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FCPX – XML = Physical save?
Hello all, Long time reader first time poster. I’ve recently been getting to grips with FCPX having used FCP7 for about 4-5 years. During my time using FCP7 I mainly dealt with exporting .H264 files to clients but once or twice I dealt with exporting XML files, I realise that FCPX saves internally allowing for a more streamlined and in some ways secure way to edit footage. But having been burned many a time in the past by software I was wondering if there was any benefit in creating an XML file of my edit to act in much the same way the old physical save project files would work in FCP7. This would work in the sense that it would act like a physical “go to file” I could use to restore an edit or revisit a previous iteration that I could store away with my other archived projects and would in turn Enable me to revisit projects in future. Im still learning about the limitations of XML files but I was just curious as to whether this was viable or if it had any pitfalls I was unaware of
Cheers! 🙂
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4 Replies
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The FCP X Library package file is the equivalent of he FCP 7 project data file. If you ingest and leave footage in place (i.e. external to the Library) then the Library stays reasonably small. So you can easily save and store it for later use. Exporting an FCPXML gives you another level of exchange options, including translation to XML. This would let you get to FCP 7 and Premiere Pro, however, with a number of limitations.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Daniel Daley] “This would work in the sense that it would act like a physical “go to file” I could use to restore an edit or revisit a previous iteration that I could store away with my other archived projects and would in turn Enable me to revisit projects in future.”
Have you tried snapshots [link]?
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
Thanks for the quick responses 🙂 with quite a few projects both client driven and my own I have to go back to previous versions and also make refinements to existing versions of edits. with FCP7 I would have typically segregated each project into it’s own folder and after each session of editing I would create a project file which would later enable me to jump back to make tweaks without having to previously undo my work, so in the case of libraries would I be able to store multiple versions of the library in the same folder or would I have to segregate them to ensure they dont mess with each others media?, Snapshot seems like a really good option as well, though would that process create an internal restore point within FCPX or would it create a physical file to load from? Thanks again 🙂
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Daniel.
In the X ecosystem, the Library is the base unit. Libraries do NOT communicate with other libraries. If you have assets in one library – and reference that asset from another Library – all the receiving Library can do is copy the entire asset across. There can be no referential links between libraries – which is what makes them totally self-contained. If you copy a library to another location – everything inside that library goes with it. If you work with Managed media – that means ALL the media goes along. If you work with Referenced media stored outside the library – then any generated media or editing decisions will transfer, but not the source media – that will have to be relinked later.
Everything INSIDE the library – such as Events and Projects can be duplicated or shared freely amongst other “in library” elements since they are all just metadata references – so when X makes snapshots, or when you create new events or projects, it doesn’t bloat your Library unnecessarily.
Hope that helps.
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