Batch encode with compressor

Question

I have many projects going in motion 2 and I exported them in a batch into compressor, I submited the batch and left it there for about 2.5 hours and there was no progress. Does the compressor take outragouly long to do batches or am I doing something wrong? I am exporting a SD session that has many moving video tracks. I am exporting it to 8 BIT uncompressed Quicktime.

Answer 1

i've had the same thing happen occasionally.
are you using the "export with compressor" option or are dragging your motion project files directly into compressor? i've experienced different performance using one method or the other.
nonetheless, i always export using compressor. it's frustrating however, as adding motion files to compressor always takes a few moments. for example, if i drag a handful of motion files into compressor (let's say 10 files for the sake of argument), the app displays the beachball for up to a minute or so before the files appear in the batch list. then, each time i select an individual file in that batch window, the app stalls again for 20-30 seconds.
i always save the batch once i've gotten the settings correct, exactly for the issue you describe. not often, but occasionally, i'll submit the batch and the batch monitor will display no progress. in which case i usually restart. i figure that qmasterd and compressord have screwed up and restart to get them back up. after restart, i open the saved compressor batch and submit again.
usually, the batch monitor pauses for a few moments, then displays normal progress. i've had fewer issues when using the "export with compressor" option in Motion, but then have to open and export each file individually, which is not a very efficient workflow.
overall, i'm quite frustrated with Motion+Compressor. I'm really trying to give it a fair shake, and will continue to streamline workflow. however, coming from AE, i simply can't stand Motion's non-existent batch capabilities (unless there's a glaring function that i'm missing).
for example, in AE, if i'm making chyrons i can keep everything in the same project, and pre-comp my backgrounds. if the client requests a background change, just change the backgound comp and eveything updates. if there are other changes, everything is right there and can be updated relatively easily. send all the chyron comps to the render queue and let it go, no problems.
with Motion, i already have many project files, one per chyron. so, at the very least, i'm going to have to open each project individually to make the changes. then export each individually. not efficient. (then take in to account my Multiple Open Document Woes, and it's a mess)
i'm aware of a third-party solution for automating this process, but it would really be nice for Motion to do this itself, rather than have an external app perform some XML hackery.
so, anyway, i use Compressor for exporting Motion rojects almost exclusively, but it's not without headaches. this is barely acceptable in a production environment.
-bt