C200: Tip for using Canon Raw Development

[fhammond]

Canon Raw Development (CRD) puts each transcoded file into it's own folder, like this:

I'd prefer they all go into a single folder but there's currently no option in CRD to do that. Fortunately, if you're using a Macintosh, it's easy to have an AppleScript flatten a folder structure. Here's a link to an app I put together that'll do it. It's not code signed, so you'll need to right-mouse button click on it to open it for the first time

https://goo.gl/GJiFKq

If you'd prefer to roll your own, here's the AppleScript code that the app is made from:

tell application "Finder"
set theTopFolder to (choose folder)
set theFiles to a reference to every file of (entire contents of folder theTopFolder)
move theFiles to theTopFolder
end tell
tell application "Finder"
repeat with oneFolder in (get folders of theTopFolder)
if (count items) of oneFolder is 0 or ((count items) of oneFolder is 1 and name of item 1 of oneFolder starts with ".") then delete oneFolder
end repeat
end tell

Here's the result:

Hopefully Canon will update CRD to provide an option to put transcoded files into a single folder but this script works pretty well for now.

[Edit: I got a little fancier and updated the app and the script listed above. It now flattens the file structure and puts the empty folders into the trash so you'll end up with a folder with just the transcoded files. It does check to make sure the folders are empty]

 

[SeanHBTVS]

Great of you to put this together! I'm on PC so can't take advantage of it.

But one note for other users, when Premiere updates for Raw Lite support, the files may at least be imported easily even though they're in separate folders. When I worked in TV news we used the Sony PMW-320 and the HD clips all had seperate folders. You had to use the media browser within Premiere and click import on the folder where all the footage was stored. It would then import it properly into one bin, with all of the metadata. May be well known information for those on this forum, but I wouldn't have known that unless I was told.

 

[fhammond]

Great of you to put this together! I'm on PC so can't take advantage of it.

But one note for other users, when Premiere updates for Raw Lite support, the files may at least be imported easily even though they're in separate folders. When I worked in TV news we used the Sony PMW-320 and the HD clips all had seperate folders. You had to use the media browser within Premiere and click import on the folder where all the footage was stored. It would then import it properly into one bin, with all of the metadata. May be well known information for those on this forum, but I wouldn't have known that unless I was told.

That's a good point: most NLEs are smart enough to be able to ignore a folder structure and just show the resulting media. I certainly do that with Premiere: just point it a mess of folders and let it figure everything out. And this is relevant even before Premiere can handle raw; it's useful for bringing in the files that CRD transcodes and puts in folders.

My script is more for people who are thinking about the file structure they'd like to create for keeping media long term. Personally, I think I'm just going to keep raw files, as transcode ProRes 4444 files aren't any smaller than the raws, and I'd like to make it easier to put them in simpler folder structure.

 

[for_mlove]

Thanks for sharing your work fhammond!!

 

[Dmbrown]

Thank you for posting this script. It is very handy.

 

[Stills2HDConvert]

Great of you to put this together! I'm on PC so can't take advantage of it.

On a PC you should be able to do it by doing something like a search on *.mov then selecting all then moving them to another directory.

 

[Alvise Tedesco]

Thank you for the script.

On a side note:
I can't seem to select development settings individually. Apply white balance to a clip and that will move to all the clips in media pool. How can I change that??