bill33
Level 1 (40 points)

Q: Hardware setup, workflow and backup for FCPX....?

So I humbly ask for which hardware setups have been proven succesfull for you people out there as I am still experimenting with my setup and wish to purchase some new equipment. Again I say humble because I am always learning. No question is un called for. Thanks in advance.

 

So, I'll try to be as organized as possible: The goal here is to archive my finished product effeciently. This is to be accomplished by a well thought out workflow so as to give each step in my process meaning in their final placement.

 

So what I intend to do is share my current setup, below, to elicit critique, share knowledge in the comuunity, and invoke sharing of other setups that are better so that we all learn and I can ultimately streamline my workflow.

 

1. Shooting and backup of raw footage to 2 locations.

2. Copy and import raw footage on to external Thunderbolt or FW800 drive for editing.

3. I then have and create the follwowing folders on the Thunderbolt drive:

     A. Final Cut Events

     B. Final Cut Projects

     C. Pictures for Project

     D. DVD Cover

     E. Authored Project

     F. Exported Media

 

     This is all placed in one Folder called for example: "Harry's Commercial"

 

4. I simultaneously have a Time Machine Drive hooked up that backs up my OS and this drive.

5. When this drive fills I swap it out and place it for storage.

6. I then delete one of the original backups of the RAW footage and keep the above A-F file structure on the swaped out drive.

7. I also have a seperate external drve for various media like music clips, images, stock, etc...

 

My questions:

Anything better?

Any "Why would you do that?" questions?

Does anything not make sense?

Are there problems with this setup?

What better can I do?

 

Thanks.....

Final Cut Pro X, Mac OS X (10.7.3), FCPX 10.0.3, iMac i7 3.4, 16GB/2GB

Posted on Mar 31, 2012 12:37 AM

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bill33

Q: Hardware setup, workflow and backup for FCPX....?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Andrew Burke,

    Andrew Burke Andrew Burke Mar 31, 2012 9:09 AM in response to bill33
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mar 31, 2012 9:09 AM in response to bill33

    Hi Bill33,

     

    All I can say is that from my understanding, folders for Events and Projects must live at the "root" level of your hard drive. So, when selecting your hard drive, you'll see Final Cut Events, Final Cut Projects, Harry's Commercial. Events and Projects can't live inside the Commercial folder.

     

    Happy editing,

    Andrew

  • by andynick,Helpful

    andynick andynick Mar 31, 2012 9:17 AM in response to bill33
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Mar 31, 2012 9:17 AM in response to bill33

    To add to what Andrew said, you don't need to create the Events and Projects folders - FCP X does that for you.

    Don't interfere with these folders - and yes, they must be in the root of your drive (not inside folders).

     

    Here's a heap of info that may be of help it's my pet checklist for questions regarding FCP X performance - you may have already addressed some of the items but it's worth checking.

     

    Make sure you're using the latest version of the application - 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 your system drive

     

    If you have not already done so, move your Projects and Events to a fast (Firewire 800 or faster) external HD. Make sure the drive's formatted OS Extended (journalling's not required for video). You should always keep at least 20% free space on the Hard Drives that 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.

     

    If you ever experience dropped frames, I strongly recommend you use ProRes 422 Proxy - it edits and plays back like silk because the files are small but lightly compressed (not much packing and unpacking to do) - 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.

     

    If you have plenty of processor power, for the ultimate editing experience, 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.

     

    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. There's a great application for this, called Event Manager X - for the tiny cost it's an invaluable application.

    http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/EventManagerX/

     

    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

  • by bill33,

    bill33 bill33 Mar 31, 2012 10:15 AM in response to andynick
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Mar 31, 2012 10:15 AM in response to andynick

    First, awesome.

     

    Second, I actually copy out the folders I indicated in to "Harry's Commercial" when I am done and that is how I can reference it for the future. Yeah, otherwise FCPX wouldn't work.

     

    Andy, thanks for the detail "operational work-around's"; this seems to be the close to final culmination of tactics one must employ to run smoothly in FCPX. The only thing I haven't done with the above is the 20 min projects - I think that will help.

     

    However, I did not initiate this topic in concern for performance, but rather work flow efficiency that is pre-dependant on backup. In other words what are the best practices one can have while editing, when creating folder structures, so that projects can be easily backed up for long term storage when done and accessed in the future if needed. Of course the practices utilized are also dependant on performance, but I'd say that is secondary and a pre-requsite to the work flow efficiency practices.

     

    Thanks.

  • by andynick,

    andynick andynick Mar 31, 2012 11:51 AM in response to bill33
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Mar 31, 2012 11:51 AM in response to bill33

    FCP X will backup your project every 15 minutes, but that's it. It overwrites the backup every 15 mins - there's no history to fall back on. The backup is kept in a folder called Backup - within the project folder.

     

    I use Shirt Pocket's Super Duper to clone my working external disk to my backup disk - making sure the backup disk is offline when I start FCP X (otherwise it gets confused). This works extremely well.

     

    SuperDuper has a 'Smart Update' feature which (when enabled) only updates files which have changed or which are new to the backup drive. Using Smart Update, the backup usually takes about two minutes per day, rather than the hours it would otherwise take.

     

    Your backup drive must be formatted OS Extended (either journaled or not).

     

    If I ever need the backup, I will simply rename the backup disk to be the same as the working disk so that FCP X will recognise it. I have tested this, and it works 100%.

    Andy