Adding yet another multicam track fails

Shimager wrote on 1/30/2021, 8:37 PM

Hi,

I have a multicam project (to which I am quite new) in Vegas Pro 18. So far all went well with two camera tracks. I made nice edits and transitions. Now further in the movie I wanted to add some footage where the multicam was only having a single movie track. But when I drag a new movie into an empty part of the multicam track, it greys out (with diagional black stripes) and the multicam window does not take the new track along in the preview window to select which track to take... Is it possible to add yet another multicam track without destroying the earlier edits?

Comments

Musicvid wrote on 1/30/2021, 8:42 PM

You need to exit multicam mode temporarily, and open it on a new track.

Shimager wrote on 1/30/2021, 9:04 PM

Hi, thanks for reverting! However due to the earlier edits on the multicam, I notice that the transitions that were made carefully in the earlier edits are then getting lost. Is there any way to retain those when exiting multicam mode? Or do I overlook something?

Musicvid wrote on 1/30/2021, 9:48 PM

I may be suffering from faulty memory, it's been a decade since I made a multicam project. I can check it out early next week.

RogerS wrote on 1/31/2021, 1:47 AM

I think all edits like that are lost on entering multicam mode. I recommend doing multicam first to get a rough edit then expanding back out the tracks and polishing from there.

joelsonforte.br wrote on 1/31/2021, 6:56 AM

It is possible to add a new video on the Multicamera Trail only at the Take level.
1.Create a cut in the Multicamera Track at the point where you want the new video to start. (This defines the start of Take)
2.Select the video to be added with the right mouse button and drag it to that point.
3. Choose the Add as Take option. If you also want to add the audio, just drag again the same video to the audio track.

Comments:
The new video added to the multi-camera track will always end at the next cut or Take.
 

Musicvid wrote on 1/31/2021, 9:56 AM

Thank you @joelsonforte.br ! Nothing like a little current experience to set us straight.

Shimager wrote on 1/31/2021, 3:49 PM

It is possible to add a new video on the Multicamera Trail only at the Take level.

Hi @Joelson_Forte. Many thanks for your great hint. I am sure I will use that one. At the moment I still noticed some other elements that made this not flow yet. Next weekend I hope to find time again to investigate this further.

Shimager wrote on 2/7/2021, 4:14 PM

@joelsonforte.br, @Musicvid I tried this track addition feature again. The video from Joelson was very clear and works. Still some questions though:
1 - I did get into situations where the Video AB did have multiple tracks added but only one shows in the 'Multicam track selector window' and where at some spot there is one track and then two windows showed in the 'Multicam track selector window'. I have no clue why...
2 - Is it also possible to fully undo the Multicam edit and get all on original tracks again, then add a new track and redo a Multicam edit? Then not bothering that the original multicam edit gets lost?
3 - Is it also possible (instead of a 'right mouse button drag and drop action') to first insert a third track, sync this track and cut that to the same starting point (as it starts before the intended insert point) and then move that track into the Multicam with a right click? I did not manage to get the Insert Track option then...

Anyone knows? If 2 or 3 do not work, I am afraid that I need to start my entire edit project all over again.

Musicvid wrote on 2/7/2021, 4:57 PM

2 - Is it also possible to fully undo the Multicam edit and get all on original tracks again, then add a new track and redo a Multicam edit? Then not bothering that the original multicam edit gets lost?

I always save all tracks to new ones so that I have ready-made backups or need to re-introduce something I have deleted from the multicam project.

joelsonforte.br wrote on 2/8/2021, 9:19 AM

1 - This occurs at the points where the active video tracks meet empty video tracks. Example: three video tracks are added to the multicam edit. At two minutes only track 1 contains video and the other tracks are empty. At that point, only 1 window will appear in the multicam edition, which is the window of the track where there is video.

2- Yes it is possible, but you will lose transitions, effects and crossfades that were added in the multicamera edition. The only way to save the transitions, effects and crossfades that already exist is to save the multicamera edition that was already made in a subproject and then add that subproject in a new project where the new track will be added.

3 - Yes it is possible, you just need to synchronize the third track with the existing multicam edition on the timeline and then create a subclip of that third track and then in the Project Media window drag this subclip with the right button to the desired point in the multicam edition.

For those who are used to working with multicamera editing, your case is simple to solve. But for those who are starting now, I recommend starting the multicamera project correctly, adding all the tracks that will be used and synchronizing them all in advance.

During multicamera editing avoid using transitions, effects and crossfades unless you are sure that you will not need to expand and regroup the original tracks.

In case you need to expand and regroup the original tracks, you should only work with dry cut during multicamera editing, as the dry cuts will be maintained after expanding and regrouping the original tracks. Only at the end of multicamera editing should transitions, effects and crossfades be added.

Shimager wrote on 2/8/2021, 2:22 PM

Hello @Musicvid, What do you mean with

... save all tracks to new ones ...?

You mean to export or render an edit as a new track? If so, that would be quite sub-optimal?

Musicvid wrote on 2/8/2021, 3:05 PM

I mean that I make duplicates of all unedited timeline tracks as backups. I use Render to New Tracks. I call it "insurance."

Shimager wrote on 2/8/2021, 3:44 PM

Ok @Musicvid I now understand your statement. Could be smart indeed.

Shimager wrote on 2/8/2021, 4:01 PM

Dear @joelsonforte.br. Many thanks for further valuable explanation.

1 - This occurs at the points where the active video tracks meet empty video tracks. Example: three video tracks are added to the multicam edit. At two minutes only track 1 contains video and the other tracks are empty. At that point, only 1 window will appear in the multicam edition, which is the window of the track where there is video.

I still remain puzzled why, after adding one track this way to the Multicam, one of the selection screens remained black or elsewhere I only got one selection screen. And what do the diagonal black bars really mean? Clearly they tell that something is wrong or rejected, but why does it then take the track in still?

2- Yes it is possible, but you will lose transitions, effects and crossfades that were added in the multicamera edition. The only way to save the transitions, effects and crossfades that already exist is to save the multicamera edition that was already made in a subproject and then add that subproject in a new project where the new track will be added.

I tried and ran into technical issue. This as my first subproject save did not have limits from clear timeline splits and too much was exported thus affecting the time before and after. So I made an 'undo', split the file and again made a subproject. However I tried to save that in the same name as the mistaken subproject. Vegas clearly did not like that and crashed. As a result I lost my subproject and these edited transitions. Happily I do have an earlier version of the edit, so no man overboard. But that was naughty. Still learned a lot for next round (split first :-)

3 - Yes it is possible, you just need to synchronize the third track with the existing multicam edition on the timeline and then create a subclip of that third track and then in the Project Media window drag this subclip with the right button to the desired point in the multicam edition.

Indeed worked great! Synced and well, despite my issue a per 1.

For those who are used to working with multicamera editing, your case is simple to solve. But for those who are starting now, I recommend starting the multicamera project correctly, adding all the tracks that will be used and synchronizing them all in advance.

During multicamera editing avoid using transitions, effects and crossfades unless you are sure that you will not need to expand and regroup the original tracks.

In case you need to expand and regroup the original tracks, you should only work with dry cut during multicamera editing, as the dry cuts will be maintained after expanding and regrouping the original tracks. Only at the end of multicamera editing should transitions, effects and crossfades be added.

Thanks for valuable tips. Indeed crucial. Still it would be great if Vegas also allows Multicam camera additions in a later phase. In my project I did not have time to add everything neatly into the timeline first (neither did I know that requirement) and I needed to evolve the project per region. Therefore I planned to edit per progressive region and after each region I planned to make an export of that region for release. Then when all regions were done that way, I planned to make a final edit gluing all regions together... So this was really a workflow that would be evolving over time and that was not accounting for requirements on 'order of things' in the Multicam requirement.

Anyway. I might restart the project to take account for the 'first things first' requirement as I do expect more to pop up in this context and as I probably prefer to mix all 8 audio tracks first before adding the movie clips. It became a bit cumbersome to do all at the same time although Vegas served quite well in this respect.

Many thanks again for the highly valued input!

Best, Shimager