Canvas flickering black in FCPX

Question

Level 1

5 points

Canvas flickering black in FCPX

Everything was fine until last night. Suddenly couldn't see anything in the canvas but figured out that hitting W fixed that problem.

Now all video in the canvas is flickering black when I play the video. Looks like about 2-3 frames of video interchanging with 2-3 frames of black at all times. Haven't seen any previous posts in the community that can solve this.

Also, when I import videos, I don't see the normal film strip in then browser, just a series of screen shots one after the other, and whichever screenshot the playhead is on gets displayed as black rather than scrolling through the video as I scrub across. I attached a screenshot. Any ideas??

Final Cut Pro X, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), Final Cut Pro V. 10.1.1

Posted on Mar 31, 2014 1:42 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 5, 2017 10:32 AM in response to MDeZubiria

I am having the same problem since I upgraded MacOS Sierra to 10.12.3. My version of FCP is 10.3.2

I cannot render. I cannot export the project. Always in black or flashing black.

When I delete renders all seems to work for a while but fails later again.

Anyone found a solution?

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Answer 2

Mar 18, 2017 7:52 AM in response to victorcid

Solution - I had same problem after upgrading MacOS Sierra to 10.12.3.

Some projects wouldn’t open with permission denied and those that did had clips black or flashing black.

All projects and source footage are stored on an external 16TB Lacie.

After testing different option to see where the trouble was I realised there was a problem between sierra conflicting with the external hard drive management system as a project saved directly on iMac worked fine.

So it turned out the current version of external management system for the Lacie external HD program on iMac was not compatible with sierra so had to uninstall and install a latest version compatible with sierra.

Hope this helps other with similar problem.

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Answer 3

Mar 31, 2014 11:57 PM in response to MDeZubiria

Don't know whether this will cure it but corrupt preferences can create a vast range of different symptoms, so whenever FCP X stops working properly in any way, trashing the preferences should be the first thing you do using this free app.

http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/

Shut down FCP X, open PreferenceManager and in the window that appears:-

1. Ensure that FCP X is selected.

2. Click Trash

The job is done instantly and you can re-open FCP X.

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Answer 4

Apr 1, 2014 7:32 AM in response to MDeZubiria

Follow Ian's advice and trash preferences.

In addition, you may also try "Window->Revert to Original Layout" and see if it helps; or do it more forcefully by deleting the folder at ~/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro/Layouts. (Note: that is the Library inside your home folder, not the root Library; it is usually hidden, you can access it by holding the option key down and using the Go menu in the Finder

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Answer 5

MDeZubiria Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 1, 2014 11:28 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

This worked very briefly. I originally had the problem while re-editing the entire project because all of the video clips somehow disappeared (also, I did the first project with GoPro footage with the fisheye effect, and I'm replacing that footage with the same clips converted to widescreen).

I trashed the preferences using Preference Manager and then the clips played fine, no flickering. I then went back to my first project (see attached screenshot) to see if that one would play, but that whole project is still black for some reason. I tried re-linking the clips, but notice in the screen shot below, they don't show up as offline, there's just nothing there. Then I went back to my second project, where the flickering was yesterday, and the flickering is now back. I trashed the preferences again and this time it's not fixing the problem 😟

The screenshot below is of my older project. Notice the playhead creates a blank square in the browser and nothing shows up in the canvas. This is the same in my other project, but all playback has that flickering.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

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Answer 6

MDeZubiria Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 1, 2014 11:34 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis, thanks for your suggestion, this actually worked too, very very briefly. I deleted the Layouts folder and the video then played back fine. Then I opened my older project to see if those clips had reappeared, still nothing. I went back to my new project and played back the video and the flickering is back. If I uninstall and reinstall the Final Cut trial, will I lose everything I have so far? I'm starting to think that may be the best option. If I can get it to run smoothly even for just one full day I should be able to finish my project, but right now I can only seem to fix the problem for a couple minutes at a time and I have no idea why!

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2014 1:33 AM in response to MDeZubiria

What the viewer is showing is the clip in the browser, NOT the project. Maybe there is some issue in the clip itself or with a corrupt render file. Or maybe there is some problem in the library or the event. Does it also happen with other clips?

I suggest you try deleting all render files and see if that helps.

Select the event and do File->Delete Event Render Files...

Select the project(s) and do File->Delete Project Render Files...

It certainly can hurt and, if the problem is a bad render file, this should solve it.

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Answer 8

Mj662

Level 1

23 points

Apr 2, 2015 7:58 PM in response to MDeZubiria

Any luck? i am having this same problem.

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