How to export from FCP to AE?

Jay Rodriguez

Jay Rodriguez

Coffee Member
I'm just starting to tool around with AE to learn it.

Can someone fill me in on how to export footage from FCP and import into AE?

I know I could export as a QT file but what's the BEST way to do this and still NOT lose any quality in the footage?

Thanks,
Jay
 
If you google FCP to AE, you'll find some scripts to do just that. I think the original one is on creativeworkflowhacks.com, but there is another one out there as well. Really complicated sequences get a little wild in AE, but the scripts do work, and they keep some information intact. You just put the script in your AE scripts folder, then export an XML from FCP and use the script in AE to navigate to the XML. Load it, and boom, your sequence is there, referencing the original media rather than duplicating it.

You can also use Automatic Duck which keeps a ton of your metadata intact, but it does cost money...
 
Jay Rodriguez said:
I'm just starting to tool around with AE to learn it.

Can someone fill me in on how to export footage from FCP and import into AE?

I know I could export as a QT file but what's the BEST way to do this and still NOT lose any quality in the footage?

Thanks,
Jay
Click to expand...


I usually do the splicing and dicing of video in FC Express, then export the result as 'dv' (I haven't been able to afford to graduate to HD, but the principles are the same.) DV is the easiest for FC E to output. The other alternative would be to export with a non-loss codec. (I believe that when DV is exported by FC, it does not perform a compression pass, but just writes the DV frames directly from the source clips... that's a belief... unless someone has facts to the contrary...)

As far as I know AE will import any media that QT can read, since AE uses the QT libraries to import *.mov' files. In fact, sometimes I've had to 'wrap' a *.mov file around some media that AE doesn't immediately recognize as capable of having QT process.
 
thanks guys. I found that captmench's suggestion worked best for me.

"File - Export - QT Movie... current settings. You don't even have to make it self-contained."
 
We use a ProRes workflow here. Most everything is shot using DVCPROHD, edited in ProRes timelines in FCP, then exported out in ProRes to After Effects. This keeps the quality up and file sizes manageable.

Most graphics/animation/3d stuff is rendered out as OpenEXR sequences.
 
oneinfiniteloop said:
We use a ProRes workflow here. Most everything is shot using DVCPROHD, edited in ProRes timelines in FCP, then exported out in ProRes to After Effects. This keeps the quality up and file sizes manageable.

Most graphics/animation/3d stuff is rendered out as OpenEXR sequences.
Click to expand...

sorry for the hijack but seems the OP's q has been answered so....

oneinfiniteloop, why do you edit in prores? just wondering what the advantages are over keeping things at dvcprohd. thanks.
 
The primary reason is to work in square pixels and higher bit depth when the editor exports clips for animation, etc. I'm not sure if there is any tangible reason outside of that to work in ProRes vs. DVCPROHD, but, for me, I can't stand working in non-square pixels and avoid it as much as possible.
 
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