Q: Constant crashes after all procedures!

4 GB RAM is not enough to run FCP X - you may get away with very short projects but when the RAM runs out, the system will crash.

This is my pet checklist for questions regarding FCP X performance.

(You have addressed some of the items but it's worth double-checking).

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 (FCP X Preferences > Playback) - 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

as much as I love Lion as an Operating System..... (I really do)

However, Lion is NOT good with any professional apps I have been using...

Adobe CS 5.5 === HUGE PROBLEMS

AVID ProTools HD === HUGE PROBLEMS

FCP X === GARGANTUAN PROBLEMS - Nothing but spinning wheels and weird stuff.

All A.M. run fantasticly on Snow Leopard.

You do NOT want to use Lion with FCP X...

Snow Leopard is great with Final Cut Pro X....

In fact, keep you Lion OS on a separate partition then install snow leopard. Then run FCP X. After go back to the lion partition and run FCP X... It is like you running on a 10 year old mac. So slow.

4GB of RAM is TOO LITTLE... You wanna make that at least 8 but prefeably 32.

Good Luck....

PS - You can delete preferences and move projects all night long and buy all the RAM in the world it wont make FCP X run smoothly on Lion.

I have a top loaded Mac with all the bells and whistles incl. a 500+ Read/Write Raid0 system. Lion KILLs that mac in comparison to Snow Leopard

Studio Engineer wrote:

PS - You can delete preferences and move projects all night long and buy all the RAM in the world it wont make FCP X run smoothly on Lion.

I have a top loaded Mac with all the bells and whistles incl. a 500+ Read/Write Raid0 system. Lion KILLs that mac in comparison to Snow Leopard

OK - just follow around all my posts and keep spouting this rubbish if it makes you happy but I suggest you read what you're writing and tell me it's not a conflict on your system that's causing all these problems with all these apps.

Sorry - you're in denial.

Andy

Hi Andy,

I have 5 Mac... They all exhibit the exact SAME problems on Lion. ALL run great on Snow Leopard.

Now, some folks think GREAT is GREAT... Great for me... On a BIG project is when FCP X is flying.

And it is flying on Snow Leopard... On Lion all sorts of funny stuff is happening.

I have LOTs of colleagues trying to deal with FCP X... about 50% of them have moved to Premiere Pro... I am a AVID advocate of FCP X telling them to give it a chance. They are all running Lion. I have personally helped two of them who had given up on it... To re-enter the FCP X domain by simply showing them how smooth FCP X runs on Snow Leopard. They all thought it was FCPX being sluggish.. Whereas Lion was to blame.

Those colleagues are NOT hobbyist but professional editors actually making a living of off their NLE instead spending time gathering points on a public forum.

But you keep telling people to invest in more RAM buy better graphic cards, delete preferences and repair their disk permissions.... etc etc etc... Where all they need to do, is to run Snow Leopard. !

Beats me, that you havent even tried it yourself... If you had, you would not be insulting me ! You wold be running SL yourself.

wagmun wrote:

 

-> 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.

ANSWER:  I created a new acconut, but looks like I have to copy all events and project, and then I would be running out of disk space.

QUESTION: Is there a way of importing events and project from my other user? If yes, then I could give this a try.

 

 

If creating a new user account makes you run smoother it is NOT an indicator of needing to re-install the OS. It is an indicator of something not quite right in your home library...

In above scenario, just create a new user account and DONT reinstall the OS.

Just create the new user and go from there. You ONLY wanna re-install the OS if creating a NEW user account does NOT help.

As a matter of fact, there is a WHOLE lot of trouble shooting to be done before re-installing an OS.

After the re-instal you might run into the same promblem because you dont know what caused it in the first place

It's highly recommended that you put your Events, Projects and Media on fast external drives. This will go a long way to making your system work better with FCP X. If your work is valuable to you, you should have it backed-up on at least one other external HD as well.

If creating a new user proves helpful, it shows there's some conflict in your mac system. In this case, a clean reinstall of the system is recommended (the problem is not likely to "heal up" by itself) continuing with the new user account is merely kicking the can down the road.

If the new user account does not help, the problem probably lies within the media you are using. In that case, hide the media (events etc) in temporary folders so that FCP X doesn't find them - run the app, and if it runs OK, intrtoduce events back to their original positions one by one, re-starting the app each time, to see whether you can track down the one with rogue media. If you find the faulty event, you can do a similar operation with the actual media, to track down the actual file.

4 GB RAM is NOT enough for FCP X - goodness knows what Apple were thinking when they put 2 GB as a minimum.

Andy

Studio Engineer wrote:

I have 5 Mac... They all exhibit the exact SAME problems on Lion.

Then I hardly think you're in any position to advise others.

Beats me, that you havent even tried it yourself... If you had, you would not be insulting me ! You wold be running SL yourself.

I have tried it. I dedicated a drive to Snow Leopard a few weeks ago and I saw no improvement in performace at all (FCP 10.0.2). Then 10.0.3 came out and Lion was clearly better than Snow Leopard, so I ditched SL altogether.

Andy.

andynick wrote:

 

Studio Engineer wrote:

I have 5 Mac... They all exhibit the exact SAME problems on Lion.

Then I hardly think you're in any position to advise others.

 

I have conducted tests on 5 of my own different setups. And several more on other people's setups. And I am NOT in the position to give advice... In the world of testing, MORE and MANY tests equals consistent results.

You on one setup. And that while spending half your day writing on forums. Hmmm...

I wonder why you feel so attacked by what I write.. You musn't forget that I would LOVE for those apps I mention to be running on Lion, as that would make my life MUCH easier.

Beats me, that you havent even tried it yourself... If you had, you would not be insulting me ! You wold be running SL yourself.

 

I have tried it. I dedicated a drive to Snow Leopard a few weeks ago and I saw no improvement in performace at all (FCP 10.0.2). Then 10.0.3 came out and Lion was clearly better than Snow Leopard, so I ditched SL altogether.

Andy.

That last comment alone proves that you are NOT spending much time cutting long and complex project with FCP X on Lion !

The absurdity of your suppositions speaks for itself.

Andy

supposition..... Hmmm...

That implies uncertainty in ones belief.... Perhaps, you would do yourself a favor and READ what I write...

There is NO uncertainty there