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Yet Another Motion 4 Playback Speed Question
Hello All!
I will say that I did my due dilligence in researching this around the web and here on COW before I posted this so if I missed something please don’t be too harsh. 🙂
Like most people who have this issue the frame rate on the playback is horrendous on my project. It is a 45min talking head piece on green screen with Primatte RT and about 4 or 5 layers on top of that. The project is SD with the Project Properties at NTSC D1/DV Anamorphic so nothing HD.
In addition, all my edits were done in FCP to minimize the layers of video to a bare 1 with only one audio track (stereo).
Also, all my footage is being stored and streamed off an external FW800 2TB drive. I have been told that it is easier on the computer to have the footage off the internal HDD so if this is wrong, please let me know. 🙂
I have trashed my prefs, turned all layers off and on with solo or manually checking, lowered the resolution/quality settings and the playback is still as slow as a slug on salt. If anything it gets worse when I lower the quality.
Now it should be noted that I am running this on an iMac with 6GB RAM and the best card you can get for the setup. I simply don’t have $6k to blow on a cheese grater desktop at this point. When I finish this project I will so it is a nasty vicious cycle. 🙂
Bottom line is if there is any pointers I have missed, files to alter or incantations to chant around the computer it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance and again I apologize for asking a question that everyone seems to have a variation on.
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6 Replies
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A 45 minute Motion project? Motion tries to load all your footage into RAM – so I would expect problems. It is designed for projects that are maybe 30 seconds or a minute long…
But anyway you may get better performance with the usual: turn off preview thumbnails, lower resolution, lower quality, set a short play range…
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Mark Spencer
Freelance Producer/Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
Apple-certified Master Trainer
Author, Motion 4 from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net -
You said you edited the piece in FCP before you brought it into Motion. Can you re-import the video in smaller sections?
Check out my Motion Training DVD
Check out my Motion Tutorials
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Ah ha, the length. I didn’t realize that the entire project was loaded into RAM and that would certainly answer many of my questions.
Let me swing this in a slightly different direction then. In short the piece is a one man dramatic presentation against green screen with two cameras with no real breaks.
I am adding chapter headings from the book he is performing and a couple of minor lower 3rd items and that is about it.
So that being said, the suggestion to load in shorter bits to Motion sound the right way to go but I am not too sure about how that work flow would go and would I not loose some quality by going back out FCP? The final product is going to be NTSC broadcast so I can’t loose too much and it was shot on DV to start.
I guess the question is what would be the optimal workflow in this scenario. I have a total of 8 full DV tapes. Each tape is for a different camera so edited together it makes 4 tapes total. With this in mind, what is the best way to work on this in motion so I don’t suck up all my RAM?
Thanks much all as you have been really fast with the response and help.
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I would do all your keys in FCP, then just send short bits ONE WAY to Motion for the lower thirds design, then bring the .motn project into FCP and place over the video.
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Mark Spencer
Freelance Producer/Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
Apple-certified Master Trainer
Author, Motion 4 from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net -
Me personally, I like to key my subjects in FCP. Create the Lower Thirds and other graphics in Motion. Then I import the lower thirds and other graphics into FCP and place them above or below the subject.
When you jump from FCP to Motion to FCP there is no lose of quality if you have your settings set the same. You can simply drag Motion project files into FCP as if they were a movie. Hope this helps.
Check out my Motion Training DVD
Check out my Motion Tutorials
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Thanks for the advice all. Again, I didn’t realize a lot of things most everyone takes for granted (still learning) that you can drag and drop between FCP and Motion.
I will give this a whirl tonight for the first tape and post my results for kicks. Thanks so much for your advice and man was that fast. Thank you again!
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