Modified Files In Final Cut Pro X ! What in Heavens name is going on?

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Modified Files In Final Cut Pro X ! What in Heavens name is going on?

Hello everyone,

I am in the middle of a large and complicated edit with a client that likes the shoulder view (My Shoulder!) and to add to the stress I am now receiving footage all bright red with warnings all over the timeline (I do wish Final Cut wouldn't do this sometimes, it wouldn't be so bad if it actually TOLD you what the problem was) "Modified File" its screaming today. I'm not sure what that actually means , surely every file that comes into it is modified at some stage ? well its very hard to stop my client from pacing and making more and more anxious sounding phone calls and I'm finding it even harder to fix this , I've tried a couple of things like deleting render files etc but to no avail. If anyone can help with a fix asap I would be very grateful. Thanking you all very much in anticipation,

Kind regards

Sam

iMac 27″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Jun 14, 2021 10:15 AM

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Answer 1

W. Raider

Level 3

797 points

Jun 18, 2021 11:31 AM in response to SamFrancisco60

I'm guessing it reads "Modified File" under the icon. It means, according to the documentation, "A media file has been changed by an app other than Final Cut Pro." which is typically less than helpful.

Try this:

Right Click on the clip and select Reveal In Browser, then in the Browser right-click and select Reveal in Finder.

In there look for a folder called something like "High Quality Media" which is in a folder called "Transcoded Media" I think.

Look around and see if the clip has been transcoded improperly. There's a chance it was and FCPX is showing a literal video clip of the red icon. I've seen this before in older versions of FCPX. The solution back then was to actually delete the clip from the High Quality Media folder.

Then you may need to relaunch FCPX, I can't remember, or it may just be fixed when you delete the erroneously transcoded file (if this is indeed the issue).

See if in "Original Media" folder you can find the original clip and make sure it's okay there. This is all just a guess from a hazy memory of me having this problem a long long time ago.

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jun 14, 2021 10:21 AM in response to SamFrancisco60

You'll need to give us more information. What actually are the red icons you see showing. There are a number of different warnings that should apply. Post screenshots.

Original media files should never be modified in any way (with a few exceptions like still images).

What is the media? Where is it stored, in the library or outside it? Where are the library and media stored, on the system drive, or somewhere else?

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Answer 3

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jun 14, 2021 12:02 PM in response to SamFrancisco60

I can't read what it says on the icon. Are you seeing this in the browser as well? Select the browser clip and use Reveal in Finder. Does the file play correctly in the QT player?Have you tried relinking the clips from the browser?

That Modified File doesn't look like text generated by FCP.

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Answer 4

Jun 14, 2021 10:49 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Hey Tom, thanks for coming back so quickly, here's a screenshot.

The File is a 4096 X 2313 REC 709 Stored outside the library on a Samsung SSD via thunderbolt. It's a storm cloud scene which I'm adding on top of the Timeline to create a sort of flashback scenario.

All was working fine till I rendered the whole timeline so we could see everything to time without the usual stutters and then this started to happen. The footage comes from Envato Elements and I've never had an issue with their stuff, all very good quality etc. Nothing has been "Modified" apart from the usual white balance, fit to scale and an effect on top of it from Pixel Film Studios which creates a fish eye type effect but that goes across six clips and the rest are fine

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Answer 5

Jun 18, 2021 3:15 PM in response to W. Raider

Hello Tom and W Raider ,

Many thanks to both of you for your very helpful answers which were both I think headed towards a similar conclusion.

Unfortunately I never got to ascertain whether that was the cause of the issue as, to save time, and my client's impatience,

I re-downloaded the offending clip from Envato and finished the project that way. However this isn't the first time this has happened in recent months so if it happens again I'm certainly going to follow the trail as you have suggested and see if I can find the culprit that way. Final Cut does tend to keep all of her original media and files locked away and extremely close to her chest and its like Fort Knox in there sometimes, so now I'm even more curios as to how another app may have tampered with her charges.

I had a vague idea that it may have been , in my haste , I have dragged and dropped files directly into FCP from say a Spotlight search or a direct drop from my desktop rather than follow the usual procedure of getting them through Customs, as it were, through the Media Browser , but as I've been guilty of that transgression in the past and I haven't had any red icons scream at me , I let the thought pass..

Anyways thank you both for your time and patience and have a great weekend.

Kind regards

Sam

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Modified Files In Final Cut Pro X ! What in Heavens name is going on?

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