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Performance and Speed vs Motion
One thing that has become really evident to me is the difference between the response and speed of Apple’s new 64 bit programs – Motion 5 vs FCPX.
Apple got it right with the Motion. Using an i7 w/16 GB RAM I find that Motion is surprisingly responsive – snappy even.
By contrast, FCPX needs constant oversight to keep it from getting boggy, and even then, it never approaches the alacrity that Motion delivers. For a program that was touted for it’s speed and performance, FCPX is simply a disappointment right now for any demanding work.
I’m amazed at the difference. Motion is everything that I thought X was going to be regarding the next step. It feels so much better than 4 and, overlooking the stupidity of no round tripping from X, is a major performance improvement from it’s predecessor.
I can fly between complex projects opening and closing them almost in real time. I find it just a blast to work in because of this. And it has an actual RAM manager.
I really hope they’re working weekends in Cupertino.
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10 Replies
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Actually I’m not sure they did all that much with Motion, since it was newer code to start with. You’ll notice it uses a standard save mechanism. Also there’s none of the cutesy UI animation that FCP X has. Those definitely slow down responsiveness.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
I’m just saying, I see a real performance plus in Motion 5 and a real performance issue with FCPX 1.0.3.
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Don’t worry. Apple will “fix” Motion in the next update 😉
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
What a cruel suggestion.
I was hoping that the X people might have the Motion people over for coffee and discuss how they got it right. I only posted about it because I was going through a bunch of Motion work this weekend.
They were all done originally in Motion 4 and I was tweaking a bunch of elements for some TV spots.I was really happily surprised at how much more responsive things were from when I originally designed them. I’m (nearly) sure round tripping will be restored. The two programs really could be a great tandem if X evolves quickly.
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They’ve had more time with Motion to get it right, they will do the same with FCPX.
I’ve been brushing up on Motion lately as I’ve had a few more graphics intensive projects, it really is a great tool.
Steve Connor
“FCPX Professional”
Adrenalin Television -
[Jim Giberti] “What a cruel suggestion.”
LOL. Just giving you a tweak 😉
My issue right now with Motion and FCP X for that matter, is that the current state of FxPlug filters is very poor. If you stick to the built-in effects, it’s fine. Most of the FxFactory partners, Digital Heaven, CrumplePop and Irudis plug-ins are fine. But a lot of the big 3rd party effects packages that are supposed to work are just dogs. In fact, a few install, appear and work in Motion but not in FCP X. In addition, some with their own preset browsers appear to work in Motion (like the various DFT products), but the gamma levels sent from Motion to the browser are completely wrong.
When you compare that to AE, it’s night and day. The plug-in API seems to be far superior and just about everything you install in it works well. I hope Apple gets that sorted out, because if you rely on heavy-duty third party filters, neither app is up to the task and performance is really reduced. I’m not talking about real-time playback, but rather the responsiveness of the app while you are applying and adjusting effects.
Even Avid AVX2 is far better. Yes, those have to be rendered, but the machine isn’t bogged down simply by manipulating the effects control like X and Motion is with some of these.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
We seem to have terrible problems with both Motion and FCP X. Motion quits/hangs/freezes almost after every thing we do – I had to get into the habit of hitting cmd-s after every change I made. FCP X seems very slow to change between projects, or when selecting an export option, and will often hang or become unresponsive when skimming or just moving the playhead, though usually will become useable again after some considerable wait for it, sometimes it never recovers. Sadly it don’t seem we’re having the same experience with Motion.
Jason
Mac 2×2.66Ghz 6-Core Intel Xeon 24GB Lion
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[Jason Butcher] “We seem to have terrible problems with both Motion and FCP X. Motion quits/hangs/freezes almost after every thing we do – I had to get into the habit of hitting cmd-s after every change I made. FCP X seems very slow to change between projects, or when selecting an export option, and will often hang or become unresponsive when skimming or just moving the playhead, though usually will become useable again after some considerable wait for it, sometimes it never recovers. Sadly it don’t seem we’re having the same experience with Motion.”
I use Motion 5 all the time and apart from a few quirks I have found it to be more stable than Motion 4.
You shouldn’t be having the problems you are encountering.
Try deleting your preferences and if that doesn’t work reinstalling the app from the App Store.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
Simon – I’m sure I’ve done all you have suggested during a job we were doing that had a looming deadline to try to improve our productivity. I will however do so again. We even upgraded to Lion in the hope it would help as some users were telling of improved performance. As I said earlier, we’re also having problems with FCP X so there could be other more serious issues, but the machine is relatively new and of decent spec…
Jason
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[Jason Butcher] “As I said earlier, we’re also having problems with FCP X so there could be other more serious issues, but the machine is relatively new and of decent spec…
“The FCPX issues are understandable Jason and there are ways to deal with many of them to make it better – remember to only keep the project and event you’re working on in their respective folders and to Delete Render files regularly during your sessions. You’ll still need to quit X and relaunch regularly s tat’s the only way to deal with the RAM issue.
Motion by contrast is an improvement and should be running smoothly.
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