[Gary Milligan]

[Zoe Weslowski] “SOOO, if I set the scratch for the External HD which has PLENTY of space ALL those files I am importing and working with in FCP should be stored on the external and so that would resolve my space issue with the project. That’s either right, or sounds totally crazy and at this point, I don’t know what the hell it is.”

That’s right… you’ve got it! The application (FCP) must be installed on your system drive – your project files can be wherever you want (internal or external drive) – and your media files should always be on an external drive with a fast connection (not USB).

I don’t know how far into your project you are – judging from the questions in your earlier posts, I suspect not very far despite the amount of time you’ve been working at it. Maybe you should consider starting over right from the beginning… including transcoding your original files from MP4 to ProRes using MPEG StreamClip and exporting to QuickTime (pay attention to the list of Compression settings and Options there). I know this may sound extreme, but it may actually save you further frustration with this project later on… as well as give your finished product a quality boost due to the fact that you have double-compressed the media files you’re currently working with… and you will have to do at least one more compression when you get to the delivery stage. Speaking of delivery, what are your plans for that? – web? tape? DVD? Blu-ray? Starting over will also allow you to delete all your current render files from your system drive which should always have at least 10% free space to be able to function properly, otherwise you’re just asking for more trouble.

Zoe, I admire your enthusiasm but you must realize that FCP is a professional tool and you need to approach it as such. If you don’t want to take the time to research some of the basics necessary to do the work you’re not going to have an easy time of it. You’ve taken the right step by joining the COW and there’s a lot of excellent help here for sure. Do a search of the forums when you’re not sure of how or why – so far in your case, all your questions have been asked and answered before. Doing a search will get the answers quicker than posting and waiting for someone to reply… no bull. Reading the manual helps as well.

Good luck.

Gary

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

Have you set that external drive as your ‘Scratch Disk’?

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

You need to learn some basics about video files – such as, MP4 files ARE .mov files, but they don’t play well with FCP. MOV files come in a variety of codecs and it’s up to you to choose which codec you want to use. What are your sequence settings? Make sure your sequence settings match the footage you’re working with. This ‘problem’ has been addressed many times in this forum… do a search and you’ll find an answer.

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

[Katie Mulligan] “I can download the trial version though, do you think that has the necessary stuff for me to do this?”

A downloadable trial version of Final Cut Pro??? Where is that? Or are you talking about FCP-X? If it’s FCP-X make sure your computer has the correct requirements (processor, RAM, etc.). I’m actually not a user of either FCP versions – I use Media 100 – https://www.media100.com/
which has a fully functional trial that you can download. iMovie might work for what you need – try it and see… after all, art is all about experimenting – isn’t it? Regardless of the software you use, also remember to have an external drive for your media files.

Gary

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

[Gary Milligan] “The one change I made in preferences was deselect the ‘Convert Audio to LPCM’. The original audio was recorded as LPCM – could this have been the cause of the long transcode? “

As an attempt to answer my own question, I just transcoded another clip and this time I selected ‘Convert Audio to LPCM’. The 12 minute clip took 15 minutes to transcode to ProRes. This leads me to believe that there is indeed an issue with v 2.4.4

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

Well this looks promising – updated Clipwrap to 2.4.6, added three files (total 5.6 GB), joined to make one ProRes and clicked ‘Convert’. In just a half hour it’s already about 80% done!… and I’m not wearing a seatbelt!! The one change I made in preferences was deselect the ‘Convert Audio to LPCM’. The original audio was recorded as LPCM – could this have been the cause of the long transcode?

It’s been 38 minutes since I clicked ‘Convert’ and the file is done. All is well. I apologize if you’ve read this thread, gotten nothing useful from it, and felt it a waste of your time. I’ve learned something and am glad to share it.

Thanks for listening…

Gary

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

Just noticed that ClipWrap 2.4.6 is available. Once this transcode is done I’ll update and see how that goes.

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

Wow, that’s one long dissolve!… and probably a long render as well. I imagine if you’re working with the ProRes codec (probably your safest bet) your ‘self-contained’ exported file out of FCP is going to be huge. You’ll never get anything but a very pixellated mess for sure if you try to fit this onto a DVD (don’t forget, DVD is SD only) – but maybe all the very low bitrate, dancing compression artifacts will look like ‘art’ too 😉 What do you plan to use to display this piece? LCD screen? Projected?

Take a look at something like this: https://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330
to play your file from a hard drive.

Good luck, hope this helps.

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

Hi Reid,

I’ve been travelling last week so I’m playing catch-up now.

The only other suggestion I can offer is to post your question in either the ‘DVD Authoring’ or ‘Apple DVD Studio Pro’ forum (or both). You might get more help there.

Good luck.

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw

[Gary Milligan]

[Reid Alt] “I’ve searched and searched, but only seem to find hobbyist software. Need something a little better than that.”

What, specifically, have you found that you consider “hobbyist”? What editing software are you using? Unfortunately, Apple’s only professional DVD authoring tool (DVD Studio Pro) came bundled with Final Cut Pro Suite which is no longer available (unless you buy a second-hand copy). Adobe Encore may suit your needs.

HTH

Gary

This is me – this is what I do – https://web.mac.com/garymmw