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Using media browser instead of events browser for big catalog of still images
I make videos in FCPX mainly from a huge catalogue of still images. Not video clips.
I’m finding that with so many stills in the Events Browser, FCPX slows down enormously. It takes 15 minutes or more just to start the app and load the assets. I often have to wait for minutes between editing steps. Somehow, FCPX does not like to work with this many stills. I currently have over 4000, and this number will grow.
I took out of the Events Browser all images over 4000 pixels, and that seemed to speed things up, but only a little. When I take my permanent stills folder out of the Final Cut Events folder, then the program works just fine.
So, do I want to use iPhoto, Aperture, or some other app that FCPX can use in its media browser?
And lastly, is there a way to transfer my current FCPX keyword collections (the metadata) to iPhoto or Aperture or another? This is key to saving me rekeying in the keywords I’ve already established for my 4000 still image catalogue.
Thanks in advance for any help. This is a big problem for me.
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2 Replies
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I would say that that’s a pretty massive amount of high resolution images to have in an event so I’m not terribly surprised. You would ‘probably’ be better served keeping your images in iPhoto, Aperture, or even dragging a folder containing all images into the pictures media browser. I just pulled up 776 images in a folder and it took about 30 seconds to pull up preview images in the media browser, so assume it would take 5 times as long for your system to do the same thing. Definitely make sure your photos are located on your fastest drive.
In regards to your previous keywords, you may find managing your photos in Aperture or iPhoto as iPhoto Events will accomplish the same task as your keywords. I don’t think you’ll be able to save the metadata tagging you’ve already done, but perhaps someone smarter than me will weigh in.
I would say that media browser access is one of my favorite features of X, but also an area that needs much greater attention from Apple. it needs volume control and the ability to skim clips in the browser. Nothing worse than working with audio in a project at -10, then jump to the browser to preview a whoosh sfx and getting knocked across the edit suite from the uncontrolled volume of the browser.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Thanks, John. I’m going to experiment with iPhoto browser and keywording first.
Yes, the Media Browser in FCPX can be wonderful. I have a huge collection of SFX in an iTunes library. When that library is active, and I fire up FCPX, I can search and access what I need. But in this case, the SFX filename is the key, as that’s what gets searched in FCPX.
My stills are not as fortunately named. Nor could they be; no, I need tags or keywords because each image would typically have many keywords associated with it.
I’m hoping someone will tell us how to extrapolate the keywords I’ve already inputted into FCPX for my images. When I put the Events Browser in list view, there are all my images AND (when twirled down) the triangle shows all the keywords associated with that images.
I’m sure I’m not the only one “enjoying” this conundrum.
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