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Major Issue Importing Slowmo Clips in FCPX Project
Hello all!
I’m editing a pretty effects intensive project right now that includes a lot of slow-mo clips. They were filmed at 60fps on my Canon 60d, and then conformed to 24fps in FCPX for very smooth slow-mo. All of the clips have been successfully converted, up until now. I conformed one of the clips to slow-mo, then exported it so I could key out the green screen and do a bit of rotoscoping, then exported it back out (in animation codec). But now when I import it into the FCPX project, it makes the slow-mo very choppy and not smooth at all. When I preview it before adding it to the timeline it’s still perfectly smooth slow-mo, but as soon as it’s on the timeline it becomes very choppy. Many of the slowmo clips in the project came from after effects like this in animation codec but were not affected. All of the other slow-mo clips that were imported before this started happening still play fine in the timeline, but any new ones I add become choppy. Any ideas?
The projects settings are at 1920×1080 at 23.98 fps. All of the slow-mo clips are 1080×720 59.94fps.
I’m on a very strict deadline here day after tomorrow so I could use all the help I can get! Thank you so much!
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5 Replies
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You haven’t mentioned what computer you’re trying to play the animation codec back on. What happens when you render the clip back out of FCPX? Sounds to me like your mac just isn’t up to playing the clip in real-time rather than any major issue.
Why not render the clip back out of whatever app you did your keying and roto as ProRes and see how that goes?
Cheers
Jeff KJeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Thank you for the quick reply! I’m running on the newest macbook pro retina 2.7 ghz and 16GB of ram. I tried rendering out the clips from FCPX and they exported jittery, so it doesn’t seem to be the speed of my computer. I also tried rendering out as pro res from after effects and it still becomes choppy in the project. Any other thoughts?
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Hmmm… Just so I’m clear, you render to either Animation or ProRes codec, which play fine in QuickTime outside FCPX. You put that clip on a FCPX timeline and it plays back choppily… I assume the project is the same resolution as the footage you’re rendering from AE?
Then, when you render it from the FCPX timeline, it’s still choppy? Really sounds like AE is doing something to break the codec. Maybe try running the clip through something else, like MPEG Streamclip, and see if that fixes anything…
And which version of ProRes? I can see the Animation codec and maybe ProRes 4444 having issues but other flavours of ProRs should be fine on that system. Are you doing anything else to the clip once it’s back in the project timeline?
Just trying to rule out all the possibilities….
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
Another thought – also check what frame rate each app thinks the footage is running at. You’d assume you’re getting 24p in and out of everything but you never know.
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
One more note – just tried conforming some 50 fps footage to 25p, exported it to AE, did a couple of things, exported it out at the default lossless preset, then bought it back into FCPX and the playback was perfect. That’s on a late 2012 27″ iMac…
so it doesn’t seem to be a general issue with FCPX or AE, which means it’s either a codec issue, a system issue, or a conform issue on your end.
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland
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