Best practice for two editors, two libraries, two locations, same media

Good morning everyone. We are cutting a documentary with lots of different sources and formats for footage. We have two libraries on two thunderbolt raid drives we have set up that contain identical footage. The two editors are in different locations. The majority of footage is linked externally (and using optimized versions created within FCPX).

My question is...how can we send projects back and forth wiithout any media included (since the media resides on both machines we should be able to send small files back and forth that then relink at the other station). It seems like FCPX doesn't have a way to do this when some of the media is managed by FCPX (such as AVCHD footage). Is there a way to explore the FCPX package and pull out projects that way?

In avid we would just send bins back and forth.

Please let me know if more info is needed to explain the question.

jim

What is essential to this process is that you do not use managed media. That all the media that you have on both systems are external to the library itself. No media or caches need to be in the library and they shouldn't be.

To share projects and events the simplest way is to send XML files from one station to the other. The more reliable way is to use transfer libraries. Make a new library, put the project or event you want to share into it (using external media) and set the library. The other user simply drags the elements from one library to the other.

The definitive work on collaboration in FCP is here

www.10dot1.co.uk/content/FCPXInASharedEnvironment_FINAL.pdf

I'll look through that document over the weekend, but unfortunately if we are shooting XAVC and don't want to process the footage outside of FCPX before importing, we are stuck with managed media and no good solution for easy collaboration. I'll try the XML method in the meantime but to me this seems like a workaround more than the correct way this should be handled (I believe XML should be for going between different programs and seems like an added layer where something could go wrong, metadata or FX lost if going FCPX to FCPX).

FCPX should add a share project function that can email a project w/out media to another user.

"unfortunately if we are shooting XAVC and don't want to process the footage outside of FCPX before importing, we are stuck with managed media and no good solution for easy collaboration."

You do realize you can set any location outside of the library to store your media, even if the media is proposed and rewrapped in the import process? There is never, ever any requirement that you must have media inside the library bundle. This is fundamental to understanding the application. Or I'm completely not understanding what you're doing, which may well be the case, and I apologize.

Tom, I do realize this. My quibble is that if I am sending a project to the other editor at another location and some of the media in that project was managed media, final cut will copy the managed media used in the project with the project (in this scenario I am using a temporary library to transfer the media) to the transfer library. So the transfer library is large vs the size of an XML of the project. Is that true in your experience? We have 90 GB libraries for a simple 2 minute video (and optimized/proxy are unchecked when copying the project to the transfer library).

Now I haven't tried doing this with managed media housed outside the library. Perhaps it doesn't try to send the media along when doing it this way? If so that would provide our solution (kind of...would still like a simpler way to send projects back and forth than using a transfer library).

Tom is correct. You never should use managed media in a remote collaborative workflow. When you work with XAVC footage or the likes, you can import the footage into a media folder outside of the Library. The Library will only contain links to that folder, so it will remain very slim.

If you already have imported media inside the Library, you can move it outside of it. You just need to set the Media Location for that Library to an external folder, then consolidate the Library (as you work with two remote systems you of course will need to do this for both systems).

Once all your media is outside of the Library you have two options to exchange events and projects:

1. FCPX XML for Event information and basic timelines (although the latest version of XML will already carry over complex timelines as well).

2. A transfer Library in which you drop your modified projects. That's indeed the safest way, and it's as easy as sending a bin. You can even e-mail the Transfer Library.

- Ronny

Thanks Ronny! We'll consolidate everything over the weekend and try that method for the media that needed to be managed. I didn't realize that managing it external vs internal would change FCPX's behavior. Tom, thank you for all your help as well.

jim

This is a confusing area because of the special case of AVCHD and XAVC. E.g, in Ripple Training's class on managing media in FCP X, they say: "...in ANY instance...you want the option to leave media where it is....if someone hands you a drive full of media, you don't want to copy it all (IOW Copy to Library import option), you just want to point to it" (IOW Leave Files in Place).

Yet FCP X does not allow "leave files in place" for AVCHD/XAVC, forcing a copy during import -- whether that is to a managed library or to a referenced "library storage location". This is a deficiency in training and documentation because AVCHD/XAVC is not a fringe case but a very common case. It should be highlighted in both Apple and 3rd party training/documentation.

OTOH as Tom said it should be possible to click on the Library, then at upper right under Library Properties click "Modify Settings", select a disk location, then click "Consolidate" to move all media outside the library. This is regardless of whether it was in place on disk, managed within the library, or referenced outside the library -- it will all end up in the new specified location. It should be possible to get all media and cache files out of the library, letting you send a small library to a collaborator. Of course if they don't use the same media storage locations, they'll need to re-sync the locations on their end.

Once you do "Modify Settings" and change the storage location to external, then any subsequent imports will present the option of either "Copy to library storage location: xxx" where xxx is the named storage location, or "Leave Files in Place" -- except for AVCHD/XAVC.

For AVCHD/XAVC you'll only have the first option. The downside is a copy is required, so import is slower and requires more disk space than "leave files in place". But at least it's outside the library so you can send a small library to a collaborator. You only have to do the "Modify Settings" and consolidate steps once, then any subsequent material will go to the designated external storage location.

You could theoretically externally transcode the XAVC to a format where FCP X allows "leave files in place", but this buys nothing from a space or import efficiency standpoint, and shouldn't be necessary to achieve your goals.

Uh oh, so consolidate will move externally linked footage, too? The plot thickens! We don't want that behavior. Want it to stay in place. In fact wish the AVCHD/XAVC would stay in place, too.

For the record FCPX will also not let us leave XDCAM EX HD420 1080i60(35 Mb/s) footage in place (shot on Sony PMW-EX3).

I strongly wish they would let us leave all this footage in place!

We just did a test sending project XML back and forth and that worked well so that will be our solution for now. The XML 1.5 seems to keep most of the proprietary FCPX info for projects. Still I would prefer a solution that stays in FCPX formats.

Using XML is a good idea. But I think you are still a little confused with how external media work.

In a good collaboration workflow you don't want your media to be spread all over the place. You want a dedicated media folder for every production, so you always know exactly where all your media are.

If the media that you have imported with "Leave Files in Place" is inside a dedicated external folder (as it should be), and you want to move the media that you have imported inside the Library to that folder, all you need to do is to set the Library > Media location to the external folder and consolidate. The files that you have imported with "leave files in place" will remain exactly where they are, and the managed media will be moved to the same location.

When you do this you will be able to exchange projects and events without needing XML. This couldn't be easier.

- Ronny

Put all the AVCHD footage in its own event, and then just consolidate that event only (after you have set the destination for the library to the place you want to put the media, i.e. and external location). That way, the other events will stay in tact with their externally linked footage.

I agree, a lot of people have a poor understanding of how this works because it's not super obvious. In a collaborative workflow, you should be using libraries that contain no media themselves and only link to external media, just like everyone says.

Just to clarify, next time when you import AVCHD, be sure to set the library to point to the external location FIRST, and then import. It will copy to that external location and not inside the library.

Ronny, coming from the Avid and FCP7 post world we managed our media all in one folder for each production. We use a structure similar to:

FOOTAGE/VIDEO/20140723/XXXXCard1
FOOTAGE/VIDEO/20140723/XXXXCard2
etc for all dates, and the same for music and audio.

This would vary from show to show but you get the idea. This is how all television programs I work on have been organized for AMA linking from avid.

If I do the consolidate command in FCPX (I just checked) for an event or a library it says the following:

Original media will be consolidated into the library “XXXXXXXX”

You can include available optimized or proxy media. Media stored in external folders will be copied.

This behavior seems different than what you are saying. We would not like our organized original media that is stored in external folders to be copied. I mean, I guess we could then just delete our organized footage folder or keep it on a separate drive off the raid (not wanting to use up space with duplicates).

Or are you saying that FCPX will recognize that our "leave in place" footage is linking to the drive we are trying to consolidate to and will continue to "leave it in place" even though it says it will be copied? I haven't tested this. I would think apple would only do this if we used the same folder structure it would use when copying.

Haysoos, the main reason I don't want to manage our footage through FCPX is that we would lose the original card structure for the footage. Right now our raid is also counting as one of our backups of the camera originals (4.2TB of footage and counting). And if we ever want to use this footage in Avid we don't want to touch those folders and disrupt the original structures.

In the future I think we will have a master/backup drive for all footage off our raid and import all footage to be managed by FCPX on our raid from the external drive, then disconnect the external footage drive. At the end of the project it seems we could then delete all the library media and archive library file to our drive with the camera masters. Then if we need to bring the library/events back online we can use the Reimport from Camera/Archive command.

Hey Jim,

I come from exactly the same background, first many years of Avid, then Avid+FCP, now FCP X.

If the original media that you have imported with "Leave in place" is stored in different folders, the best way to move your managed media outside of the Library is to follow the advice haysoos has given:

1. In the FCP X browser, drag all your managed media inside a single Event.
2. Select the Library and in the Inspector press the Modify Settings button. Change the Media location from "Library" to a new folder you create on your RAID.
3. Select the Event with the managed media and choose File > Consolidate Event files.

This will move all your managed media to the new external folder you have created, and it will leave all your existing external media untouched in their original folders.

- Ronny

Hello Jcmcnamee,
I would follow what Ronny is saying above. We're telling you the same thing: to prevent the consolidation from wrecking your other externally linked media, you should put all the AVCHD into one event, and then consolidate that event ONLY. Ronny's step #2 is VERY IMPORTANT because you're telling the program where to consolidate the media to, which should be in a folder on your RAID (somewhere in that folder you've designated for the production).

Now, FCPX will create its own little mini folder structure wherever you've pointed it to on your RAID. It looks like this: Final Cut Pro Original Media/YYYY-MM-DD/

It won't be exactly the same structure as the camera original, but that shouldn't be a problem if you want to link to Avid via AMA.

If you really want to, you can even reorganize this on the finder level, and then relink, but I don't see the point in doing this. Your other media in other events will not be touched as long as you've isolated only the media you want to consolidate into its own event.

In the end, if you're used to how you managed media in FCP7, which is pretty much all manually, you can achieve the same folder structure more or less. Setting the media location in FCPX is analogous to setting the capture scratch in FCP7, really.