Ex-1 Users who edit in Final Cut

B

Bobonli

Well-known member
I'm just checking/fine tuning my editing workflow to see if I am using the most efficient process for achieving good results. I recently fiddled with some presets (perhaps wrongly) and it seems that I'm needing a lot of rendering on each clip.

So, please let me know how you run your "Easy Set Up" and sequence settings.

I shoot primarily 30p, so I have my Easy Set up configured for:

HD
XDCAMEX 1080p30 VBR
Editing timebase : 29.97

and my Sequence Settings at:
1440 x 1080
Quciktime Video Settings: XDCAM EX 1080p30
Render in 8-bt YUV (not sure this is necessary)

I'm getting good results but notice that there's a lot of rendering needed even for simple text. I'm concerned I don't have this optimized or I adjusted something incorrectly. My work goes to Vimeo and DVD.

Thank you
Bob
 
Do other people use the "Easy Set Up" feature?

I'm wondering if, by using Easy Set Up, I'm forcing the computer to do double work.

I definitely have something set wrong. I used to be able to drop clip into timeline and go to work on it. Now, as soon as I add video to the timeline the computer wants to render.

Any thoughts on where I should look to correct this?
 
I've only done a bit of EX-1 work but with anything I typically just drag it into my sequence, let final cut set it based on clip settings, and then delete the clip if I want to tweak things like timebase, or just leave it...don't really see what's wrong with this?
 
with the current versions of FCP it will ask you when you bring in a clip (assuming its different than the default that you have chosen) if you want to "change sequence settings to match clip settings"? click YES! then all settings are perfect assuming that the first clip you bring in is to be the current default for you sequence timeline.

if all other clips are the same as your first one then the computer will be the happiest it can be. if you bring in any other clips that are a differents frame rate and or size then "they will have to conform" to the first one that you brought in.

so, as you say you like to shoot in 1080p 30fps...this means that if you bring in for instance a 720p 60fps or a 1080p 24fps...then these clips will have to adapt to the origininal sequence settings. they are also then going to require more of your computers CPU power to keep them rolling in clean RT. on an 8 core mac these different clips wont faze your performance at all. even putting a FCP 3 way color corrector wont slow it down but once you start adding dissolves & transition and have many layer "stacked up" then you will start to see a little more jittery playback performance as the video plays past these heavily loaded areas. this is with playback quality set at "HI" and frame rate set at "FULL"....also with "Unlimitied RT" set and not "Safe RT". i never bother with "Safe RT" unless i want to render a section to see the most pristine playback.

unfortunetely HD is much more brutal on any computer than SD was. cant do anywhere near the amount of layers and stuff in HD. for me i have had to learn to be more thrifty about how my timeline looks if i want to keep the playback performance clean and pristine.

by the way, i just updated to the new FCP and i dont see any difference in performance from the the prior version of FCP....none (at least so far). (Nehalem 2.93ghz oct, 16gig ram, 4870) i am hoping that Snow Leopard is holdiing the key to the much needed performance bump that is desperately needed for all of this HD media.

on a very side note since we are discussing performance....my newest 8 core 2.93ghz Nehalem doesnt feel one bit better than my 2 year old 8 core 3.0ghz Clovertown system. the multiprocessors just are not being utilized anywhere near to their fullest except for a couple of functions here and there or a couple of plugin that actually are written for the mutlicore.

its really up to Snow Leaopard at this point....(& Grand Central Dispatch)!

thanks
david
www.davidprobst.com

recent video shot with EX-1 & 5DmkII...audio was live with Zoom H4n...5DmkII lenses used: 200mm 1.8, 85mm 1.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjehb82yFlQ
 
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