Limit to Number of Files Imported into a Project

[Guest]

I'm working on a project that has nearly 12000 clips. Now whenever I try to import an additional clip the project hangs. Importing the same clips to a fresh project works fine.

Memory usage according to Task Manager is at 34% (32 GB Total).

Things I've tried that did not fix the issue:

1. Creating a new project and importing the old project (takes hours to complete).

2. Clearing all cache files.

Things that have fixed the issue:

1. Setting a bunch of footage offline.

2. Disconnecting some of the external drives that the footage lies on. There does not seem to be any drive in particular of the three connected causing this. I've even installed some of the drives internally and no change.

I found a thread through a Google search where someone else had the same issue and was dealing with about 12000 clips as well. Someone commented it could be related to a memory issue but there was no confirmation and given my low memory usage, I'm questioning if that could be the case here.

Computer Specs:

Windows Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299

Premiere 12.0.0

3930K, 32 GB Ram

GTX 1080

Project Drive (Windows Soft Raid 2x 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD)

External Drives are a combination of 2x Lacie 2big and 1x WD 6TB Red.

Edits:

Here someone references a project with 15000 clips, but that it crashes after 30 minutes of being open.

My current workaround is to edit the project just with proxy files, importing as many new files as needed, and then will reconnect all the original footage at the end. I am concerned though that the project might start to crash often and rendering may become a challenge.

[Warren Heaton]

Are these image sequences or video clips?

[Guest]

Mainly video clips from different cameras. No images at this point.

[R Neil Haugen]

Especially as you can now work with multiple projects open, to grab assets from another project at need, I might suggest splitting that big a project into sections. Most of the editors I'm aware of with projects like that seem to do so, and I think keeping each projects file a bit smaller would be of benefit ...

Neil

[Guest]

It's not an option for this style of edit. It is an "after movie" for a music festival and many of the clips will be used throughout the project rather than in one section like would happen in a narrative edit. The project size at the moment is only 15mb as well. I've worked with much larger (in project file size) projects before without issue. I think the issue is related to number of clips.

[Peferling]

Mainly video clips from different cameras.

That's a lot of conforming, etc.  Have you looked into using real-time (smart rendering) codecs and trans-coding your clips prior to edit?

Smart rendering in Premiere Pro

[Guest]

Yes, all of the clips are transcoded into Cineform proxies and I'm using the proxy-toggle button workflow made available in the more recent versions of Premiere. Disconnecting the drives that have the footage on them allows me to work on the edit, but as I said in the OP, I'm nervous that once it is completed I may have issues re-connecting and rendering, and also everytime I dynamic link into AE (will have 50-100 comps by the end of the edit) I'll have to turn on the hard drives and reconnect.

[Richard van den Boogaard]

The fact that PPro hangs on Import is a known issue. Bugs me as well and is not dependent on the size of the project at hand.

Please file a bug report so that the engineers will place this on top of the pile: https://adobe.com/go/wish

What seems to work to prevend hanging on import, is to use the Media Browser (bottom left corner, next to Effects tab) to import footage instead of CTRL/CMD+I or drag & drop on the Project Panel.

Please try this.

Also, PPro is not known for properly handling very large projects. Like others suggested, consider breaking up the project in multiple segments.

Hope this helps,

Richard

[Guest]

It imports the same files into other projects (with less clips) or into a new project without issue. I've tried importing via drag and drop, the media browser, and the CTRL-I command. All fail. I can't split the project up either, see my response above to R Neil Haugen.

[excited_Genie16B8]

Changes to Dolby Decoding and Encoding Support

The above change has introduced a memory leak.  If you import small groups of clips, let those conform, close and restart PP to refresh the memory, things seem to work better.

[Guest]

I've let it fully conform everything and closed and reopened and tested and then cleared cache and tried it again a few times during troubleshooting. Interestingly, with the files disconnected and only the proxies connected it will import at any time (while loading media right after opening project or once files have all been loaded).

[samuelm25671648]

While I can't speak to a clip number cap I am aware that Premiere tends to get relatively unstable as the project file inflates to 14~15mb. Having a lot of sequences really starts to slow the software down. If at all possible, follow the recommendations I've been seeing to break up the project. I can speak from personal experience that this helps a lot.

[Guest]

Unfortunately due to the nature of the project it can't be split up. I've had successful projects at up to 100mb.

[R Neil Haugen]

Unfortunately due to the nature of the project it can't be split up. I've had successful projects at up to 100mb.

Hmm. I know most of the long-form theatrical projects I've seen the structure for have been multiple projects with a master project of the output sequences from the sections ... or "acts" perhaps ... of the total project. Which both kept the project files to something their machines (and real beasts too) could handle easier and made it so assistant editors could work parts of the job. That's even easier now with the Team/Collaborative options within PrPro.

Not sure why that wouldn't work, but I suppose there's a possible way to handle a project that wouldn't ...

Neil

[Guest]

Well this project is currently 15mb in size and I've worked on many projects larger than this (although with less clips inside) without the same issue.

And it doesn't work to split it up because I need the majority of the footage available for all parts.

I posted in this thread here about an interesting activity happening whenever I try to import a clip: the disk usage spikes for all the R3D clips in the project. It may be the key to figuring out why this is happening.

[R Neil Haugen]

Yes, I just saw that. Very ... puzzling.

Why re-evaluate all of them? Huh.

Neil

[Guest]

Another user in this thread has the same issue and was able to identify that the Resource Monitor shows disk activity under Adobe Premiere for their R3D footage already inside the project. That issue occurs for me as well (screen recording): http://wyldfyre.cloud/GWtUHMv

[Kevin-Monahan]

Spnsir,

It sounds like a corrupt project. Any complex project which is updated from one major version to the next can exhibit unexpected behavior like this. It should be avoided. This issue seems especially egregious with the current version of Premiere Pro.

My advice is to always complete a project that contains thousands of media objects in the software it was originally created with. Is it possible to complete in CC2017 at this stage or is that untenable at this point?

Now whenever I try to import an additional clip the project hangs.
Importing the same clips to a fresh project works fine.

Memory usage according to Task Manager is at 34% (32 GB Total).

If you have a copy of this project you can upload, I can turn it over to engineering to evaluate it for evaluation. Though it may not help your current situation, it could assist future users. Let me know.

• someone else had the same issue and was dealing with about 12000 clips as well.
• Someone commented it could be related to a memory issue but there was no confirmation and given my low memory usage, I'm questioning if that could be the case here.

I'm fairly certain it is a corrupt project, one that is leaking memory unnecessarily and one that cannot be "fixed" using any technique. I have a large project that is imported rather than updated and that is functioning well, though it sounds like it didn't work well for you.

Edits:

Re: What is the limit for how much footage a project can hold? CS4 Issues  someone references a project with 15000 clips, but that it crashes after 30 minutes of being open.

Sounds like a corrupt project, as well.

My current workaround is to edit the project just with proxy files, importing as many new files as needed, and then will reconnect all the original footage at the end. I am concerned though that the project might start to crash often and rendering may become a challenge.

If completing the project in CC2017 or importing the legacy project into a new project doesn't work, this sounds like a reasonable workaround. It's actually a bonafide workflow for many people, so run a few tests for export to ensure you can get an output without issue.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Guest]

Hey Kevin,

I can upload the project file. Let me know if you have a web form for that or if I should just pm you a link.

If I have any serious issues I'll try going back to CC 2017. I may also try creating a new project, importing all the clips from their sources, and then pulling in an xml or sequence from the existing project. For now I'll keep editing with proxies and when it comes time to do an import, I'll select as many files as possible rather than 1 by 1 since I'm finding if I leave the project for long enough, it eventually finishes scanning the R3D clips and successfully imports the file. So where I've seen it take anywhere from 15 minutes (where Premiere is unresponsive throughout that time) to an hour. It's a workaround.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi,

Sorry for this pain. It would be great to PM me a dropbox link or the like. I'll forward it to the team. I was talking with them this morning about this issue and that was their request. I hope we can help you get this project to the finish line.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Guest]

Thanks, PM sent

[Guest]

This issue is now fixed on my system with the 12.0.1 update. Thanks Premiere team!

[Guest]

This is now happening in After Effects with RED footage whenever I save or it does an autosave. Rather than saving right away, the whole program freezes for 1-2 minutes and the Resource Monitor again shows a read of all the clips (R3D and mp4). Screenshot: http://wyldfyre.cloud/GuxIGZH

I'll create a new topic on the After Effects forum.

[Guest]

This is now happening again, same project. Premiere 12.0.1. I'll try reinstalling today. Darn!