In a previous article entitled "Speed Up Your Workflow With These After Effects Quick Tips", I showed a quick technique to take layers from your NLE application and move them into After Effects. Once there, you can use the "Split Tracks" command (CMD+SHFT+D on Mac or CNTL+SHFT+D on Windows) to make your AE composition look like your NLE timeline. I had teased this before, but what if I told you that there was a much easier way to do the same job.

Well, there is! Automatic Duck's Pro Import for After Effects (ADPIAE) will let you import not only XML files from Final Cut Pro, but OMF files from an Avid and even your Motion project so that all your layers, and even many of your effects are transferred from your NLE to After Effects. Let's take a look at how this works in Final Cut Pro.

As you can see below, I have a section of a timeline that I have done some preliminary effects work on, and I want to move it to After Effects.

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Now, I have done a little more work than is actually needed, but I did it to show you how After Effects will interpret the XML information coming in from Final Cut Pro. Something to also keep in mind is that when you purchase ADPIAE, you are licensing it for After Effects, so if you are running Final Cut Pro, Motion and Media Composer Software edition on the same computer, there are no licensing issues, and you can pass XML's, OMF's and Motion project from any of your NLE's to After Effects.

Okay, what we basically have in our timeline is five layers (four video and one text layer), with each of the four video layers scaled down to thirty percent, and all of them being keyframed to move from one side of the screen to the other. I have also included a text generator with a drop shadow effect on it, in the middle of my composition. To get your sequence out of Final Cut, simply navigate your way to FILE>EXPORT>XML.

Once you let go of the mouse, you will be greeted by this screen.

There is no need to change any parameters, just click "O.K." Something else to keep in mind at this point is that XML export has been included since version 4.1 of Final Cut Pro, so ADPIAE is not supported on any version of FCP previous to that, as XML export is required. Also, the ADPIAE installer also installs an "Automatic Duck XML Export" extension that is added to the "Export" module. AD recommends using this exporter for all your XML exports from Final Cut Pro. But, I figured it would be good to see how using the regular FCP XML export works. If you run into problems using FCP's XML exporter, use the one that is provided by Automatic Duck.

Once your XML file has been exported to the desktop (or a location of your choice), you can open After Effects, and once it has launched, navigate your way to FILE>IMPORT. Once installed, you will have a new heading in your import window called "Automatic Duck Pro Import".

Select "Automatic Duck Pro Import" from the import menu, and you will now notice a new type of import window different from what you are accustomed to.

Assuming all your ADPIAE import settings were set correctly, you could just click "Open" and you would be all set to go, but let's take a quick look at the settings. Once you click "Modify Settings", you are greeted by the ADPIAE settings window that is broken down into two seconds, Comp settings and Footage settings.

In the "Composition" section, I can see most users using the "Override Composition Setting Preset" and the "Layer Step" parameters most often. Basically, what the "Override Composition Setting Preset" does is force a new comp size when putting your XML footage into a comp. You would use this if you do work for the web that is always the same size, but you don't edit at that size in Final Cut Pro. The "Layer Step" parameter is just for workflow purposes. Do you like your stacking order going from bottom to top, or top to bottom? It's your choice. In the "Footage" section, there is one main setting that you will use all the time, and that is "Field Separation", which is fairly self explanatory. If you are working in DV, this will always be set to "Lower Field First". Once you set it, ADPIAE will remember it until you change it. Let's click "O.K." to get out of there, and click "Open" to open our XML in After Effects. Almost immediately, another window pops up giving us a message that there is an incompatible effect that is included in our XML file.

Of course, the big question is which effect is not supported? This is very easy to find out. Once imported (import time will vary depending on how long and complicated your comp is), double click on your comp, and you will see a marker attached to the layer with unsupported effect telling you exactly which effect did not transfer over, so you can go in and add it manually.

Something else you will notice right away is that my text generator transferred over, but the font information did not. This is another unsupported feature, but just the fact that the text itself transferred over is awesome, because all I have to do is change the font, and I'm good to go. Other than that, all my layers transferred over with the keyframe information intact, and my After Effects comp now looks exactly like my timeline in Final Cut Pro. Automatic Duck Pro Import for After Effects is an awesome tool that will have you taking your timeline from Final Cut Pro to After Effects in no time flat! One last thing I wanted to mention is which effects are supported in the XML transfer process.

Here's a chart of what is supported:

• FCP Effect/Parameter After Effects Translation
• Opacity (Motion Tab) Opacity
• Scale (Motion Tab) Scale
• Rotation (Motion Tab) Rotation
• Center (Motion Tab) Position
• Distort (Motion Tab)* Corner Pin
• Crop Rectangular Mask created
• Speed Stretch Time Remapping Time Remap Keyframes set
• Freeze Frame** Time Remap Keyframe set
• Strobe Posterize Time filter applied
• Distortion > Flop set to Horizontal Transform Effect applied, Scale set to-100, 100
• Distortion > Flop set to Vertical Transform Effect applied, Scale set to100, -100
• Distortion > Flop set to Both Transform Effect applied, Scale set to-100, -100
• Dissolve Opacity Keyframes
• Dip To Color Dissolve Color solid created with Opacity animated from 0 to 100 to 0
• Matte - Color (KFs not supported) Solid Layer
• Composite Mode Transfer/Blending Mode
• Basic 3D Rotations set Rotations in AE, Center and Scale set Position and Scale in Transform effect
• Audio Level and Audio keyframes Audio level keyframes created
• Audio Dissolve Audio level keyframes created

* Support for distort does not include “Aspect Ratio.”
** Freeze frames cannot be applied to Nested Sequences.

 

For more information on Automatic Duck and their tools for editors and motion graphic artists, you can check them out at www.automaticduck.com.

If there is anything you would like to know about After Effects or motion graphics in general, feel free to drop me a line at kevin@reelclever.com , and maybe your question will be the topic of my next article.