Working between FCP and After Effects

Steve Shovlar

Steve Shovlar

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OK so it's easy to work between FCP and Motion, but what about importing clips between FCP and AE and then back again? Is there a very easy way to do it?

Using FCP6.02 and EA CS3


Thanks
 
i've been searching for this answer for months and the best solution seems to be a software a lot of people use called automatic duck. google it to get their website.
 
How much is your time worth?????

Horrifically expensive? Do you think it might save you 7-10 hours over the next few months even????

Anyone ever tell you that what you charge people is horrifically expensive?

If you can't afford it you don't need it.

Simple.

CaptM
 
To be clear, $1000+ is the price for all three Automatic Duck plugins, two of which relate to importing and exporting Avid timelines to and from FCP. You would only need one of the three for export of FCP timelines to AE, and this plugin costs $495, I believe. This is not cheap, but for a professional tool that has a somewhat limited target market, it doesn't seem unreasonable. (I don't own any of the Automatic Duck plugins--I use Motion much more than AE these days and therefore can't justify the expense.)
 
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IMO, the value of Automatic Duck depends on the needs of the editor/projects. If you're creating a simple effect on a single clip or creating an FX driven transition between 2 scenes then you probably don't need Automatic Duck. You can simply export the clips from FCP, do the effects work in AE then render out a file for reimport back to FCP. If on the other hand you spend hours meticulously stacking up and timing dozens of clips (vertically in the timeline) then it's extremely beneficial to have the Duck. As CaptainMench said, How much is your time worth? If you spent 2 hours in FCP carefully lining up the clips and then need to spend another 2 hours lining up the clips all over again in AE then it's easy to see how fast the wasted time could accumulate.
How tall is your timeline?
 
Automatic Duck is worth every penny- if you really need to move a timeline shot by shot between FCP and AE. However, IMHO this is rarely necessary. If you just need to move individual shots between FCP and AE- just send as Animation or ProRes QuickTime exports and then reimport at both ends.

Noah
 
Milksac, never more than 7 or 8 stacked.

I can clearly see the benefit of AD but its price is just too much IMO. If it was $99 I would go for it, and they would probably sell a load more.

I will have to continue the cureent method I am using, which is the same as NoahK's of sending a ProRes Quicktime.

Shame Adobe or Apple can't make it easier, but I guess Apple want us to use Motion more and AE less.
 
I spent a great deal of time with the above method. Wasted more time than the $500 for the plugin.

Noah is correct though... I tend to build in AE and drag that to FCP. However, I beta'd a newer version and I was amazed at how much more productivity I was able to accomplish with AD than without.

Even sending Timelines in for title work... or placing your elements in FCP and working them in AE... Getting the timing of things before sending to AE is much easier in FCP. Rendering for audio is flat out a mess in Adobe's world.

Like I said before... If you aren't willing to spend the cash you don't need it. If you are... it will save you more in workflow than any other plug in out there.

CaptM
 
Thanks for all the advice. I am going to have to seriously consider the $500 outlay. At least it is not my initial shock of $1000.

But it'll have to wait until the new year!
 
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