Rotor-Head

Q: Always waiting (Spinning ball, etc)

I'm running FCPX on a Mac Pro (specs attached)..  Can someone please recomend how I can upgrade my system to get FCPX to load / run faster?  It takes sometime 10 minutes to open and changing from Optimized playback to Proxy (and back) gives me plenty of time to sit back and have a beer while I wait...  Sometime it just sits and spins with no backround tasks running.  I will be upgrading my system soon, but based on the specs, what is the most important..?  Processors?  RAM?  Video Ram?  What can I do..?  It's a DOG!!!  Everything else I do on this Mac is super fast...  Just FCPX (by the way, when I load it and it is sitting forever, the force quit dialog says "not responding" but then eventually fixes itself...  What would cause it to hand and un-hang during its use?

 

It even is the same on my i7 24" iMac that is less than a year old....  Thanks

 

Screen Shot 2012-09-03 at 6.00.52 PM.png

Final Cut Pro X

Posted on Sep 3, 2012 6:17 PM

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Q: Always waiting (Spinning ball, etc)

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  • by Rotor-Head,

    Rotor-Head Rotor-Head Sep 3, 2012 6:41 PM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 3, 2012 6:41 PM in response to Rotor-Head

    This is what I see whenever I load FCPX...  It usually sorts itself out but after 10 minutes..  I just open the Force Quite Dialog to see of it's hung or not...

     

    Screen Shot 2012-09-03 at 6.38.43 PM.png

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2012 7:25 PM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 3, 2012 7:25 PM in response to Rotor-Head

    Looks like the MSHP event is corrupted. Trash prefs. Repairs permissions. Reboot. Hide all events and projects. Launch the app. Does it work? Add projects. Does it still open? Add all events except this one. Does it still work? Trash all the render files. Replace the currentevent with the backup and see if it opens.

  • by Rotor-Head,

    Rotor-Head Rotor-Head Sep 3, 2012 7:31 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 3, 2012 7:31 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    It doesn't just hang on that project but I will try your suggestions....  Thanks...  I'll let you know..

     

    Where are the FCPX prefs located???

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2012 7:33 PM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 3, 2012 7:33 PM in response to Rotor-Head

    The image shows an event not a project.

     

    Use Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion to trash your prefs.

  • by Rotor-Head,

    Rotor-Head Rotor-Head Sep 3, 2012 7:35 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 3, 2012 7:35 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    The event and the project for that job have the same name...

     

    I am a bit hesitant to use many 3rd party apps...  Is the pref file easy to locate?  I'd rather just do it through the finder..

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 3, 2012 7:49 PM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 3, 2012 7:49 PM in response to Rotor-Head

    ~/Library/Preferences. There are a number of com.apple.FinalCutPro files. The number can vary. Trash them all.

     

    Preference Manager is an excellent utility, as are all of the Digital Rebellion utilities. You should have it. FCP users have been using this utility for years, since FCP3.

  • by Rotor-Head,

    Rotor-Head Rotor-Head Sep 3, 2012 10:38 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 3, 2012 10:38 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    Cool.  I did... Repaired permissiona and restarted and still a long wait...  I removed the drive with my main projects on and it still took forever to load...

  • by andynick,

    andynick andynick Sep 4, 2012 12:32 AM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 5 (4,943 points)
    Video
    Sep 4, 2012 12:32 AM in response to Rotor-Head

    This is 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 10.0.5 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 10.7.5.

     

    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 Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Sep 4, 2012 5:11 AM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 10 (118,408 points)
    Apple TV
    Sep 4, 2012 5:11 AM in response to Rotor-Head

    Are you saying when there are no projects or evnts to open the application is slow to load? How slow? Give a number. Time it. You may have a hardware problem.

  • by innocentius,

    innocentius innocentius Sep 4, 2012 5:57 AM in response to Rotor-Head
    Level 4 (1,885 points)
    Sep 4, 2012 5:57 AM in response to Rotor-Head

    I am not sure if this could explain. I am using Mac Pro like you and had the same card. After upgrade to Lion FCPX did not work well. Replaced it with

    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB and the problem was solved.

  • by Rotor-Head,

    Rotor-Head Rotor-Head Sep 8, 2012 8:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 8, 2012 8:52 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

    If I disconnect all of my hard drives with FCPX Event and Projects it load pretty quick...  Any drives with events and projects attached takes forever to load...  Now I'm showing offline media for no reason in most of my event/projects..  Once I re-connect and quit... upon re-launch things are off-line again..  This is annoying...  I'm about to abandon FCPX and just go back to FCS...  Come on Apple... I've been loyal since the Apple IIe...  Don't give me a reason to walk away now.!!!!