Utilities

In addition to creating award winning work, I also make Totally Awesome Utilities!

Rob's Timecode Calculator

I was editing a video that had a gap that was seven seconds long, but with three pieces of footage to fill it, and I just wanted to know how long each clip should be, if they were all the same length. So, because there were several instances like this in that project, instead of doing the math over and over, I wrote out a timecode calculator that I could type in timecode shorthand that behaved just like Premiere. I posted it online, and now it’s number one on Google SERP for “timecode calculator”. Pretty good for totally organic SEO!

Rob's Totally Awesome Utilities

As an intellectual exercise, I created my first After Effects script – CM Barndoors, a script that created simulated barndoors for virtual lights in After Effects – and posted it online at aescripts.com. To be honest, I never use it, but a lot of people downloaded it, so I created Quick Add, a script that lets you add new layers to your After Effects compositions, for a guy in my department. Now, I’m collecting all my utility scripts into a package called Rob’s Totally Awesome Utilities, and launched the first new script – Marker Maestro, After Effects’ missing Markers panel – with more to come!