Automatic Duck Pro Export Fcp

[Delaine Sokolski]

Pro Export FCP is an AAF/OMF exporter for Final Cut Pro that has been the standard for FCP interchange since 2002.
With Pro Export FCP 4.0 you can export Avid MXF media that connects to your exported AAF file, write media that is external to the OMF or AAF file avoiding file size limits as well as translate many effects from Final Cut Pro 7 to your Avid or Quantel Generation Q system.

Automatic Duck Pro Export Fcp
Download File https://urllio.com/2wI4Wu



Let's fly through this product and first explore an FCP-to-Avid edited sequence transfer using the Duck's Pro Export. (Both Import and Export are designed for FCP 4.1 or later.) I did my tests in Jaguar 10.2.6. The plugins are easily installed and activated for your specific machine via Automatic Duck's automatic 24/7 web registration.

For now, anything done in Final Cut Pro to change the look of your image: keyframed scale, position, rotation changes, color corrections, filters, etc. are all considered effects by the Duck Pro Export. Effects details can certainly be described in the exported OMF file, but for now, not in a way that Avid systems will accept. Your effects will have to be re-built in your Avid system.

Here's an ear-opener: with Pro Export FCP, audio clips will come across into Avid with identical keyframed level changes! If you attempt to export more FCP tracks than your Avid model can handle, those layers will be locked.

The new Duck translates FCP Nests. Read that again! Upon Avid OMF import, each is translated into an Avid Submaster effect, the nearest relative. The only limitation is an oddball caveat: you cannot establish a nest, then make a cut to shorten it, and then export it-- Duck Export won't understand such cuts in the nest shell-- it's looking at the original nest and the info inside only. Trim to taste after Avid import.

If you have sliced into your nest at one or more points, you must export your main FCP sequence, then go back and export each nest fragment, one at a time, from cut to nest cut. They each retain their location in sequence timecode, and can be edited into the main sequence once in the Avid timeline, where, again, placeholder regions have been established, to be filled by the "mini-Nests." But for greatest time savings, do a picture lock on all nest components and then export the solid nest.



Avid-compatible OMF files exported from FCP have been tested with Avid Symphony, Media Composer, Xpress and Xpress DV in NTSC (30i) and PAL (25i). I tested various OMF Duck Exports from FCP 4.1 to Avid XpressDVPro 4.1.1 on my own system. It delivers.

In the mid 90's Avid Technology pioneered and promoted the Open Media Framework as a bridge between applications such as nonlinear editors and audio tools, which was adopted by, among other toolmakers, DigiDesign, now a part of Avid, to make audio transfers to ProTools and back much easier. Apple implements audio file OMF export natively in FCP (since version 2.0) for the same reason.

So why did the Duckmaster name the product "Automatic Duck?" During early development, Wes came across the best-known work of French engineer/inventor Jaques de Vaucanson, who in 1739, during an "automata" craze, invented a mechanical duck which was a crowd-pleaser. It was reportedly as amazing as Wes' products. It not only quacked, swam, flapped its wings-- each made of over 400 parts-- it also "ate" and "excreted"-- a useful analogy.

As Final Cut Pro began showing up as an affordable offline tool at post houses and TV stations, more and more users clamored for efficient transfer protocols. While accurate to the frame, using an edit decision list (EDL) limits export to 1 video track at a time, plus one key or title layer. For those cutting multilayer compositions in FCP, it was an unwieldy workaround, and Wes knew it.

Open Xsend Motion, click the Browse button, select the XML file you just exported, then click Continue. (The checkboxes in the middle allow you to ignore audio and determine how layers are treated. Here, again, I checked Ignore Audio.)

The second product being announced is the aforementioned Automatic Duck Media Copy, an update to the popular utility that adds support for FCPX XML files. Automatic Duck Media Copy reads AAF or OMF exports from Avid editing systems, XML files from Final Cut Pro 7 and earlier, or XML files from Final Cut Pro X 10.1.2 and later, then it figures out which media files are referenced by the sequence(s) and copies those media files to a location the user specifies.

Automatic Duck's first product, an After Effects import plug-in that could read Avid OMF exports, was called Automatic Composition Import and shipped just before the National Association of Broadcasters exposition in April 2001.[2][3]

Automatic Duck started offering interchange between Final Cut Pro and Avid in July 2002 with Automatic Sequence Export Pro,[5] a plug-in that could export an OMF composition for import into an Avid editing system. In February 2003 MacWorld magazine awarded Automatic Sequence Export PRO 4.5 stars.[6]

Eventually the After Effects import plug-in was renamed Pro Import AE and the Final Cut OMF export plug-in was renamed Pro Export FCP. The plug-ins have improved in the amount of information translated as well as adding support for newer file formats such as AAF, MXF and XML. Pro Import AE is now at version 4.0, Pro Import FCP at version 2.0 and Pro Export FCP at version 4.0.

In the exported file, the current-time indicator retainsits original position if it is within the duration of the sequence. Otherwise,the plug-in places the current-time indicator at the end of theAvid Media Composer sequence.

Note that exporting a Final Cut Pro XML file from Premiere Pro turns merged clips into nested sequences in Final Cut Pro. Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro 7 (and earlier) can share Final Cut Pro XML files for data exchange. To share data between Final Cut Pro X and Premiere Pro, you can also use a third-party tool called "Xto7." For more information on using this tool, see the XtoCC tutorial.

Xsend Motion is both an app and a Final Cut Pro X Share extension. The Share extension makes things transparent and easy for those who don't like to tamper with XML exports. You can simply start out with a Final Cut Pro X timeline stuffed with transitions, titles, effects, colour grading, etc. When you choose this method, the extension makes Final Cut Pro X export an FCPXML file in the background and automatically sends it to Xsend Motion. The app lets you set a few options and will then translate the XML to Motion lingo and launch the application. However, Final Cut Pro X can't share a Compound Clip. If you want to send a Compound Clip to Motion, you must manually export an FCPXML file and open it in Xsend Motion.

[Editor's Note: At this point in the interview, Wes took me through a brief demo of Automatic Duck's new plug-ins, Ximport AE and Media Copy. Upon exporting a Final Cut Pro X XML file, the Ximport AE plug-in will re-build that timeline in After Effects, making each clip its own separate layer. Plus, parameters such as dissolves, scaling, and positioning are translated, with the ability to make changes as needed. The demo also showed off how the settings for third party filters common to both applications, such as Red Giant's Colorista 3 in this case, will translate across FCP X and After Effects. The rebuilt-time was very quick and everything performed as it should. Media Copy, a revamp of an older plug-in, adds FCPX support. It also supports XML from Final Cut 7 and earlier and Avid AAF files. This plug-in is helpful when a project has to be handed off, say, from an editor to a designer, when you don't know what media files to send or if it's difficult to collect them all. Media Copy V4 takes the XML file exported out of Final Cut and then a user can specify a place for that media to go. This plug-in should be a very useful companion to Ximport AE. Both plugins ship on September 9th. Media Copy will be sold for $99. XImport AE will be sold for $199.]

Let's review: Adobe Premiere Pro reaches feature parity with Final Cut Pro, exceeding it in some aspects, and in the process builds up an equal-sized customer base as Apple's NLE. Then Apple relaunches FCP from the ground up -- and removes a lot of the features shared between the two, making Premiere Pro undeniably more feature-rich. It seems perfect timing for Adobe, whose application is now easier to migrate to from Final Cut Pro 7 than is Apple's. I'm still learning FCP X and I think it has a ton of potential, but at the very least, Adobe has to be happy with the missing features in FCP X that everyone's complaining about. So let's take a look at one feature both video solutions are touting highly: automatic camera stabilization.

Yes, the After Effects one looks smoother. The FCP X video has a jump in it that After Effects corrects. However, this test is also a good example of the divide in Adobe and Apple's (new) philosophy: Adobe's stabilization requires a separate motion graphics app, while Final Cut Pro X's is built-in. Adobe has more advanced tools but the workflow and speed of Apple's (at least in use, by not having to take it out to a separate app) is more streamlined. Still, the inability to share FCP X timelines with other apps is a deal-breaker for team-based MGFX work -- for now. Or you can spend $500 on Automatic Duck's Pro Export FCP plugin, in order to get an exportable timeline out of a $300 program.

I see the difference in philosophy, but that still doesn't cut it... I would rather use two programs to get my end product to look professional, rather than doing the editing equivalent of "slapping some duck tape on it" and being ok with a bad looking product...

Hello. I am filmmaker currently doing a lot of work in final cut pro 7 and have recently found out that when rendering the timeline it will only render in 10 Bit, even when the footage is 12 Bit Prores 444 or 4444. What I would like to know is, If I do import and edit with 12bit material. Would it be possible to after im happy with the edit, simply delete all of the fcp render files that are now 10bit in their render folder (which im assuming is what the millions of colours + in the quicktime rendering options is all about) and export an XML of the timeline while it is un-rendered and open the XML in something like After Effects to render properly in 12bit by selecting Trillions of colours with no alpha (which im assuming is the same as 12 Bit Prores 444). Will this work? when you import Prores 4444 in fcp 7 does it remain 12 Bit until you hit render? Any Help is much appreciated and feel free to correct my perspectives ?
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