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I would like to find all clips in my timeline that have a specificcally named effect added to it ("Balance Color," "Epicolor," etc.) Any idea how to do this other than click through every clip and look?
Situation: One of my effects plugins was causing trouble. I want to find every timeline clip that uses that plugin and had to click on every clip in the timeline to inspect if I applied that efx.
iMac 27″, macOS 10.15
You can make it searchable if you make creating notes for each clip a bit of a habit.
If you open the timeline index, there should be a Notes section. If not, right click on the Name/Position bar and add Notes.
Alternatively, you can add Notes to the Information Inspector in the metadata views. Basic or Settings are good locations. If you select the metadata category at the bottom left of the Info inspector > Edit Metadata View...
Find and add Notes
Accept.
You can then add your notes in the info inspector which I prefer to opening the timeline index.
When you're adding effects to a clip, you can type the effects used into Notes, e.g.: "color balance, epicolor" etc...
The Notes field is searchable in the Timeline Index.
If you use effects that tend to be subject to "interruptions" in version changes (as PFS effects seem to be), you may want to make a habit of notating where it is being used in this manner.
You can make it searchable if you make creating notes for each clip a bit of a habit.
If you open the timeline index, there should be a Notes section. If not, right click on the Name/Position bar and add Notes.
Alternatively, you can add Notes to the Information Inspector in the metadata views. Basic or Settings are good locations. If you select the metadata category at the bottom left of the Info inspector > Edit Metadata View...
Find and add Notes
Accept.
You can then add your notes in the info inspector which I prefer to opening the timeline index.
When you're adding effects to a clip, you can type the effects used into Notes, e.g.: "color balance, epicolor" etc...
The Notes field is searchable in the Timeline Index.
If you use effects that tend to be subject to "interruptions" in version changes (as PFS effects seem to be), you may want to make a habit of notating where it is being used in this manner.
Depending on how long your project timeline is, this may or may not be worth the effort. If you export the project as an FCPXML and open it in a text editor, you should be able to search for the effect name. I did a quick test and applied the Comic Sepia effect to a Lines generator clip then exported to an FCPXML. Here's a snippet:
<video name="Lines" offset="35024990/120000s" ref="r7" duration="12012000/120000s" start="86486400/24000s">
<filter-video ref="r8" name="Comic Sepia"/>
</video>
The clip start time is the offset="35024990/120000s" which is 291.87 seconds in, or approximately 04:51.
Thanks. This seems the best solution for me. I had tried the XML route but was confused on how to read the text. Explaining the offset code is the missing key. (Still, it should be possible for FCP to integrate an effects search field in the Index window. I must suggest that to the developers)
Great solution, I often forget about notes.
In this case I have over 900 clips in my project and to take the time to enter notes for the effects in in each clip would be beyond my patience.
That said, I need to use Notes more, it's a great tool.
Thank you.
Use the Timeline Index?
EDIT: I tried and it does not seem to be possible to search the timeline index for applied effects, so this is no go.
Search timeline for applied clip effect.
