FCPX spacing clips based on timecode

[Eugeny Korkhin]

https://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/744-part-1-of-a-3-part-series-of-fcpx-multicam-tutorials-from-mark-spencer-and-steve-martin

Have a look from about 12:00. May be that helps.

[Jared Ewing]

Thanks for the response but these guys do not address my questions. Basically I want to take a group of shots from the same camera and space them based on timecode and when I do this through a multicam clip, the correct spacing is not created.

[T. Payton]

Jared I think I know what is happening. You need to make sure that each clip is labeled with a camera and angle. Here is a shoot from last Friday:

FCP needs the angle and camera name tags for properly creating multi cam clips, see here:

https://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.0.4/#ver26f5c183

Let me know if that helps.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Jared Ewing]

Thanks for the updates and this does help when working with the multi clip side of things. However, this does not address the spacing between the clips. Final Cut Pro X is not able to use the audio or timecode of the specific clip I’m working with to sync the video.

What I’m really looking to do is have a group of clips, take your 7D clips as an example, and put them on a story line with gaps in-between each clip. The gaps would be the length of time from when I stopped the camera to the moment I started recording again.

[T. Payton]

[Jared Ewing] “What I’m really looking to do is have a group of clips, take your 7D clips as an example, and put them on a story line with gaps in-between each clip. “

Actually that is exactly what does happen. See here:

All you need is something constant for it to sync too. In my case the h4n audio. The problem with the Canons I used is there is no real timecode. There is capture time and audio but that is it. If you don’t have either one of those they it is going to prove difficult.

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Jared Ewing]

The syncing works in most cases. I’m running into an issue where the DSLRs clock was off and this causes incorrect syncing (as seen in the image). Regardless of combinations of syncing, including using audio, the clips do not sync correctly. I’ve already finished this project so it’s not an issue with this one.

I’m just curious if there is a way to space out clips, from one camera, based on timecode. In the image below I would do this with camera 2. The result would be added as an additional angle to the current multi clip.

Thank you for the responses, I enjoy digging into these situations to see how other people are using FC.

[T. Payton]

Well first of all I’m glad to hear you actually finished a project. I rarely ever actually do that. My projects just go on forever. 😉

So your screen capture, is that what you wanted to happen, or what actually happened when you synced. i.e. the clips in camera 2 appeared well before the clips on camera 1, 3 or 4.

Final Cut can only sync based on what is there in the clip. Audio, Timecode, Content Creation time or Markers. So if you didn’t get any of those when you were recording then you have to sync manually.

Does that make sense?

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Jared Ewing]

Yes, I get that. The screen shot is what actually happened. There is timecode on camera 2. I know what can be synced. The issue is not with the syncing aspect, it’s with the spacing of the clips for camera 2. I want to add in gaps in-between each clip from camera 2 that matches the time the camera was not recording. I know that if I had another clip recording at the same time there would be no issue doing that. I want to be able to space the clips when there is not a second camera or audio track. I just want to get a visual on the timeline of how long it was in between each clip.

[Eugeny Korkhin]

Here is the example:

Those 3 quicktime files are from 600D (or T3i). As you can see, they don’t have a continuous timecode, they all start at zero. But they have a Content Created time.
Giving them identical Camera Name and using this settings

results

They are spaced in time based on “timecode” (it’s accurate to seconds). Now you can copy-paste them wherever you need. Seems to be something you’re looking for:

[Jared Ewing] “Is there a way to create a compound clip that will add a gap in-between each DSLR clip so that they are spaced correctly?”

[Jared Ewing]

Ok, so that answers the question that it is possible. When I go to do that, the clips do NOT space themselves correctly. All clips are ordered correctly, just no space. Any thoughts on why this would be happening?