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pcmxa

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 9, 2011
170
8
ABQ
I am wondering about render times for FCPx (I just got it today). I am rendering (exporting using the default vimeo setting under share) a fifteen minute timeline that has a couple of effects (Dream Look, Vibrance, Spotlight) and has been reversed and slowed down. So far it is about 25% done and has taken 4 hours. I exported an equivalent timeline from Premier Pro CS5 (obviously not the same but equivalent in terms of filters) using Media Encoder and it took about an hour. I am wondering if the speed drop is because of the background sharing or if I am missing something about setting it up. I guess I will try Compresor and test that against Media Encoder.
 
I am wondering about render times for FCPx (I just got it today). I am rendering (exporting using the default vimeo setting under share) a fifteen minute timeline that has a couple of effects (Dream Look, Vibrance, Spotlight) and has been reversed and slowed down. So far it is about 25% done and has taken 4 hours. I exported an equivalent timeline from Premier Pro CS5 (obviously not the same but equivalent in terms of filters) using Media Encoder and it took about an hour. I am wondering if the speed drop is because of the background sharing or if I am missing something about setting it up. I guess I will try Compresor and test that against Media Encoder.

I don't have an answer, but I do have a curiosity question. How do you get new software and create a 15 minute video all in the same day? I hope you share a link to the final. :D
 
Render Times

It is just a a couple of long (duration) shots for an idea I am playing around with in order to figure out what I will need to actually film it. Just using it to begin to learn FCPx.

I am still geting incredibly long render times. The background render of the storyline didn't take all that long, but the export is taking forever. It is now showing as it will take 7+ hours in the Share Monitor. That is for it at -65% speed with color balance on, and the vibrancy filter. That seems slow, so I am hoping something is wrong, but with no settings to speak of, I don't know what.

The same clip in Premier with 3 Way CC, Broadcast Colors, Highlight/Shadow (set to 2 seconds), and Color Finesse 3.0 is projected to take 3.5 hours with Adobe Media Encoder (that is with the Share Window render also running (why does pausing the Share Window render bring up a dialogue box that says you will lose everything that has happened so far? How is it pausing if it is going to kill everything you've done?)).

Anyway, I am trying to get a sense of why I am getting such slow renders from FCPx and Compressor 4. One Idea is that my computer + is not activated because when I did try to use it, I couldn't get the render to even start. Any good trouble shooting guides on that?

I am liking the FCPx interface and media organization, now that I have figured out how to relocate clips and projects. I love the instant play with effects on and the overall speed of the program (besides exporting). Not sure about only one viewer in terms of setting in and out points, but I think I can get used to that. I don't need any of the missing features essential to a professional workflow, so if I can figure out the rendering stuff, it loks like a quicker easier program than premier, though I am not sure if I can give up the tight integration with AE and PS.
 
Did you check the Activity Monitor if all your cores are saturated?

I know Qmaster is now directly built into Compressor, but do you still have to do some setup for it?

Even on my old C2D iMac Compressor doesn't need longer than an hour for a file like yours.
 
Did you check the Activity Monitor if all your cores are saturated?

I know Qmaster is now directly built into Compressor, but do you still have to do some setup for it?

Even on my old C2D iMac Compressor doesn't need longer than an hour for a file like yours.

All the cores were pegged, so I think that part of it is working correctly. I followed all the steps on this page http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1888 and it seems to be working better, at least the jobs are starting, though the render times do still seem a bit long (at around 3 hours for compressor and 2 hours for Adobe Media Encoder) but maybe the 65% frame rate or filters are taxing it more than I would have expected.

Getting rid of the speed changes halves the render time in both, but AME is still 50 - 100% faster than compressor. Something to think about.
 
Compressor was never known to be a speed king, but from my limited testing, the results look a bit better.
 
What spec is your machine?

MacPro Quad 2.8 8GB RAM Dual ATI 5770 4TB HDs. Not the fastest machine by any means but I would expect better render times than what I have been getting with compressor. I still think there is something weird going on in my settings or some other drag on the machine. It will just take some time to play with it.
 
Are you using optical flow analasys in fcpx to retime the clips? If so, that could be the culprit. It takes forever compared to frame blending, but looks beautiful :)
 
Are you using optical flow analasys in fcpx to retime the clips? If so, that could be the culprit. It takes forever compared to frame blending, but looks beautiful :)
awesome tip :) now this is the stuff I want to hear on this app positive or negative as long as its productive.
THX my first project (personal) with FCPX was 72 GoProHD clips (a few days of skate sesh) and man it was fun to learn and deal (clips) with at the same time.
 
Are you using optical flow analasys in fcpx to retime the clips? If so, that could be the culprit. It takes forever compared to frame blending, but looks beautiful :)

I wasn't but I thought I would give it a try. Now the clips won't play at all. When scrubbing or previewing they just show the first fram of the clip nothing else. Same thing happens when I try blending as the quality option. I exported a chunk and what rendered was the first fram of the clip with no motion whatsoever. I am beginning to think there is something wrong with my install. Might need to uninstall and do a clean reinstall.
 
What are you using as your scratch disc? What about your app disc? Are they the same or are you using an external drive for your target or scratch disc?

I've not played with FCPX yet....just bought it and D|L`ing now. I've been paying my mortgage with FCP for the past six years...and see NO reason I can't continue to for the time being...certainly as X matures!!! I'm really really excited. I'm completely file based... P2, SxS, and Canon DSLR...delivery is digital for me as well...I'm truly eager to start playing. Good luck to the OP...those times don't sound right to me either

J
 
I wasn't but I thought I would give it a try. Now the clips won't play at all. When scrubbing or previewing they just show the first fram of the clip nothing else. Same thing happens when I try blending as the quality option. I exported a chunk and what rendered was the first fram of the clip with no motion whatsoever. I am beginning to think there is something wrong with my install. Might need to uninstall and do a clean reinstall.

It looks like FCPx won't do frame blending or optical flow on a reversed clip. It works if I take off the reversal but if the clip is set to play backwards it just shows the initial frame.
 
Although I can't speak for Compressor 4, it has been my experience that Adobe Media Encoder (CS5) is in most cases faster than Compressor (3.5, at least).

But from what I've been reading on 3.5 vs. 4 comparisons, the speed differences are negligible since Version 4 still relies on QMaster (and likely the exact same application framework) for multicore rendering.
 
It looks like FCPx won't do frame blending or optical flow on a reversed clip. It works if I take off the reversal but if the clip is set to play backwards it just shows the initial frame.

Just successfully reversed a clip, set the speed to -25% and set the quality to optical flow. So it works for me at least...
 
Just successfully reversed a clip, set the speed to -25% and set the quality to optical flow. So it works for me at least...

Well, that's weird. I have motion 3 but not 4. Are you running motion 4. I am not using motion to do the retime, just trying to figure out what might be the problem.
 
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