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FCPX painfully slow and jumpy playback

Hi guys

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to make FCPX playback better.

I'm on an M1 mac mini with 16GB RAM. Working on a music video with probably twenty clips of various lengths, some masking, some glitchy type plugins from pixel films, and some frame rate plugins. It's a 60fps background shot, so I believe the whole session is working at 60, right?

Playback is very rough and jumpy, to the point where I can hardly tell how the timing is working unless i export the file and playback in QuickTime or something.

Is there any way to give FCPX a break by printing the effects so that it will play back a little smoother? In audio land I'd call this offline printing or rendering a track so the CPU doesn't have to do as much processing on it. I tried creating a couple of new consolidated clips, but that didn't seem to help much.

FWIW, i still can't hear the fans on this M1 even when FCPX is moving so slow! :-D

THanks

Geoff

Mac mini, macOS 14.5

Posted on Sep 5, 2024 11:38 PM

Top-ranking reply

Ian R. Brown

Level 7

22,373 points

Posted on Sep 6, 2024 12:55 AM

Is your SSD nearly full? You need at least 20% free for efficient editing.

Try deleting the preferences by holding down the Option and Command keys as you launch FCP until a window appears. Click the "Delete" button.

Another possibility is a corrupt file in the project.

View in context

38 replies

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Sep 6, 2024 5:24 PM in response to geofffromdowney

Delete your generated library files from the File menu. Use the consolidate function to move the media to a location outside the library bundle.

terryb

Level 4

2,638 points

Sep 6, 2024 5:37 PM in response to geofffromdowney

After following Tom's always excellent advice, make sure to disable background rendering in FCP Settings. This can generate enormous files that are typically not necessary.

BenB

Level 6

12,643 points

Sep 6, 2024 7:12 PM in response to geofffromdowney

I bet you have the Super Slo Mo in several clips, eh?

Sep 6, 2024 9:56 PM in response to BenB

No slo mo, but most everything is at 60fps, and I do have plugs to drop the sample rate to 30 and 15 on just about every clip except for two.

I did what Tom and terryB suggested, the library bundle size is still the same:

I also moved a copy to a local SSD, and did the same with the deleting generated files, colsolidating, and not creating the render files in the background. File size inthe same on the local storage. It also plays back the same, unworkably slow.

ANy thoughts?

Thanks

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Sep 9, 2024 10:04 AM in response to geofffromdowney

In Settings check the background in playback. Set it to checkerboard to see if it’s transparent.

Sep 9, 2024 10:21 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks for the reminder.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Sep 10, 2024 10:33 AM in response to geofffromdowney

You have to export ProRes 4444 to preserve the alpha channel. Make sure the project was not already rendered in a different codec.

Sep 10, 2024 10:45 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks Tom, that is what I was trying to remember.

I also have a vague recollection that it could be done by exporting HEVC. I'm sure I did it but can't remember how.

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Sep 10, 2024 12:04 PM in response to geofffromdowney

RGBA. Red Green Blue and Alpha. Alpha being transparency.

Sep 11, 2024 2:00 AM in response to geofffromdowney

You can also export HEVC with an Alpha channel from QuickTime Player.

Simply open the ProRes 4444 file you exported from FCP in QT Player and select File>Export>1080p etc. and in the window that opens choose HEVC and tick the Preserve Transparency box.

Sep 6, 2024 1:04 PM in response to terryb

yikes, ok i can give that a go.

I don't really need any AUs open in fcpx. Any audio work I do would be in a DAW anyway, and frankly I find it kind of annoying even seeing all these audio plugins in my video program lol. I'd love it if there were a way to disable them from FCPX permanently and leave the available for DAWs that use AUs.

I'm not using topaz on any of these clips (I didn't even know it had plugins!)

Thanks!

Sep 7, 2024 9:34 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Ok, somehow between yesterday and today, the library is down from 500+G to 290MB. That now seems totally reasonable to me. It may have been the Library files as Luis suggested, but either way the library size seems to make sense now.

However, the playback is painfully jumpy and slow still, whether I'm working from the network drive or the copy I moved onto local storage. (the media/clips are still on the network drive even when I open the library from local storage.) here's a screen recording of how jumpy it is, vs the exported file:

screen recording of slow playback in fcpx:

https://youtu.be/J7HFiiFFTeo

compared to the exported file:

https://youtu.be/vc8YbiGUIZU

I opened up an older project on the same network drive that has a comporable amount of plugins and it plays back a bit jumpy, though not nearly as jumpy as this...

Any ideas?

Sep 7, 2024 2:24 PM in response to geofffromdowney

One additional bit - I noticed that when I added a new clip on top, with no effects or plugins or masks or transformations, it plays back fine with no dropped frames or jumpiness.

I think this indicates that the computer is just struggling to keep up with all the plugins?

Sep 8, 2024 8:24 AM in response to terryb

Ok, I went through and removed the effects one be one to find the culprit. Each removal stage cleaned up the playback just a bit, but the biggest impact was tossing out the scene removal mask. After that, the whole thing played back cleanly and nicely as it should.

I can experiment with this, but does anyone know if creating a new compound clip will print the effects? (ie like rendering in a DAW) so that the processor doesn't have to do that on each playback and just plays the clip? Or is it just a wrapper for viewing convenience?

If not, I suppose I will have to open each clip in a separate project, process the scene removal mask, export the file, and re-import to my music video as a new clip. Which would work, it's just more tedious.

Sep 8, 2024 8:33 AM in response to geofffromdowney

Maybe it's also time to start thinking about a new machine? I'm working on an M1 mac mini with 16GB RAM. I don't really want to move up to a mac studio, as i have the mini racked in a nice enclosure in my recording rack.

Could look at and m2 mini, are they that much better than the m1?

For audio I've always tended to max out the RAM, but maybe i should also be looking at graphics cores if I'm struggling to get videos playing back nicely?

FCPX painfully slow and jumpy playback