve all
Baba