(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

Filed under: Editing •Post Production •Software •Tips •Vendor Channels •Avid •Final Cut Pro •

Burn-in timecode will make your client happy

Final Cut Pro’s BITC tools

Final Cut Pro has timecode generators too but they are much less functional. Located in the Filters > Video menu there’s both a Timecode Generator and Timecode Reader. The reader is usually the most obvious choice as it will read the source timecode of master clips it’s applied to or the sequence timecode of a nested edit. That’s probably the most common way to produce a BITC of an entire edit. Nest your cut via one of the FCP timeline nesting methods and then apply the Timecode Reader to the entire nest. Depending on the complexity of the edit it may or may not be realtime, either all or in part, so rendering may be required. Once a Timecode Reader is applied to a nest you have to right+click and load the nest in the Viewer to gain access to the filter’s parameter controls. A double-click of that nest will open the timeline. You also have to set the Starting Timecode of the sequence you’re nesting (via the Sequence Settings > Timeline Options tab) as that’s the timecode the Timecode Reader looks at when nesting a sequence.

FCP’s Timecode Reader produces a simple BITC.

The Timecode Reader controls allow the adjusting of the BITC appearance.

FCP’s Timecode Generator is the tool that allows a user definable timecode as opposed to reading the timecode of another clip or sequence. On shorter edits I tend to use this one to generate client BITCs as I don’t particularly like a bunch of nested sequences floating around in an FCP project. The more sequences in an FCP project the bigger the project file becomes. The bigger an FCP project becomes the more unstable it might be.

If I’m working on something like a music video I’ll usually just grab a long master clip and throw it in a new video track on the timeline and apply the Timecode Generator. I’ll then position the burn-in to my liking and crop the clip so the only thing that’s seen from that clip is the BITC window. The final step is assigning the right code for the generator to display. Here’s where the FCP Timecode Reader is a little bit dumb. You’d think that since the Timecode Generator is generating new, user defined timecode for display there would be a place in the filter controls where the editor would just type in the starting frame number of the desired code and that would be that. Instead there’s a Frame Offset slider that you have to slide around to set the starting code.

The FCP Timecode Generator has to have the Frame Offset slider set to get the desired start time for the BITC.

Unless you’ve memorized the exact number of a starting code like 01:00:00:00 then it takes a bit of time to dial that in via the Frame Offset slider and the numbers. That starting number doesn’t stay the same as it may fluctuate depending on your frame rate. There’s also the hour offset as well you help dial in exactly the right timecode. You would think the FCP engineers would have made it a bit easier. I guess the nesting / Timecode Generator method is a bit easier but as I mentioned the extra stuff that it generates in the FCP project isn’t always worth it to me ... pick your poison.

Here’s the most common BITC start times that I use and their FCP Timecode Generator frame offsets that I noted for myself way back when:

   

Starting timecode 01:00:00:00

   

• 24fps - 86400

   

• 29.97ndf - 108000

   

• 29.97df - 107892

 

   

Starting timecode 00:59:55:00

   

• 24fps - 86280

   

• 29.97ndf - 107850

   

• 29.97df - 107742

 

Once you’ve loaded either the FCP Timecode Reader/Generator you then have a few controls for picking frame rate, size, color and location of the BITC and a label. After that’s all set you’re ready to output or export. These timecode tools are realtime effects but rendering may be required depending on the complexity of the edit.

And just since it’s there, below is a short tutorial that someone posted on YouTube about how they achieve a BITC in FCP:

The handy Clip Labeler application

One thing the FCP Timecode filters won’t do is display anywhere near the tons of data that the Avid Timecode Burn-In generator will display. I once asked an FCP plug-in developer if there was a way to create a new timecode reader filter that could display things like source clip name and timecode. I was told that the FCP plug-in architecture didn’t allow developers those kinds of hooks into the clip data.

But like many FCP things third party developers have created work-arounds and there’s once such work around that was created by editor / developer David Heidelberger. It’s called Clip Labeler and is a free download at David’s website (along with quite a few other useful tools).

This little application will take an XML generated from an FCP timeline, process that XML and generate a new sequence with an outline text generator placed above the clips in the timeline displaying the source name of the clip below. You can set parameters for size, width and colors.

Clip Labeler will automate the process of adding a source file clip name via a text generator.

The application is quite simple with only a few options for setup:

The Clip Labeler interface.

It’s a smart little workaround in the absence of FCP’s ability to accomplish that task on its own and a nice example of both the power of the FCP XML as well the ingenuity of an editor to work around an FCP limitation. David’s Clip Labeler is available as a free download at his website as is all of his other tools. If you do find some of them useful then consider a donation via the Donate button. It’s this kind of spirit amongst the FCP community that provides a lot of great tools.

Premiere Pro has a Timecode effect too

And not to be outdone, Adobe Premiere Pro has a Timecode effects as well. It lands in the middle between the functionality of Media Composer and the limits of FCP. There’s a single Timecode effect in the Video folder:

This example is from the Premiere Pro CS4 release.

Drag the effect on a clip or a nested sequence and you can then choose the appearance of the burn-in as well as choose the Timecode Source.

The Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 Timecode effect controls.

The Timecode Source parameter is nice in that you can choose it to be a reader or a generator from within the same effect. And when set to Generate you can then directly type in the desired starting number. Of course there’s options to change Premiere Pro’s BITC appearance but the default is nice and unobtrusive (unlike FCP’s default which is large and often in the way).

PPro’s default BITC look is pleasant and unobtrusive if maybe a little small for quarter screen size web uploads.

(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

                   

 

The Editing of “Courageous” Part One Steve Hullfish | 10/14 The off-line edit of a RED feature film Last October, I had the rare opportunity to edit a feature film called “Courageous,” which is in theaters now. “Courageous” was the number one new movie the weekend it opened (September…

Final Cut Pro X Multicam Editing webinar now available on-demand Scott Simmons | 05/15 Plus a little screencast in this blog post on a topic we didn’t get to cover. I had great fun last week presenting the Final Cut Pro X multicam editing webinar…

Editing and Effects Together in One Editor Part 2 Brian Mulligan | 05/15 The NLE revolution isn’t over… Enter Autodesk Smoke for Mac Editing & Effects All-In-One Autodesk has always been known for the strength of their effects and image processing tools. The tools in Smoke have been used in everything…

---

You must be registered to comment. This is an effort to reduce spam. Please REGISTER HERE.

Oops, now I see you already wrote about the hour offset. Not sure how I missed it. Sorry!

Posted by Evan Schiff  on  08/19  at  04:11 PM

---

Good article Scott - I would also add that for Media Composer’s timecode generator it behaves like all other effects in the sense it can be saved to the bin as a preset. I use this to have different styles and metadata easily available to me for the output needed.

Michael

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  08/20  at  08:07 AM

---

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: