Final Cut Render Nightmares

Hi everyone, new to this forum.

So I'm having a real issue on a 30 min interview project. 3 cameras, usual thing. FCPX keeps unlinking the render files. I have had to re render the project in its entirity around 6 times now because the render files get unlinked. I wasnt sure if FCPX was just deleting the files but I can see the files still. I know that it would be difficult to relink the files as the folders are all just code names really and it would be a nightmare. This project takes my computer around 25-30 hours to render the entire thing.

My question is, how can I prevent this kind of issue? does anyone else experience this?

I have tried turning off auto render so that I decide when to render things but that doesnt seem to help.

I basically can't afford to keep telling my boss I need to re render a project for 30 hours! its insain! The project I'm working on is now 2 weeks behind schedule! It is really starting to give me anxiety...

I realise in an ideal world I should disable all FX and plugins until the edit is completely done but the render often shows up where glitches have happened, etc. Also rendering speeds up the export process.

Finer details:
computer:
2015 Macbook pro, dual graphics (AMD Radeon r9 + Intel Iris), 2.8GHZ i7, 16GB Ram
OSX Sierra 10.12.6
FCPX v 10.4
It seems to be happening with one plugin I am using called 'Neat Video v4' which cleans up noisy footage, makes it look amazing. The plugin requires a lot of CPU. I'm wondering if it is the way this plugin works that is causing the computer to think it needs to render the files every time I open the project. It feels like a gamble, sometimes when I open the project, we're all good, sometimes it wants to render 80% of the timeline.

Any help appreciated! or just to know i'm not the only one thats had this problem! Maybe I need to get onto a newer OSX and update to newer version of FCP. Problem is the cameras we use are noisy..

What does noisy cameras have to do with updating the OS? No sure what that was about. But yes, update to latest everything. I have the same year rMBP with no issues.

Why render?
Or does it also take that long to export?

I've heard that Neat Video is a hog, but sounds excessive...

And yes, I would also update to latest OS, FCPX and Neat Video...

This is quick & painless test.
1) Create new PROJECT or LIBRARY.
2) Select ALL in funky project. COPY.
3) PASTE into newly created project/library.
4) Export the first 10 min of your 30 min video & see how it goes.

Had a similar lengthy export and relocating the assets into a library unencumbered by other projects set things right. Gave up trying to figure out what was causing it since the objective is to render it out and move on.

There may be other issues, but for sure you should be applying Neat Video as the very last step before you export. It is resource hog on even small clips, but if you are applying them to a 3 camera multicam on a 30 minute interview, it's probably really bogging your system down. Once applied, any time you move, readjust or layer something on or over that clip it will need to be rendered again. Maybe this is happening throughout your timeline. Also, if you have had background rendering on, it is possible you have some corrupt render files in your project. Best thing to do might be to delete all render files from the project and events, restart your project with background render OFF, and finish the edit without Neat video. Then apply the noise reduction and export. Hard to say how much time it should take depending on how much Neat is applied throughout your project, but this should be a better way to go about it.

Unlinking render files at random is just what Final Cut Pro does. This goes way back. I don't believe Apple knows how to fix it.

Any time I have issues like that, I delete FCPX and re-install from the app store.

Then the renders unlinking seems to be better for quite a while. At least I don't notice it being an issue. As long as you are running the newest version of FCPX (as you should) you'll have no issues with reinstalling

30 hours to render a 30 minute project is insane! For sure the culprit is Neat Video noise reduction. It's a great plugin that gets good results, but it's slow as molasses and is meant to be used sparingly. And even then, when I've had to use it, I will usually 'bake in' the effect at some point before or during the finishing process once I'm satisfied with the results.

Yes, the losing-render bug is a pain, but you should bake-in any noise reduction from Neat. One way to do this is making a compound clip of every clip you're using it on, exporting that compound clip (with Neat applied of course), and then reimporting that clip and laying it on top inside the compound clip.

Baking-in this effect on a clip-by-clip basis allows you to still tweak your cut if it's needed. Trust me, you NEED to do this. I would not leave this to a final render, because all it takes is for the client to request 'one little tweak', and you're in for another 30 hour render.

One other pro-tip: if you're having to use Neat video an a lot of clips, it's a sure sign that it's a poorly shot video. So you have some leverage there with your boss, since you're just trying to salvage otherwise unuseable footage. This should work... UNLESS you're the one who shot it!

Thanks everyone for the responses.

the problem was the cameras we're using and what the big boss man decided he wanted it to look like. We generally use Cannon XF205's which I've always found to be grainy, even in good lighting conditions with correct settings. And was also shooting on a sony a6000 which isnt particularly a video camera but it's footage comes out looking a lot nicer than the XF's. So putting it all together, some shots looked noisy, others looked clean.

I know that putting the effect on at the very end is best, boss man is the kind of person that would have told me everything wrong with the 'look' of it even in a rough cut so i felt the need to apply the de-noising. I took it off for editing the rest of the project.

I had considered 'baking in' the effect but there was maybe an hour of footage cropped to 30 mins, would have taken time doing that that I believed I didn't had, however in hind sight....would have certainly saved me time!

I'm pushing the idea of us getting cleaner looking cameras, dslr type things but at the moment it's just working with what we have.....We're an events hire company and so the cameras we use are great in a live video situation, just not so good for the little interview type things.

It was myself that shot the video, it just is what it is!

Hi all,
thank you for this helpful info. It got me out of a real mess yesterday!!
I have personally been using the FCPX native noise reduction effect and experience the same problems. Its been an absolute nightmare!
My question is can anyone advise how to actually remove the effect once applied to a clip? It isn't actually showing up in the inspector but I know its there because it says "processing noise reduction". If it doesn't show up in the inspector how can one remove it if added too early and slowing the whole project ?
I'd be most grateful for any help with this.
Thank you!

If it is not showing in the Inspector, it is not applied to that particular clip, period.
If the background task window shows that effect processing, there is at least one clip left somewhere in the Timeline with that effect on it, period.

1- Run through the Timeline manually clip by clip and check each one individually to be sure none have the Noise Remover effect applied.
2- Make sure Background Rendering is turned off (and never turn it back on ever again).
3- Then, select the Library in the browser, go to the File menu, to Delete All Generated Library Files, and delete ALL render files.