[Dave Gage]

Simon,

Much appreciated as always. I just read a Ken Stone article on creating Favorites folders for effects, titles, etc. with the “Motion Templates” folder, so I will be able to keep better track of some of the excellent plug-ins you and others have shared. I’ve greedily downloaded everything you’ve come up with.

Thanks again,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

Oliver,

[Oliver Peters] “My concern is that the more Projects you have, the slower things are to open, because these have to be buffered into RAM to permit skimming. This is true whether in the Event or Project library. So if you have many, complex, long sequences “exposed”, it takes a long time for the app to fully open. This can be mitigated by placing stuff into folders and only opening the one folder containing timelines you want to work on. Or by using Finder “hiding” techniques (or Event Manager) to show/hide pertinent Events and Projects. For example, hiding some of the program sections that you aren’t working on at any given time.”

(Sorry if this is a bit off topic.)

I’ve brought up a question with Simon a couple of times as to whether or not the amount of 3rd party plug-ins loaded will make a difference with app speed other than the initial boot-up of FCPX (I have a ton in my “Motion Templates” folder). There doesn’t seem to be an answer to this yet. Have you done any testing with this or read anywhere if someone has?

If there is a connection to the amount of loaded plug-ins (similar to as you mention with loaded Events and Projects), I suppose quitting and rebooting FCPX and re-naming the “Motion Templates” folder temporarily or moving some plug-ins out would help. My guess is that the plug-ins wouldn’t affect anything without being applied, but I really have no idea. If there is any truth to this, then a 3rd party “Plug-in Manager” a la “Event Manager” would be very cool.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

Mark,

What’s going in with RAM usage when you check in Activity Monitor? I’ve only got 8GB in my i7 MPB so I frequently run the “free” FreeMemory app when in FCPX and rarely have to re-boot. It seems the majority of times that my fan begins racing is when rendering or encoding. I don’t seem to get it much when just working.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

Very cool! When I’m in a rush, I just blade the clip where I want and then drag down the volume fader, but the Range Tool is much better.

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

Oliver,

I had a brief discussion a couple of months ago with Simon Ubsdell in the Techniques forum about possible plug-in bloat. I tend to download anything that Simon or others at the Cow create and I’ve already found use for a number of them, but most of them just sit there in the Effects Browser.

He didn’t know at the time if having a ton of additional plug-ins would slow the start time of FCP X or even the program in general. This thread seems to imply that it could. The only crashes I’ve had recently were definitely connected to the real-time previews of effects. The worst offender in my case was the Gaussian Blur. Twice in one day, the preview brought up the spinning beach ball and I had to re-boot.

If plug-in bloat is a real issue like opening FCP X with too many Events and Projects, I wonder if someone can or will come up with a simple app like Event Manager to load and un-load plug-ins before you open FCP X. If nothing else, it would allow for easier troubleshooting.

Dave

[Dave Gage]

Dereleek,

I believe someone ask earlier, but what camera did you shoot with?

[Dereleek Sanchez] “I actually converted my mts files into mov before I imported.”

What program did you use to convert or wrap the .mts files and what was the final file type? If you open these files in QuickTime Player what does the info say on them?

Dave

[Dave Gage]

Dereleek,

If you are using a Canon Camcorder like the Vixia (not DSLR), you may be running into the same issue I did a while back. There is a bug in the way FCP X interprets the 1080p 29.97 (PF30) files from Canon. Even though you shot progressive, FCP X is mistaking it for interlaced and will then try to deinterlace it if placed in a 1080 progressive project (you will see it try to render your footage). This is why I was seeing artifacts and lacking sharpness in my projects.

I solved this problem by using ClipWrap and wrapping the .mts file(s) within a .MOV. Once this is done, FCP X reads the file correctly and will not try to render your files when added to the timeline. (I also now have the advantage of being able to preview and re-name my files before I start a new project.)

Here’s my original post with links to where I learned of the “benign PsF and malignant PsF” issue-
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/344/6337

Dave

[Dave Gage]

Iain,

[Iain Anderson] “Not sure if I can post the link here, though.”
I don’t know either. But, if you post back that it’s available, I can google your name for it.

In the meantime, did you have any thoughts on the newly added keying parameters and how it compares now to Motion?

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

(Uh, forgot to put the question in. Too much multi-tasking.)

I’m amazed how quickly Andy and Kevin got up tutorials for the new multi-cam. I just downloaded the updated final_cut_pro_x_user_guide and will take a look at the keying section this weekend. Anyone have plans to do a Chroma Key tutorial or have seen any around yet?

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

Update:

I got OWC (MacSales) on the phone yesterday and they had no solutions for me other than taking the drives out and testing them. I was fortunate in that since this was a RAID 1 setup and both drives were physically working, when I popped them into a Voyager bare drive unit, both drives were just fine. The enclosure was about 4 months out of warranty so they couldn’t take a look or replace it without a fee that was pretty close to buying a new one.

I have enough external enclosures that I can make it work until the new Thunderbolt enclosures come out. No official word, but it sounds like they are hoping to see them Feb. or March this year.

Thanks,
Dave