Moving from FCP9 to FCPX?

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Level 1

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Moving from FCP9 to FCPX?

I've got a film that was originally edited in FCP9. About 40 scenes were cut. It was never released. We want to rework the film, add material, and release it. Somewhere along the line I moved the original FCP9 files into the FCPX format. But then never examined what I'd done.

Now I'm opening the 'Libraries' that were created during that transition and I find I have all my media, shots, sound FX, music just fine. But I'm missing the edited 'projects' in so many of the Libraries. ???? So I have the raw material, but not the work that was done (the edited sequences).

Could this have happened somehow when I converted the FCP9 files over to FCPX?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Dec 17, 2022 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

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Ben Low Author

Level 1

110 points

Dec 17, 2022 2:46 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Aha! Yes I do. I'm trying it now. I just went back onto older drives and realise so many of those 'edited' sequences were 'edited' in FCP7.

I'm going to try and open one of those files with XML where I specifically remember a finished edit. Will report back.

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

151,825 points

Dec 17, 2022 2:16 PM in response to Ben Low

Do you mean FCP7? Or something else? Normally going from 7 to X you use a conversion utility to change the 7 XML export to a current version of XML supported by FCP. When you convert a 7 project with sequences it converts to a library with projects. Is there nothing in the FCP library Projects Smart Collection?

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Answer 3

Ben Low Author

Level 1

110 points

Dec 17, 2022 2:29 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Right. 7. S'cuse me.

The expected 'projects' are not in the Smart Collection.

I've started pulling out the older original drives (everything's been moved to SSD drives) to see if I can find earlier versions. No luck so far.

It's a bit of a mystery right now. Coz I've got the masters of the individual edited scenes ... but can't find the work that created the masters. I remember cutting some (if not all) of those scenes in FCP7. And I've found a few that have made the transition (as FCPX 'project' files where they were supposed to be). But so many are simply missing.

I found the original XML files to convert the FPC7 projects to FCPX Libraries, but when I try to open the XML files now FCPX doesn't recognize them. And they could only have been made by and for FCP7-FCPX.

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Answer 4

Ben Low Author

Level 1

110 points

Dec 17, 2022 2:53 PM in response to Ben Low

Tom!!

You saved my bacon! I'm able to go back to the original FCP7 XML files and re-open them in FCPX (whatever the latest version is) and I'm seeing all the 'projects' I was missing.

You are an ace! Thank you kindly.

A quick question: if I somehow needed to go back to the original FCP7 to create new XML files ... what operating system would be the last one that would accept FCP7? Or, is there a way to still use it by some weird conversion, some 3rd party software, in a newer operating system? I've got an older computer I could load whatever operating system I need ... but then I'd have to figure out how to get a copy of FCP7 (even though I owned all the versions of FCP since its very inception).

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