e-mailing fcp ref files

Up until now I've had no problem with e-mailing FCP ref files to my editor who is working from her home - we have identically digitised rushes on our drives and are both running FCP 5.1.4. But yesterday I sent her an FCP file but it will only open for her as gobbledy-gook text. Tried several times from different e-mail addresses but still the same. Found I had not switched back from HDB top SD setting in Audio Visual - so switched back to SD in the hope that this wold solve - but no. Anyone got any ideas about what we may be doing wrong? Chris R

Hi Chris

2 reasons - firstly you may have not labelled the file with the ".fcp" extension.

Secondly and most importantly. If you send things via email they get literally disassembled, mangled into a data stream, sent though umpteen other networks and finally reassembled at the other end.

Despite brilliant error correction many PC and Linux servers will screw with the transfer unless its zipped up. Often showing up as odd errors such as yours.

The best bet for you is simply right-click or option+click the file and choose (in Tiger) "make archive of" or (in Leopard) "compress" the file and save it as a ".zip"

You colleague can "un-zip" the file at the other end and hopefully this will protect the reference to it being an FCP file.

This should work - if not there might be an issue with your editors system.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

3rd reason:

a reference file depends on and points to existing media.
INCLUDING RENDER FILES.
if you e-mail one of those, it'd be a miracle if it worked on the other end.


nick

Nick

All thats happening is its opening as a text file rather than an FCP file.

Andrea Kiel has a little app that might sort out the issue with any file thats "lost its application" but you'll have to ask him for that.

Its not an issue to email FCP files without render files or any media for that matter - they simply won't reconnect if they don't have them and require re-rendering.



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

How about using that (select file) -> (cmd i, get info) -> Open with (select Final Cut Pro). Does that work??

> How about using that (select file) -> (cmd i, get info) -> Open with (select Final Cut Pro). Does
> that work?

Without a proper extension, Final Cut Pro probably won't even show up in that list, and will be greyed out if you navigate to it manually.

Run through Ben's options first. But you have yet to answer the most basic question: What do you mean by "ref file" or "FCP file"? There's no such thing, not in the way you describe. If you're e-mailing the project file, it's a project file. There is such a thing as a "reference QuickTime movie", but that doesn't contain your edits. A Final Cut Pro movie file is "an FCP file". So is an Autosave Vault project file, so is a render file, so is the FCP project file itself.

Can't make up your own terminology. Gotta be specific.

If zipping the file doesn't work either, try using an FCP site rather than e-mail (eg. YouSendIt, FilesToGo). Or export an XML.


www.derekmok.com

Whichever way you do it make sure you have the correct extension on it!



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

also try opening the file from WITHIN Final Cut Pro -- I get word files that come across as quicktime files sometimes - but if you open them from WITHIN WORD - they open fine rather than double clicking on them.