workflow problems with multicam and color

[Jim Cowan]

Hi,
Working with VP9.e on WinXP32. In a nutshell I'm loosing my color corrections when I start
multicamera editing. Maybe its a workflow problem?

1. add sources to timeline: wideangle and close up cameras, stagelip recording, soundboard
recording. (1.5hrs straight though recording, audio recorders can do 4hrs, Z1/Fx1 were using
60m tapes)
2. Line up and correct (stretch) stagelip to soundboard event, size to same. Find sounds at the
beginning of tape 1 from each camera, align 2 sound and 2 camera start, find sounds at the
end of the camera tapes to stretch the sound to. Align 2nd pair of tapes. Check sound of each
tape event vs sound board. Once this is all done save as event_1.veg.
3. copy event_1.veg to event_2cc.veg and open for color correcting (I'm beginning to think that
there is a problem with my new/old Z1, didn't have cc problems with a borrowed Z1 and the
Fx1). Color correct Z1 to Fx1, also fix a few dimness problems with some scenes, save.
4. copy event_2cc.veg to event_3mc.veg, open and enable multicam. Lose all color correcting.
(I see the warning, may loose some.... but the color correcting!).

Note that one color correction does not last the entire tape(s)/event. Some scenes required a bit of
a change in one or both events.

What am I doing wrong or how do I correct this? Do I render each take out and start event_3mc
using the new takes?

thanks
jim cowan

[Don Bloom]

Jim,
while I'm not using V9 here's my workflow that I've been using since I started on V2.

First: Do my multicam cutting. (rough cut)
Second: Do my finish cut
Third: Do my CC. Here's what I do. once I have set my CC to a particular clip and I know I have other clips that require the same CC I then can either COPY then PASTE Event Attributes to the other clips OR add the CC to either TRACK level or in the MEDIA Pool which will add that CC FX to the entire track or all the media you add it to. Remember though you need to 1) save that particular CC FX (call it job cam 1 or whatever) then it'll show up in the thumbnails of the CC FX. Also remember to REMOVE it from the clip you first did to get the CC you wanted or it'll really screw you up (yeah been there).
If you need to make minor adjustments as you go then you simply open that CC FX and you're close so make the adjust and then save THAT with another name or number or something.
Yes the corrections will add up to many and eventually you'll probably want to delete some of them but the thumbs and drop down list can hold a lot of stuff.
See if this will take care of it for you. It has saved me countless hours and frustration.

[Jim Cowan]

Hi Don,
Thanks for answering. I've only been using vegas for a few years and let me make sure I understand
what you are saying:

Are you using the vegas muticam feature that sets up takes on a single track? I went this route
because it seems to be faster/less error prone than using the composite level to select the viewable track.

My tracks layout is vid cam1, audio cam1, vid cam2, audio cam2, audio stage lip, audio soundboard.

On each of my video tracks I have 2 events (clips?). One is an hr, the other is 25 to 30 minutes.
I have not broken them down into anything smaller, each one is one .mt2 file, I won't break them down
into anything smaller because that would raise my audio workload (when I get to mixing). I have grouped
everything together so they can all be moved as 1 mass.

I think you are saying I should use the ProjectMedia to add the CCEvents to the clips, and remove the
CCEvents from the current tracks. After I've created the multicam edit, and worked the cuts, I should
do any secondary cc I think I'll need. I'll give it a whirl tomorrow.

thanks
jim cowan

[Don Bloom]

No I use Excalibur for multicam. Been using it since it came out, can't see using anything else.

Anyway, yeah basically my edit order is this.

Multicam edit (rough)
Finish cut
CC-usually in either Track level or Media Pool (mostly Media Pool since I have at least 2 cams that were running)
Audio Sweetening

Same process for years - very happy with it especially using the media pool or track level to drop in FXs. Saves hugh time and is consistant thru out. Since you don't seem to have a whole lot of clips this method may work out well for you. You can always tweak and individual shot using Key frames.
As the old TV commerical used to say "try it, you'll like it" (maybe) ;-)

[Edward Troxel]

If you're using the built-in multicam, you MUST do color correction at the Media Pool level. If you do it at the event or track level, it will NOT properly work once you create the multi-cam track.

[Jim Cowan]

Hi Guys,
Ok, it took me a few tries, and some experimenting but this is what I ended up doing and it
worked pretty well.
1. Project Media, select Cam1_1of3, press MediaFx button, MediaFx:Cam1_1of3.m2t flys out
2. Figured out that track 1 ("Cam1") started with an offset of 34.19s.
3. Selected 1st Cam1 CC keyframe, Ctrl-C (starts at 0.0)
4. ProjectMedia, button MediaFx, select first keyframe (0.0), Ctrl-V pasted it.
5. Track 1, button MediaFx, press and hold ctrl key, select the rest of the keyframes up until the
last one for that media (remember that tape 2 follows tape 1 by some amount of time).
Noted that first selected keyframe was at track time line 3:14.
6. ProjectMedia, button MediaFx, zoomed in on the timeline of the the MediaFx:Cam1_1of3.m2t
dialog, set the playhead to 3:14 - :34 ~ 2:40.
7. Ctrl-V pasted all of the CC keyframes with the correct offsets from the 2:40 into the MediaFx.

Repeated for track 1 tape 2, and track 2 tapes 1 & 2. Done. Too bad Vegas doesn't allow you the
option to specify an offset when Ctrl-C.

thanks
jim cowan