ClipFinder/FCP/CS5 Crazies With XML. Please help.

[Michael Romano]

So in my quest to find an improvement over FCP, I landed on the doorstep of Premier Pro CS5. My ultimate goal is to input metadata into Clipfinder and have it available to either FCP or PPCS5 editors. This is important so that I can service various clients without having to change the initial workflow at all. Great and all, but here is what's driving me mad:

CLIPFINDER
Import clips.
Apply Metadata (Shot/Scene/Take/Good/Description/etc)
Send to FCP.

FCP
Clips are now in the session.
NOTE - The clips are QT camera proxies, not R3D files.
Select clips.
Export XML V5 (or V4, both have same issue) checking both options.

CLIPFINDER
Run conform on the FCP XML file we just made with the following settings:
Extract Clip name from <pathurl> tag
Replace clips with R3D (Adobe only)

PPCS5
Import XML
This is where it gets screwed up.

All the clips show up but:
Only clips without audio are linked. All others are offline.
When you try to relink them, it works, but you cannot hear any audio from the relinked clips.
It also does not show meters bouncing.

I found this inside the Clipfinder conformed XML, which still references QT proxies.
<file id="A011_C001_10246B_M"><name>A011_C001_10246B_M.m ov</name>
So I did a find and replace on this data to repair it followed by a re-import. Didn't work. I guess this is just for the name of the clip, not its location.

I exported the same (jacked up PPCS5) session to XML to compare. There are def. differences in the whole structure.

PP used xml V4, not 5 as FCP defaults to. Fine, just select V4 when outputting.

PP creates its own masterclip ID's instead of just using the filename.
While this often doesn't matter, it sure does to people who have to edit this damn things, cough* cough*
Each clip is sequentially called masterclip-1, masterclip-2, masterclip-3, etc...

An excerpt:
<logginginfo>
<description>DESCRIPTION</description>
<scene>29</scene>
<shottake>1</shottake>
<lognote>LOG NOTE</lognote>
<good>FALSE</good>
</logginginfo>
It relates to my metadata from Clipfinder but the <good> code is not included when CS5 outputs XML. Not supported :(

None of this helps fix the main issue and leaves us with this:

1 - Clips without audio.
2 - No "Good" checkbox transfer

Any thoughts?

[David McGavran]

So in my quest to find an improvement over FCP, I landed on the doorstep of Premier Pro CS5. My ultimate goal is to input metadata into Clipfinder and have it available to either FCP or PPCS5 editors. This is important so that I can service various clients without having to change the initial workflow at all. Great and all, but here is what's driving me mad:

CLIPFINDER
Import clips.
Apply Metadata (Shot/Scene/Take/Good/Description/etc)
Send to FCP.

FCP
Clips are now in the session.
NOTE - The clips are QT camera proxies, not R3D files.
Select clips.
Export XML V5 (or V4, both have same issue) checking both options.

CLIPFINDER
Run conform on the FCP XML file we just made with the following settings:
Extract Clip name from <pathurl> tag
Replace clips with R3D (Adobe only)

PPCS5
Import XML
This is where it gets screwed up.

All the clips show up but:
Only clips without audio are linked. All others are offline.
When you try to relink them, it works, but you cannot hear any audio from the relinked clips.
It also does not show meters bouncing.

I found this inside the Clipfinder conformed XML, which still references QT proxies.
<file id="A011_C001_10246B_M"><name>A011_C001_10246B_M.m ov</name>
So I did a find and replace on this data to repair it followed by a re-import. Didn't work. I guess this is just for the name of the clip, not its location.

I exported the same (jacked up PPCS5) session to XML to compare. There are def. differences in the whole structure.

PP used xml V4, not 5 as FCP defaults to. Fine, just select V4 when outputting.

PP creates its own masterclip ID's instead of just using the filename.
While this often doesn't matter, it sure does to people who have to edit this damn things, cough* cough*
Each clip is sequentially called masterclip-1, masterclip-2, masterclip-3, etc...

An excerpt:
<logginginfo>
<description>DESCRIPTION</description>
<scene>29</scene>
<shottake>1</shottake>
<lognote>LOG NOTE</lognote>
<good>FALSE</good>
</logginginfo>
It relates to my metadata from Clipfinder but the <good> code is not included when CS5 outputs XML. Not supported :(

None of this helps fix the main issue and leaves us with this:

1 - Clips without audio.
2 - No "Good" checkbox transfer

Any thoughts?

Unfortunately I am very aware of this issue... We have bug on this and am tracking it internally. I don't really have a good workaround for you yet.

Cheers

Dave

[Michael Romano]

Thanks for the update Dave.

I really like where PP is headed, just a few things that need attention. Your presence on the boards goes a huge way with Adobe PR, there's nothing like inside help!

BTW, are you in San Diego? I seem to remember reading that on here somewhere...

[David McGavran]

Thanks for the update Dave.

I really like where PP is headed, just a few things that need attention. Your presence on the boards goes a huge way with Adobe PR, there's nothing like inside help!

BTW, are you in San Diego? I seem to remember reading that on here somewhere...

Yep I am in San Diego... I just had a brainstorm session with someone and we "might" have a solution for this problem... Stay tuned...

Cheers

Dave

[David Battistella]

http://reduser.net/forum/showpost.ph...12&postcount=1

David

[Michael Romano]

http://reduser.net/forum/showpost.ph...12&postcount=1

David

I'm a little confused, isn't this relating to an FCP > Color workflow?

[David Battistella]

I'm a little confused, isn't this relating to an FCP > Color workflow?

Yes,

But I figured there might be bits in there that would help you solve "part" of the problem.


David

[Michael Romano]

I figured there might be bits in there that would help you solve "part" of the problem.

Ahh! Thank you!

[Hans-Georg Daun]

Let me know if there is anything I can do in Clipfinder that would help.

Cheers,
Hans

[Michael Romano]

I just had a brainstorm session with someone and we "might" have a solution for this problem... Stay tuned...

Sounds great! I just moved to the UCSD area from Hawai'i, starting the hunt for connections in SD as we speak. Is Adobe based out of SD or is it just your team?

Let me know if there is anything I can do in Clipfinder that would help.

It seems (I may be speaking out of turn here) that the issue is in how PPCS5 interprets XML from FCP. Best I can tell, the XML coming from Clipfinder is compliant with FCP.

I did find some strangeness in the files:

                             <metadata>
                                <storage>QuickTime</storage>
                                <key>ch.daun.ClipFinderApp.ClipGoodTake</key>
                                <size>1</size>
                                <type>UTF8</type>
                                <value>0</value>
                            </metadata>

Couldn't that same information be represented in this method?

                        <logginginfo>
                            <scene>29</scene>
                            <shottake></shottake>
                            <lognote></lognote>
                            <good>FALSE</good>
                        </logginginfo>

That might mitigate complications in code going on to other softwares such as PP. I have no understanding of how the "Send To FCP" mechanism functions so correct me if it is integral to that feature.

I'm sure you guys are onto this but I found it very useful in figuring out what the **hell** is going on in XML! I recommend it to people interested in what we're talking about in this thread.

http://developer.apple.com/appleappl...cpxmldtds5.dmg

Thanks for the open ears, I was worried nobody was onto this!

BTW - Hans, I'm still available to Skype about Clipfinder features this week if you've got the time.