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Moving projects is messing up clips…
working on a project that has lots of cameras, clips, etc., I’m syncing the material, then trying to move projects into a common library. When I do this, clips that have the same name – mvi0022.mov, for instance, gets replaced in the timeline with ANOTHER mvi0022.mov… so annoying – is this normal?
the only workaround I’ve been able to come up with is keeping these in separate libraries, which is super awkward…
thanks
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4 Replies
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you must have a clip of the same name, same frame rate, same file path, same TC and maybe the same length (or at least long enough). So if you’re storing your media in the library in both libraries, the. FCPX is seeing you already have that media. Try consolidating your media out of one of the libraries to a folder first. It’s instant and doesn’t take up more space as long as it’s on the same drive. Then copy that project to the other library.
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It a not normal. Normally fcpx would rename the clip under the hood on import so you’d get mvi0022.mov, mvi0022(1).mov, mvi0022(2).mov, etc. And as Bret said, for fcpx to substitute a different file, they would have to be identical to each other in terms of frame rate, length and audio channels.
Bret’s suggestion is definitely worth a try.
Are the files internally or externally managed? How are you moving the projects to the new library?
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Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer & Cinematographer
Hobart, Tasmania | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
yeah, unfortunately, the assessment that the clips are similar lengths / timecode, etc. didn’t seem to play out.
the issue arose when I was syncing things using plural eyes – and when I originally went to open the new timelines in fcpx, it claimed the footage was already in that particular library, so I had to create new libraries to import them into. This would work, and everything would look great, but then when I went to move them to the library I wanted to bring them into it would occasionally tell me the footage already existed, or worse, move it but then many of the clips were subbed out with the wrong file, no error warnings or anything…
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There are two possible problem areas:
(1) Ideally media in FCPX should have globally unique filenames. It’s true it will automatically append a “uniqueifier” suffix of (fcp1), etc. However problems can still arise if the filenames are not unique on disk, across all folders and disk volumes. Normally the problems aren’t too serious, the main one is spurious duplicate clips under some conditions if loading XMLs. The only way to avoid this is rename the files before import. Afterwards it is too late. My team’s practice is append a unique, incrementing serial number to each filename before import.
(2) Dragging/dropping projects or clips between libraries can cause various problems with duplicate clips and mis-linked files. The best practice is place the projects or clips in a “transfer” event, and drag/drop that *event* (not the bare clips or bare project) to the new library.
Sam Mestman discusses this from 06:30 to 11:00 in the below video, but you may want to watch Sam’s whole talk from 02:00 to 11:00. He demonstrates this on a Lumaforge NAS but it’s not unique to a NAS.
https://hazu.io/pixelcorps/fcvug-7
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