Warning -- Don't install 7.0.2 if you use XML export

FCP 7.0.2 doesn't export carriage returns any more. This is a fatal thing when it comes to text generators or other things where line breaks are needed.

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

wow that's bad.
have you been in touch with them about this?


nick

Hi Nick,

Must be late there down under.
Yeah I've filed a bug and I do hope that my 'wonder woman' in Cupertino brings it up in priority.
This bug is so naughty as there is no workaround rather than with other bugs.
Finally it affects not only me with my little TEP, but all competitors and all people who work with subtitles in a collaborative environment.
I know for at least ~54000 subs which where shredded this way (6 movies with 6 languages each). This will take these guys quite a long time to review and I know that productions who work with other apps similar to TEP were also screwed up.

So the ever lasting tip for every day: never change a running system.

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

Andreas,

I am curious. What exactly do you mean by "doesn't export carriage returns"? That an exported FCP XML file in 7.0.2 doesn't have any line terminator characters? Does this affect all versions of XML files exported?

The reason I ask is that I ran some tests and it seems like the generated output files have line terminators. They files open fine in various text editors.

???


-Dave

Hi Dave,

the thing which happens is:

instead of exporting
...
<somevalue>line 1
line 2</somevalue>
...

now the export looks like
...
<somevalue>line 1 line 2</somevalue>
...

Andreas

Andreas,

Thanks for the clarification. I can confirm the behavior for the "Text" generator. I tried a "Lower 3rd" generator, but it handles each line as a separate string, so no issue with it.

I can see how it would mess up your, and others', plugins, etc.

Yikes. What a nasty little bug... ;-)


-Dave

Dave,

'Lower Third' is a generator which requires to type in text into two text fields. This works fine as the text entries are separated into two fields.
But any kind of text entry anywhere within a project which will contain a line break, line feed etc. the break will be replaced by a space.
Just try a multi paragraph marker and look at the XML - the returns are gone.

Apple tried to fix some elder errors, but introduced new ones - which may happen, I know about that with my own tools.
I don't say: Do not upgrade.
I say: Do not upgrade, if you need this kind of XML export.

Andreas

I JUST upgraded to version 7 about a month ago, because a client was using the latest version (was on version 6 of FCP). So naturally I just updated the FCP suite immediately after install. My project has a ton of text generator clips with line breaks, and I know all about this export XML bug unfortunately.

Here's my big question though. Has anyone successfully used TextEdit, Dreamweaver or other editor to add the line breaks back in??? It's rather easy for me to do a find and replace, basically swapping a line break for any double space FCP added. However if I import the 'fixed' XML back into FCP it disregards the line breaks or gives me a XML Translation error dialog.

Any suggestions?

One more thing I noticed. If I add the line breaks in Dreamweaver the XML file imports fine into FCP (just doesn't obey the line breaks). HOWEVER, if you look at the Viewer > Controls > Text Parameters field (where the copy is placed) it SHOWS THE LINE BREAKS! So the text clip placed into the timeline has no line breaks, but in the controls the line breaks are still there?

What's up with that? I feel like I'm so close to getting this to work.

move the FCP app to the Desktop. Install FCP only from the installer DVD. Rename the app to FCP 7 or so.
Move the 7.0.2 back to the Applications folder.
If you want to export XML open the project with the FCP 7 app.
You can open the package contents of the FCP 7 app, then open the MacOs folder and drag the Final Cut Pro executable to the dock or create an alias on the Desktop. This way you can open the version 7 beside your 7.0.2

Andreas