FCP with an 8-core….configure?

[Mark Maness]

Bud… I hear you loud and clear.

I have to do exactly what you are having to deal with almost every day, but if you build this into you project timing, it won’t be so bad. And… the clients don’t know of this issue, tell them something to make them believe its a special process for HD conversion or something.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Adrian Scherger]

Bummer,

Is there anything I can do with my RAM to speed up the process. Currently I’m running Studio 2 with 6 gigs of RAM. Someone said it is good to have a gig for each processor. The 6 gigs is configured with two 2Gig sticks on the bottom slot and two 1Gig sticks on the top. I heard pairing them is better like I have.

Would it behove me to take out the 1Gig sticks, jump down to 4 total. Then put one 2Gig stick on the top slot and one 2Gig stick on the bottom. That way each processor would have 1/2 a gig to run on.

Thank for the advice!

Adrian

[Alex Elkins]

[Rob Bruce] “The so called workaround is to first export the time line and then use compressor and send to a virtual cluster. I personally don’t see how that is a workaround and takes just as much time to get the job done. HD footage is a big problem, SD not so much.”

Hi Rob,

I read recently that people were exporting Quicktime reference movies from FCP (which is obviously quicker than self-contained movies) and then taking advantage of Compressor’s multi-core processing that way. Personally I haven’t had cause to test this workflow yet so I couldn’t give you a difinitive answer as to whether itindeed works, but you might want to give it a try. Post the results here too!

All the best,
Alex

[David Roth weiss]

[Alex Elkins] ” read recently that people were exporting Quicktime reference movies from FCP (which is obviously quicker than self-contained movies)”

Alex,

Nope, there’s nothing obviously quicker… There is no difference whatsoever in the time necessary to export a self contained QT vs. exporting exporting a QT reference file. That is of course if your timeline is rendered, which you shouod always do anyway. Both are exceedingly fast exports, even for long timelines, as there is no additional rendering or compression required.

[Alex Elkins] “Personally I haven’t had cause to test this workflow yet so I couldn’t give you a difinitive answer as to whether itindeed works, but you might want to give it a try.”

This is the workflow that almost all experienced users utilize, as it frees FCP for futher editing while Compressor renders in the background. Plus, as you mentioned, if setup properly Compressor’s multi-threading capability is also a benefit.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Rob Bruce]

Has anyone got there hands on 10.6 to see if it’s new multi-core support works with FCP and compressor with out having to use Qmaster?

[Karl Hirsch]

Wayne… Guys…

OK… so I just got a Mac Pro 2×3.2 Quad-core w/16GB RAM, I am running 10.5.6, and have a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and Kona LHe. A post-production mac vendor even put it together for me, because I wanted to avoid precisely what’s happening now… Everything is running SLOW, considerably slower than my G5 Dual-2. And when I say everything, I mean everything, not just FCS2. Just opening FCP with a brand new project (i.e. nothing in it) takes a few minutes… which it shouldn’t… the finder, google, finding this forum… ALL SLOW. I can work, but it’s rather annoying and I want to try to fix it.

I am wondering if there’s something I’m supposed to change in the System Preferences, or any general settings that maybe the vendor missed.

Wayne, you said something about pulling RAM. Do you think that might apply here?

Thanks for your help…!

k

[Mark Maness]

Well, I see a couple things here, Karl.

One… You said that you got your computer from a VAR. I would have to question whether all of the RAM is from the same manuafacturer and it is all of the same specs – you can’t mix ECC memory with Non-ECC.

Second… You said that you are running 10.5.6. VERY BAD. I was told by AJA and Facilis that we needed to stay away from 10.5.6 as their software will not run properly with it and it has multiple issues with memory leaks.

[Karl Hirsch] “Wayne, you said something about pulling RAM. Do you think that might apply here?”

You could if you want. I would inspect all of your RAM to make sure that all of it has the same specs. Then if you want to try pulling 8 gig to give you a total of 8 gig, that would be a good thing to try. Remember, for a 8-core system, you need at least 8 gigs in symmetrical order across the two memory risers.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Karl Hirsch]

Hi there Wayne —

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your thoughts on this, I really appreciate you putting in the time. Well, the very first thing I did was revert to 10.5.5, and things are much better. Still a little laggy sometimes, but not a big deal, and certainly nothing like it was before.

ECC and non-ECC is, sadly, pretty greek to me… I asked for 16gb and that’s what they gave me. Is there a way to find this out in the System Profiler, or do I need to physically look at the RAM inside to figure this out? How does one tell the difference? Or, based on what I’ve said about me, should I just take it to another shop and ask them to check it out for me?

thanks again!
k

[Mark Maness]

I’m afraid that you’ll have to look at each memory bar individually to see if they are from the same manufacturer and if its ECC or non-ECC.

But from what you said after you downgraded to 10.5.5, it sounds like your system is running fine. I hate to say it, but 10.5.5 and FCP 6.05 are sluggish and are prone to crash alot. I’m pretty frustrated with this myself lately but I’m trudging through it.

One more question, Do you have RT effects in FCP? I say this because if your memory isn’t correct, RT effects will not work at all.

Let me know what you find out.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com