Where are my render files?

Question

Level 2

156 points

Where are my render files?

In my system settings, an external hard drive is specified as the scratch disk for both capture and render, but I am not able to find any render files on that drive. Where might the files be?

Cube, 450 MHz, 1.5 GB, 7200 RPM HD, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Also bootable from OS 9.2.2

Posted on Jan 9, 2009 12:01 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 9, 2009 12:18 PM in response to John Link

Look in: Users/your name/Documents/Final Cut Pro Documents.

This is the default location, until you change it in FCP's preferences.

Reply

Answer 2

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 12:22 PM in response to Nick Holmes

Users/your name/Documents/Final Cut Pro Documents contains the folder Render Files which contains a folder Constant Frames that contains two files.

Reply

Answer 3

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 9, 2009 12:32 PM in response to John Link

Then it looks like you either have not yet rendered anything, or not yet had to.

FCP only falls back on render files when it can't play the sequence or a part of it in real time. This could be because the source material does not match Sequence Settings or multiple layers, filters and effects have been applied.

Render files have nothing to do with a Self Contained export, but they do play a role if you export a Reference Movie.

Reply

Answer 4

gogiangigo

Level 6

8,035 points

Jan 9, 2009 12:34 PM in response to John Link

Open finder> on the left hand side default menu choose Documents (usually sitting between applications and movies)>Final Cut Pro Documents>Render Files.

G.

Reply

Answer 5

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 1:13 PM in response to Nick Holmes

Then it looks like you either have not yet rendered anything, or not yet had to.

I'm working a project in which I have done a great deal of rendering.

Reply

Answer 6

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 9, 2009 1:22 PM in response to John Link

Then you have me officially baffled!

Confirm the location of your render files: Final Cut Pro > System Settings > Scratch Disks.

Look at the path listed, very carefully. Have you perhaps clicked on a sub folder, inside your Render Files folder or something odd like that? Consider also, that your project specific render files are in their own sub folder which has the same name as your project file.

Reply

Answer 7

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 1:36 PM in response to Nick Holmes

I have changed the render scratch folder from external HD to external HD > Scratch and have done some more rendering. I now see new render files in external HD > Scratch > Render Files > EWS (EWS is the name of my project). Good! But where are all the files previously rendered?

Surely there must be a way to find the locations of all the render files associated with a project. Throughout the course of a project one might change the scratch disks through the System Settings and not remember the previous settings. FCP still knows where to find the render files. I just want to get it to tell me where they are!

Reply

Answer 8

Jan 9, 2009 1:41 PM in response to John Link

Just a cautionary note...it may be simplest/wisest to just re-render.

Not to say you shouldn't know where your render files are supposed to be...

Reconnecting render files can cause various issues...corrupt renders, project file corruption...etc.

Just my 2 cents, but my experience has shown that connecting to render files (particularly if they've been lost/moved) causes problems.

If you're successful in finding/reconnecting your render files, do yourself a favor and dbl/trpl check every second of your timeline(s).

I've seen very odd behavior in the past.

K

Reply

Answer 9

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 9, 2009 1:52 PM in response to John Link

Ok. Let"s try something else. Open Finder and type Final Cut Pro in the search box.

Make sure that the search parameters are: Search: This Mac, and "Contents" is highlighted.
Click the + button at far right. Secondary search parameters should be "Kind is Movie".

We are interested in files with names like "Sequence 1-FIN-00000002". Click on one of those and you will see a row of folders at the bottom of the Finder window showing the path to that file.

Try a few different ones until you see a location that looks suspicious.

Reply

Answer 10

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 1:54 PM in response to Kevan D. Holdsworth

The name of the sequence in which I've been rendering is "wide" When I used the finder to search all possible locations for "wide/close-fin" it found only two render file in addition to those created after I changed the scratch location.

Just a cautionary note...it may be simplest/wisest to just re-render.

Unless I can find the render files, I will re-render.

Not to say you shouldn't know where your render files are supposed to be...

But FCP knows where they are! Surely there must be a way to get it to tell me. Even if I re-render I will still want to delete the old render files.

Reply

Answer 11

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 2:32 PM in response to John Link

How do I re-render my entire sequence when the entire sequence has already been rendered?

Reply

Answer 12

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 2:52 PM in response to Kevan D. Holdsworth

Reconnecting render files can cause various issues...corrupt renders, project file corruption...etc.

In case I hadn't made it clear, there is no part of my sequence that is not rendered, but I can't find the render files.

Is it possible to re-render when the entire sequence is already rendered? There are no places on the timeline show show red.

Reply

Answer 13

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 4:40 PM in response to John Link

I was able to undo all the rendering by putting video on a new track for the full length of the sequence and then deleting the video on the new track. Now I can re-render the entire sequence, but I still wonder where the previous render files are, taking up a few gigabytes of space.

Reply

Answer 14

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Jan 9, 2009 4:51 PM in response to John Link

YOu know, there is this interesting bug where sometimes RENDER files end up INSIDE the FCP application. Do me a favor and GET INFO on the FCP application and tell me how big the file is.

Shane

Reply

Answer 15

John Link Author

Level 2

156 points

Jan 9, 2009 5:22 PM in response to Shane Ross

Render files inside the FCP application? That's weird! How would one know that render files were inside the application? And wow would you get them out? Exorcism?

Get Info says my FCP application 6.0.5 is 14.93 GB, created 6/23/07 and modified 12/17/08.

Reply