Best practice on LARGE project

Hi

Please forgive me if this question has been asked before. I've tried searching this forum, but I can't find an answer.

I have a single project of 1 1/2 TB of 4K media (optimized).

Since my MacBook Pro can't handle this size (diskspace), I need to split up the project.

But I need to hear your best practice....

I thought of making 5-6 libraries and export them as "Master file" - after this I create a new Library/project and add these 5-6 master files to create the finale export.

Is that the way to go? Will I loose any quality by doing this?

Thanks.

mojodk wrote: I have a single project of 1 1/2 TB of 4K media (optimized).

[...]

Since my MacBook can't handle this size, I need to split up the project.

[...]

I thought of making 5-6 libraries and export them as "Master file" - after this I create a new Library/project and add these 5-6 master files to create the finale export.

The bottleneck is not the size of the library. It's either the size of the browser window or the length of the timeline, or both in combination.

Browser:
If you skim over thousands of clips in one window, they all need to stay accessible simultaneously. This is asking too much. Do one of the following, combine the methods, toggle them:
1. Make more events and don't skim over 1000 clips at a time (library level) but just over 70, 80.
2. Before you start import in the first place, install the " one smart collection to rule them all ". Import one card at a time and tag it, favor it. In the smart collection, check the box unused media, so that your browser empties itself the more clips you copy to the timeline. In other words: limit the number of clips FCP X has to access all at once.
3. If you have to scroll down to see all your clips in the browser, toggle to film strip view.

Timeline:
A 90 minute project that contains bits and pieces of thousands of clips (1 1/2 TB for instance) and that allows you to skim it is also asking too much. Same song, limit the number of clips FCP X has to access all at once. A "project" in FCP X is actually a sequence. Consider it one scene of a feature length film. How long is a scene? Perhaps 5-10 minutes. Depends, right? It may contain 70, 80 clips (see above). You can compound the timelines/projects/sequences and copy those clips into a master project.

In theory, to play back the master sequence FCP X again has to access thousands of clips at once and is prone to display the beachball. You should render all first for smooth preview, that's right, but apart from that, that's no issue in practice. Hasn't been for FCP 2 from 2001, isn't now. I don't know why, but the nested sequences work!

Apart from that, using sequences as scenes is a better way to structure your narration. Would you like to read a long novel without chapters?

Great advice, Axel.

- Ronny

Hi Axel

Thank you so much for your explanation!

I've updated my question to be more clear - I'm on a MacBook Pro with 2TB diskspace...

My first concern is diskspace - if I import all media (transcode) into a single libraly, I have 100GB diskspace free .... so I need to split it up somehow, work on it in smaler parts and last merge it to a final project.

So I wondered if I could make several libraries, render them into masterfiles and then combine the master files to one single master file?

Thanks for this, Axel. Wish I'd had this knowledge when working on a large project this summer. But I'll be ready for the next one.

Tom

Hi there,

Just to clarify, when you say that your HD space is 2T, are you talking about your internal drive? Because if so, the first thing I think many ppl on here would recommend is to only use external drives for your media. Using your boot drive for media will slow down your performance and is generally not recommended for editing.

Getting an external drive that can accommodate all your media (1.5T right?) is relatively inexpensive, just opt for fastest connection you can afford, preferably Thunderbolt and already you'll much better off.

As for splitting up libraries, I would not recommend it. If you need to access a clip for instance in one library for a timeline in a second one, FCP physically move (copies) the clip and so you end up with multiple instances of clips and it can get messy really quickly. I've made that mistake when I was learning and it took some creativity to untangle.

If ever you need to split media between more than one drive because you lack the space, still use only one library but store the media outside the library rather than keep it self-contained. This requires a bit more mindfulness in managing the media, but it's not that difficult once you understand the difference.

larryjordan.com/articles/where-does-fina...t-pro-x-store-media/

Use the One-library-to-rule-them-all approach, in that one library is your master "space" that keeps all the media and projects together. Just follow Axel's really great advice, use multiple events etc and you should be fine.

Best of luck,
yb