Final Cut Pro / After Effects conform notes

(Because you are too broke to purchase Automatic Duck.)

There may also be a better way of doing things, but this is the way I have done things.

In After Effects, ultimately you want a project split up with each clip on its own layer.

1. Declare picture lock. If you make any changes to your edit, it will be difficult / a pain in the ass to change your After Effects project.
2. From FCP, break up your project into their own scenes/reels/timelines. Export out each scene as a self-contained movie.
3. Keep track of all cross dissolves used, any speed ramps you want to put in, and any effects you want to add. These need to be manually re-created.
4. Move everything onto a single track.
5. You probably want to remove all effects before exporting. Backup your FCP project, duplicate the timelines, select all your clips, right/crtl-click any clip and use paste event attributes to remove filters.
6. Also export an EDL from FCP.
7. In After Effects, import your clip. Open up After Effects onto one side of your screen, and open the EDL in a text editor on the other side of the screen.
8. There is a shortcut for splitting the track into 2 separate layers (I can't remember this shortcut off the top of my head). Use the EDL to figure out the timecode where edits occur. Move the playhead to that timecode (you can type this into AE). Then you use the shortcut to split your clips into new layers.
   Rinse and repeat. This may take a while. (But hey, it ain't as bad as rotoscoping.)
9. Re-create any effects that need to be re-created. You may need to export individual clips from FCP into AE.
10. Quality control! Check that you aren't missing any effects and that everything is frame accurate.

Also do a round-trip from FCP to AE and back, exporting a clip to AE and importing it back into FCP. Put the imported clip on a layer on top of the original clip and check that the colors match. There are certain codec combinations that can cause problems.

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