Media Management - Working with .r3d files on a cMP, and proxies on a rMBP

Hello there,

Thanks in advance for any help and/or knowledge shared here. Have searched on fcp.co forums a bit for my topic but no luck, please point me in the right direction if this has been discussed elsewhere.

Current Gear Setup:

Office rig: Mac Pro 3,1 dual HD5770, 32 GB RAM, SSD Boot drive. Media residing on an 8 bay Raid 50 connected via MiniSAS.

Mobile Rig: Late 2013 rMBP Iris Pro GPU (no Discrete GPU, please don't kick me while I'm down... it's what I've got . Media residing on a G tech USB 3 non raid Single HDD.


Goal:

About to start the edit for a music video (all material already shot on a Red Epic @ 4k UHD in varying frame rates) in FCPX, finish in Resolve Lite, and round trip back to FCPX. Have read extensively on the round trip FCPX - Da Vinci Resolve workflows, am clear on that.

Challenge: Work on FCPX using native .r3d media when able to work on cMP tower and miniSAS Raid 50, as well as edit on my rMBP using proxy files while on the road.

Certainly this is doable; I'm looking for a little clarification on how best to copy the library to the mobile drive, so that I will only create proxy media, rather than copy all of the original .r3d files. This is because, as I understand currently, the .r3d files will not play back properly on a laptop with a single USB 3 HDD as the media location (especially on a non dGPU rMBP).


Any pointers very much appreciated; here is my current plan:

1: Create the initial Library on the Raid 50, leaving the .r3d files external to the library, with no option selected for transcoding.

2: Copy the library to the mobile usb 3.0 HDD and select the option to transcode proxy files only.


Ultimately I would like to just be able to move the project file back and forth as needed to and from the mobile drive, using proxy media while on laptop and single HDD, then switching to native .r3d media while working on the tower.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this!

I have done exactly this, and as long as you keep the r3d files external to the library, it should work. In other words, you will have two identical libraries that use externally linked media, but the USB3 HDD also has proxies. Once you disconnect your RAID, the media should be offline, but when you switch to proxy mode, you will see the clips again.

You will have to do a bit of a dance with passing the project files back and forth. I usually put the projects in their own event so that I can update event metadata more easily (basically separating projects from source clips and other data). Basically, you will have to manage keeping your Events in sync yourself by passing Event XML.

Apple really needs to make the process of keeping projects in sync between two or more machines a lot easier. There's a method to do it, but it's very far from being smooth. While we make multi-user FCPX work in general, it should really be way more simple.