# Learning how to do on-screen tabs with a (mostly) DSX solo

**URL:** https://forum.troygrady.com/t/learning-how-to-do-on-screen-tabs-with-a-mostly-dsx-solo/61118
**Category:** Show and Tell
**Created:** [December 20, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/learning-how-to-do-on-screen-tabs-with-a-mostly-dsx-solo/61118 "2022-12-20T16:43:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 16

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### Author: ![Troy](https://forum.troygrady.com/user_avatar/forum.troygrady.com/troy/32/3_2.png) [@Troy](https://forum.troygrady.com/u/Troy)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://forum.troygrady.com/t/learning-how-to-do-on-screen-tabs-with-a-mostly-dsx-solo/61118/16 "2022-12-29T01:25:30Z")

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> [@CyborgCutie](#):
>
> This feels like one of those cases where you could spend 10 minutes doing the task vs. 30 hours automating the task 😆 I give

> [@tommo](#):
>
> That sounds like every single automation project I embark on 🤣

We don’t usually do on-screen tablature but this can be done relatively trivially inside Final Cut if you can export the tab as an image in a single strip:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mjKJ1TTpaho/maxresdefault.jpg "Scrolling Tab Test") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjKJ1TTpaho)

In this case I just did that manually by exporting the GP file as a PNG (single click) and lining up the staves up side by side in FCP. Tab and Sierra Hull video are unrelated, just a mockup.

So if you want to script something, all you need to do is script the slicing of the PNGs by a known set of pixel dimensions, lining them up side by side, and exporting as a really long image. That’s probably a lot easier than writing something to read tablature files. Note that you want to enable Bar → System Layout → Fixed in GP so all the bars are the same size and the inter-staff spacing is the same.

Benefits:

Instant export / no video capture. Playhead design of your choosing — in this case a square at .5% scale with a glow effect applied, all in FCP. Scrolling with two keyframes — one at the beginning, one at the end.

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