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FCP6 media wackiness August 24, 2007 01:09PM |
I've posted this to the Apple FCP feedback form but it may be of interest to some here.
I have a project here that got really big, for no reason, really quickly.
Cutting a half hour show, DVCProHD (HDX900 and HVX200), multiclips and merged files, double system sound etc.
At some point, looking back over my project folder, I saw that the project jumped from 45MB to 120MB. Nothing major happened in the project to warrant this and I didn't notice at the time. We've been having a few problems with multiclips and moving media around and timecode changes but were forging ahead with no other option.
A few days after the jump in size actually happened I noticed the autosave taking too long and noticed the size jump myself. I tried figuring out what was causing it by deleting sequences and clips and saving the project in different combinations but nothing seemed to make any difference. As a last ditch effort I deleted EVERYTHING from the project and saved it. No sequences, no clips nothing. Resulting file size= 111MB. Snack on that!
I then made a brand new project and copied everything from the working project into it and when saved it was a mere 45MB.
It would seem to me that FCP is keeping some sort of media database or file connection cache or something. Copying clips and sequences from one project to another can take a really long time and sometimes, but not always, result in a window that looks like this
It's hard to tell if any of this is related to the multiclip issues that others are having but it is giving some of us here doubts about the stability of FCP6 and it's useability in a mission critical environment. We're stuck with it for this series but if I had my druthers I would be cutting on 5.1.4.
Some of our other issues:
[www.lafcpug.org]
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
I have a project here that got really big, for no reason, really quickly.
Cutting a half hour show, DVCProHD (HDX900 and HVX200), multiclips and merged files, double system sound etc.
At some point, looking back over my project folder, I saw that the project jumped from 45MB to 120MB. Nothing major happened in the project to warrant this and I didn't notice at the time. We've been having a few problems with multiclips and moving media around and timecode changes but were forging ahead with no other option.
A few days after the jump in size actually happened I noticed the autosave taking too long and noticed the size jump myself. I tried figuring out what was causing it by deleting sequences and clips and saving the project in different combinations but nothing seemed to make any difference. As a last ditch effort I deleted EVERYTHING from the project and saved it. No sequences, no clips nothing. Resulting file size= 111MB. Snack on that!
I then made a brand new project and copied everything from the working project into it and when saved it was a mere 45MB.
It would seem to me that FCP is keeping some sort of media database or file connection cache or something. Copying clips and sequences from one project to another can take a really long time and sometimes, but not always, result in a window that looks like this
It's hard to tell if any of this is related to the multiclip issues that others are having but it is giving some of us here doubts about the stability of FCP6 and it's useability in a mission critical environment. We're stuck with it for this series but if I had my druthers I would be cutting on 5.1.4.
Some of our other issues:
[www.lafcpug.org]
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
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Re: FCP6 media wackiness August 24, 2007 03:45PM |
Interesting observation, Nick.
However on this project at least, I am prone to dumping my renders the day after delivering a rough cut and that flushes the undo queue (there's a word that looks wrong no matter how you spell it).
That happens at least once a week and has had no affect on project size.
I have no experience with this myself but I heard another editor say that there is a basic thing you can do with the "make multiclip sequence" function that leads to an instant crash.
As Quint from Jaws "I tell ya there's screwy things a hapennin in FCP6 and we better let everybody know, and fast, or ain't nobody comin' to swim on our beaches ever again" or something like that.
Hopefully PfA can chime in here and let us know if Apple is tracking anything like this or when we might see a new point release with fixes.
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
However on this project at least, I am prone to dumping my renders the day after delivering a rough cut and that flushes the undo queue (there's a word that looks wrong no matter how you spell it).
That happens at least once a week and has had no affect on project size.
I have no experience with this myself but I heard another editor say that there is a basic thing you can do with the "make multiclip sequence" function that leads to an instant crash.
As Quint from Jaws "I tell ya there's screwy things a hapennin in FCP6 and we better let everybody know, and fast, or ain't nobody comin' to swim on our beaches ever again" or something like that.
Hopefully PfA can chime in here and let us know if Apple is tracking anything like this or when we might see a new point release with fixes.
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
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Re: FCP6 media wackiness August 24, 2007 10:55PM |
Uh Mark, it's in the subject heading, but 6.01 to be precise. All upgrades current, frequent trashing of preferences, regular "sudo periodic" maintenance, biweekly repair permissions, regular Disk Warrior on FW and RAID drives. I run a tight freakin' ship and this stuff is pissing me off. It wasn't my choice to cut in v6, I am a hired gun and I go where they want me and the systems were all upgraded and digitizing had started before I came on board. I had heard of the ballooning project issue in v5 but never seen it.
Oh and yes Nick the project sizes stay big even after they're closed.
The one that freaks me out is the project that is 111MB with nothing in it!
One of the other systems on this project had the same situation happen and he was able to move everything to an empty project and lose 100MB in size.
Maybe on Monday I'll do a screen grab of my project bin so you may marvel at my anal retentiveness and watch as the project files leap up, unbidden.
There are a few too many things going on behind the scenes in this version of FCP for my liking. I guess one could blame this on a pooched install but seeing as it's such a weird and intermittent occurrence you'd be hard put to know if anything was solved by a reinstall.
I have the weekend to forget about these problems and ride my bike at night and go see Superbad. Monday? meh!
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
Oh and yes Nick the project sizes stay big even after they're closed.
The one that freaks me out is the project that is 111MB with nothing in it!
One of the other systems on this project had the same situation happen and he was able to move everything to an empty project and lose 100MB in size.
Maybe on Monday I'll do a screen grab of my project bin so you may marvel at my anal retentiveness and watch as the project files leap up, unbidden.
There are a few too many things going on behind the scenes in this version of FCP for my liking. I guess one could blame this on a pooched install but seeing as it's such a weird and intermittent occurrence you'd be hard put to know if anything was solved by a reinstall.
I have the weekend to forget about these problems and ride my bike at night and go see Superbad. Monday? meh!
ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!
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Re: FCP6 media wackiness August 24, 2007 11:00PM |
Multiclip was introduced in FCP5, not FCP4.5. I was probably the last editor on earth to perform that upgrade, so let's just say I lived with FCP4.5 for a long time!
Sounds to me like the "empty 111MB" project file should be the control group. I'd take that (it's an expendable, right?) and start experimenting on it. Run Render Manager, Media Manager, put it into a strange disk location, send it through the internet or a network, e-mail it, export an XML or EDL, anything you can think of. Make a new copy for every diagnostic trial so you can single out one test at a time. I'd be driven crazy by this kind of ballooning, too, so I think it'd be worth it to track down the cause.
www.derekmok.com
Sounds to me like the "empty 111MB" project file should be the control group. I'd take that (it's an expendable, right?) and start experimenting on it. Run Render Manager, Media Manager, put it into a strange disk location, send it through the internet or a network, e-mail it, export an XML or EDL, anything you can think of. Make a new copy for every diagnostic trial so you can single out one test at a time. I'd be driven crazy by this kind of ballooning, too, so I think it'd be worth it to track down the cause.
www.derekmok.com
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