What exactly is the 'Original Media' folder?

I created a FCPX Project. I created Proxy Media and my raw camera media is on an internal RAID in my Mac Pro.

Why has FCPX created a folder called 'Original Media' in 'Movies' - 'Final Cut Events folder'?

This just appears to be a copy of my raw media. Why has FCPX done this? Should it not link to my raw camera footage when I click on 'Preferences' - 'Use Original Media'?

I will quickly run out of HD space if FCPX replicated all my camera footage.

What am I missing here? Thanks.

FCPX doesn't look anywhere other than that "Original Media" folder for your source footage. If you go to your preferences you'll see under "Import" a checkbox that says "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder"

If you have this checked FCPX will create duplicates of your source footage in the "Original Media" folder allowing you to delete the source footage from where ever else it resides if you desire.

If you prefer to organise that source footage yourself uncheck this setting, FCPX will still look at that folder for your source footage but it will create aliases linking to where you have them organised in there saving your disc space.

By the way, you'll get better performance putting your Events on your internal raid too.

Hello,

Thanks for replying.

I don't get the "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder" option because I am Importing from Camera. So presumably it does this as a default? Is there a way of disabling it so I can leave my source footage on my RAID? I just want it to create aliases like you say.

I thought FCPX has to create the FInal Cut Events folder in the 'Movies' folder. Do I just drag that folder to my RAID?

Do I not need to use the 'Movies' folder at all?

The "Copy Files To Final Cut Events Folder" is within the FCPX preferences. It doesn't appear in the import dialog. Set it in prefs and then restart FCPX.

You can move the "Final Cut Events" and Final Cut Projects" to the top root level of any drive volume you desire and they do not need to be in the same location as each other.

First, I just came back to add something important I should have said before, a while back I experimented with creating my own aliases in the Events folder, it doesn't work. It seems FCPX creates some special kind of alias which it has to create itself. It was on an older version of FCPX but I'm sure it will still be the same. Just a heads up incase you go trying and mess everything up.

I don't get the "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder" option because I am Importing from Camera. So presumably it does this as a default? Is there a way of disabling it so I can leave my source footage on my RAID? I just want it to create aliases like you say.

If your importing from camera I don't understand how the files could be on your raid, they should be on your camera. In this case FCPX will always create the full files in the "Original Media" folder, it needs to as when you unplug the camera it wont be able to link any aliases to it.

By default FCPX creates Events in the "Movies" folder, but they can be created on the root of any drive. Just select the desired drive in the "Event Library" before creating the new event.

To do this "Group Events by Disk" must be enabled in the Event settings.

You don't really need to use the "Movies" folder, but you need to keep the "Final Cut Events" folder there as FCPX uses it for some internal stuff, the "Color Presets", "Effect Browser Thumbnails" & "Export Presets" are saved there.

Thanks dgwvideo. Got it.

Cheers NocoDave,

My fault re terminology.

i AM importing from camera although I don't have a camera plugged in. I have C300 footage and I compromised the file structure. The only way to import it from my RAID drive is to select '"Import from Camera" as "Import Files" does not work.

Just to confirm...you think I will get better performance creating FCPX Events and Projects in the root of my RAIS and/or external drives rather than the Macintosh HD?

Thanks for your help.

NocoDave -

My brain just engaged.

FCPX is creating "the full files in the "Original Media" folder, it needs to as when you unplug the camera it wont be able to link any aliases to it" as you say...

However my files are not on a camera they are on the RAID. Annoying. I guess I can just delete the source footage then as its redundant.

One you get to know the way FCPX works behind the scenes with media it is excellent. It's taken the basic way Avid worked for years, improved it and added Finder level organisation to it.

When I started working with FCPX I organised all my own source files and unchecked the "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder" to get the aliases. Lately I've changed and keep all my source footage organised within FCPX's Event structure, with backups elsewhere of course.

As you say, once the files have been copied to there the source footage it copied from becomes redundant. FCPX only looks there for import, then never again, it only ever looks to the "Original Media" folder, unless optimised media exists and it looks there instead.

It's a performance related problem if the original files were on a nice fast raid and the files get copied to an Event in the "Movies" folder, but if if the Event is on the raid it doesn't really matter.

But if you have your own organisation structure and prefer to work with it, sticking with it and unchecking the "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder" creates the aliases and all is good. It's great to have both options.

I used to have my own organisation structure that has now evolved to allow all original media to be copied by FCPX to the "Original Media" folder, just never on the OS drive.

Thanks NocoDave,

It's all starting to make sense.

Cheers,

Flavio.

Just had a thought.

My source material was shot on Canon C300. NocoDave, is ther ea benefit quailty-wise in not selecting "Copy files to Final Cut Events folder".

In other words am I compromising quality by converting my .MXF files to MOVS?

Sorry I can't help you there Flavio, I've never worked with the C300 or any .MXF media in FCPX. I don't really know what goes on with it.

Hopefully someone who has will read this and be able to help you out.

@Ferrari...
It all depends on how you are converting those MXF's to QT's. Attached below is a link that may be helpful which is a software app MXF converter. It provides options for transcoding to all Apple flavors of Prores and is not supposed to negatively impact quality. I have not used it so I am just going by reviews and commentary from others and cannot guarantee its' quality.

I use Panasonic P2 media which creates a whole file structure based on MXF files and FCPX imports from camera that content easily and quickly. FCPX will not at this time import .MXF files directly so look at the attached link from PAVTUBE as it addresses the C300 MXF issue directly.

www.pavtube.com/guide/transfer-canon-c30...-editing-on-mac.html

I've done a lot of work with the C300 and here is my workflow.
First I copied all the media off the CF Cards to a drive. Doesn't matter about the speed of this drive as it is for back up only.

Then open FCP X and import from camera and Open Archive. This is the way you import using the MXF File structure. These files should go to your fastest drive.

The option to create optimised media will be greyed out because the Canon XF codec is considered by Apple to be an optimum codec. At the end you have beautiful C300 footage in FCPX as well as a back up on a different drive, that you can link to if your RAID goes south.

On a reasonably speced machine FCP X will happily play the Canon files and even add effects and so one without the need for rendering. It may drop a frame here or there on playback but not enough to make it unusable.

Hello Ferrari,

it is very simple. I have the same problem using shotPutPro to put my Media on the Raid or harde drive. To have a checked download with shotPutPro means, you are keeping the folder structure of the camera while you copy them to the raid. There are reasons to keep it, for example if you want to use sony Programs to check your media.

And here comes the problem:
fcpx thinks it is so "extra super clever" – that it does annoyingly in some other cases too – and is IGNORING YOUR OPTION "leave media in place" and is copying your meda anyway to the "Media Folder" instead of working with links.

The solution for me is (Sony FS7 files) to change the folder sructure just a littel bit: Take everything out of the top-level folder (in my case XDROOT) and put it in some other folder (for example a folder with the date) and put the XDROOT folder inside this folder so you can use it later on. Now fcpx doesn't treat you anymore as a "stupid little user-idiot" knowing better what is good for you. fcpx doesn't treat the folders as a camera card and is doing what it should do: "leave files in place".


The software designers didn't even bother to give you a hint like: "Do you realy want to leave the files on a camera card?". This kind of, "we are god and you little supid user have to do things like we want you to do it", is why so many people realy hate fcpx and use it only because thy are forced to do so, by there boss or by some other circumstances.

Hezel wrote: fcpx thinks it is so "extra super clever" – that it does annoyingly in some other cases too – and is IGNORING YOUR OPTION "leave media in place" and is copying your meda anyway to the "Media Folder" instead of working with links.
[...]
This kind of, "we are god and you little supid user have to do things like we want you to do it", is why so many people realy hate fcpx.

That's right. My Premiere buddy always laughs when I tell him to keep the whole card structure intact. However, he sometimes runs into issues that might be related to orphanizing clips.

Hezel wrote: The solution for me is (Sony FS7 files) to change the folder sructure just a littel bit: Take everything out of the top-level folder (in my case XDROOT) and put it in some other folder (for example a folder with the date) and put the XDROOT folder inside this folder so you can use it later on. Now fcpx doesn't treat you anymore as a "stupid little user-idiot" knowing better what is good for you. fcpx doesn't treat the folders as a camera card and is doing what it should do: "leave files in place".

Yes, I also do hate the idea of having to create redundant data. There was no alternative in FCP7, but there seems to be now, since FCP X does seem to import a lot of file formats without rewrapping. Did you notice that your FS7-links aren't movs anymore?

What about spanned clips?

I once received a USB drive with a lot of unsorted naked clips from 5DMIII to GoPro stuff. Seemingly, there were no issues in FCP X.

On the other hand, there are advantages of doing it the FCP X way, which you have to follow then, of course:
> let FCP X create a camera archive from your card, takes exactly as long as copying the card via Finder.
> import from the archive. Yes, you CAN'T "leave files in place". The archive is redundancy, it's a backup During import, you can reduce the data by only previewing the clips and rejecting (not importing) unusable stuff (I don't)
> copy the archive from the internal drive / external Raid to a slow, cheap drive and delete it from the original drive

If you lose the original media (not the links in the FCP X folder, the actual clips) or you are abroad with a MBP, you just need to connect the archive, and nothing is offline. Even if you were working with proxies, they would be recreated spontaneously.

Can anyone tell a recent story about issues with naked clips?

I also use ShotPutPro to offload my Sony F5 cards to my RAID.
First I make a descriptive "ClientName_ProductionTitle" folder and in this folder I let ShotPutPro copy the "Untitled" cards. I have each subsequent card renamed with an incremental number and date e.g. Card_01_yyyymmdd, Card_02_yyyymmdd etc. If you don't own ShotPutPro you can of course copy by OPT dragging your cards into the desired folder and manually renaming them after they are copied.
When I want to import my footage into FCPX I make sure that I have "Leave in Place" selected in the Import Preferences.
Then, instead of opening the Import window, I just drag (from a Finder window) my "ClientName_ProductionTitle" folder and drop it onto my Event.
FCPX will quickly validate the contents of the folder and warn you that there is a bunch of files that can't be imported. These are all the files that belong to the Sony card structure, other than the MXF video files.
When you click OK, FCPX will just ignore those files and import all the MXF video files, WITHOUT making new copies!!!!
It will use these folder names as Keyword Collections:
ClientName_ProductionTitle
Card_##_yyyymmdd
XDROOT
CLIP
I just delete these last two Keyword Collections because I do not need them.
By importing your cards in this manner you will never end up with redundant files and you will be able to keep the original card structure intact, which can be usefull if you want to use Sony's Catalyst Browse to evaluate your files or if you want to use your files with another NLE (for whatever reason )


Hope this helps.
Robbert-Jan

Thnak you Robbert-Jan
this is a good tip, not to use the import menu but simply drag and drop the files to an "event".

So you can avoid that fcpx is igonoring your "leave in place" option and is basicly doing what it should do, creating links and not copies.

Thomas

@Robbert-Jan
Thank you, I didn't know it could be done this way, it's brilliant.

Imo Hazel is right. Why isn't there the option to import clips the Premiere way? FCP X could just warn me ARE YOU IMPORTING FROM A CAMERA ? MAKE A BACKUP FIRST ! - or sth like that.

Hezel wrote: The solution for me is (Sony FS7 files) to change the folder sructure just a littel bit: Take everything out of the top-level folder (in my case XDROOT) and put it in some other folder (for example a folder with the date) and put the XDROOT folder inside this folder so you can use it later on. Now fcpx doesn't treat you anymore as a "stupid little user-idiot" knowing better what is good for you. fcpx doesn't treat the folders as a camera card and is doing what it should do: "leave files in place".

The software designers didn't even bother to give you a hint like: "Do you realy want to leave the files on a camera card?". This kind of, "we are god and you little supid user have to do things like we want you to do it", is why so many people realy hate fcpx and use it only because thy are forced to do so, by there boss or by some other circumstances.

Pardon my ignorance but I can't see any benefit by importing files the way you do. Anything of value has to be imported from card at least twice anyway (for use in NLE and for backup). So why not just import with card folder-structure to your backup-drive and through the FCPX-Import window (or Sonys/Canons... dedicated import-App) for editing purposes?
This does not create any unused redundant media at all and has at least the benefit of stitching spanned clips together (and people with better knowledge of FCPX can surely name other benefits too).
Keeping your media in the original folder-structure for editing purposes just does not seem reasonable from my POV. By doing that I'd fear struggles when in need to relink media or access it outside of FPCX (be it in the Finder or any other app).
I think FCPX should just not be used that way, not because Apple thinks of you as a "stupid little user" but because the "FCPX-media-management-concept" is not designed for that. You and others might hate FCPX for not handling media like other NLEs but lots of users love FCPX exactly because of its media-management capabilities.
Other apps, other workflows. Complaining that FCPX does not work like Premiere seems to me as silly as complaining that wine does not taste like beer...