I was initially unable to find some required Easy Setups in FCP. Eventually I did locate them in the menu, it was just that they didn’t appear by default – I had to select the right (from FCP’s point of view) frame rate or something (I forget now).
- But before I discovered that, I googled lots, coming up with the following conclusions, which I am no longer sure about – whether they still apply or are obsolete. Maybe informative somehow anyway, so I’ll post it for posterity at least…
In Final Cut Pro menu: [Final Cut Pro > Easy Setup], if select Format [Apple ProRes 422] then Use only offers 720p50 ???. However, further options do exist, they are just hidden away as “Additional Easy Setups”. (Huh? I thought Apple philosophy was to make things easy???). For example there is the additional setup that I need, namely [Apple ProRes 422 1920×1080 25p 48 kHz.fcpre]. The fix for this is:
- The Format/Use combinations are stored as [.fcpre] files.
- The main folder for [.fcpre] files is [Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Final Cut Pro System Support>Custom Settings].
- That’s the only place (to my knowledge) that FCP looks.
- Additional [.fcpre] files are to be found in [Macintosh HD>Applications>Final Cut Pro Additional Easy Setups>English].
- Manually copy required files from the latter to the former.
Stages:
- Started a new project to take footage in 1920×1080-50i. Tried FCP’s Easy Setup which included a setup for XDCAM-EX (under “XDCAM-HD”) but only for 720p50. Not knowing what to do, began working around this by creating my own 1920×1080-50i preset. Saved it, noting that it was saved with a [.fcpre] extension. Searched for [.fcpre] files on system, to find out where they were stored (e.g. so could see the one I had just created). Discovered a few folders containing [.fcpre] files, some under folders for various languages (e.g. english, french, german). In such folders, noticed further Easy Settings, beyond those listed in the Easy Settings menu. Wondered how to make them available. Did a WebSearch (Google) on [“additional easy setups”]. Found repeated advice to just copy the required files from the English subsection of the Additional Easy Setups folder, [Macintosh HD>Applications>Final Cut Pro Additional Easy Setups>English], over to the main Library area, [Macintosh HD>Library>Application Support>Final Cut Pro System Support>Custom Settings].
- Before just copying everything, checked what was there already (just as well…). Looked in main Library area, noted e.g. [Apple ProRes 422 1920×1080 50i 48 kHz.fcpre]. How come that one had not appeared?