Multicam Editing dropouts & error message

[Jerry Hofmann]

What’s the format of the video, and how did you “re-sync” the camera angle? How many total angles?

Also post the OS, QT, FCP versions you are running.

Jerry

[Dan Riley]

Yeah, what do you mean by “I had to re-sync the clips on a camera pick-up ” ?
Re-sync what? …where?

I’ve edited many 4 camera shows with FCP’s multicam and it works well.
Some would say even better than AVID, especially in how easy it is to make
the multiclips, (groups in AVID speak). My only beef is you can’t match frame
to the source clip from a multiclip timeline. Hopefully this will be fixed.

I do all my multicam roughcuts at DV. This works well with my SATA RAID.
Then I uprez to uncompressed and have had no trouble, except for
still frames, but I digress.

What codec are you using?

Dan

[Pat Defilippo]

Hi Jerry and Dan,

Thanks for your help with this.

I did figure out why I was getting the “Content” error. When I had to re-sync (meaning that, at around the 5 minute mark, one of the three cameras was accidentially turned off and then back on a few seconds later) the cameras (which created a second Multiclip), I didn’t get a good match frame after making the Multiclip and learned this after about three camera switches. Good point, Jerry, about the inability to match frame because that might have helped me here. When I tried to adjust the one camera after making the three camera switches off of that second Multicam clip, that’s when I repeatedly got the error.

I finally put the second Multicam clip on a new track and extended the In Point back to the head of the first of the new cuts (of the three). THEN I re-synced the camera and re-entered Multicam editing mode, using the three cut points on the original video track as a guide as to when and where to cut (since I had already done them anyway). I think I got the error becuase I re-synced the shots AFTER making the three cuts becuase goomg bacl amd syncing it perfectly from the first cut got rid of that error.

The other issue, though, is the dropped frames that are still frequently happening. I am using the AJA Io LA 8-Bit Uncompressed codec and I have three camera angles. I’m running the latest and greatest versions of OS (10.4), QT and FCP (5.1.1). The only thing I can think to do at this point is to finish the 20-minute wedding multicam and then check everything in the Render All menu and let it render everything. Do you think that might clean out the black frames (which are also dropping audio)?

Thanks again,
-Pat

[Dan Riley]

Go ahead and render now, just to see if your current timeline plays correctly.
Highlight a few minutes worth and do a ‘render all’ so you end up with the
blue line on top of the timeline. Remember, once you render you can’t
see the three cameras playing back together in a multiclip. So after you
do this test, just clear the render by checking and unchecking the green button
on the video track. Then you can see the multiclips in real time again.

dr

[Jerry Hofmann]

Down the line… there is a way to keep that on then off then on camera in the same multiclip… put it in sync for it’s start, then add an edit where it stopped. Drag that portion later, fill the hole on that track with slug. Then export that track only as a self contained QT movie… reimport that file and use it. What will happen is that it will just go black during the time it wasn’t recording.

Jerry

[Pat Defilippo]

Thanks for the ideas and advice!

I’ve got to jump out of this project today for another one (an actual paying job!!!), but I should be back at it tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it ends up going.

Have a great day,
-Pat

[Jerry Hofmann]

Keep the source sequence if you do this exported with black in the middle file… you can re create the export again if necessary someday..

Jerry

[Pat Defilippo]

Thanks again, Dan and Jerry!

Jerry, that last minute tip of saving a copy of the sequence came in just as I was starting up the “Render All” with “Full” checked (thanks again!). It took about 26 minutes for the 23 minute, three-camera switched edit.

So, now I have the duplicate with a green bar across the top which frequently drops frames and the master with a blue bar across the top which, for the first five minutes anyway, has not dropped any frames.

I would say that back in the linear days when I used Multicam Mode on a Grass Valley or a CMX editor that it was pretty good, but no where near as flexible as FCP’s Multicam Mode. After doing this first one, there are some gotchas that I know to stay away from for next time (like changing an in-point after doing a couple of switches, which gives the aforementioned error message), but all in all I’m very happy with Multicam Mode. I was easily able to go back and add some split-screens using a second video channel, easily syncing to a different angle and keyframing the move.

Now I just have to find enough paying work to keep me busy!

Thanks again for your help, Dan and Jerry,
-Pat

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