Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 1833)

Memory Usage Settings
Use these fields to decide how much of the RAM in your computer is available for
Final Cut Pro to use. Your computer’s available RAM is defined as the amount of RAM not
used by Mac OS X and other currently open applications. By limiting the amount of RAM
Final Cut Pro uses, you can maintain the performance of Final Cut Pro by preventing
Mac OS X from using virtual memory unnecessarily. This is especially important when
multiple applications are open at the same time.
• Application: This specifies what percentage of available RAM Final Cut Pro should use.
The total amount of allocated RAM appears to the right. The minimum amount of RAM
you can allocate to Final Cut Pro is 125 MB. If the amount of available RAM is lower
than 125 MB, this slider is dimmed.
• Still Cache: This specifies the amount of RAM used to hold still images for real-time
playback. The still cache that is allocated is a percentage of the excess RAM allocated
to Final Cut Pro, so adjusting the Application slider also adjusts the amount of RAM
available to the still cache. The more RAM allocated to the still cache, the more still
frames can be played back in real time in the currently selected sequence. If another
sequence is opened, the contents of the still cache are replaced with stills from the
new sequence. If there is no excess RAM available, this slider is dimmed.
Thumbnail Cache Settings
Use these fields to set the size of your cache. The thumbnail cache stores the clip
thumbnails displayed in the Timeline and the Browser. When you choose to display
thumbnails, the thumbnail cache improves the responsiveness of the Timeline and
Browser. There are two settings you can modify:
• Disk: Enter a number in this field to specify the size of the thumbnail disk cache. You
may want to have a large thumbnail disk cache if you’re working with a large number
of clips and want to display thumbnails or if you are using the Browser’s large icon
view.
• RAM: Enter a number in this field to specify the size of the thumbnail RAM cache. You
may want to have a large thumbnail RAM cache if you’re working with a large number
of clips and want to display thumbnails or if you are using the Browser’s large icon
view.
If you often scrub thumbnails in the Browser’s large icon view, you can optimize their
playback quality by increasing the thumbnail RAM cache. To set a location for the
thumbnail cache, see
“Connecting DV Video Equipment.”
Note: The thumbnail RAM cache uses part of the RAM available to other parts of
Final Cut Pro, so it shouldn’t be made too large.
1833 Chapter 111 Choosing Settings and Preferences