DOUBLE WHAMMY! "No movie in File" AND "Light Rays failed to Render"?!

I am trying to render out a HD 720x960 movie I am cutting in FCP 6.0.5 on a 2t external hard drive. I have posted before about my problem, which is:

"Light rays failed to render."

I bought a new graphics card, the Radeo 3870, which (I thought) fixed this issue. I finished cutting the movie on FCP fine, however, now that I am ready to export to a Quicktime file, I tried to render it out and I received the following two error messages:

"Light rays failed to render."

AND

"No movie in file."

After researching in other boards I'm guessing it's either:

1. Files corrupted, or
2. The fact that I moved files around (since at one point the files were being accidentally saved to my hard drive instead of the external drives and I had to move them back over and reimport some of the footage again).

My friend tell sme the graphics card has nothing to do with the issue, I have 8 gigs of ram, so I'm sure that's not it.

a. Is it the processor speed for the rendering issue?
b. How do I fix this movie in file error?
c. Could it be a compression issue?

So far I have tried, to no avail:

1. Trashed the prefs
2. Run disk warrior/first aid
3. Verified permissions
4. Zapped the RAM

Thank you for your help.


FCP 6.0.5 Mac OSX 10.5.7 2 x 2.66 ghz dual core intel xeon
8 gb 667 mhz ddr2 fb dimm,
Radeon 3870 card, project is on two drives: western digital 2tb drive and a maxtor 500g

At last, a question I can answer.

"Light Rays" is a Noise Industries FX Factory Pro plugin.

I've had this problem several times and with me it's been because FCP has forgotten where you have stored their plugins, or that the filter thinks that you haven't registered (i.e. paid) for its use.

Make absolutely sure that this filter is stored in the correct plugins folder.

As you know, there are two plugin folders. It's easy to install into the wrong one - and you may have other "dead" plug in folders scattered around your hard drives.

Another issue is that, in order for the Noise Industries Plugins to work properly, you absolutely have to install their software thingy called "FX FACTORY" without which the plugs won't work.

Failing that, double click on the manufacturers name in the filters tab and that should get your Mac to tell you if you are registered or not.

This has happened to me several times when I have reinstalled FCP or something drastic like that.

I am pretty much certain that I'm correct on this question because your symptoms are identical to mine.

BTW I answered your question before - but maybe not clearly enough. Please let me know how it goes.

Best

Harry.

PS. The Noise Industries people are very good about responding to emails.

Wasn't this discussion already in progress in a previous thread started by you?

[www.lafcpug.org]

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Yes. He posted before, as he says in his first paragraph. I guess he never got a satisfactory answer.

Since then I have remembered that I have experienced this issue which, I believe, may have something to do with the registration of his Noise Industries plugins or the installation.

From, The Light Rays King.

Harry.

Harry, thank you for clarifying.

Can you tell this frustrated newbie where it should be/how it should appear? Where should the file be once installed? This is the current path it's on...

MacProQX64/Library/application support/common/plugins/fxfactory.plugin (and ImporterFxFactory.bundle in the same folder)... is this correct?

So, to spell things out for me here again (sorry), am I using the FX Factory plug ins that are free and included with FCP 6 and now I have to buy them? Was I using a trial version? And if so, why am I getting the same error message with Brightness which I don't believe is from FX Factory...or is it?

So it ISN'T The graphics card after all? Darn, I just spent $230 on the Radeon ATI 3870...

Thank you for your thoughts.

Whoah ....

What you have to do is to email these people at Noise Industries.

I would like to help you further, but I know that I will say something idiotic.

Truly, email NI. They are very good about responding.

Noiseindustries Support <techsupport@noiseindustries.com>;

To repeat:

1. You must have their program "FX Factory" (posisbly version 2.0.8) installed. It's free from their website. But the plugins are NOT. There is a test period.

2. These are not free plug ins. In fact, they are fairly expensive. And I don't know if you have actually purchased the package.

3. And -- yes -- it may well be that you were using a trial version and that may be why you can't render/output/whatever. It sounds as if you have a trial version - unpaid.

4. Make a test with another NI plug in and see if you get the same result before emailing them.


So you have to clarify this with them. I repeat that they are in fact very helpful.

And let me know how you get on ...

And, by the way, this set of plugins is by far the best and most imaginative I have used. So the (considerable) purchase price is genuinely worth the cash. I can't remember the cost.

Harry