LUIS: Save Current Frame shortcut?

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Level 7

24,242 points

LUIS: Save Current Frame shortcut?

Three years ago you created an Automator script to save every frame of video which had a marker attached.

Since then I have wiped my Mac and lost the script.

I am now going back over your old instructions but I can't get the "Save Current Frame" shortcut to work, possibly because the FCP and System Preferences windows are now different.

These are your original instructions . . .

1) Start by going to Preferences->Destinations, create a destination based on Save Current Frame, give it a descriptive name and choose the type of still image you want.

2) Go to System Preferences->Keyboard->Shortcuts and assign the desired shortcut. You have to type the name of the destination exactly as it appears in the Share menu:

Be sure to test this by pressing the shortcut in FCP X to make sure it is working.

However, these are the windows as they appear in the current versions . . .

I have written "Save Current Frame" with and without 3 dots after it but each time I press the 4 keys my computer simply bleeps to signify I am doing something wrong.

Can you help please?

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.5

Posted on Jun 9, 2022 6:15 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 9, 2022 7:10 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I am on my iPhone now so it’s not so easy to see the details (or to write detailed instructions).

But let me start with the matter of “Destinations” in FCP.

First, you can add as many as you want, and NAME them in any way you want. So if you want to mimic the way it looks in the old instructions, you can - just click to select, press enter and edit the name.

Second, all it matters is that there IS a shortcut, and the script then “types it”, as needed. In other words, it must match the chosen shortcut. In the present case, your Save Current Frame seems to be the default, so it already has a shortcut, Command-E

I will have to go for now, but I will try to look at this again later, or perhaps tomorrow, as will have a relatively long drive ahead.

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Answer 2

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,242 points

Jun 9, 2022 8:47 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I have got your old script working perfectly but I have discovered a flaw . . . FCP X takes so long to Save Current Frame that it is just as quick to do it manually!

Anyway, here it is if anyone would like to experiment. The script will make copies of every frame containing a marker.

Note that I have limited the number of markers to 10 . . . you can put in any number of your choice.

on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Final Cut Pro 10.6.3"

activate

end tell

tell application "System Events"

keystroke "2" using {command down} (* activate timeline *)

key code 115 (* Home - move cursor to start of playhead *)

set markers to 10 (* change this number to whatever you want *)

repeat with i from 1 to markers

keystroke "'" using {control down} (* go to next marker *)

delay 1

keystroke "e" using {command down}

key code 76 (* enter *)

delay 1

keystroke "frame"

delay 1

keystroke text -4 thru -1 of ("000" & i)

delay 1

key code 76 (* enter *)

delay 1

keystroke "2" using {command down}

end repeat

end tell

end run

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Answer 3

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,242 points

Jun 9, 2022 6:55 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I forgot to mention that the Automator script not only saved current frames at all the markers but it numbered them consecutively as well.

Here is the original thread but it's rather convoluted!

Is there a faster way to "Save Current Fr… - Apple Community

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Answer 4

Jun 11, 2022 3:00 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

I am glad that you got it working.

The thing about it taking so long is tricky: as we are programatically simulating the pressing of keys, the computer can in fact do it much much faster than we can. The problem is that some processes take longer than others, and if we were to press the keys too quickly, some keypresses may get lost or end up affecting the wrong window or dialog.

The quick and dirty way to prevent this is to add a bit of delay to the script. That is what all the "delay 1" instructions are doing.

By testing carefully, we may be able to remove or shorten some of these delays.

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Answer 5

Ian R. Brown Author

Level 7

24,242 points

Jun 12, 2022 1:30 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I didn't mean the delay was caused by the script.

The manual process of FCP producing a still image is incredibly slow and is the weak link.

There is a noticeable pause when going from window to window and on hitting Save it can take well over 5 seconds to create a still image. One would expect the making of a .jpg/.png etc. to be no more than one second.

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