Problem Importing Tiff Sequences

Hi Everyone

Can anyone help with a problem importing numbered .tiff sequences into FCP 10.2.2.

This is a bit complicated to explain but here we go..

We work a lot with CGI sequences supplied to us as numbered .tiff files in individually named folders, e.g. 'Scene 01' 'Scene 02' etc...

We usually import these named folders into an event using 'Leave Files In Place' and 'Keywords From Folders'. The Keyword Collections then appear named as the folders, 'Scene 01' 'Scene 02' etc. We append each scene to the timeline and change the duration to 1 frame before moving on.

So far so ordinary.

The problem comes when we are given folders where two or more sequences share the same file numbers e.g. 'Scene 01' starts with tif.0001 tif.0002 tif.0003 etc. And 'Scene 02' also starts with tif.0001 tif.0002 tif.0003 etc.

When this is the case, FCP seems to lose track of which tiffs are in which Keyword Collections (or folders on the drive) so when a scene is placed on the timeline the tiffs are totally jumbled up, different tiffs from different folders all over the place! (It's not just the timeline. The problem is also apparent in the Browser.)

We also tried importing the tiff folders as discrete, separate events thinking this may stop them getting mixed up. But same problem.

As a workaround we are rendering the problem scenes as movies and importing those, but that's time-wasting and a bit rubbish.

Does anyone have experience with this problem or could help?

Many thanks

John G

Yeah, importing multiple files with the same name will give you headaches in most applications, including FCPX. It is just a flat out bad idea. I strongly recommend changing your workflow, so that image sequence numbers include a project or scene number in the naming scheme. Or, use Compressor, Motion, or QT7 Pro to convert them to QT movie files first.

Hi Ben

Ahh! I see.. Odd I've never come across that before. But yep, looks like we need to remind our client not to give us sequences with identical numbers...

Thanks for the reply.

John G

There are also Batch renamers you can use if your client forgets.

John, are you using the latest FCPX version? I thought the last update or so added additional info (Date and Time stamp) in the file name to take care of this problem with unique full names/file path. This also used to show up from camera file names being duplicated when you imported clips then erased cam cards and clips would then have same file name & #s from second time around.

You can now batch rename directly in OS X system wide in Finder. Just highlight files, right click and choose "Rename X items…". If you then click on the top pop up box and choose "Format" then "Name and Index" you can add any name+# to the files.
Haven't tried this inside FCPX but you might try it.

Hope this helps, Greg

Renaming inside FCPX doesn't rename the file on the hard drive.

You can now batch rename directly in OS X system wide in Finder. Just highlight files, right click and choose "Rename X items…". If you then click on the top pop up box and choose "Format" then "Name and Index" you can add any name+# to the files.

Hey Greg

Thanks for the above. I haven't had time to experiment inside FCP yet, but batch renaming the files in the Finder like this is just what we need. Just tried it. Brilliant!

John G

You are welcome John.
Happy Editing
Greg