At first I was thinking the structure was overcomplicating things. But the further down in the video I came, the more sense it made. Great tips, thanks🙏
Brad your videos are special in this training genre. I watch them all, and here is my vote for a more comprehensive FCP editing workflow video. I would like to know how you manage rough cuts, second cuts, grading workflows and final cuts. Or whatever you do. I learn very quickly from your style.
I’m a beginner… but the beginner videos were too basic in that they didn’t tell me what was possible. Am I going to implement (or even understand) most of this? Nope. However, you gave me enough of what’s possible so that I can start by mastering a dumbed down template and grow from there. Thanks so much. (I took notes, screen shots, the whole shabang… felt like I was back in school!)
This is the type of stuff I want! With the other FCPX videos I was finding it seemed like people didn’t really know what they ware doing or why they ware doing it like that. Now I’m actually learning something 🎉
16:02 - "when I moved to Portugal..." WHAAAAAT?!?! Are you in Portugal? Where? I'll mail you tomorrow, ASAP. How great. First of all, welcome to our country, second of all, we need to grab a cup of coffee 😁 All the best, Brad!
loved this mate - thank you - would love to see an edit work flow order in how you step through an effective workflow ie 1. import files 2. scrub 3. coloring 4. transitions etc etc!
Yes 14:02 please save my life and make a full tutorial of your editing workflow 😅 I'm editing 20+ hours of footage every day for my daily vlogs down to 10 - 20 minute videos & I need to get my editing time down desperately because I also run two businesses & I'm lucky to get 4 hours sleep per night!! I would be ever so grateful if you could help speed up my workflow 🙏 Thank you for the content!! Liked, commented & subscribed!! 🫡
This answered every question I had in my quest to clean up my folders & Mac & summed up every video I searched for on how to do it. Thank you!! Wish I could favorite this video😊
Thank you so much for this amazing video Brad!!! I learned a lot because of it 🙂 Would love to see more breakdowns regarding workflows and other FCP tricks. I'll keep on following you!!
One of the biggest issues I was having was the fact that I could not make heads or tails out of the naming convention given by my DJI Pocket 3. And it was like pulling teeth to get FCP to put the clips in any sort of chronological order. I started to rename the clips but that was so time consuming. Your tool fixes that. @@Brad_West
Man been doing this for about 3yrs with my wife and kids. Hiking/travel channel 1momwithaplan. I really enjoyed your thoughts and information. I will have to watch other videos to maybe learn a new things. Thanks bro
For your last point, you can use Show Audio Lanes and all audio will be in their own lanes. I agree with you though- audio must be the worst thing in Final Cut Pro, it can simple not be compared to Da Vinci !
Yeah that is definitely a great way to do it. I think the entire FCP community is waiting for some new audio features (amongst other things) 😆🤞🏼 Appreciate you watching Dom!
@@Brad_West Hey Brad! Apologies, this comment was not intended for this specific video! But yes, audio needs some love in FCPX! Thank you for your content!
MAJOR PROBLEM THOUGH!!! Ok, now that I have your attention, first let me say this tutorial is amazing and will save me untold numbers of hours. That said, while I can appreciate your priority for organization over rendering speed, why did you not touch on this? How do we incorporate as many of your awesome organization tips while still at least temporarily copying the media files to the onboard hard drive to make best use of the internal technology aimed at maximum compute/GPU/RAM and SSD speed performance? BTW, well done! Liked, commented, and subscribed. Fan for life!
I'm glad you found this video helpful! I recently did a full behind the scenes video on planning, shooting, editing, color grading and sound design that you might enjoy then. You can watch it here: ua-cam.com/video/XPWQBvLmQNg/v-deo.html
HI Brad @3:03 you give an example of importing files and organizing based on the file name. How would you recommend someone organize their files if the media import is done as a camera archive? When I import my media a folder is created where it can only be opened in FCP so I can't categorize the clips first
If that is how you're importing files, I would just recommend using the browser window to scrub through the footage and add the useable parts or the parts you like to a new timeline.
Thank you so much for this detailed video Brad! You combine basic information that is vitally helpful for newcomers, but also blend in an impressive degree of sophistication for those of us familiar with the FCP editing platform. Outstanding writing and work on this project!
You're very welcome! Really appreciate that feedback! My goal is always to make things easy enough for newbies to understand but also to provide helpful tips to more seasoned editors. 😄🙌🏼
This is absolutely phenomenal @Brad! I so much like and enjoy the structure and organization that you're using. This makes it so effective to work with. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Niiiice 🎉 Especially creating a single event for another video instead of it’s own library is golden. Makes it way easier to manage multiple short video projects per client. Thanks 🙏
using this method you should add "yyddmm" to the parent folder then the project name. By just copying the "template" folder it will copy over the same creation date meaning if you try to organise your projects by date you cant because all your project were created on the same day (same as template date) I see you have episode numbers which you can obviously search chronologically, but for those with just a project name, location or address, things will get messy quickly.
Yeah good point! That tip will definitely be useful to a lot of people. I always have numbers for my projects (even personal and client projects) so I can organize them chronologically 😄 Thanks for the comment 🙏🏼
Yeah something like the free PostHaste app is useful for that. When numbering folders like I do, I’m not worried about the creation date of the folder. But Automator is a great option for that too 👌🏼
Amazing as always! I usually follow almost every step you do but loved the automation process for renaming! BTW welcome to Portugal! Cheers from the Algarve!
@@Brad_West I love Albufeira. It all depends on where you will gonna work. Most of my clients are from Quinta do Lago, Vilamoura and Vale do Lobo and I wished I new that before moving to Portugal because I have to drive more than an hour to go there. Haha
Yes I don’t see why not. Some might recommend creating a ZIP file from your FCP library by right clicking on it and selecting compress. Might be easier to back up that one file to iCloud.
Love all the tips in this video, but something that should be stated: I use FCPX and Dropbox constantly. The project file should always be zipped or compressed into its own archive. Dropbox is infamous for breaking projects because it can’t read all the subfolders contained within the fcpbundle package. I’ve accidentally forgot to do this before copying the folder and when I need to pull it back down from Dropbox, the project gets damaged about half of the time I forget to archive it with archive utility on Mac. The rest of the video is amazing for organizational hacks to make FCPX so much easier so we can all focus on creating than finding what we did. 👌🏾
For really big projects I have zipped my FCP libraries to send to other editors, but I have had zero issues backing up my libraries without zipping them first. I find that if your internet connection is good, there are no issues syncing up that library file (and all the internal files in that library). 👊🏼
So pleased to finally watch this and thank you for sharing your tips. I am definitely going incorporate your tips. Funnily enough, I have started using template folders as it just makes things much easier.
That's a great way to set the workflow, Brad. Thanks for sharing. As a new user of Final Cut Pro, I have a question for you. I am using an external SSD for FCP and following your advice about the ZZZ folder and templates. Where should I link the "Final Cut Pro Backups"? It points toward the MOVIE folder within my Mac, but I want to make it external. Also, do I need to create this folder every time I build a new library per your workflow? A similar question is for the Cache folder. I really appreciate any help you can provide.
I use an external SSD as well and I have my backups saved to the internal SSD because if anything happens to my external SSD, at least my project file is saved somewhere else. If you want to change it, this post from Apple will help you to select an external location: support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/final-cut-pro/ver7db6ffe77/mac
What A Tutorial Brother Brad - I Am A Very Simple Time Lapse Maker And Had Absolutely No Clue These Features Were Even Possible - I Appreciate Your Organizing Skills - Something I Am Interested In, How Does One Find The "CASH" Folder That Is Storing Useless Files On The Hard Drive ?? I Am Most Likely Using The Wrong Term - Apparently Even When We Dump Our Trash Can, Some Files Aren't Really Deleted - Didn't Know That Anyway, Thanx A Million For Your Time, Cheers
I’m glad you found some value in the video Travis! Yeah sometimes you need to clear cache for different apps. For example, Dropbox has a hidden cache folder that usually gets cleared automatically but if there is an issue, some files get trapped in cache and need to be cleared. Each app is different and you would probably have to Google how to clear the cache for a specific app if you think you need to reclaim some hard drive space 😄👍🏼
Hey Christi. That would be Zyro. I’m super happy with them still. Designing is easy and they constantly add new features. Can’t be beat for the price in my opinion 😄👍🏼
Hey Brad, thanks for the great insights. If I understand correctly, you store the original clip within the "Footage" folder inside the Video Project folder. However, I assume that like many of us, you may need to reuse or recycle some footage in another project. In this case, how do you handle it? How do you retrieve it? Do you duplicate the clip or just link to it?
That is correct yeah. As far as reusing footage goes, I will usually download that file from my Dropbox backup and add it to the footage folder of the new project so that everything stays together.
Hi Brad. Really helpful video. Thanks for making this and helping me out. I have one issue. I’ve followed your Import Preferences advice but when I import my video I get the missing proxy issue with all my clips. Is turning on the transcoding option the only way to fix this?
You could regenerate the proxies for those clips, or if you import the project from one library to another, make sure that you tick the "proxy media" box.
If you move files around within the dropbox folder in the cloud, does it know to move them as well when you sync? Or does it delete them and then reupload them? Basically, does it sync in a smart way?
Holy crap! How long has that complex Rename been in the Finder??? That is good to know. I've used NameChanger for a long time, but that Finder one would probably cover half of my casual usage.
It’s been around for quite some time as far as I’m aware! I wanted a little bit of extra customization, which is why I created my own renamer workflow. It certainly is a great little tool within macOS. 😄👌🏼
@@Brad_West Those incremental changes sometimes get overlooked. I've been using that Finder since '84, before even MultiFinder. I think I still assume the Finder rename is just clicking on the name of the selected file. Sheesh. Next you'll tell me I can recover old versions of files I've modified by using some sort of magical Time Machine... 😜
Thanks, one thing I am searching around for is a workflow to edit Sony footage (especially my 'xavc-hs highly compressed) PRIOR to importing to FCP. That way I don't waste time converting unwanted footage to PRORES. Any suggestions? I will keep researching catalyst, but I think it strips the stabilization metadata....... Which doesn't work for me as I just want to do quick rough cuts prior to stabilizing.......hmmm
@@aleckinch1199 Yeah I hear you! I guess you'll have to weigh up the cost of a few extra cards vs the time spent transcoding footage as opposed to just getting stuck into the edit after transferring the files. 😄
Great video!! I want to ask: how come you don't just put all your videos in FCPX (copy to library) and let the program do all the organizing for you? it seems that's the way that FCPX (and pretty much all apple software, really) is intended to work. Like most people, I grew up on a PC and fought not to "surrender" my files in this way for so long, but I finally caved a few weeks ago and I am so glad I did.
I like to organize my footage independently from the library. I sometimes reuse older footage and it's much easier to find if it's stored separately. I also back everything up to Dropbox and I don't want my library files to be so big. Also, if I ever have an issue with a corrupt library file, my footage is separate.
So what's your plan B since Dropbox is ending the unlimited? I did the same exact thing you did and got the email that it will be ending in 2025 I think, so I have to figure out a backup solution by then or pay a ridiculous amount of money to continue storing my 45+TB in DB lol
Ah man! I'm in the same boat Nicolas! I currently don't have a backup plan and I have around 70TB that I have to figure out what to do with by then. I did extensive research before choosing Dropbox and at the time there was no other solution that offered affordable unlimited storage that met my needs. 😅 If you find anything that looks like a good alternative, please let me know 🙏🏼
Hi Brad! Thanks for sharing these tips! I just wondered could we find the certain place in the project without scrolling? For instance if I have an 1-hour project, it takes time to scroll. Is there any tool for typing the timecode and getting to that place?
Yes you can! If you click on the timecode below the viewer window you can type the timecode in (in minutes, seconds and frames) and hit return. Hope that helps! 😄🤞🏼
Yeah I think that is pretty true for a lot of people. However there are a bunch of features that I would love to see in FCP in the future that a lot of people would use. Even without some of those features, it's still my favorite software to edit in!
Hi Brad, Great video! Thanks for all the great tips. Two questions. 1) I always zip my Library file before I upload it into the cloud as I used to find that it would force the library shortcuts to footage to replace themselves with a duplicate of the original files. I don't think some cloud services understand apple shortcut files. Not sure on your experiences here? Is this a thing of the past? 2) When going back to old projects I've often found myself struggling with linking old effects and transitions. Do you have any best practice in this area?
You're welcome! Great questions 😄 1) You can absolutely zip it. It might be safer to do it that way. I have had no issues doing so with Dropbox. The only thing is when you upload the library file Dropbox will show that there are like 5,700 files to upload but then it cruises through them, so it hasn't been an issue for me. 2) Yeah sometimes old effects and transitions have been updated and then they don't link nicely. It might be worthwhile to have a ProRes file of the final edit that you can always drop on top of your edit if you need to make changes and you have offline effects or transitions. That way you can use parts of the final export. Not an ideal solution but a decent workaround in most cases 😄
Adobe Bridge is also a free app that can rename your files quite easily, as long as it is not dealing with a folder with a thousand files... really cool workflow, thanks~
Great suggestion! The Automator workflow works with thousands of files and I like the fact that it's such a light, easy-to-launch-from-Finder kind of tool 😄 Thanks for watching!
@@BillSmithBSartist Thanks Bill. Appreciate that. I went with the 2TB SSD. With the power of hindsight, the only thing I would have done differently is get the 4TB instead.
@@Brad_West what if you're working with red footage? Or anything that needs the original file structure? This would make it no longer work, but I get the idea behind it.
Yeah I guess I’m that scenario it doesn’t make sense to rename. But for cameras that create MP4 or MOV files, I’ve found it to be super helpful to rename them 😄👍🏼
@@Brad_West In any case thanks for these videos! You've really helped me fill in the gaps in my understanding on FCP coming from premiere. It's such a different system.
@@Brad_West smart!!! I might have to figure out a workaround. When I work with other people on the same project, everyone has the raw files and we only share the progress with the .xml 🫠
Great video. Many thx. I just organized my Finder files and my FCP tempalte like you recommended. YES!!! While you are storing all of your Finder project folders in DropBox, I wonder where do you store your original footage? Being a small creator I do keep my footage within the FCP library for now. 😀
Glad it helped! I personally keep all my footage in a separate folder so that my library file size is smaller. I usually have a main folder for each new project and inside that I have the following folders: Audio, FCP, Footage, GFX, Music, Images, Exports, etc. Hope that helps!
@@lebensqualität.skalieren Correct. I copy the entire project folder with all the different assets (footage, images, music, etc) as well as the FCP library 😄👍🏼
Get the FREE File Renamer 👉🏼 bit.ly/FreeFileRenamer
I'm not even 5 minutes in .... THIS IS GOLD! - THANK YOU!
Glad you found it helpful Blake 😄🤙🏼
At first I was thinking the structure was overcomplicating things.
But the further down in the video I came, the more sense it made.
Great tips, thanks🙏
Glad it helped! Thanks for sticking around to see all the tips come together 😄🙏🏼
Brad your videos are special in this training genre. I watch them all, and here is my vote for a more comprehensive FCP editing workflow video. I would like to know how you manage rough cuts, second cuts, grading workflows and final cuts. Or whatever you do. I learn very quickly from your style.
Wow, thanks for the feedback Jeffrey 😄🙏🏼 I’ve added it to my list. I’ve actually been wanting to do more workflow videos.
I’m a beginner… but the beginner videos were too basic in that they didn’t tell me what was possible. Am I going to implement (or even understand) most of this? Nope. However, you gave me enough of what’s possible so that I can start by mastering a dumbed down template and grow from there. Thanks so much. (I took notes, screen shots, the whole shabang… felt like I was back in school!)
I'm so glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
This is the type of stuff I want! With the other FCPX videos I was finding it seemed like people didn’t really know what they ware doing or why they ware doing it like that. Now I’m actually learning something 🎉
Glad to hear that you found it helpful 😄👍🏼 this is great feedback!
THANKS for getting back to me on this and sharing!!!!!!! Love it!
You are so welcome!
16:02 - "when I moved to Portugal..." WHAAAAAT?!?! Are you in Portugal? Where? I'll mail you tomorrow, ASAP. How great. First of all, welcome to our country, second of all, we need to grab a cup of coffee 😁
All the best, Brad!
Haha thanks Luís! I’m currently in Albufeira. Where are you? 😄🤙🏼
@@Brad_West great! I'm from Guarda, where I live (Center / North) near Serra da Estrela. I'll mail you tonight. All the best, Brad 🙌🏻
Haha... same thing grabbed my attention :)
I'm going, to be honest, I love watching videos like this because it helps you not to lose data
I'm glad you enjoyed it 😄👊🏼
loved this mate - thank you - would love to see an edit work flow order in how you step through an effective workflow ie 1. import files 2. scrub 3. coloring 4. transitions etc etc!
Thanks so much! Yeah I think I need to work on an edit workflow video. Need to just find the right video to do it with. 😄
Yes 14:02 please save my life and make a full tutorial of your editing workflow 😅
I'm editing 20+ hours of footage every day for my daily vlogs down to 10 - 20 minute videos & I need to get my editing time down desperately because I also run two businesses & I'm lucky to get 4 hours sleep per night!! I would be ever so grateful if you could help speed up my workflow 🙏
Thank you for the content!! Liked, commented & subscribed!! 🫡
That is a lot of editing! I think I'll plan on doing some editing breakdown videos in the near future! 😄🤙🏼
This answered every question I had in my quest to clean up my folders & Mac & summed up every video I searched for on how to do it. Thank you!! Wish I could favorite this video😊
You’re welcome! Thanks for the feedback! I’m so happy to hear it was that helpful to you. 😄🙏🏼
Thank you so much for this amazing video Brad!!! I learned a lot because of it 🙂 Would love to see more breakdowns regarding workflows and other FCP tricks. I'll keep on following you!!
You’re so welcome Lennart. I’m glad you enjoyed it. More to come. Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
Renaming tool specifically fixed an issue I was having. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Just curious, what was the issue that it helped you fix? 😄
One of the biggest issues I was having was the fact that I could not make heads or tails out of the naming convention given by my DJI Pocket 3. And it was like pulling teeth to get FCP to put the clips in any sort of chronological order. I started to rename the clips but that was so time consuming. Your tool fixes that. @@Brad_West
Very cool, would also be nice to your see your entire workflow, thanks for the tips here!
Noted! Thanks for the feedback 😄👊🏼
Man been doing this for about 3yrs with my wife and kids. Hiking/travel channel 1momwithaplan. I really enjoyed your thoughts and information. I will have to watch other videos to maybe learn a new things. Thanks bro
That is awesome! I’m glad you found some helpful tips on this video 😄🙌🏼
These hacks are absolutely brilliant, thank you so much! This makes things so much easier!
Glad you like them! 😄🙌🏼
For your last point, you can use Show Audio Lanes and all audio will be in their own lanes. I agree with you though- audio must be the worst thing in Final Cut Pro, it can simple not be compared to Da Vinci !
Yeah that is definitely a great way to do it. I think the entire FCP community is waiting for some new audio features (amongst other things) 😆🤞🏼 Appreciate you watching Dom!
@@Brad_West Hey Brad! Apologies, this comment was not intended for this specific video! But yes, audio needs some love in FCPX! Thank you for your content!
Haha I figured as much 😉 I appreciate the comment nonetheless 🤙🏼
MAJOR PROBLEM THOUGH!!! Ok, now that I have your attention, first let me say this tutorial is amazing and will save me untold numbers of hours. That said, while I can appreciate your priority for organization over rendering speed, why did you not touch on this? How do we incorporate as many of your awesome organization tips while still at least temporarily copying the media files to the onboard hard drive to make best use of the internal technology aimed at maximum compute/GPU/RAM and SSD speed performance? BTW, well done! Liked, commented, and subscribed. Fan for life!
Thank you for these incredible tips! I would absolutely love to see a follow up editing video.
I'm glad you found this video helpful! I recently did a full behind the scenes video on planning, shooting, editing, color grading and sound design that you might enjoy then. You can watch it here: ua-cam.com/video/XPWQBvLmQNg/v-deo.html
HI Brad @3:03 you give an example of importing files and organizing based on the file name. How would you recommend someone organize their files if the media import is done as a camera archive? When I import my media a folder is created where it can only be opened in FCP so I can't categorize the clips first
If that is how you're importing files, I would just recommend using the browser window to scrub through the footage and add the useable parts or the parts you like to a new timeline.
Thank you so much for this detailed video Brad! You combine basic information that is vitally helpful for newcomers, but also blend in an impressive degree of sophistication for those of us familiar with the FCP editing platform. Outstanding writing and work on this project!
You're very welcome! Really appreciate that feedback! My goal is always to make things easy enough for newbies to understand but also to provide helpful tips to more seasoned editors. 😄🙌🏼
thank you Brad. i'm really appreciate that you share bunch of tips
You're welcome!
Finally i found some good workflow for FCP, I hope after a few minor changes it will for me as well :)
Nice! It’s worth the time investment to find ways to speed up your workflow. Every little bit adds up!
Super vid thanks for making Brad :)
Glad you enjoyed it! A longer video than normal 😂
This is absolutely phenomenal @Brad!
I so much like and enjoy the structure and organization that you're using.
This makes it so effective to work with.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Awesome, thank you for the feedback! I'm really glad to hear that you found the video helpful.
Niiiice 🎉 Especially creating a single event for another video instead of it’s own library is golden. Makes it way easier to manage multiple short video projects per client. Thanks 🙏
Yeah! That’s probably my most-used way of using events in my workflow. Glad you enjoyed the tips 😄🙏🏼
Thank you, Brad, for another very helpful and useful tutorial.
You’re welcome Sam! 😄👊🏼 Thanks for watching!
I enjoyed watching this video and learned a lot. Thank you so much Brad
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
using this method you should add "yyddmm" to the parent folder then the project name. By just copying the "template" folder it will copy over the same creation date meaning if you try to organise your projects by date you cant because all your project were created on the same day (same as template date) I see you have episode numbers which you can obviously search chronologically, but for those with just a project name, location or address, things will get messy quickly.
Yeah good point! That tip will definitely be useful to a lot of people. I always have numbers for my projects (even personal and client projects) so I can organize them chronologically 😄 Thanks for the comment 🙏🏼
and I would suggest to use automator to recreate and automate this folder structure rather than copying(duplicating) a template folder.
Yeah something like the free PostHaste app is useful for that. When numbering folders like I do, I’m not worried about the creation date of the folder. But Automator is a great option for that too 👌🏼
Awesome video brad - loved the tips for file management - especially the tip for PostHaste!
Glad it was helpful! Quintin! PosteHaste is a great little tool. I’m all for saving time 😄🤙🏼
Thank you Brad! This is invaluable information and will save me so much time!!!!
Glad it was helpful! Having a workflow that works for you will save loads of time n the future 👊🏼
OMG!!! Brad!! Once again! Mind 🤯🤯🤯 The renaming hack and Dropbox! Amazing video! Thank you
My pleasure! Glad you found the tips helpful 😄👌🏼
Excellent video! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it 😄👊🏼
Amazing as always! I usually follow almost every step you do but loved the automation process for renaming! BTW welcome to Portugal! Cheers from the Algarve!
Thanks so much Raphael. I’m happy to hear you found the video helpful 😄 Where in the Algarve are you?
@@Brad_West it was very helpful! I live in Portimão. What about you?
Portimão is awesome! I am currently in Albufeira. I will be moving at the end of May, but not too sure where yet. 😂
@@Brad_West I love Albufeira. It all depends on where you will gonna work. Most of my clients are from Quinta do Lago, Vilamoura and Vale do Lobo and I wished I new that before moving to Portugal because I have to drive more than an hour to go there. Haha
@@Brad_West Added you on Instagram so we can chat if you want some tips about places in the Algarve. Cheers
So helpful! Thank you! Two thumbs up for future editing breakdown vid :)
Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it! I’ll add the breakdown video to my long list haha 😆 👌🏼
LOVE THE VIDEO!!!! GREAT JOB ON THIS!!!
Thanks Willem! Glad you liked it 😄💪🏼
Great video! Thanks for all the great tips. 🤩
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
Thanks for the great tips. I would love to see a breakdown video.
You’re welcome James! I have a breakdown video in the works. Not quite the breakdown video I mentioned here but something cool 🙌🏼 Stay tuned!
Great Video Brad!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I just emailed you a question regarding management - I'd be happy to hear back! Thanks again @@Brad_West
Thanks for the email! Just sent you a response 😄@@NicoleFerre
Thanks Brad @@Brad_West
Nice to see alternative organizations. Well done.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
@Brad_West can you backup your FCP libraries into ICloud for Mac users?
Yes I don’t see why not. Some might recommend creating a ZIP file from your FCP library by right clicking on it and selecting compress. Might be easier to back up that one file to iCloud.
Love all the tips in this video, but something that should be stated:
I use FCPX and Dropbox constantly. The project file should always be zipped or compressed into its own archive. Dropbox is infamous for breaking projects because it can’t read all the subfolders contained within the fcpbundle package. I’ve accidentally forgot to do this before copying the folder and when I need to pull it back down from Dropbox, the project gets damaged about half of the time I forget to archive it with archive utility on Mac.
The rest of the video is amazing for organizational hacks to make FCPX so much easier so we can all focus on creating than finding what we did. 👌🏾
For really big projects I have zipped my FCP libraries to send to other editors, but I have had zero issues backing up my libraries without zipping them first. I find that if your internet connection is good, there are no issues syncing up that library file (and all the internal files in that library). 👊🏼
@@Brad_West you’re lucky lol
For me, even small libraries get corrupted. It seems like Dropbox doesn’t handle subdirectories super well in my case.
@@itsdjbuddha I wonder why it's different for both of us. I guess good practive would be to just always zip up the library file to be safe 😄
Thanks Brad. So helpful!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks Pete 😄🤙🏼
OMG so much information & tips. Seriously where did you learn all this ❤Well DONE ✅ Thank you so much
You're so welcome! These are all things I learned or figured out over the years that have helped me to save time. Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
So pleased to finally watch this and thank you for sharing your tips. I am definitely going incorporate your tips. Funnily enough, I have started using template folders as it just makes things much easier.
Great to hear it! Template folders save a lot of time. All of these little time savers add up in the long run too 😄👍🏼
so much value in one video, thank you !
Glad it was helpful! Appreciate you watching!
Great Video! Gonna help me out so much!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching!
this is top-tier content
Thanks Jordan! That means a lot 😄🙏🏼
That's a great way to set the workflow, Brad. Thanks for sharing. As a new user of Final Cut Pro, I have a question for you. I am using an external SSD for FCP and following your advice about the ZZZ folder and templates. Where should I link the "Final Cut Pro Backups"? It points toward the MOVIE folder within my Mac, but I want to make it external. Also, do I need to create this folder every time I build a new library per your workflow?
A similar question is for the Cache folder.
I really appreciate any help you can provide.
I use an external SSD as well and I have my backups saved to the internal SSD because if anything happens to my external SSD, at least my project file is saved somewhere else. If you want to change it, this post from Apple will help you to select an external location: support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/final-cut-pro/ver7db6ffe77/mac
the best video out there!
Thanks so much! Appreciate the feedback 😄🙏🏼
That’s the best video I saw on the subject thanks a lot❤
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching 😄👊🏼
This was incredible Thank you so much.
You're so welcome! Glad you found it helpful 👊🏼
Brad smashed it again on YT, thank you for the help
You're welcome! Thanks for watching 😄🙏🏼
A fantastic and informative video! Thanks for all the hard work!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching 😄
Wowsers! This is awesome. Thanks!
You're welcome! Thanks for checking it out 😄🤙🏼
Wow, so many great tips! 🤩 I've learned a lot today! Thanks so much 👍🏻
You're so welcome! I’m really glad you found some value in the video 😄🤙🏼
Me too :-)
What A Tutorial Brother Brad - I Am A Very Simple Time Lapse Maker And Had Absolutely No Clue These Features Were Even Possible - I Appreciate Your Organizing Skills - Something I Am Interested In, How Does One Find The "CASH" Folder That Is Storing Useless Files On The Hard Drive ?? I Am Most Likely Using The Wrong Term - Apparently Even When We Dump Our Trash Can, Some Files Aren't Really Deleted - Didn't Know That
Anyway, Thanx A Million For Your Time,
Cheers
I’m glad you found some value in the video Travis! Yeah sometimes you need to clear cache for different apps. For example, Dropbox has a hidden cache folder that usually gets cleared automatically but if there is an issue, some files get trapped in cache and need to be cleared. Each app is different and you would probably have to Google how to clear the cache for a specific app if you think you need to reclaim some hard drive space 😄👍🏼
hey Brad, i was wondering who you used as a sponsor website - i saw it a while ago when binging your videos, thanks
Hey Christi. That would be Zyro. I’m super happy with them still. Designing is easy and they constantly add new features. Can’t be beat for the price in my opinion 😄👍🏼
@@Brad_West thank you sir!
Hey Brad, thanks for the great insights. If I understand correctly, you store the original clip within the "Footage" folder inside the Video Project folder. However, I assume that like many of us, you may need to reuse or recycle some footage in another project. In this case, how do you handle it? How do you retrieve it? Do you duplicate the clip or just link to it?
That is correct yeah. As far as reusing footage goes, I will usually download that file from my Dropbox backup and add it to the footage folder of the new project so that everything stays together.
Hi Brad. Really helpful video. Thanks for making this and helping me out. I have one issue. I’ve followed your Import Preferences advice but when I import my video I get the missing proxy issue with all my clips. Is turning on the transcoding option the only way to fix this?
You could regenerate the proxies for those clips, or if you import the project from one library to another, make sure that you tick the "proxy media" box.
Thank you Brad for the tips 👍
You're welcome! I hope you found them helpful. 😄
If you move files around within the dropbox folder in the cloud, does it know to move them as well when you sync? Or does it delete them and then reupload them? Basically, does it sync in a smart way?
Yes it syncs in a smart way!
Holy crap! How long has that complex Rename been in the Finder??? That is good to know. I've used NameChanger for a long time, but that Finder one would probably cover half of my casual usage.
It’s been around for quite some time as far as I’m aware! I wanted a little bit of extra customization, which is why I created my own renamer workflow. It certainly is a great little tool within macOS. 😄👌🏼
@@Brad_West Those incremental changes sometimes get overlooked. I've been using that Finder since '84, before even MultiFinder. I think I still assume the Finder rename is just clicking on the name of the selected file. Sheesh. Next you'll tell me I can recover old versions of files I've modified by using some sort of magical Time Machine... 😜
But wait, there’s more 😂😂
Yeah I reckon there are loads of little hidden features in MacOS that we aren’t aware of 👀
Great video. Many thanks!
Glad you liked it! 😄👊🏼
Very interesting - thanks
Glad you enjoyed it 😄👍🏼
Very useful video guide! Thanks a lot.
You're welcome! Appreciate you watching 🙏🏼
Thanks, one thing I am searching around for is a workflow to edit Sony footage (especially my 'xavc-hs highly compressed) PRIOR to importing to FCP. That way I don't waste time converting unwanted footage to PRORES. Any suggestions? I will keep researching catalyst, but I think it strips the stabilization metadata....... Which doesn't work for me as I just want to do quick rough cuts prior to stabilizing.......hmmm
Hmmm I’m not sure. Catalyst Prepare is probably the best option. What is your reason for shooting XAVC HS?
@Brad_West to keep file sizes down on my pricey v90 cards. I guess I have to "pay" one way or another !
@@aleckinch1199 Yeah I hear you! I guess you'll have to weigh up the cost of a few extra cards vs the time spent transcoding footage as opposed to just getting stuck into the edit after transferring the files. 😄
Great video!!
I want to ask: how come you don't just put all your videos in FCPX (copy to library) and let the program do all the organizing for you? it seems that's the way that FCPX (and pretty much all apple software, really) is intended to work. Like most people, I grew up on a PC and fought not to "surrender" my files in this way for so long, but I finally caved a few weeks ago and I am so glad I did.
I like to organize my footage independently from the library. I sometimes reuse older footage and it's much easier to find if it's stored separately. I also back everything up to Dropbox and I don't want my library files to be so big. Also, if I ever have an issue with a corrupt library file, my footage is separate.
@@Brad_West That's gotta take so much. more time! But I'm sure the independence from the apple eco system gives you peace of mind
It’s actually really great. No longer unlimited storage though on Dropbox. So I might be looking for a new solution in a year or so 😬
So what's your plan B since Dropbox is ending the unlimited? I did the same exact thing you did and got the email that it will be ending in 2025 I think, so I have to figure out a backup solution by then or pay a ridiculous amount of money to continue storing my 45+TB in DB lol
Ah man! I'm in the same boat Nicolas! I currently don't have a backup plan and I have around 70TB that I have to figure out what to do with by then. I did extensive research before choosing Dropbox and at the time there was no other solution that offered affordable unlimited storage that met my needs. 😅
If you find anything that looks like a good alternative, please let me know 🙏🏼
Thank you 🙏🏽
You are so welcome!
Hi Brad! Thanks for sharing these tips! I just wondered could we find the certain place in the project without scrolling? For instance if I have an 1-hour project, it takes time to scroll. Is there any tool for typing the timecode and getting to that place?
Yes you can! If you click on the timecode below the viewer window you can type the timecode in (in minutes, seconds and frames) and hit return. Hope that helps! 😄🤞🏼
@@Brad_West omg that’s amazing! Thanks a lot! 🙌🏻
@@Annet99100 You're welcome! 😄
Alot of people complain about FCP. I was one of them but many of us are not even using 30% of the programs power.
Yeah I think that is pretty true for a lot of people. However there are a bunch of features that I would love to see in FCP in the future that a lot of people would use. Even without some of those features, it's still my favorite software to edit in!
Hi Brad,
Great video! Thanks for all the great tips.
Two questions.
1) I always zip my Library file before I upload it into the cloud as I used to find that it would force the library shortcuts to footage to replace themselves with a duplicate of the original files. I don't think some cloud services understand apple shortcut files. Not sure on your experiences here? Is this a thing of the past?
2) When going back to old projects I've often found myself struggling with linking old effects and transitions. Do you have any best practice in this area?
You're welcome! Great questions 😄
1) You can absolutely zip it. It might be safer to do it that way. I have had no issues doing so with Dropbox. The only thing is when you upload the library file Dropbox will show that there are like 5,700 files to upload but then it cruises through them, so it hasn't been an issue for me.
2) Yeah sometimes old effects and transitions have been updated and then they don't link nicely. It might be worthwhile to have a ProRes file of the final edit that you can always drop on top of your edit if you need to make changes and you have offline effects or transitions. That way you can use parts of the final export. Not an ideal solution but a decent workaround in most cases 😄
@@Brad_West thanks so much! 🙏
I'll keep trying to work around point two!
@@studioriz Good luck!
I think I will have to download this video and watch it many times to get through all the information you gave...LOL
Haha yeah it's a long one and I tried cramming as many tips as I could into it 🤣
Is there a way we can download your FCP template?
I don't have it available for download, but that's a good idea. It can easily be recreated though if you want to copy it 😄
@@Brad_West I wouldnt mind purchasing the template if possible.
@@MichelleBalingit-mc7ww Good to know! Thanks for letting me know. I'll look at doing that in the future. Maybe sooner rather than later 😄
Adobe Bridge is also a free app that can rename your files quite easily, as long as it is not dealing with a folder with a thousand files... really cool workflow, thanks~
Great suggestion! The Automator workflow works with thousands of files and I like the fact that it's such a light, easy-to-launch-from-Finder kind of tool 😄 Thanks for watching!
@@Brad_West have a nice day~
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😄🙏🏼
Did Sandisk sponsor the comment or is that an objective recommendation?
No, SanDisk did not sponsor anything. That is a genuine recommendation, after having bought the drive myself. 😄👍🏼
@@Brad_West awesome. Good to know because I trust your judgment.
@@BillSmithBSartist Thanks Bill. Appreciate that. I went with the 2TB SSD. With the power of hindsight, the only thing I would have done differently is get the 4TB instead.
I happen to think Media Management is Sexy AF thank you very much!
Haha! 🤣 I knew this would be your favorite topic! Movies in the movies folder. Pictures in the pictures folder! 😉
I use the internal SSD on my Macbook Air so I don't have space for organisation. I just delete everything after every video 😂
Haha 😂 Not even an old external lying around for a few backups?
Renaming original clips is a big no-no though!
Why do you say that?
@@Brad_West what if you're working with red footage? Or anything that needs the original file structure? This would make it no longer work, but I get the idea behind it.
Yeah I guess I’m that scenario it doesn’t make sense to rename. But for cameras that create MP4 or MOV files, I’ve found it to be super helpful to rename them 😄👍🏼
@@Brad_West In any case thanks for these videos! You've really helped me fill in the gaps in my understanding on FCP coming from premiere. It's such a different system.
@@adamouellette5971 I'm so glad to hear that!
GoPro default file names are the worst thing that's ever been created.
Yeah, they are annoying. I use my renamer to organize them by "Date created" and then when renaming them, they stay in order.
@@Brad_West smart!!! I might have to figure out a workaround. When I work with other people on the same project, everyone has the raw files and we only share the progress with the .xml 🫠
Great video. Many thx. I just organized my Finder files and my FCP tempalte like you recommended. YES!!! While you are storing all of your Finder project folders in DropBox, I wonder where do you store your original footage?
Being a small creator I do keep my footage within the FCP library for now. 😀
Glad it helped! I personally keep all my footage in a separate folder so that my library file size is smaller. I usually have a main folder for each new project and inside that I have the following folders: Audio, FCP, Footage, GFX, Music, Images, Exports, etc. Hope that helps!
Thx. Ah, So you also send the original footage (within the finder folder system) to DropBox, right?
@@lebensqualität.skalieren Correct. I copy the entire project folder with all the different assets (footage, images, music, etc) as well as the FCP library 😄👍🏼