Rendering Speed in FCPX

[acedj1]

I've just updated from a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro to a brand new MacBook Pro (15" Display - Intel Core i7 - 16 GB Memory)

I expected to see a much faster experience on FCP, but didn't notice any difference. If anything it seemed to render a little more slowly than normal!

Should I see a difference in these models? Maybe I'm doing something wrong in FCP itself.

 

[ppenn]

I've just updated from a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro to a brand new MacBook Pro (15" Display - Intel Core i7 - 16 GB Memory)

I expected to see a much faster experience on FCP, but didn't notice any difference. If anything it seemed to render a little more slowly than normal!

Should I see a difference in these models? Maybe I'm doing something wrong in FCP itself.

Really depends...are you making proxies, are you optimizing footage on input, whats your resolution...handful of factors

 

[acedj1]

The fact that I don;t know what proxies are or how to to optimize footage on input may well be a large part of the problem

I know enough about FCP to use it, but not enough to use it well.

Each week I do the same thing. I import a video presentation, add slides and then export it to Vimeo. The media is captured on a single unmanned camera. This means I normally have to crop and resize the screen a little. It is this and then the export that take a long time processing.

Also, I am running the FCP on my internal drive, but storing the media and library on an external drive. I've had the 1TB external for about a year and half now, so I don't know if it's USB 2.0 or 3.0

 

[funwithstuff]

The fact that I don;t know what proxies are or how to to optimize footage on input may well be a large part of the problem

I know enough about FCP to use it, but not enough to use it well.

Each week I do the same thing. I import a video presentation, add slides and then export it to Vimeo. The media is captured on a single unmanned camera. This means I normally have to crop and resize the screen a little. It is this and then the export that take a long time processing.

Also, I am running the FCP on my internal drive, but storing the media and library on an external drive. I've had the 1TB external for about a year and half now, so I don't know if it's USB 2.0 or 3.0

If you're using a USB 2.0 drive then that'll be the bottleneck and the problem. Still, if the drive isn't the problem, you could try optimizing your footage.

For optimized media, right-click your files and choose Transcode Media, then check Create optimized media. The same checkbox on import will do it too.

 

[MSastre]

The fact that I don;t know what proxies are or how to to optimize footage on input may well be a large part of the problem

I know enough about FCP to use it, but not enough to use it well.

Each week I do the same thing. I import a video presentation, add slides and then export it to Vimeo. The media is captured on a single unmanned camera. This means I normally have to crop and resize the screen a little. It is this and then the export that take a long time processing.

Also, I am running the FCP on my internal drive, but storing the media and library on an external drive. I've had the 1TB external for about a year and half now, so I don't know if it's USB 2.0 or 3.0

One of the best resources on learning to use FCP X well is http://www.rippletraining.com Highly recommended

 

[funwithstuff]

One of the best resources on learning to use FCP X well is http://www.rippletraining.com Highly recommended

The Ripple guys are great, but if you're looking for an alternative, take one of my courses?

https://www.macprovideo.com/tutorials/finalcutpro-application

 

[MSastre]

The Ripple guys are great, but if you're looking for an alternative, take one of my courses?

https://www.macprovideo.com/tutorials/finalcutpro-application

These are great as well.

 

[3568378]

I've just updated from a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro to a brand new MacBook Pro (15" Display - Intel Core i7 - 16 GB Memory)

I expected to see a much faster experience on FCP, but didn't notice any difference. If anything it seemed to render a little more slowly than normal!

Should I see a difference in these models? Maybe I'm doing something wrong in FCP itself.

I used a 2015 15" Pro AMD and it's got a 512GB drive. I seriously considered going with a smaller drive and grabbing an iMac instead (the screen is gorgeous after all!) but am SO glad I got the 512. Almost wish I had a 1TB...for the reason of editing. 4K video is HUGE. Our YouTube channel features shorts of about 8-10 minutes of our kids meeting people from different professions and careers and learning all about what they do. In an average shoot we might grab 45 minutes worth of raw footage from 2 camera bodies (Sony A6300's) and throw in a little drone footage and some action cam from time to time, all in 4K. These projects with just that little amount of footage time can sometimes produce 200-300 GB of 4K footage. Once edited the final video at 8-10 minutes may sit at 2-3 GB but this means when editing I have to have space for all that raw footage. I know I could get a thunderbolt or USB 3.0 drive but a lot of times I'm editing in remote places and I don't want a whole space ship looking set up of dongles and extensions coming off my laptop. That said, storage is key. Buy as much internal as you can afford from this point on and as far as external, make use of Thunderbolt/USB 3--and in your case 3.1/C which I don't have on mine. I think yours is Thunderbolt 3 while mine is 2 and while 2 is still plenty fast, you've got options to make use of some very fast external storage. That will make ALL the difference in the world.

AND assuming that your Pro has a dedicated graphics card, know that FCPX is very well suited and matched for the AMD graphics card. Render times on FCPX vs Premier on these cards are significantly faster. I'm not knocking Premier because it's a great program and probably more of the industry standard, but FCPX is what I went with because of those rendering times and the fact that I wanted a one time fee rather than an ongoing subscription. It's a great program so go watch some videos on color correction and LUTS and plugins and things like that because there are some great ones for Final Cut that will make your stuff look very professional. Also, Leno Fx (Google it) is one of my favorite creators of FCPX plugins and titles and transitions and stuff so check that site out but there are other great creators out there kicking out some really cool plugins worth your time and $$.