Great news:
First international FCP user meeting in Europe at IBC. So if you are attending IBC or are around in Europe - this is a "must be there".
This event will be the largest gathering of FCP Users and Gurus on the planet during IBC week.
For more information click here

Below there some little utilities which make use of Final Cut Pro's XML features. They all are big time savers, or allow you to get access to data of your FCP project that normally are hard to get or to change.

If you need some consultance or programming for a project workflow based on the XML features of FCP send me an email.

An automated play out setup
LA based Crosscreek Entertainment was looking for a workflow to automate clip order/sorting and naming in a timeline for play out to tape and DVD. We go it solved using FCP XML and Apple Events.
Click the link above to learn more.

MI8 - Austria is going to have the most advanced multicam production
Multicamera Production Made in Austria
Click the link above to learn more.

Cambridge Public Art Project
Just another text to FCP sequence custom application. It generates normal or split screen sequences just based upon a simple formated text file.
Click the link above to learn more.

TCR Plus
is a simple to use utility which allows a better and faster way for review and approval of cuts. It combines FCP's XML power with a FCP plugin .

TextUp Pro and TextUp
are FCP plugins/generators, which are especially useful for subtiles.

TitleExchange Lite and TitleExchange Pro for FCP
TitleExchange Lite is a basic tool for easy and fast transfer of subtitles from FCP to DVD Studio Pro.
New !: TitleExchange Lite will not be available any more as a seperate application. But you can download TitleExchange Pro and got the full functionality for 30 days for up to 50 titles. After that period only XML to STL conversion will work. So it will work as TitleExchange Lite before this change.
There is a great tutorial on DVD Studio and subtitles at Ripple Training (done by Steve Martin - thanks for that Steve!), to view it click here.

Coming Soon: TitleConverter for FCP
TitleConverter is a combination of ASS and PhotoShop scripting which allows to convert FCP generator titles into a Adobe PhotoShop document with editable text. STLs will work also. Anybody who is interested in working with me on the beta should send me an eMail.
You may have a look at the example at the TitleExchange Tutorial page.

textViewer is simply a tool which allows to view and modify STL text subtitles for DVD Studio Pro.
It will also display right to left reading languages in a way we expect.

TitleCleaner
TitleCleaner is a tool, which makes use of the Final Cut Pro XMLs to clean text from subtitles much easier and faster than it can be done within FCP. It also allows to use the native OS X spell checker or some third party tools like Ultralingua.

markerTool
Is a small freeware which allows to shuffle around markers in FCP sequences

XML2Text (updated for XML version 2)
is a powerful tool to read FCP sequence XMLs, extract useful information and store this information in different formats or convert it.
Some of the key features:

• Get/review chapter Markers from Final Cut Pro Sequence Markers to create a chapter list for DVD Studio Pro or other encoders than Apple's Compressor.
• Create a merged tape of selects or used clips.
• Get Clip level Markers out of a Sequence and lift them to Sequence level markers
• Print a list of Markers from the sequence, with time stamp (Timecode)
• Extract the text from Markers to use to build menus in Adobe Photoshop
• List all Clips with Scene, Shot, log note, comment etc in a simpler list than a batch export without needing the original Sequence
  

readXML
readXML - as the name somehow says - does read FCP XMLs.
You can load any kind of XML from FCP, but only clips or sequences will be parsed dependent upon the user's choice what to process. See what it can do for you.

BWF2XML
BWF2XML allows to transport metadata from Broadcast Wave Format files into FCP. This version is especially thought for QT 7 and FCP 5.

SoundCount
SoundCount is the fast and easy way to calculate the total playtime of commercial sound in a sequence or project. SoundCount is a big timesaver if you are working with commercial sounds.

rotateClips:
rotateClips is a small helper application for people using the 35mm adapter with their camera. It allows to either "Flop" all clips in a project or rotate them in one single step - more than 2500 clips in a 64 mb XML were changed in about 10 seconds, where loading the XML into memory and writing it back to disk took most of the time. To learn more drop me an email

XML4Dailies (was XML2Title)
The easy way to bring some subtitling for dailies into FCP or DVD Studio Pro. Export your sequence to a XML file, convert it with XML4Dailies, bring it back into FCP just with a double click and you are ready to go.
For DVD Studio Pro you get STL files and a chapter marker list.
The new version allows better control of the XML output, i.e. the appearance of the titles in FCP.

Free Plugins for FCP
Basic Text: a simple modification of the original 'Lower 3rd' text generator. It has additional controls for horizontal and vertical position of the text, as well as text aligment.
Jiggler: a simple effect which jiggles the position of the frame randomly.

Playlist2FCP
completely automates the transfer of audio tracks from iTunes to FCP.
By leveraging the power of the FCP XML format, Playlist2FCP allows FCP to seamlessly import iTunes Playlists, complete with Track Name, Artist and Album information into FCP.

What's old:

BounceUsII
Lets you edit and convert BWF/SD2 multitrack files. The files can be bounced into a Final Cut Pro QT movie with timecode and reel (a XML will be generated to transport the files scene/take/etc settings into FCP). If you are an Avid user you can choose the BWF output for the bounced file.
BounceUsII allows batch processing of files and folders. Files/Scenes can be reviewed and edited very easy.

CopyRestore SD2
A simple application that allows to transfer and glue SD2 files with their resource forks.

Shifter for FCP
Shifter is a free plug in for Final Cut Pro which shifts the clip one video line down. So PAL DV25/PRO25/PRO50 and SD clips can be used in the same timeline. Also reverse speed will look much cleaner with this filter.

DupeDetective
Now is somehow obsolete with FCP4.
More and more producers rely on cost effective video editing systems. Apple's Final Cut Pro meanwhile is used even in the film industry.
In this kind of production environment you can use Apple's Cinema Tools to organize your work. If do not need the all features of Apple's Cinema Tools, but just the 'Dupe' detection, then DupeDetective is the right tool.
It analyzes the EDLs and lists all duplicates, even through a series of EDLs. The list can be used to correct the edits or produce duplicates of the (negative) material.

Shifter (free)
Shifter - the tool to change video field order quickly.

FCP Record Timer (free)
FCP Record Timer is a basic solution for scheduled recordings with Final Cut Pro.

SyncTime (free)
AppleScript application to set the time with OS X 10.2.4.

First Cut (not released to the public yet)
The tool to speed up the editing process within an environment where video/film has to be linked with audio from another recording system.
You can use the tool to pre-edit lab rolls and sync them with the bounced audio, even out of sync lab rolls with sound can be easily resynced without loosing the TC information.
If you are interested in working with the current version please contact me.

The DPX Project
DPX Helper will allow to transport DPX files into FCP including metadata from these files.
The current inhouse version does use imageMagick to convert the files to PSD files. A few few weeks ago Bod Monaghan from GlueTools released a Cineon/DPX component for QT - this is awesome, since he also added QT metadata support to it.
Also Thorsten Lemke who created the GraphicConverter put some "extras" into the current version of GraphicConverter, so that his application now allows to send the DPX header data to external applications via AppleScript.
The DPX Helper will allow to create "online" and "offline" files for FCP (or other applications) using either one of those components/apps to create movies and a FCP XML which holds the meta data as well as cropping and scaling information.
There will be some screen shots of the current prototype version here very soon.

There will be also a small section about ImageMagick and GraphicsMagick and how to install them, both of this free tools are very helpful when working with image sequences or to convert image file formats.