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Assigning Scratch Disks
DAMMIT!! I’m tired of looking to the heavens and angrily exclaiming this to the Apple gods… so I’ll release it to the Cow and be forevermore at peace!
Having been a Media 100 guy for the first 7 or so years of the nonlinear revolution I got very used to assigning my drive destinations when I first started the project, and then NEVER needing to worry about it (unless I WANTED to reassign them). Media 100 always linked whatever project I was on to the drive destinations I assigned at the beginning of the project. Even if I changed drives and booted up that drive’s project.
But having been with FCP for the last 3-4 years I just can’t get used to the fact that I have to keep on top of the scratch disks. Not so bad when you change drives, as FCP gives you the box saying it can’t find the correct scratch disks, do you want to reassign? But when working on several projects on one drive, any one of which (or all of which) can be called up on a given day, it can be maddening. Especially when you suddenly remember it an hour later and the last 10 GB of renders went to another project’s scratch disks! It’s not about proper habits. I, as well as most FCP editors, have developed obsessive workflow habits in regard to this. But sometimes you get slammed, and it would be nice if Apple made it so that this was one less thing editors had to think about.
Apple, you have the ability to do this so just do it!!
There…I feel much better. Nothing like an angry dissertation to set an editor straight! Namaste…Bugsy
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7 Replies
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See, I’m so angry about this problem that I’m repeating myself!
Bugsy
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[Bugsy] “I’m repeating myself!
“Oh good.
I thought there was an ECHO in here. -
Media100s strengths were it’s codecs (for the time) and it’s media management. FCP can’t really hold a candle to either at the moment although ProRes is almost there. If they’d add a :4 to the end of 4:2:2, then we would just have the media management capabilities to compare. FCPs strengths lie in it’s interface and interoperability. Areas where media100 was sorely lacking and still is.
Jeremy
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I concur! I still miss the codec and the media management. Real nice for broadcast work. But that interface (only 2 video channels when we switched) led me to a lot of frustration. I should actually be younger than I am!
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[Bugsy] “I concur! I still miss the codec and the media management. Real nice for broadcast work. But that interface (only 2 video channels when we switched) led me to a lot of frustration. I should actually be younger than I am”
I switched from Media 100 back in 2001 and the big thing i really miss from it was the easy offline / online procedure.
But assigning scratch discs is just something you get used to. honestly, I don’t even think about it anymore. We automatically check the Scratch Disc assignments each time we start a new project or re-open an older project. It becomes habit.
One thing Final Cut Pro will never be is any other NLE. It is what it is. You have to adjust your mindset and workflow to it, it does not adjust to you. If Apple listened to more than just a select few editors and beta testers, the product would be much more intuitive and easier on everyone’s workflow. But they do not listen to very many people outside of their inner circle so we have to adjust to what they give us.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
I actually like the way FCP handles my media. I can understand where it would get frustrating when you’re switching drives a lot though.
For me I have one 3TB volume. I set the volume and FCP creates a render folder, a capture scratch folder and audio render file. That’s all I have to do. When I start a new project it automatically creates a folder with my project name in each of the existing folders. If I need media from a project I can find it easily by going to the appropriate folder.
I think problems start to arise when working with multiple drives or when people make a project folder then assign the capture to that folder because FCP will then create a new project folder in the capture scratch folder anyway.
Like others have said you just have to understand that FCP is going to work like FCP, not other NLEs. Once I figured out how it worked I found it quite easy and that I only needed to do an initial set up.
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Thanks for the feedback.
99% of the time this isn’t a problem, as I’ve developed very tight work habits with FCP. But there’s always that 1% of the time where your brain lapses and you wish the programmers at Apple would program a particular feature for added convenience.
I’ve discovered the FCP feedback forum so I’ll be lodging my suggestion.
Thanks again!Mike (Bugsy) Bugera
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