TOPIC:

Thanks Joe. Sorry for the bother. I could've tracked things down if I had a copy (or access to) the original file. Kevyn had uploaded it to your "drop box" location...

DaveM wrote:

...I could've tracked things down if I had a copy (or access to) the original file....

Dave, sorry about that. This is a link to the original project .fcpxml file: www.dropbox.com/s/xts7yh6r37o7ihb/Episod...ouis.fcpxml.zip?dl=0

joema wrote:

DaveM wrote:

...I could've tracked things down if I had a copy (or access to) the original file....

Dave, sorry about that. This is a link to the original project .fcpxml file: www.dropbox.com/s/xts7yh6r37o7ihb/Episod...ouis.fcpxml.zip?dl=0

No problem. I reconstructed the original XML using the diffs you provided.

The "problem" file is a PDF file. I used a test Project in FCP and added a PDF file to the timeline, then exported the Project/timeline as XML. I compared my XML with the one provided by Kevyn. I couldn't detect any obvious issues, as the syntax and overall contents for the similar elements were fine.

The file is used/referenced a couple of times ("media" tag and "ref-clip" tag). Removing either or both of those tag contents still yields an error on import into FCP. Only removing the two "tag" items and the file's "asset" and "format" tag contents allow the XML to import, as you mentioned with your testing.

Without the offending items (that you discovered), the XML imports but has several warnings, which is not ideal.

According to the original error dialog when trying to import the original XML file:



has me a bit confused. In the FCP XML Reference pages it says that if a file isn't located at its prescribed URL, then an offline clip is created. But, the error message says "insufficient data" and "no such file or directory", which don't make much sense to me.

Update:
I just did a test, using my sample Project/timeline, containing a PDF file, that I had exported as an XML. I compressed the PDF file in the Finder and deleted the original PDF file. I then imported the XML, which worked previously, and FCP threw the same error dialog as above. So, something is preventing FCP from simply making an offline reference to the PDF file. After uncompressing the PDF file to get the original, the XML once again imported without any issue.

This still leaves the other warnings that we see when importing the "edited" version of the XML file that Kevyn provided...

Cheers.

P.S. - Resolve 18.1.4 will even import the XML file without error, saying that a file is missing... oh well...

Kevyn, as it stands I would recommend that you consider using "transfer Libraries" with your editor to pass different Project/timeline versions between you.

Simply make a new Library, then select the Project you'd like to transfer and use the "File -> Copy Project to Library ->" command to make the transfer Library. Close the Library and compress it in the Finder. Then, put it in a folder on Dropbox named "From Kevyn". The editor can put his/her versions in a folder "To Kevyn". Or, do something similar.

In lieu of using something like PostLab, the transfer Library method may be more robust than relying on exchanging XML files. Transfer Libraries shouldn't be too large if you only include Project/timeline info and no temp/generated files.

Cheers.

Good Morning Joema / ALCON
The file worked. I did get a summary "warning" error report after the import. I'm still reconnecting some media but for the purposes of see the project TLs this keeps me moving. I can't thank you and the other enough. This operation is way above my lane.

I see other entries have been posted on this thread to include recommendations for a different workflow. I'll catch up on those now.
Kevyn-

Hi DaveM
These project TLs can be a little large. I'm going to test this workflow on Tuesday after I return to my drives. I'll report back to the thread.

The editor will not be working again until June 8th, so I won't get the next projects until late June. I can letdown the best way forward heading into Ep 3.
Thanks
Kevyn

DC-CD wrote:

Hi DaveM
These project TLs can be a little large. I'm going to test this workflow on Tuesday after I return to my drives. I'll report back to the thread.

The editor will not be working again until June 8th, so I won't get the next projects until late June. I can letdown the best way forward heading into Ep 3.
Thanks
Kevyn

Kevyn, as a test, I took the Project/timeline in the XML file you provided ("Episode 2 louis") and copied it to a new Library in FCP. That Library was 94.3 MB in size, 23.3 MB after compressing it. That is quite small, actually. It should be easy enough to share. For comparison, the "Episode 2.9 louis.fcpxml" file is 6.4 MB, so the Library version is about 4 times the size...

And, to repeat, if you use a transfer Library to share Projects/timelines with your editor you may not get those other warning messages. XML files can't replicate the entire "state" represented by an actual Library file.


Cheers.

DaveM wrote:

Kevyn, as it stands I would recommend that you consider using "transfer Libraries" with your editor to pass different Project/timeline versions between you.

Simply make a new Library, then select the Project you'd like to transfer and use the "File -> Copy Project to Library ->" command to make the transfer Library...

I basically agree with this, however what about first copying the project to a transfer event, then moving the event to the transfer library? Is that still necessary? We used to always recommend that to avoid several problems, but I don't know if it's still needed.

Sam Mestman discusses this from 06:30 to 11:00 in the below video. He demonstrates it on a Lumaforge NAS but it's not unique to a NAS. "Final Cut Pro X Virtual User Group #7":

If a transfer *library* is used that can work well if all media and cache are external. I would recommend the library always be ZIPed before uploading, downloading or even before copying to another hard drive. It is internally complex and the single ZIPed file makes the upload/download/copy go faster and more reliably. ZIP also embeds a CRC check to ensure the recipient either receives a good file or gets an unambiguous error when unzipping it.

Also, based on Dave's research, after fixing the other problems with media files lacking file extensions, the only problem with the project XML is a single .PDF file being used as an image. That is "Bud%20Farrell%204.pdf".

Today I fixed that by simply renaming that one file in the XML to "Bud%20Farrell%204.jpg". The XML seemed to load and the project ran OK (at least without any media). That may avoid deleting the other lines in the XML. The XML import still got those other lower-severity warnings, but I'm not sure that's related to the main problems.

Upon reviewing supported still-image media types in FCP, I don't think PDF is officially supported:

 support.apple.com/en-us/HT209029

PDFs seem to import and display, at least on the few tests I did, but if the PDF media file is missing the XML will not load.

PDF is a complex file type with many different versions. Even if it was somehow supported by FCP I would not use it myself for an image because it seems inherently prone to compatibility issues in an NLE. So I've never encountered this before myself.

However FCP should not reject the entire XML just because a PDF is listed and doesn't exist on disk. Due to the apparent non-support of PDF in FCP, it's possible the fix might be to disallow importing PDFs.

joema wrote:

Also, based on Dave's research, after fixing the other problems with media files lacking file extensions, the only problem with the project XML is a single .PDF file being used as an image. That is "Bud%20Farrell%204.pdf".

Today I fixed that by simply renaming that one file in the XML to "Bud%20Farrell%204.jpg". The XML seemed to load and the project ran OK (at least without any media). That may avoid deleting the other lines in the XML. The XML import still got those other lower-severity warnings, but I'm not sure that's related to the main problems.

Upon reviewing supported still-image media types in FCP, I don't think PDF is officially supported:

 support.apple.com/en-us/HT209029

PDFs seem to import and display, at least on the few tests I did, but if the PDF media file is missing the XML will not load.

PDF is a complex file type with many different versions. Even if it was somehow supported by FCP I would not use it myself for an image because it seems inherently prone to compatibility issues in an NLE. So I've never encountered this before myself.

However FCP should not reject the entire XML just because a PDF is listed and doesn't exist on disk. Due to the apparent non-support of PDF in FCP, it's possible the fix might be to disallow importing PDFs.

I've often used PDF files, especially for vector graphics (logos, etc.). Ripple Training did a couple of tutorials about using PDFs in FCP, as well as in Motion. FXFactory Pro includes "PDF Animator". There are other tools that provide support for PDFs and other files in FCP. Plus, I thought that from day one, PDF files (most, if not all) were supported as a native file format for Mac OS X (now macOS), so you'd think that FCP would support PDFs by default.

In any event, I'd say that it's a bug in FCP's XML parsing on import to stop with an error when a PDF was referenced in an XML file. If the file referenced is where it it's supposed to be, it loads. So, that implies some sort of support. Any file that's "missing" should be treated as an "offline clip" according to the FCP XML Reference.

As I mentioned before, Resolve reads that same XML file with no problem...