Editing Question

brandondull

Well-known member
Why does Final Cut Pro make you render video when you have more then 4 tracks. I have a 10 video track overlay and every time I touch a track in that overlay I get the red line and it makes me render them. It is really frustrating.
 
Without knowing what the sequence settings are, the media drive, computer, RAM and version numbers, I could venture a reason.

10 Video tracks is quite a few, particularly is your media drive isn't fast enough, or depending on what sequence setting you have.
 
I am basically doing a little show reel. Kind of link the "True Life" show on MTV. Similar to that intro. I have a MacBook Pro. 4gb Ram. and I am running Final Cut Studio 3.
 
It also depends on each of your files, and what format they're in. Drop a 1080p video on a 720p timeline, and you have to render it. However (I just tried), throwing 10 1080p videos on 10 tracks does NOT cause a necessary render. Mixing file types will do that.
 
I am basically doing a little show reel. Kind of link the "True Life" show on MTV. Similar to that intro. I have a MacBook Pro. 4gb Ram. and I am running Final Cut Studio 3.

What sort of footage- camera codecs, sequence settings, resolution? Pretend like we can't see your computer from here.

Noah
 
If you are COMPOSITING footage, as in we see all 10 shots at the same time, HECK YEAH you'll have to render. With a laptop and limited to firewire drives...yup. A tower with 8GB RAM connected to a 400MB/s RAID might be able to do this without needing to render. But it depends on the codec used.
 
I am basically doing a little show reel. Kind of link the "True Life" show on MTV. Similar to that intro. I have a MacBook Pro. 4gb Ram. and I am running Final Cut Studio 3.

Thanks, but let us know what the sequence settings are, the media drive, computer, RAM and version numbers are.
 
adjust your rt extreme settings in the top left of the timeline window. Set them to:
playback video quality = dynamic
playback frame rate = dynamic

also make sure your video format matches your sequence settings (usually done with Easy Setup)
 
I think all the footage was shot at 720/30p and 720/24p on my Panasonic HVX200a.

The sequence settings under "general"
1280x720 HDTV 720 (16:9)
Square
None
29.97

What do you mean by media drive? If you mean hard drive the footage is coming off a Lacie 2tb.

I am running Final Cut Studio 3 on a MacBook Pro with 4gb of Ram hooked up to a Apple 30inch Cinema Display screen
 
I don't have FCP in front of me but I'm pretty sure those aren't the right sequence settings to be used w/DVCPro HD. Go to the Easy Setup Menu, select the correct DVCPro HD option, create a new Sequence and that newly created sequence will have the right settings.


Lethal
 
The sequence must be wrong, because my other problem was anytime I import the first video clip into a projects timeline I get this message:

"For best performance your sequence and external video should be set to the format of the clips you are editing.
Change sequence settins to match the clip settings?
Yes No "

I always end up clicking "yes"

Could this be apart of the "rendering problem" I am having?
 
sounds like that's at least a part of the problem. For 720 24p use the Easy Setup and you can choose that directly. It would put your editing timebase at 23.98 (23.976) and not the 29.97 you say you currently are using.
 
Easy setup will bring up a panel with drop down lists. You can select HD to narrow it down and select 23.98 frame rate to narrow it down further. From there you can choose 720p24p if that's what you're shooting. I believe it even shows DVCPRO HD 720p24p.
 
That is not changing anything with my timeline? Its for when I start to capture footage with my camera into a project. I just tried it. I am trying to change my current sequence so I don't have to render these overlays and get that weird error message about the timeline.
 
you may need to set that up before starting your project. You can still change your editing timebase by going into sequence settings for that project and do it there. I am not in front of my computer so I am trying to help from memory. Try doing the easy setup and then opening a new sequence.
 
The sequence must be wrong, because my other problem was anytime I import the first video clip into a projects timeline I get this message:

"For best performance your sequence and external video should be set to the format of the clips you are editing.
Change sequence settins to match the clip settings?
Yes No "

I always end up clicking "yes"

Could this be apart of the "rendering problem" I am having?

If you got that message, clicked yes, and ended up w/the sequence settings you listed previously the first clip you dropped in the timeline wasn't DVCPro HD. What are all the video formats and codecs you are working with?

Once footage is in the timeline you can't change the timebase so you have to create a new sequence if you want to do that. Like I said before, you have to change the Easy Setup and then create a new sequence. Or you can create a new sequence, open up your sequence settings and click the "load sequence presets" button to select the right preset. If you are mixing and matching different formats, frame rates, codecs, etc, FCP will have to render all of the media that is different than the sequence settings. You can avoid this by transcoding all of your media into the same codec, format and frame rate prior to editing but whether or not that's the right way to go varies from project to project.


-Andrew
 
If you got that message, clicked yes, and ended up w/the sequence settings you listed previously the first clip you dropped in the timeline wasn't DVCPro HD. What are all the video formats and codecs you are working with?

Once footage is in the timeline you can't change the timebase so you have to create a new sequence if you want to do that. Like I said before, you have to change the Easy Setup and then create a new sequence. Or you can create a new sequence, open up your sequence settings and click the "load sequence presets" button to select the right preset. If you are mixing and matching different formats, frame rates, codecs, etc, FCP will have to render all of the media that is different than the sequence settings. You can avoid this by transcoding all of your media into the same codec, format and frame rate prior to editing but whether or not that's the right way to go varies from project to project.


-Andrew

Thanks Andrew I think that was the most helpful post. I know for a fact its all 720 footage but different frame rates. Thats probably why it makes me render it. I guess I will just have to stick it out and render out this project. For the next project I will be more careful to set up the" easy set up" so I can avoid having to render as much and get that sequence error message.
 
If you mix frame rates, invariably you will get a render bar. I don't know of any way around that, especially if you are editing multiple tracks on laptop.

One thing you didn't indicate is what you are using as a dedicated media drive.

One suggestion is to shoot at one frame rate, and stay there especially if you intend to do multiple streams.

And then take some time to examine what easy set ups are available for DVCProHD and make certain that set up matches you footage.

Combine that with a hardware RAID from iStoragePro or Caldigit and you won't have as many issues.
 
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