Recombining FCP projects in to one project

I have a project with about 2000 XDCAM clips, 500 WAV files, multiclips, sequences, etc., that I divided up in to 3 separate projects a couple months ago. I'm trying to recombine the 3 projects in to one project now but I'm encountering errors every single way I try to do it. In the past, I've just dragged the files and folders between projects, watched the beachball spin for a bit, and then it was done. Now, either the files don't show up after the beachball's been spinning or fcp quits. I've tried moving smaller increments and that didn't help. I've tried exporting to XML, and media managing to offline - and have discovered that both those processes fail as well. I can't figure out what the glitch is, but it looks like I'm stuck with this movie in 3 separate projects. Does anyone know of a way to troubleshoot this?

Sounds like your project is simply too big. What is the size of your FCP project file? You may need to work in parts.



www.strypesinpost.com

I agree with Strypes. You should also tread carefully when using media that isn't fully optimized for FCP.

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can i ask why are you wanting to combine into one project?


nick

Believe me, having coped with inherited multiple projects like this, you would like everything in one file if you could do it. But it feels like FCP's project file craps out after bulging to half a gig, often less. So the ability to load more than one project at a time is something of a blessing.

When trying to join projects, however, I always close the timelines so no active sequences are in RAM-- sometimes this interferes with copying. I also make sure the disk holding the project has 10% overhead. By habit i store all projects in AN FCP Projects folder within the OSX Documents folder and that has served for many years now.

Wouldn't it be great if we had a reliable way of using Media Manager to join multiple projects into one, separate from consolidating? Or maybe creating a solid virtual project containing everything in one Browser?

My .02

- Loren

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Do you mean joining sequences to make one show? I've been doing this for years with nesting. The final output is all the sequences dropped together into a single sequence. This system also allows lots of people to work on different cuts for the show, so that the project isn't checked out by one editor all the time.