Help CenterWhat causes long render times or slowed FCPX Performance?
Common Causes of extended rendering or laggy FCP Performance include but are not limited to:
- Your system’s Graphics Card and RAM specifications
- High project resolution & frame rate (the more frames and pixels, the more time is needed to render)
- Long Project timelines
- Complex Graphics from plugins
- Complex Animations from plugins
- 3D Elements, backgrounds, and Text
- Motion Blur
Note: It is normal to experience extended render times or decreased performance with FCPX Animated Fonts Volume 1 and 2, FCPX Disintegrate, 3D Text & Elements Plugins such as our ProTrailer plugins, and FCPX Timer. This list is not exhaustive.
How do I make FCPX render faster?
In general, there’s no way to force plugins to render faster than what your system allows, but you can use these tips to improve FCP’s performance.
Turn off Background Rendering
Background Rendering Causes the timeline to render constantly in order to provide smooth timeline playback, which can slow down FCP’s performance. You can turn this off and instead manually render the timeline only when needed to improve performance.
To turn off this setting click Final Cut Pro > Settings > Playback > and uncheck “Background Rendering.”
Manually Render the Timeline
To manually render select the clips that you want to render in your timeline or click on the timeline and press Control+R.
Clear Generated Render Files for the Project
Watch our video on how to clear Generated Render Files here
Close all other Apps when using FCP
In some cases other applications can also affect your FCP’s performance. We recommend having as many apps as possible to be closed while using FCP.
Work from your Internal Drive
Sometimes External devices can cause a discrepancy in performance if your current project is saved there. If possible, work on your Internal drive for best performance, then consolidate the project and move to your external drive for storage.