FCPX Failure! A warning…

[T. Payton]

Bummer.

A few things I would try (which I’m sure you have done some.)

– Export a XML for the event. Then import the xml. Does it relink the footage to the imported event?

– Drag one of the of the media files to your event. Does it relink?

– Choose “Organize Event FIles”. Does that do anything?

– Copy a clip into your original event (replacing the symbolic link, i.e alias. Of course backup the symbolic link first.)

I’m sure this doesn’t help, but we changed our workflow so we always copy to the final cut event folder and we have not had a problem. In fact just today made a modification to a PSD file that was in the original media folder and upon save FCP X updated it throughout the project. It looks like there is defiantly a problem with FCP X and non-managed media.

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T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

Also give Apple a call about this. Perhaps they can resolve it on the phone.

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T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Matthew Celia]

Did you open those video files in any other application? I had a similar thing happen to me, when I attempted to work on some shots in After Effects, and it ended up modifying the metadata of the file (and FCPX thought it was a different file).

Agreed though, one of the big features (ahead of a lot of others) for me would be some method of reconnecting and replacing media so that traditional workflows could be maintained.

—————-
FCP Guru
http://www.fcpguru.com

[T. Payton]

Aaron – I think I have great news for you. Relinking is possible! It turns out that when importing a FCPXML event (not a project), it will only look at the file name not the ID. Here is the quick procedure.

– You’ll need to move your project to your compound clip in your event. To do so, in your Event, create a new compound clip and paste your entire project timeline into it.
– Export your event as FCPXML. Quick FCP. (deselect everything and the select the event)
– Now open your FCPXML (in TextWrangler for example, free on the Mac App store) and examine the “resources” section and the path to your original files. Ensure your original media are at these locations (this is what FCP X will use to relink the files.)
It will look like this:

-Import the FCPXML and it will create a new event and COPY ALL MEDIA files to the FCP Events folder.

A few caveats, FCPXML does not retain color correction, audio filters, etc. But you still have your original project so you can move the titles, etc. to it. Or you could copy and paste the footage in to a duplicate of your original project timeline.

I know this is not an idea solution, but it will get you back in business.

My recommendation, change your workflow so you copy all your media files to the Final Cut Pro folder until Apple releases the capability to relink files.

– T.

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T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

Sorry for the typos. I hit post instead of preview. It should read:

– Export your event as FCPXML (deselect everything and the select the event). Then Quit FCP.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Aaron Rock]

Thank you all for the advice. Matthew, that is interesting to know. I did open up premier during this mess. But never imported anything… could be a cause.

Timothy, thank you for the advice. tried to reconnect via drag and drop, no luck.
I had some luck with the FCPXML. It reconnected the core media in a new event, unfortunately the footage is still de-linked in the sequence itself. I tried to adjust the XML to read the asset correctly, but no luck.

Because this project had an unmuxed export made before this mess, I have some flexibility to play with some other options to “force” the sequence to reconnect. I’ll post if I have any success. In the meantime, I think we will be adjusting our workflow in FCPX to avoid this in the future.
Probably keeping core files from a 7 import as well as copying them to FCP event folder for the edit itself.

Kinda unfortunate to have to keep data in duplicate while working, but until this issue is fixed, may be our best option.

Thank you all again for the advise.

[T. Payton]

[Aaron Rock] “It reconnected the core media in a new event, unfortunately the footage is still de-linked in the sequence itself. I tried to adjust the XML to read the asset correctly, but no luck. “

Correct. FCPXML will not relink events in a project, just events. Therefore you need to copy your project into a compound clip in your event. Then reimport the event and it will relink the footage in your compound clip timeline.

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T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Aaron Rock]

Brilliant, it worked with just a little tweak to the XML, thank you.

[T. Payton]

Fantastic news. Glad to hear it. I’ll make a tutorial for youtube in the next few days showing how to do this reconnect.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Mark Morache]

Clever workaround Tim!

I had this same problem with media going offline. I had opened the media in Premiere, and it altered the metadata. There is a preference in the Adobe apps to keep this from happening.

For me, I was lucky. I edit on my laptop with a firewire drive, but the computer I used to captured the tape still had a copy of the media, so I dragged that into the Original Media folder of my event, overwriting the aliases, and everything came back.

I’m going to try the compound clip in the event xml trick. It may save my ass someday.

———
FCX. She tempts me, abuses me, beats me up, makes me feel worthless, then in the end she comes around, helps me get my work done, gives me hope and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Mark Morache
Avid/Xpri/FCP7/FCX
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com