Apple Final Cut Pro X 10.1.2 User Guide

							 Chapter 10    Advanced editing 3 31
Note:  If you use the automatic method for creating angles, Final Cut Pro uses any Camera Angle 
tags in the selected clips to name the angles in the resulting multicam clip. If no Camera Angle 
tags are present, Final Cut Pro uses Camera Name, Name (clip name), or Camera ID metadata to 
name angles. You can rename angles in the Angle Editor. For more information, see Sync and 
adjust angles and clips in the Angle Editor
 on page 343.
Create multicam clips in the Browser
Creating multicam clips is similar to creating auditions and compound clips in the Browser. 
Multicam clips can be made up of diverse media sources (different formats, frame rates, and so 
on). You can have multiple clips in any given angle of a multicam clip.
You can have Final Cut Pro create multicam clips for you automatically, or you can create the 
clips manually.
If you know what kind of metadata your multicam media has, you can create multicam clips 
using manual methods faster than with the automatic methods. The automatic methods use 
sophisticated automatic audio sync technology to ensure synchronization accuracy (but at the 
expense of processing time). It’s best to turn off the “Use audio for synchronization” feature when 
it’s not needed. For example, if you’ve recorded accurate timecode in every clip, Final Cut Pro can 
create your multicam clip automatically without the audio sync feature.
Create a multicam clip automatically
 1 In the Browser, select the clips you want to include in the multicam clip.
 2 Do one of the following:
 •Choose File > New Multicam Clip.
 •Control-click the selection and choose New Multicam Clip from the shortcut menu.
 3 In the window tha t appears, type a name for the multicam clip in the Name field.
 4 Use the In Event pop-up menu to choose the event in which you want to create the new 
multicam clip.
 5 If the multicam automatic settings are not shown, click Use Automatic Settings.
The multicam automatic settings appear.
Note:  The automatic settings are shown by default, but if the last multicam clip you created used 
custom settings, those settings are shown.
 6 To sync angles automatically using audio waveform data, select “Use audio for synchronization.” 
This option makes precision sync adjustments using audio waveforms in each angle. This is 
the same audio sync technology that you can use to automatically sync clips together into a 
compound clip. 
Sync point
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Note:  Some audio recordings are not suited for use with this feature. Selecting this option may 
result in long processing times during which Final Cut Pro is not available for editing.
 7 Click OK.
Final Cut Pro creates a new multicam clip in the event and places duplicates of the selected clips 
in the new multicam clip.
Multicam clip icon
Create a multicam clip with custom settings
 1 In the Browser, select the clips you want to include in the multicam clip.
 2 Do one of the following:
 •Choose File > New Multicam Clip.
 •Control-click the selection and choose New Multicam Clip from the shortcut menu.
 3 In the window that appears, type a name for the multicam clip in the Name field.
 4 If the multicam custom settings are not shown, click Use Custom Settings.
The custom settings appear.
Note:  The automatic settings are shown by default, but if the last multicam clip you created used 
custom settings, those settings are shown.
 5 In the Angle Assembly pop-up menu, choose how the angles in the multicam clip are created:
 •Automatic: Final Cut Pro creates the angles automatically. 
 •Camera Angle: Final Cut Pro creates angles in the multicam clip based on the Camera Angle 
property of the selected clips.
 •Camera Name: Final Cut Pro creates angles in the multicam clip based on the Camera Name 
property of the selected clips.
 •Clips: Final Cut Pro creates a separate angle for each selected clip, using the Name property in 
each clip to name the angle.
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 6 In the Angle Clip Ordering pop-up menu, choose how angles are ordered within the multicam clip:
 •Automatic: Final Cut Pro orders the clips within each angle automatically. If there is more than 
one clip per angle, Final Cut Pro inserts gap clips between the clips, as needed, to achieve the 
correct timing and spacing.
 •Timecode: Final Cut Pro orders the clips within each angle using timecode recorded in the clips. 
If you recorded timecode in your clips, choose this option. It’s the fastest and most frame-
accurate method of ordering clips.
 •Content Created: Final Cut Pro orders the clips within each angle using the date and time 
information recorded by your camcorder or video recording device.
The Content Created method can position clips within 1-second accuracy (because in most 
camcorders the smallest unit in date and time information is 1 second). If you choose this 
clip-ordering method, consider making your multicam clip frame-accurate by selecting “Use 
audio for synchronization” (described in step 8) or manually synchronizing your angles in the 
Angle Editor.
Note:  At any time, you can change the Content Created date and time of your source clips in 
the Browser. Just select one or more clips and choose Modify > Adjust Content Created Date 
and Time.
 7 In the Angle Synchronization pop-up menu, choose how angles are synchronized in the 
multicam clip:
 •Automatic: Final Cut Pro synchronizes the angles automatically (using one or more of the 
following methods). 
 •Timecode: Final Cut Pro synchronizes the angles based on the timecode recorded in the clips. 
For more information about recording timecode, see Multicam editing workflow on page 328 .
01:00:00:00
01:00:00:00 
01:00:00:00
01:00:00:00
Sync point
 •Content Created: Final Cut Pro synchronizes the angles based on the date and time information 
recorded by your camcorder or video recording device.
Note:  At any time, you can change the Content Created date and time of your source clips in 
the Browser. Just select one or more clips and choose Modify > Adjust Content Created Date 
and Time.
12:59 PM
12:59 PM
12:59 PM
12:59 PM
Sync point
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 •Start of First Clip: Final Cut Pro uses the first frame in each angle as the sync point. 
Sync point
Tip:  The Start of First Clip method is useful if you want to use specific range selections of your 
source clips only. In the Browser, add keywords or the Favorite rating to the range selections 
you want to use and then filter or search for the clips. When you create your multicam clip, 
Final Cut Pro uses only the media showing in the filtered view.
 •First Marker on the Angle: Final Cut Pro uses the first marker in each angle as the sync point. 
Sync point
Tip:  With this method, you can use the first marker to define a region that can be fine-tuned 
with the “Use audio for synchronization” option (described below). In other words, you don’t 
need to place the marker exactly—just close enough so that the automatic audio sync feature 
can synchronize the angles the rest of the way.
 8 To sync angles automatically using audio waveform data, select “Use audio for synchronization.” 
This option makes precision sync adjustments using audio waveforms in each angle. This is 
the same audio sync technology that you can use to automatically sync clips together into a 
compound clip. 
Sync point
Note:  Some audio recordings are not suited for use with this feature. Selecting this option may 
result in long processing times during which Final Cut Pro is not available for editing.
 9 If you want the multicam clip’s timecode to start at a value other than the earliest timecode 
value in the selected clips (the default), type a timecode value in the Starting Timecode field.
 10 If you want to change the video properties settings, select Custom in the Video Properties 
section and change the settings as appropriate.
Note:  By default, Final Cut Pro analyzes the selected clips and configures these settings 
according to the most common clip properties among those clips.
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 11 If you want to change the audio or render settings, select Custom in the Audio and Render 
Properties section and change the settings as appropriate.
 12 Click OK.
Final Cut Pro creates a new multicam clip in the event and places duplicates of the selected clips 
in the new multicam clip.
Multicam clip icon
Cut and switch angles in the Angle Viewer
After you create a multicam clip, you can watch all angles simultaneously in the Angle Viewer 
while switching or cutting to different angles in real time. This allows you to cut an entire 
movie as if it were live, and then fine-tune your edits in the Timeline just as you would for any 
other project.
The Angle Viewer is both a display and an interactive interface for making quick cut and switch 
decisions as you play back your multicam clips and projects. Angles appear in banks of 2, 4, 9, or 
16 angles.
Angle Viewer
Play back a multicam clip in the Angle Viewer
 1 To open the Angle Viewer, do one of the following:
 •Choose Window > Viewer Display > Show Angles (or press Shift-Command-7).
 •Choose Show Angles from the Viewer Options pop-up menu in the top-right corner of 
the Viewer.
If you’re viewing a multicam clip in the Browser, you have the option to show the Event Viewer 
next to the Viewer. To show multicam angles in the Event Viewer, do one of the following:
 •Choose Window > Event Viewer Display > Show Angles. 
 •Choose Show Angles from the Viewer Options pop-up menu in the top-right corner of the 
Event Viewer.
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 2 Use the skimmer or the playhead to play back a multicam clip in the Browser or the Timeline.
The Angle Viewer appears in the upper part of the Final Cut Pro window.
The multicam clip’s 
angles appear in the 
Angle Viewer.
Active angle
Play back a multicam clip in the Browser 
or the Timeline.
Cut and switch angles in the Angle Viewer
You can cut and switch angles “on the fly” (while playing back your project), or you can skim to 
specific points in the Timeline and then cut and switch. You can also use a combination of those 
two methods.
 1 To open the Angle Viewer, choose Window > Viewer Display > Show Angles (or press 
Shift-Command-7).
 2 Add the multicam clip you want to cut and switch to the Timeline. 
Note:  The cut and switch feature works on Timeline clips only.
 3 Do one of the following:
 •Position the playhead and press the Space Bar to play back the multicam clip.
 •Skim the Timeline to the frame where you want to cut and switch to a different angle.
 4  In the Angle Viewer, move the pointer over the angle that you want to switch to.
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As you move the pointer over the angles in the Angle Viewer, the pointer changes to the Blade 
tool, indicating that a cut (and switch) will occur when you click. 
The pointer changes 
to the Blade tool.
The active angle is highlighted.
 5 Do one of the following:
 •To cut and switch: Click the angle you want to switch to. (Or press any number key to cut and 
switch to the corresponding angle of the current bank. For example, press 5 to cut and switch 
to angle 5 of the current bank.)
In the Timeline, the current multicam clip is cut at the playhead position. The section of the 
clip to the right of the playhead is replaced with a new instance of the clip, with the angle 
you clicked as the active angle. A special through edit point appears at the Timeline playhead 
position. For more information, see Edit multicam clips in the Timeline and the Inspector
 on 
page 349. 
 •To switch: Option-click the angle you want to switch to. (Or hold down the Option key and 
press any number key to switch to the corresponding angle of the current bank. For example, 
press Option-5 to switch to angle 5 of the current bank.)
Note:  The pointer changes to a pointing hand icon when you hold down the Option key, 
indicating a switch-only edit.
In the Timeline, the multicam clip under the playhead changes to show the angle you 
switched to as the active angle.
In either case, the Viewer switches to the angle you selected. The active angle is highlighted in 
yellow, blue, or green, depending on the switch mode you’re using. For more information, see 
“Switch video or audio separately,” below.
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Switch video or audio separately
By default, Final Cut Pro switches the video and audio of a multicam clip at the same time. But 
you can set Final Cut Pro to switch the video and audio separately. 
 1 To open the Angle Viewer, choose Window > Viewer Display > Show Angles (or press 
Shift-Command-7).
 2 To change the switch mode, do one of the following:
 •To enable video and audio switching: Click the left switch mode button in the upper-left corner 
of the Angle Viewer. This is the default setting. 
Click to enable video and audio switching.
Yellow highlighting indicates 
that both the active video 
and the active audio are 
contained in one clip.
The bank switcher 
shows the active angle.
 •To enable video-only switching: Click the middle switch mode button. Only the video switches. 
The audio from the original angle remains active.
Click to enable video-only switching.
 •To enable audio-only switching: Click the right switch mode button. Only the audio switches. 
The video from the original angle remains active.
Click to enable audio-only switching.
 3 Do one of the following:
 •To cut and switch: Click an angle in the Angle Viewer. 
 •To switch: Option-click an angle in the Angle Viewer. 
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If you selected the video-only or audio-only switch mode, blue highlighting indicates the active 
video angle and green highlighting indicates the active audio angle.
Switch Video Only buttonSwitch Audio Only button
The active video angle 
is highlighted in blue.
The active audio angle 
is highlighted in green.
The bank switcher 
shows the active angles.
Tip:  With audio-only switching enabled, you can add audio components from inactive angles to 
the active angle or remove audio components from the active angle. Simply Option-Command-
click an inactive angle to add its audio to the active angle. Or Option-Command-click an active 
angle to remove its audio. For more information, see “Example: Add or remove audio components 
in a multicam clip” in Multichannel audio editing examples
 on page 18 3 . 
View and navigate banks of angles
Depending on the Angle Viewer display setting you choose, you can show 2, 4, 9, or 16 angles at 
once. These sets of angles are known as banks
. The bank switcher in Final Cut Pro is an efficient 
tool for displaying and navigating banks of angles in a multicam clip.
 1 To open the Angle Viewer, choose Window > Viewer Display > Show Angles (or press 
Shift-Command-7).
 2 Position the skimmer or the playhead over a multicam clip in the Browser or the Timeline.
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The bank switcher appears as a grid of squares at the bottom of the Angle Viewer. Yellow, blue, or 
green highlighting indicates the currently active angle. 
The bank switcher shows 
the number of angles 
and which is active.
 3 In the Settings pop-up menu (in the upper-right corner of the Angle Viewer), choose the number 
of angles you want to display in each bank.
Settings pop-up menu 
in the upper-right corner 
of the Angle Viewer
If the number of angles in your multicam clip exceeds the current Angle Viewer display setting, 
Final Cut Pro creates additional banks and displays them as separate grids of squares. 
Here are a few examples of different angle bank combinations: 
 •Three banks of 4 angles each, with the last angle in the third bank as the active angle, and the 
third bank as the currently displayed bank:
 •One bank of 16 angles, with the last angle as the active angle:
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