The Beginning of Something Exciting

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Larry

With the release Tuesday of Final Cut Pro 10.0.1, Apple added the ability to import and export XML files. While not a direct benefit to FCP X editors, indirectly, this is huge. Let me explain why.

Video, and film, editing is accomplished using a wide variety of software tools. I like to think of editing as a wheel, where the editing software is at the hub and lots of different specialized tools orbit around it. From Photoshop, to ProTools or Soundtrack Pro, to After Effects or Motion, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro…. well, you get the idea — it takes a whole suite to raise a project.

This was one of the big problems with FCP X at release — it offered a walled garden. As long as what you needed was in the program, you were fine. But if you needed to share files to other applications, you had problems. Basically, you couldn’t.

One of the most glaring omissions was audio mixing — we couldn’t get our audio out of FCP X into Soundtrack Pro or ProTools for an audio mix. Wes Plate and the talented folks at Automatic Duck came to our rescue with Pro Export FCP 5.0, which exported FCP X projects for ProTools. — http://www.automaticduck.com/products/pefcp/ —

But that solved only a part of the problem; it got us to ProTools, but we were still essentially caught inside FCP X.

With the release of FCP X 10.0.1, Apple provided the ability to export and import XML. XML is the interchange language of applications. From XML we can derive EDLs, OMFs, AAFs, and all the other acronyms we need to move files from one place to another.

However, there’s still a problem – XML is like language, there are variations. Which means that before we, as editors, can take advantage of this, developers need to work with it first.

Let me explain by way of an analogy. Think of XML as a tab-delimited text file (it isn’t, really, this is an analogy…). However, that file is written in French, while other applications expect the file to be in English. So, a developer needs to convert this XML format from the version exported by FCP X, into the version needed by their application.

Wednesday night, Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance, demoed a beta program they are developing that illustrates what this new XML feature provides. Philip showed how an FCP X project can be exported as XML, converted, then imported into FCP 7. From FCP 7, it can be sent to Soundtrack Pro for mixing, or ProTools via OMF, or Color for color correction, or any of the other applications that link in with FCP 7.

The program is called: “Project X27” and should be released in the next couple of weeks. It is SO new, in fact, it doesn’t have a webpage yet – when it does, you’ll find it at this website: — www. intelligentassistance.com —

I think this signals the tip of the iceberg where, finally, FCP X editors can start to share elements of their programs with the rest of the world. This still requires developers to do their part to support this, but the new XML export in FCP X 10.0.1 is the essential first step.

As always, let me know what you think.

Larry

38 Responses to The Beginning of Something Exciting

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Scott says:

September 23, 2011 at 2:14 pm

This sounds really good, Larry. Do you think this will also enable someone to create a way to export from FCP7 to FCPX?
Larry says:

September 23, 2011 at 2:18 pm

The XML feature offers hope of that, but Apple so far says no.

Larry
Marcus R. Moore says:

September 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm

I think someone will do it, but to some extent it will aways be a question of degrees. Because FCPX is “trackless”, some more complicated shows might be difficult or neigh impossible to accurately translate.

Larry, so do you see direct OMF export coming more from the developer-side than Apple? Different companies/programs may want to use the metadata differently- so it wouldn’t surprise me. It may even have to be independent developers, since I’m not sure how much motivation the ProTools team at AVID have to support FCPX…
Larry says:

September 23, 2011 at 2:46 pm

Marcus:

Apple has been very clear from the beginning that they expect the third-party developer community to provide a lot of high-end tools. AJA, Blackmagic Design, Matrox for output to tape, for instance. Apple provides access thru XML — then the developers take over to convert that XML into their own systems.

Larry
Dave says:

September 23, 2011 at 4:10 pm

The problem with all of this logic is, why would we be so excited that we now get to take our FCPX xml lose some of it’s features just to take it into dead programs. Color. Soundtrack. DVD Studio pro. How long will these keep working in Apple’s OS. Why are we creating back logs of projects that we can never get new features in the apps and one day, they just won’t work.

The whole concept of “I worked in FCP7, the next logical move is FCPX” just makes no sense. Any FCP7 editor could pick up Adobe Premiere Pro in a day or two and be working nearly up to speed. Final Cut X is a totally different workflow and still has glaring omissions in terms of pro features. Tape support, broadcast monitoring, multicam. Sure those things may come, but why wait for apple to play catch up. We’ve waited long enough. Sure FCPX has some cool features, but nothing is stopping Adobe or Avid to develop similar of better features that work within a normal editing paradigm that we are all used to as professional editors.

The adobe suite offers the editor, the compositor/graphics program, the photo editor, the sound program, the dvd program, and soon the color correction program. Every one of these tools is still being developed.

FCPX is for the time being anyway, a waste of time. If in 5 years from now, I want to switch back to it, I can export my PP project as xml and move on over. FCPX can’t even say that for FCP7 projects.

Let’s all just move on.
Jesse Koepke says:

September 23, 2011 at 4:51 pm

This is a funny quote about Philip Hodgetts: “Philip showed how an FCP X project can be exported as XML, converted, then imported into FCP 7. From FCP 7, it can be sent to Soundtrack Pro for mixing, or ProTools via OMF, or Color for color correction, or any of the other applications that link in with FCP 7.”

If we’re still needing to go out to Soundtrack Pro, Color, or DVD Studio Pro, why did Apple kill them off in the first place? Using the old version of FCP as a gateway to programs I need seems like a ridiculous solution.

Apple’s update for FCPX is definitely helpful and gets the program on the right track toward adding the functionality that my editing team needs. But before the developers get the XML languages right, it’d be great if Apple would.

Dave sums it up: “If in 5 years from now, I want to switch back to it, I can export my PP project as xml and move on over. FCPX can’t even say that for FCP7 projects.”
Larry says:

September 23, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Jesse:

We can certainly debate why they were killed off. However, STP does better sound mixes than FCP X does, as of the current version. Same for ProTools. It is nice to know that we at least have the option to do the mix outside of FCP X. The new version of XML, with FCP X, provides far more capability than the version of XML shipped with FCP 7. From what I have been told, this version of XML is excellent. Now the developers need to get their hands on it to finishing connecting all the dots.

Larry
Edgar says:

September 23, 2011 at 6:15 pm

Larry,

I see that you didn’t mention “FoolCut AE.” Is that viable option? Where does that fit in the equation?
Larry says:

September 23, 2011 at 6:21 pm

The author of FoolCut AE and I have been chatting, but I just have not had time to look at it. If it does what the author claims, it would be a very exciting alternative. It is on my list of “interesting products to check out ASAP.”

Larry
Dick Applebaum says:

September 23, 2011 at 6:30 pm

Larry,

I agree that its very important that Apple has provided a way to export and import media from/to FCPX via XML

However, the XML dialect that FCPX understands (fcpxml) is quite primitive — for those interested it is defined at:

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/FinalCutProX/Reference/FinalCutProXXMLFormat/FinalCutProXXMLFormat.pdf

The reason I bring this up is that you can export and import the clips with their In/Out points — but that’s about all.

If you adjust the sound, or modify a title or effect then export/import round-trip to FCPX, the clip data is preserved but any “settings or modifications” (things you change in the clip display or “Info” windows data is reset to the default.

What you have, in effect, is lossy round-tripping.

In my opinion, this makes FCPX’s XML capabilities much less powerful than they could be!

Does that mean, that FCPX’s XML capability is worthless — far from it.

According to the fcpxml spec (linked above) this is version 1.0 of fcpxml.

Ahh… that old version 1.0 thing again.

But, it is a statement, a line in the sand, if you will.

I have been dealing with and observing Apple since 1978. Apple does some amazing and revolutionary things — that take years of behind-the-scenes effort.

They try to build incrementally, taking baby steps, gaining confidence, being in control.

I suspect that the 1.0 fcpxml dialect will be fleshed out as FCPX is enhanced — and we’ll get a very robust FCPX import/export capability.

When I discovered the limitations of the current fcmxml dialect, I began to submit bug reports (probably should have been enhancement requests). This is important. Apple needs to know what the issues are — if they are going to have any chance of correcting them.

Here’s the body of a bug report I submitted today:

1) You have a clip with the Mask effect applied.
2) You have arranged the OSC to expose portions of underlying clips
3) You export the Projext XML

4) You reimport the Project XML
5) A new Project is created
6) The clips are imported properly
7) The Mask is imported — but all the parameters are reset to their default values.

Upon examination of the exported fcpxml file, it shows that no Mask parameters were exported:
*
*
*

I think it is very important to submit feedback. There’s no guarantee that will address the issues– but they will read about them and know that they exist!

Dick