Motion in FCPX - click lag, hanging, tortuously slow rendering

So I am about to go ahead with a remove, trash prefs, and reinstall procedure with FCPX. Now my question becomes - do I need to trash Motion and Compressor too, in order to fix this issue?

(crickets.)

Any suggestions?

(crickets.)

Proceeding with uninstall and reinstall using directions found in this support article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5149

LOL - the problem is that none of these files mentioned by name in steps 5 & 6 exist anywhere on my machine.

library/caches/com.apple.FinalCut

library/preferences/com.apple.FinalCut.LSSharedFileList.plist
library/preferences/com.apple.FinalCut.plist
library/preferences/com.apple.FinalCut.UserDestinations.plist

Nope, they're all AWOL. Should I be puzzled?

OK, I figured it out - holding the option key while looking at the "Go" menu reveals an otherwise hidden "library" location under my "user"... now trying again...

Well, after the reinstall, FCPX woke up looking default, but upon loading a project and doing a little test render...

The problem is not fixed. In fact, it seems noticeably worse.

Frustrated. I give up until Monday. Someone else chime in, please. Can I get a "hang in there?"

(crickets.)

Yay it's Luis and Russ! Hello colleagues!

Luis: I tink I posted a link to one of the troublesome assets for you, but I limped through the completion of that project by keeping the inspector closed. I still suffered lots o click-lag, spinny balls, and, at the end, an overnight render, but I got through. This was on a 90minute show choir concert that had about 12x 8 second lower 3rds, and about 3 minutes of full screen titles, rolls, and credits. All of the FCP generator assets were made by me from scratch in Motion5. The current post relates to a similar problem, but on a different machine with different assets. The current complaint is from my slightly older iMac (lower power than the new one but still quite capable when using the former versions of this software), and the generators came from Motion projects which were originally created in Motion4. So unless there is something wrong with my practice in using FCPX generators, something in common across the 4 or 5 projects where I have experienced similar problems, I think that a corrupt template is an unlikely explanation.

Russ: I run my systems stock - that is to say that the only 3rd party plugins I have installed are the Canon EOS and XF plugins I use for ingesting media. I don't have any plugins related to MoGraph, editing, rendering, or memory management. These are custom generators that I am creating, chasing the "template" functionality I used to enjoy between Motion and FCP7. So yes, user generated custom generators - and I have had similar problems with several batches of varying complexity and varying origin.

For now I will just have to adapt, observe, and troubleshoot. I have a sneaky feeling that I am doing something wrong in the way I am setting up the motion projects for publication, but I will surely announce it loudly if I learn anything new.

Thanks for checking in, fellows!

Eric D - CoralVision

Wow, Russ, thanks so much for taking the time to do these tests! I assume you were using your iMac running OS10.9.x?

This is very helpful information - it tells me that it is unlikely tht I am dealing with some problematic norm in the workings of FCPX and Motion, and more likely that the issue arises from A) some aspect of my implementation of the software (the sequence of installs/upgrades or a conflict with some other application or setting), or B) some aspect of my practice - the way I am using the software - perhaps some little choice I am making consistently incorrect each time I publish a generator?

On the other hand I just did some VERY simple graphics on a piece (on my newer-faster iMac) - no motion, just stock FCPX titles fading over a freeze-frame from the project - and the rendering was far longer (2X?) than real-time. While not good at all, this behavior is not the full-blown dysfunction I've been experiencing with motion assets in the timeline. This observation does, however, highlight possibility "A" and so I may go ahead with the uninstall/trashprefs/reinstall procedure on my newer workstation, even though I have not yet determined if the procedure helped my older iMac at all. It didn't seem to help, seemed worse, but I was in Friday afternoon "I've had enough" mode, so I will recheck my observations.

More notes as time allows - and again RUSS H - Thanks for taking time to help out a stranger!!

Eric D - CoralVision

Hi Luis:

Here is a link to a folder containing 2 motion projects and the assets they need to work. These .motn projects peature pretty simple compositing, motion paths, and relatively simple text. They were originally created in Motion4, then edited, resaved, and published to FCPX from Motion5. These didn't cause crashing, just long delays due to click-lag and beachballs... and of course the final render, which took more than 2.5 hours for a total of ~4minutes of rendered runtime in a 1080p/30fps sequence.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzjMWRARCvanZWFuUXg5VmZjdms&usp=sharing

good luck!

Eric D - CoralVision

Thanks for testing!

I actually did not know about "app nap" and immediately changed those settings, now to see if there is any change in the behavior...

Also, it is great that you are looking for comparable performance baselines. Taking your lead in testing the 10 second "budget3rd.motn" generator, I just nudged a copy on the timeline and rerendered it: it took 95 seconds to complete. I compared that to 2 full-frame non-motion 10-second stills - one requiring a lot of scaling, the other requiring less - the former rendered in 23 seconds, the latter rendered in 11 seconds.

In my activity monitor, I see that when rendering the non-.motn assets, the machine is using 95% of its CPU resource, distributed 80/20 between user and system. However, in rendering the .motn asset, the machine never uses more than 35% of its CPU, and this activity is distributed 40/60 between user and system. This is why I have this sense that the machine is "fighting itself" while trying to carry out this process.

I think the App Nap suggestion may be helpful (it seemed those non-.motn assets rendered more expediently than I expected) but my core problem with motion generators is not yet solved.

I really appreciate your help, Luis!

Eric

Yoho! I am having a breakthrough!

While sullenly reexamining the info panes for several directories and applications I suspect of causing the problem, I noticed that (despite my attempts to "verify" and "repair" permissions last week through the disk utility) in nearly all cases "system" was the ony user with "read and write" permissions. Even the "wheel" group (which I understand my username is included in, as an administrator) was set to "read only" in most cases. So I just went to each app related to FCP (FCPX, Motion, Compressor, QTX, and even iMovie for good measure) and specifically added my username and admin to "read and write" permission. I did the same to my Internal HD, "movies" under my user, and each FCP library I could find.

I am now observing a very different behavior when rendering .motn - as I watch the CPU usage it looks normal - about an 80/20 split between user/system!

Testing the 10 second "budget3rd.motn": 23 seconds on my slow system, 12 seconds on my newer system. (Yay!)

Testing the show choir 3rd that was giving me fits of crashing a few weeks ago: it still makes FCP crash when the inspector is open, BUT it renders out in only 35 seconds (10 second .motn clip on the faster system).

I will certainly keep testing/observing, but this breakthrough couldn't happen at a better time - I have a part-timer coming in to edit in an hour, and this means we may be able to catch up with our schedule over the next few days!!

Luis and Russ - Thank you both so much for your support! It is really helpful to be able to talk to sympathetic knowledgeable pros like you guys.

Rock on - back to work for me!

Eric

Verify and repair permissions using disk utility. Then folder-by-folder, app-by-app make sure that your user has "read and write" permissions - highlight each item in finder, do <command+i> then check/change permissions in the panel at the bottom of the info window. Do this for each app related to FCP (FCP, Motion, Compressor, QT, and even iMovie) and any folder that might be involved (Macintosh HD, "movies" under your user, and any FCP Libraries you can find).

I'm not sure which of these things specifically did the trick, but the sum is that my problem has gone away and I can get back to work.

Thank you to everyone who read and/or responded to this and several related threads.