Rendering and Exporting

If i render with proxy media (or anything but Original Media) will it export using the proxy media?

If you have Proxy media selected in your preferences, then YES, FCPX will export a Proxy file.

If you change the Proxy to "Optimized" in the preferences, then FCPX will swap out the Proxy files for the Optimized "ProRes or original AVCHD" files for export.

So in essence your Proxy renders are deemed useless, as FCPX will swap out the Proxy for the Optimized files and re-render anyway. However render for export seems to be considerable quicker than timeline renders in FCPX.

wow, that really stinks you'd think that when during export they'd switch to the best quality media. What exactly it the difference between the two?

I know some people who only work with Proxy media and always export in Proxy resolution as well. For people who make small format videos for websites working and exporting in Proxy resolution seems to provide sufficient quality. That's why FCP10 does not automatically switch to best quality when you export a Proxy project.

Here's a decent layout of the difference between original, optimized and proxy media by Larry Jordan:

www.larryjordan.biz/media-in-fcp-x/

Best wishes

Ronny

thanks for all the help

"If you change the Proxy to "Optimized" in the preferences, then FCPX will swap out the Proxy files for the Optimized "ProRes or original AVCHD" files for export."

The term "swap out" is not technically accurate and misleading. What happens is that the media in the Timelines are only "pointers" to the physical files on the hard drive. FCP X, when changing this parameter changes which files it "points" to. Nothing is "swapped out", nothing is moved, only where the pointer looks for physical files.

Can I just check some of my (potentially wonky) understanding?

1) Renders (as in 'losing the orange bar' not exporting) are created using the Timeline codec settings, regardless of original footage's format. This is chosen via the Timeline's 'Setup' or 'Click the Spanner under the Properties' dialogue - which can be ProRes 4444, HQ, Standard, or Uncompressed - regardless of original footage's format.

2) Exporting your movie is to either your working Timeline (ProRes 422, 4444, HQ, or Uncompressed), or to your wider choice of codecs (which may include XDCAM, etc), thus RE-RENDERING everything.

3) If you have generated, and are currently set to use Proxy meda, your timeline renders are at half resolution and at lower quality. Of course.

4) If you have generated, and are currently set to use Proxy media, then choose Share --> Export, your movie is rendered out using the ProRes Proxy codec if you set 'current settings', BUT AT 1920x1080, even though the proxies are 960x540. Hmmm. Of course, if you ask for PR422, you get it, but it's still 960x540 scaled up to 19020x1080.

Now, here's a twist - an edit using native AVCHD footage (hasn't been optimised, no proxies) which includes a bit of 'retimed' footage, nothing fancy, just a 100%-800%-100% pan. Before and after that shot are very 'busy' shots with lots of movement.

Okay, I won't be coy - here it is: vimeo.com/mattdavis/review/36446171/a12abecbd5 - just that bit 0:10 to 0:15

Even fully rendered, FCPX cannot play that back full-screen on a 2010 top of the line MacBook Pro. Yet if I render out to ProRes, no problem at all. Hell, even Vimeo plays it back full screen.

Which made me wonder: are those renders being done in AVCHD?

That would make blocks of action packed video baulk at playback, especially if it had to do all that IBP stuff too. Which would explain the stickiness.

And why a little tweak on a long clip requires the WHOLE clip to be re-rendered (because it's Long-GOP, not i-frame)

So, I hoped that rendered stuff would be rendered in ProRes, but if it's a wholly AVCHD project, could the project 'timeline' be rendered in AVCHD?

1, 2, and 3. Yes, that's correct.

4. Before you export you need to switch playback to original/optimized.

"are those renders being done in AVCHD?"

No, they aren't. That's a playback problem on your machine.

Tom Wolsky wrote: That's a playback problem on your machine.

Thanks, Tom.

Great - now I wonder what sort of problems would bog down the playback in the RENDERED project timeline, whilst playing back the exported timeline perfectly?

I'm betting on an 'Apple' response that claims my hardware isn't up to specification and I should consider getting a better model. £3.5k laptop, 8GB/512SSD, fully specified and yet it stutters on rendered playback. LOL, sorry, didn't mean that to sound quite so 'passive aggressive' - but don't get me started on the Freddie engine from the house of mud bricks...

What are you using for your Media Drive?
What coded have you set for your Render files?

Hi Ben, thanks for dropping in - appreciate your views...

I'm using FW800/7200rpm drives for pretty much all of my work. They've worked well for the last 4 years on XDCAM-EX and DVCAM footage in complex edits for FCP7. I fully understood their advantages and limitations.

Have toyed with e-SATA and USB3, but as so much of my work requires travel and editing the finished project in a hotel room somewhere around the world, the FW800/7200rpm combo has been hard to beat.

My Projects are set initially to use whatever the footage was in, but as Tom has said, that doesn't mean I'm using AVCHD (from my FS100) to render in - I'm fine in accepting the ProRes422 defaults.

In the old days, I'd have XDCAM-EX as the main FCP7 sequence codec, but rendering in ProRes. I'd export the final edit in ProRes422, re-rendering in everything. In FCPX, I'd render to either the project default (quick to output) or re-render to PR422 which seems to be the same thing.

The latest thing is to use FS100/DSLR on a flat/cine style Picture Profile, then post processing this, which means any AVC or H.264 footage gets manipulated and therefore should be re-rendered nicely into ProRes.

Folks, don't get me wrong here: I love editing in FCPX, it's fun and fluid. I'm quicker and I think better. It's the mechanics that get me down. A dear friend and colleague loves FCPX as it's the best way of doing his chromakey based work.

But there's stuff going on here that has actually affected my bottom line, and the response 'well, don't upgrade during a project' and 'go back to what you had before' don't apply. What I had before wasn't working any more - for two years - and we all did as much Due Dilligence as we could.

Aside - 'in the style of Top Gear'
But this all feels like petrol-heads getting into a Prius: tell us what's broken and we won't judge. FInding out that the batteries need dusting with powdered unicorn-horn and that I have to sing whilst I charge it is, in its own, a bit of a let-down, but dudes - we're deep into a drive through Norfolk here, and finding dead unicorns and charging-lyrics is hard work.

I don't like not knowing what's going on under the hood.

Or put it another way: this all feels like picking your nose with rubber gloves on.

One can't build a business on the current iteration of FCPX, it seems - unless you treat it as a one-trick pony compoisitor or as a neat pre-edit tool (minus the metadata).

It's hard not to resist the case to move to Freddie's engine in the house of Mud Bricks.

At least I got one question answered...

BenB wrote: At least I got one question answered...

Second question, para 3: Sequence default, or ProRes 422.