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OK so I gather FCP media manager is a no goer!
I have researched and read various discussions regarding the media manager. I have spent the last 3 days trying to discover the way it thinks. My conclusion is that it is not of this world let alone the galaxy.
I have a 30 sec commercial spot that was ‘off line’ edited from 2 x 30 min digibeta’s captured as DV. The finished spot has many graphic layers and one nested sequence. The ‘on line’ is to be uncompressed 4:2:2.
No matter what I try it wants to recapture over 38 minutes for a 30 sec spot; and NO there is not a ‘sped up’ shot or any speed change for that matter! It is totally uncomprehensible to me.
I do project management all the time in Adobe Premiere 2 and it works flawlessly for me; or as we say ‘a no brainer’. But not so for FCP – anyone care to share the secret to this enigma?
(btw. I am using all the latest software/OS on a PowerPC G5 dual 2g and an Aja Io box)
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11 Replies
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Media Manager can work or I wouldn’t be doing HD onlines of DV projects without petabytes of storage.
In Media Manager you need to select create offline. Choose your destination codec.
Don’t include master clips outside of the selection.
Select “delete unused media”
Set small but useful handles.
Don’t include affliliated clips
Save as to your choice destination.
Open the new project and batch capture.
You should notice that a clip that was one huge file in the edit is now broken into small files with the file name appended by -1 etc. The recapture should only include the actual shots in the final cut with handles.
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Just need to add that there can be a problem if you have nests in your sequence. Media Manager will make you load all the media in a nest just for a small part of that nest that may be used in the final edit. So make sure any nests are un-nested first.
The latest vers 5.1.4 also seems to manage speed change shots properly although a big time lapse will require the loading of heaps of media.
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before you MM,
copy the sequence into a new project.
this will break all Master / Affiliate relationships, and might fix your problems.another big gotcha with MM is clips without reel#s will not be trimmed.
nick
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Media Manager is fine if you follow the rules:
Past problems: nests, freeze frames, speed ramps (constant speed OK). Correct these issues before you MM.
Procedure:
1. While you still have low res media connected, copy the sequence.
2. Make sequence clips iindependent (right click menu)
3. Media ManageI usually make a separate sequnce for audio and video. I will COPY the audio sequence and CREATE OFFLINE for the video. This assumes that the audio came in correctly during initial capture. This create two new projects. I will then marry the audio sequence back to the video timeline in the video project. The reason I do this is that I might want 2 sec handles for the high res video but 5 sec handles for audio when I hand the OMF off to a mixer.
Another optional step is to COPY the video rather than CREATE OFFLINE. This duplicates low res media, but works like Consolidate in Avid. The reason I do this is for instance, if I have DV and HDV mixed in my rought cut. The HDV might have been brought in via FW at native res. I don’t need to recapture. In this case, I have a new set of master clips and I will selectively delete media (make offline) the clips that I want to recapture.
Sincerely,
OliverOliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
For a “Pro” app there are way to many work-arounds needed to create a proper re-capture workflow in FCP, especially compared to other NLE’s. The media manager is still a joke — on us. Software is supposed to be designed to work for you, not to be worked around. Re-capturing a sequence should not require anything other than a trip to the media manager. As it is now, it is still a media mangler.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
[Herb Sevush] “As it is now, it is still a media mangler”
Herb,
To each his own. I’ve worked with most major NLEs and haven’t found a single one that’s foolproof – including Avid. All have their rules. You HAVE to understand how each approaches media in order to do things correctly. If you follow the rules, you’ll generally be OK.
I certainly wish there were improvements in MM, too, but the basic reason for a lot of this has to do with how FCP handles Master/Affliated/Independent clips. There are also a lot of under-the-hood things happening in the media databases because FCP has to work in conjunction with QuickTime. This is not a closed media environment like Avid and OMF. If you read the manual and clearly understand this, then you see why it happens. In order to change this, there is some core rewriting required in the app. Maybe we’ll see that at NAB – maybe not.
For now, FCP’s MM is perfectly capable of working in an offline/online edit workflow with just about any type of project you can throw at it.
Sincerely,
OliverOliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
So I have just finished another ON LINE from an off line and followed all the suggested steps and all went OK except for one clip that was a 70% speed. The final slowed clips duration was 1 second 15 frames long but the media manager wanted to recapture 9 mins and 23 seconds!!!!! … just for this one clip!!!! The in and out points in the bin were the correct times so WHERE is it getting this dis-information from? AND I am using 5.1.4 so… as they say in mythbusters… BUG… CONFIRMED!!!
Anyone have an easy workaround?
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Was this time remapped? Or done as a constant speed change?
All the best,
Tom
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs
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Did you make sequence clips independent first? During Media Managing, did you ever check or enable “adding media outside of selection” (or whatever that prompt says)?
Sincerely,
OliverOliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
“Was this time remapped?” – no
“Or done as a constant speed change?” – yes
“Did you make sequence clips independent first?” – yes
“During Media Managing, did you ever check or enable “adding media outside of selection”” – no
The fact that it media managed everything else correctly indicates my proceedure was correct.
The original digibeta tape a was 90 minute telecine transfer ingested as DV. There were 7 commecials edited from this material. As an example, one of the commercials, a 15 sec spot required 19 secs of media to recapture. Now I think that is correct given that I had some handles set when MM’ing. So I really do think this speed change thing is a bug.
On a lighter note I reported it as a bug but I now realise I reported it to Adobe as a Premiere Pro bug! (old habits die hard)
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