multiple projects - fcpx difficulty opening

I now have multiple projects and multiple events on one computer and the same events & projects on a portable drive I use to take the work elsewhere. I notice on start up that the computer gets hung up when I move from project to project. I read somewhere that fcpx is constantly generating thumbnails and that that can slow things down. I love having the thumbnails as part of my editing process, but I feel like fcp7 moved from project to project with more ease. Is there something I can do to alleviate the sluggishness? I've already archived projects and events I'm not working on, but I typically have a number of projects in play at the same time.

Thanks.

To optimize your performance, if you don't need all those projects and events accessible, move them and only have the one or two you're working on open in FCPX. You can do this any number of ways, but using Event Manager X (a $4.99 download) makes it easy to manage your events and projects.

You can also prevent any rendering or thumbnail creation from occuring on your open projects by canceling them in the background tasks box. But I found by only having what you need open helps FCPX run far smoother.

Thanks. That's a very nice app. It also seems to make having a separate folder for projects not in use unnecessary. You simply open Event Manager X before each edit and choose the events & projects you want access to. Yes?

Yes..that is correct. It still creates the "Final Cut Projects and Events Not in Use" folders the same as if you did it yourself in the finder, it just moves your projects and events to and from them in a user friendly and quick way. So those folders are still necessary.

Another option is to utilize Disk Images. You have one DMG with a specific production in it. When you launch, you have your FCP X stuff, unmount it, and it's only a DMG file. To move it a portable drive to take it elsewhere, just copy the one DMG file. It has it's pros and cons, it's just another option available.

I feel your pain. Even with only one project- if it is a very large project accessing a large event it tends to slow down the system considerably. I do feel like FCP7 was faster in some ways.

I use event manager x, but if you have lots of projects I found creating a folder for unused projects and placed them in a folder, then close that folder.

But that is what Event Manager X does for you. Or do you mean you are creating a folder other than the "Final Cut Projects Not In Use", etc. that the event manager creates so your unused projects aren't even shown in event mgr?

Sometimes I need to have multiple projects open for one event. Such as a wedding. I will have different projects for first look, a 15 min short, a longer reception and ceremony, a best wishes. So when I finish a "project" or section, I will make a folder in FCPX and move that project into it. I usually have 3 Folders, a "rough cuts" folder, "in progress" and "output"

I treat projects like sequences in FCP7.

Most client work needs multiple projects, and I do not want to close FCPX to go back to a project, so a couple of folders for a client that are closed saves time since FCPX doesn't have to load the thumbnails to every project, just the ones that are in the uncollapsed folder.

Mikey, don't treat Projects like Sequences, they're not. Huge mistake lots of folks make. I do this same thing, but the more efficient way of handling it (as per my Media Management course at macProVideo.com) is with Compound Clips.

In the Event, I create empty Compound Clips and name them Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, etc. Or in your case more like Photomontage Compound, Pre-Ceremony Compound, Ceremony Compound, Pre-Reception Compound, Reception Compound, Ending Compound, or whatever. I'd put the word Compound, or some other common word in the names so that I can create a Smart Collection based on that common word.

Now I build each "Sequence" just like in 7, and when I'm ready to assemble my final product, I create a Project and drop my Compounds into it.

I find this also keeps FCP X running more smoothly, for some strange reason. Not sure why, but I've noticed it does. Multiple Compound Clips in an Event seem to be more stable than a ton of Projects. Plus with Projects you have to copy and paste everything into your output Project, which has logistical issues if you have to go back and change stuff up after the fact.

Here's the truth. A Seqeunce in 7 can 1- Exist in the Browser and be organized there, 2- Edited as an independent entity, 3- Nested in to other Sequences, 4- Edited as a single clip when nested. A Compound clips meets all of these criteria. A Project only meets one.

I always teach my students this, and it works out pretty well. Projects should only be used for final assembly of the final output product. Compound Clips in the Event should be used to assemble the individual sections of your production.

Further, using "Event Manager" makes taking these Events and Projects from online to offline super easy, super fast, it tracks what's offline for me, it simply is a must have for any FCP X user. It even tracks things moved to portable drives that have been unmounted and disconnected for the next time you reconnect it. I'd NEVER suggest someone do this manually when we have a $5 app that makes it unbelievably fast and easy to do.

assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/EventManagerX/

Wow Ben,

I have never thought about using compound clips that way. I've seen it done with custom sizes and everything but my mind has been blown.

Quick question, I usually back up my projects as I work. Is there a way to back up the compound clips as I go? Do they show up in finder?

No, Compound Clips are like Sequences in that way, also. They are virtual containers. You back up Project and Event folders whole, that's about it.

Ben - not sure how you create an empty compound clip in the event. When I try it, nothing appears.

Highlight an Event in the Library.
File > New Compound Clip (or Opt-G).
You're presented with the Timeline configuration window for frame size/rate, audio settings, etc, just like with a new Project.

Be sure to check the X button to clear your Search field at the upper right of the Browser, and that the Browser Filter menu at the upper left is set to All Clips.

Got it.

So, conceivably you wouldn't need to create a project at all until the very end, no? Just work with the compound clips and use a smart collection to move between them. I've just reorganized an event this way. If I need to export a version, I can do it from the compound clip. At the beginning of a day's edit, if you want to save the original version, just copy it and work from that (with a new date). Create a smart collection for the newest version - add a tag to the old versions, something like "archive". Does that make sense?

Let's say my routine is to edit at my work station during the day and hand off a portable drive to another editor at night. I duplicate the event to a portable drive. (My work station computer in the meantime backs up my day's work to my back up drive). The next morning, the night editor returns with the new edits from his/her session. Can I then somehow add the event changes he/she made overnight to my work station computer without copying over the entire event? I know I can merge events, but does that leave a copy of the event on the portable drive or does it migrate everything over? I would then want to repeat the process at the end of the day to the portable drive without having to recopy the entire event. Not sure if I'm explaining this well.

A good editor will make a copy of a Timeline that was started by someone else before messing with it. You'd simply take that night editor's copy of the Compound clips and copy/move them to your local drive. And as you build up "versions" (copies) you can create folders in that Event to put those various Compound Clip Smart Collections in, if so desired. When they get outdated, right-click, "Move To Trash".

I must be doing something wrong. I have four compound clips - each about 10-15 minutes long. I have them in a smart collection I have labelled comp. c. I had each compound clip end in comp. c. When I drag the smart collection comp. c to the event on the other drive, the compound clips don't copy over - only the empty smart collection (presumably because the new compound clips are on the other drive). I can literally copy each compound clip over, but that would take forever because it seems to be copying all the media associated with the clips as well. I already have that media on the second drive. Is there a way to do this so the media doesn't have to be copied over as well? I'm sorry to be so dense - just very confused. Thanks.

No, keyword collections don't copy over. Weird, I know, but fill out that feedback page!

When you copy any clip from one Event to another, you're copying the clip. A Compound is considered a Clip. Just how Apple did it.

Ben - this is what I told them in my feedback:

Hi. I would like to have the ability to copy smart collections between events on different drives. I edit various segments of my videos as compound clips and then organize them into smart collections. At the end of a days edit, I would like to transfer the edits of the day to another drive. If I could move smart collections, I could have different editors working on the same video and having the edit be portable. Right now, I can't see any way of doing this. FCPX wants to copy all the media when I try to move compound clips around. I just need that day's edits to move. In FCP7, I could literally copy a project, put it in a drop box - and there it is, ready to go. I love FCPX for obvious reasons, but this inability is killing my workflow . Thanks.

I'm really struggling to find a work around for this. I may have to limit using X for projects where I know I'm going to be strictly in house and wait for Apple to address it. I'd be surprised if others weren't encountering the same problem..

FCP X is a database (Final Cut Server to be specific), the keywords are stored in the individual Event's database. It would be nice to drag-and-drop individual keyword and smart collections, but for now, it is what it is.

As for your collaboration, I'm not clear on what you're trying to do exactly, but on the surface it seems you're going a very long way around things.