[T. Payton]

I totally hear you. I have the same workflow and issues. I’ve put in a feature request to create a “proxy event” or project for laptop editing. Apple actually totes this feature, but didn’t actually implement it. Look what it says here:

https://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/all-features/

Proxy creation
Create proxy media in the background, so you can work outside the edit studio without copying large original files. Import once using high-quality master sources, then transfer lightweight proxies to your notebook for editing on the road. When you’re back in the office, just reconnect from proxy to original media and keep working at high resolution.

Emphasis mine. 😉

Notice they say ” then transfer lightweight proxies to your notebook for editing on the road.” How exactly does one do that? Like I said it was thought of but not implemented.

Back to your question, one thing you don’t want to do is move the files around at the Finder level. That is because FCP X doesn’t create proxy media for some things like audio and some stills.

A better workflow is to have your entire event/project on an external drive. For smaller projects I just leave them on an external FW800 drive. I plug into my MacBook Pro and edit with proxies and then I plug it into my MacPro and edit with original media (or I just leave it on Proxy and edit faster.)

For Larger projects I use an external drive with eSATA. I fortunately have an older MacBook with an ESATA PC Card. So again this works well.

If I have to work on it on the weekend, I just copy the entire event & project to an external drive (original and proxy footage). Even thought it takes some more time it is less error prone for now.

Although this sounds like a bit of a pain, FCP X is almost seamless when it comes to moving an edit to another machine… well if it kept the motion templates used on the project in the event/project file that is.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

[Ron Priest] “I’ve been told that FCPX will just create one long file the length of the tape and overlook the start and stops.”

This has not been my experience. That source who reported that might have had a problem with their camera. However, at the Finder level when you create a camera archive it will look like one file but it is actually a package with a bunch of individual clips in it. So perhaps that is what they were talking about.

Here is a HDV Camera Archive (in FCP X import from camera)

[Ron Priest] “So, I’m wondering if maybe I shouldn’t just continue capturing ProRes 422 files for future projects on the old Mac Pro in FCP7, and edit them on the new iMac in FCPX”

Sure. Whatever works for your workflow! I would try the Create Archive in FCP X and see if it offers you any advantages. For me just the ability to not have to bother with any transport controls or buttons is a blessing. I just put in a fresh tape click “create archive” and in a bit it is done.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

For what it is worth, I’ve done a fair amount of capture in FCP X, mostly HDV footage, and some older SD DV footage. I find that although the options appeared dummed down, I was surprised that it works far better than my workflow in FCP 7. In FCP 7 I found that my work went faster if I captured an entire tape and then did my logging and notes after the fact. This sometimes became complicated as I had to rewind the tape, and do a “capture now” and hope I didn’t get timecode breaks, especially the first take on a tape.

With FCP X, rather than use the transport controls and import for a tape, I just choose “create archive” and it will take care of rewinding the tape and capture in the background while I do other work. If I need to edit, I just use my MacMini reserved for clients to capture to an external drive. Even on tapes that perviously had timecode breaks, the Create Archive function just captures the whole tape without trouble. This also moves tape be on the same “level”, i.e. file based, as solid state media. Capturing a tape is now something even an untrained assistant can do.

Once the Camera Archives are created they behave just like solid state media which each take is timestamped and broken up into individual clips. I can understand that the whole tape capture doesn’t work for everyone, but for me it has been a great timesaver. (If I was still editing in FCP 7, just this feature alone would be worth the $300 for FCP X.)

Regarding your issues, I haven’t had any problems with anamorphic footage capture, audio monitoring or loosing edits in FCP X. I did see an error pop up in FCP X 10.0.3 the other day that there was a problem saving to my project and was prompted to quit and restart FCP X.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

I would give Apple a call if you haven’t already, this sounds like something up their ally.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

This is an unfortunate bug. The FCP team does know about it, but it wouldn’t hurt to give some feedback or even call them about your specific situation. I would request that they make a better solution for “loading” events and projects. It shows not only a problem with the database handling but also that need a built in solution for “ejecting” events and projects.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

Wierd. Can you transcode and create optimized media or proxy?

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

Bummer. So what if you open the .mov in QuickTime Player. Is it still out of sync?

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

AVCHD? Humm. Which Mac do you have? How much ram?

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

Actually, my MacPro is older (2006) and running FCP X very well. The video card seems to be the most important factor.

I have a a MacPro 1,1. Radeon 5770 ($250 or so at the online Apple store), 13GB of Ram, running on a not to speedy 160MB/Sec eSATA RAID.

Just pick up a 5770, a bit of RAM and you’ll be good to go.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[T. Payton]

For what it is worth, the term “kerning” denoted the adjustment of space between individual characters. “Tracking” is the spacing of a group of letters. From my experience this has worked since day one in FCP X.

Select a group of number of charcters and tracking will be active. But put the cursor between two characters and kerning will be available.

BTW. This is a great addition to Final Cut’s basis titler. I used to always goto Photoshop or After Effects to set titles. Now FCP X can make the highest quality titles and I can kern to my hearts content.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque