Help - aligning multi cam

rjkrash wrote on 4/7/2005, 5:38 PM
New to Vegas and first time user of a multi-track NLE. It is one of the reasons I stepped up to Vegas. Now I need a technique!

I have video from two cameras shooting the same event (no fancy sync or anything, strictly amature!). Can someone suggest a straightforward way to align the two?.

I have a visual or audio cues that can be seen/heard in each event, I can get to the exact frame in each where the cue happens. How do I align, for example frame 00:00:02,09 in event 1 with frame 00:00:03,23 in event 2?

I know you folks have done this a million times, help a noob out. :)

Comments

jetdv wrote on 4/7/2005, 5:59 PM
You can move one of the clips so the equivalent points are "close" and then you can use the 1 and 3 keys on the numberpad to fine-tune the placements until you get them the same.

Now if you want the easiest way, check out the Sync Wizard in Excalibur. You would just put markers at those two locations and let it do all the work getting them aligned.
rjkrash wrote on 4/7/2005, 7:52 PM
That was the ticket! Thank you!!!

Used two events split screen and used those handy 1 and 3 keys to sync up visual events.

note to self: got to learn ALL the keyboard commands....
bakerja wrote on 4/8/2005, 1:50 PM
I do quite a few of these "amateur" shoots and a tip that I found a couple of years ago in this forum is to recapture the footage once you have established sync. Rendering to new .avi's creates a new time stamp on each camera angle. Now your cam 1 at 00:01:23:24 is time aligned with your cam 2 at 00:01:23:24. You will find that when editing multicam projects, it is very easy to drag a clip out of sync accidentally. If you start your project at 00:00:00, then your newly time stamped files will always be easy to re-establish sync.

JAB
jetdv wrote on 4/8/2005, 1:57 PM
Sounds like a lot of wasted time and camera wear and tear to me.
bakerja wrote on 4/8/2005, 2:17 PM
Camera wear and tear?

You don't take the footage back in to the camera. You just render your individual video tracks to new avi files and it stamps the first frame (which is sometimes black because it is slipped up and down the timeline) with 00:00:00:00. The render is lightning fast because no edits are done to the original avi. It merely slips it in time, no re-rendering of the file.

The beauty of this technique is that you create time synced .avi files that are effortless to edit.

JAB
jetdv wrote on 4/8/2005, 2:26 PM
Ahh... I understand what you're doing now. Personally, I just use Excalibur and have never had a problem with anything getting out of sync.
bakerja wrote on 4/8/2005, 2:35 PM
One of these days I'm going to get that tool. So how does it work with respect to video clips. Does it not allow a clip to be moved? I find myself accidentally nudging a clip a frame or two sometimes when I am grabbing the edge to manipulate a fade. What if you want to slide a clip out of sync? How is that handled in Excaliber? I should probably just buy it and learn it. I have heard countless people here praising it.

JAB
vicmilt wrote on 4/8/2005, 4:04 PM
For muliti-camera editing it's great - if you are cutting anything longer than two minutes, the time it saves is well worth the expense.
you sync up your footage then you play it and add markers every time you want to cut from cam1 to cam3 to cam2, etc. When your done, it assembles a whole new track, all edited AND adjustable - I'm not shilling for the company - I don't even know who wrote it - it's great.

v.
jetdv wrote on 4/8/2005, 5:48 PM
Jab, I have an overview video of Excalibur 3. Excalibur 4 streamlines the process even further.
rjkrash wrote on 4/8/2005, 6:38 PM
re-rendering sounds like a great idea, thanks. I'm assuming you would just mute each camera track in turn and render, right?

Since you say you've done many of these any other tips you've picked up along the way? I love the way a multi camera shoot 'snaps' up an amateur video. I do a lot of event recording for end-of-year compilation type videos for my daughters' various activities and I often bring together film from multiple dads/moms shooting the same event.

I have one that has been really successful for me for establishing sync.

If the event is the type where flash pictures can be taken I use my flash unit from my still camera and fire it off such that all video cameras can see it, kind of like a visual clap board. The bright point is almost always 1 frame easily found.

DelCallo wrote on 4/9/2005, 1:10 AM
You can also use the audio as a sync tool. Instead of watching for a visual clue, just get the clips into close alignment, then, listen to the audio. If there is a distinct audio feature, you can use it as a sync point, or just play the timeline with both audio tracks active (unmuted), and slide one or the other back and forth (using numeric keypad) until there is no echo from misalignment, and you are in perfect sync.

I find that the simplest method - but, to each his/her own.

Happy editing.

Caruso
craftech wrote on 4/9/2005, 5:11 AM
Yes, that is how I do it. I solo the two audio tracks. Then I "select events to end" on ONE of them, and while they are both playing simultaneously I use the keypad to jog the one track back and forth until the two are in perfect synch. Then the video will be in synch as well.

John
bakerja wrote on 4/22/2005, 6:53 AM
If your cameras are the same distance from the sound source, the audio cues will work great. I do church videos that has some cams in the front of the church and some at the back. The waveforms are sometimes difficult to lineup in this scenario. The flash bulb technique is my favorite.

JAB
BowmanDigital wrote on 4/23/2005, 4:29 PM
Does using recording timcode such as time of day help doing this sort of thing? if so how do u use it in vegas?
vicmilt wrote on 4/24/2005, 8:32 AM
If you are doing "bunches" of these multicam shoots with all sorts of amateur videographers, here's a good trick for you.
Put a big clock somewhere inconspicuous on the stage.
A digital would be best, but even one of those big garden clocks with a second hand will do.
Have your various videographers shoot the clock everytime they start a new shot -
Voila - instant and easy multi-cam sync.
You just line up the clock to the timecode on the track - add filler in front of the track until the timecode represents the time of day. Fine tune using audio cues.
v