Final Cut Express keeps wanting to rename my project

I've been working on a video in Final Cut Express 3.5.1 for weeks. Now I keep getting a message on the screen that says "Final Cut Express cannot autosave your project unless you save it first. Would you like to save it now?"
If I hit the yes button, it brings up a save box that says "Untitled" and wants me to give the project a new name and a place to save it. How can I make the autosave feature recognize that this is already a named project, and it can be autosaved without renaming it?
Tom

Did a bit of research here. In Tom Wolsky's tutorial book on Final Cut Express 2, on p. 125, his solution to avoiding losing your Favorites bin is to just drag it from the Effects panel into the Browser. He says that this copy in the Browser will remain with the project even if the prefs get trashed.
He also agrees that a Favorites project should be created in which you keep a bin containing all your favorite effects and filters, sometimes in stacks in separate folders.
Then when you want to use these effects elsewhere, you can just drag them from your Favorites project into any other project.
He says you should also burn a backup of this Favorites project to a CD occasionally to ensure you never lose it.
Tom B.

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Final Cut Express keeps stopping and saying "Too many files open"

Final Cut Express keeps stopping and saying "Too many files open". I don't see how this is the case as I only have the one project open...

Try here:
http://www.fcpbook.com/Misc1.html
Al

Can i export an Imovie project with special effects as a quick time movie then import into final cut express keeping the special effects?

Hi, Can i export an Imovie project with special effects as a quick time movie then import into final cut express keeping the special effects?

Absolutely. Go to File->Export->QuickTime Movie (do NOT use QuickTime Conversion). Make sure you check the Self-Contained box. The export will be an exact copy of your Sequence, complete with any filters or other effects you've added. Import the self-contained movie back into the project (or another project) if needed.
-DH

Final Cut express keeps crashing within 5 minutes of starting to render

Please help!
I am using Final cut express for this project. I created it on an Imac.
Specs: Quad Core; Intel Core I-7; 8GB Ram; 2.93 GHz. Media is stored on an external HD.
Whenever I select render timeline, the window appears and shows me the progress. But once I let it alone and leave the computer alone for anywhere from 3-10minutes, and I return, I am greeted with another window asking if I want to report this crash to Apple or reopen program. What on earth could be going wrong? I have used this imac before with no hassle at all when rendering, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to render be working now.
I have tried to render only a few minutes of the time line and it works okay without crashing, but when I select the 30minute project, it crashes within a few minutes.
I've tried a few things to try and identify the problem, but none of them have helped.
For instance, I completely turned off the screen saver. In the preferences, under power saver, I selected, computer sleep to "never"; Display sleep to "never"; I unchecked the "put the hard disk to sleep when possible."
And then I tried to only very small portion of the timeline. The results were as follows:
At around 5 minutes, the final cut crashes. I tried this process several times, and it seems to render up until the 5 minute limit and then crashes again.
Does anyone know what to do?
Any suggestions?

Hi Waldopert, and a warm welcome to the forums!
To find out which & how much RAM you can add we need this info...
Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto *but not including the Serial#*...
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad
Machine Model: PowerMac11,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 4
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 10 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1
But more important is how much Free Space do you have on your Internal Hard Drive?

Final Cut Express keeps crashing

Final Cut Express is telling me I don't have enough RAM for the video project I am working on. All my media is on external drives so, I am guessing, it is just that the project itself has become too large. It is over 45 minutes w/ lots of photos, music and fancy effects. My system has the standard 512 MB of memory and FXE is telling me I need at least 1040. Is there a way to upgrade my system to that level of RAM? Thanks.

Hi Waldopert, and a warm welcome to the forums!
To find out which & how much RAM you can add we need this info...
Then click on More Info>Hardware and report this upto *but not including the Serial#*...
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad
Machine Model: PowerMac11,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 4
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 10 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1
But more important is how much Free Space do you have on your Internal Hard Drive?

Final Cut Express malfunctions completely with older FCE projects

Hello,
I have a fairly major problem with FCE (computer and software specs below). About 3 years ago I edited a documentary in 14 separate FCE projects and saved them with many backups.   I returned to editing this recently and was disturbed to see that none of the old projects will load properly and I tried a number of the back-up copies. Here's a rundown of what happens --
- Load a project in FCE, first a warning message "The file format of this project is from an earlier version. Would you like to update this project file?" The only way to proceed is by choosing "Yes". There is a further warning about saving all of your old projects if you want to retain the 'older' version formats.
- At this point there are a number of things that malfunction:
1) FCE has lost the connection to the source files.   This should not be an issue b/c I did not move or touch any source files.
2) Some projects are completely missing the timeline that was built (kind of important) as well as the canvas.
3) It appears that when I attempt to reconnect projects to source files the edit points have changed or the project is using the wrong source file.
I'm guessing one possibility is that in the 3 years since I created the original projects I may have allowed Apple to do an update to FCE which caused FCE to become corrupted . . . I can't imagine an update would cause 3 year old versions of projects to fail so spectacularly though.
In the last couple of months I have created and completed a couple of video projects with FCE without any problems.
If you have knowledge about this particular problem, suggestions for solutions or other forums I would be most grateful. I think it's possible that an uninstall and reinstall might do the trick, please feel free to weigh in on if/how this should be done so that I don't make things any worse.
Thank you!
-Rob
Specs:
Hardware: iMac 10.5.8, 2.4 GHz, 4 GB RAM -- Original specs
Software:   Final Cut Express -- Original CD: 4.0 (Purchased from Apple) Current Version is: 4.0.1

Hi Al,
Thanks for writing and the suggestions, I appreciate it.   I've got a question and some comments about what I've already tried:
When you say 'Trash the FCE Preferences', should I go to the Preferences panel in FCE and reset everything or are you recommending something more direct like going into the filesystem and completely erasing a FCE Preferences file or folder?
Permissions for all the files are the same as before. Source files were always read/write for 'user', and read-only for 'group' and 'others'.
All projects were saved in .FCE format so I can't open them in QuickTime. I've noted that QT has likely changed so I may experiment with that a little bit.
> 1. Have you moved any files with the Finder that FCE uses or changed names?
I didn't move any source files or anything related to the projects. I was very meticulous about this as I had to leave the project for some time and wanted to make sure everything was in place so I could re-commence without inconvenience.
I have opened an old project and done a 'Save As' and re-opened. The only problem is that the problems still remain -- disconnected source files, misplaced edit points -- all the problems that I had before are still there and the project is essentially unusable.
I may have a follow-up question in another day or so, hopefully I can get things working. I'll need a little time to try all of the options . . . I'm walking on eggshells with this one as I don't want to lose anything or make things worse than they are.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Best Regards,
Rob

Final Cut Express keeps quitting

I can open Final Cut and movie clips. However, once I play one or mess with any clip I've opened, it will shut down. Sometimes it happens immediately and other times it will happen the second time I play a clip. I've already ensured that my color setting was 'millions' and the problem persists. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've had this program for three months and I can't use it because it shuts down when I try.

Sounds either like the application isn't installed correctly, there's a problem with the media or the drive, or there's a trouble with RAM.

Trying to install final cut express keep getting error message "FCE" can't install on this disk. A newer version of this software already exists on this disk. Have remove all FCE elements with no success.

Keep getting error message "FCE" can't install on this disk. A newer version of this software already exists on this disk. Have remove all FCE elements with no success.

http://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcsremover/

Final Cut Express keeps asking me to register. Getting irritating.

This isn't a huge issue, but just a minor annoyance, but when I open up FCE, it will sometimes prompt me to register. Sometimes, the "Register Now" button is not available, so I click "register later" and it moves on, and I can do some work.
But this has happened more than once, and while I know it is not a big deal, I am wondering why it keeps happening, cause it's starting to get on my nerves.

Maybe I mispoke. I have registered it, same with Soundtrack and LiveType, but every now and again, I still get the same prompt, sometimes I just register it again, other times, my only option is to click "register later."

Final Cut Express moving videos off hard drive

So I started capturing some footage on my laptop because I didn't have an external drive available. I finished the project, and now I'm back home with my external drive. My internal drive had 1.5 gigs free now, and I want to move all the footage I captured from FCE onto the external.
I know iMovie has an option to export the project and all the files into a single file. Does FCE have an option like this, or do I need to go through finder to where it saved all the footage and move them like that? How can I do this without losing all the links and having to reconnect my media...
hopefully this all makes sense, I've never really used FCE

Hello Drew,
FCE doesn't have that option. You will have to use the Finder to copy the folders/files to your external drive and yes you will have to Reconnect Media after moving the files.
Be sure your external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended and is connected via Firewire.
In FCE, close your Project. Then in FCE preferences reset your scratch disk location to the new Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive. Then exit FCE.
The default FCE scratch disk location is /Users/yourusername/Final Cut Express Documents. Normally your FCE project file and related material is in this folder. Under it you will find the following folders:
Autosave Vault
Capture Scratch
Render Files
Waveform Cache
Thumbnail Cache
and there may be an Audio Render Files folder too
At this point you should be able to find a Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive; it should have automatically been created when you reset your FCE preferences earlier, along with an Autosave Vault and a Capture Scratch folder. Copy the files from your internal drive's Autosave Vault and Capture Scratch folders to the corresponding new folders on your external drive. Don't bother copying the render files or cache files - it will be better to re-render after you move your project. Also, if you have any other source media such as photos or music, copy them to a new folder on your external drive. Keep your FCE project file on your internal hard drive but do make a backup copy of it somewhere.
After copying everything, verify & double check that you have good copies of your clips on your external drive because the next step is to delete the originals of your captured clips that are on your internal drive. Don't delete any folders, just the captured clips themselves ... and all the render files. This is necessary so that when you reopen your FCE project it will be forced to reconnect media and you can point it to the new location on your external drive. Otherwise it will just continue to use the clips that are on your internal drive.
Then reopen your Project File that you left on your internal drive and reconnect media when prompted.

Final Cut Express Tutorials

Before buying Final Cut Express I want to know how to use the program to see If it is worth it. I looked at it at the apple store and I was totally lost. Is there any free overlook at this application or any free tutorials. iMovie is fine for me until I want to use more than one camera angle and add cool titles, animations, and transitions.
Thanks

There is not nearly as much FCE learning material out there as there is for FCP. That being said, most of the the FCP relates directly to anything you will do in FCE and if you are just interested in the "look and feel" of non-linear editing at this level, anything Final Cut will probably help out.
Personally, while I was trying to get a handle on FCE I found the following resources invaluable:
Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro website has hundreds of free tutorials on all aspects of digital video;
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/fcp_homepageindex.html
For a few dollars a month Lynda.com does about a good a job as anyone in explaining FCE. At least give the sample tutorials a look, they are free;
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=371
While not all of us learn well from books, there are a few out there that by themselves or in concert with each other can answer most questions and guide a novice along. I have used all of these and can recommend same;
Final Cut Express For Dummies by Helmut Kobler
Final Cut Express HD 3.5 Editing Workshop, Third Edition by Tom Wolsky
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express HD by Diana Weynand
A couple of commercial houses that create training for FCE have websites offering free tutorials that can give you a feel for non-linear editing;
DV Creators have some free tutorials as well as offering "Final Cut Express Foundations" for $50.
http://dvcreators.net/
Ripple Training offers some on-line tutorials for FCE as well as FCP that are well worth taking a look at.
http://www.rippletraining.com/
Despite all of the above I would suggest that FCE is not for everyone. There is a certain investment in time, energy and some money to use this program, but for those willing to make the investment it can generate some very rewarding results.

Final Cut Express 4 Quality

I'm working on an animated series using Anime Studio software to create each scene. When I export each scene to a Quicktime .mov file, the quality is crisp and perfect. I'm just having trouble figuring out how to maintain the quality when I use Final Cut Express 4 to edit the complete project. In Anime Studio, I have my file settings on HDTV 1080p, Quicktime H264 at 24 frames best quality.
Is there a way to maintain the quality of the movies in Final Cut Express? I like using FCE to synch up the Logic audio files to get a good audio quality (the animation software doesn't have great audio). I've been reviewing the user manual but it doesn't seem to address this issue.
Any help you can suggest would be greatly appreciated. I really want the project to look and sound perfect as I will be pitching my animated series to production companies.
I have a MacBook Pro with OSX 10.6.8
Dorothy
Here's an example of a video I edited in FCE. It looks OK on a small screen, but I want to know how to get the best quality possible even if I need to get different software. Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omB0x3HBbsQ

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but FCE probably isn't the right tool for you to use. FCE only works natively with 2 codecs: Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) and QuickTime DV. All other formats must be converted prior to importing into an FCE project. FCP might be a better choice since it works with many more codecs/formats, including just about every broadcast format out there.
In addition to that, H.264 (the format you're exporting from Anime Studio) is really designed to be a final delivery format - not intended for editing. Also, it is a very highly compressed format (albeit a fairly effecient one).
And finally, this is the Final Cut Studio forum. The Final Cut Express forum is located here: https://discussions.apple.com/community/professional_applications/final_cut_expr ess_hd?view=discussions
-DH

Exporting with Final Cut Express 4 & iDVD

Hi,
I have just got final cut express and have created a test project. How do you go about getting it into iDVD? I was about to export the project using "Quicktime conversion" but I am unsure what type of file to export it as. It is to go on a DVD.

Hi Tom,
My project was filmed & edited in widescreen, when I export it using the method you describe here it doesn't output it in widescreen. How can I export it for best quality in widescreen for idvd? thanks

Final Cut Express 4 compatible with iMovie '06 HD items?

Am considering buying Final Cut Express 4 but already have some projects in iMovie '06 HD. Are these two compatible? I don't have any plans to upgrade to iMovie '08 or '09.

Are these two compatible?
Sort of. You can export iMovie content in a QuickTime format that's native to FCE, but the two programs' native file structure is different. FCE separates audio and video; iMovie mixes the two together into what's called a DV Stream.

Is there a way to import Final Cut Express projects?

I use Final Cut Express, and currently working on a project. Can I import FCE project to Final Cut X and complete it using FCX?

Thanks Tom. Bad news

Final Cut Express keeps wanting to rename my project

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