Final Cut Pro X: New! Improved Proxy Workflow

One of the headline features in the 10.4.9 update to Final Cut Pro X is a number of improvements to proxy editing.

COMMENTARY

For some reason, proxy editing has developed a negative connotation which I don’t understand. If you found a free utility on the web which would improve file handling and boost performance in Final Cut, would you download it?

Of course you would! All of us are searching for free utilities that do magic.

That’s what proxy editing is – a free utility, built into Final Cut, that increases performance, decreases storage bandwidth, speeds rendering, and gives you control over image quality. All at the click of a single button.

Proxies could not be easier or more helpful.

Several times a week I get emails from editors who are buying new gear. One of the most requested features is to: “Future-proof my system, so I can edit 8K video without proxies.”

First, in today’s technology-driven culture, it is impossible to determine where the future is going; “future-proofing” is a fool’s errand. Buy what you need today, emphasizing the GPU and RAM. Second, though, is discounting the value of proxies. To edit 8K natively – especially HDR 8K – requires a high-end Mac Pro, with very fast, very big storage. However, most of us aren’t editing 8K HDR footage natively and there’s no reason to spend all that money “just in case.” Instead, when dealing with large frame sizes, simply switch over to proxies and work with much less expensive gear.

Proxies are your friend, not an acknowledgement of weakness.

OK, I’m done now.

WHAT’S NEW

Apple made many improvements to proxy editing with this update. For example, we can now:

• Create proxies using ProRes Proxy or H.264
• Create proxies at 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8 the resolution of the camera master frame size
• Create proxies at a specific frame size
• Create proxies at import or in the Browser after media is imported
• Create proxies for individual clips, or a group of clips, in the Browser
• Use a new Viewer option to display proxies when they exist and camera masters when proxies do not.
• Create a proxy-only version of your project to share with another editor
• Automatically relink proxy-only projects to source media

Let’s take a closer look at what these options mean in practice.

CREATE PROXIES ON IMPORT

There are two places to create proxies:

• The Media Import window as you import clips
• The File menu, when you select clips in the Browser

In addition to rearranging the settings on the right of the Media Import window, Apple added two significant choices to creating proxies:

• We can now specify whether we want to use ProRes Proxy or H.264.
• We can now specify the frame size of the proxy file, either in relation to the frame size of the master file or at a specific frame size.

If file storage is not a big issue or if you are editing on an older system, choose ProRes Proxy. This is a highly-efficient codec, optimized for editing, that runs well on slower systems. It also provides higher image quality, compared to H.264.

If conserving file storage is important, you need to share project files with another editor, or you have a newer system, H.264 may be the better choice.

I did a quick test. Starting with a 1 GB ProRes 422 master, a half-size ProRes Proxy file was about 90% smaller. H.264 was about 10% the size of each ProRes Proxy file. Each reduction in frame size cut the file size by roughly 2/3.

Three reminders:

• ProRes Proxy is more efficient for editing, with higher image quality
• The storage savings using H.264 are significant, and, compared to the same size ProRes Proxy file, the image quality is not that bad
• Image quality significantly degrades at smaller proxy frame sizes, however file sizes become amazingly small

NOTE: There are a few file formats that do not support proxies: audio, video with alpha channels and still images. I would also expect that titles and generators to not support proxies, either.

PROXY DISPLAY

Here’s a simple sequence of three master clips that illustrate another change in proxies: how they are displayed in the timeline.

To switch from optimized or original footage to proxies, go to the View menu in the top right corner of the Viewer and choose Proxy Only.

NOTE: To switch back to optimized or original footage from proxies, simply select Optimized/Original in the View menu. Relinking is automatic and instant.

When you select Proxies, clips that have proxies are displayed in the timeline. Clips without proxies are displayed as red boxes. Frustrating!

Instead, when you select Proxies Preferred, if proxies exist, they are displayed. If not, the camera master/optimized clip is displayed. This removes one of the big frustrations of using proxies – that of not creating them in the first place.

NOTE: To create proxies after import, select the clips that need proxies in the Browser, then choose File > Transcode Media. As with importing clips, you get to select the codec and frame size of the proxies you create after the fact.

The benefit to creating proxies from Browser clips is that you can select the specific clips you want to create proxies for, rather than creating proxies for all imported clips using Media Import. (We can’t create proxies or optimized media by selecting Timeline clips.)

SIDE NOTE

If you want to know which versions of your media exist, select the clip, then go to the Info Inspector and scroll to the bottom.

A green light means that format exists. A red light means it doesn’t. In this screen shot, the camera master and proxy file exist, an optimized version does not.

Click the Transcode Media button to create different formats of your media, the same as using the File menu.

COLLABORATION – SHARING PROJECTS

When compared to Premiere, Apple has taken a different approach to collaboration.

Premiere is designed for collaboration where all team members are working off the same shared network, able to easily exchange media and projects. Up until the current pandemic, that choice made a lot of sense.

Apple views collaboration as a remote endeavor, where one editor sends files to another editor. While this didn’t make a lot of sense when the entire editorial staff is in the same building, it does today, when we are all working remotely.

Another new feature is that we can now create proxy-only versions of projects, events and libraries. To create a proxy-only project:

• Make sure you create proxies for all media in the library you want to share.
• Select the project you want to transfer in the Browser.
• Choose File > Copy [project] to Library > New Library

• Give the new library a name.

• In this window, which appears after you click Save, check Media and Proxy Media. Leave the rest unchecked. If you created proxy media for all files, you do NOT need to check “Copy media stored in external locations,” because there won’t be any.

• A new library file appears, on the Desktop in my example. This contains all your edits and metadata, but only proxy media. In comparing the source vs. the proxy project, the proxy library was a small, SMALL  fraction of the size of the original.

What I also discovered is that once that new library is created, Final Cut opens it so you can verify everything looks good. (This was done so seamlessly, I didn’t notice it for a few minutes.)

To send this library to another editor, select the library, then, in the Finder, choose File > Compress [project]. Zipping is necessary because it protects all the different files in a library from getting damaged during web transfer.

The new editor can edit this project as much as they want, even add new media to the library. When they are done, they should select the library, ZIP it and send it back to the original editor.

RELINKING A PROXY-ONLY PROJECT

When the original editor, who has all the master files, gets a proxy-only project, they can easily relink it. Here’s how:

• Open the library containing the project you want to relink and the library containing the original media in Final Cut.
• Drag the proxy project into an empty event in the original library.

In this window, which appears after you drag the project, select Project without media. The project is copied and all media is relinked automatically.

NOTE: If you added new media to the project and want the new media to be copied to the original library, select Media in the Include section, then select the Original media checkbox.

SUMMARY

Proxies have been a part of Final Cut for many years. But the improvements made with this update make working with – and sharing – proxies a whole lot easier.

If you are currently editing HD media, you don’t need proxies – though they will help when doing multicam editing. But, as you expand into larger frame sizes, HDR, or extensive multicam projects proxies will streamline your editing workflow. And when you need to share a project between editors, the new proxy workflow is a BIG help.

EXTRA CREDIT

Also, after reading Apple’s press release I realize I should also mention that third party developers like Frame.io, Keyflow Pro, and Postlab also support these new proxy features – as well as very powerful multi-user workflows.

Here’s a link to an Apple KnowledgeBase article that explains more about proxy-only libraries.

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