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Things could get… interesting…
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[Jeremy Garchow] “No, I am sorry. I am not griping to you or to anyone. I apologize.”
No need to apologize, I was really being a bit facetious and took no offense. I hope I didn’t offend you either. I appreciate the info. Ultimately the problem with the transition is that neither of the methods recommended works for me.
Apples method – Open everything and it will create gigantic libraries for you. I’d have to open around 200 sparse bundles and since I’m using managed media with projects that span multiple drives I’m not even sure how it would attempt to handle it.
Event Manager X method – I could do this, but it would probably require double the hard drive space (at least). Why? Because I tend to use the same events in multiple projects. If I convert each project one by one it’s going to create new media for the same event over and over again.
My solution – which I need to test and is on theoretical at this point. Is to make all my events have unmanaged media BEFORE I transition. This way FCP X doesn’t even attempt to move media files around. Basically I take all the media out of the “Original Media” folder in the event file (in a sparse bundle). Move it to a folder on my NAS server. Relink the files in 10.0.9. Do this for all 150 or so events I have that are managed. Then upgrade to 10.1. Now I can update project by project, because doing so will only create duplicates of the event file and not the media itself.
The advantage of this method is that I shift all my media to external media, which it’s going to need to be going forward. And there is no rush updating projects. I can do them as needed in the future. But still have access to the events for current projects. It’s also backward compatible to 10.0.9. I just leave my projects and events in place with linked media instead of managed media. So I can keep plugging away in 10.0.9 until I’ve got them all done.
Regardless, this is going to be time consuming. And thank god I’ve only been using FCP X for a year. Ironically, it may slow down my purchasing of a Mac Pro. I can’t buy it until I’m done all this.
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[Brett Sherman] “No need to apologize, I was really being a bit facetious and took no offense. I hope I didn’t offend you either. I appreciate the info. “
None taken. We are all good!
[Brett Sherman] “Ultimately the problem with the transition is that neither of the methods recommended works for me.
Apples method – Open everything and it will create gigantic libraries for you. I’d have to open around 200 sparse bundles and since I’m using managed media with projects that span multiple drives I’m not even sure how it would attempt to handle it.”
When you open FCPX, simply don’t hit the update button and nothing gets updated.
In your sparse bundles, are those usually self contained jobs? Or do you have multiple jobs in each bundle?
If each sparse bundle is it’s own job, you open the sparse bundle, choose File > Update Projects and Events, click locate, and then FCPX updates to a Library. You then choose “Save” to save the old versions in case you need them.
If you have multiple jobs, use Event Manager X to load only what you want to update, then update and FCPX creates a new Library. Then load some more, update to another Library.
[Brett Sherman] “Event Manager X method – I could do this, but it would probably require double the hard drive space (at least). Why? Because I tend to use the same events in multiple projects. If I convert each project one by one it’s going to create new media for the same event over and over again.”
So on your first one, Consolidate the media to a central location and then relink all your other Events to that media. Then, get rid of what you don’t need.
[Brett Sherman] “My solution – which I need to test and is on theoretical at this point. Is to make all my events have unmanaged media BEFORE I transition. This way FCP X doesn’t even attempt to move media files around. Basically I take all the media out of the “Original Media” folder in the event file (in a sparse bundle). Move it to a folder on my NAS server. Relink the files in 10.0.9. Do this for all 150 or so events I have that are managed. Then upgrade to 10.1. Now I can update project by project, because doing so will only create duplicates of the event file and not the media itself.”
Original media will simply stay original media in the sparse bundle.
You can then consolidate it out if you’d like and trash the original media folder from your old Events (which you just saved).
[Brett Sherman] “Regardless, this is going to be time consuming. And thank god I’ve only been using FCP X for a year. Ironically, it may slow down my purchasing of a Mac Pro. I can’t buy it until I’m done all this.”
I’m not sure it’s going to be as big of a deal as you think it is, especially since everything is already organized by sparse bundle. I think you are going to be just fine.
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[Jeremy Garchow] ”
In your sparse bundles, are those usually self contained jobs? Or do you have multiple jobs in each bundle?”Actually multiple bundles per job. Jobs typically use between 1 and 7 bundles though I have one with I think 50. And the same bundle may be used for many different jobs which have their own unique set of bundles they need. If you could look at a diagram of sparse bundles to jobs, it would look like a web. I think that’s where the complication comes in.
I’m trying to wrap my head around this. So when FCP X 10.1 creates a new library does it copy media from the old event file into the new library event? I thought this was the case.
Say I have two Jobs A & B that both use event X. They are in separate bundles. First I mount Job A and event X and convert them to a library. Then I Consolidate the event X to the NAS server.
Can I then convert Job B without event X mounted and then drag event X from Library A into Library B? Will FCP X understand this as the same event that has gone missing in Job B after I’ve already made a library out of it?
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[Brett Sherman] “Actually multiple bundles per job. Jobs typically use between 1 and 7 bundles though I have one with I think 50. And the same bundle may be used for many different jobs which have their own unique set of bundles they need. If you could look at a diagram of sparse bundles to jobs, it would look like a web. I think that’s where the complication comes in. “
That certainly seems confusing.
When you open a job, how do you know which 50 bundles to open?
Since you have a NAS, libraries won’t work with anything but NFS Shares, so sparse bundles are probably still necessary BUT they only have to contain Libraries, any Generated media, and render files.
You can now keep your media on the NAS available for all to see and use.
[Brett Sherman] “I’m trying to wrap my head around this. So when FCP X 10.1 creates a new library does it copy media from the old event file into the new library event? I thought this was the case.”
If your media is already external, it will not copy the media in to the Library. If your media is managed, the media will stay managed in the Library.
[Brett Sherman] “Say I have two Jobs A & B that both use event X. They are in separate bundles. First I mount Job A and event X and convert them to a library. Then I Consolidate the event X to the NAS server.
Can I then convert Job B without event X mounted and then drag event X from Library A into Library B? Will FCP X understand this as the same event that has gone missing in Job B after I’ve already made a library out of it?”
What is Job A now? A Project? Or a bundle?
Job B has to have a Library as well, so you’d have to have a Library on Job B, and yes, you could copy your Event from Job A to Job B. If you have already Consolidated the managed media out of the Library, then you’d delete the media out of the Event, update to a Library and relink Job B to the media on the NAS.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “When you open a job, how do you know which 50 bundles to open?”
Easy. Create a folder in sparse bundle that contains my projects(timelines) called “Bundles to Launch”. While I’m working on the project when I’ve mounted a sparse bundle that contains an event I use in the timeline, I drop an alias of the drive in that folder. Then the next time I open the “Bundles to Launch” folder and OS X goes through and mounts all the sparse bundles for me.
It worked pretty well. Kept the number of events open down. But my new workflow will have to be more based on the timeline with supporting events dragged into the library from some sort of repository. The tricky thing with this is the location of the events is going to be divorced from the location of the media. With my previous system, events and media always resided on the same volume. Now, I’ll have to maintain a list of the logical drives that need to be mounted for each job. Probably a similar “Drives to Launch” folder.
The advantage of the new system is that more than one person can work with the same media at a time. Before that wasn’t possible. Although the times that happened were extremely rare. There are two of us and we don’t work concurrently on the same job.
[Jeremy Garchow] “What is Job A now? A Project? Or a bundle?
Job B has to have a Library as well, so you’d have to have a Library on Job B, and yes, you could copy your Event from Job A to Job B. If you have already Consolidated the managed media out of the Library, then you’d delete the media out of the Event, update to a Library and relink Job B to the media on the NAS.”
I guess I’m using Job and Project interchangeably. A Job to me is one or a few timelines (projects) on the same subject.
My question is what does FCP X do when you convert a project that uses an event that is missing? Can it later recognize that event if it comes from another library that you’ve already converted?
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[Brett Sherman] “Easy. Create a folder in sparse bundle that contains my projects(timelines) called “Bundles to Launch”. While I’m working on the project when I’ve mounted a sparse bundle that contains an event I use in the timeline, I drop an alias of the drive in that folder. Then the next time I open the “Bundles to Launch” folder and OS X goes through and mounts all the sparse bundles for me.”
I see. Very interesting.
I think, if you wanted, you can simplify this process with Libraries.
Libraries would be in the bundles, media would not. Launch the library you need, dupe it if you have to, libraries share the same media.
[Brett Sherman] “My question is what does FCP X do when you convert a project that uses an event that is missing? Can it later recognize that event if it comes from another library that you’ve already converted?”
If you open a Project that came from an Event that is now in a Library, you would let fcpx bring the new Project in to a new library. At this point, you either move the new Project to the first Library, or simply relink the media that is already on the NAS to the new Library.
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