Updated (20TH APRIL 2017):
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
FCPX Hacks has now been superseded with a standalone application called CommandPost, which offers all the same functionality of FCPX Hacks, plus a whole lot more – including Text to Speech & Watch Folders. It remains free and open source.
We strongly recommend removing FCPX Hacks, and installing CommandPost instead.
You can learn more about CommandPost here: commandpost.io
INTRODUCTION:
FCPX Hacks is a free and open source Hammerspoon script that adds a mountain-load of new features to Final Cut Pro. It originally started off as a little proof of concept project to make finding the browser playhead easier for Scott Simmons (read the original blog post below) – but has since grown into a huge collection of handy workflow hacks, shortcuts, tools and automation features to make editing within Final Cut Pro faster, easier and much more powerful.
Video inspired by this AMAZING video by Thomas Grove Carter.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
FCPX Hacks requires Final Cut Pro 10.3 to 10.3.2 and Hammerspoon 0.9.52 (or above).
FCPX Hacks does NOT work with Final Cut Pro 10.3.3 (or above).
It’s compatible with macOS 10.10.5 (or above), and works with any language and keyboard layout.
The Touch Bar feature requires macOS Sierra 10.12.1 build 16B2657 (or above).
We recommend changing the Hammerspoon Notification alert style to Alerts. This can be done in the Notifications section of macOS System Preferences once Hammerspoon has been installed.
FCPX Hacks is compatible with Final Cut Pro 10.2.3, however it’s no longer supported and new features will not be added for this older version – we recommend updating to Final Cut Pro 10.3.2. Earlier versions of Final Cut Pro X are not supported, and FCPX Hacks is not designed to have Final Cut Pro 10.2 and 10.3 on the same system. It does not work with Final Cut Pro 7 (or below).
DONATE:
Coding crazy stuff like this takes a LOT of time (especially for a non-programmer), so if you find FCPX Hacks useful, PLEASE consider making a voluntary PayPal donation below (no matter how big or small) or buy a cool Wizards T-shirt so that I can continue to justify to my wife and the rest of the team at LateNite, that coding into the middle of the night is worthwhile!
Don’t have any spare cash? Then consider just sharing the news of FCPX Hacks online, so we can get more people testing it out. The more feedback I get, the quicker it is to squash bugs, and come up with cool new features to include. Or if you’re a programmer, check out Github to see if you can help out, or you can help translate FCPX Hacks into other languages.
Also, if there’s a feature that you or your company desperately need, please get in touch to discuss contracting me to throw it together as a priority.
DOWNLOAD:
Please be aware that I’m a filmmaker, not a programmer, so use at your own risk!
FCPX Hacks is no longer supported or updated. We recommend using CommandPost instead.
After downloading and installing the latest version of Hammerspoon (which you must do first), you can just download and open up the above DMG file, make sure Hammerspoon is closed, then drag the script files on the left to the Hammerspoon folder on the right (replacing any existing files if you’ve previously installed FCPX Hacks). If you need help installing Hammerspoon, you can refer to the original blog entry below.
DISCLAIMER: As some of the Advanced features in FCPX Hacks make changes to Final Cut Pro’s internal files (which requires your Administrator password), please take care when using on mission critical or production systems. However, FCPX Hacks basically sits “on top” of Final Cut Pro, so it shouldn’t ever cause Final Cut Pro to crash to slow down.
SPECIAL THANKS:
MASSIVE thank you to Aaron Magill and Chris Jones for all their help and support with Hammerspoon – they’re both truly awesome people. And a HUMONGOUS thank you to the amazing David Peterson for his programming genius and Github Training! David is slowly turning all of my rubbish code into something really awesome!
Also, a very big thank you to Bill Cheeseman PFiddlesoft, for all his help with UI Browser and his very generous GUI Scripting advice. Thanks also to Hans Linssen, Yvan Koenig and Tim Webb for their troubleshooting help, and to Andreas Verhoeven & Robbert Klarenbeek for the work they’ve done with Touch Bar Demo App.
MASSIVE thank you to the INCREDIBLE Andrew Kramer at Video Copilot for giving the world FX Console for FREE – and also inspiring me to rip off his genius idea and include a “console” feature in FCPX Hacks!
An equally MASSIVE thank you to the always amazing Karen Hocking, Daniel Daperis, David Hocking, Андрей Смирнов, Alex Gollner, Scott Simmons, Isaac J. Terronez, Shahin Shokoui, Ilyas Akhmedov and everyone in the FCPX Editors InSync Facebook Group for all their ideas and advice!
The FCPX Hacks logo was designed by the very generous and talented Sam Woodhall.
HOW TO USE:
FCPX Hacks adds a menu to the top right corner of the screen in the macOS menubar. This gives you quick and easy access to a range of shortcuts, automation tools, hacks and both the FCPX Hacks and Hammerspoon settings.
If you don’t want FCPX Hacks appearing in your menubar, you can also use an icon instead:
When you launch FCPX Hacks for the first time, it will use default shortcuts keys, which are listed below. However you can customise these shortcut keys via Final Cut Pro’s own Command Editor. This feature is disabled by default and must be activated by clicking Enable Hacks Shortcuts in Final Cut Pro from the FCPX Hacks menubar. As this feature changes Final Cut Pro’s internal keyboard layouts – it will require your Administrator password (so as with all of the Hacks, use with care).
Another handy feature is the Display Proxy/Original Icon. This inserts a blue or red dot (as shown in the first screenshot above) in the menubar to visually highlight if you’re watching Proxy or Original files in the Viewer. This is really handy to be able to instantly see if you’re watching full quality or not.
FCPX Hacks Console (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+SPACEBAR)
Inspired by Andrew Kramer’s INCREDIBLE FX Console free plugin for After Effects, we’ve also added a “console” to FCPX Hacks. It allows you to activate a bunch of the different shortcuts and automation features directly from the search tool. However, what’s really handy is that if you, for example, click Update Effects List from the Assign Effects Shortcuts menu, ALL of your effects will appear in the console for easy access – allowing you to very quickly add effects with only your keyboard! You can do this for Effects, Transitions, Titles and Generators. You can also right click on the Console to control what items are displayed (i.e. you may only want to see Effects).
Sometimes you might also want to remove certain things from the console too – such as the Blur Title, because what you REALLY want is the Blur Video Effect. To do this, simply right click on an item and select Remove from List. We also offer a Remove From List Mode that allows you to remove multiple items in bulk. You can also Favourite items to make sure they always appear on the top of the list.
FCPX Hacks HUD (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+A)
The HUD (Heads Up Display) is a cool little extra window for Final Cut Pro that offers an Inspector, Drop Targets and Buttons – which can individually be shown or hidden via the Preferences > HUD Options menubar. The Inspector shows you what Media & Quality mode you’re currently in, as well as if Automatic Background Rendering is enabled.
The XML Sharing feature is discussed below.
The four buttons at the bottom of the HUD, are completely customisable via the Assign HUD Buttons menu in the FCPX Hacks menubar.
SHORTCUTS:
Open Final Cut Pro (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+L)
With FCPX Hacks open, you can now open Final Cut Pro at any time, system wide.
Create Optimized Media (No Default Shortcut)
This shortcut simply activates “Create Optimized Media” within the Final Cut Pro Import Preferences. This can save you a couple of clicks, and also allows you to quickly check whether the setting is ticked or not in one mouse click.
Create Multicam Optimized Media (No Default Shortcut)
This shortcut simply activates “Create optimized media for multicam clips” within the Final Cut Pro Playback Preferences. This can save you a couple of clicks, and also allows you to quickly check whether the setting is ticked or not in a single mouse click
Create Proxy Media (No Default Shortcut)
This shortcut simply activates “Create Proxy Media” within the Final Cut Pro Import Preferences. This can save you a couple of clicks, and also allows you to quickly check whether the setting is ticked or not in a single mouse click.
Leave Files in Place on Import (No Default Shortcut)
This shortcut simply activates “Leave in Place” within the Final Cut Pro Import Preferences. This can save you a couple of clicks, and also allows you to quickly check whether the setting is ticked or not in a single mouse click.
Enable Background Render (No Default Shortcut)
This shortcut simply activates “Background Render” within the Final Cut Pro Playback Preferences. This can save you a couple of clicks, and also allows you to quickly check whether the setting is ticked or not, as well as what the start after time is set to in a single mouse click.
AUTOMATION:
Highlight Browser Playhead (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+H)
By default this feature puts a big red rectangle around the Final Cut Pro browser playhead to make it really easy to instantly spot. You can change the colour to Blue, Green or Yellow and the shape to a circle or diamond within the FCPX Hacks preferences.
Reveal in Browser & Highlight (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+F)
The original feature of FCPX Hacks! This feature performs a normal “Reveal in Browser”, but then highlights the playhead so that you can spot it easily.
Single Match Frame & Highlight (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+S)
This feature performs a normal “Reveal in Browser”, however whatever clip your playhead is over (for example, let’s say it’s a clip called “Test”) – this feature will then automatically insert “Test” into the Browser Search box, so that only the single clip appears in the Browser, and also highlights the playhead.
Reveal Multicam in Browser & Highlight (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+D)
This feature performs essentially performs a “Reveal in Browser” command on the source clip within a multicam clip. Once match-framed into the browser, it will then highlight it for easily spotting.
Reveal Multicam in Angle Editor & Highlight (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+G)
This feature allows you to easily “match frame” to whatever frame your playhead is over in the Multicam Angle editor, and will also highlight the source clip within the browser.
Cut n Switch Audio/Video/Both Angle 1-16 (No Default Shortcut)
Changes the multi-cam mode then performs a standard “Cut and Switch to Viewer Angle” shortcut in a single keypress.
Move To Playhead (No Default Shortcut)
Performs a Cut then Paste in a single keypress.
Select Clips Forward (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+RIGHT)
Select Clips Backwards (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+RIGHT)
The shortcut brings back the “Select Track Forward/Backwards” or “T” tool as it was known in Final Cut Pro 7. It allows you to select all the clips in the timeline to the left or right of the timeline playhead.
Select Clip at Lane 1-10 (No Default Shortcuts)
These shortcuts allow you to easily select clips outside of the Primary Storyline. For example, if you want to select a connected clip that’s directly above your primary storyline, you can assign the “Select Clip at Lane 1” to your preferred shortcut key via the Command Editor and away you go!
Restore Keyword Preset (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+1 TO 9)
Save Keyword Preset (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+SHIFT+1 TO 9)
One of the coolest features of FCPX Hacks is the ability to save and restore up to nine keyword presets. What this means is that if you type in up to nine keywords in the Keyword Editor, you can save all of these these keyword shortcuts to a preset, and restore it at a later time – and even on a completely different library. This is great if you’re constantly using the same keywords between libraries, or you want to have more than the default nine keyword shortcuts.
Timeline Clip Height Increase/Decrease (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+PLUS OR MINUS)
Allows you to easily increase and decrease the timeline clip height. You can either press once to move in small increments, or hold down to increase/decrease quickly (something Final Cut Pro’s native shortcuts can’t do).
Batch Export from Browser (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+E)
This incredibly powerful feature allows you batch export multiple clips and projects, or even the entire contents of multiple Smart/Keyword Collections, Events or even entire Libraries directly from the Final Cut Pro browser. All you need to do is make your selection, press the shortcut and let Final Cut Pro do it’s thing! By default the Batch Exporter will using your default destination and export to your last used export location, however this can be overridden via the Batch Export options in the FCPX Hacks menubar preferences.
Scrolling Timeline (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W)
As its been the number one request on Richard Taylor’s Final Cut Pro X Top Requests Master List since day one, we’ve finally added a Scrolling Timeline option to Final Cut Pro. To activate and deactivate Scrolling Timeline Mode, by default you press CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W, or select Enable Scrolling Timeline from the FCPX Hacks menu. Once activated, you will see a little notification on your screen saying “Scrolling Timeline Activated”. Now, if you have your mouse in the timeline area and press spacebar, the timeline will automatically scroll for you! However, if you press spacebar with the mouse outside of the timeline area – the timeline will playback as normal, allowing you to easily switch between the two modes. You can also deactivate the scrolling timeline during playback by pressing the Scrolling Timeline Mode shortcut key again (CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W). Of course, this shortcut key can always be customised as explained above! If your playhead is not visible when you press play, FCPX Hacks will automatically move your playhead to the middle of the timeline. You can continue to use all your usual shortcuts (i.e. ‘Add Marker’ and ‘Blade’) whilst playing back and the playhead will remain static.
Timeline Playhead Lock (No Default Shortcut)
Similar to the Scrolling Timeline, we also offer a Timeline Playhead Lock, which when enabled, locks the timeline playhead to the centre of the timeline. This feature is off by default and you must assign it a shortcut key in the Command Editor to activate it.
Select Color Board Puck (Default Shortcuts: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+M , . / )
Until now there’s been no shortcut key to individual select Color Board pucks – however thanks to FCPX Hacks, you can now not only select individual pucks with a single mouse click, but also to make colour grading within Final Cut Pro a lot easier with a control surface, we’ve added lots of additional Color Board Shortcuts to the Command Editor – such as “Color Board: Color Puck 1 & Down” – which selects the Global puck within the Color panel and then moves the puck in a downward direction. If you hold one of these shortcuts down, the puck will continue to move until you release the shortcut. None of these shortcuts have defaults, so you’ll need to assign them in the Command Editor to use them.
Mouse Control of Color Board Pucks (No Default Shortcut)
These shortcuts are unassigned by default, so you’ll need to activate Enable Hacks Shortcuts in Final Cut Pro to use them. Once assigned via the Final Cut Pro Command Editor, these shortcuts allow you to control the Color Board pucks with your mouse. For example, if you assign Mouse Control Color Puck 1 to OPTION+Z, when you hold down the OPTION+Z and move your mouse – the puck will move with the mouse. This video demonstrates:
Enable Shortcuts During Fullscreen Playback (No Default Shortcut)
FCPX Hacks also adds the ability to perform Set Range Start, Set Range Out, Connect to Primary Storyline, Connect to Primary Storyline Backtimed, Insert and Append to Storyline, whilst in fullscreen playback mode. This feature is off by default, and can be enabled via the FCPX Hacks Menubar. These shortcuts will still work, even if you customise your shortcuts for these commands (i.e. if you change the Set Range Start to a key other than I).
You can now Assign Individual Effects, Transitions, Titles & Generators to Keyboard shortcuts via the FCPX Hacks menubar. For example, if you assign a “Directional Blur” to Effects Shortcut 1 via the menu, when you have a clip selected in the Final Cut Pro timeline and press CONTROL+SHIFT+1, it will automatically apply the “Directional Blur” effect to that clip. You can currently assign up to 5 individual effects shortcuts. However, before the “Assign Effects Shortcuts” buttons are enabled, you need to click Update Effects List first, at this will create a list of all the effects you currently have installed on your system. If you add new effects to Final Cut Pro, you’ll need to run this command again.
TOOLS:
Touch Bar (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+Z)
For those that don’t have access to the fancy brand new MacBook Pro, inspired by the Touch Bar Demo App, we’re brought the Touch Bar to the desktop as an on-screen display! The Touch Bar offers some really handy features, such as the ability to view a “mini-timeline” allowing you to very quickly navigate your project. Via the FCPX Hacks menubar you can choose to have the Touch Bar appear wherever your mouse pointer is, to have it appear at the top centre of your timeline, for a more consistent experience. The Touch Bar will “disappear” when you close FCPX, and reposition itself if you resize the window. If you hold down the left OPTION key and click on the Touch Bar you can drag it to another location regardless of which mode you’re in.
Paste From Clipboard History (No Default Shortcut)
This feature is off by default and must be activated by clicking Enable Clipboard History in the Tools Options menubar. Once activated, every time you copy something in Final Cut Pro, it will be added to the Clipboard History. FCPX Hacks currently remembers the last 5 items – even after you restart your computer. If you want to clear your history, there’s a Clear Clipboard History option in the menubar.
Paste from Shared Clipboard (No Default Shortcut)
This feature is off by default and must be activated by clicking both Enable Clipboard History and Enable Shared Clipboard from the FCPX Hacks menubar. When you click Enable Shared Clipboard you will be prompted to select a folder in which you’ll save your shared clipboard. This should be a network drive, or cloud storage such as iCloud or Dropbox, so multiple editors can access the shared clipboard at the same time. Once enabled, when you copy anything in FCPX it will automatically appear on all of your machines that are running FCPX Hacks and pointing to the same Shared Clipboard folder. This makes sharing assets between machines as easy as copying and pasting!
Import Shared XML File (No Default Shortcut)
This feature is off by default and must be activated by clicking Enable XML Sharing from the FCPX Hacks menubar. When you click this you will be prompted to select a folder to use as your “shared” folder (which should be a network drive, or cloud storage such as iCloud or Dropbox so that multiple editors can access this folder at the same time). Once enabled, if you drag anything from the Final Cut Pro browser to the HUD XML Sharing Drop Zone, you will be presented with a dialog box to enter a name for this XML file. Once you enter a name and click “OK”, it will automatically appear on all of your machines that are running FCPX Hacks and pointing to the same shared folder. Everyone running FCPX Hacks and pointing to the same shared XML folder will receive a macOS notification alerting them to the new XML.
Close Media Import When Card Inserted (No Default Shortcut)
This feature is off by default and must be activated by clicking Close Media Import When Card Inserted in the menubar. Once activated, this feature will automatically close the Media Import window in Final Cut Pro when you insert a camera card (such as an SD or CF card).
Mobile Notifications (No Default Shortcut)
This feature is off by default and must be activated by clicking Enable Mobile Notifications in the menubar. When activating this feature, you’ll be asked to enter your Prowl API key. If you don’t already have one, you can register and get one for free here.
Once activated, every time Final Cut Pro successfully or unsuccessfully completes an export, you’ll get an alert on any mobile devices that have the Prowl app installed, such as your iPhone or iPad.
HACKS:
Enable Timecode Overlay (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+T)
This feature turns on a hidden Final Cut Pro preference that enables timecode overlays in the Viewer. As this is a “hack” it requires Final Cut Pro to restart before taking affect.
Enable Moving Markers (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+Y)
This feature turns on a hidden Final Cut Pro preference originally discovered by Alex4D that allows you to move markers in your timeline with your mouse. As this is a “hack” it requires Final Cut Pro to restart before taking affect.
Enable Render During Playback (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+P)
This feature turns on a hidden Final Cut Pro preference that allows you to continue rendering and performing other tasks whilst Final Cut Pro is still playing back in the timeline. As this is a “hack” it requires Final Cut Pro to restart before taking affect.
Change Backup Interval (Default Shortcut: CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+B)
This feature allows you to manipulate a hidden Final Cut Pro preference that allows you to change Final Cut’s internal backup interval. As this is a “hack” it requires Final Cut Pro to restart before taking affect.
Change Smart Collections Label (Currently Accessed by Menubar Only)
This feature allows you to change the label of the Smart Collection that’s added by default in every new Final Cut Pro project. This is just changing the meta-data behind the scenes, so it doesn’t affect your library at all (i.e. if you open the same library on another machine, it will go back to saying “Smart Collections”).
WHAT’S NEXT?
I’m also currently working on a bunch of other features based on things I’d love to see in Final Cut Pro, and also feedback from the Final Cut Pro community. If there’s something you’d love to see added to FCPX Hacks, let me know via the below poll.
Also, feel free to leave more detailed feature suggestions in the comments below, or shoot me through an email.
Thanks for testing!
ORIGINAL BLOG POST (15TH SEPTEMBER 2016):
Over the last few days, I’ve been having lots of discussions with other Final Cut Pro users on social media about how annoying the Reveal in Browser (aka ‘Match Frame’) feature in FCPX is. The problem is that if you have hundreds of clips within your browser, when you match frame it’s really hard to instantly visually see where the playhead is in a sea of other clips. It’s also really annoying if you’ve got your playhead at a specific position in the browser, then continue editing in the timeline for a hour or so, and want to easily jump back to that browser playhead position to continue where you left off. It’s VERY hard to spot which clip is selected and where the tiny white playhead is hiding in the browser!
To try and solve this, I quickly threw together a simple little AppleScript that uses the macOS Accessibility API to find out where the browsers playhead currently is, and then instantly move the mouse cursor to the playhead position. It was a bit of a hack job, but after a bit of experimenting, it finally worked. However, as many people commented, it’s a pretty bad idea to move the mouse as it breaks all the Apple Human Interface Guidelines. After playing with it for a while, I have to agree – it’s a bit strange having the mouse move on you!
One of the original ideas that Scott Simmons suggested was to somehow highlight the playhead position in the browser. My idea was to do this with a GIANT arrow, so the editor can instantly see where the playhead is. Despite a lot of Googling, I couldn’t work out how to do this with AppleScript or Automator, and I don’t have the time (or the skills) to jump into Xcode. Luckily however I discovered something called Hammerspoon.
To quote the manual: “At its core, Hammerspoon is just a bridge between the operating system and a Lua scripting engine. What gives Hammerspoon its power is a set of extensions that expose specific pieces of system functionality, to the user”.
Essentially – it’s like a more powerful and geekier version of Automator, and allows you to script a bunch of stuff to speed up everyday tasks. For example, you could write a script that changes which wireless access point you’re connected to with a click of a button, or have an alert pop up on your screen when a render is finished. There’s lots of examples here.
What I discovered is that Hammerspoon has the ability to not only handle AppleScript (so I could reuse the code I’ve already been playing with), but it can also draw things on the screen – which is exactly what I needed.
It’s also free, and open source. Bonus!
It uses the Lua scripting language – which I’ve never used before, but it seemed simple enough.
So, with a LOT of trial and error, playing with my new favourite tool UI Browser, reading through heaps of examples, some helpful Tweets, and AMAZING support from the Hammerspoon team – I was able to throw something together that seems to work!
Basically, the script I’ve made does three things (so far):
- When you press CONTROL + OPTION + COMMAND + F it will perform a normal match frame in FCPX, but will also draw a red circle around the browser playhead temporarily so you can easily see where the playhead is.
- When you press CONTROL + OPTION + COMMAND + H it will draw a red circle around the browser playhead (without doing a match frame). This is helpful if you’re just working in the browser, but you’ve ‘misplaced’ where the playhead currently is.
- When you press CONTROL + OPTION + COMMAND + S it will perform a normal match frame, but it will also take the name from the clip you are match framing, and apply it to the search tool, so that only the match frame clip appears in your browser. I call this a “Single Match Frame”.
I’ve tried to code it so it works with all the common window layouts, however I’ve only tested it with FCPX 10.2.3 and macOS 10.11.6 on a MacBook Pro and a 5K iMac – so it MAY not work well on other systems. If it doesn’t work for you – let me know in the comments below.
I’ve noticed that the script can get very sluggish when you have lots (i.e. more than 500) clips in your event – whereas it’s really quick and snappy with events that only 50-100 clips. This seems to be a limitation of AppleScript, which I’ve been unable to solve thus far (if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!).
You’re also MORE than welcome to modify the script for your own needs (or fix my poorly designed code). I’ve been experimenting with it for saving/restoring FCPX window layouts, and also trying to implement a scrolling timeline – so there’s definitely some cool stuff you can do with it! I think a keyboard shortcut for “apply audio fade handle” is next on my list! If you come up with something cool, please make sure you share it in the comments below.
DISCLAIMER: I’m a filmmaker, not a programmer, so use this at your own risk. This script is provided “as is” with no warranty, so don’t come back to me if it blows things up. I’ve done very little testing outside my own machine, so the script may not work on all systems and configurations.
If you want to test it out, here’s how:
- Download Hammerspoon. It’s free.
- Hammerspoon comes as a ZIP file. Unzip it and drag the Hammerspoon.app to your Applications folder.
- You can now run Hammerspoon. The first time you run it you’ll be presented with a Preferences panel:
- To actually function properly, Hammerspoon needs Accessibility permissions. Click the Enable Accessibility button.
- You’ll then be presented with a Security window like the below. Click Open System Preferences.
- This will open the Security & Privacy system preferences. You’ll need to unlock the panel by clicking the paddock in the left hand corner of the screen, and enter in your computers password. Once the panel is unlocked, you’ll need to make sure the Hammerspoon item is ticked as per below. Once done, you can now close this window.
- Out of the box, Hammerspoon does nothing. What you need to do now is feed it some code!
- So let’s Quit Hammerspoon for now.
- You can download the latest script at the top of this page (I’ll be constantly updating this link as I slowly improve the script based on your feedback). This also comes as a ZIP. When you unzip it, you’ll find a file called init.lua and a folder called hs. This is what we need to give to Hammerspoon. The file is just a plain text file, so you can open it up in TextEdit (or my preference BBEdit) if you want to check out the code. The hs folder contains some additional Hammerscript modules not written by me.
- We now need to move the downloaded init.lua and hs folder to ~/.hammerspoon/. The easiest way to do this is click Go > Go To Folder from the menubar in Finder (or press COMMAND + SHIFT + G from the desktop).
- You’ll then be presented with a dialogue box, where you need to type ~/.hammerspoon/.
- This will open the hidden Hammerspoon folder, where you need to drop in the previously downloaded init.lua file and hs folder.
- Now when you open Hammerspoon it should load the script, ready to rock and roll!
- You can now launch FCPX and see if it works by trying to match frame something (CONTROL + OPTION + COMMAND + F).
- If it doesn’t work for some reason, the Hammerspoon application has a Console (COMMAND + R) which displays any error messages. If things don’t work as expected, let us know in the comments below so that we can fix things up.
That’s it! Hopefully it works for you and you find it useful. If it doesn’t work for you, or if you have any ideas, comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Happy Cutting!
Sep 18, 2016 - 03:38 AM
So I get the error message:
— Lazy extension loading enabled
— Loading ~/.hammerspoon/init.lua
— Loading extension: hotkey
11:35:55 hotkey: Enabled hotkey ⌘⌥⇧F19
— Loading extension: application
— Loading extension: uielement
********
11:35:55 ERROR: hotkey: The hotkey was deleted, cannot enable it
********
— Done.
********
11:36:11 ERROR: hotkey: The hotkey was deleted, cannot enable it
********
********
11:37:17 ERROR: hotkey: The hotkey was deleted, cannot enable it
********
How do I fix this
Sep 18, 2016 - 10:02 AM
Hi Brian,
Thanks so much for testing out the script! Sorry it didn’t work for you straight out of the box.
The hotkey error in the console is normal – so that’s not the issue.
What version of macOS are you using? What version of FCPX?
Are you using dual or multiple screens?
If you are using dual screens, try switching to a single screen and see if that works.
If you send me a screenshot of your WHOLE screen when the error happens, I might be able to work out a fix.
Any questions let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
Sep 23, 2016 - 12:17 PM
Hi Brian,
I’ve just uploaded a new version of the script to the blog. Let me know if that fixes your issues.
Any questions let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
Jan 15, 2017 - 05:29 AM
HI, sorry this has taken me so long to respond. I have recently updated to Sierra and am using FCP X 10.3.1, I have updated Hammerspoon to the latest. It tells me I am all set to go. I don’t see anything in the menu bar except for the little hammer icon. I also switched to one monitor. No indication it is working. I would like it to work on two monitors./Users/brianseegmiller/Desktop/Screen Shot 2017-01-14 at 11.26.25 AM.png
/Users/brianseegmiller/Desktop/Screen Shot 2017-01-14 at 11.26.55 AM.png
/Users/brianseegmiller/Desktop/Screen Shot 2017-01-14 at 11.27.05 AM.png
Jan 17, 2017 - 08:39 AM
Unfortunately you can’t post screenshots to these blog comments.
Shoot me through an email and we’ll see what’s going on:
https://latenitefilms.com/contact/
Sep 27, 2016 - 11:39 AM
Using MacPro late 2013, 3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5, 24 GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC, AMD FirePro D500 3072 MB
Final Cut Pro 10.2.3,
Sys: 10.11.6.
All shortcuts appear to work well
Regards
Bruce
Sep 27, 2016 - 11:41 AM
Legend, thanks Bruce! Appreciate it!
Sep 27, 2016 - 11:09 PM
Hi Chris!!
This is so cool…First the script had an error but after restart it work fine!
What you did with “Multicam Match Frame & Highlight Playhead” is very very nice.
I was wondering if it is possible to highlight the playhead directly in the angle editor.
As you did it in the browser is just crazy good, but in the angle editor would be awesome good!
Thank Chris, this will help a lot!!!!
Sep 28, 2016 - 06:37 AM
Thanks for your kind words Guillaume!
Did you happen to take a screenshot of the errors you were having when you first opened the script?
So basically, you want a “Reveal Multicam Clip in Angle Editor” as opposed to “Reveal Multicam Clip in Timeline”? If so, yes, that’s definitely possible – I’ll add it later today.
Sep 28, 2016 - 02:18 PM
Version 0.20 now has a “Reveal Multicam Clip in Angle Editor & Highlight” feature.
Hope this helps!
Sep 27, 2016 - 11:15 PM
How about making mark in/out and append to storyline commands work in full screen mode? That would be nice.
Sep 28, 2016 - 01:14 AM
Just noticed append to storyline actually works when playing full screen, but mark in/out doesn’t .
Sep 28, 2016 - 06:40 AM
Thanks for your feedback Sasu.
Just so that I can get my head around it – you basically want the ability to add in and out points whilst in fullscreen playback mode (i.e. COMMAND + SHIFT + F), so that if you’re watching a clip from the browser you can apply in and out points, that appear in the browser? Is that correct?
I’ll have a play – but I think the only way I could make this happen is that if I quickly jump back from full screen mode to the browser then back again, which would disrupt playback. Would this be an issue, or are you expecting continuous playback?
Sep 29, 2016 - 06:33 AM
Yes that is what I mean. I would love to add in and out points in fullscreen playback mode. Now I have to exit fullscreen mode to add in and out points. Its so stupid because many other commands works in full screen mode.
This is what I’m dreaming about:
-Select clip in browser
-enter full screen mode (CMD + SHIFT + F)
-browse clip using J-K-L
-mark in and out points (I, 0)
-append to primary storyline (E)
-select next clip (DOWN ARROW)
-etc.
So I could make rough cut never leaving full screen mode. How nice would be that? Now I have to exit full screen mode to mark in and out points. And that pretty much makes that workflow useless. Everything else works fine.
It’s hard to say how disturbing is the problem you described. Thank you for your effort.
Oct 03, 2016 - 11:41 PM
Hi Sasu,
Version 0.26 of the script now enables keyboard shortcuts during full-screen (CMD+SHIFT+F) playback. It’s a bit of a hack job – all it does is very quickly exit full screen mode, press the shortcut key you wanted, then re-enter full-screen mode, so you’ll see the screen flash – but it works (assuming you haven’t changed the default FCPX keyboard shortcuts).
Any bugs or issues let me know!
Sep 28, 2016 - 06:13 AM
Go to install and try it. Sounds all fantastic.
Hope will be possible to “make playhead” static in the middle of the screen, moving timeline not playhead.
Also some kind of usefull color correction under shuttle pro will be welcome.
Thanks for your job and for share with us.
King regards.
Sep 28, 2016 - 06:42 AM
Thanks for your kind words Jose!
I think doing a “static playhead” in the timeline should be technically possible. I’ll have a play and see if I can make it work – although I’d expect Apple to do this themselves in the next update (fingers crossed!).
What shortcuts keys are you missing that prevents you from currently doing colour correction using the Shuttle Pro?
Oct 03, 2016 - 11:27 AM
[fingers crossed here too]
Here is a link to shuttle pro settings i try to for doing color correction, but i have not success with it.
Some one send me some scrip to make it work, but i´m not able to do.
Link to pdf file: https://infinit.io/_/R92PSpL
if you want shuttle pro settings file, here are: https://infinit.io/_/372kuFM
Regards.
Jose Angel.
Oct 03, 2016 - 11:54 AM
Using our script, you should have no issues controlling the Colour Board using a Shuttle Pro.
Within FCPX, you’ll need to assign shortcut keys to the “Color Board: Nudge Puck Up/Down/Left/Right” commands, and then assign them to your Shuttle Pro (which you’ve probably already done).
With the help of my script, rather than using the “Select Next/Previous Puck” commands, you can use my “Select Color Board Puck 1-4” shortcuts to select the puck you want to control – saving you some button presses.
Any issues let me know!
Sep 30, 2016 - 01:49 AM
Hi Chris,
Just installed Hammerspoon and took it out on a spin. Works beautifully.
Thank you for it.
Mark In / Out in full screen mode would make the edits so much more fun. And fast. But without leaving full screen. So cool it would be.
Thanks again for the awesome hack. You are a rockstar.
Sep 30, 2016 - 04:39 PM
Thanks for your kind words Ashok!
Yes, I’m currently trying to come up with a good way to solve the full-screen in/out issue. Will update the blog if I eventually come up with a suitable fix. Stay tuned!
Oct 03, 2016 - 11:39 PM
Hi Ashok,
Version 0.26 of the script now enables keyboard shortcuts during full-screen (CMD+SHIFT+F) playback. It’s a bit of a hack job – all it does is very quickly exit full screen mode, press the shortcut key you wanted, then re-enter full-screen mode, so you’ll see the screen flash – but it works (assuming you haven’t changed the default FCPX keyboard shortcuts).
Any bugs or issues let me know!
Oct 07, 2016 - 12:17 AM
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the responses and the update. Tried it a couple of times. Seems to work just fine.
Will definitely keep you posted on any developments.
Thanks again for what you are doing.
Warm regards.
Oct 04, 2016 - 03:46 AM
Hi-
What does the “Leave in place on import” actually do in comparison to built-in functionality?
Thanks.
Oct 04, 2016 - 08:49 AM
“Background Render”, “Leave in Place”, “Create Optimised Media” & “Create Proxy Media” simply automate the ticking of the boxes within Final Cut Pro’s preferences. They don’t do anything different to the built-in functionality – it just saves you a couple of mouse clicks, and also allows you to visually see what your settings currently are with a single mouse click.
Oct 07, 2016 - 10:26 AM
New feature suggestion: Highlight proxy mode. Draw a single point dark red line across the bottom of window title bars when you are in proxy mode
Oct 07, 2016 - 10:37 AM
Yeah, I’ve been meaning to do this. Will give it a bash sometime soon!
Thanks for all your ideas and advice Alex!
Oct 07, 2016 - 11:03 PM
Version 0.30 now allows you to display an optional Proxy/Original icon in the Menubar. Enjoy!
Oct 11, 2016 - 01:09 AM
I get this messge when running Hammerspoon:
Begin Hammerspoon script:
— Loading extension: uielement
— Loading extension: fs
— Loading extension: host
— Loading extension: osascript
— Loading extension: http
— Loading extension: pathwatcher
[FCPX HACKS] ERROR: Wasn’t able to retrieve the Active Command Set.
— Loading extension: menubar
— Loading extension: settings
— Loading extension: application
*** ERROR: /Users/inyaki/.hammerspoon/init.lua:6114: attempt to call a nil value (method ‘isRunning’)
stack traceback:
/Users/inyaki/.hammerspoon/init.lua:6114: in function ‘isFinalCutProFrontmost’
/Users/inyaki/.hammerspoon/init.lua:676: in function ‘refreshMenuBar’
/Users/inyaki/.hammerspoon/init.lua:259: in function ‘loadScript’
Oct 11, 2016 - 10:08 AM
Thanks for testing! What version of the script are you running?
Try downloading the latest version and see if that fixes your problem.
If you’re still getting errors, send me an email with the full contents of the console, and I’ll try and troubleshoot.
Oct 11, 2016 - 06:44 PM
Last version (version 0.37 – 11th Oct 2016 @ 1666) works fine! Thanks, Chris.
Oct 11, 2016 - 07:23 PM
Great news! Thanks for testing Iñaki!
Oct 14, 2016 - 08:22 PM
0,38 here working as expected. Great job.
Some improvement….. add stabilization to multicam clips ?
King regards.
Oct 15, 2016 - 08:58 AM
Great news! Thanks so much for testing Jose!
I think stabilisation to multi-cam clips is probably something only Apple can do, but I’ll definitely look into it.
Oct 21, 2016 - 02:02 AM
maybe go the way match frame inside angle editor, revert it to “select range”, cut it inside it´s own angle, and now we can apply the desired effect.
Oct 21, 2016 - 02:39 PM
Great idea! This is definitely a possibility.
Although, there are now a couple of 3rd party tools that allow stabilisers on multi-cam clips, so I think this currently falls towards the bottom of the priority list.
Mar 13, 2017 - 01:44 AM
A more general use case that would also help with stabilizing Multicam clips might be….
Reveal Multicam in Angle Editor & ‘Blade’… Blade the in and out points in the Angel Editor for the selected section of the parent Multicam clip.
This would save much clicking back and forth. I have tried/bought Coremelt’s Lock and Load, but it isn’t working on my Multicam clips (trouble ticket submitted two weeks ago). To succeed I use your hacks to find the ‘in’ point in the Angle Editor, blade it. Return to the parent Multicam clip, select the ‘out’ point, use ‘hacks’ to find the ‘out’ point in the Angle Editor, blade it. Then select the portion of the media in the Angle editor bladed that requires stabilization or other effects. I’m filming live sports events. Three cameras per game.
Thank you,
Scott
Mar 13, 2017 - 01:50 AM
This is something we could definitely automate. I’ll try and add it to the next public release.
Oct 16, 2016 - 12:00 AM
Hi Chris,
Great work you are doing here.
Here are my hack- wishes :
– [ ] detailed trimming feedback when trimming with keyboard (2up display)
should appear also on keyboard use, not only when dragging with the mouse/trackpad ) 2 up display and a 4 up display for slide and roll!
– [ ] Proper dynamic trimming
with jkl when using trim tool ( as in precision editor: Select edge with [ ] \ Ctrl E to open it Shift / or JKL to play Shift X to edit Refine with . , /
– [ ] replace at playhead command
– [ ] Folders for events
– Dragable Effect or Effects from the Inspector to a clip or selected clips in the Timeline or Event Browser
– [ ] Column in browser for “last modified“
– [ ] Allow skimming of project thumbnails
You are a magician.
Oct 16, 2016 - 07:56 PM
Thanks for your kind feedback Knut! Very much appreciated!
Replies as follows:
1) In regards to detailed trimming feedback, I THINK this might be possible. Basically what I would do is instead of using the default shortcut keys, I’d make my own that essentially “clicks” the end of the clips and drags it a frame. Once you “release” the keys, the mouse would stop “holding” the end of the clips. It might be tricky though, as how much you need the mouse depends on the zoom factor, your screen size, etc. Maybe this is something we wait and see if Apple fixes themselves in the next version, and if not, I’m happy to give it a bash.
2) I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “proper dynamic trimming” (probably because I never use the Precision Editor) – so might need some more clarification on this one.
3) This should be possible. Basically, I would just select whatever clip in the Primary Storyline is under the playhead, then perform a replace. Would you expect the playhead to go back to the original position?
4) Unless anyone has any clever ideas, I think “Folders for Events” is only something Apple could do.
5) I THINK “Draggable Effects” is something only Apple could do. However, I could potentially make a shortcut key that allows you to copy the select effect(s) to whatever primary storyline clip is under the playhead currently.
6) In regards to a “last modified” column, I think this is something only Apple could do, but I’ll look into it to see if there’s any “hacky” way to make it work.
7) There is a secret preference for “Enable Sequence Filmstrips” – but I’ve never work out what it actually does. I’ll keep playing, as maybe this could be what you’re after.
Oct 16, 2016 - 08:22 PM
Chris,
Thank you for considering my wishes.
1) It’s been on my wishlist I sent to Apple from day one.
I just do not get why the behaviour is different on keyboard use.
2) something that I actually miss from avid or fcp7
See here: https://youtu.be/CmWPzalVPJA
Or here: https://vimeo.com/115933292
I don’t use the Precision editor either. Clumsy and cannot expand audio.
3) replace at playhead should replace at playhead from selected browser clip to playhead position in timeline. Great for swapping takes.
Thank you for your great effort to make a great tool even better.
Oct 21, 2016 - 07:42 AM
Hi,
great work! Could you get the thumbnails in the timeline loading during playback? This would be an awesome addition to the scrolling timeline!
Oct 21, 2016 - 02:37 PM
Unfortunately, I think that’s something only Apple can do. This might also be the reason why they’ve never done a scrolling timeline of their own!
Oct 22, 2016 - 06:49 AM
Love the FCPX Hacks! I started with them because of the move marker function. Other functions like timecode and find frame indicator are awesome also.
One I have always missed, is replacing a clip while keeping the existing attributes from the old clip, like effects, transforms etc. In addition to that, is replacing a clip while matching the timecode from original clip. For example a graphic you started 2 seconds into the clip has been updated, now you need to replace it in the timeline. Hold down option(or something) and replace with the same in point from the original. Another example would be replacing a stock footage comp with the new full resolution purchased footage.
Oct 22, 2016 - 11:45 AM
Thanks for your kind words Eric!
I discovered recently that when you copy a clip to the clipboard, all of the clip metadata is also stored in the clipboard, so I’m hoping to work out some cool ways to manipulate this data in the future – this could be useful for a “replace and keep attributes” shortcut, as you suggest. I’ll add it to my list of things to play with!
Oct 24, 2016 - 06:30 AM
Hi Chris, thanks for your work; it’s very clever.
A comment and a question from me; the scrolling timeline is a great feature but works intermittently for me. I’m on a late 2011 iMac running sierra with 24gig of ram. I’ve enabled it in the menu but it scrolls for a while and then stops and then will start again quite randomly.
I’m really interested in how you managed to enable this feature but apple have never bothered. What part of the operating system are you accessing to get it working?
Oct 24, 2016 - 07:03 AM
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your kind words.
What version of the script are you using? If you’re not using the latest version (0.48), try downloading and see if that helps.
When you say the scrolling timeline stops working – do you mean it fails to activate when you press spacebar (i.e. you press spacebar and it doesn’t scroll), or do you mean it starts scrolling when you press spacebar but stops working randomly if you leave it playing?
Keep in mind that the scrolling timeline ONLY works if you have your mouse in the timeline area. Read the blog above for an explanation.
Behind the scenes the scrolling timeline functionality is quite simple. All I’m doing is monitoring the playhead position, then adjusting the scroll bar at the bottom of the timeline to compensate using GUI Scripting. Apple could EASILY do this (far easier than the method I’m using) – however, my GUESS is the reason they haven’t done this is because as you’ll see in my version, the timeline thumbnails and waveforms don’t automatically update. I’d imagine if they want a scrolling timeline feature, they’d need to re-think how they cache the timeline thumbnails and waveforms – which might be quite a big engineering challenge.
Thanks for testing! If you’re still having issues let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
Oct 25, 2016 - 08:01 AM
Chris,
I have found that when I have the Timeline Index window open, the scrolling feature stops. Not the end of the world, just an FYI.
Oct 25, 2016 - 08:35 AM
That’s interesting – thanks Eric! I’ll have a look to see what’s happening.
Oct 25, 2016 - 07:15 PM
Eric, this should now be fixed in FCPX Hacks 0.51. Thanks for testing!
Oct 26, 2016 - 01:57 PM
Thanks for your reply, Chris. I had to take the software off my machine as there seemed to be some issue with the up and down arrows not jumping from cut point to cut point. With fcpx hacks removed functionality returned.
As for the issue with the timeline intermittently scrolling; My experience has been that the space bar isn’t activating scrolling but that the feature seems randomly kick in after a while (I’ve made sure the mouse is in the timeline area). Could this be an issue with the magnification level?
Also, I’m using my own customised keyboard shortcuts…would that be an issue?
Oct 26, 2016 - 02:41 PM
Sorry to hear you’re still having issues! That’s annoying.
Ummm… that’s strange about the arrows not jumping from cut point to cut point. The only thing I can think is maybe that FCPX Hacks got confused, and it was thinking the timeline was playing when it actually wasn’t. Toggling the Scrolling Timeline Activation (CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W) stops “watching” the timeline, and should fix the issue.
That’s also strange about the timeline intermittently scrolling. Again, my only guess is that you’ve done some kind of key combination that’s confused FCPX Hacks thinking the timeline is playing when it really isn’t. Again, toggling CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W should fix the issue.
If you haven’t already, try downloading the latest version (0.53) and let me know if you’re still having issues, and we’ll try and come up with a fix. Maybe try using it without “Enable Hacks Shortcuts in Final Cut Pro” ticked for a while and see if it works fine, then if it does try enable the Hacks shortcuts, and see if that causes the issues.
If you originally used one of the REALLY early versions of FCPX Hacks, it might also be worth pressing “Trash FCPX Hacks Preferences” from the “FCPX Hacks > FCPX Hacks Settings” menubar, to see if that helps and using a new keyboard layout.
Hope this helps!
Oct 25, 2016 - 04:06 AM
Would be useful to provide a script to circle the download button on this page ;-) Or put a big red button at the top! Finally I found the download link somewhere in the middle of the (long) text….
Oct 25, 2016 - 07:07 AM
Haha… good point, thanks Michael! Fixed!
Oct 25, 2016 - 12:44 PM
Hi Man! Great WORK!!
Did anybody mention marks on timeline? We had before on FCP7, so we can jump through entire timeline on specific places …
BEST!
Oct 25, 2016 - 07:30 PM
Thanks for your kind words Francisco!
I’m sure a LOT of editors would LOVE to see timeline markers – however, I think it would be an absolutely MASSIVE task for me to try and implement. Let’s see what Apple does later this week – and if they don’t add it, then I’ll have a proper think.
Although – the Timeline Index is a pretty good alternative to markers?
Jan 06, 2017 - 10:37 AM
You are right! Timeline index is great….
What about color grading…. Is it posible to have a side by side clips in timeline viewer to match color?
best!
Jan 06, 2017 - 11:06 AM
Well, you can always use the “Event Viewer” as a reference (using footage from the browser) to compare things that you have on your timeline?
Oct 25, 2016 - 07:56 PM
Hi Chris,
First of all thank you so much for this excellent plugin to FCPX !!! I am only starting to use it and already loving it THAT MUCH !
Great work !
And in order to make it even more fantastic, do you think it is possible to implement a function that could trim synchronized (or compound or multicam) clips to the useful video length (i.e. remove black frames at start & end) in the browser ?
I mean, when you sync a bunch of audio & video, if those have not the same length, those black frames at the beginning of the clips are a real PITA. If you zoom out in your browser to check all your shots … all of them are black !! This is even more painful when the audio has never been cut and syncs on videos that are dramatically shorter.
This situation is especially happening when syncing using Pluraleyes which for whatever reason does not trim to video length ,,, but trims at random some amount of black frames before and after the video.
If possible, this feature alone would save hours in handling media before editing !
Anyway, all the best and keep up the good work !
Cheers
R.
Oct 25, 2016 - 09:19 PM
Thanks for your kind words Ron!
This is definitely possible – but I’m not exactly sure about the best way to go about it. I could make a feature that basically just “controls” the mouse and keyboard (like the Batch Export feature does) – which would work, but it could be pretty fragile and inefficient if you’ve got hundreds of clips you want to “process”. What would probably be better and smarter (especially if you’re using PluralEyes anyway) is to write something that accepts and XML then spits back out a “fixed” XML. I’m happy to give it a bash – but it probably won’t be for quite some time, as I’ve never really played with XMLs… yet.
Let’s hope that Apple fixes this later this week! It’s also definitely worth sending Red Giant and email to see if they can update PluralEyes!
Oct 27, 2016 - 11:33 PM
Thank you for this good work but I have issue : FCPX Hacks not work when I have installed both Final cut pro 7&X … when I click open final cut in FCPX Hacks in the menu bar it lunches Final Cut pro7 not x ?
Should I uninstall fcp7 ?
Oct 28, 2016 - 04:30 AM
Good question! I’ve uninstalled FCP7 on all our machines, so I haven’t tested it. FCPX Hacks ASSUMES that FCPX is installed in the Applications folder as “Final Cut Pro” – so try renaming FCP7 to something else, and make sure FCPX has the “Final Cut Pro” name in the root of the Applications folder.
Nov 04, 2016 - 07:12 AM
Love FCPX Hacks! I had only heard about the highlighting feature, but then I heard about timecode overlays and I immediately installed. And I donated to hopefully keep momentum going after the 10.3 update! I would love it if you could turn off the header on the source code overlay only because it takes up extra space on the screen and it’s fully apparent what each column is without the header. A secondary request would be the ability to customize its location, even if it’s a few fixed positions (top left, bottom center, etc.) Thanks for all of your work!
Nov 19, 2016 - 11:57 AM
Sorry for the delayed reply John – I’ve been off on a shoot the last couple of weeks.
The interface of the timecode overlay is actually designed by Apple – all I’m doing is enabling the visibility of a hidden overlay. Unfortunately I haven’t yet worked out a way to “tweak” how that overlay works.
Thanks so much for your support and your donation! Yesterday I released an update that brings back the scrolling timeline to 10.3, and I’m hoping to fix up the rest of the features in the coming days. Stay tuned!
Nov 24, 2016 - 10:38 AM
It would be great a tool to find duplicated clips or with the same file name in browser.
Great work!
Thanks!
Nov 24, 2016 - 12:04 PM
Hi Alejo,
Thanks for the feedback!
That’s certainly an interesting idea, that sounds useful. However, the only way I can think that you could do this is via XML – you’d export an XML of a Smart or Keyword collection, process it, and bring it back into FCPX as a NEW Keyword Collection.
Curious… why do you need to find clips with the same name?
Dec 03, 2016 - 02:31 AM
Dupe detection could work by making a ‘Used 2 times’ ‘Used 3 times’ keywords. The editor would have to drag the project to an external application which would have to process the XML to work out which ranges should have the keyword (tag) assigned. Then those tags would be discoverable in the timeline index.
Dec 03, 2016 - 08:33 AM
Great idea Alex, however I feel like this is something Intelligent Assistance should make!
It’s definitely possible using FCPX Hacks, but my knowledge of FCPXML is pretty limited, so i would take me a while to build this. One day when I eventually solve he ability to drag and drop Final Cut Pro Libraries, Events & Event items into the FCPX Hacks menubar (so that I no longer have to do the Dropbox workaround for XML Sharing), then I’ll spend some more time really playing with FCPXML manipulation, as it opens up lots of doors.
However, having said that, I think what could potentially be even MORE interesting is rather than using FCPXML is using the clipboard metadata for this kind of thing. I’m thinking you just CMD+A your timeline, then CMD+C, then from the FCPX Hacks menu there’s a list of “Process Clipboard Contents” items – such as “Add Dupe Detection Keywords”, and when you click it, we process and manipulate the clipboard data, and paste it back into Final Cut Pro like magic. This would, in theory at least, avoid all the metadata limitations of FCPXML.
Like my knowledge of FCPXML however, my knowledge of the Final Cut Pro’s proprietary clipboard XML is even more limited – so this might require something far smarter than me to help work out and solve. I am trying to work out how to copy and paste between FCPX and After Effects though, so if I can work this out, maybe it will help with all the other things later down the line.
Thanks for all your support and promotion Alex! HUGELY appreciated!
Dec 01, 2016 - 01:23 AM
I can’t update to macOS Sierra because I have a Mac Pro Early 2009 and I would like to prevent to get this message “Error: could not detect Touch Bar support” every time I start my Mac.
Thanks for FCPX Hacks.
Dec 01, 2016 - 07:48 AM
Thanks Ricky! This will be fixed in the next update – hopefully later today. Stay tuned!
Dec 02, 2016 - 11:22 PM
Ricky – this should now be fixed in FCPX Hacks 0.68. Any issues let me know!
Dec 02, 2016 - 07:56 AM
Well, the apple updates got me. Yesterday, I updated FCPX to 10.3.1. When I try to start Hammerspoon, it tells me that I don’t have a compatible version. Only 10.2.3 or 10.3 work. I miss the hacks already :( Please help.
Dec 02, 2016 - 04:43 PM
Sorry for the delay Eric! I keep on getting caught up with “real work”, however, I’m HOPING to release a new version of FCPX Hacks later tonight which fixes this, along with a bunch of other bugs and issues people have reported. I’ll email you once it’s up. Stay tuned!
Dec 06, 2016 - 04:08 AM
Thanks Chris, working great now!
Dec 02, 2016 - 11:22 PM
FCPX Hacks 0.68 now supports Final Cut Pro 10.3.1 – enjoy!
Dec 03, 2016 - 06:22 AM
I have Final Cut Pro X 10.3.1 in the root of my Applications Folder, but it still says it can’t find it, and needs at least version 10.3. I’m running 0.68. Any ideas? Regardless, thank you for spending so much time on something very helpful. I know it’s well appreciated. :)
Dec 03, 2016 - 08:21 AM
Hi Craig,
Have you renamed the Final Cut Pro application? As long as you have 10.3.1 in the Applications folder and it’s called “Final Cut Pro.app” – it should work fine. If you renamed it something else, it won’t work.
If you’re still having issues – feel free to email me to problem solve: https://latenitefilms.com/contact/
Thanks for testing!
Dec 03, 2016 - 07:17 AM
I have the same problem, which began after updating to FCPX 10.3.1.
Updating FCPX Hacks to version 0.68 hasn’t solved the problem.
After I updated Hacks it curiously once launched my legacy version of Final Cut Pro (v. 7) and now I keep getting the message “We couldn’t find a compatible version of Final Cut Pro installed on this system. Please make sure Final Cut Pro 10.2.3 or 10.3 is installed in the root of the Applications folder and hasn’t been renamed.”
Dec 03, 2016 - 07:47 AM
I renamed Final Cut Pro to something else then back to Final Cut Pro. Also I renamed the old version (which is in a subfolder) to Final Cut Legacy. Not sure what exactly did the trick but everything is working fine now. Thanks!
Dec 03, 2016 - 08:25 AM
Interesting! Well, it could be that whenever you launch “Final Cut Pro 7”, macOS will then regard “Final Cut Pro 7” as “Final Cut Pro”, until you close it and launch “Final Cut Pro 10.3”. As they’re both called “Final Cut Pro”, I can completely understand why macOS would get confused!
I no longer have “Final Cut Pro 7” installed, so unfortunately I can’t do any testing on this – sorry! But as long as “Final Cut Pro 10.3” is named “Final Cut Pro” in the root of the Applications folder, and has been launched at least once prior to running Hammerspoon – it SHOULD all work.
Thanks heaps for testing!
Dec 05, 2016 - 07:33 AM
Hello Chris!
Downloaded the last version of your hack with updated hammerspoon.
I run the last macossierra + last fcpx
I am having these issue when enabling hack shortcut…in menu.
“I’m sorry, but the following error has occurred:
Failed to replace Default.commandset.
Would you like to email this bug to Chris so that he can try and come up with a fix?”
If it helps .. when launching hammerspoon i saw this window appear with these few lines:
—————————–
| FCPX Hacks v0.69 |
| Created by LateNite Films |
—————————–
> macOS Version: 10.12.1
> Final Cut Pro Version: 10.3.1
> Current Keyboard Layout: U.S.
********
15:30:15 ERROR: wfilter: called startAppWatcher with no app
********
********
15:30:15 ERROR: wfilter: called startAppWatcher with no app
********
********
15:30:15 ERROR: wfilter: called startAppWatcher with no app
********
********
15:30:15 ERROR: wfilter: called startAppWatcher with no app
********
********
15:30:15 ERROR: wfilter: called startAppWatcher with no app
********
> Successfully loaded.
Any idea?
Dec 05, 2016 - 08:52 AM
That’s very odd! Try reinstalling FCPX Hacks, making sure that you REPLACE all the files when you drag the two items (“init.lua” & the “hs” folder) from the left side of the downloaded DMG to the right side. My GUESS is that maybe you’ve been previously using an old version of FCPX Hacks, and when you updated you didn’t replace the old files. Let me know if that fixes things!
Dec 08, 2016 - 05:52 AM
Ok.. i erase hammerspoon with clean app (which remove connected files)
…redownload it and reinstall it.
Donwloaded fcpx Hack and substitute the file and folder i dragged to hammerspoon folder.
It prompted with the authorization to replace the file… i did.
Same problem,:
“I’m sorry, but the following error has occurred:
Failed to replace Default.commandset.
Would you like to email this bug to Chris so that he can try and come up with a fix?”
Dec 08, 2016 - 11:25 PM
Ummm… that is odd and annoying. If you send me an email, I’ll try and help you problem solve:
https://latenitefilms.com/contact/
Alternatively, the only other thing I can suggest is reinstalling Final Cut Pro.
Dec 13, 2016 - 03:49 AM
Hi Chris,
FCP Hacks is a GREAT idea! Please keep up the good work! Just made a donation.
A few observations from use on my system*:
– The Scrolling Timeline feature is inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it requires selecting it multiple time to get it to work. I’m not seeing any rhyme or reason to it.
– Touch Bar isn’t showing up under Tools. The Touch Bar location prefs are showing up though.
*My system: Mac Pro 2013/ Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2657) /FCPX 10.3.1/ Hammerspoon 0.9.50/ FCPX Hacks v0.69
Thanks!
Bob
Dec 13, 2016 - 12:09 PM
Hi Bob! Thanks so much for your donation and your kind words!
Because Apple doesn’t offer any kind of public API, the only way we can “detect” when the timeline is playing (as opposed to the browser), is when you have the mouse cursor inside the timeline area, and you press spacebar. The timeline will play back normally if you press spacebar with the mouse OUTSIDE of the timeline area. Also, if the timeline stops without you pressing spacebar (i.e. if the playhead runs to the end of the timeline and stops on its own), then FCPX Hacks will get confused and think you’re playing when you’ve really stopped. The only way to solve this is to toggle scrolling timeline off and on again (the default shortcut key is CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+W).
Currently the Touch Bar feature is only enabled/disabled by a shortcut key – not a menu item. If you press CONTROL+OPTION+COMMAND+Z with Final Cut Pro open, the Touch Bar SHOULD appear. However, I probably should actually make a menu item for it – so I’ll add it to the list!
Thanks for your support! Any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Dec 15, 2016 - 04:36 AM
Thanks, Chris!
One suggestion that, for me, would be the ultimate hack … being able to drag any menu function within Edit, Trim, Mark, Clip, Modify, etc. … into the bar that presently hold the timeline name (in the center), the Index, edit alternatives and tool selectors (on the left), and the Skimming and Effects selectors (on the right). The function would show up as a little icon that was clickable to select/activate.
I’m sure that is a VERY tall order for a hack (and starts encroaching into the Avid UI) but I would find that an amazing feature to have.
Thanks again!
Bob
Dec 15, 2016 - 12:41 PM
Adding things to the existing FCPX UI is a little bit of a technical/reliability challenge, however, I could potentially do what you’re asking for in a new window/HUD (like the Keyword Editor)? The next version of FCPX Hacks actually has a HUD, and I’ve been trying to work out what buttons it should have – but maybe they should just be customisable?
Also, the next version of FCPX Hacks adds ALL of the menu options to the console – so that makes selecting things (with the keyboard) pretty quick and easy too, which might also solve your problem.
Dec 18, 2016 - 10:18 AM
” … but maybe they should just be customisable?”
That would be amazing! I suppose if the HUD was resizable … as well as the items within … I could squeeze it into that narrow bar. Or put a long strip of icons just under that bar or at the bottom. That would serve the purpose I am looking for. But I think you absolutely are on the right track. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
Thanks for taking on this challenge. Although you can’t beat free, I hope you can commercialize this somehow and make a few bucks off this excellent idea.
Jan 03, 2017 - 10:31 AM
Hey Chris,
Just watching up after the holidays …
Still having trouble with the spinning beachball and the HUD. There’s nothing apparent showing in the Console when that happens. Everything else seems to be pretty snappy.
Voice Commands in .72 is a pretty cool idea. Seems to work pretty well here. Is there presently a way to expand the list of commands? How about making the audio and visual feedback optional? Of course, there is an occasional false trigger. Can the sensitivity be altered?
The new Timeline Playhead Lock doesn’t seem a lot different than the Scrolling Timeline except that it doesn’t seem to track as smoothly. If the purpose of the Timeline Playhead Lock is to prevent any manual horizontal scrolling with the mouse, it works here. But I’m not sure how useful that is. My 2¢ …
I also sent you an e-mail suggesting that you add Workspace Shortcuts to Animation, if possible.
Jeez, you’re busy! v.73 just popped up. I’ll load it and give it a spin. Any release notes?
Thanks! And HNY!
Bob
Jan 03, 2017 - 10:46 AM
Hi Bob!
That’s very odd about the spinning beachball and the HUD – as I can’t reproduce the bug on any other system. Behind the scenes the HUD is basically just a Safari web-browser, so I wonder if trashing your Safari cache and/or preferences will make any difference? Let me know how you go.
Currently Voice Commands is very much a proof of concept. It only has a very limited feature set, and until we translate FCPX Hacks to other languages, it only works in English. Voice Commands uses macOS’s built-in Dictation features, so if you turn on “Use Enhanced Dictation” in the Keyboard Dictation System Preferences, that might make a difference? Also changing the language to something more specific – for example, if you’re in Australia, using English (Australia) might work better than English (United States) for instance. Yes, I should definitely add a switch to turn off audio feedback.
Interesting that the Timeline Playhead Lock doesn’t seem to track as smoothly as the Scrolling Timeline. In the latest version (v0.73) the Scrolling Timeline now uses the same code-base as the Timeline Playhead Lock, so be interested to hear if you think the Scrolling Timeline has actually gotten worse (rather than better). I’m all for giving users as many options as they want – so Timeline Playhead Lock is just an alternative to Scrolling Timeline – use whichever feature you prefer.
As discussed via email, you can actually assign shortcuts to any macOS application menu item via the System Preferences > Keyboard > App Shortcuts panel. This would probably be the best way to assign shortcut keys to your workspaces.
You can see what’s new in v0.73 here: https://github.com/fcpxhacks/fcpxhacks/releases/tag/v0.73
Thanks heaps for all your testing and support!
Jan 03, 2017 - 12:22 PM
“That’s very odd about the spinning beachball and the HUD – as I can’t reproduce the bug on any other system. ”
I hate being the problem child. ;-) Why don’t you take over my machine using Teamviewer? That way you can see everything firsthand. Email me if you want to set something up.
Bob
Jan 14, 2017 - 02:59 AM
it would be nice to change the height of clips in timeline when you select to see them without thumbnails…
Jan 17, 2017 - 08:36 AM
Thanks for your feedback! I’ll see if it’s possible to “tweak” things behind the scenes to enable this – but I think it simply might not be possible.
Jan 14, 2017 - 09:14 AM
Hi Chris,
Thanks for all your continued efforts – great piece of time saving software. Keep it up – much appreciated
I had my MacPro Motherboard replaced yesterday.
Now when I boot up I get this error message:
—————————–
| FCPX Hacks v0.77 |
| Created by LateNite Films |
—————————–
> *** ERROR: …rs/brucemacbryde/.hammerspoon/hs/finalcutpro/MenuBar.lua:157: assertion failed!
stack traceback:
[C]: in function ‘assert’
…rs/brucemacbryde/.hammerspoon/hs/finalcutpro/MenuBar.lua:157: in function ‘hs.finalcutpro.MenuBar.findMenuUI’
/Users/brucemacbryde/.hammerspoon/hs/finalcutpro/init.lua:991: in method ‘getCurrentLanguage’
/Users/brucemacbryde/.hammerspoon/hs/fcpxhacks/init.lua:255: in function
(…tail calls…)
[C]: in function ‘rawrequire’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:449: in function ‘require’
/Users/brucemacbryde/.hammerspoon/init.lua:4: in main chunk
[C]: in function ‘xpcall’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:481: in function ‘hs._coresetup.setup’
(…tail calls…)
Jan 14, 2017 - 02:00 PM
Thanks Bruce! I’ll look into this bug and try come up with a fix in the next release.
However, in the meantime, does opening FCPX Hacks with Final Cut Pro NOT opened fix things?
Jan 17, 2017 - 02:32 AM
Welcome to the Hammerspoon Console!
You can run any Lua code in here.
— Lazy extension loading enabled
— Loading ~/.hammerspoon/init.lua
— Loading extension: uielement
*** ERROR: …app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:449: module ‘hs.sharing’ not found:
no field package.preload[‘hs.sharing’]
no file ‘/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs/sharing.lua’
no file ‘/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs/sharing/init.lua’
no file ‘/usr/local/share/lua/5.3/hs/sharing.lua’
no file ‘/usr/local/share/lua/5.3/hs/sharing/init.lua’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/hs/sharing.lua’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/hs/sharing/init.lua’
no file ‘./hs/sharing.lua’
no file ‘./hs/sharing/init.lua’
no file ‘/Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/sharing.lua’
no file ‘/Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/sharing/init.lua’
no file ‘/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs/sharing.so’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/hs/sharing.so’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/loadall.so’
no file ‘./hs/sharing.so’
no file ‘/Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/sharing.so’
no file ‘/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs.so’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/hs.so’
no file ‘/usr/local/lib/lua/5.3/loadall.so’
no file ‘./hs.so’
no file ‘/Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs.so’
stack traceback:
[C]: in function ‘rawrequire’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:449: in function ‘require’
…rs/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs/fcpxhacks/modules/dialog.lua:25: in main chunk
[C]: in function ‘rawrequire’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:449: in function ‘require’
/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/hs/fcpxhacks/init.lua:188: in main chunk
[C]: in function ‘rawrequire’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:449: in function ‘require’
/Users/edit3new/.hammerspoon/init.lua:4: in main chunk
[C]: in function ‘xpcall’
…app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/_coresetup/init.lua:481: in function ‘hs._coresetup.setup’
(…tail calls…)
Jan 17, 2017 - 08:35 AM
Please make sure you’re using the latest version of Hammerspoon (0.9.52) and FCPX Hacks (0.77).
If you’re still having issues, let me know – but it looks like maybe you’re just using an older version of Hammerspoon, or don’t have Hammerspoon installed in the Applications folder.
Jan 20, 2017 - 12:21 AM
First off thank you CHriss for this wonderful tool and the effort to make it even more awesome!!!
In the command editor I managed to assign shortcuts to control color pucks with the mouse; they activate alright, the visual feedback (coloured circle and square) works and looks great but on the colour voard % values jump like crazy and yet nothing happens. Colour pucks get “stuck”. don’t move, don’t breathe… I’m afraid I might have killed the whole family.
Any idea to “re-animate” them? I’ld really like to have this absolutelly brilliant UI idea working. OSX elCap, FCPX 10.3.1
Cheers =)
Jan 24, 2017 - 09:09 AM
Hi Chris, lost you mail so replying this way. Re the reveal in browser not working dual screen. ….or sometimes. I have found it’s related to the primary screen being full screen, (UI, not output) or so I seem to be seeing. However once bouncing in and out of that mode all seems fine.
Mar 10, 2017 - 08:10 PM
Same here!
Mac Pro end 2013
OS 10.12.3
Mar 13, 2017 - 01:47 AM
This will (hopefully) be fixed in the next public version. I’m HOPING to get this out in the wild before the end of the month. Stay tuned!
Feb 03, 2017 - 02:23 AM
Would like to see the timeline play-head “smoothed out” during scrolling and playback when either Play-head Lock or Scrolling is activated.
Would like to see touch bar stay in place after quitting FCPX and restarting, and not remaining on the screen after quitting FCPX, and the ability to resize it.
Space bar during playback is intermittent when HACKS are activated. Not sure if this is a Hammerspoon or Hacks issue.
In summary, BOFCPXHacks does present some lag and performance issues albeit minor.
FCPX 10.3.2
iMac 27-L2012
3.4 i7
32gb Mem
GTX 675mx 1024mb
Feb 03, 2017 - 02:32 AM
Hi Craig,
Thanks for testing out!
I’m not sure if it’s possible to “smooth out” the scrolling timeline – but we’ll have a play. The faster your computer, the better it performs.
The Touch Bar SHOULD stay in place after quitting Final Cut Pro – so there could be some bug preventing this, which I’ll look into. I’m not sure if it’s technically possible to resize the Touch Bar – but I’ll look into it.
Spacebar shouldn’t (in theory at least) be affected by FCPX Hacks or Hammerspoon. We have the latest version of Hammerspoon on all of our machines, and haven’t ever noticed spacebar not working, so not sure what’s going on there.
We’re currently working on a big update and name change for FCPX Hacks, so hopefully we can address your issues in a future update very soon.
Any questions let me know!
Best Regards, Chris!
Feb 04, 2017 - 01:58 PM
It looks like CommandPost is already a product
http://getcommandpost.com
Feb 08, 2017 - 08:19 AM
Yeah, we did notice that – but we’re serving very different markets, so I don’t think there’ll be any confusion.
Feb 08, 2017 - 06:48 AM
Excited to try out all these features! I would like to request a way to Batch Export clips from the Timeline instead of just the browser. Is that possible at all? I have tried it and the export didn’t work. I believe it only works for multiple clips in the browser correct? Thanks!
Feb 08, 2017 - 08:28 AM
Thanks for your message Calen. Yes, currently the Batch Export feature only works for items selected in the browser.
I’ll add the ability to Batch Export from the timeline to the to-do list. In the meantime, something like http://www.clipexporter.com might solve your workflow problem.
Feb 23, 2017 - 09:27 PM
Hey Chris,
I was just wondering… is there any way to hack into the built-in LUTs in FCP X? Is there a folder hidden somewhere containing these basic LUTs that we could add new custom LUTs into?
For people doing feature films this would be massive: if they could select a bunch of clips in the Browser and apply a custom LUT from the Inspector -instead of opening one clip at a time in the timeline, applying a third party plug-in (like Color Finale) and choosing the right LUT- they could save a lot of time in the prepping stage.
Do you think you could make this happen?
Feb 23, 2017 - 09:40 PM
Owwww… that’s a really interesting idea Jesús. There’s definitely some LUT files hidden away in the bundle, but I’ve never experimented with trying to add more. I’ll add it to the wish-list. Priority at the moment is just getting the standalone app out, but once that’s done, we’ll get to experiment with more fun stuff like that. Stay tuned!
Feb 23, 2017 - 10:04 PM
That’s perfect, Chris!
Looking forward to try the standalone app when it’s ready. BTW, I think the name change is a good idea. Most people are scared of the word “Hack”, I wonder why? :-)
Mar 28, 2017 - 07:22 PM
Hi Chris,
Thanks for this potentially very useful piece of code !
What i which to do is adding an effect (preset as one of the shortcut effects) directly to a clip, just by hitting a shortcut (or more probably by acting on a controller which generate the shortcut command, via midistroke or controllermate), can you confirm FCPX Hacks can do that ?
Ok when i launch it and first try to update the effect list, nothing happens, and the console shows this message :
2017-03-28 10:13:09: ********
> ERROR: LuaSkin: hs.menubar:setClickCallback() callback error: …oliktok/.hammerspoon/hs/fcpxhacks/modules/fcpx10-2-3.lua:2041: attempt to index a nil value
stack traceback:
…oliktok/.hammerspoon/hs/fcpxhacks/modules/fcpx10-2-3.lua:2041: in function ‘updateEffectsList’ [10:13:09]
2017-03-28 10:13:09: ********
Would you have any idea of where would this come from ?
Thank you very much in advance,
Olivier
Mar 28, 2017 - 07:58 PM
Hi Olivier,
Thanks for testing out FCPX Hacks!
It looks like you’re using Final Cut Pro 10.2.3 – is that correct?
If so, I would STRONGLY recommend updating to Final Cut Pro 10.3.2.
Feel free to email me directly with any further questions!
https://latenitefilms.com/contact/
Best Regards, Chris!
Mar 31, 2017 - 11:15 PM
Have you thought about a way to customize proxy files? Should be good to be able to choose resolution and so on…
Apr 01, 2017 - 12:15 PM
I would LOVE to do this. Unfortunately though, I haven’t yet worked out where Apple hides this data. I’ll keep hunting!
Apr 15, 2017 - 03:56 AM
Hello,
Thanks for sharing to amazing script.
I tested on my hackintosh and everything is perfect.
however
I have to different gpu amd 7970 and Nvidia 980ti
When I render video footage final cut pro doesn’t work with amd 7970
Is there anyway to choosing gpu on final cut pro with your script and did you thing about multi gpu on final cut pro ?
Cheers
Apr 15, 2017 - 03:59 AM
Good question! I don’t believe there’s a way to select which GPU Final Cut Pro uses – but I’ve never really looked into it.
This might be of interest though: https://latenitefilms.com/blog/fcpxs-hidden-debug-preferences/
Thanks so much for testing out FCPX Hacks! We’re hoping to release CommandPost (a version of FCPX Hacks that doesn’t require Hammerspoon), very soon. Stay tuned.
Apr 25, 2017 - 11:10 PM
Hi – running Commandpost on MacPro 2013/FCPX 10.3.3 and all good so far :)
I would LOVE to have the ability to close specific projects that are open in the timeline if this is possible
May 10, 2017 - 11:03 AM
Sorry for the delayed reply. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there’s any way to “close” projects in Final Cut Pro.
Nov 20, 2017 - 03:57 AM
Fantastic post as well as great guidance! This article is very useful and helpful for us. Thanks for spreading valuable info.
Dec 17, 2017 - 07:04 PM
about this stupid dupe detection, which seems nobody wants since years,
ok we probably flew to the moon, GMO, AI, quantum physics .. but hey, this is not easy apple! also never done before, only 2 or 3 programmers at apple, they are not able to do miracles, no money for that!
sorr’, but if the timeline is not rendered, there u can see this little grey spots, where it is not rendered, how could this possibly be?
is it magic stuff from outher space?
Dec 17, 2017 - 11:38 PM
For what it’s worth, I have a proof of concept for a dupe detection-ish feature that I may add to CommandPost at some point.
From an end user perspective… you press a shortcut key (or HUD button, Touch Bar button, Stream Deck button, MIDI button or voice command for that matter), and it will add blank “adjustment layers” to the top of duplicate frames within a timeline. Easy!
Behind the scenes what I’m doing is:
1) Getting timecode of the current playhead position and saving it for later use
2) Triggering “Edit > Copy”
3) Triggering “Edit > Select All”
4) Triggering “Edit > Delete”
5) Reading the Pasteboard data, and by using each clips filename and timecode, working out what’s a duplicate frame, and then inserting a named adjustment layer on top of the duplicate frames.
7) Save the modified Pasteboard data back to the Pasteboard.
6) Triggering “Edit > Paste”
7) Writing the original playhead timecode to the Pasteboard as text
7) Triggering the “Paste Timecode” keyboard shortcut (as it annoyingly doesn’t have a menu item).
Because the Pasteboard XML is undocumented, it’s gonna require a fair amount or work and testing to get it going reliably. Also dealing with speed effects, timebases with decimal places, drop frames, etc. will be a massive pain in the butt.
If this is a feature though that you’d really like, let me know!