How to ...

The standard settings of Markerbox will do a good job. If you don't feel comfortable with modifying the settings in Javascript or if you only need Markerbox once in a while simply work with the default settings and skip the next two chapters.

But if you have rather complex projects, with lots of timecode-based information to import, it's definitely worth spending some time on experimenting with settings and familiarizing yourself with this way of working. Especially the rules, of which you can add as many as you like, can be a very powerful tool that can save you a lot of time and make your workflow more efficient.

To open (or close) the Markerbox settings click on the button [ Settings ] in the Markerbox panel. This will open a Javascript file in another panel, in which the Markerbox settings are defined as variables. So, yes, you will need to edit some Javascript, but it's not as complicated as it may sound at first.

Simply look for the variables beginning with PREF_ and modify their values. You will find brief descriptions above each variable, explaining what that setting does and how to set the value.

Important: After modifying values you must save the settings for them to become active. If you close the settings panel, without saving, all changes will be lost.

Markerbox has a built-in syntax check to avoid saving settings with coding errors. Nevertheless, should it ever happen that Markerbox doesn't work as expected, after you modified the settings, simply click on [ reset to default ] in the settings panel — and everything should work fine again.

The Markerbox rules in the settings may look a little complicated, if you are new to coding, but that's not too difficult either: Each line represents one rule and may look like this: ["John", 7, "Comment"]. Let's say this is for importing client feedback from Vimeo: Markerbox will then create markers for all of John's review comments with the color 7 (teal) and the marker type "Comment". By adding a rule for each reviewer on your project you can assign different colors to different reviewers.

Based on such rules, Markerbox will not only find "John" but also "John Smith" or "John Doe". So Markerbox compares the beginning of the name and doesn't look for an exact match. In case you have more than one John on your project simply enter the full names into the rules, as they appear on Vimeo (or where ever you are importing from).

There is a good reason why Markerbox matches the beginning of a name and not the entire name: Let's take a different rule to demonstrate this: ["Concert 3", 4, "Segmentation"]. Let's assume this is for importing a sound EDL of a soundmix containing sound recordings of 3 different concerts. The individual cue-point names might be "Concert 2 strings", "Concert 2 drums", "Concert 2 piano" and so on. By comparing only the beginning of the cue-point names, Markerbox allows you to easily give all recordings of concert 2 the color 4 (yellow), no matter what comes after that part of the name. So you don't need to create a rule for each individual recording, but you can group recordings with only a few rules.

What kind of rules actually make sense depends on many factors of your project and on your personal way of working. If you have only 3 reviews or edits to consider it's probably not even worth importing these as markers at all. If it doesn't make a difference to you from whom your feedback comes then simply import all comments with the standard color and don't bother about creating rules. But on complex projects, whenever you need to import timecode-related information, rules can be a big time-saver, because colored markers are faster to spot on your timeline.

Markerbox 0.8.2 now has an "intelligent" text editor that allows you to paste times oder timecodes from spreadsheets, emails or other sources. The data will be analyzed and converted into markers in your active sequence. Optionally, you can paste additional information, such as marker types or colors, names and comments. This information will override your settings.

There are a few simple rules to follow: Your data should be in a table format, with all data in one column displaying the same kind of information. Every marker must have a time stamp (first column), all other information is optional. The next columns can contain duration or end time, color, type, name, comment.

Whichever information you choose to add, stick to the order above. Your data can have empty rows or columns. They will be filtered out. You may give only some markers end points, colors, names or comments ... or all ... or none. Markerbox is flexible. You can also edit your data right inside Markerbox.

To get an idea of how easy it is to import data via copy/paste check out this little video on Facebook.

For copy/paste import you can currently only set a standard marker type and color. Rules are not supported yet, but they will follow in one of the next versions.

You can modify the following settings variables to customize the copy/paste import:
PREF_TEXTAREA_MARKER_COLOR
PREF_TEXTAREA_MARKER_TYPE

As part of a professional workflow Vimeo Pro allows you to gather feedback on uploaded videos from your team or clients. These comments and answers can be downloaded as a CSV file.

Markerbox offers a fully customizable one-step import. You can set standard marker types and colors or define import rules based on the names of your team members or clients or on the resolved status of the comments. You can even exclude resolved issues from import altogether, focusing only on what still needs to be done.

You can modify the following settings variables to customize the Vimeo import:
PREF_VIMEO_MARKER_COLOR
PREF_VIMEO_MARKER_TYPE
PREF_VIMEO_MULTICOLOR_MODE
PREF_VIMEO_MULTICOLOR_RULES
PREF_VIMEO_RESOLVED_HIDE
PREF_VIMEO_RESOLVED_COLOR
PREF_VIMEO_RESOLVED_TYPE

Screenlight offers an own Premiere Pro extension to import CSV files with feedback on your videos, which reviewers left on Screenlight.tv. So why include another import function into Markerbox?

While the Screenlight Marker Import creates only green standard comments in your active sequence Markerbox allows you to customize this import. You can choose a different standard color and standard marker type. You can also create a set of rules that allow you to assign different colors and marker types to different reviewers.

You can modify the following settings variables to customize the Screenlight import:
PREF_SCREENLIGHT_MARKER_COLOR
PREF_SCREENLIGHT_MARKER_TYPE
PREF_SCREENLIGHT_MULTICOLOR_MODE
PREF_SCREENLIGHT_MULTICOLOR_RULES

This function is specifically made to re-import markers you have previously exported using Premiere Pro's native marker export. Unfortunately, with this export, individual color settings of markers get lost. Premiere Pro only saves marker types, not colors.

Therefore, when you re-import these markers, Markerbox will recreate the markers using Premiere Pro's standard colors, based on the type of marker. Individual color changes cannot be restored. But, hey, at least this is possible with Markerbox :-)

Sequoia allows CSV exports to be customized. Therefore, when a sound engineer exports his edit lists from Sequoia, make sure he sends you the right data in the right format. Markerbox expects the following columns to be added to the export:

Track, Position, Name, Length

Position and length must be exported as milliseconds, not as timecode! This format is more accurate and independent of your timeline settings. All additional data columns in the CSV file will be ignored as they have no meaning for the import.

The track numbers are important, because Sequoia will export all edits on all tracks to the CSV file. This may lead to multiple markers being created in the same spot. Import only the track containing the most relevant audio edits for your work, to reduce the marker clutter in your timeline (PREF_SEQUOIA_IMPORT_TRACK).

You can modify the following settings variables to customize the Sequoia import:
PREF_SEQUOIA_IMPORT_TRACK
PREF_SEQUOIA_MARKER_COLOR
PREF_SEQUOIA_MARKER_TYPE
PREF_SEQUOIA_MULTICOLOR_MODE
PREF_SEQUOIA_MULTICOLOR_RULES

This bug be fixed in version 0.8.2. If it still shows up on your system please report back.

There seems to be a "fluctuation" in Adobe's "open file" dialog of Premiere Pro, on some Macintosh computers, preventing you from choosing the file to import, although the actual import works. In case you get this error code please follow these two steps:

1) In the Markerbox panel, open your settings and scroll almost to the bottom. Set SETTINGS_MAC_ERROR3 = 1 (should have been 0 before) and save your settings.

2) Rename the file you want to import to "import.csv" (even if it's a .txt file or other filetype) and put it in your standard documents folder or the Markerbox extension folder /Adobe/CEP/extensions/markerbox.

Markerbox will search for "import.csv" in these two folders and will import the first file it finds with this name. To import the file simply click on the import button corresponding to the source of the CSV file, e.g. [ Import Vimeo comments ].