Audio needs rendering but render files are still online

We are cutting a feature film in Pal24@25 on FCP 4.5 with two 2.5Ghz Dual G5s sharing media via the Sancube. We are really only editing on one system and that one has its render files on the Mac HD.

Due to many tracks and some speed changes there is an enormous amount of audio rendering. (several hours to do it all). Today is the second time when due to a crash on the second G5 the Main machine has been bumped off the Sancube. Ie FCP has remained running but the media suddenly goes offline and the OSX error message states 'device ejected improperly'

We exited FCP and restarted the main G5. The Sancube drives mount ok. But when reentering FCP a substantial selection of the audio needs rendering again. We are not offerred the offline dialogue and the chance to reconnect render files because FCP thinks everything is online. We can see the render files are up to date by searching in finder or using render manager.

Can anybody help? I'm not sure this is really about the sancube since the render media is on the main mac hd. Should I try an autosave of the project from before the crash to see if the project is corrupted.

Regards

Kate Coggins and Tom Kinnersly

hi, kate, tom.

i'd say give up on those render files.. if fcp doesnt find them itself, you'll never be able to re-connect to them.

sure try an autosave, but that doesnt function while fcp is rendering, so you might be out of luck

if fcp itself had crashed it would make more sense..

nick

Kate,

I don't think there's any way to reconnect render files. In my opinion, you wouldn't want to anyway -- some of them may be unstable/corrupt because of the incomplete render operation.

Remember, though: When you have a long render, CANCEL IT FROM TIME TO TIME SO YOU CAN SAVE YOUR PROJECT. The connection between your project file and your render files is part of the project file. So if you have a 20-minute render, stop it every five to 10 minutes. Notice that the red bar will have shortened -- the "cancel" command tells the computer to keep what it's already rendered, but not render any further. Now save your project file. If the application/drive/computer freezes during the next render section, when you re-open your project file next time, it will "remember" what you've rendered up until the cancel and save.

This "rendering in chunks" is a great way to ensure a crash doesn't destroy hours of rendering. It applies to both audio and video rendering.