Media Mgmt - Render Files, Original Media
Hello,
Running FCP X 10.1.2
I wanted to verify a few things with the community about media mgmt that the white paper really doesn't explain to well. My archiving procedure is as follows:
I import media to an Event to offload footage from camera/card. I then close FCP X, open the finder and open the library and "show package contents" and then pick the original media folder. I then copy that folder to another offsite drive I have dated by year -> folder.
Example: 2014 - Footage from Colorado. (I do this to always store my original media outside any project I'm working on for future reference. This is ok, correct? Is there a better way?)
Second, I learned the other day that if I want to archive/backup libraries or even clean up the library,it is good practice to remove all rendered/transcoded media files. It is pretty simple from the "file" menu to do this. Question, if I just removed the rendered media, how long does it take again before FCP X background tasks starts working/rendering media again? Do I stop this somehow so I have time to backup the library? I thought this process was automated after a few seconds?
//Cheers
The archival/media management of X leaves a lot to be desired. Combine that with the pretty terrible design of the new MPro and the reliance on Thunderbolt drives versus direct storage and one must get creative in order to keep editing. Anyway, here's what I've done over here and it works quite well:
I edit a lot of different properties here, so I create a new event for each client. Almost all of those clients are repeat customers, so I also create an "Archive Events Library" for each client. (Show1 Library, and Show1 Archive Events Library) Then I either attach a thunderbolt drive with the associated media, or create a folder on the desktop with all of my source footage for the individual projects.
Depending on what I am doing - the process changes from here. If there isn't a TON of media:
I open X, open the associated "working" library and create a new event for a new project, and open the project/timeline. Then I use finder to locate the source footage and just click & drag the media into the event I just created. This leaves the source footage in place, and doesn't transcode it into PR. You're using original footage - not optimized. Make sure the timeline specs are set to the desired end-product - and not set to autosense and adapt to the footage you drop on the timeline. Edit away, publish. Then once the project is done, move the EVENT (just drag it) to the "archive library", and close the library. Unplug the external drive and store it, or move the desktop file to your storage media. When you need it again, open the archive library, find your event, and reconnect the media. Done.
If there IS a ton of media:
Use the import tool. Still keep your media in one location. Make sure "leave files in place" is checked, but also tick "create optimized media" and/or "create proxy media". Import and do your thing. Then once you're done, follow the same archive process as above, and once you've moved the event to the events-archive, select the event, and use "file/delete generated event files" to clear out space. Your original source media is still safe and sound on your external drive - you're just deleting the proxy and optimized stuff.
The reason for the archive library is that X gets really, really slow if you have a few libraries open, or even one library with multiple projects. This way, the program stays snappy because the only libraries I have open are the library for the client I am using right then and there, and then maybe another "bits and pieces" library open with logos, music and gpx that I regularly use. I found that when I had one client library with a ton of timelines/projects contained therein, my new trashcan MacPro was slower than my old box.
The re-creation of your renders/transcodes should start within 10 seconds or so of you stopping any other work in X. This duration can be changed in preferences. As soon as you start editing or even move the mouse, the background tasks will suspend until you stop using the program and the counter starts counting down again.
Similar Messages
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Can I use render files to replace missing media in FCPX
I lost some media, but I still have render files. They are weird files that don't open in any other software and have no filename extensions. Can I use these existing render files to replace missing original media? Or maybe a better question is....what kind of files are these render files for FCPX?
Hello
I'm not sure at all but first things first. Try simple list of commands in shell :
#!/bin/bash
Render -r sw file1;
Render -r sw file2;
Render -r sw file3;
Each command separated by semi-colon will be executed one by one.
Unless command 'Render' exits before finishing the rendering, the above shell script should do what you want.
Good luck,
H -
Reconnect media and render files
Hi!
I need advice. On my G4 and four different external LaCie hard disks I have five different Final Cut Pro 4.5 projects running, i e they are finished but I would like to keep them a bit more before I throw them in the bin. OS is 10.3.9.
I thought I had control but I hadn’t. When I look around I notice that my projetcs’ different folders have been created in other places than I thought. Furthermore in some of the folders (Render folders and others) there are more than one project’s files.
I haven’t dared to do anything about it but I want clean up during this summer and so I wonder: Would it be possible to move all the render files, the captured files etc so everything is in neat order, and then open the projects in FCP and reconnect all the media files that I have moved?
I’d be happy for your views on this matter, Björn Obenius, SwedenYes it's quite easy.
First you need to set up your scratch disks in FCP preferences. Where did you want to save all you renders, audio, media files, and even back up project files.
This will automatically create new folder to that location.
Next, transfer the media files to the those new folders created by FCP. The folder name Capture scratch/(projectname)/.
For the render files, you can either delete them and start fresh or transfer those to the new folder created by FCP called Render Files/(project name)/
You can condense all of these. When you go back to FCP it will ask you where the files are and you can reconnect them there. -
Audio Render Files in Multicam Sequence Enormous. Cannot export Media.
Hello,
I am editing on a brand new 2.8 Ghz i7 Mac with 8GB Ram.
My project is 53 minutes long and made up of clips from about a dozen multicam sequences.
The client wants to see a rough cut on DVD. I figured this should be a fairly simple operation, but when I Export --> Media and select the setting for DVD, it tells me it will take over 3 hours to render audio. So, I set it to do the task over night, but that didn't help because the render files were so huge -- 20 -30 gigs each, that they filled up my hard drive before the project finished rendering. I don't have a spare drive with enough space for these enormous render files, though if that's the only solution I may have to get one.
I feel like there must be a simple work around? Sure, there are a lot of audio tracks in this project, but...it's hardly unusual. I did see a thread about this, but the advice was to "resample the bit rates" in another software, but I don't even know what software I could use for this. I have hundreds of files... there must be a better way? Do I need to get a huge drive for these render files? I tried exporting an XML to FCP, but it did not work, probably because of the multicam sequences.
Thanks.No idea if this will help with your problem, but there is a CS6 Issue/Bug MXF http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1074489
Also, mixing SD and HD means that something has to give... and if you want everything at SD resolution, you may want to look up "interpret footage" in the help file, to "force" the HD video into the SD screen size (note that I do not mix video types, so I really can't give detailed instructions)
Also, if you export the MXF it would need to be into an SD file, not just another HD file of a different type -
What does 'include render files' option mean for when I duplicate a project. I deselected it and the duplicated file is very slow so maybe this has affected it. It's a shame cause original project is deleted. Have I lost the rendered files? Thanks
Yes, if you duplicate without the render files and delete the original project you lose the render files. But render files get recreated - automatically if you have it set in the preferences (which is the default option). It just takes time.
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Why can't FC save the folder locations set for render files?
I wrongly assumed that when you go to system settings to select the scratch disks (root folder where all the audio and video render folders and files go, capture files, etc.) that Final Cut would save the folder locations within the FC project you are working in. Makes total sense, but for reasons I don't understand, FC does NOT save these folder locations and the result is that I have render files scattered all over the place on my hard drive and it is quite a mess! Fortunately, the project file remembers where it put the render files, so as long as you don't remove or rename any project folders, everything shows up rendered on the time line as it should. The problem is, if I'm working on several projects at once, I have to reset the scratch disks every time I reopen a project, otherwise the program will save it to the last scratch location selected and put all of the render files in another project's folder. I often forget to reset the scratch disks when I'm busy and now I have render files mixed up in various project folders.
Why can't you just set the scratch disks one time when you first set up the project and have the project always remember that location, instead of always having to reset them every time you reopen a project. I love Final Cut, but this is a product defect that should be addressed and corrected. If the project file can remember where it is putting all the render files, it should also be capable of remembering the scratch disk locations you originally selected when you first set up the project or better yet, save it to the project's root folder by default. Am I missing something here?As MtD describes, FCP sets file locations for ALL projects at the system level. It may help to organize things this way so your files don't end up scattered across multiple locations.
Save the project files to your User folder on the boot drive.
For all the other files FCP creates, set them on a non-boot drive similar to this:
Media Drive
----->FCP Documents
---------->Autosave Vault
---------------->Acme Widgets Demo (sample project name)
---------------->Grass Valley Music Video (sample project name)
---------------->Jen's Wedding (sample project name)
---------->Audio Render Files
---------------->Acme Widgets Demo (sample project name)
---------------->Grass Valley Music Video (sample project name)
---------------->Jen's Wedding (sample project name)
---------->Capture Scratch
---------------->Acme Widgets Demo (sample project name)
---------------->Grass Valley Music Video (sample project name)
---------------->Jen's Wedding (sample project name)
----------->Render Files
---------------->Acme Widgets Demo (sample project name)
---------------->Grass Valley Music Video (sample project name)
---------------->Jen's Wedding (sample project name)
----------->Waveform Cache
Of course, you can choose to keep renders or the Autosave Vault folder on other drives ... just keep them off your boot drive. It may not be the way you're use to working, but it's worked well for me the past 14 years. When you finish with a project and ready to delete the associate files, just go to your media drive and delete folders bearing the project's name.
-DH -
Ok to Delete the Contents of the Render Files Folder?
Hello Hello
I remember from using various PC Video Editing programs that each program established for itself a 'Render Folder', or sometimes called an 'Auxiliary Folder'.
This folder contained the contents of the previously rendered files as they related to a particular DVD burned project. Once rendered, the files were there to sort of help reduce the process time, (render time), required to burn another DVD disc.
In FCE HD, there is also a folder called 'Render Files', and also another folder called 'Audio Render Files'. Naturally the contents of these folders could easily amount to 2 gigs or more depending upon the project size.
Well - (aside from increasing Re-Rendering Time in regard to a new DVD burn), is it safe to delete the contents of the 'Render Folder' in an effort to free up hard drive space?
Thanx
MikeHi Mike,
You may have a couple of things mixed up.
In FCE the Render Files and Audio Render Files folders hold the render files produced by FCE. FCE uses those render files when you play the timeline, print to video or export a movie. You can delete them at any time because you can always re-render in FCE. However, you do need to be careful at the point when you export a movie from FCE (for example, to use in iDVD)
If you export to a QT Self-Contained movie, all the media for the movie you export (including rendered video & audio) is incorporated into the resulting QT movie file. Assuming a successful export, you no longer need the FCE render files.
However, if you export to a QT Reference movie, you need to keep the FCE render files available when you import your project into iDVD and build your DVD structure. When iDVD encodes & multiplexes to burn your DVD, it will use the QT Reference movie, which in turn uses the FCE render files (and your original media).
In iDVD, after you burn your DVD, you have the option of keeping the 'rendered assets'; these are iDVD render files and are inside your iDVD project file; they are not the FCE render files.
If you really want to save time burning subsequent DVDs, in iDVD you should Save As Disk Image (instead of Burn DVD), which gives you a completely finished, fully encoded & formatted DVD disk image. You can then use the Finder, Disk Utility or Toast to burn additional DVDs for only the burn time, you won't have to go through iDVD's menus & re-rendering just to burn an additional DVD. -
FCE Losing Render Files After Project is Copied
I've been having a vexing problem that's been costing me a lot of time. FCE keeps losing the render files for my projects, or more accurately, it is overwriting them or otherwise making them disappear. More background:
I have a large master project that is quite lengthy. I am also breaking that project into smaller videos (it's a concert and I want to have individual song videos as well). I render the large file and get it edited the way I like it. I do a "save as" to the project and create a working copy to clip into songs. However, once I start modifying the copy, if I reopen the original, I am told that the render files have gone offline, and even when I do a manual search i can not find them.
Shouldn't a copy of a project get its own set of renders? Or am I doing something wrong?First, welcome to the Final Cut Express forum!
Questions
What exactly do you mean by +large master project+ and +quite lengthy?+
What do you mean by +manual search?+ In the reconnect dialog? in the Finder? Somewhere else?
What kind of video are you working with - DV, HDV, AVCHD, something else?
Did your source media clips (video) come directly from your camcorder or some other source? If a camcorder, what make & model?
What are your sequence settings?
_Possible explanation_
Render files are associated with a project name, and no two projects use the same render files. What I suspect is going on is that when you do your +Save As+ and give the project a +new name,+ FCE is carrying the render files forward +associated with the name of the new project.+ That would explain why they are no longer available to the first project.
Suggestion
If you are basically using the same source media clips for your complete concert plus individual songs, imho it would be much better to confine your work to _one FCE project._
In that single project, create your _master sequence_ (the whole concert, as you have already done) and then just create a new sequence for each individual song video that you want to create. This is a much more efficient workflow than creating +separate projects+ to accomplish what you appear to be doing. -
Hey all-
This is troubling. I'm getting slight audio shift every time I export a project. We noticed it originally when our sound guy brought in the OMF & realized the timecode and audio ended up coming out off by 3/4th of a frame. So we tested it...
Exports to .movs / .mp4s / .mpegs
Brought them back in to the project....
Sound gets off by a 1/4th of a frame to 3/4th of a frame.
Then we started tested different files. Doing flat passes where NOTHING changed, just a re-export under the settings of the source file...
sound gets off by a 1/4th of a frame.
Tried media encoder.
same thing.
cleaned the disk cache...deleted render files
same thing.
tried it on a new mac pro. tried it on a dell running windows 7.
same.
thing.
So is there a solve for this or should we just stop editing in Premiere? On a few occasions now I've had clients say "it seems like it goes out of sync right there" and I've gone back to the timeline and checked to see it was fine. Now I wonder if much of the work I've put out since I made the switch last year has fallen victim to this.
Is there any kind of solve for this? Should I just stop using premiere to cut? Because this is a deal breaker, especially if I'm going to have to rebuild the project I'm working on in another NLE.avanishdivya thank you, but this did not help. I did exactly what you told me in both cases.
I haven't overclocked my pc and both of the suggested media encoder methods failed, my pc crashed and turned off...
Any other suggestions ? -
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.) -
Reconnect simple render files!
This should work, I would think . . . but it doesn't seem to!
Say I have a project with a lot of clips that need rendering. I'm storing my media on an external firewire drive. And rendering it to my scratch disk, which is a third drive. All Mac formatted - all works perfectly!
So I have the timeline - on the original computer (a Mac Pro) - and I copy it to my MacBook Pro to continue editing upstairs, say. But I take the data drive with me, so everything links perfectly.
So I change the time line a bit - and put the "new" slightly changed timeline back on the Mac Pro original computer. FCPro finds all data and relinks it all perfectly!
EXCEPT . . . all the render files - which were never moved to begin with. It's a "new" timeline, although 98% identical - just with a few edit changes. BUT . . . FCPro finds NONE of my renderings.
Now it wants 45 minutes to rerender the timeline! Grrrr . . . why can't FCPro "find" the render clips just like it finds the data clips - which is perfectly.
Oh, there are 30 gig of render clips in the 'Render Files' folder on my scratch disk. So they're there - FCPro just doesn't know it, or can't find them, even if directed to the right folder.
I'm hoping I'm wrong here . . . so I guess my question is, will FCPro find its render clips as well as it finds the data clips - if you move the timeline to another computer and back - but change nothing?
It doesn't seem to - and it's really slowing me down!
Thank you,
LarryBecause what FCP typically does is throw the unreferenced render files into the trash. So they are most likely gone.
Shane -
I am in media manager and copying files in a project. It asks if i want to "include render files" I am not sure exactly what this is. Also is there a way to retain all of the meta data of the files I copy?
When you are editing every time you hit command +R or render by going to main menu>sequence>and choose a type of render (i.e. red line) FCP creates a render file using your original media to show you how your cuts,transitions,effects,composite mode etc. look like. Render files folders are automatically created by FCP to store the above mentioned files. These files can take space in your drive. If you delete them this will not modify your edit but you may eventually need to render again before your final output.
If you have finished with your project you can delete the render files and free up space.
To store metadata associated to your video and audio I suggest to export the project as XML. If you are not familiar with XML check out the manual or read [here|http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications/fcpxml.html].
G. -
Project cannot open: "Searching for Movie Data" in render file
My feature-length project suddenly stopped loading today, pausing at 47% to complain that a bunch of render files are missing, and that "this movie cannot play without the file..." I've seen these error messages when trying to open Quicktimes that refer back to files that no longer exist, but not when trying to open an FCP project file. My autosaves are giving me the same problem. The render it lists is "Rough Cut" something or other, which refers back to sequences I haven't used in weeks.
I've done the usual fixes: restarting, throwing out preferences. I ran FCPRescue. I opened a blank project and did a Render Manager dump. I did a Render Manager dump earlier today (as part of my workflow), but didn't have any problems at the time. I don't know how to get around this, and I don't know why those files are supposedly missing.
There's an earlier post about the same problem, but he didn't find a solution. Thanks for any and all help!
Quad G5 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.4) 2.5GB RAM, 2X250GB SATA internal, dual monitorsIt sounds like you used a reference quicktime in your project and the media that the quicktime referenced is deleted or that the system has some how or other lost track of it. This can be a tricky problem to fix. Andy's advice may get you up and running, but you will still be unable to work with the problem quicktime. I always try to export selfcontained qt's because of this potential problem.
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What are the "rules" regarding render files?
OK...one PO-ed user here, wondering *** is going on...
I've always said that FCP is about as weak as an early version of Media 100 when it comes to render files. You can search my posts (not that you'd want to...), and find that I've been complaining about every system I regularly work on losing render files like a 6 year old loses mittens.
However, it's hit the fan, thus this post. I work on a half-hour tv show. Let me mention that we shoot and edit in XDCAM EX 1080i60; this is notable as yes, I know, rendering in long-GOP codecs is slow. Oh, I know it...
Anyway, this past Tuesday I dilligently rendered my composite sequence, and the broadcast output sequence, and then exported the broadcast sequence for feed. All was well.
Today, I opened up the project so I could make final archives and web exports of the individual segments...and guess what? Gee, Wally, the entire sequence was, you guessed it, unrendered. Where did those pesky render files go? Well, I figured I'd try something I never try, and that was to reconnect them. Hopeless, right?
As it turns out, yes, hopeless...because when I navigated to the Render Files folder, there was a grand total of 11 render files for this particular project. Now, I don't change my System Settings at all...I like where things go, I have my media volumes set up, everything should be hunky-dory, no?
So to get to the heart of the matter...what process is tossing render files? Why are they disappearing from my hard drive?
I have folders from projects from 2 months ago that have some render files in them, but I don't have the render files my system (supposedly) created on Tuesday!
Anyone got any ideas?Hey, Shane, as soon as I saw you posted I began to get deja vu all over again, as we had a discussion about losing render files which, yes, caused me to stop nesting...for the most part. So yes, here we again have evidence that the "nesting behavior" coding team took off early the day they were supposed to be bug-fixing...but i digress.
I nest only when necessary...generally, we edit "packages" (your acts) and then I get em, do whatever audio and color correction time allows, and copy and past them into my complete program sequence.
However, when all is well, good, revised and approved, I "edit" that complete 22:10 sequence into my "BS" sequence (you might guess, Broadcast Safe), which has the bars n tone requested by the broadcast mothership, and where I apply a light Broadcast Safe filter and a touch of compression to the audio. So I guess my only question here it...are you suggesting that I just splat-A my edited sequence and apply the filters to the gazillion-odd clips individually? -
How can I omit FCPX Render Files from a Time Machine backup?
I want to be able to add my Final Cut Projects and Events folders to Time Machine, but annoyingly Apple have decided to put a Render Files folder within each and every Events folder.
Is there a way of moving the folders to a different location on the hard drive, such as a Caches folder? Or is there some way of telling Time Machine to ignore folders containing the words "Render Files" (using some kind of script perhaps)?Backups For FCP works like Pro Versioner, only backs up project files, not the media.
CCC will work over networks. I have it running on enterprise systems for my consulting clients. It is a fully professional level backup solution. TimeMachine is a hobbiest, end user app, and doesn't have the control and flexiblity as CCC.
TimeMachine backsup ever few minutes, when things change, and eats up processor resources constantly. CCC can be scheduled. So many advantages of CCC over TimeMachine. One is professional, one is hobbiest, that is basically it.
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