Welcome to the "Quick EDL Maker", or qEDL, info page. qEDL is a web tool for creating a cuts only Edit Decision List and saving it as a file on your computer. The file generated is a CMX 3600 formatted, non-drop frame, EDL readable in any on/off line editing system that supports CMX formatted Edit Decision Lists.

News - 17 Jan 2006

Well, I've finally posted a new version, v0.95. The feature set is extended to include audio tracks 1 and 2 on a per shot basis. The audio checkbox is 'sticky', so that it stays on or off each shot, unless you switch it the other way. I also added some improvements to error checking, too. The reel names no longer accept characters that are not part of the CMX 3600 format, and would be rejected by other applications. I've left a link to the older version, just in case.

Overview

The main idea is to save typing in expensive suites when setting up to capture material. It is also, with a little practice, much faster than typing in expensive suites; after a few goes you can really fly with this thing.

This can be handy if you have a session that requires you to effect/color/treat a dozen or so shots off out of an hour or more of program. It's an easy way to get a paper list into magnetic form. An EDL in magnetic form can easily be printed out, whereas a paper list cannon easily be emailed. It is generally assumed that an EDL made this way is for purposes of capturing material, rather than something that will be conformed into a finished program, but if want to edit an entire show this way...go right ahead. You can retype or debug stubborn or unreadable lists. Sometimes software will output an EDL that isn't really readable in an on-line suite. Sometimes you spill coffee on a perfectly good capture list.

Features

• Create an EDL in 24, 25 and 30 frame mode.
• Add clip names for each shot.
• Add frame counts in 24, 25, and 30 fps of shot duration as EDL comments.
• If your list is NTSC, frame counts will include both the source counts, and counts after 3:2 is removed.
• Self correcting input blocks user from entering bogus timecode.
• Nice clean readout of timecode as you type, thereby reducing errors.
• Accepts out point in frames, just type " * "or " f " as the first character in the out-point box, and qEDL will calculate your endpoint in timecode, respecting you frame mode.
• The "." key expands into "00" for speedy input. Just like real machines.

Usage

This thing is all about the <TAB> key.

The Short Story:

The Gory Details:

First thing, select a timebase. On the right of the top pane are three radio buttons, set it here. Don't forget! I have on several occasions started lists and realized a few lines in that I really wanted a 24p EDL and not a 30. You can do this via the TAB and spacebar keys, and <SHIFT> TAB back to the title box. The default timebase is NTSC 30 fps. Either way get back to the Title box.
When you first load the page your cursor will be parked in a text box called "title". So type in the title you want for the EDL and the program within, this will also be the file name saved to your disk. So use the TAB key to advance the cursor to the next item, the "start" button, hit return and you should see nascent EDL show up in the progress pane.

Now you're in the loop. TAB again and you'll be in the shot box. I left this here in case someone wants to append to an existing EDL, but for the majority of cases just TAB over it and leave it at 001.
It will automatically increment each line you enter.
This is true even if you manually enter a shot number, e.g. 041, when you send the current line the shot box will increment to 042.
You can be a bit sloppy here, as the form will auto-correct '3' into '003' and '19' into '019' etc. It's good practice to use leading zeros.
TAB over to the "reel" box and enter the name of the reel that this particular shot is coming from. The default "XFER01" because it has to say something, so I chose some hard to understand abbreviation that production would use for "transfer reel one". You will probably want to change it. It will stay the same each time unless you tell it otherwise, but you can change it each shot in case you want to enter a multi-reel list. Remember to try and keep try to keep consistent with tape labeling(!) You get eight characters, and no funny stuff, @#$%^&*() ; ' " - or spaces.

Next stop is the Frame Counts toggle. This can easily be flown over by TABbing to the next box, but a quick tap on the space bar will check the box, and then each shot's length in frames will be added as an EDL comment. If your list is in 30 fps timebase, the length of the shot after the 3:2 pulldown is removed is appended to the comment. Nice.

TAB again and you'll be in the IN box. Just type the in-point of the shot, and the timecode will be displayed in the timecode monitor area as you type, with colons and everything just where they need to be. Don't type colons or anything else, just numbers. Thanks to Nate Reid for help with the char codes here. There is a lot of error trapping going on here, so it's pretty hard to enter bogus (in the true meaning of the word) timecode. The surrounding pane will flash red if it sees input it doesn't like. Hard but not impossible, the characters above the main keyboard numbers !@#$%^&*() are not caught automatically

The "." (period) will expand out to "00", just like the real machines do. *see the Notes section for any browser incompatibility here.

If you make a mistake, use the backspace key to back up, the timecode should adjust accordingly, including the ":" separators. With qEDL you should never have to worry about typing a ":" .

Once you have entered the in point, TAB to the out point box, enter the out point for the shot. When you move from the OUT point box to the clip name box, qEDL will check to make sure that the OUT point is not before the IN point, thus avoiding another pitfall of hand-entered lists. If you erroneously enter an OUT point that is earlier on the reel than the IN, the time code monitor numbers, the big ones, will turn red (pinkish really) to indicate that you need to re-enter the OUT point.

True of both boxes, you can't enter invalid code, that is if you try to enter 01:22:13:31, which would choke any on/off-line machine (there's no 31 frames allowed ;-), qEDL won't let you type that "3" in the first column of the frame count. Same with entering 01:62:something. qEDL won't buy the "6", it will back up over it and flash the box red. It used to make a little beep or honk when you make such an invalid entry, but I can't remember why that broke. I had it working. Whatever.

Back to finishing up, after you TAB from the OUT point box, you'll be in the Clip Name box. This is optional, but mostly helpful. It is a hallmark of good vfx editors, naming shots.

TAB to the next button, "GO", and press enter (you could use the mouse, but it'd blow your rhythm). The first line of your EDL will appear in the list out area.

When you press return on the GO button, your cursor will be back up in the shot box, which has now incremented by 1. TAB-reel; TAB-frame counts?; TAB-in point; TAB-out point; TAB-clip name?; TAB-go (send line).

Repeat as necessary! You'll find a rhythm real quick with the TAB key, and soon you'll be cranking out 50 shot lists in non time.

When you have all the shots in, click on the "SAVE FILE" button over to your right. You'll probably need to mouse over to this one. This will bring up a save as file dialog box. Hit save. If you like, read the file into a text editor to see that it looks OK. Make more.

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Known limitations (bugs)

• There is no 'undo'. No easy one anyhow. If you do send a line that you really don't want, you can select it in the listout pane and delete it, but be sure to leave the EDL in progress ending in a newline character. In other words make sure the cursor is sitting first thing on a new line. Otherwise confusion can ensue.
• Some Safari versions do not support "tab index", and therefore ruin the whole effect. I had a version that forced focus on the next box, but this became unwieldy if you wanted to fix something manually, with the cursor flying around the where it though you should be and all.
• Opera has a rather unique way or assigning ASCII codes from the numpad, so the "." into "00" functions are disabled if qEDL sniffs out Opera. Too bad, it was just too hard to fix.
• Drop-frame timecode not supported, and since it's such a dumb idea, it never will be.
• If I get enough feedback/complaints, it might be possible to change these things. Let me know.

Other off campus uses

• Can be used to add clip names.
• Can be used as a frame calculator with "Frame Counts" turned on, both before and after cine compressing (3:2 removal).
• Can be used as timecode calculator using frame input.

Notes

You must use leading zeros in the in and out point boxes, e.g. "011512" as opposed to "11512". This is not only required for qEDL to work properly, but is is a good habit to be in. Thinking timecode without leading zeros is just bad form.

Your browser should open a save as dialog when you go to save your EDL, if it does not, then there is some kind of MIME type setting on your side. At the very least, the cgi should send back plain text, so whatever appears in your browser can be saved as plain text easily.

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About

Well, qEDL started life as a perl script, back in '99. I wrote it at the behest of myself, as I found in New York during the Web Boom Years I was getting a lot of crap lists sent to my Flame suite. Turns out everyone capable of being an avid assist, or even editor, was making bank down the street at stockbubble.com, and all they had to do there was show up. I found myself on the phone with editors around town scrawling time code onto bits of paper, so that conforms would work... I first distributed the script by email and posting on flame-news. It was later added to the fxguide.com tips and tricks section, where, as of Dec. 2005, it still lives along with a link to this page. The logical extension was to "web-ify" it so it would become more accessible and easier to use. I actually use this thing a lot. Now it's late stage beta, but I still hope it gets some improvements as people pass along ideas and suggestions. Which, I might add, I have had a few, and would like to thank those that contributed their suggestions.

More feedback is always welcome, and judging by the number of hits on the page vs. the number of people I've heard from, I'd say people are being quite shy. That's fine but you needn't be too shy, especially if something doesn't work. If you're having trouble please don't assume it's being fixed. I do not know about it! (or I would have fixed it). If you're reading this far into it, you might be a good candidate(!). The easiest way is to use the Contact link at the top, or just click that word.

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