How to share/finalize a project in FCPX

I have been working with FCPX-trial for 30 days(from october 15 - november 15). In that version there was a share menu where I could decide wether I wanted to share project with only Mac or Mac and PC.

I now want to share a project in the licensed version, but first of all there isn´t a share menu, only share from file menu. Second of all, I can´t seem to find the "share with Mac and PC".

What is the best way to finalize a project without losing anything, and be able to play the project both with Mac and PC?

Sounds like the trial version was 10.0.5. The current release version is 10.0.6. The Share menu has been removed. It's now either under the File menu or in the Share button at the right end of the toolbar. If you select one if the Apple devices options, and in the share dialog go to settings, the first popup Format allows you to select Computer. This is the equivalent of the the previous versions Mac and PC settings.

Thank you very much!

What is the difference between the "Master file" - share and the "Computer" - share under one of the Apple devices options?

The size of the project also dramatically changes in size when I choose Prores 422 HQ under "Master file".
Is there any noticeable difference between Prores 422 HQ(26 gb) and "Computer"(3,6 gb) for "normal" people?

Master files is whatever the render format for the project, usually ProRes422 with uncompressed audio. Apple devices is some format in H.264 with compressed audio.

Is there any noticeable difference between Prores 422 HQ(26 gb) and "Computer"(3,6 gb) for "normal" people?

Depends what you're doing with the file. If you need the file for production work in another application, then you want a master file. If you're showing it on your computer, maybe the heavily compressed version is good enough.

Will both, Master file-share and Computer-share play on PC and Mac, or is it only the Computer-play which will allow the project to play on both?

The computer-share takes a LOT of time to finalize, but the Master-file perhaps only takes 1/6 of the time. Thought it would be the other way around.

Computer share will play on pretty much anything. Master file requires QuickTime but is cross-platform if you have it. More compression means more work which means more time.

Ahh, I see... didn´t think of that.

You say that Master-file requires QuickTime, but will it play on VLC on a computer?

The computer has to have ProRes, which comes with QuickTime.

So the only way to have master-file share play on a computer is to have QuickTime?

FFMpeg (and therefore VLC) supposedly has support for ProRes 422 in libavcodec. Never tried it. Don't know if it works. In general ProRes is an editing codec, not a delivery codec.

Thank you!

This helped me a lot!

marchyman wrote: FFMpeg (and therefore VLC) supposedly has support for ProRes 422 in libavcodec. Never tried it. Don't know if it works. In general ProRes is an editing codec, not a delivery codec.

You say that ProRes is a editing codec, not a delivery codec.
What is the best way to share a project?
Always use Master File?

What does all ProRes means?
Apple ProRes 4444
Apple ProRes 422(HQ)
Apple ProRes 422
Apple ProRes 422(LT)
Apple ProRes 422(Proxy)

Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2
Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2

DVCPRO HD
HDV/XDCAM HD 25mbps
XDCAM EX 35 Mbps
XDCAM HD 35 Mbps
XDCAM 422HD 50Mbps

What do they all mean?

Is the file playable on both computer and Mac, given that I have QuickTime?
I want to give the finalized product to bot Mac and computer users.

A lot of questions that would take hours to answer. All of this information is available online. Really just Google them or try Wiki. All of those are codecs and/or formats that FCP works with.

When you export a master file you can export in different codecs. The default is ProRes 422. The files will be playable on any computer with QuickTime (unless it's really old of course).

You ask "What is the best way to share a project?". There is no one best way. There are always bandwidth/time issues. Will the project be delivered on a hard disk? A DVD? To where? Can you use Youtube, Vimeo, or other on-line provider? If you are using an on-line provider how fast is your up-link? How fast is the customers down link? How much time is available for rendering? How fast is your machine.

First figure out the delivery constraints. Who is your customer and what do they need/want and when do they have to have it. Then you can worry about delivery codecs.

Tell us specifically what your delivery / distribution needs are, and we can give you specific answers. Other wise I highly recommend reading the user manual, which has some very good information.

There´s no size limit for the "premier"(I´m going to show the film on a 70" screen). But when I´m distributing it to the parents, I have a limit of 10GB.
I want to give them best quality.

Want to give them a delivery product, so ProRes is out of the question?

I´m reading a lot, but I don´t understand everything. So I´m sorry for all my questions.

Is that 10 GB for 30 seconds or 10 GB for 30 minutes? SD or HD? What frame rate?

1920x1080 at 30 fps has a bandwidth of about 147 Mbps when using prores. That's about 1.1 GB/minute. If your product is going to be more than 9 minutes long then prores won't work given a 10 GB limit.

Using something like H.264 lets you trade off bandwidth for quality. Make your video and then share using the highest bandwidth (best quality) that will fit in 10 GB.

marchyman wrote: Is that 10 GB for 30 seconds or 10 GB for 30 minutes? SD or HD? What frame rate?

1920x1080 at 30 fps has a bandwidth of about 147 Mbps when using prores. That's about 1.1 GB/minute. If your product is going to be more than 9 minutes long then prores won't work given a 10 GB limit.

Using something like H.264 lets you trade off bandwidth for quality. Make your video and then share using the highest bandwidth (best quality) that will fit in 10 GB.

22 minuts.

So, even if the file is heavily compressed with H.264, it´s good quality?

Thank you very much!

Yes you can make an H.264 file that is very high quality and much smaller than the original ProRes.

I would suggest doing some tests with Compressor to see what works for you best.

I've got this article I wrote, all results are very high quality with small file sizes.
www.macprovideo.com/hub/final-cut/prepar...quicktime-compressor

Remember that QT Pro 7 is in fact still sold by Apple on the QT page, if you don't have it.