Motion keeps crashing FCP

Hello Everyone:

I have a 10 minute animation pilot I have done in Motion. I imported it into FCP for editing; after making some changes in the editor FCP crashed. FCP now crashes every time I either open, or, attempt to render the timeline.

The project then crashed and would not let me back into FCP -- claiming an encounter of an "unexpected problem."

This has happened on both my new MacBook Pro and Mac Pro. So, I now have an animation pilot I cannot render, or edit. Anyone have any ideas?

Brad

what codec are you using in motion? it should be animation.

bake the motion animation to a qt movie and then import.

Make sure fcp has only default filters in the favorites folder.

Trash your fcp prefs.

have 2+ gigs of ram.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

"Make sure fcp has only default filters in the favorites folder."

Eh????

yep Tom, i have had problems with non-native filters in the favorites bin for 3 years. Sometimes it has cause fcp 4.5 - 6.0.4 to crash. During fcp5 pre-crossgrade it done it also especially on motn import. So for me Nattress / fx-Factory and boris are all toxic to my favorites.

i have never figured out why so i just don't put them there.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

First up, trash your FCP preferences to eliminate the possibility of corrupt preferences. Then check if FCP loads up WITHOUT running any projects. Then open up your project, if the project doesn't run, it could be due to corrupt media or project file corruption.

Then there's this Derek Mok trick to isolate corrupt media (at least i think that's from Derek). Duplicate your project file, disconnect all media drives, then load up the project. Then reconnect the media one at a time.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hello Everyone:

I imported a Motion project into FCP for editing; now the project keeps crashing my FCP whenever I try opening or rendering the project.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Brad

Did you try trashing your preferences?

make sure you have at least 2 gigs ram ( 4 is what it calls for i think).

make sure you have a 256 graphics card at minimum.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

What flavor of Motion project (SD, HD, sizes? framerates?) and with what duration into what flavor FCP Timeline?

Try running a test. Make a simple DV project with one very basic text layer 10 secs long and bring that into FCP. That work?

What rig are you working on?

Never had a problem with this, or heard of a problem with this. Inconceivable how it would impact rendering.

Hello everyone:

Thanks for the feedback; however, the problem continues.

I have been trying to isolate the problem for almost two days now. I have tried the suggested tests. I have also transferred the project to other computers and it encounters the same problem in FCP on all other computers.

I have tried it on my MacPro and my new MacBook Pro. I have trashed Preferences in FCP. Also, the video cards and ram is at least 256 and 4, respectively, as well, I have duplicated and reconnected the media. I even put the project on G-Drive and took it into Apple and encountered the same crash there.

All I can rule out is that the problem is not any given computer.

... please help.


Thanks,

Brad

reinstall fcp and motion

use pacifist

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Clearly you have a busted project file. This sucks, but it happens to all of us sometimes. Hit your autosave vault ? that's what it's there for ? and get back to editing.

Since the problem isn't just happening on a single system, don't bother reinstalling anything, and do not under any circumstances try to do a "manual reinstall" with Pacifist. There are few better ways to completely screw up your system than messing around with system components like that. Corbett, that piece of advice was ridiculously irresponsible.

okay Jeff,

... thanks.

Brad

i just did a pacifist component install for compressor and motion. nothing screwed up and it solved my problem. Maybe i am not understanding the danger.

You can uninstall fcp and then re-install >update then open up any project the was on a drive. So maybe you don't think that this is worth the try but its not unheard of or out of the question since programs were created.

nothing is wrong with trying a reinstall if all else in exhausted.

Quote
jeff
Clearly you have a busted project file.

extremely carefully speaking, Mr. Harrel

IMH not as experience O,the fcp project file is a reference to all applied effects, media, metadata and so forth. But it is not the media itself.

If he could copy the project then reconnect the references then the references are not corrupt nor is the media. It would seem in common thinking that it is not the reference that is messing up, its the implementation and execution of the applied referenced data.

That would be the job of fcp and motion. Its look like it wasn't the poison in the tea that did it. It seem like it was the butler that did it.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

I don't think I'm going to surprise anyone by saying that I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about. But whatever.

Maybe I'm being overly simplistic here. But from what's been described, this sounds like something we've all seen time and time again. Final Cut project files do get screwed up from time to time; it'd be great if it didn't happen, but it does, and if that's the case, no, messing around with installed system components is not a good idea.

I mean, think about it for just a second, Corbett. He did something, then Final Cut crashed. Whenever he tries to open that project, Final Cut crashes. Whenever he takes that project to another system and tries to open it, Final Cut crashes on that system. Does that sound like a Final Cut problem to you? What good could possibly come of screwing around with the installed system or application files?

I think it's great that you chime in and try to help, Corbett. But please, please, please try to make sure your advice is helpful, rather than pointless or downright dangerous.

> I have also transferred the project to other computers and it encounters the same problem in
> FCP on all other computers.

What Brad says here rules out uninstalling as a viable solution. It doesn't rule out a software update as a possible step, but software updates aren't magic. They've been known to fix some bugs that can cause crashes.

However, I don't know if I've seen enough detail about his troubleshooting steps to rule out certain things.

For example, we have no information whatsoever on the settings of his project, the size of his media, the speed of his drives, the performance of his system. You neglected to answer a very important question ClayC asked above:

> What flavor of Motion project (SD, HD, sizes? framerates?) and with what duration into what
> flavor FCP Timeline?

Brad, which FCP version are you using? What's your hardware? What are the settings for your media, frame size, frame rate etc.? I haven't seen information above that can rule out, for example, that a 20,000 x 20,000-pixel graphic file is causing your crashes.

You said you "tried all the tests", but didn't give specific results. For example, when you said you "transferred the project to other computers", did you mean you just moved the project file without the media, or did you move both? There's a huge difference in terms of troubleshooting. And you said you "used a G-RAID to move the project to an Apple Store". That probably means you took the media along. Which doesn't rule out that your project file may be fine; it could still be one piece of corrupt or misformatted media causing your crashes, not necessarily the project file itself.

Let me check a few things:

1. When you put all media -- including the Motion files -- out of reach of the project file (eg. copied the project file -- and only the project file -- to the system drive of an FCP machine, and all the actual media files aren't anywhere on that file system) and then tried opening the project file, does it open? If it crashes FCP, even with all the media offline, and on multiple stations, then Jeff Harrell would be on the money -- something about the project itself is corrupt and is causing conflict with the software, and there isn't much you can do except go to the Autosave Vault.

2. If the project file does open with media offline, that's when you can start your detective work. Delete all references to the Motion file from your project. Save the project file under a new name. Now start reconnecting media one small group at a time. Keep an eye out and see if anything fails or crashes. If everything else reconnects properly and the project is still running, save it under a new name. Now re-import the Motion file.

If you could do a more step-by-step report on what you're seeing, it'd help us narrow it down. Try to avoid generalist responses like "I did everything, it didn't work". Specific reports on specific tests give us different things to rule out.


www.derekmok.com

hey your right i didn't even consider the move from one system to the other. that would rule out the reinstall for sure.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

Quote

J.Corbett says:
Maybe i am not understanding the danger.

...then why blast out "advice" of a reinstall if you don't understand what's going on?

Quote

"Make sure fcp has only default filters in the favorites folder."

What?!

Quote

J.Corbett says:
hey your right i didn't even consider the move from one system to the other. that would rule out the reinstall for sure.

Corbett...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get the facts and at least attempt to know what you are talking about & be ready to defend your "advice" with more facts instead of nonsensical rantings / guesses / "IMH not so experienced O". Most folks don't know what the he11 you are talking about and when they get stuck like this & desperate, they don't need someone playing guessing games with their projects.

Brad,

You really gave us not much to go on - specific hard drive set-ups / project specs (both Motion & FCP) / etc. (another reason why Corbett's advice are such a wild guesses - you don't just give up troubleshooting & reinstall when it could be a simple setting adjustment). Where are your scratch disks pointing to (not your boot drive, I hope)? What are your Motion project specs & FCP Sequence settings? What kind of media are you using in the projects? Need a lot more information to troubleshoot efficiently.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I don't know how many editors you will meet who will reinstall at the get-go. That's horrendous advice. Doing that straight off will bring a lot of variables into troubleshooting, and may cause you a lot more problems, and much much worse if you do it with Pacifist.

You need to troubleshoot in sequential order, eliminating variables as you go along, starting from the steps that will cause the least damage.

First, check if it's just a corrupt FCP preference issue. This is fairly common. Then eliminate Project file corruption, then media corruption, as Derek mentioned.

ONLY REINSTALL, when you are completely certain that it's because of a corrupt system. Which usually also means that the problem reoccurs even on a fresh project, away from your media drives- create a simple motion project (SD, no layers, no complex media, with maybe a simple shape generator), drag that into a fresh FCP DV project and it crashes.



www.strypesinpost.com

Brad?

Need more info if you want more help brother.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Hey Brad,

Did you ever get this figured out? Please post...it may help someone else who gets stuck in the same situation someday

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.