Alex McFarlane
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Impossible to work with new render / exports.

I tried updating directly from my Final Cut X 10.0 install to 10.0.3 in an attempt to get the extra keying features. But ever since I updated it's been impossible to do anything. Thank goodness I kept my old FCPX install backed up, but I already updated my projects / events and I can't do anything!

 

I've tried working with the extremely slow 10.0.3, to no success, it's just too slow.

I tried copying and pasting the old project into a fresh file, that did not help.

I tried trashing my preferences (I don't know what that does, but it seems to always be a top suggestion), that didn't help.

I tried entering "purge" into terminal following another suggestion, and as you could guess by now, that didn't help either.

 

So I gave up and tried to export the part of the project I finished already and start fresh with the other half of the project using my old 10.0 install, I couldn't do that either because FCPX 10.0.3 keeps taking up all of my available harddisk memory as a scratch disk! (20-30gbs in minutes), so I can't even export what I already done.

 

I've tried copying and pasting the whole project from 10.0.3 to 10.0 but it's saying that the event can not be found, so I made a new event which is an EXACT duplicate and clicked the button saying "modify event references" in an attempt to try to get FCP X 10.0 to use my new event, that didn't work either. Then I tried renaming the new event to match the name of the old event, still nothing.

 

I know it's a lot to read, but I'm just trying to emphasize the fact that I've exhausted basically every option I know of besides restarting the project.

 

 

In all honesty I'm wondering how they allowed such an update to be released, because 10.0 works flawlesslyon my computer (late 2011 macbook pro  2.3ghz i5), and this... This one freezes up just from me trying to change a compositional value, it becomes a very frustrating fight.

 

Anyways, any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Posted on Mar 4, 2012 11:12 PM

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Alex McFarlane

Q: Impossible to work with new render / exports.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by andynick,

    andynick andynick Mar 5, 2012 3:37 AM in response to Alex McFarlane
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Mar 5, 2012 3:37 AM in response to Alex McFarlane

    Very frustrating - but take it from me, 10.0.3 is a vast improvement on 10.0.

     

    There are two likely reasons you're having problems but allow me to paste in my stock reply for people with problems like yours.

     

    It's worth checking everything, even if you already have (if you see what I mean).

     

    ________________

     

    FCP X 10.0.3 runs very well on my 2009 MacPro 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 16 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB.

     

    First, check that you have at least 20% free space on the Hard Drive that your System and your Media, Projects and Events are on.

     

    Check the spec of your Mac against the system requirements:

    http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/specs/

     

    Check the spec of your graphics card. If it's listed here, it's not suitable:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664

     

    If you are getting crashes, there is some conflict on the OS. Create a new (admin) user account on your system and use FCP X from there - if it runs a lot better, there's a conflict and a clean install would be recommended.

     

    Keep projects to 20 mins or less. If you have a long project, work on 20 min sections then paste these into a final project for export.

     

    Create Optimised media - most camera native files are highly compressed and need a great deal of processor power to play back - particularly if you add titles, filters or effects. ProRes 422 takes up much more hard drive space but is very lightly compressed. It edits and plays back superbly.

     

    If you are short of drive space, use ProRes 422 Proxy - but remember to select High Quality when you export your movie.

     

    Hide Audio Waveforms at all times when you don't need them (both in Browser and Storyline / Timeline). They take up a lot of processor power. (Use the switch icon at the bottom-right of your timeline to select a format without waveforms if you don't need them at the moment, then switch back when you do).

     

    Create folders in the Project and Events libraries and put any projects you are not working on currently, in those folders. This will help a lot.

     

    Move your Projects and Events to an external HD (make sure it's formatted OS Extended - with journaled on or off) and run from there.

     

    The biggest single improvement I saw in performance was when I upgraded the RAM from 8 GB to 16.

    Andy

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Mar 5, 2012 3:55 AM in response to andynick
    Level 6 (12,709 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 5, 2012 3:55 AM in response to andynick

    Given all the things Alex has already tried, I think that trying FCP X from a newly created admin user should be at the top of the list.

  • by Alex McFarlane,

    Alex McFarlane Alex McFarlane Mar 5, 2012 9:05 AM in response to andynick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 5, 2012 9:05 AM in response to andynick

    Thanks for your reply.

    I'm going to try making a new admin user and using the Proxy files like you said.

     

    Only because I'm making music videos so they are pretty short in length, and I already switch to use only movie titles in 10.0.3, from running super smoothly with thumbnails and waveforms in 10.0, that's how bad my situation is.

     

    And I checked the lists that you told me to check and I meet the system requirements, well I exceed it.