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Any limit to number of clips in FCP 5 browser?
Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of clips one can load into the FCP 5 browser? My plan is to log a lot of clips for a big documentary project, with a lot of information listed in various columns, and then to be able to find and sort items by clicking on the appropriate column and locating them alphabetically – using the browser like a database. It will be a lot of work, and I want to be sure I don’t get near the end of logging and find that the browser won’t handle large amounts of data very well. We’re talking something like 200 rolls, with up to 50 or so clips per roll, so a total of up to 10,000 clips, with notation information spread out over about 10 columns. Does anyone know if there will be any problem with this?
Thanks.Tom Valens
Tamalpais Productions
Forest Knolls, CA -
11 Replies
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I have gotten 1088 clips in one bin…and that was a nightmare…so I split them up. But I do have all my b-roll in one bin and that is 1500 clips…for a SEARCH. 10,000…oof. Let us know.
But please…sort them into bins…please.
Shane
Alokut Productions
http://www.lfhd.net -
As I’m logging the clips I do put them into individual bins – one for each camera roll (usually between 30 and 50 clips). However, to do a search through all my footage, I think I will need to create an additional bin and put copies of all the clips into that one bin. Otherwise, clicking on a column will only organize the clips within the currently selected bin, as I understand it.
If this isn’t going to work in FCP, does anyone have a suggestion as to which database program would work best for this. The FCP Browser is convenient for entering info since I can just I and O the In and Out timecodes as I’m logging and don’t have to manually enter them – not to mention that I’d have to reenter all the information into a separate program.
Thanks again for any suggestions.
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One thing to consider for a project this large is to break up the documentary into multiple projects. One of the most useful features of FCP is the ability to run multiple projects simultaneously. This is the one feature that everyone I train from the AVID side are just blown away by.
I’ve never done a project with 10,000 clips, but with the Lamborghini documentary a few years ago, this is exactly what I did for the offline process. Broke up the US and Italy material into two separate projects and as we worked through the editing process, I then created a third “Mastering” project where we fine-tuned the editing and did all the finish work.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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walter,
i have a question about your comment:“Broke up the US and Italy material into two separate projects and as we worked through the editing process…”
when you had both projects opened in the browser and you would perform a find bin on any given sequence, would fcp refer to bins in multiple projects?
to be a bit more clear, if you were working on a seqence that had clips from both you italy project and your u.s. project and you used find bin(shift+f) would fcp differentiate between the two projects when attempting to find bin from that one sequence?thank you and thanks to creative cow for making my avid to hd/fcp transition much less painfull,
mark -
mark,
Quick answer: Yes.
If you have four projects open, and “shift F” (matchframe) a shot in the timeline , it will bring the “correct” project to the forefront in your browser and show where the clip lives.
If you’re coming from the Avid, you have to get used to the fact that FCP has a MUCH different approach to projects. In Avid, Projeccts are everything. In FCP, they really are NOT that important. Media lives all on it’s own in basic folders. In fact, if you really can’t find a clip, use the “reveal in finder” feature (in the “view” pull down menu). This will open up a finder window and show you exactly where you put it. Very helpful if you have large, multi project media organization.
Mark
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hey mark,
thanks for the response,
mark -
10,000 clips in a project, ouch!
Put the kettle on everytime the autosave kicks in.
Peter
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Even if you have things split into different bins, you can do a “find” within Final Fut on a term you’ve used in naming, and all those will appear in a “find bin”, and be joined together temporarily for selection and sorting.
The “find” function might be helpful. Also, you could export bin data to a database, and relate things there.
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Check out HD Log from Imagine Products.
Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Director-At-Large
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group -
Tom,
This project just screams for a real clip database/logging tool.
I would recommend CatDV Pro. It is terrific tool and allows for custom description/note fields. I would not recommend HD Log, as I find it to be really clunky and not as capable as CatDV Pro. HD Log’s only superior feature seems to be its ability to do “live” logging.
Best of luck with your project.
-Dave
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