"smaller" version of project for laptop

slimchrisp

slimchrisp

Well-known member
i feel like i read that you can make a smaller version of an existing fcp project so that it is portable and you can edit on your laptop without having to lug around an external hard drive.

i'm guessing it does something like make low rez copies of your media files, and then you make your edits as normal. when you get back, you just re-sync the project up with the high rez media files.

does this sound familiar to anyone? i'm on the most recent version of fcp, and have all the updates. just got my macbook pro and i'm ready to hit the road!
 
Question is what kind of offline do you want to make?
If you come from DV/DVCPRO material, I cannot really see the point. (Editing DVCPROHD material on a MBP and G5 every day here)

If you come from kind of uncompressed source, I can see the point... maybe.

It is really a bigger cost/timesaver to edit at native if you come from the mentioned formats. Rather buy external FW 800 drives for the media.

That is, If you don't have a 100:1 ratio for recorded material vs finished product.

Gunleik
 
BenB said:
Editing off the system drive is never a good idea.
Click to expand...

i thought i read about this as functionality in the current version of final cut.

Niels Neeskens said:
Go to media manager in fcp. Here you can make smaller sized files to work with on the way
Click to expand...

thanks niels. i'll check that out when i get home.
 
BenB said:
Editing off the system drive is never a good idea.
Click to expand...


Why? I do it all the time, and I agree that it's not preferable, but it's very possible and can give you excellent results, so I want reasons.

Also when you use the media manager to dump the online footage down Photo JPEG Offline RT for editing on a notebook, which is exactly the situation described in the Final Cut Studio manuals, they're kind of assuming you're doing that to get files small enough so you can edit off the notebook's internal drive. So again I want evidence why it's never a good idea, because according to Apple it should and can work just fine.
 
epplegacks said:
Why? I do it all the time, and I agree that it's not preferable, but it's very possible and can give you excellent results, so I want reasons.

Also when you use the media manager to dump the online footage down Photo JPEG Offline RT for editing on a notebook, which is exactly the situation described in the Final Cut Studio manuals, they're kind of assuming you're doing that to get files small enough so you can edit off the notebook's internal drive. So again I want evidence why it's never a good idea, because according to Apple it should and can work just fine.
Click to expand...

yeah. i wouldn't mind hearing more about this either.
 
I think you're missing the point. Photo JPEG video files are not that much smaller than DVCPRO-HD. DVCPRO-HD runs just fine on FCP. Off-line editing is mostly a film thing or otherwise with the original format causes files that take too much CPU power to run smoothly. DVCPRO-HD does not fall into that catagory. They run just fine, not problems.

If you want a "smaller" project to edit on a portable Mac, you CAN do it, but why? You still need to edit off an external hard drive, and DVCPRO-HD will run just fine.

We're not saying it "can't" be done, just that there's no pressing "need" for it.

Editing off the system drive is a bad idea as digital video streams and the data stream needed by FCP and the OS don't work well off the system drive except for really small project. I'll refer to you the "Optimizing You Final Cut Pro System" book.

My question is, "why" do you need off-line versions of your project?
 
i was thinking along the line of i'm going to be on the go for a weekend, and it would be great to get in some editing without lugging around an external drive. who knows, maybe looking at some things on a plane, maybe between meetings in a coffee shop, whatever. just some way to do a little work without having all of my gear. nothing but a laptop.
 
If the project is small enough, you can edit off a laptop's hard drive. If it is a project that's just too big or complex, you'll have major problems.

One thing to look at is one of the small Firewire hard drives that are powered off the FW buss. I use one of these for my trainings. They're limited in size, but work well enough for, again, small enough projects, as the don't have the speed for really demanding projects.

You need to just think about how large and complex the project is, or what section of it you need. I've been trying to get editing done on plane trips around the country since FCP v.1. Portables are simply not the best editing solution. Not that it can't be done, but they just don't have the power of a tower with solid hardware.

Balance, you just have to find the balance, and there's not definitive lines drawn in the portable editing solution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top