Multicam is great when the tapes are continuous BUT

Multicam is great when the tapes are continuous BUT

What about when one of the camera ops accidently stops/starts? What happens when there are overlapping reel changes during a live performance?

In the good 'ol days with a stop/start issue I razor and resync keeping camera on same track. Same goes for reel changes. Camera1 stayed on Track1 etc.

I can come up with several workarounds but they defeat the "convenience" of the Multicam feature.

Workaround(s)?
Export entire track with slugs filling the holes and then reimport the file so it's continuous. Problem is that it the Time Code no longer matches the original, making future recapturing difficult.

One person suggested splitting the source clip (sub clip?) and resyncing at the appropriate point. I haven't tried this but it can make editing confusing as the image pops to another angle in the Viewer, especially if it happens a few times in a 90 minute performance.

Wish
That multicam could handle a nested sequence as a source. It can't as far as I can tell. This would allow you to keep the camera in one "angle" and give you a way to trace back to the camera master on a future recapture.

Do any of you have suggested workarounds for accidental camera stop/starts and reel changes that keep the integrity of the time code for future recaptures?

hi, craig.

yes it's a problem, alright.

is your other person sugesting that you create a new multi-clip for each break?
i think that's the best way to go.

im guessing you are sycing in the timeline.
at the break, blade all the other clips.
drag that section of clips to a new bin, and make a new multi clip, syncing by in-point.
it think you;d be best to blade at the begining of the new section, sync by in-point, and have the on/off camera go to black at the end of the multi-clip.
but you could try it the other way, too.

working from multiple multi-clips shouldnt be too much of a problem, especaily once you get past the assembly stage, and are able to work from the timeline.

nick

Hi Nick
Maybe a visaul example would make this clearer


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2-------------- ------
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The cameras have staggered their reel changes so there's always one camera rolling coverage. That's three break points.

I set Aux TC1 of each camera to match the timeline time so all cameras now have matching AuxTC

Two cameras (2 and 3 above) infact changed reels only seconds apart which would make one of the multiclips very short using your method, wouldn't it?

Based on the manual, it would seem that Multclip Sequence might work but it doesn't use Aux TC. With Aux TC I "simulated" a start/stop which MS says it can handle (and you can set percentage overlap - outside of which it would then start an new Multiclip).

fantastic!
i can see!

sorry craig i thought you had this:

1------------------
2------------------
3------ ------ ----

_______________________________________

"The cameras have staggered their reel changes so there's always one camera rolling coverage. That's three break points."

yes this LOOKS like it would work with the multiclip sequnce thing, but that;s really for shows shot with matching TC, and i think is more for handling breaks ACROSS TAPES, not break WITHIN TAPES

"I set Aux TC1 of each camera to match the timeline time so all cameras now have matching AuxTC"

makes sense, and a simple Multiclip CAN use AUX TC.
but did you cature whoe tapes?
if so, then chaing AUX TC for one part of the tape will affect the other part.
or did you capture the section seperately, or batch export them into seperate files?

"Two cameras (2 and 3 above) infact changed reels only seconds apart which would make one of the multiclips very short using your method, wouldn't it?"

yeah i guess my method has problems, too.

"Based on the manual, it would seem that Multclip Sequence might work but it doesn't use Aux TC."

groan... what's the point of that thing???

With Aux TC I "simulated" a start/stop which MS says it can handle (and you can set percentage overlap - outside of which it would then start an new Multiclip).

craig, if that pictogram is acurate, and there is only ONE break per tape,
you could create 2 multiclips,
one based on in-points and one based on out-points.
but what to do with the stuff in between?

and what if you;ve more than one break per tape?

i've been pondering this, and without a multicam project, it's hard to test, but i use the multicam show i did a while back as an example.
for that show the cameras changed tapes in a staggered way, one or two minutes apart.
there were also performances from 2 nights, a master performance would be chosen and teh other night's shopw would be synched to it.
LOTS of cuts in there, pulling one night into sync with another.

without being able to use nests in a multiclip, i dont know what i'd do if i had to do that show now.
probably cut it the samew way i did back in FCP4!

either that or live without TC.

do you NEED accurate TC to finish your show, or are you hanging onto it for safety reasons?
(what a bizare question to be asking.. "do you need acurate TC"
are you able to ingest at finishing resolution?

OR is there some way of using my suggested method?
just ignore the 2-second section?
or go with it, and have a 2 second section.
once you get the multiclips all lined up in a timeline, maybe having a 2 second section wont hurt too much?

sorry i cant offfer any real world experinece with this.
it would be great to hear how you solve the problem, though

cheers,
nick

>but did you cature whoe tapes?
>if so, then chaing AUX TC for one part of the tape will affect the other part.

Fortunately each tape was continuous (no start/stop) so I was able to use AUX TC. But as you realize, that's not always the case.

>>"Based on the manual, it would seem that Multclip Sequence might work >>but it doesn't use Aux TC."

>groan... what's the point of that thing???

Well, it would make sense if you're using a master tc source, time of day, free run, where there's a true TC break at the start/stop point. Not usefull for miniDV use though. At least if it could use Aux TC AND you had NO start/stops, you could simulate matching TC and use "Overlap or Delta" on the TC break on the reel change. It can't use Aux TC though so it won't work for non matching miniDV TC.

>do you NEED accurate TC to finish your show, or are you hanging onto it for >safety reasons?

If I didn't, I could just create sequences with slugs to fill the gaps, export and then import as a contuous clip. There's always the chance of a future recapture. I don't want to dig myself into a hole.

If multiclip could use sequences as sources this wouldn't be an issue. Interestingly, multiclips can use other multiclips as sources.

So far, subclipping is the "best" but very awkward solution.

More than half my shoots are multicam. My shooting situation with miniDV TC and the occasional start/stop is typical of lower budget miniDV multicam shoots. It's unfortunate that the FCP team couldn't "solve" this on this version.

BTW I did mention this to Don Peebles I believe (SP?) of Apple at the SMPTE show in NYC. He got another Apple person involved, whose name escapes me at the moment. In the short time we had to play, we came up with subclipping as the workaround. Wondering if others have thought of other workarounds.

Goal is to keep traceable TC matching Camera Masters and create something that will playback continuously in timeline/browser.