Is there a way to set an Export before media is finished copying from memory card?

This item cannot be shared while it is still referencing media on the camera.

This is the message i get when i go to export my video file. I get it because I am still importing the media off the card, but I've already done my edits and got my video done. Is there a way to bypass this or someway of FCPX being able to know to start to export my video as soon as the media is done copying from the card to the computer?

If not, I may just try editing off the SDHC card instead of importing it first.

also, just noticed i can't edit off the memory card in fcpx? it's AVCHD footage. didn't know i couldn't edit off the sdhc card with that. unless i'm missing something, because it greys out the 'leave files in place' option for me during import.

1 - Why would you want to edit off of the SD card? It is super slow, tiny, simply not what you edit off of.
2 - Why would you want to leave clips on a "reusable" SD card? Copy it to your hard drive, that's the normal workflow. SD cards are not that fast, and not that stable long term for editing.

If FCPX is still importing from the SD card when you finish your edit (which I find odd), then you simply have to wait for everything to be copied into your Library. Not any magic "be there" button to press.

1. I want to edit off the card, if possible, to speed up editing time. I work at a public access center. We shoot government meetings several times a week. This is one a fraction of my job, so getting these edited as fast as possible is key. Basically, we already have an into for every meeting, and a bumper at the end. The only thing different each episode is me changing the date on the lower third that stretches across the whole video. When it comes to editing, all I need to do is set an in point and out point for the start and end of the meeting. I drop it in the timeline between the into and ending bumper, change the lower third date, throw a compressor/limiter on just to be safe and I'm done. I'm able to do this before the file is even done being copied off the card since it's usually a 3 hour or longer meeting in 1080 30p.

So by the time I'm done editing and ready to export, im told I need to wait for the file to finish importing. Granted, I only have to wait a few minutes, so I'm just trying to find a way to speed this up if possible.

Editing off the SD card will bog you down, waste time, not save it. And you do NOT need to wait for a file to finish importing before editing it in FCPX.

The SD card, with footage from a 3 hour meeting, will be very slow to respond during edits (I've tested this) and FCPX will require more rending for decent playback, etc. Then when you're doing, that SD card will get erased and reused. You have on archive of your footage. PLUS, export times will be MUCH longer, due to the slowness of the SD card and the Long-GOP format of the video on it. PLUS camera cards are not all that reliable (I've had them die way faster than hard drives) and I'd never trust my only copy of a video clip to one.

I can't think of a single reason to edit directly off of the camera card, and saving time is definitely not one of them. Perhaps others will chime in here with other opinions.

Brady,
FCPX would recognize the card as a camera card and therefore requires an import or archive process. Remember, it needs those files to re-edit a project. Hence the greyed-out "Leave Files in Place".
With camera cards, I prefer to first make an Archive, especially AVCHD, as this preserves the camera file structure. I place this file on a back-up drive during download/import. Then I import the footage into FCPX, typically on a different drive.

For what you are doing, I suggest you look into using Automator and Applescript. While I haven't tried this complicate of a script,you should be able to set up an Automator script that would allow you to drop the files on a Automator app icon. That app would, open FCP or iMovie, create an Archive and/or import footage into a library(you could specify a particular library), create new event in a template with intro/outro, add current date to lower third(replaceable field), allow pop-up for setting start and end points(manual), then export to another drive, all more of less automatically. You might need to use Applescript to make sure export is not triggered until import is complete, but I think Automator would do this.
While this is a complicated workflow, repetitive tasks is what Automator is made for. I have some set up for resizing photos, creating/naming and dating files, and then sending to cloud accounts. FTP routines are also fairly easy. It is a pretty powerful yet easy program.

My concern using this method is that there wouldn't be a review of the footage to make sure there weren't any glitches. These are after all government public records. Video is notorious for glitches.

You can let your current manual process for importing happen in the background, do something else, then export when it completes. You don't really have to babysit the import. And as you have discovered, you can edit even while it is importing, so at least you would have skimmed it while placing on timeline.
It is also easy to set up a custom "Share" export with whatever codec/bit rate/format you want, so that you only have to click on "Share", select destination and it will export where you want it to go.

Hope this helps, Greg

And you do NOT need to wait for a file to finish importing before editing it in FCPX

I don't remember that being an issue with anything I said

Anyway, ok, sorry I asked.

Wtf?

thank you VidGreg, that makes sense. ill try and look into automator and see if i can't do anything with it!