are quicktime reference files supposed to be big?

F

FilmBoy77

Veteran
i always thought when you export a project from FCP as a quicktime reference file it was supposed to be quicker/smaller?

i have a 1 hour and 30 min project i edited and was wondering why it says it will take 3 hours...is that about right or am i doing something wrong?
 
You probably have recompress all checked, that will not be a reference, it will be self contained. It should not take that long to make a reference movie.
 
finally got back around to this same project and damn if it doesn't say estimated time 3 hours. nothing was checked. i went downstairs for 10 mins and came back up and now it says 2 hours.

how long should it take for a 1hr 30 min video with just about 10 text animations (lower thirds)???
 
What format? If HDV, then yeah, it will still take a while. Stupid GOP format. When I export a reference movie of my DVCPRO HD 95 min sequence, it takes about 30 min or so. Self contained, about 2 hours.

OH! Is it fully rendered? If not, FCP renders, THEN export the frame. VERY tedious.
 
that's the thing, this is something i recorded with regular dv with my $300 camcorder and everything is rendered. i don't get it. i thought it was going slow because i was saving to my external drive so i tried saving to my desktop and it said 2 hours instead of 3 hours. :( wtf?
 
When you go to Quicktime Export, choose current settings, and de-select make movie self contained. If this is still happeneing you have one of two problems. You have an effect on every shot, which means FCP has to render this while outputting, even if it's a real time effect, For a 1 and a half hour project, 2 -3 hours sounds about right. If you don't have an effect over every shot, your sequence settings are wrong. Highlight one of your clips and right click to item properties. Doublecheck the settings of your clip (DV, 720x480, 29.97 and so forth). Make sure these match the settings of your edited timeline. If they don't, Final Cut will treat the whole project as an effect and have to render it in its entirety while writing to Quicktime.
 
okay i right clicked and checked the movie clips in the timeline and they are correct, but how do i check to make sure that i am editing in the right timeline?

i can't remember if i switched it to DV instead of 720 format. i THINK i did but maybe i didn't. wouldnt the entire timeline have to render before i preview it if i was in the wrong setup though?

i have about 12 chapter markers and only 12 lower thirds that fade in and fade out when a new clip fades in. no real hardcore effects.
 
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Go to the sequence tab, select settings. The timeline could still play as a realtime effect without rendering. Do you have any color line over your timeline, even a really faint green?
 
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