unable to export

I'm using FCP HD on a power mac g5 os X 10.3.9. I have finished a project and exported it using Export>Quicktime Movie and it exported, but without my chapter markers. When I reset the markers and tried again, it did not export. I had it saved it to my desktop and I have an icon for the project, but when I click on it the error message says "General Error." It also does not go through the saving process, just finishes immediately.

Another thing with this project, it's a 86 minute project and it makes me re-render the sound everytime I change something. Is this normal. Rendering time is also extremely long - about 2 hours. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance - you guys are the best.
susan

susan,

Not sure what to say about the first part of your question, but if the sound has used any filters or reverb, etc and something about it gets changed, it WILL need to be rendered again. About the first issue; it would export a standalone movie without Chapter Markers but not With them?

You should be able to render only what needs to be rendered, but depending on the effects you used within your audio, it could take a very long time.

John - it would export a standalone movie, but ignored the chapter markers. I then added chapter markers to the sequence in addition to the timeline, and it went haywire and exported nothing but an icon onto my desktop.

Also, about the sound, there are no effects, just the sound that goes with the video.
susan

Susan,

Many questions come to mind.

1. Did you check "include chapter markers" (or "all markers" in the Export dialog?

2. <<I then added chapter markers to the sequence in addition to the timeline...>> I have no idea what you're talking about here. The chapter markers go in the timeline, it's the only place they will have any effect. When you are in the Marker dialog, click the "Add Chapter Marker" button. Whatever you name the marker will be how the chapter is called on the DVD, but be sure that the Comment box contains <CHAPTER> and nothing else.

3. Did you by chance originally capture the media in iMovie? That will result in having to render audio any time you touch it.

Your descriptions of what you did are a little vague. Can you tell us more?

Scott

Scott - yes, I checked "include chapter Markers" and make self contained movie.

I put the chapter markers in the timeline, but one wandered up to the top of the sequence and when I exported, the only chapter markers that showed up was "beginning" and the one that was at the top of the sequence, (that is the top of the sequence where it shows the time, as opposed to in the timeline actually in the blue line). And yes, I clicked "add chapter marker" button in the Marker dialog box. Comment box says <Chapter> and nothing else. Then I replicated all the Chapter markers and put them up at the top of the sequence, but they still did not show up in the export. After that, Export failed to work at all.

Did not capture in iMovie, I ripped the media off a DVD that I had made with Handbrake, then converted it to DV stream with Quicktime pro then imported it to my project.

Maybe I should just start the whole project again. I did another project that I had started from scratch and it exported just fine.

Thanks for your patience with me.
susan

Susan,

My head is still reeling with your description of where the markers are. I think I see the problem. To deal with chapters, you must be working in a single sequence that contains your entire show. That can be a series of nested sequences, or every single clip you have in the show, that's up to you. The chapter markers you will create will be placed at the top of the timeline window, right in there among the time scaling marks. Any markers placed in a clip will not function as chapter markers. Don't put a chapter marker at the very beginning, your DVD program will take care of that.

<<Then I replicated all the Chapter markers and put them up at the top of the sequence...>>
?? Don't know how you "replicated" them, but don't bother - create fresh chapter markers, in the timeline. Might be a good idea to delete ALL markers, everywhere, and start over with your chapter markers.

<< I ripped the media off a DVD that I had made with Handbrake, then converted it to DV stream ...>>
Bingo, that's why you're having to render audio all the time. DV Stream is iMovie's capture format, so even if you didn't use it you got all its problems. You should have (and still could) export from QT as "Quicktime Movie".

<<Maybe I should just start the whole project again.>>
Yeah, that might give you a better handle, especially with the DV Stream stuff, but you might learn so much in "fixing" it that it would be worth it.

Up to you. Hope I helped.

Scott

Scott, you are THE MAN!
thanks,
susan

I'm baaacckkk!
I did as you said and deleted all markers, then, just for grins, tried to export the project without markers. I went to File>Export>Quicktime Movie. Said Save to Desktop >Setting: current settings > Include: audio and video >Markers:none (since I'd deleted them) >checked Make movie self contained. Again it said OK and put an icon on my desk top, but no content. It's just saying it's going to export, but does not.
susan

Darn! I was THE MAN for such a short time!

"No content". Do Get Info on the file (CMD-I) and see how big it is.

If larger than zero, drag it onto your Quicktime application and see what happens.

Did you set any In and Out points on the timeline you're exporting? FCP will only export what is between In and Out. If you haven't set either, it will (should) do the whole timeline.

Remember, you are not exporting "the project", you are exporting the currently visible timeline. Make sure there is something in it!

Did you do Render All and Mixdown Audio before you exported? If not, do them and export again, see if anything changes.

If you're this far with no joy, trash your FCP preferences. Guidelines on how to do that are in the Tutorials.

Succeed.

Scott

I Got Info, it said 4KB, dragged it to Quicktime and it was a blank white screen. Pushed Play, nada.

Did not set any In or Out.

Yes, I understand that I'm exporting my timeline, not the project, thanks for the reminder.

I Rendered All but did not Mixdown Audio. I'll tried it and nothing changed.

I gotta tell ya, I'm feeling no love from FCP at the moment.

you're still THE MAN.
susan

How long is your timeline?

Does your timeline play normally in FCP?

Make sure track visibility is on for all clips, tracks are enabled, etc.

You're making this self contained? That's good. However, a 4KB file is, as you have found, devoid of video. That's probably header information and nothing else.

Does the export seem to be working? How long does it take, and do you see a little progress dialog? "It's just saying it's going to export, but does not." What do you mean by that? Any error messages?

Did you try trashing prefs? I'm thinking that may bear fruit. I've been thinking that about everything else, too....

What versions of FCP, OS and Quicktime?

If it's not prefs, I have this nagging feeling that it's a setting, but it's frustrating not being able to see your FCP. I run ver 3, so I don't have good specific wisdom about higher versions, but exporting is pretty basic.

Report back. Oh, and succeed!

Scott

I see that you are truly intrigued.

Timeline is 86 minutes

Timeline plays beautifully in FCP

Track visibility is on. The project is one long clip with a stereo pair of audio. No effects - nothing. Maybe that's the problem, too simple.

Making the movie self-contained.

Export does NOT seem to be working - progress dialog box ALMOST appears, I can see it flicker, then it's done. Exporting should take quite a while. When I click on the icon it leaves on my desktop, it opens FCP, and shows a "General Error" message. That's it.

I did not trash prefs. I really don't want to. I'd rather trash the project and start over. I have FCP set up so that I know where everything is and don't want to start over.

FCP HD, OS 10.3.9, Quicktime Pro 7.0.3 - so I'm pretty up to date.

One more thing. When this project started acting up, I went on and worked on something else and it exported just fine. I wonder if maybe it's the file.....

susan

Sorry forgot to tell you, you rock. I really appreciate all your help.
susan

<<I see that you are truly intrigued.>>

I am easily amused....

<<progress dialog box ALMOST appears, I can see it flicker, then it's done.>>

Oh. That would have been good to know from the beginning, would have headed off speculation about your timeline not having any content. General error when FCP tries to play it? Probably reacting to the fact that it's an incomplete file. I'd say we're a little ways from this being a chapter marker problem!

By FCP HD I assume you mean 4.5, yes? Your Quicktime is actually a little too new for your FCP/OS combo, it gives some people problems in that combination, but I don't know if it's this one. Dropping back to 6.5.2 might be a good idea, but there are other things to try first.

You should feel better about trashing prefs. You will have to reset your capture presets, favorite effects, scratch drive settings, but that's about it. You won't lose your project or your place in it. It sometimes works magic to do it. If it is the prefs, then starting a new project doesn't solve anything, it's the same prefs. They are a strange beast; when unexplained or unexplainable things happen for no reason, that's what to blame first.

But there are some other things. May be a corrupt sequence, may be a corrupt project. Make a new sequence, thne copy/paste what you have in your problem sequence to the new one. Any different? If not, start a new project and copy/paste your fresh sequence from this one into it. Any better?

Dang, this thread has fallen off the main page and it would be nice to have someone else chime in with their wisdom. Your latest description rings some faint bells, but I can't remember what solutions have been proposed for it.

<<When this project started acting up, I went on and worked on something else and it exported just fine. I wonder if maybe it's the file.....>> Yeah, that suggests file corruption rather than prefs. So go there first (paragraph above) but be ready to dump prefs as a follow up.

And finally, tell me about ALL the disk drives connected to your machine, what their FCP roles are, how big they are, and how much space is left on each. If you're down to less than 10% free on any of them, you're asking for trouble and maybe you've found it.

I don't rock until we solve something. Hang in there Susan!

Scott

Scott - all great questions that I will answer tomorrow when I'm not so stupid. It's late and I've had a drink or two. I never have a problem that's boring...too bad for me.
Thanks for hanging with me.
susan

I just have to say that you people (I wanted to say guys, but didn't) do so much for us - people who you don't even know. It's such a gift. Thank you.
I'll get back to you tomorrow

susan

Holy Toledo! (Not exactly what I said to myself) I just did what you suggested, copied and pasted the timeline into a new sequence and voila! Exporting as we speak!

You are not only THE MAN, you are a genious!

thanks for staying with me!

Can you feel the love in the room???

susan

<<Can you feel the love in the room???>>

*Blush* I'm feeling all fuzzy....

Well, good. With my now crystal clear hindsight, that was obviously the first thing to try. So same project, just new sequence. As I said, if this was a more visible thread, someone else would probably have hit on that suggestion much earlier. But I'll be happy to take the credit, with my THE MAN badge.

Now, about those chapter markers.... And that render-crazy audio. I think you know where to go from here.

Scott

Yipeeeee! Exported without a problem, chapter markers right where they should be - you're the best, you rock and indeed you are THE MAN!!
All is right with my world.
susan

The only time I've had such a situation, is when I accidentally or unintentionally had an In and Out Marker set, and FCP only exported what was in between the markers.

I might have had a similar situation one time, and I did a Select All / Copy the contents of the timeline, and pasted it to a new sequence. (Sort of like trashing prefs, but not throwing the baby out with the bathwater).

Exporting the same content from the new sequence fixed that situation of a 4k .mov file.

I rarely put my entire movie on one sequence. I might edit chapters on separate sequences, then export out each individual sequence, then assemble those clips in a new sequence.

Same end result, just not having all the eggs in one basket, to get corrupted. I'd rather have 5 minutes get corrupted, than 59:59.

Plus, it makes setting chapter markers go MUCH faster, because you just hit the down arrow and there you are, at a new chapter!



Independent photographer, film maker and Producer. In the wonderful UK.

thanks so much for all your help - was able to save the project by copying and pasting into a new sequence amd exporting that. Apparently the sepence had become corrupt.
You guys rock --- always.
susan

Scary, isn't it?

I don't know if AVID, or Vegas or Premier users have similar problems, but I wish the FCP authors read these Phorums and have a feel for what we go thru.

Tonight, I had a clip that the audio waveform did not show up...

So, Copy / Paste to a new sequence, and the waveform showed up!



Independent photographer, film maker and Producer. In the wonderful UK.

Nick,
you are so right. Good Luck on your latest project.
susan