adding fades seems to be the killer for me. help?

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Level 1

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adding fades seems to be the killer for me. help?

Since FCPX.0.3 (adding multicam) I've decided to finally try it. So far I have wasted almost a full work week. I'm learning along the way of course. I have my head wrapped around the way it handles projects and events and such. I do concert video work so I need for example, 6 one hour long files at once. So I know it can be failry taxing. I made the mistake of trying to work on a project right out of the gate. As of this minute I've been close to completing an edit only to end up having to toss it all out just to be able to open FCPX again without it crashing. Yes I've done permission repairs. I do keep my project/event on a RAID and not my system drive. I don't have the most screaming machine in the world. MacPro 10.7.3 2x2.8 Quad Xenon / 6GB RAM / 3TB RAID work drive. It shoud be adaquate.

I may have narrowed down one element. Twice now I've been able to work as fast as I like for the most part. Everything has been fine with moderate use. I can even get through color grading without issues. Then I add fades to the top of the file. Twice now this is when I start getting crazy beachballs and crashes. I HATE how once you get to this point you are screwed. Fire up the software, open the problem event and immediately get locked up and have crashed. I'm not even able to delete the fades without out it being unresponsive and crashing. The "backup file" isn't much help for me as of now.

Why would adding fades be "too much" to handle? It's absurd. I'm so fed up. Can anyone by chance advise or concur on this issue?

Posted on Mar 29, 2012 4:28 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2012 6:24 AM in response to cleantones

Your system should be perfectly adequate, EXCEPT for RAM: 6GB for the long and complex projects you are trying to do is WAY too little. It may be ok for smaller projects, but definitely not one with six one hour long files.

If you keep Activity Monitor open, you're likely to notice that the severe slowdown coincides with having too little free RAM.

If you can bump it up to 16GB, I think that you'll feel like having a new machine.

Otherwise, my advice is to divide these projects in smaller parts. But if possible, add more RAM.

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Answer 2

andynick

Level 5

4,955 points

Mar 30, 2012 6:52 AM in response to cleantones

This is my pet checklist for questions regarding FCP X performance - some of them you have already addressed but it's worth checking.

Make sure you're using the latest version - 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. I run it with Lion 10.7.3.

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.

I strongly recommend you use ProRes 422 Proxy - it edits and plays back like silk - but remember to select 'Original or Optimised Media' (FCP X Preferences > Playback) just before you export your movie, otherwise it will be exported at low resolution.

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 a fast (Firewire 800 or faster) external HD (make sure it's formatted OS Extended - with journaled on or off) and run from there.

Unless you cannot edit and playback without it, turn off Background Rendering in Preferences (under Playback) - this will help general performance and you can always render when you need to by selecting the clip (or clips) and pressing Ctrl+R.

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

Andy

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