Joe Marler
22
Apple Final Cut Pro X Coins
39
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Zeina Aboulhosn] ” I have a concern about the naming of the files on the harddrive and how that might impact the workflow.
1. The shoot was over many years with multiple cameras, mainly Canon 300, so there are many files named ‘C0001’ or ‘C0002’, from multiple shoots over the years… They are however in separate folders and subfolders on the harddrive. Will this cause a problem later?”
Yes this can definitely cause a problem. Under no conditions import a bunch of files with duplicate names – even if they are in separate folders. There is a bug in FCPX which will create spurious duplicates due to a database problem if you ever load an XML referencing those files. I reported this to Apple long ago and it’s still not fixed.
Besides this it streamlines post production if you have globally unique filenames. There are many situations where you may collaborate with other post-production people. It is a constant source of confusion to have many files with the same name. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had to explain “I meant the c0003.mp4 file size 1.56 GB with creation date 14-Nov, not the one size 1.42 GB with creation date 13-Nov”. Redundant filenames (even if in separate folders) is often confusing, wastes time and is error prone.
It is not difficult to avoid duplicate filenames. Simply rename the files to be globally unique before import to FCPX. I use the 3rd party tool “A Better Finder Rename” https://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/index.html
However Finder itself has batch rename ability. You can even do multiple rename passes to achieve your goals. Gary at MacMost Now just did a tutorial on this feature: https://macmost.com/step-by-step-using-the-mac-batch-rename-tool.html
My documentary team simply appends an incrementing 5-digit serial number to each file as part of the offload process. We keep track of the highest number used then the next offload operation uses the next sequential number. That way no matter how many projects or cameras, the filenames are unique.
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Filter on favorites in the upper-right-hand corner of the event browser, then in the default smart collections in the left-hand sidebar, click on audio. Only your audio favorites will show up. If you want video only favorites, click on the video smart collection.
The above are library-wide smart collections and search across all events. You can also create an event-specific smart collection where the search scope is only within that event. You can create your own smart collections with specific search criteria: https://support.apple.com/guide/final-cut-pro/create-smart-collections-ver2833eb5b/mac
You can create a library-wide smart collection which searches through keyword collections in all events. In essence this creates a library-wide keyword collection. To do this, create a smart collection and add the search type “keyword”.
This video demonstrates one way to use smart collections to find material (“One Smart Collection To Rule Them All”):
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I again encountered this problem recently, investigated it to narrow the parameters and reported it to Apple Pro Apps support yesterday.
Symptoms: black media clips or red (missing proxy) clips when copying clips or projects to another library IF optimized/proxy files exist and IF you answer NO to the popup about copying optimized or proxy media. This is a common scenario when archiving a project and you don’t want/need optimized/proxy media copied to the destination archive library.
This only happens if using FCPX external storage as defined in the library inspector>Storage Locations>Modify Settings. Problem still happens if clips/project are copied to the destination library inside a “transfer event”.
Reveal in Finder on the black media clips in the destination library shows the regular media files which are playable. Transcode optimized/proxy is greyed out. May appear as “random” black clips, e.g, only certain clips in timeline are black. If so those are clips which had optimized media in the source library.
Workaround: delete generated optimized media or proxy files in destination library and rebuild, or if not needed (archive case), don’t rebuild them. The black clips will immediately fill in when the optimized media is “deleted”. Note there is no actual optimized media deleted in the destination library, since it was never there. It is a database error whereby FCPX thinks optimized media is there, tries to display it and it produces a black clip.
This only happens under the following conditions:
– Library storage must be external for source library when optimized/proxy media is generated. Destination library can use either internal or external storage. Media can be either copied to source library or imported with “leave files in place”.
Note in this case “external storage” does not necessarily mean an external drive or “in place” media. It only means a storage location external to the FCPX library has been defined in Storage Locations>Modify Settings, and afterward optimized/proxy media are created which places those files in that previously-designed storage location.
There is some variability which might at first appear to restrict problem to more specific storage cases, such as library and storage location on separate drives. Further testing shows it can happen even if source library, external storage location and destination library are all on the same drive, or even all on the same system drive. APFS vs HFS+ seems to make no difference.
To review: if you see black media or red proxy clips in a destination library after a cross-library copy of clips or projects, AND if during the copy you answered “no” to copy optimized/proxy media, then in that destination library try deleting the optimized or proxy media files. If the black clips immediately fill in, it is this problem. The red proxy clips are expected if you answered “no” to the copy dialog. However you cannot create new proxies in the destination library unless you delete the non-existent proxies, because the transcode dialog is greyed out.
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[Bob Zelin] “What I currently find “entertaining” is the YouTube influencer’s videos. Everyone has a loaded 2019 Mac Pro, with TWO of the new Apple monitors (and 2 stands) – and they are shooting their videos with a phone. “
Below is YouTube influencer “iJustine” showing her Mac Pro. It was shot on three 8k Red Heliums:
https://joema.smugmug.com/Videography/IJustineMacPro/n-8Zq5gX/
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[Oliver Peters] “Extremely sluggish performance and lots of spinning beachballs. We are 10GbE through a switch with 9 connected workstations. Media is fine, it’s the Libraries and how FCPX works with these files. Conversely, we have no issues with Premiere Pro project files on QNAP.
We also have a Jellyfish, which has become our main storage. It’s better optimized for FCPX and I can run with Libraries on Jellyfish. However, all things considered, FCPX works best when the Libraries are local on very fast drives, because the app is constantly writing updates to the Library file.”
Sequential reads dominate the I/O profile of typical video apps, which is easier for a NAS to handle. However FCPX is using a SQLite database which entails lots of small random I/Os. Somehow Lumaforge has cracked that code and uses clever caching to give good performance, unlike a QNAP.
Premiere project files must have a more traditional I/O profile. Resolve can either use a “disk database” (apparently a flat file) or a PostgreSQL client/server database on the same machine or a server.
It would be interesting to evaluate the I/O performance of Resolve configured for a local PostgreSQL database with that storage redirected to a NAS. That would be the closest equivalent to what FCPX does.
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I faintly remember seeing something like this once but I don’t remember the cause or solution. It’s common to accidentally have volume muted but the audio components should still show up in the inspector. They shouldn’t be missing.
It’s odd that changing the timeline would have any effect on clips in the browser, since the timeline internally exists as a separate SQL database inside a project folder containing CurrentVersion.fcpevent.
This implies it is not a project problem but an event problem, which has a separate CurrentVersion.fcpevent file containing a separate set of five SQL tables.
Have you loaded any XML files? What is the background of the .mov files? Are they direct imports from a camera?
If the MXF media was somehow not imported properly, e.g, copied out of a folder tree and imported, maybe it is missing some metadata that made the media fragile to failure. Sometimes media imported incorrectly can work for a while then exhibit odd behavior due to lack of metadata. E.g, it could be used for clip spanning, color profiles, etc.
You could try creating another library and copying the event to that library. Another troubleshooting method would be create an event XML, create a new library, then load the event XML. This would force the creation of new databases for the media.
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Is is possible that any of the clips in any of the timelines have different frame rates than the final project? In the event browser use list mode, right click on the column heading and add “video frame rate”, then inspect those.
Once a timeline is edited, if you copy/paste the timeline to a project with a different frame rate, in some cases you may see overlaps or gaps in previously-defined edit points. This is because the rate conforming algorithm cannot maintain frame accurate edits on short clips without changing clip speed.
E.g, consider two cases: (1) You have one long 23.98 clip in a 23.98 timeline and copy/paste that to a 29.97 timeline. The duration will be almost exactly the same. (2) You do likewise with a timeline composed of many short overlapped 23.98 clips, possibly intermixed with 29.97 clips, you may see unintended gaps and overlaps.
Larry Jordan mention this here: https://larryjordan.com/articles/fcp-x-conform-different-video-frame-rates/
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[Jeremy Press] “live theatre production with two cameras…I had a separate mic and, thus far, have made four sync clips — two synced to first performance audio track and two synced to the second. The performances on both nights are close, but not close enough to multicam.
Right now I’m attempting to edit by dropping scenes from the browser onto the timeline, but it’s proving to be a monster (it doesn’t help that the play is 3 1/2 hours long).”
I just spent five weeks editing a similar multcam stage act with multiple performances. It is difficult, esp. if you need to mix performances.
I suggest using multicam not sync clips. Make separate multicams for each performance. Do not drop parent clips into the timeline; those don’t have quality audio (unless each camera received the house feed).
If you need a “best of” or overview reel that’s one thing. The dilemma is if you need complete coverage. In that case you can’t just put in favorites.
Normally the preferred approach is mark/keyword the multicam clip in the browser. With FCPX you do maximum possible work in the browser. However if you need complete continuous coverage, that is different.
Yet you can’t fully sync both performances together — they are too different. I’d be tempted to lay the two multicams on top of each other in the timeline, maybe insert periodic gap clips to roughly maintain sync, then visually go through them with the angle editor enabled.
Mainly (or solely) use audio from one performance. You’ll have to make a case-by-case judgment on when you can cut to video of performance #2 and keep “good enough” sync. It might be possible to switch audio in some cases if you expand audio, overlap and feather them together. It depends on how similar/different the audio sounds.
The goal is leverage each performance as a multicam to the degree possible, and somehow blend them in the timeline. It’s not easy but it’s easier than just patching in camera clips.
If there was anyone else shooting (ie crowd reaction shots, etc) and you can get that material it would help – even if cell phone. That would allow cutaways to cover difficult cases.
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[Ken Bennett] “Also none of the backups from yesterday or from Sunday will open either. Does that mean all that work is GONE!”
By default FCPX backups are in /Movies/Final Cut Backups. As a safeguard copy that entire folder to another drive to preserve them.
If you have Time Machine or any other backup app, immediately extract and save an earlier version of the problem library.
What version of FCPX is this, what version of MacOS, what hardware? Is the library and media on local storage? Is the drive formatted HFS+ (MacOS Extended Journaled) or APFS? In general FCPX libraries should only be used on those partition types. Those are journaled and use write-ahead logging or similar methods to safeguard file integrity.
Make sure all disks have sufficient free space. After saving the FCPX backups to another drive, run Disk Utility First Aid on that drive. If it’s the boot drive this must be done from within MacOS Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
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[Matt Scholes] “quickly go and have a look at something later on in the timeline “
Use the timeline index and markers, including a red “to do” marker. There is not an assigned shortcut for the red marker but you can easily make one. The command is “Add ToDo Marker”.
Below are existing shortcut commands for navigating and moving markers. Note this works in the event browser as well as the timeline:
M: create marker at current skimmer or playhead location on current clip in the browser or timeline
CTRL+M: delete marker at current skimmer/playhead location
CTRL+’ (apostrophe): Jump to next marker in browser or timeline
CTRL+; (semicolon): Jump to previous marker in browser or timeline
SHFT+M: Modify current marker
CTRL+, (comma): nudge marker left. Press and hold to slide marker left.
CTRL+. (period): nudge marker right. Press and hold to slide marker right.
SHIFT+M: modify marker at skimmer/playhead location.Markers can be named via Modify Marker or within the timeline index, then searched on your assigned marker name within the index.
Larry Jordan video on creating custom FCPX commands:
https://larryjordan.com/articles/create-custom-keyboard-shortcuts-for-apple-final-cut-pro-x/
Using the timeline index:
https://larryjordan.com/articles/fcp-x-rediscover-the-timeline-index/