FCPX MULTICAM

Final Cut Pro->Preferences->Playback.

Uncheck the box that says: "Create Optimized Media for Multicam Clips"

Switch off the default create optimized for multicam clips. If you have playback problems transcode to proxy.

Double-click the multicam clip just created, to open in the "Angle Editor". Here you can see how the multicam is setup.

Often the clip can start as black just because the audio was started before the video begins.

Can you post a screenshot of your angle editor?

Maybe you need a more pedagogical intro to the software.

The introductory course by izzyvideo is professionally made and free, and will give you a lot of information about how FCP X works in general.

Regarding multicam, you could search for "MacBreak Studio multicam". A few episodes of the great weekly series "MacBreak Studio" by Mark Spencer and Steve Martin will appear. If you need more, you could look at their training material in rippletraining.com - these two guys are amazing. Great professionals, and educators too. My heroes (as well as Karsten's, too :-))

gprotell wrote:

Again the issue is that it didn't sync all 59 clips....

Assuming there is audio on all 59 clips for FCP to sync from, a typical reason behind syncing problems is missing or inconsistent angle names.

You may be interested in this brief support doc

And a fuller discussion on syncing here.

Russ

The first thing I would do is try the multicam with half of the clips.

If that does not work ... Try 10 clips ... see how that goes.

And yes, it may just be one files has something not nice with it.

59 clips is nothing special... I'm synching here 4-7 devices and one, sometimes two are start/stop in use, which creates +100 clips.

speaking of heroes (Hi Luis 😉 ) , my list of Steves&Marks tuts about Multicam

https://youtu.be/qKhmZbVgywk

https://youtu.be/eeQzOycTlOU

https://youtu.be/RS5Ct3I8Yrs

https://youtu.be/C5ZN3ykbvhA

https://youtu.be/HE4FRDMJBS0

https://youtu.be/S2pnoveRIYE

https://youtu.be/e667iBARkzQ

about an hour to watch, but no rocket science!

A few remarks, based upon personal experience:

• no prox nor optimize needed, if each 'stream' (=angle) comes from its own drive/'platter'! My ol' MacMini handles 4k multicam!

• or, invest into SSDs, my working horse is a 120€, usb3 connected Samsung thingie (matchbox size) which delivers blazing fast

• I don't edit music videos, but soccer games - so 'synch by audio' does work, tested it, if thw crowd makes some noise, but 'synch on first marker' works better and incredible fast, literally in seconds (see my hardware specs below...); it just asks to set a marker in each angle manually (here: referees whistle)

• before creating the MC, do your meta housework: each clip has to have some 'angle'; select all clips of one angle and give them the same name => do that right after import; use the Notes field to create 'groups', here: same cam, same angle, but 1st hald, 2nd half; check for consistency in timestamps (if you forgot to set your cams to same date/time <cough> as I do frequently)

• the MC timeline allows further adjustments, which track is 'main', which track is #5, finally allows finer adjustements ( , and ., comma and dot is your friend) - there's nothing wrong to synch by hand/ear! 😉

• check, BEFORE creating the MC, that there are no selections made in the source clips! Typical beginners mistake - instead of the whole clip, just a fraction appears…

• you can apply/minus additonal tracks later, e.g. I used one track for a timecode generator, or use an 'overview' track for editing, than in a second round select cameras...

• if you have to color correct one cam/angle - do it in the MCs timeline, no need to do that later in dozens of clips

• don't care for formats; but, for convenience in edit, set the MCs settings to same as your best source; here: 1080/50p - my projects are mostly 25p, but selecting a clip (=part of a MC) and choose 'automatic conform', creates 100% perfect slowmo - although, the MC contains some material only 720/30p. I'm mixing here 1080/50p, 1080/25p, 720/30p, 720/60p and lately 1080/100p… all in one MC, no manual conversion/conforming needed

• a MC is a clip as any other: you're not forced to use all content, you can split it, trim it, stack/double it (excellent for instrument tutorials), blade it, edit it as any other clip

• Mutlicam does not mean multiple cameras on set! It doesn't even mean one camera on same set nor time…!

• and finally: MC is no replacement for tracks … 😉, a video shows only one pic, no need to staple tons of 'unseen' material over each other