Final cut express 4. Should render files be saved or deleted?

Which files can safely be deleted from the drive when the edit is finished?

You can safely delete all of the render files, cache files & waveform files - they can always be re-created as long as you have your FCE project file and the associated source media files that you used in your project.
If you archive a project all you need to keep is your FCE project file and the associated source media files. There is no reason to keep any render, cache or waveform files as they will only take up disk space and will no longer be usable if/when you reopen the original project. (Because typically in archiving you are copying the files to another hard drive and doing so breaks the relationship between the FCE project file and the render files. And although there is a 'reconnect media' function in FCE in my experience it does not work well if at all with render files.)

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Final Cut Express Log and Transfer files not playing audio on another mac

I recently purchased a new Mac Pro for video editing for work, and am having some issues with it. Previously i was working on a MacBook Pro running OS 10.4.11, on Final Cut Express 4.
I used Log & Transfer to get the AVCHD videos from my Canon HF 11 onto my mac, and had no issues. Where my problems started was when I moved my video files to my new Mac Pro running OS 10.5.6. Now when I open those video files in either Quicktime or FCE, the VIDEO plays but _not the audio_. I thought maybe the video files were bad, but when I tried the original files on the new Mac, they still didn't work. I don't know if there's some codec that isn't on the new mac or if there's some other problem... I just know that my new amazing machine cannot play the files that my 3 year old one can. I'm not new to computers, but I'm not an Apple guru. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Well I can try trashing the files, but I can't log and transfer the files again, as it's months of footage that aren't on the camera anymore. But i did find something else out. The files that were recorded with the camera's built-in mic recording is fine and with sound, but the files that I used my wireless mic setup had no sound. I don't know why that is, because they worked fine on the MacBook Pro. I tried log and transferring a new clip on the Mac Pro wit;h footage using the wireless mic, and still no sound.

Final cut express HD Importing Video files

I've been trying to import quick time video files I have on my computer they were taken with a kodak easyshare camera model Z812IS. It was easy to import into the mac but when I try to import the files into Final Cut the icons are greyed out! Is there a way that I can convert the files so they are compatable? Will Final cut express 4 solve the problem? The fact is I have other video files on my mac that import just fine. I'm stumped hope you can help!
B

Try opening one in QuickTime Pro, and exporting them as DV files from there.
Jerry

Final Cut Express Will Not Render.

Hello, while working on a very important project for school, Final Cut Express stopped rendering anything, completely. No matter what project, what circumstance, what method I try, It will not render. I need to get this project done NOW and have no where else to turn to.

Do the Render Items have check marks against them in the Sequence>Render All menu?
Is Capitals Lock switched on?
Al

Using Final Cut Express to open AVCHD files?

Just wondering if anyone has experience using FCE to open AVCHD files (particularly from Canon camcorder.) I've tried iMovie (08) but was super slow (on my 1.83mhz machine - 2GB of ram, external disk for movie/audio files) and quality was terrible.
Appreciate any comments on this,
Neil

The project comes from FCP 6.0.1 and I have FCE 4.0. Opening the project file doesn't work, and I tried exporting to XML, and it finds the media, but doesn't know how to create the sequence.
I can send more specific error messages if you need them.
(Also, I notice that iMovie write v1 of the XML, and FCP is up to v4.)

Importing Quicktime Files to Edit in Final Cut Express

I just bought final cut express to edit quicktime files I receive from work. FCE will not let me import certain files and I get a message saying "Error: File Type Unknown", but what's weird is I CAN import some files that are the EXACT same file type!
I have noticed that one difference in these files is that the icons in Finder are different. The file I CAN import is usually the default quicktime movie icon, while the ones I CANNOT import usually have a video thumbnail for the icon. Does this mean anything?
The files are the same. Same codec, same frame rate, same dimensions, everything but the video length & icon view finder are the same.
Please someone assist me with this or I will have to return FCE and start saving up for FCP I suppose.

I couldn't do this action, I don't have Quicktime Pro. Should I invest in this? What does it mean if the Audio and Video aren't the same settings? Can I change them with Quicktime pro? Thanks!

HT3775 Does anyone know how to get .mts files and mpg files to work in final cut express?

I am trying to import footage from a cannon xa10 but it wont come up in final cut express. The only files I have managed to get off the sd card are either .mts or .mpg files and these won't import into final cut. Any suggestions?

Barney & cjnz11, are you importing AVCHD lite?
FCE doesnt play nice with AVCHD lite with the Standard plugins, imovie on the other hand does (go figure) there is a fix for this.
1. Open the Final Cut Express.app by right clicking the icon and choose 'show content'. At Contents/Plugins you find a folder called: "AVCHD.RADPlug". compress this and keep it safe (Just incase)
2. Now Open the iMovie.app by right clicking the icon and choose 'show content' At Contents/RADPlugins there is a folder called "AVCHD.RADPlug". Copy that folder to where you found the folder with the same name inside the Final Cut Express.app
After that you will be able to Log & Transfer AVCHD Lite with in FCE instead of the imovie import and XML export method.

I have a .mov file that is 59 gigs. Is there a converter that can reduce the file size with minor resolution loss so I can import it into final cut express?

I have a .mov file that is 59 gigs. Is there a converter that can reduce the file size with minor resolution loss so I can import it into final cut express?

Open the file in QuickTime Player. Then do Tools > Show Movie Inspector. What does it say for Format and FPS?
At 59GB, I suspect you have either a 4 hour DV video or a 1+ hour video that was converted to Apple Intermediate Codec. If it's either of those, you can import it directly into FCE provided you select the appropriate Easy Setup first. Your clips have to match the properties of the Easy Setup you are using.
If it's neither DV or AIC then you need to convert it to one of those codecs. (QuickTime/DV or QuickTime/AIC) Many people in this forum rely on MPEG Streamclip (it's free and works great).

Photos used in Final Cut Express

WHen I include photos from iPhoto in my Final Cut Express movie and put the movie to DVD; some of the photos displayed on the TV are good while others are distorted and jump or flicker while displaying. It appears that the ones that are 800K or less display good while those that are about 2GB are the problem. Apple care told me that the photo resolution when taken photos to use in Final Cut Express HD should be set at 720x480 or there abouts.. No where in any documentation can I find this information. Even when I put in a call to the Final Cut Express technical help they could give me an answer. Can anyone help with this... MY DV camcoreder clips display perfectly.. Ken Landgraf

(I'll assume you meant 2MB, not 2GB, Ken.)
I also expect you are talking about distortions when you zoom and pan the photos. 720x480 is okay for still photos and it resolves to about the resolution of a TV screen. If you want to zoom in, you should guess the magnification and approximate the dimensions so that the zoomed portion resolves at about 720x480. A 2MB photos is likely to be from a 4megapixel camera (highest resolution setting) and 2300x1700 pixels.
Note that a 'still' photo in FCE will usually look sharper than on a TV because of the whole chain of 1950s technology that produces a TV image.
If you are commenting on distortions you see when watching your video in FCE, you really need to 'render' the video and watch it on a TV monitor. 'Jumpiness' can be an artifact of the RT rendering or (lack of) TV interlacing.
If you are zooming in/out of images and you're seeing lots of sparkly artifacts, like shimmering on water ripples, try adding a 'gaussian blur' and/or 'flicker' filter to a clip. Either will soften artifacts without much blurring of either the zooming image.

Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

The MTS files will always be grayed out. Do not drill down into the folder structure. Select the top level of the AVCHD folder structure. If this is a hard drive it may take a very long time to load. People have reported 20 minutes to half an hour.
Other possible problems, conflicts with other software like Perian. Also if there is mixed media on the drive; media in different formats can make the directory unreadable. What are the exact specifications of your media? What settings are you using in FCE?

Editing graphic loops in Final Cut express HD ?

Hello guys
I'm planning to purchase final cut express.
Besides the fact that I want to use FCE HD for "hobby style" video editing and also take an advantage of soundtrack pro - main reason for purchasing it is that I want to use it for editing graphic and backgrounds loops for the web .
Basically I would like to import graphic loops ( mostly from companies like "MOTION LOOPS" or DIGITAL JUICE" ) then edit them, add some titles with live type , music and then convert them to flash and post it on the web.
So my main my question is ? Does anybody has experience with editing graphic loops or backgrounds in Final cut express or should I rather get some other application for that?
I would appreciate any answers .
Thanks for your time.
Milan

One point, FCE does not come with Soundtrack Pro. Only with the original Soundtrack, now in v1.5.
In what edit them, they're movie loops, if you edit the content they won't be loops any more. If you mean edit them in size for banner ads, then FCE is can do that on export but you're going from a heavily compressed PAL(?) format to something very different. The results may not be as good as you expect. You cannot crop the size of the image in FCE because it is a fixed resolution application. You can't for instance make a 60x800 pixel shape to make a banner ad into Flash. You need a resolution independent application to do that like Final Cut Studio.

Motion 5 and Final Cut Express

Hello.
I use Final Cut Express (latest version). I want to learn to use Motion 5, but before I purchase it I need to know if it will work with Final Cut Express. Will video files created Motion 5 work with Final Cut Express? Can clips exported from FCE be imported into Motion 5? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

You can use Motion with FCE.
You may want to look at these two links first:
http://help.apple.com/motion/mac/5.0/en/motion/usermanual/#chapter=B%26section=1 %26hash=apple_ref:doc:uid:Motion-UserManual-90915XFF-1004170
http://help.apple.com/motion/mac/5.0/en/motion/usermanual/#chapter=B%26section=2 %26hash=apple_ref:doc:uid:Motion-UserManual-90915XFF-1004813
Your basic workflow would be:
-Import your clip into Motion. This can be the original clip from FCE, or an exported selection of your clip saved as a Quicktime Movie.
-Do your work.
-Export a Movie from Motion. Make sure it is a format that FCE supports, check the documentation for FCE.
-Import the rendered file back into FCE.
As I pointed out, you will just want to make sure you use video that both applications can handle.

Final Cut Express Render Files

Hello all.
Just wondering what files are okay to delete in User > Documents > Final Cut Express Documents
I already have deleted most of the files inside of the folders, such as the render files, because I've already exported them as quicktime movies. But just before, after deleting various things, (such as audio renders, auto-saves, renders,) when I next opened up final cut express, it asked for my licensing details.
Did I do something wrong, and delete something I wasn't supposed to????
Thanks in advanced.

You can delete anything you want from the FCE Documents folder, but if you delete Capture Scratch files then any projects with those in them will be useless. Nothing in the FCE Documents folder would make it reset your licensing details.
However, if you accidentally deleted this file, FCE would again prompt you for your serial number and such:
*Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > ProApps > Final Cut Express System ID*
Message was edited by: skalicki`

Render files end up inside Final Cut Express package

With all of the discussion here about rendering, I thought I'd let folks know that that 'ol bug that plagued Final Cut Pro for so long (and perhaps still does) is present in Final Cut Express 4.0.1 too: render files sometimes end up inside the package for Final Cut Express. I know this because I just experienced it while running FCE 4.0.1.
With Final Cut Express not running, control-click or right-click on the Final Cut Express application file, then choose "Show Package Contents". After that, open the folder, "Contents", then the folder, "MacOS", and inside, you may see a folder for video render files, one for audio render files, or both.
Assuming that you don't want to render to that location, then with FCE still quit, move any render folders (that you found inside of the package) elsewhere; and delete the four preference files for FCE, according to the instructions given in Tom Wolsky's on-line guide:
http://www.fcpbook.com/Misc1.html
Then start-up Final Cut Express and open System Settings. Once there, choose your scratch location(s): usually /Users/<username>/Documents/Final Cut Express Documents, if you are rendering to your boot drive. (If rendering elsewhere, simply specify a folder at that location.)
Next, move the render files from the package (that are now residing elsewhere) into the respective folders inside /Users/<username>/Documents/Final Cut Express Documents, if in fact you find their respective folders there and wish to use that as a scratch location. If not, or if you have specified a location on another drive, of if you want maximum integrity of your render files, then simply open your project file and re-render everything. But you might want to stop that process just a few seconds after starting it, then check inside your scratch folders to make sure that new render files are now being stored there. After verifying that, you can go back to your project file and resume re-rendering.
This issue may answer the question, "where are my render files". By the way, if you do a "Get Info" on the Final Cut Express application file and "Get Info" reports that that file is huge (say, several gigabytes in size), then it is likely that your render files are being stored inside.
Please excuse this post if the subject matter has already been discussed in this forum.

Eidschun, thank you for this thread. It doesn't matter how often it occurs, this information works on many levels and was a pleasure to read.

Macbook, Final Cut Express and Canon 5D video files

Hello everyone.
I intend to purchase my first Apple Mac soon. It will probably be the Aluminium Macbook with 4GB RAM.
I am an avid photographer and use the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I can handle all the processing of the still photographs without a problem but I would like to take advantage of the cameras HD video capability. I know nothing about video editing but I have read that Final Cut is about the best video editor out there. My PC struggles to even play the movies from my camera, let alone edit them.
I have the following questions that I hope some of you can answer:
1. Will the standard Macbook with 4GB RAM be able to handle and edit the large video files (1.2GB for a 5 minute video clip)? I would prefer not to buy the Macbook Pro if possible. The computer will only be used for video editing occasionally. I will not be making 90 minute Hollywood style productions... just 5 minute short films once in a while.
2. Does the cheapest version of Final Cut (Final Cut Express) handle files from the Canon 5D2?
3. I know the video from the Canon 5D2 is generally disliked because it is 30fps and is in a strange format. However, I am not able to change this and I will not be buying a dedicated video camera as I rarely shoot video. So, I need to know if the Macbook and Final Cut Express can do the business with these files. Do you have any advice on how to handle the 5D2 files?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Will the standard Macbook with 4GB RAM be able to handle and edit the large video files (1.2GB for a 5 minute video clip)?
Yes. You have a lot of hard-drive space with the Macbook Aluminum, so that shouldn't be an issue but you might consider using an external hard-drive to store your media if you ever start making longer movies. To tell you the truth, the Macbook with 2GB of RAM would probably work just as well. I recently upgraded mine and it didn't make much of a difference. Either way though, the Macbook should work fine with Final Cut, mine does. You might consider getting the one with the 2.4GHz processor, I have the feeling that will make more of a difference when editing than the extra RAM.
Does the cheapest version of Final Cut (Final Cut Express) handle files from the Canon 5D2?
Sort of, but it doesn't edit them natively. You can either drop the files in the timeline and render it out and it will work, or, if you don't want to render whenever you make a change, a better technique would be to first convert the clips using an application like the free [MPEG Streamclip|http://www.squared5.com> to something FCE can edit natively such as Apple Intermediate Codec. It's not as simple as drag-and-drop, but it will work.
Do you have any advice on how to handle the 5D2 files?
See above. I recommend the Streamclip conversion over the rendering though. If you have a lot of files to convert, Streamclip has a batch conversion setting so you can set what to convert to once and Streamclip will convert all the files. Converted files can then be edited in FCE without any particular problems.
You should convert using these settings:
Compression: +Apple Intermediate Codec for HD or DV-NTSC for SD+
*Frame Size:* +(A supported FCE frame size, for example 1920x1080, 1440x1080, 720x480, etc. The supported frame size you choose should be as close to your original frame size as possible)+
*Frame Rate:* 29.97
Sound: +Uncompressed Stereo 48kHz+
Keep in mind that the Macbook Aluminum lacks a Firewire port, so if that is detrimental to your use you should consider getting the white Macbook or the Macbook Pro. I believe the Canon 5D Mark II uses USB for transfer though, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Final cut express 4. Should render files be saved or deleted?

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