Placement of graphic files

What are people doing when they have .psd files etc in a project are you creating a new folder in the Events folder or placing them in original media?

Depends on if you want them imported into the Events folder, or to stay in their original location. Totally your choice.

I import everything into my Event, that way I know where everything is. The Event Library does all my organizing, not the OS X Finder.

Thats what I was thinking, Event folder it is!

Do you mean "are you creating a new event" or "are you adding the image to an existing event"? If it is in the timeline it is in an event. There is no way around that. If you didn't import it into an event first then it will automatically be added to the event associated with the project. That is the purpose of associating an event with a project.... it is where FCPX puts things that are dragged into a timeline directly from the timeline.

Some folks create their own "graphics" or whatever folder in the Events folder for Finder level organization, and Import into FCPX without copying to the Event folder. Defeats the whole purpose of an Event Library to me, but hey, some folks like to create extra work.

So the best thing to do then is say if I have a psd file in a specific Photoshop folder on my system drive just import that file, or any other graphics, into the Events folder. Then if changes are to be made just open the psd file from within the Event folder?

If you want. There's no rules about this. Maybe just leave it where it is, don't import it, just let it link. Then you save drive space. Or "move" it to the Event folder. Totally up to you, there's no rules about what you have to do.

But like you say if FCPX is using the Event folder as a library of all media that is used so it can be sorted etc it should be in the Event folder

Yes, but the original doesn't have to be in the Original Files folder, if you have it somewhere else you'd rather it be in the Finder. Or, you can move it all into the Event folder physically when you Import it. So yes and no. Sorry, I don't have a solid answer for which is best at the moment. Each situation is unique.

I understand. It's like my current scratch disk for FCP6 I have the bulk of the media all in one place but I also have specific rushes on another drive for management purposes. I'll keep experimenting with it and see if I come across any problems.
thanks

As its only a graphic I would definitely import it to the Event. If it was a movie then probably not.
On the disk that hold my Events I've created a directory called Digital Assets and in there I keep folders with the same name as their corresponding projects.

In this folders I usually have directories called: Raw Movies, Converted Movies, Animations, Music and Graphics.

I do this mainly because it's these types of files that you will want to use again in other videos for the same client. This way there are always at hand.

I'm with you, Seanus...that's a great way to do it. I do the same for various splash screens used in client projects and then simply link to them as needed.

To add to that, I have also created an EVENT for commonly used compound clips of title sequences. The only drawback to that is your project, while open and using the particular clip keeps all the clips in that event online. May eventually be a memory hog. But when the project is done, it can be duplicated using the USED clips only. Then the original can be deleted. Maybe there's a better way around this, but it works.

With FCPX I started to changed the way I had been working for years with Premiere and was getting closer to how I liked to work on Avid. Everything was going in that Events folder. But due to the way FCPX works with the "Final Cut Events" and "Final Cut Events Not In Use" folders I'm now getting as much as possible out of there and using aliases.

Sadly it doesn't work for proxy media.

I don't know what that means, it doesn't work fro proxy media? Proxy media is in the events folder. What doesn't work?

I'm not surprised, I could have worded that better. While experimenting I tried copying the proxy files to a different location and created aliases which I put in their place. FCPX wouldn't recognise them.

I'd just keep it all in the Event folder, let the FCP X database do the organizational heavy lifting for you.

Ideally so would I, but different folks with different strokes and all that.

I tend to import graphics into the relevant job event and keyword them 'graphics'. I don't copy them into the event database - I prefer the finder based organisation I've been using for years. As mentioned, its personal choice and depends on what you're working onI don't feel it adds or subtracts work to what I do and it means I can access PSDs and make changes (as is often the case with graphics) and relink the files. For graphics I regularly use (for instance, one client has a lot of 3rd party promo stills that often go into different edits) I have a folder that I drag into the photos browser on the right of the timeline. I find this helps as its there regardless of which events I have live - I use event manager x to turn off any projects I'm not working with for speed/clarity. The only problem with this is that whenever I trash prefs I have to redrag the folder back into the photos browser - I trash prefs with preference manager and you can save prefs so maybe I could restore to stop this happening.

Keep it as it's own Event, don't put it in the Photo Browser.

Well, surely that's what Apple put both the photo and music/sound browsers there for - the repeatedly used libraries of images and sounds, in a similar way to Logic, Motion, etc. Events should be for that - events, i.e. projects - not libraries. There's enough posts on here pointing out how an overloaded event browser slows performance - which is why Event Manager X is such a handy tool.