Can Clip-Name from Timeline be seen in Canvas Window?

This is going to sound weird, but I was asked by one of the company's IT fellows if we can get Final Cut to show the clip name ON-SCREEN in the Canvas window, so that when the sequence is output, it will show up in the Quicktime.

The only way I know of getting that info on screen is to create a text track with the info typed in. It can be seen in the canvas, and of course it will show up when exported out as a QT. But he thought I didn't have to go through that process, and that the clip name can "automatically" appear in the canvas window.
Which magic button would that be, I wonder?

Does anyone know if this can be done, or is my IT friend mistaken?

You're a little late now. Piero had a plugin for FCE (which works in FCP too), which did just that, but his site is now down due to the icloud.



www.strypesinpost.com

A slightly faster, although by no means 'fast' method would be to get Spherico's TCR plus plugin, where you can add a note to the displayed timecode. Then shift f to highlight the clip in the browser, copy the clip name, paste into the plug in under 'item name' and set the plug to display 'clip name'.

Possible. Not fun.

> Then shift f to highlight the clip in the browser, copy the clip name, paste into the plug in under 'item name' and set the plug to display 'clip name'.

I think it'd be faster to just use COMMAND-9 on the clip in the Timeline (which goes into Clip Settings with the Clip Name automatically selected), copy from there and paste into the Viewer.


www.derekmok.com

Drop Piero an email. He has that marvelous TC reader that does what you need.

piero.fiorani@fastwebnet.it



www.strypesinpost.com

O.K. ... just so we're all on the same page here.... I'm currently working on an animation series, -- in this case, I'll have storyboards (jpegs) and eventually live motion capture footage (QT's) as well. Right now I'm dealing with storyboard panels which have no imbedded timecode. I create a track of timecode when exporting any quicktimes of completed shows so that producers / directors / broadcasters have some reference when they make comments.

Strypes: do you still think I should get this so-called TC reader from Piero? For a project like this?

Derek: You have the correct idea of what I've been doing up to now although not sure what you mean by "paste into the Viewer".
I can paste the clip name into the text file on the top video track (change colour of text so I can see it), and then it can be viewed in the viewer. I'm guessing that's what you mean.

Jude: that Spherico TCR thingy sounds like a real pain, but thanks for the tip though...

Yea. He wrote it years ago, and from memory, the plugin was able to pull names from the clip, and it was free, until Apple broke MobileMe about a week ago.



www.strypesinpost.com

Okay, my bad. Piero's Timecode generator is only able to pull reel names, not clip names. I mailed him myself, as I may need the plugin in the future, and this is good to have. You can grab it here if you still need it.

[goo.gl]



www.strypesinpost.com

Okay, my bad. Piero's Timecode generator is only able to pull reel names, not clip names. I mailed him myself, as I may need the plugin in the future, and this is good to have. You can grab it here if you still need it.

[goo.gl]



www.strypesinpost.com

Derek is talking about pasting into the viewer in the plug in I was talking about. Just trying to make that workflow less onerous. Still in the onerous department though. Unless you have a very clever monkey and a lot of peanuts.

Looking at the plugin, I seem to remember someone once mentioning that fxscripts don't allow you to pull clip names.

Alternatively, duplicate the clips onto V2, select the clips on v2, right click "make independent clip", then hit shift D, and make the clips offline. Then take one of those offline clips, crop off everything else except the name, then copy and paste crop attributes to the rest of the offline clips on v2.



www.strypesinpost.com

Jude: yes, the workflow is a tad onerous, but overall, it's not that bad. Besides, I think the asst. editor will end up with this task anyways.... Plenty of clever monkeys around, but sometimes its difficult to translate from Simian into plain English.

Strypes: Thanks for trying so hard to find a work around, but that last suggestion sounded like a "doozie"! Will probably just stick to the old method of using a text track on the top video line. Always worked well for me ... it's just a little time-consuming.

Thanks to everyone for your welcomed suggestions!

Gotta give strypes marks for that painstaking workaround...but in my experience, offline clips that stay activated take forever to render and cause crashes. Probably not worth it.


www.derekmok.com

Depends on how many cuts your sequence has. If it's 10-20 cuts, it doesn't make much of a difference, but a sequence with 200 cuts (approx 20 mins), could take a day including rendering. Hitting a bunch of commands and trying to find a way to get FCP to play ball would take about a minute to set up and an hour to render while you go for an extended lunch break or have an assistant babysit the export. Personally, I'll take the second approach.



www.strypesinpost.com