In this video,
we’ll take a look at how to make
proxy-only versions of your projects,
evens or even entire libraries.
These proxy only projects,
events and libraries are very useful for offline editing,
and use much less storage space and computer resources,
allowing you to edit your projects on the go.
Hey guys, whats up.
My name is Serge, and welcome back to my channel.
The latest Final Cut Pro update, version 10.4.9
saw quite a few improvements to proxy editing workflow,
one of them being the ability to create Proxy-Only projects,
events and libraries, perfect for offline editing.
Let’s jump into Final Cut Pro,
and take a look at how to make a proxy-only version
of a project in my timeline.
And even though these steps show you
how to make a proxy-only version of a project,
they also apply to making proxy only version
of events and libraries.
Select your project in the media browser,
and from the menu bar select File,
and Transcode Media.
In the popup window, select Create Proxy Media,
and depending on your requirements,
either select the Pro Res Proxy,
or the H.264 codec.
If you need to edit this project on an older machine,
and want to improve performance,
use the Pro Res proxy codec, which is much easier to edit.
If storage space is a concern, and you want smaller file sizes,
use the H.264 codec.
You also now have the option of selecting your frame size.
You can either select it as a percentage of your original resolution,
or you can select an up to resolution.
My project for example, has a mix of 4K and HD clips.
If I select 50 percent, the resolution of all my clips will be cut in half.
So my 4K clips will be 1920 by 1080,
and my HD clips will be converted to 960 by 540.
On the other hand,
if I select Up To, and choose 1920 by 1080,
my 4K proxy file resolution will be cut in half,
but the resolution of the HD clips will remain the same.
What I recommend, is selecting 50 percent.
This gives you the best trade of between file size and image quality.
Click OK.
Depending on the size of your project, this might take a bit of time.
Once all your media is transcoded,
you can confirm all your necessary clips have proxies,
by selecting Proxy Only from the view dropdown menu in the viewer.
Skim through your project
and make sure there’s no missing media icons.
If everything looks good, we can move onto the next step.
Select your project again in the media browser,
and from the Menu Bar select File,
Copy Project to Library, and New Library.
Give it a name, and select a save location.
If you’re making a copy of this project to edit on the go,
save it to a portable drive, so you can transfer it to your laptop.
Click Save.
In the next popup window,
select what you want copied to this library.
Since we’re making a proxy only library,
make sure only the Proxy Media option is selected here.
File types that don’t support proxy media,
such as audio files, still images, and video with an alpha channel
will be copied to the new libraries storage location
in their original format.
Choose the Media Destination location for your new library
and click OK.
Once your library is copied,
close Final Cut Pro, and eject your portable drive.
I can now take this proxy-only version of our project,
open it up, and edit this project on my laptop.
Plug in your portable drive into your laptop,
open it up, and double click on your proxy-only library to open it.
When you first open up your project,
you’ll notice that some of your clips are there,
and some just show the missing media icons.
The clips that are displayed properly,
are the clips that were copied over
because the file type didn’t support proxy media.
The rest of the clips show a missing media icon,
because we only copied proxy media,
so we’re missing all the original files.
To display these clips, in the viewer,
from the View dropdown menu, select Proxy Media.
This proxy only project is now ready for editing.
Let’s make a few quick edits,
and take a look at how to move this project
back to the original location for export.
Because the library we’re in right now only contains proxy media,
to export this project in full resolution,
we need to move it back to the original library.
Select the proxy-only project in the media browser,
and from the menu bar select File,
Copy Project to Library,
and select the library with your original media.
Because all the files are in that library,
there’s no need to copy any media.
Select the Project Without Media option,
and click OK.
Double click on this project to open it,
and in the viewer, switch back to Optimized or Original Media.
Our project is now ready for export, in full resolution.
There are many benefits to making Proxy-Only projects, evens and libraries.
For one, this allows you to edit your project on the go,
on a much less powerful computer.
Another benefit to proxy only libraries is the storage space required.
Our local library, with only a few clips in it,
and a short, 2 minute project was almost 6 gigabytes.
The same proxy only library, was less than one.
Imagine how much difference this would be on a longer project.
The small file size makes it much easier to store it on a laptop with a small hard drive,
or if you need to share this library with someone else, especially online.
I hope you found this video helpful.
If you did, let me know by hitting the like button
or in the comments below.
And if you have any questions about proxy only libraries,
I’ll do my best to help you out in the comments section.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you back here next week.