Multiple Capture Scratch Folders

Please, can anyone help me with this problem which I've had in the past, was resolved for quite a while, but has now reared its ugly head again. I have a Capture Scratch folder on the drive where I want to capture all my media. In System Settings>Scratch Disks tab, I have set it to that folder. Within that folder are all my different project folders, with their associated media. However, on this occasion FCP keeps creating another Capture Scratch folder, within the original Capture Scratch folder. Even when I delete the new CS folder it persistently creates a new one and I seem to have no option but to capture to it.

I can't 'tidy up' retrospectively because the newly captured clips have duplicate names (untitled-1, untitled-2 etc) so I have to put up with the media being in several different folders. Trying to explain my frustration is making me even more frustrated! Please could someone advise if they have any solution. I'm not doing anything differently from usual and simply cannot understand why FCP is behaving in this way.

Many thanks in advance,
Conniex


FCP Version 6.0.6

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 6 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

Always select the folder one level above "Capture Scratch". FCP has to have those folders (Capture Scratch, Render Files etc.). You can't delete them.

> I can't 'tidy up' retrospectively because the newly captured clips have duplicate names (untitled-1, untitled-2 etc)

Why wouldn't you tidy up? You can't leave the clips named like that. Duplicate file names for different files is the absolute worst mistake you can make in digital editing.

You need somebody to sit down with you and teach you about basic FCP operation. Many people think they can teach themselves from scratch, and the fact is, you can't learn proper basics like that. What you miss will be crucial and will compromise whole projects, and I'm not talking small problems. I'm talking about all your editing decisions changing wholesale while you have a deadline.


www.derekmok.com

when you set your capture scratch LOCATION, you are telling FCP where you want it to put the capture scratch folder.
so you don't select a capture scratch folder, or , as you have seen, FCP will just create a new one inside of it.

actually you CAN tidy up your unfortunate situation. (i was tempted to write "mess"!)

it's terrible to have "untitled" clips, and files, terrible to have untitled projects, bins & sequences.
you really do need to keep things organised. i mean, that's the job

hopefully in FCP you have started naming the clips.
even if its as simple as Reel01-shot01, or even simpler
if you haven't done that, you should, or rather... you MUST!
of course if you have just entered "Reel01" or "Park Interview" or "My Beautiful Catastrophe" when you were capturing, the shots would all be named individually now,
but i guess you'll do that next time

anyway, there are two approaches to this.

1.
there is an option to re-name the FILE to match the CLIP name
its under the modify menu,
or right click on a clip to also access it.

this will do what it says, (but if you have two clips with the same name those files wont change)
it wont re-organise you files into one folder,
you would still have to do that,
and possibility re-conect them back in FCP

2.
the Media Manager can re-name and re-organise for you, if you are up for it.

select all your re-named clips,
open Media Manger.

set Media to MOVE
DONT delete unused
Base Media File Names on: CLIP NAMES

browse to a folder on the SAME DRIVE as the existing clips.
your capture scratch location would be good.
NOT YOUR CAPTURE SCRATCH FOLDER! (See lesson one)
but the folder it resides in

MM will move all the files to that one location, and re-name them in the process.
if there are dupe names, i think it will just add a -1, or some times a -video

Quote
coniex
I'm not doing anything differently from usual

it's time to change the way you do things, i think



nick

Thank you very much for clarifying about the CAPTURE SCRATCH FOLDERS.

CLIP/FILE NAMES
When you capture a section of media using Capture Now in the Log and Capture window - as opposed to Batch - the name field is grayed out (below Reel number). FCP creates file names Untitled/Untitled1/Untitled2 etc at finder level and these I have renamed within FCP as 001-1/002-1 etc. Over the last 5 years this has not caused me any problem but, going forward, please could you explain what I should be doing instead, at the time of capturing, to ensure that the file names match the clip names.

I don't have anything un-named expect the file names within the Capture Scratch folder. I would be very grateful if you could tell me how to avoid this undesirable state of affairs in the future.

Best wishes,
Conniex

> FCP creates file names Untitled/Untitled1/Untitled2 etc at finder level and these I have renamed within FCP as 001-1/002-1 etc.

Rename the files, not the FCP item entries. I think it was FCP7 that allowed you to rename things in the FCP Browser and then change the corresponding files to match automatically, but you're not using FCP7. Changing item names in FCP, without changing the files, is not only useless (since the virtual file-management system in FCP can deal with replicated file names, but the actual file-management system in OS cannot), but a bad practice. Very, very common amateur mistake.

Capture Now is not the method for capturing from tape you should use by default. You should Log and Capture, which allows for things like Reel Names and customized clip names.


www.derekmok.com

I have found it simpler to use Capture Now, then to name the clips in FCP afterwards, including a description. Do you mean that method would always be wrong in v6.0.6 and that I should therefore use Batch Capture, marking all my ins and outs and creating my shot names beforehand?

I don't doubt you're right, but what's actually so terrible about what me and the other amateurs have done? What could have happened, considering duplicate file names would be in different folders? :-)

Many thanks, your help is appreciated.

Conniex

Even if you use Capture Now, you are given the opportunity to name you clip in the Description
and/or name area. So you have items named logically.

File management is a critical part of pre-production/editing/production.

This greyed out name problem does not occur on my FCP 6.03.
You type the name in the description area, then click on the name area.
It automatically takes the name of what you typed in the description area.

> I have found it simpler to use Capture Now, then to name the clips in FCP afterwards

Simpler isn't better. More thorough, methodical and certain is better.

> what's actually so terrible about what me and the other amateurs have done?

For one thing, if the capture stalls midway through a clip, you get nothing. If you're logging, you can simply change the log and try again. Logging can also show you a road map of the entire tape before you proceed to capture -- for example, a take that seems okay may be completely redundant once you see that there are 29 more takes after it that are far superior.

Capture Now has its uses, but it's not the way most assistants would have worked with tapes, especially on bigger projects, and especially on narrative projects.

> What could have happened, considering duplicate file names would be in different folders? :-)

That should have been part of your editor's education.
Relying on folders to distinguish files, without giving each file a unique name, is a very bad amateur mistake. When FCP media goes offline, it doesn't distinguish between a file in [Path 1] and a file in [Path 2]. So if two files have the exact same name, when FCP connects Clip B, you could mistakenly direct it to Clip A, and then all your edits made using Clip B will be messed up, because it's not connected to the correct file, period.

If my assistant editor were to try to do this -- change names only in FCP while leaving files in the system as Untitled1, Untitled2 -- I would replace him. In fact, I did, on two shows. The assistants would have been playing with fire, because I was nit-picky enough to check the actual files. An editor who might have trusted them to take care of this would have been royally screwed later on; some editors, after all, are not technical-minded, and hire an assistant precisely to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. But when you're not a technical-minded editor, you need to recognize this, and hire the talent who will help you avoid these problems.


www.derekmok.com

yes, you CAN name your "Capture Now"s

i thought Modify Name functions came in w FCP6, but i could be wrong.
the Media Manager approach i outlined will still work

at the very least, if something has been incorrectly named during capture ("untitled" is incorrect)
you can do a quick re-name of the files using a batch re-name app (there are quite a few free ones out there, i use R-Name),
then re-import them into FCP
this would happen as soon after capture as possible, and before any editing in FCP



"What could have happened, considering duplicate file names would be in different folders? :-)"

if / when your project goes off-line, and you need to reconnect...
it is now considerably harder.
and of course you could conceivably connect to the WRONG set of untitled's

if you try to consolidate your media you cant, as there are duplicate file names
(the situation you are in right now)

collaborating w other people is fraught with problems.

operating on more than one system is a problem.


there is an old and very true editing maxim: IF IT'S NOT LABELLED, IT'S LOST
"untitled" is not a label


my personal little speech to future assistants and editors goes something like this:
there are a million things coming into the cutting room and going out of the cutting room,
large, small, physical, virtual,
you need to be able to answer two questions abut each and every one of them:
1. What are you going to call it? ("untitled" is not an option)
2. Where are you going to put it?

everyone will have their own answers to these questions, some more right than others,
but they do need to be thought about, and addressed.



nick

I'm grateful for your responses and do take the point being made. However, it's helpful to know I can in fact add a clip name in Capture Now. I will try this as soon as I get the chance.

Thanks again
Conniex

I suppose he subject is no longer Multiple Capture Scratch Folders, but naming of files in Capture Now. Sorry to come back to this! Re Mark's reply, it seems I cannot name the clips in Capture Now in version 6.0.6. I like using capture now because you can start watching and capturing immediately. It's a shame I can't use this method.

Thanks,
Conniex

it's been possible to do it in every version.

type a name into the description field.
do you not have the description field's prompt checkbox marked, perhaps?


nick