Nested Sequence in Main Project Timeline Won’t Open Anymore in Own Timeline (Tab)

[Richard Mamary]

I thought maybe when I got back, 90 minutes later, there might be a reply.

But now it’s 150 minutes later and still no replies. (sigh) Usually if there’s an answer it comes quick.

Has no one had this happen to them before?

Is it ill advised to work with nested sequences the way I described?

I now have posted the same at Apples FCP discussions, and lafcpug, and no joy anywhere…

Now, I am getting worried.

[Matt Lyon]

I don’t recall having your specific problem but I generally avoid using nests for anything other then short term tasks, like applying an audio or timecode filter to a whole sequence.
Similar experiences to yours have left me feeling that nests aren’t reliable in the long term.
Have you tried copying the nest into a new, empty project, then relaunching fcp with only the new project open?

Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto

[Richard Mamary]

Thanks Matt,

I had previously tried copying the nest from the timeline into the browser after renaming the older sequence, but it still wouldn’t open on the timeline.

I had hope with your option. I was excited to try it. But it didn’t work.

I am noticing that when this nested sequence is copied and pasted into the browser, its icon is for a clip, not a sequence, so its actually no surprise that it only opens in the viewer. It’s like FCP forgot it was a sequence, and not a clip.

Anyway, from all my posting around, I am getting feedback that using nests this way is really, really ,not an advisable workflow. What I am getting from the feedback is if I want to edit a scene in a separate sequence fine, but then copy and paste the clips themselves, not drag the sequence into the timeline.

It’s hard learning, and doesn’t help me now. So I may have to rebuild that lost nested sequence.
In the meantime, I have to fix the project by eliminating all the separate scene sequences from my timeline, and replace them with just the clips inside each.

Hopefully I wont find others that will not open…
Thanks again for the help.
Best,
Richard
I still remain hopeful though that someone will come up with a suggestion that will work!

[Matt Lyon]

That’s too bad it didn’t work… to be honest I’m guessing a bit here since I avoid nests in general. Sounds like the nest got corrupted or something…

When you load the clip in the viewer, what happens if you “insert sequence content” into a new timeline (commmand-F9). Worth a shot.

Or try exporting an XML and re-importing into a new project.

Again, I’m grasping at straws here, but maybe something will work.

Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto

[Richard Mamary]

Matt,

Thanks again for getting back to me.
I had tried Command F9/F10, and it didn’t work.

But, Hallelujah, I found a way after everything else failed.
The projects autosave vault.

I managed to open up a version from several days ago, in which the troublesome sequence was not corrupted, and it opened up in the timeline when double clicked. And, luckily all it needed was a few minor tweaks to bring it up to date. I am lucky that I hadn’t done a lot of work since that version was autosaved.

So I am copying just that sequence to a new project, and then will copy and paste the clips within, into the main projects timeline. Wheew!

So it’s all good. Joy all around.

So, I will remove all the nested seq.’s from my main timeline and replace them with the clips within each.
Now, when I work on my separate sub-sequences, I will no longer nest them when finished, but just copy the clips inside and replace the updated versions onto the main timeline. No more nesting for me…

Thanks again for all your thoughtful input.

Best,
Richard

[Darren Parish]

Next time try cutting/blading the nest. It usually unlocks it from whatever it was stuck in I assume by creating new preview render files and you can then click on it and open it as it normally should at that point. Glad it worked out for you though!