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Questions about reconnecting project files in FCP 6
“Hello, I have some questions about reconnecting project files and
consolidating project files when we have moved media around. The
questions are a bit complicated, so let me first give a summary of
what we did:1) We captured HDV video on 2 drives, Indiana and Jones. Each drive
had different media.2) We imported the media from both drives into an FCP project file,
renamed the clips, marked the clips, and made sequences.Then I moved and needed to take a copy of the media with me. So
here’s what we did:1) We took all the media from Jones and put it in Indiana’s “Media”
folder. So Indiana had all the media. We kept Jones as is, with
duplicates of some media.
2) We copied Indiana, with all the media, onto another drive, Junior,
to go with me. Junior is not an exact copy of the whole drive. But
it has the entire “media” folder, with all the video, though the file
path to the media folder is different and it has a different name.Question 1: I recreated the file structure of Indiana on Junior and
placed the “media” folder in exactly the same location with the same
name. I made the drive names the same too. In other words, the file
paths to the media should have been identical on both drives. When i
opened the old project file, i expected all the files that had come
from the original Indiana to automatically reconnect, but they did
not. Why? When I went to reconnect, then did “search” it would
search for files with the clip name. But the clip name was different
than the original media, so it failed to find the media and did not
reconnect.Question 2: Our team is now bi-coastal and we hope to be able to send
project files back and forth. Is it important for our clip names to
always match our original media names to ensure proper connection? We
want to change the clip names b/c the names on the original media are
unhelpful.Question 3: For the project file to open successfully on both ends,
with changed clip names that do not match the original media, do we
have to have the identical file structure on our 2 drives?Question 4: Is it possible to copy markers from one project file to
the next? Is it possible you are using the same original media but
they have given the clips different names in the 2 projects?Question 5: Is it possible to copy all sequence settings and other
project settings/preferences from one project file to the next, other
than manually reproducing them in the new project file?”Kara Andrade
Multimedia Producer -
2 Replies
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Question 1:
[Kara Andrade] “When I went to reconnect, then did “search” it would
search for files with the clip name. But the clip name was different
than the original media, so it failed to find the media and did not
reconnect.”Once you change the clip name within FCP, you loose the connection to the original file name. NEVER change clip names once you have them in your project. To reconnect you will have to manually locate each and every clip and hope you can do so with names changed.
Question 2:
[Kara Andrade] “Is it important for our clip names to
always match our original media names to ensure proper connection?”If you are logging your media in a logical fashion with a proper naming convention, you should not need to rename media. Develop a system of naming your clips when you digitize so that the file name is helpful and meaningful whether you are on the East or West coast. Shane Ross has a great DVD to help with this very issue, check it out.
Question 3:
[Kara Andrade] “do we
have to have the identical file structure on our 2 drives?”You do not have to have the same file structure. You can reconnect media manually if FCP will not find the files for you. The important thing is to not change the file name. Reconnecting media can be a monster once file names start getting changed within projects.
Question 4:
[Kara Andrade] “Is it possible you are using the same original media but
they have given the clips different names in the 2 projects?”Yes. But again, why? You can change the name of a file within your project and not alter the original file name. However, when you have to go back and reconnect media you will be lost as to which file should connect.
Question 5:
[Kara Andrade] “Is it possible to copy all sequence settings and other
project settings/preferences from one project file to the next, other
than manually reproducing them in the new project file?””Create a custom Easy Setup that meets your project specs and copy that Setup to all of your workstations. That way all machines have the same setup characteristics for each project created.
Bottom line is create a naming convention that will adequately work for your editing and workflow environment. Make sure that everyone sticks to those guidelines and NEVER change file names. As long as everyone is using the same “rules” you should not have problems reconnecting media as you move it from drive to drive.
Alan Smith
Alan Smith
Media317Check out my blog – https://media317.com
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So I obviously read this thread too late. I did change the name of the clips in Final Cut, assuming the basename was still stored somewhere in the clip file or that it would still maintain some sort of connection to it. I guess that is completely wrong? And is manually locating each clip the only option? I have close to 100 clips and no real way to tell what is what now.
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