Creating a multi-screen in FCS at DVinfo.net

Neil Weaver · March 16th, 2009, 03:22 PM

Hi all,
In my next edit I'm hoping to achieve an effect with the picture made up of dozens of 'screens' each playing their own bit of footage. It's an effect you see quite a lot in commercials and corporates, (hey, if it's a good idea, nick it!) but for the life of me I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to achieve the look.

The idea will be to have the boxes fly in to position in 3D, perhaps in the first case around 12, then the camera will pull out to reveal a wall made up of dozens of boxes. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this, cheats to achieve it or online tutorials, I'd be most grateful.
Thanks in advance...

Bill Davis · March 16th, 2009, 03:57 PM

Neil,

The essential understanding is that you place as many videos as you want on as many tracks as you need - one video per track - stacked up in a vertical column.

Essentially you're telling FCP to play all the screens at the same time. At this point you'll only see ONE picture since all the rest are functionally playing BEHIND the top track - which is "in front" of the lower tracks.

Then you go to the MOTION tab for each track starting with the top track and set the SCALE control to whatever size you need to place your multiple images on the screen. (Obviously if you choose 50% under scale, you'll get a quarter screen (half size in both horizontal and vertical dimensions) image and can place 4 on the screen without overlapping. 25% will get you 16 screens in a 4x4 grid.

If you have the IMAGE+WIREFRAME selected under the VIEW menu, you can simply drag the windows to their proper places.

To annimate their motion, you'll need to set keyframes in your Motion tabs.

The manual is pretty clear about this process.

Good luck.

David McGiffert · March 16th, 2009, 04:12 PM

...and it works quite well fwiw.

Neil Weaver · March 17th, 2009, 01:51 AM

Thanks David,
I don't think I made myself very clear in the first thread. I'm completely au fait with quad splits etc in FCP, however just after I posted last night, I realised I may have hit the language barrier - what I'm describing as a multi-screen, I think the rest of the world calls a video wall. Googled that and got lots of results about how to achieve what I'm after. And as I suspected, FCP is not the software to do it with. It's more likely gonna be Motion or After FX.
Apologies for any wasted time, although as I understand it, this thread is about non-linear editing on the mac in general and not specifically FCP...
Thanks for responding though.

March 16th, 2009, 03:22 PM	#1
Neil Weaver Tourist Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: London UK Posts: 2	Creating a multi-screen in FCS Hi all, In my next edit I'm hoping to achieve an effect with the picture made up of dozens of 'screens' each playing their own bit of footage. It's an effect you see quite a lot in commercials and corporates, (hey, if it's a good idea, nick it!) but for the life of me I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to achieve the look. The idea will be to have the boxes fly in to position in 3D, perhaps in the first case around 12, then the camera will pull out to reveal a wall made up of dozens of boxes. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this, cheats to achieve it or online tutorials, I'd be most grateful. Thanks in advance...

March 16th, 2009, 03:57 PM	#2
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	Neil, The essential understanding is that you place as many videos as you want on as many tracks as you need - one video per track - stacked up in a vertical column. Essentially you're telling FCP to play all the screens at the same time. At this point you'll only see ONE picture since all the rest are functionally playing BEHIND the top track - which is "in front" of the lower tracks. Then you go to the MOTION tab for each track starting with the top track and set the SCALE control to whatever size you need to place your multiple images on the screen. (Obviously if you choose 50% under scale, you'll get a quarter screen (half size in both horizontal and vertical dimensions) image and can place 4 on the screen without overlapping. 25% will get you 16 screens in a 4x4 grid. If you have the IMAGE+WIREFRAME selected under the VIEW menu, you can simply drag the windows to their proper places. To annimate their motion, you'll need to set keyframes in your Motion tabs. The manual is pretty clear about this process. Good luck.

March 16th, 2009, 04:12 PM	#3
David McGiffert Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Topanga, CA Posts: 139	...and it works quite well fwiw.

March 17th, 2009, 01:51 AM	#4
Neil Weaver Tourist Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: London UK Posts: 2	Thanks David, I don't think I made myself very clear in the first thread. I'm completely au fait with quad splits etc in FCP, however just after I posted last night, I realised I may have hit the language barrier - what I'm describing as a multi-screen, I think the rest of the world calls a video wall. Googled that and got lots of results about how to achieve what I'm after. And as I suspected, FCP is not the software to do it with. It's more likely gonna be Motion or After FX. Apologies for any wasted time, although as I understand it, this thread is about non-linear editing on the mac in general and not specifically FCP... Thanks for responding though.