Changes appearing in finished project...

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Level 1

40 points

Changes appearing in finished project...

I have finished a few projects and shared/exported the videos from them.

But I just sat back down to my computer and was surprised to see orange bars above the timeline indicating the need to render. I had used the "Render All" command before sharing/exporting the videos, and the orange line was gone. Now it's back, but I haven't made any changes to the project.

Worse yet, I there are many available "Undo" command stages that I can use to undo things, but I don't know what it's undoing. If I undo things, I don't see any changes occurring in my project. And I don't think I've made any changes to it since I last closed and reopened FCPX. Nobody else has access to my iMac, so I don't see how anything could have been changed.

This really concerns me because I'm afraid there are changes to the project that I might not notice if I ever go to use it again. I seem to recall having this happen before.

(1) Anyone know what might cause this?

(2) Shouldn't the Undo history be cleared any time you quit and restart FCPX?

(3) Is there any way to lock a project so you don't accidentally make changes to it?

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), i7 3.5 GHz, 32MB RAM, 4GB NVIDIA

Posted on Nov 18, 2013 6:55 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 19, 2013 12:45 AM in response to JDLee

I know this issue. Delete render files and render again has often solved this. But you actually do not need to render before you share.

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Answer 2

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 21, 2013 9:05 PM in response to innocentius

Hi Innocentius...

That didn't solve it. I know I don't need to render before I share, but I prefer to. I don't know what's causing this.

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2013 1:45 AM in response to JDLee

Like you I prefer always to render before output. My solution was to delete all render files from projects and events completely then trash FCPX and reinstall. That seems to solve the problem for me. Sorry it does not work for you.

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Answer 4

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 22, 2013 7:59 AM in response to innocentius

What do you mean when you say "trash FCPX and reinstall?" Do you mean you uninstall and reinstall FCPX every time?

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Answer 5

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Nov 22, 2013 8:27 AM in response to JDLee

JDLee wrote:

(2) Shouldn't the Undo history be cleared any time you quit and restart FCPX?

Yes.

JDLee wrote:

(3) Is there any way to lock a project so you don't accidentally make changes to it?

You can (and should) version projects by using the Duplicate Project command.

What you're describing shouldn't be happening. I think Innocentius' advice to trash and reinstall the app is good advice.

Russ

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Answer 6

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 22, 2013 8:37 AM in response to Russ H

Hi Russ--

Oh, I think I misunderstood what Innocentius said. I thought he said he was deleting the render files and uninstalling and reinstalling FCPX every time (which seemed excessive).

I'm willing to trash the app and reinstall, but I haven't done that before. Coming from a Windows background, the idea of uninstalling software always seems problematic to me. I wonder if it's going to leave remnants behind and cause problems.

Is trashing FCPX and reinstalling an easy thing to do? Is it trouble-free, or risky? How do you trash and reinstall it (especially given there are no product disks any more? To trash, what exactly do I drag to the trash?

Thanks

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Answer 7

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Nov 22, 2013 8:51 AM in response to JDLee

Not risky, but nothing in life is totally without risk. You should of course always have backups of your projects and events, regardless of whether you are making changes in your system.

Here is Apple's docon uninstalling.

Alternatively, many people here use DIgital Rebellion's FCS Remover Very straightforward.

Russ

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Answer 8

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 22, 2013 9:03 AM in response to Russ H

Thanks for the info.

I'll probably use the FCS Remover. How do you reinstall after you do that, though? Do you have to go to the App Store and download it again (which I presume is free)?

Does deleting FCPX with FCS Remover get rid of your Events and Projects folders? I do have backups of my events and projects, but I don't want to go through transferring them from other disks.

Are there other settings or changes I might have made that I'd want to backup to reinstall after I reinstall FCPX?

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Answer 9

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Nov 22, 2013 9:09 AM in response to JDLee

You go back to the App Store and and yes, it's a free download.

FCS Remover doesn't do anything to your projects events or media.

You can back up preferences if you want. I wouldn't. There aren't that many settings.

Russ

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Answer 10

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 22, 2013 9:14 AM in response to Russ H

Okay, sounds good.

To give me a point of reference, how often would you say you end up doing this? Once a month? A few times a year? Or just very rarely when certain problems arise?

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Answer 11

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Nov 22, 2013 9:23 AM in response to JDLee

Innocentius would be a better person to address that. I haven't sen those kind of bugs since early versions.

But I certainly have removed and reinstalled FCPX (and Motion and Compressor) quite a number of other times for other reasons on a number of different systems.

If things work as they should, you shouldn't ever have to do it – just updates and upgrades as available.

Russ

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Answer 12

Nov 22, 2013 9:28 AM in response to JDLee

Just when problems occur. It is painless and fast procedure. I have not had a problem with this for a month. Just follow the above advices.

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Answer 13

JDLee Author

Level 1

40 points

Nov 23, 2013 12:44 AM in response to innocentius

I now think my rendering problem is related to something else. It seems to be happening only with a few problematic compound clips in one particular project (only those clips show as unrendered every time I close and reopen FCPX). I posted separately about the problems I'm having with those compound clips https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5576245.

I don't think I'll ever figure out what I did wrong with those clips, but it can't be a coincidence that they are the only parts of the project that aren't rendering every time. The media for them had been in a separate event. Although I managed to shoe-horn them into the event I wanted them in, something about how I did that must have caused this rendering issue.

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Answer 14

Nov 23, 2013 5:29 AM in response to JDLee

That is interesting JD. I opened a project that I worked on some month ago, and there was a compound clip that refused to render, I split it up and it did not render either. Just that one clip, the only option was to remove it. In a project that I am working on now there is no such problem. As you say I guess that I to will never find out why.

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