FCPX user interface is EXTREMELY sluggish sometimes

Why is the user interface so slow? I have a trash can Mac Pro with 64GB of RAM. Why does it take FCPX over an entire second to register my mouse clicks? Sure I have complex projects, but FCPX should be able to handle complex projects, right? I can do the same exact thing in FCP7 and it's infinitely faster to respond. There is no delay when I click anything in FCP7 audio waveforms turned on or not. I look at Activity Monitor and FCPX is only using around 2.5GB or so. And app nap is off. The hard drives never ever spin down.

So what about FCPX's UI is causing it to bog down so much? Is it the gummy/candy look?

I kind of regret getting this Mac Pro and adding so much RAM to it because quite honestly FCPX on this thing really doesn't seem much faster than it was on my old 2006 Mac Pro. I expected night and day. Instead it's more like 6:00am and 7:00am.

Most slowdowns I can trace back to waveform generation. If you quit a Library then reopen it does it feel responsive?
Having the inspector open showing the audio tracks when you select a clip will cause waveform generation.

Try selecting the Library to show all clips, show waveforms and then leave the machine for half an hour. Is it responsive then?

Hope that helps

Peter

You might also try making a new user and seeing how responsive it is with the same library and media.

I always leave the Inspector open. Is this not recommended? I usually leave FCPX open all the time but occasionally I will restart it.

I always try to have it closed as if you have a long clip, the triggering of the waveform generation/drawing will slow the machine down. (Until Apple fix the priorities and make waveform generation a true background task)

Peter

Check these for similar experiences

www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...posive-gui-on-10-1-3

forums.creativecow.net/thread/335/77288

I suspect this console messages to play a part in this:

Final Cut Pro[39012]: CoreAnimation: warning, deleted thread with uncommitted CATransaction; set CA_DEBUG_TRANSACTIONS=1 in environment to log backtraces.

Occasionally I also get this:

Final Cut Pro[39012]: *** OpenGL error 0x0506 (invalid framebuffer operation) in function "GL_CHECK_CURRENT_ERROR"

Try opening up Console.app and see if you are getting these as well - especially the coreanimation one. This seems to correlate with the

I've noticed the sluggishness increases over time. Things I have found to help a little bit.

- Restart FCPX
- In Clip Display, choose the one without thumbnails or waveforms.
- Hide effects inspector, browser and clip inspector
- Minimize open/loaded libraries
- Set Cache path to an SSD drive

While these may alleviate the sluggishness a bit, I have no doubt that it's basically an Apple issue. In the thread from creative cow, a user gave off the impression that it is a known issue that the pro apps team is aware of.

So glad I got kicked off the cow. Way too many people with way too much time of their hands.

UI responsiveness lagging over time is a known issue, and I think Apple is very aware of this. It has absolutely nothing to do with the look of the interface.

- Ronny

yes, that is the big problem which make fcpx can't defeat Avid and FCP7, when editing studio projects!
As the admin said, fcpx is very slow when you select audio in the inspector!
I can tell you:
1.
When you wait hours until the audio waveform generating is over and then disable one of the audio channel in the inspector, then enable it, the fcpx is very very very slow to calculate something(maybe the audio waveform) again!!!!

2.
Not only audio waveform generating, but also when you zoom in and out the timeline, and if your timeline have >2000 items(no matter what, audio clips\video clips\text clips), your interface is very very very slow!!!

3.
When you have large library, the fcpx is very slow!!!!!!


All of the above make the fcp7 and avid win!
By the way, we use mac pro 2013 with 64g RAM too, and new mac os, fcpx10.1.4!

HI, roony
now you know it's an issue.
I have pointed it out several months before.
And many people here did not believe what I said.
And I remember you and tom said fcpx is runing very smoothly even on large projects or
long time &too many audio channels!
You still believe what you said? haha

that does not help when you click any one audio channel to unable it than click to enable it even after longtime waiting waveform generating over!

We always editing long time PGM and PST and cam4 to cam 8, 7 video tracks.
We found that:
1. make proxy 2. change timeline to 25p, not 25i 3. waiting generate waveforms
That will help. But still sluggish when working long time.
But avid and fcp7 don't have to wait to making proxy and generate waveforms!
Why should I choose fcpx?