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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

FCP Proxy Workflow Very Slow

Robert Hofmeyr

Robert Hofmeyr

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Hi guys. I'm hoping someone can help with my current Final Cut issue. I have a library with about 1000 8K 60fps R3D clips in it. The original media is on a NAS, but I have made proxies of all the raw files. If I tell FCP to view Proxies Only and open the library with the NAS disconnected, everything is snappy. But as soon as I mount the NAS share (with FCP still set to view Proxies Only) FCP slows down to the point that it is unusable, and crashes frequently. If I change to view original media things speed up significantly, but playback is unsurprisingly not smooth.

Latest OS and FCP on a 2020 13" M1 MacBook Pro.

Any suggestions?
 
This is happening to me, too and I'm unclear on why. Proxies seem to only work as proxies if the originals aren't connected. Very inconvenient for a proxy preferred workflow if there are others things I need on that drive. I have found no clues.
 
Stuart Hooper said:
This is happening to me, too and I'm unclear on why. Proxies seem to only work as proxies if the originals aren't connected. Very inconvenient for a proxy preferred workflow if there are others things I need on that drive. I have found no clues.
Click to expand...

Thanks Stuart. Yeah, it's very frustrating.
 
I'm basically the poster child for FCPX, I don't think my business would exist without it, we pull off things that are insane due to its speed and reliability and I often argue on twitter about it vs other NLEs. I've had a tiny bit of creeping in my brain lately about maybe getting better at Resolve just to hedge my bets, but it usually goes away because my workflow is pretty ProResRaw heavy. Still these things make me wonder. For now I think faster hard drives across the board and hope they fix some of this stuff.
 
Stuart Hooper said:
I'm basically the poster child for FCPX, I don't think my business would exist without it, we pull off things that are insane due to its speed and reliability and I often argue on twitter about it vs other NLEs. I've had a tiny bit of creeping in my brain lately about maybe getting better at Resolve just to hedge my bets, but it usually goes away because my workflow is pretty ProResRaw heavy. Still these things make me wonder. For now I think faster hard drives across the board and hope they fix some of this stuff.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed response. Yeah, faster drives may help, but that defeats the purpose of a proxy workflow (and is not affordable for me when dealing with many terabytes of video).
 
I noticed this as well. Doesn't seem to be an issue on smaller projects but it's definitely an issue on larger projects with many clips.
I'm not sure what's going on under the hood but I do wonder if the slowdown is based on FCP constantly referencing and indexing the R3D clips and it's method of doing so is inefficient with R3D being broken up into 2GB chunks.

I think the problem can be worse with longer/higher resolution clips that are made up of more of the 2GB segments.

I recently sent feedback to Apple using the Final Cut Pro feedback form.
https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro/

Might also let RED directly know as well.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
 
Brian Timmons said:
I noticed this as well. Doesn't seem to be an issue on smaller projects but it's definitely an issue on larger projects with many clips.
I'm not sure what's going on under the hood but I do wonder if the slowdown is based on FCP constantly referencing and indexing the R3D clips and it's method of doing so is inefficient with R3D being broken up into 2GB chunks.

I think the problem can be worse with longer/higher resolution clips that are made up of more of the 2GB segments.

I recently sent feedback to Apple using the Final Cut Pro feedback form.
https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro/

Might also let RED directly know as well.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian. The only workaround I've found is to unmount the external drive and edit the proxies. Then FCP is fast. It's pretty annoying though because I don't make proxies of everything, so, for example, my audio files and BTS GoPro shots go offline when I disconnect the NAS.
 
Robert Hofmeyr said:
Thanks Brian. The only workaround I've found is to unmount the external drive and edit the proxies. Then FCP is fast. It's pretty annoying though because I don't make proxies of everything, so, for example, my audio files and BTS GoPro shots go offline when I disconnect the NAS.
Click to expand...

Hey Robert,
Yes unmounting the drive with the R3Ds has been my approach as well.
With audio files I normally keep them in a separate folder on another drives from the R3Ds or import them where they are stored within the FCP library.
The GoPro shots can be transcoded to Prores proxy or mp4 if needed.

Hopefully this can get figured out though I have a feeling it's going to take some back and forth with RED and Apple at the table to see where the optimizations can be made.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
 
For what it's worth my issues are with mostly ProRes Raw material. Maybe file size is related but its not r3d only...
 
New interesting thing is happening...when I reconnect originals to say a raid that were previously connected to a different drive, the proxies for those same files are automatically moved to the trash. Inexplicable. Lost hundreds of gigs of proxies while reconnecting originals to a new raid I just bought.
 
Stuart Hooper said:
New interesting thing is happening...when I reconnect originals to say a raid that were previously connected to a different drive, the proxies for those same files are automatically moved to the trash. Inexplicable. Lost hundreds of gigs of proxies while reconnecting originals to a new raid I just bought.
Click to expand...

Oh dear. That's bad. I have not experienced this issue myself.
 
Without hopefully sidetracking this thread, I am interested as to what is the best workflow when starting a new LARGE R3D FCPX project that you intend to edit using proxies?
  • Do you start your project at the full R3D format (let's say 8K) and create proxies from within? Are you then meant to edit 2K proxies in an 8K project?
  • Or do you create all your proxies by other means (RCX PRO etc) and then start a new project at the 2K proxy size. Only converting back to the original upon completion of the edit?
Both ways work but what is best practises?

I'd be really interested in anybodys experience?
Thanks!
 
William Long said:
Without hopefully sidetracking this thread, I am interested as to what is the best workflow when starting a new LARGE R3D FCPX project that you intend to edit using proxies?
  • Do you start your project at the full R3D format (let's say 8K) and create proxies from within? Are you then meant to edit 2K proxies in an 8K project?
  • Or do you create all your proxies by other means (RCX PRO etc) and then start a new project at the 2K proxy size. Only converting back to the original upon completion of the edit?
Both ways work but what is best practises?

I'd be really interested in anybodys experience?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I prefer the first option: import all the R3D footage into FCP, create proxies inside the FCP library on my internal SSD, disconnect external drive with raw files, edit proxies in 4K or 8K projects, then reconnect external drive, change to view "Optimised/Original" and export. Even thought he proxy files are only HD or smaller, FCP still treats them as if they are 8K footage.
 
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