Support for Image Sequence References in Final Cut 7 XML Adapter

[jminor]

Feature Request

It would be great if the Final Cut 7 XML adapter supported ImageSequenceReferences.

Description

I'm not sure if/how the FCP 7 XML format handles image sequences, so this would need some investigation or expertise to figure out the right way to convert them back and forth.

Context

At the moment, if an OTIO has ImageSequenceReferences in it, then it can only be converted to a couple of other formats (RV and xges). There is an open PR adding support for ImageSequenceReferences in the EDL adapter here: #804

[jminor]

For reference, the FCP 7 XML format is documented here: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Reference/FinalCutPro_XML/AboutThisDoc/AboutThisDoc.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30001152-TPXREF101

[jminor]

This would be great in the FCP X XML adapter also, but that is a separate code base, so would need to be implemented separately.

[werwack]

Hello, I'm using OTIO with a Blender add-on named Shot Manager (available here) and I'm facing the same issue with the XML file format. This format is already poorly supported by Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve but it's better that nothing. It would be really great if at least we could generate a clean file with OTIO. Thank you very much for your attention to this point :)

[reinecke]

From @ BorisMolchanov:

It looks like the if/elif clause starting at line 1459 is doesn't account for ImageSequenceReferences. fcp_xml.py#L1459

When I try to create a timeline using the XML adapter, I get this error:

line 1492, in _build_file
text=(media_reference.name or fallback_file_name),
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'fallback_file_name' referenced before assignment

It's look like it's impossible to create correct XML with timeline from image sequence now.

[reinecke]

@werwack or @borismolchanov - Do you happen to have any examples of FCP 7 XML with working image sequences? I'm not sure if maybe there is an informal convention for communicating these (like we see in EDL files) or if this would have to be done by making a clip per frame in the timeline.

[BorisMolchanov]

@reinecke I can generate XML timeline with working image sequences, for example with Hiero. If necessary, I can attach it here. But it looks like if we import an sequence to Hiero and then export XML timeline, we still get ExternalReference. Then it will work correctly in Hiero itself, but will not work in DaVinci Resolve, for example.