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Copy Library with Proxy only
Hello,
I have a managed FCPX Library and I’d like to send a copy containing only the proxy files (not the original media) so the director can edit the interviews on his laptop and send an xml back to the editor. But…. there seems no way of doing this through FCPX as the copy function automatically includes the original media (with an option to also include proxy). So I was thinking of sending the backup library at finder level, and first manually copying the proxy files into the Library container… but this is a bit tiresome as we have 25 Libraries altogether and each library has around 40 events, each one representing a camera card. And while I think of it, is there a way of forcing a backup? Sometimes I have to wait for ever for the backup to be updated…. I keep doing false edits hoping it might encourage the program to backup but no…. consequently the whole process is looking somewhat tortuous. Our current solution is to copy the entire Library and then delete the original media…. but of course this slows down the copy process. The library with proxy only is less than 200GB whereas the Library with original media is often more like 700GB or 800GB.
I’ve looked through similar queries a few years back but not seen a definitive answer – and maybe things have changed? Keeping the media in external folders could be a longer term solution – but everything is already imported into managed libraries, so will have to wait until next year and another season for that solution…
Many thanks for any advice,
Best, Ken.
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5 Replies
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I think I’d just use FCPX to make a copy of the library to the same drive. It won’t take up any more space because it’ll all be hard links. Then, in the new library I’d consolidate the media OUT of the library.
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[Ken Pugh] “I have a managed FCPX Library and I’d like to send a copy containing only the proxy files (not the original media) so the director can edit the interviews on his laptop and send an xml back to the editor. But…. there seems no way of doing this through FCPX as the copy function automatically includes the original media (with an option to also include proxy).”
This is possible but it’s not well-supported in the current FCPX. There are two basic methods:
(1) The non-supported “proxy cheat” method described in this article: https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/1828-cheating-final-cut-pro-x-proxies-to-store-where-you-want-by-using-aliases
(2) The method described in the Ripple Training Media Management tutorial. It’s too involved to post here, and you’d need to keep referring back to the instructions anyway. The best approach is just get the tutorial that way you can rewind it and review it as needed. This covers both “external proxy” case and “editors in different locations”: https://www.rippletraining.com/products/final-cut-pro/media-management-in-final-cut-pro-10-4/
Since there’s no such thing as proxies for audio or graphics files, these must be handled separately in the proxy-only case. The Ripple Training tutorial describes that procedure.
Another complication is file relinking doesn’t work reliably in the external proxy case. So the library of whatever system you build the proxies on will have a disk volume name and pathname to the proxy files. That must match between source and destination machine, otherwise you have to relink and that’s not reliable. The easiest way build them on an external drive which you can name, have source/destination folder trees and volume names the same.
This entire workflow needs to be fleshed out and made more robust. IMO things like this are needed a lot more than superficial user-facing items like color-coded video lanes.
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Hi Bret,
Copy Library sounds useful, especially if it’s to the same drive and effectively empty – save having to wait for Backups to update and using those… but how do you copy a Library? I couldn’t see anything in the file menu – and a web search didn’t help much either… tried at the finder level but that copied the library along with the media.
Tried consolidate but that did not allow me to only copy proxy files – it defaulted to include the original media.
Cheers, Ken.
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Thanks Joe,
Yes I’d forgotten about including the audio and graphics! The ‘Proxy cheat’ article was very interesting, will check out the ripple training method. I suspect though that I might bite the bullet and stick to the relative simplicity of copying the entire library and then manually deleting the original media from the copy.
Cheers, Ken.
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Yeah I guess not copy library as much as “copy event to library”> New Library. If you have more than one event (I rarely do) you could copy the rest the same way, just choose the library you created.
_______________________________________________________________________
https://BretFX.com FCPX Plugins & Templates for Editors & Motion Graphics Artists
Hang Tag https://bretfx.com/product/hang-tag
Overshoot Text https://bretfx.com/product/overshoot-text/
Outliner https://bretfx.com/product/outliner/
Clock Maker https://bretfx.com/product/bretfx-clock-maker/
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