Proxy/offline question in 10.1.2?

I believe this new structure in 10.1.2 is what I was hoping for. Please direct me to past posts if this topic for 10.1.2 has already been covered. I am importing original prores media (from PIX240) onto a large thunderbolt drive (sorry, no RAID) and as a ref library here at my office… I wish now to have a proxy copy on a G-tech portable fw800 drive... to edit after hours at home, or on the road. While my desktop for fcpx is an iMac with multiple drives attached.. I hope to continue to use my older MBP (that has 10.1.2) as I leave my office only with the g-tech portable in hand. What is the best way to achieve this with new 10.1.2?

Thank-you.

THE EASIEST way is to go to Ripple Training and spring for $30 for their FCP X 10.1.2 Media Management tutorial. It will cover this and much more. Well worth it, given the changes that occurred with 10.1.2

Or read one of many free articles posted about it.
Or read the help doc.

There is no good way to move only proxy media to a travel drive.

Ripple Training did a short Macbreak Studio on using proxy files.

I was a tad surprised that Proxy was not given a segment in the new library format inspector.

While we're on theis subject guys. I find the biggest problem with Proxy is the way that it just halves whatever it finds.
Not great when working with a mixture of 4K and SD!

So. Is it possible to generate your OWN proxy media and have FCPX recognizing it as such?
I'm thinking about a droplet that crunches files to a certain size and bit rate.

Great question...

Unfortunately this has two significant problems, one it's been obsoleted, and two, it ignores what happens to all the media that you may need that remains in original media.

Now, if you have external media, original and proxies are external, so the workflow doesn't work in that instance. Second, more importantly, everything that you're working with that's not video, any audio effects, narration, music, still images, graphics files, anything that remains in original media, which you normally access even when you switch playback to proxy playback, all that media is lost in this workflow.

What is the solution to proxy editing away from the main source of data??
I asked Ripple training and the tweets back was cumbersome workflow, something a 10 minute addition of a 4th library property section would have fixed in a heart beat...

Actually the problem is quite a bit more complex than another switch if you want to do it properly.

I have no doubt, surely there are people that use both "online" at the office and "offline" on the road for editing, how did this become such a huge issue in 10.1.2?

I would love to see a easy choose where to put proxy files, either default to same as the rest of the media or on an external attached drive....

It's not a huge issue in 10.1.2. It's always been an issue. The proxy workflow in FCP is designed to aid playback; it is not designed as a workflow for travel.

That is the root of the problem, what is the role and function of Proxy files????
It is a very important point Tom has raised, if Proxy is a playback aid, and not a tool for on the road editing, then either Proxy needs to be dual function, playback and transportable, or a transportable easy to access method has to be developed.

A matter of philosophy for Apple...

Where Proxy fails is that if you SD footage then it will playback just fine and doesn't need to be degraded anymore.

I know it's double handling but I was thinking. What if you created the proxy media and then replaced the files named exactly the same names?

I'll give it a try and report back

Yes that does work. It also works if you have 4444 media that loses transparency when proxied. If you replace the proxy with a copy of the 4444 media you'll get transparency in proxy playback.

This has always worked, and 10.1.2 makes it even easier as you don't need to delve into the Library container anymore. As soon as I have the time I will post a little tutorial on how to work with externally generated proxies in 10.1.2 and on how to edit with proxies on the road without needing to take the Original Media.

- Ronny

Seanus asked:

So. Is it possible to generate your OWN proxy media and have FCPX recognizing it as such?
I'm thinking about a droplet that crunches files to a certain size and bit rate.

When 10.1 came out, I tried an experiment to see if I could mess with proxies.

I wanted to see if I could make proxies external.

I used compressor to take my original media and add a timecode burn and compress to a size of my choice.

I made sure the file names of 'my' timecoded proxies were the same as the original media (but setting the compressor destination to a different folder).

I then made a load of symlinks to my new proxies and replaced the proxies within the 10.1 library with the symlinks.

The good news is that Final Cut is not fussy when it comes to its proxy files - it looks for matching names - not frame size, creation date or codec.

So when I changed the viewer to show proxies, it displayed my timecoded versions. I could then export this version for collaborators and turn on Optimized/Original when doing the final export.


@Alex4D

alex4D wrote: The good news is that Final Cut is not fussy when it comes to its proxy files - it looks for matching names - not frame size, creation date or codec.

Does this mean that you could create fcpx proxies for all your large, let's say 4K media, and for any small SD stuff, you could almost replace those proxies with ''original frame size" ProRes proxy files? I'm wondering if the mix in expected frame sizes would mess up fcp's scaling calculations when switching between optimised and proxy.

I didn't test this idea beyond getting TC burns to work, but I'd guess... probably!

@Alex4D

MsJustine wrote: That is the root of the problem, what is the role and function of Proxy files?

I think the main function is to make it easier to work with large formats like 4K. A lightweight option which can be switched easily when needed.

That, I assume, is the intent. But it can be used, as I do sometimes, as a transportable workflow. I would say this is an extension of it's primary use.

If you keep your library on an internal drive, or on a transport drive, and your original media set to 'leave in place' on external storage, you can unplug and go whenever you need to.

The only additional thing I do if I am using this workflow is to have final cut import audio and graphics into the library bundle. It doesn't make proxies of these, so this way I know I have them if I unplug and run.