Final Cut pro Automated project rendering or send rendering tasks through compressor network to another MAC's

Question

Level 1

4 points

Final Cut pro Automated project rendering or send rendering tasks through compressor network to another MAC's

I have script that generates FCPXML and i need to render it automatically without user interaction, it that possible maybe using AppleScript?

Or alternatively on page:

Final Cut Pro for Mac - Compressor - Apple

I see "Distributed encoding", that can partially solve my task to run render tasks from one MAC on another in network:

Shared Computers

Encode jobs without dedicated hardware by using preconfigured groups of Mac computers on your network.

But i've googled for that and that actualy don't work...

Is there any way to make automation?

VMware, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 25, 2024 11:34 AM

Reply

Answer 1

terryb

Level 4

2,290 points

Jun 25, 2024 2:06 PM in response to DangerD512

How long does it take currently for one of the 3 minute videos to be encoded? What are the project specs and final output specs?

Compressor instances can be increased. Create additional instances of Compressor - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

DangerD512 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 25, 2024 10:01 PM in response to terryb

Script generated project looks like this (Title, Music, Transitions, Speedramps, Changing clips by music beats, etc...)

After Effects renders same project around 15+ minutes... (1080p) So i have 4 consoles for that and script starts task (project creation and rendering) automatically on free pc automatically without any user interaction...

Reply

Answer 3

Jun 25, 2024 12:03 PM in response to DangerD512

I suppose that by "rendering" you mean "exporting".

I don't see why you'd want to use fcpxml in this process.

Why do you need/want the exporting process to be done in another mac? Speed? Be aware that even if the second mac is much faster, there is the overhead of copying data over the network, so it may or may not help.

Compressor has the capability of pooling the resources of more than one mac, but maybe not for FCP projects (as it can for reencoding an already created video) - I suppose this is why you are saying that it does not work?

Can you tell us a bit about the project (e.g. frame size, andnduration), and to which format you want to export to?

By getting a clearer picture of the situation one may be able to better suggest a more effective course of action.

Reply

Answer 4

DangerD512 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 25, 2024 1:50 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

4k video which should be uploaded to YouTube, duration of each around 3 minutes, need to process around 40-50 videos within few hours

Currently I'm doing it with Adobe after effects on 4x windows pc and 1 Mac completely headless (without any user interaction), but i want to move to Final cut as it's much faster, but there's no any automation...

Reply

Answer 5

BenB

Level 6

12,313 points

Jun 26, 2024 5:10 AM in response to DangerD512

Any app that takes 15 minutes to export a 2:30;00 timeline, IMHO, has something wrong with it. 5 minutes tops, for sure. Even with intense effects. And AE is notorious for some of the longest export times around.

What model is your Mac? You should get at least real time exports in FCP, but effects intensive clips could take 5 minutes. So best case scenario you're looking at 4.6 hours via FCP. That's because FCP/Compressor will only encode one file at a time, even if you do batch export (they just get put in a queue).

All depends on your Mac model, what sort of horsepower it has overall.

Distributed processing in Compressor, as Luis says, can be slowed down by files having to be sent over the network between Macs, and some codecs won't distribute at all due to how they're coded. Unless you're doing a feature film with top of the line Macs on a fibre network, I'd not recommend distributed processing.

Reply

Answer 6

terryb

Level 4

2,290 points

Jun 26, 2024 11:33 AM in response to terryb

I'm curious how you are programmatically generating the fcpxml.

Could you send half the fcpxml files to FCP and the other half to Resolve?

The free CommandPost from https://commandpost.io allows scripting of FCP.

Reply

Answer 7

DangerD512 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 26, 2024 11:46 PM in response to terryb

What's the point of sending it to resolve?

I need some way to render project like i do with after effects:

afterfx.exe -r c:\script_path\example_script.jsx

That simple runs script that do the job

regarding generating project, script gets clips data (length) than read data from music track to get beat markers, than script generates xml with adding effects if clip filename contains some predefined letter =)

Quite simple))

Example of automatically generated video just by files in folder (without any user interaction, script is being launched from website admin panel): (After Effects)

Changing clips by music beats looks cool =)

[Edited by Moderator]

Reply