QT Reference file taking a long time to complete.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Adam Berch] “I start it and it’s taking a very, very long time to do it. I thought making reference files were supposed to take basically no time at all?”

What codec(s) are you working in? References files can only be made with intra-frame codecs like ProRes, DVCPro HD, AVC-I, Avid DNX, Cineform, etc.,. Due to the nature of inter-frame/GOP codecs such has MPEG2, H.264, AVC you can’t make a reference movie with them so FCP will export a QT movie which is probably why it’s taking so long.

[Shane Ross]

Also…if it needs to be rendered, FCP will render as it exports, and then what will be referenced is that render file.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Nick Meyers]

yes, most likely the timeline hasn’t been rendered.
sometimes a simple Command R isn’t enough,
unless your FCP is set up for it, it won’t render a lot of the real time playback effects.
even the Render All command (Option R i think) doesn’t render “full quality” real time playback effects unless it’s set up to do so in the Sequnce Menu render controls.

another gothcha here is that with certain types of (non I-frame) media (HDV or XDCam for instance) there can be no render indicators, and yet, FCP has to create new media for an export.

i saw this on my last project, where we’d have a bunch of XDCam clips in the timeline , no effects.
hit “render al” and FCP has to “render” up to 15 frames either side of every edit.
if you haven’t done this, exports of any type can take a long time.

reference files are ok when you’re in a rush, or if you just need something to drop into Compressor or Encoder,
but they are risky: they rely on render files that may not exist after a certain time,
so don’t bet on them working after a week, and always label them “REF” of something, so you know.

they also do export a hard copy of the audio.
if you don’t need the audio, remember to export as “Video Only” on the export page,
then it’ll be lightning fast.

nick