P2 batch rename problems

Hi All

Am trying to batch rename P2 Clips and am running into problems!

We are working on many large projects parallel and need a labeling system that every body understands, including our lovely database

Step by step

1) We use log and transfer in FCP to get our material imported
2) Set the Browser to Logging Column view*
* eye balling the time code they all look as if they are in the right order
2) Export a batch list
3) Import the list into Excel and rename e.g. BTV00999-01, BTV00999-02 etc*
*a) the best way to do this seems to be to open the Batch list in Text edit
b) to format the first column in FCP for text
c) paste the Batch list from text edit into Excel

Thus we avoid strange name problems
Both Excel & Open Office don´t seem to be able to deal with clips which only have numbers in their names
This doesn´t happen often but it does happen!!!

Back in FCP we lose a clip when we reimport
We had 75 going out and have 74 coming back in!

The best we can manage as of now is to reconnect the clips correctly "sometimes" per hand

Went back to the drawing board and reimported the Excel list before we renamed it and this didn´t work either!

Am going crazy here in Berlin any one got any ideas?

What am I missing..........

Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee

thanks

Paul

Paul,

Just make sure the 'numbered' names will appear correctly in either of those apps.
Most of all spreadsheet applications do a 'auto-sense' on any kind of kind of import. So an '001' could be easily converted to '1' during import or with pasting into a spreadsheet by the app you use. So avoid leading zeroes.

Andreas

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

Back in FCP we lose a clip when we reimport
We had 75 going out and have 74 coming back in!

opps it´s 1 clip + 74 which means 75

one problem less

We´re running FCP 6.06, osx 10.5.7, on 6 month old iMacs and Mac Pro´s

Hi Andreas

Many thanks for your reply

Have tried as you suggested with deleting the numbers

It doesn´t seem to help

e.g.

my renamed clips are now

CTV999-1
CTV999-2
CTV999-3

rather than

CTV0999-01
CTV0999-02
CTV0999-03

and my original clips are now

152J
161A
14D5

instead of 00152J

etc

There was one which had a 0 in the middle and I tried both with/without

i.e. 10D5/1D5

But to no avail

What I find strange is that depending on which test I am working on the Media manager tries to get me to re-link in different orders

i.e. Am trying this over and over again round tripping from FCP to Excel to FCP with the same 10 clips.... (simple version)

Either I make a different mistake each time or there are still some weird formatting issues going on

Eyeballing Excel table I don´t see anything suspicious!!!

Am using the length of the clips as my reference

best

Paul

Hi Paul,

My answer was a bit in a rush. I didn't mention FCP's behaviour.
So if anything is starting with a number (0-9) it probably will happen that it will be interpreted as some kind of number. This will/may lead to some confusion.
One thing you can try is to add a 'non breaking' space at the beginning to each title - then it will be interpreted as text.

Regards
Andreas

 Hi Andreas

OK so I´ve found out what NBSP´s are

[en.wikipedia.org]

And I´ve got them inserted them at the beginning of my clip names.

So they now look like this

e.g. ¬?00152J

in Excel I rename

e.g. BTV00999-01

Back in FCP I still CAN NOT get all the clips re-linked in one foul swoop.

But at least the relinking is now behaving consistently

i.e. have done this 3 times now and each time BTV00999-01 appears at the top of the list and then comes BTV00999-02 etc

My plan now is to find out how to automate the NBSP renaming process! Hints ;-)

And then do as follows :

1) Export batch list from FCP
2) Add NBSP´s either with Automator or Excel?
3) Copy the original clip names to a free column in Excel for emergency re-link plan B!
3a) Plan C would be sorting for duration
4) Rename the original clip names in Excel with our lovely data base naming system
5) Export and reimport back into FCP and edit!!!
6) Worst case scenario if something were to go wrong we have two options to go back to the original clips. Viola

Or am I still missing something?

thanks

Paul

Quote

My plan now is to find out how to automate the NBSP renaming process! Hints ;-)

AppleScript - you can use that to rename both the clip in the batch list and on disk.

Andreas

P.S.
You can give me a call as we are obviously both in Germany: 0721-183 9753

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

thanks Andreas

have passed on info to my bosses and they are discussing

will be in touch

best

Paul

1.You could use xml to rename the clips instead of excel. You export to a text file, use find/replace and re-import.

2. Or given the time you're spending, upgrade to fcp7 and use the new Log & Transfer to re-import your clips, makes batch renaming p2 and xdcam clips a snap.

Hi Mike

Thanks for your response. Sounds great!

I guess this is it

- Improved automatic naming makes it easier to identify clips that span multiple cards

from yours truely LAFCPUG

[www.lafcpug.org]

means renaming period then :-)

will test it on my FCP 7 at home and see if I can work with the clips in FCP 6.06

(Andreas, the company I am working for really like off the shelf solutions. But maybe you will here from the Agenten;-)

best

Paul

Hi Paul,

Maybe you're interested in an upcoming product I developed, which is distributed by HPA - P2 Flow.
There will be an initial release some time next week (probably Monday).
So you may have a look at either:
P2-Flow at MXF4mac which lists the current features for v1 already now
or
spherico.com/filmtools which will have the same description and a link to a PDF slide show with some screen shots.

There is no real batch rename, but probably the best handling of spanned clips for both online and offline clips ;-)

If you will attend IBC you should be at the SuperMeet to support Mike and watch a live demo of the app.

Regards
Andreas

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

Hi Andreas

Looks very cool what you are working on there.

Yes I will be at the super Meet assuming that I get my accommodation sorted out.

And would love to see the demonstration :-)

In the meantime would it be possible to get a demo version of your software that we could test before buying?

I have one very simple question for you :-)

We are doing all kinds of renaming here with Automator and Co.

Every body is happy that they have clips with database friendly names. End of story.

I am paranoid because I saw how when things went wrong, I couldn´t re-link anything.

And when things go wrong I will be the first person who is supposed to clean up the mess!

OK it was a deadly combination of renaming in the finder, compressing, renaming in FCP, copying and pasting between Text Edit and Excel and moving files from A to B....

But for me the bottom line is......

Can I really rely on Automator or similar or will things get mixed up if I am not a formating guru?

Because as I understand things the original P2 files have a f***ked up combination of random naming & sequential.

This is what I keep saying here. We can not assume that when the @#$%& hits the fan that we can get from our edit back to the original material!!!????!!!!!

thanks again and look forward to meeting you in Amsterdam

best

Paul