pjslo

Q: Why does FCP X re-render projects that have already been rendered?

I've seen several posts about this problem, but have not seen a solution/explanation yet.  I have a project in Final Cut Pro X that I've finished editing.  I have background rendering on and I wait until the entire project is fully rendered.  I then shut down FCP.  When I restart, it reloads the project and then begins re-rendering it.  The whole thing.  This happens every time and the process takes quite a while (even though it's a short video.)  I've trashed my preference file, but still it does the same thing.  I can't even begin to tell you how much grief this has caused me.  So much so that I just used the word grief for one of the very few times in my life.  Honestly, I just bought this MacBook Pro (after years of struggling with Windows) in hopes that this would be better than a PC.  That doesn't seem to be the case.

 

Thanks for any help you can give me.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 22, 2012 7:45 PM

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Q: Why does FCP X re-render projects that have already been rendered?

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  • by pjslo,

    pjslo pjslo Mar 24, 2012 2:18 PM in response to yet another...
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 2:18 PM in response to yet another...

    yet another,

     

    Thank you for the reply.  It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one having this experience.  If I figure anything out, I'll let you know.

     

    Now that I think of it, I don't think FCP re-renders every project that I have.  So I'm guessing that it's something about this specific project that is causing the problem.

     

    pjslo

  • by yet another...,

    yet another... yet another... Mar 24, 2012 2:23 PM in response to pjslo
    Level 2 (200 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 2:23 PM in response to pjslo

    but stil, if it renders completely - then it is rendered, and those files are somewhere (the rendered files) so why after closing and re-opening does some of the storyline show up as unrendered - I mean its a completely legitimate question.  Please update if you figure anything out, I'm very interested!  Thanks pjslo - I'm with you!

  • by stuckfootage,

    stuckfootage stuckfootage Mar 24, 2012 2:34 PM in response to pjslo
    Level 4 (3,040 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 2:34 PM in response to pjslo

    pjslo wrote:

     

    > why wouldn't FCP "see" the existing render files in the project folder and simply use those?

    Yeah, that's crazy. The only reason I can think of is that it is losing the connection, the pointer, to those files. It would be interesting to locate your render files and see if they are erased or ignored at each launch.

     

    Whenever you're trying to figure out a software bug, it's essential to reduce the problem to something very simple, the simplest setup that reproduces the problem. Maybe make a project that has just one jpeg that rerenders. Find that file on your disk (Spotlight: last modified date) and watch what happens to it when you quit and when you rerender.

     

    If it's not a lost pointer, it might be incorrect permissions. You could try doing permissions repair (Disk Utility).

  • by yet another...,

    yet another... yet another... Mar 24, 2012 2:33 PM in response to stuckfootage
    Level 2 (200 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 2:33 PM in response to stuckfootage

    Stuckfootage, brilliant post - I'll try it and update...

  • by pjslo,

    pjslo pjslo Mar 24, 2012 5:06 PM in response to yet another...
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 5:06 PM in response to yet another...

    yet another,

     

    Update:

     

    I tried fixing my "Permissions" on the hard drive using the disk utility.  That didn't work.  Then I deleted the existing "Render Files" folder for the troublesome project thinking that sort of resetting that folder might fix it.  It didn't.  Very frustrating.

     

    I can see that FCP does in fact generate new render files when it re-renders.  I can see the files being added to the list of files in the Render Files folder as it re-renders.

     

    As I said, this problem only occurs in this one project.  That's significant.  I think. 

     

    I'm going to a comedy show tonight.  Maybe something will come to me at the show.

     

    pjslo

  • by stuckfootage,

    stuckfootage stuckfootage Mar 24, 2012 7:38 PM in response to pjslo
    Level 4 (3,040 points)
    Mar 24, 2012 7:38 PM in response to pjslo

    pjslo wrote:

    I'm going to a comedy show tonight.

    Ha!  I get it. Final Cut would be funny if you hadn't spent so much time and money.

     

    OK, so it seems that FCX forgets that it rendered the files in one project. Maybe it's just a case of the project's being corrupt. Can you build a new project with the same media? Same problem? What if you delete half the files from your current project? Does the problem persist? See how beta-testing can be fun? We can spend our weekend doing Apple's job for them.

     

    It might be useful to know your project settings: codec, size, etc.

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Mar 24, 2012 11:54 PM in response to pjslo
    Level 10 (118,318 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 24, 2012 11:54 PM in response to pjslo

    Normally when you edit video into a timeline it does not need to be rendered. Titles and transitions and effects need to be rendered, but normally in editing a program, the entire program does not need to be rendered. You keep saying your whole program needs to be re-rendered, and I'm curious why the whole program needs to be re-rendered, when nornally the majority of the media in a project does not need to be rendered let alone re-rendered. If the whole media needs rendering, then it's possible there is a problem with the media that's causing this, but whatever.

  • by Voltaic,

    Voltaic Voltaic Mar 25, 2012 9:24 AM in response to pjslo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2012 9:24 AM in response to pjslo

    I'm havin ghte same issue but it appears to be intermittent.  I was editing a long project (100 minutes) and while using Proxy Media, it would re-render every title (roughly 15) everytime I restarted the program.  When I switched back to native media to export, which is a mix of ProRes and AVC HD, it seemed to have stopped.  I also moved it to a different folder within my FCPX Projects folder.  I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it or if it was switching from Proxy media but either way I'm in better shape so far.  Completely bizarre though...

  • by stuckfootage,

    stuckfootage stuckfootage Mar 25, 2012 9:36 AM in response to pjslo
    Level 4 (3,040 points)
    Mar 25, 2012 9:36 AM in response to pjslo

    pjslo wrote:

    >  I didn't optimize any of the media (jpeg files) on import.

    Interesting to note the jpeg is not in the list of still image formats supported by FCX 10.0.3:

    http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.3/#ver2833f855

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Mar 25, 2012 9:51 AM in response to stuckfootage
    Level 10 (118,318 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 25, 2012 9:51 AM in response to stuckfootage

    I think that's a typo

     

    • Still images including PSD, BMP, GIF, RAW, JPEG, PNG, TGA, and TIFF.
  • by pjslo,

    pjslo pjslo Mar 25, 2012 11:35 AM in response to stuckfootage
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2012 11:35 AM in response to stuckfootage

    stuck,

     

    The comedy show was an Improv show with some guys from "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and before it began, they invited members of the audience to write down some questions that would be used later in the show.  I resisted the temptation to submit "Why does Final Cut Pro keep re-rendering my files?"

     

    Here are my project settings:  1080p HD, 23.98 FPS, Surround Sound (I think I'll switch that to stereo.)  Up until this point, there was literally no video in the project.  It was all titles and jpegs along with a background "generator" and a graphic (logo.) 

     

    I've now added some video and guess what...it's re-rendering again.  Yikes.  I'm convinced that it's something specific to this project because I started a new project and used some of the graphics from this one in it.  The new project did not re-render. 

     

    Although I think your suggestion about buidling a new project with the same media and doing some other tests is sensible, I really just want to get this project done first.  Afterward, I might feel better about spending time on other tests.

     

    Thanks again for your replies and your support.

     

    pjslo

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Mar 25, 2012 2:37 PM in response to pjslo
    Level 10 (118,318 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 25, 2012 2:37 PM in response to pjslo

    No video in the project means no video specification and no frame rate is set.

     

    Did you make a custom setting, or just drop stills into the project? If you're going to use stills only you really need to make a specific custom setting or weird things can happen.

     

    That said it obviously should not be re-rendering all the time.

  • by sridhi,

    sridhi sridhi Aug 1, 2012 5:00 AM in response to pjslo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2012 5:00 AM in response to pjslo

    So I have been reading this post because I had a similiar problem. I know that the last reply was send some time ago, but I simply want to help, as I have found one solution for the problem.

     

    You said that only this particular project was "mixed up", meaning it re-rendered the whole project over and over again. I had the same problem and created a new project to see if it was possible to work with the original media. It was. But because I'm producing quite a long movie, too, I didn't want to do all the work over and over again. So what I did was the following (make sure FCPX isn't open before you try it!): I opened the Finder and went to the "Movie"-folder. There you should find one "Final Cut Projects" and one "Final Cut Events" Folder. In these folders you will find the names of your projects/events. Open your event folder, select "Render Files" and copy the folders you find inside (should be something like Peaks Data etc.). Then open your project in the project folder and again the "Render Files". Paste the copied folders. It will ask you if you want to paste and replace the data. Say you want to replace every file and wait several minutes. When the process is finished, open FCPX and your project. It will say that you have to render several files. Do this. Once it is finished, you can work/export etc. your project and it should not re-render again.

     

    It worked in my case, but I can not guarantee that it will work everytime...
    Hope I could help!

  • by pjslo,

    pjslo pjslo Aug 2, 2012 5:33 PM in response to sridhi
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2012 5:33 PM in response to sridhi

    sridhi,

     

    Thanks for the reply!  I had almost forgotten about this post, but I appreciate your input.  Your fix may work, but I had found another solution a few weeks (or maybe months) ago.  Under Final Cut Pro Preferences I changed the Import preferences.  Originally (when I had the re-rendering problem) I had both the "Create Optimized" and Create Proxy" media options checked.  I unchecked the "Create Proxy Media" option and it has worked fine ever since.  I'm not exactly sure why that fixed the problem, but I'm of the opinion that if it works, don't question it too much.

     

    Again, I thanks for your input and I hope you're having success with FCP X. 

     

    Paul

  • by Maikell,

    Maikell Maikell Aug 3, 2012 12:39 AM in response to pjslo
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Aug 3, 2012 12:39 AM in response to pjslo

    Same thing here. Project (all media optimized) has been finished (and rendered). The next morning on opening the project again (nothing had been changed over night...) it's starting to re-render some areas of the timeline, mostly titles and compound clips.

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