Speed Bladed clips with optical flow applied won't render

Is this a known bug? I can speed blade a clip ( Shift + B ) and adjust the speed of each side of the cut, etc. I can then apply optical flow. It does it's thing and completes. I have a Mac Pro trash can so it's not always powerful enough to play back optical flow clips without dropping some frames, so I like to render these just to make sure it all looks good so I can adjust things if they're not. I think that's reasonable. But they absolutely will not render. Everything else in the timeline will. Upon export, FCPX flips out and complains that optical flow is not done (it is) and that effects could be pure crap upon export. It exports fine with optical flow effect applied.

So... known bug?

Know bug, I do this daily, very frustrating. I export anyway, and things seem to be fine, though.

This has been going on for a while. I have reported it several times. Haven't seen it lately in new projects. Have you tried trashing your render files? Exports are fine in spite of the warning.

I've tried trashing renders and pref files, no difference. I do at least 2- 3 exports almost daily with this bug popping up. But yeah, exports seems to come out just fine. I ignore it. Has been with us since 10.3.3. Hoping 10.3.5 fixes it finally.

since 10.3.3 ) according to google search this kind of bug dates back to posts from 2013 so I doubt that this will be fixed in 10.3.5 but own you a beer if this would be true

Apple usually doesn't seem too keen on fixing bugs. And the ones they DO fix are ones I never run in to. So either they don't want to fix them, they don't have the programming expertise to fix them, or they don't have the budget to fix them.

Redifer wrote: Apple usually doesn't seem too keen on fixing bugs. And the ones they DO fix are ones I never run in to. So either they don't want to fix them, they don't have the programming expertise to fix them, or they don't have the budget to fix them.

Some bugs are not just suboptimal command lines that can be detected and changed, they are deeply hidden in the app's source code. A very early bug was that FCP X crashed on playing back compound clips. Very big parts of the code had to be rewritten to fix this (before, nesting clips changed the size of the whole project files dramatically, after the fix they just grew by a few KB). Is a new version a "refurbished" one? Rewritten from scratch? Hastily overhauled? The background tasks feel like something inherent, to fix this they had to go back very far - which undoubtedly would introduce new bugs.

What Axel says, plus: problems can get fixed much easier when they are real bugs that affect every user and thus can be easily reproduced.

I have tested this particular report on a 2015 MBP running 10.12.5 and FCPX 10.3.4, and I am not able to reproduce the problem. Everything works as expected:



- Ronny

This is a real bug. It's completely ridiculous to insinuate that it's not. It's not my problem to worry about what Apple's woes are or if they made a mistake 6 versions back that caused this. But my guess is they don't have the budget to hire more programmers to fix these things and therefore must prioritize bug fixes. Like I said, the bug fixes that I see reportedly fixed when the app updates are usually ones I've never encountered. Those must not be real bugs either if Ive never encountered them.

I just wanted to show that the issue you have reported does not affect everyone, which obviously makes it harder to reproduce and to fix. That's all.

- Ronny

Ronny

try it with an iPhone 7 and latest FCPX and then apply the optical flow... bang and you receive the message at least with my iPhone7, FCPX version and iMac 21 )
Ahh just did it with one clip so no complicated project at all laugh...

The pro video apps team is sizable, very skilled & knowledgable. Most all are experienced in video production. They put their all into their work. It's a minor bug, I ignore it, my work moves forward and looks great on export.

I've worked professionally for software development companies for close to 30 years, large and small. I know that the size of a development teams does not make solving coding issues any easier or faster. Some bugs that seem easy to fix by end users are often not easy at all and take time. Especially when that fix has a negative impact on new functions those same end users are demanding.

I give the hard working, devoted, highly skilled, sizable pro video app team the benefit of the doubt and have full confidence in them. Especially after having seen the team in person, and having spoken to a couple of them.

Schnurr wrote: … try it with an iPhone 7 and latest FCPX and then apply the optical flow... bang and you receive the message ...

Nope, not here, in my cheap set-up, iPhone6, macMini2012, FC v10.3.4 …



iPhone Video (proof: vertical video syndrome :woohoo: ) , split, retimed, OF => smooth playback, no complains on export, …

So, I'm with Ronny…

I always forget that on this forum, Apple can do absolutely no wrong.

…  three persons share their observations of an FCPX misbehave, two spent time and fail to re-enact it…
And THIS is your conclusion?

Redifer wrote: I always forget that on this forum, Apple can do absolutely no wrong.

Merry Xmas … :lol:

It is well know fact that not all bugs show up on all systems. It is also a known fact that when this happens, trying to isolate the cause becomes more difficult for any software development team, no matter the size or budget.

No one said this was not a bug, simply that since not everyone experiences it, it is probably a difficult one to isolate and correct. I personally see the error message daily, and things export just fine. I know several other editors here on this forum and locally having this issue. I know many more who don't see it. Doesn't mean we're attacking you.

No one said Apple can do no wrong, just trying to keep things in a factual perspective. Nothing personal, man. Just trying to figure things out.

If you're really so unhappy with FCPX, Apple, and this forum, there's always PPro or MC or Vegas or GrassValley or any number of other very capable NLEs and user forums to choose from.

… three persons share their observations of an FCPX misbehave, two spent time and fail to re-enact it…
And THIS is your conclusion

No, it's the general vibe of "Apple can't be expected to fix it quickly" "Apple's time is better spent fixing real bugs" and the usual round of circlejerking that happens whenever Ronny posts anything defending Apple, which he always does, of course.

If you're really so unhappy with FCPX, Apple, and this forum...

Who said I was unhappy enough to rage-quit Apple? Just because I use their stuff doesn't mean I need to always hold them in such endearing terms though. Doesn't mean I have to believe they are doing the absolute best that they can. My next computer might be a Hackintosh though as I could build a far more powerful computer for far cheaper than what Apple charges. And even when it become incompatible, the cost of making it compatible would still be lower, even when added to the original PC cost. I'm still undecided on that. Definitely wanna see what the new Mac Pro looks like in 2019 first. As far as forums go, I rarely post on them.

To refocus to the matter at hand, what kind of footage are you doing this on? Can you provide a sample piece of footage so that others can try to duplicate the bug, on similar hardware? For example, I can try it quickly because I have a trashcan mac here. The key really is reproducibility with the same hardware/codec combo.

You bet! Download this small 60MB file (for some reason the ZIP file is slightly BIGGER than the actual videofile contained within). www.gamesack.net/test.zip

Take that into FCPX. Speed blade it. Adjust one area so it is faster or slower than the rest. What I would do at this point would be to cut (regular blade) the part that's been speed adjusted and apply optical flow to only the retimed part, as there is no need to optical flow anything at 100% speed. Now render (select all and Control + R). It will render except for the part that has been optically flowed. Try to export. FCPX will complain. Tell it to STFU and export anyway. It will be fine.

The problem is that it makes realtime previewing impossible without exporting. Optical Flow isn't always desired, sometimes frame-blending achieves a more desirable result, etc. Can't tell without exporting first.

I downloaded the clip and tried to reproduce the problem on a MacBookPro. No dice, everything works as expected. I will post a screen grab this evening as I have to rush now.

So it's not related to the format of the clip. Possibly a combination of hardware and software versions. Will test later today on different configurations.

- Ronny