crushingly URGENT help needed - multiclips offline

All the mulitclips in my project file prepped by another editor are offline. All assets are on a central server.

I reconnect them from the project file as well as the time line, although they are now connected in the project file they still show as offline in the timeline.

there is also separate audio recorded and previously synced using PluralEyes, but when reconnecting the rushes and making a new multiclip as a work-around there's no audio with it as it'd already been sync'd up using PluralEyes.

It's 9.50pm, A director in London is waiting on and upload my and my producer asking how's it going.

If anyone can pick this up asap I'd be most grateful,
WM


P.S I found this in an Apple forum (problem sounds identical) although there was no resolve:

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"i'm having a strange problem that i wonder if anyone had before or knows the fix to.
i'm editing a project with multiclips and some of them were out of sync, so my assistant to fixed them on his own computer, with a usb hard drive which has a copy of all the media. when he finished, he sent me the project, but i couldn't reconnect the media back to my own (firewire) drive. i tried connecting the clips individually and was partially successful, but most of the multiclips don't reconnect. especially the ones he fixed...
i don't even get an error message. it finds the source material and looks like it's connecting, but the clip remains unconnected.

the project has a pressing deadline and i'm pulling teeth...

any ideas how to fix this?"

and [forums.creativecow.net]

Did you rename the dual-system audio before proceeding with editing work? It's a common oversight, and it's a deadly one because if you didn't, then your audio clips may well have multiple duplicate file names and they won't reconnect automatically. The last short film I cut took me three weeks to fix because of this.

As for the "timeline being offline", unless you broke all master-affiliate clip relationships, that shouldn't happen. It's more likely that your thumbnails are still stuck in "offline" mode, which is easily fixed by dumping your Thumbnail Cache.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for picking this up Derek,

The multiclips were prepared on a laptop with PluralEyes to sync separately recorded sound, the laptop was connected to our central server, then the laptop went off on a shoot with the director but he forgot to copy across the audio files to the server before leaving.

So i've opened up the project files today and am having to reconnect the multiclips in my copy of the project file from the server with roughly zero success, as well as the audio files which were sent over today online (by the director) Is it because the link to the sync'd multiclip audio was cut that theres a problem?

It's ok just to go in and delete the Thumbnail Cache? Do i have to restart FCP to generate a new one?

The director spent about a day and a half preparing these narrative interview clips. The prospect of this needing to be redone will obviously not please the producer & director, is this really a case of having to start from scratch?

When the director returns with his laptop Thursday (if the source clips are still on there too) will copying the multiclip video and audio across again but together to the server likely solve this problem?

WM,

Still didn't answer the crucial question. Did you, or did you not, ascertain that all files -- video or audio -- had unique names before proceeding? Or did you leave the files as "MVI_0001", "STE-001" and so on, therefore breaking one of the most important rules of digital editing?

If this project were prepped properly, media reconnection would usually be an automated process that takes a matter of minutes to execute.

Letting a non-editing-trained director prep an editing session is a recipe for disaster. As the editor, you should have been checking on his assistant-editor work to make sure it was properly done before proceeding with anything else. If you didn't do that homework, then you were basically hoping that no file ever goes disconnected over the life of the project -- and that is never guaranteed.


www.derekmok.com

The files in the multiclips (two camera interviews) are labeled 'MVI_0001' etc . The audio is also labeled as generated.

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Letting a non-editing-trained director prep an editing session is a recipe for disaster. As the editor, you should have been checking on his assistant-editor work to make sure it was properly done before proceeding with anything else.

This is my second day, a new job as an editor for a production company. The clips/project file was prepared by the director/head of production and handed off to me yesterday on my first day. I didn't at all suspect I would need double-check my employer's workflow, to suggest it even I presume would be rather rude, it didn't cross my mind, they've done plenty of this work before.

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Did you, or did you not, ascertain that all files -- video or audio -- had unique names before proceeding? Or did you leave the files as "MVI_0001", "STE-001" and so on

So are you saying because the transcoded video (converted to prores) was not renamed and that the file names 'MVI_0001' were kept - that thats a cause of this problem? I've worked with hundreds of (allocated to me) projects with transcoded media keeping the same generated filename and have never found it to cause a problem.

Is the audio not being copied across in the first instance (having to reconnect the files transferred to me today) more likely the problem as you initially mentioned? (although reconnecting the media in the multiclip has been troublesome on top of trying to sync it to the separately recorded audio)

I'm not keen on telling the producer/director that the client will have to wait up to two extra days while i recut all the narrative material because the director ****ed up the media transfer ??!

> The files in the multiclips (two camera interviews) are labeled 'MVI_0001' etc . The audio is also labeled as generated.

That means no assistant-editor work was done at all. That means when FCP asks you for "MVI_0001", you have no way of knowing which "MVI_0001" it's referring to unless you're reconnecting the clip by hand, choosing the exact correct clip to correspond to the exact correct file in the exact correct file location. And that's what you're going to have to do.

But even before that, in order to fix the problem at its root, you have to do the work that was supposed to be done before any syncing or editing even commenced, which is the file management. If you are converting the clips to ProRes before editing (as you should), then at the conversion stage (eg. Log and Transfer), you need to add a prefix to every file, a prefix which denotes which reel the clip is coming from. That also needs to be done for audio. And then after that, you need to manually reconnect the disconnected clips to the new, renamed clips -- which, because of the changed file name, will not reconnect automatically, and you have to force a reconnect, and you have to make sure you're connecting the right clip to the right file, or your edits will change. If you were editing with the camera masters directly (not recommended in FCP7 for H.264 media, but feasible in newer editing software), then you should have modified the file names of the camera source files to avoid this kind of problem.

This is why assistant-editor work has to be done at the beginning. If you had done so, renaming all the clips in a certain reel (memory card) would have taken 20 seconds using file-management software to batch-rename everything with a prefix. Now you're looking at hours and hours of manual reconnection.

> I've worked with hundreds of (allocated to me) projects with transcoded media keeping the same generated filename and have never found it to cause a problem.

Then your method has been fatally flawed for hundreds of projects. No editor should allow duplicate file names in his project. This is exactly the kind of disaster that can befall you. A good assistant editor would usually take care of this, but if there's no assistant, the editor is the one who handles that. Some camera formats were designed so that tapeless files arrive at the editing stage with file names that are likely to be unique (eg. Panasonic P2 and Arri Alexa files, which generate a string of characters designed to make the clips distinguishable with others). Your file format ("MVI_0001" means the clips are DSLR-sourced, though, so they don't have that safeguard built in.

Given your deadline, it will probably be faster for you to just ixnay the work that was done by the other editor on the USB drive (which was what had changed your file paths, causing the media disconnect) and restore your project to its original state before the files were moved.


www.derekmok.com

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you have no way of knowing which "MVI_0001" it's referring to unless you're reconnecting the clip by hand, choosing the exact correct clip to correspond to the exact correct file in the exact correct file location. And that's what you're going to have to do.

There are no filename duplicates. I've also been reconnecting the clip by hand, choosing the exact correct clip to correspond to the exact correct file in the exact correct file location - it's not working, it's not reconnecting and the multiclip still says offline. Yes this is DSLR generated footage. Yes the clips were converted to prores.

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you should have modified the file names of the camera source files to avoid this kind of problem.

With there being no duplicates I don't see how this is a problem or why you propose it's causing the multicam reconnect issue.

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A good assistant editor would usually take care of this, but if there's no assistant, the editor is the one who handles that.

It was all prepped prior to me being in the office it was not my responsibility. This is only my 2nd day at the company. All i've done is open up my allocated project off the central server and encountered this problem.

So the fact the sync'd audio was not copied to the central server with the rest off the assets, this broke the media link in the multiclip which has caused this problem? I thought you initially alluded to this being probable cause?

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it will probably be faster for you to just ixnay the work that was done by the other editor on the USB drive (which was what had changed your file paths, causing the media disconnect) and restore your project to its original state before the files were moved.

"ixnay" you mean 'delete'?? I looked up the word apparently it's 'pig latin'? I've never heard or seen that word in my life.

there is no USB drive, a USB has not been used here. you're saying the USB changed files paths?? what USB?

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restore your project to its original state before the files were moved

do you mean When the director returns with his laptop Thursday (if the source clips are still on there too) will copying the multiclip video and audio across again but together to the server likely solve it? Again - the files were initially moved from his laptop to the central server (but he forgot to copy across the sync'd audio files)

I have a copy of his project file but of course everything is disconnected in that project file.

> There are no filename duplicates.

Thought you said you left the MVI_0001 as they were? Or is this a short project where no file names repeated?

> there is no USB drive, a USB has not been used here. you're saying the USB changed files paths?? what USB?

You wrote:

> i'm editing a project with multiclips and some of them were out of sync, so my assistant to fixed them on his own computer, with a usb hard drive which has
> a copy of all the media.


www.derekmok.com

The file names go i.e MVI_3302 - MVI_4210 etc, that is to say they are numbered thus. they're not all numbered 'MVI_0001'

in my initial post i said "P.S I found this in an Apple forum (problem sounds identical - multiclip media offline not 'workflow is identical) although there was no resolve" i then quote the post heralding a similar problem (in likeness) and link to that post.

my workflow was specified, it's not as per the poster on that forum as i am not using USB devices to transfer anything. the material has gone from a laptop to a server for me to access, bar the audio that was forgotten and sent over earlier today via online fileshare

Not being mentioned in your reply my other questions are not relevant, or not going to bring a positive result?

If you say there are no duplicate names, and that you already reconnected the media successfully (eg. master clips are up and running), then this is not the cause of the problem. What happens if you re-create a test multiclip, disconnect the media, and reconnect?


www.derekmok.com

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already reconnected the media successfully (eg. master clips are up and running)

No. I managed to reconnect just once on one multiclip, none of the other 30 or so are reconnecting. Also when reconnecting each camera in the multiclip the second 2nd camera reconnects as the first, so the multiclip consists off two shots the same. when I do this the media says online in the project file but offline still offline the timeline.

also even when pulling the two clips onto the timeline under the multiclip (as the multiclip has no audio - audio recorded and sync'd separately) the clips have the same in-points as the multiclip but still the audio doesn't match the multiclip sync on either camera.

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What happens if you re-create a test multiclip, disconnect the media, and reconnect?

i'll try that shortly back in the office . .

Ok,

Thanks for your time on this D, I have found a work-around, reconnecting the individual clips, re-multiclip then scan and match/manual sync to the TASCAM audio files. While this allows immediate progress to be made I'm still curious as to the possible root-cause of this problem, if anyone else has insight or suggestion please do contribute!

Many thanks guys,
WM

Derek,

What's your suggested way to rename audio files (assuming no duplicates)? Not talking about the program but the actual name.

Is it enough to have the files reside in a folder like Projectname_audio/Sound01/Takename (with actual file name, 27T02.wav)?

Essentially, you could have another project with that same file name, but because of folder structure, you know that this 27T02, is from "Projectname_audio" if
it was to go offline.

> Is it enough to have the files reside in a folder like Projectname_audio/Sound01/Takename (with actual file name, 27T02.wav)?

No, it's not. Remember, the computer goes by file names, not file paths, and file paths change all the time (for example, if you move things, or if you change media drives).

In my opinion, in the tapeless age, it's usually desireable to retain the original file names in case you need to know what the files came out of the camera/audio recorder as. For example, the DIT may have made a backup on set that doesn't have whatever prefices you add, but if you need to get the files from him/her again, you'll need to know what they were originally called.

I always go by:

[Video]
Day 01 Card 01_ORIGINAL CLIP NAME
("Day 01 Card 01" would correspond with whatever the folders of the camera cards are called)

[Audio]

Day 01 Card 01 Audio_ORIGINAL CLIP NAME
or
Audio Day 01 Card 01_ORIGINAL CLIP NAME

Personally I wouldn't put the project name in there. Too much information which bogs down navigation.

Once this system is in place, you can even eliminate the excess folders for the audio and put all sync-sound files into one folder for faster reconnection. Audio usually doesn't need the original file structure preserved. If you're extra cautious and want to preserve the file structure, make an unchanged copy and put it onto data DVD, LTO tape or something similar. Audio files are small enough that you can usually afford to keep extra copies.


www.derekmok.com