Audio source in multicam designer

KempLC

Newbie Joined: Dec 08, 2016 11:25 Messages: 3 Offline

Solved by

Dec 08, 2016 11:42

I'm filming hockey games with 2 cameras, 1 at each end of the rink and my task is to cut from 1 camera to the other seamlessly depending on which half of the rink the puck is on. I've found the multicam designer easy to use, I can press 1 or 2 on my keyboard or click which camera I want to be the "live" camera. The problem is I do not have a seperate audio track to use, and I do not want just 1 camera as the audio source. When I'm recording in the designer and switch from camera 1 to camera 2 I want the audio from the corressponding camera to be used. The only way I can tell to accomplish this is to stop the recording, click the drop down menu to change the source audio every time I change cameras (which in a hockey game there is a lot of back and forth). This now makes the editing task go from mildly tedious to I can't buy this product because of this 1 thing.

So my question is is there a way to automatically have the source audio come from whichever camera is the live camera. Meaning while I'm recording and I click the live video to change from camera 1 to camera 2 I want the source audio to change to camera 2 the moment I click camera 2. Hopefully I've explained this well enough someone can understand what I'm talking about. I am running the free trial of PD15 and would like to purchase the program but this detail is a crucial one for me as I'm editing alot of hockey games. Thanks for the help!

vn800rider

Senior Contributor Location: Darwen, UK Joined: May 15, 2008 04:32 Messages: 1949 Offline

Dec 08, 2016 12:28

Hi,

At present there is no "audio follow video" facility in MCD.

In some circumstances, a possible workaround is to extract the audio from the second camera clip, which can be done in the media library [rt click on clip, Extract Audio] , so that it is available to manually synch and use on another time line.

I think the initial design of MCD, in effect, combined the logic of using a single audio source both as a synchronisation source, and a recording source, on the assumption that other camera audio would not be "needed", as it was "the same" ie choose the best audio source (camera or imported), synch all video to that and then use it as the reference audio.

Cheers

Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

KempLC

Newbie Joined: Dec 08, 2016 11:25 Messages: 3 Offline

Dec 08, 2016 16:09

Thanks you for your response! I believe I understand what you mean with the work around but for my needs (hockey) that will be too much work, I'm going to have hundereds of cuts per game and I play 2 or 3 games a week. I've only ever used PD so this is a bummer to me but this detail is a deal breaker. With everything the editor is capable of, this seems like a simple feature to have included and frankly seems dumb to have not included.. I mean only 1 source of audio for multiple cameras? Come on cyberlink, that is not a true multicam editor... Again, thank you for the quick response.

Jets2011

Senior Contributor Location: Canada Joined: Sep 29, 2006 05:26 Messages: 760 Offline

Dec 08, 2016 19:58

Hello Kemp,

I understand, and see that the suggestion was made for the next version of PowerDirector, so hopefully it will be added soon. I better workaround for you is to add both video files to the timeline directly on different tracks (1 and 2).

If you select them both on the timeline, you can then click the Sync by Audio button to sync the two video files. From there, you can perform the same function as the MultiCam by splitting out segments on track 2 (so you can see the video on track 1).

Yes, it will take more time, but assuming your cameras are behind or close to each net, the transition time needed between each cut is not so rapid (as players come up the ice.

Hopefully by the time you add a third camera around centre ice for the start of the 2017-18 hockey season, the noted feature will be in there!

Dave

TeeMan1

Member Joined: Nov 03, 2014 01:41 Messages: 91 Offline

Dec 08, 2016 20:55

Quote I'm filming hockey games with 2 cameras, 1 at each end of the rink and my task is to cut from 1 camera to the other seamlessly depending on which half of the rink the puck is on. I've found the multicam designer easy to use, I can press 1 or 2 on my keyboard or click which camera I want to be the "live" camera. The problem is I do not have a seperate audio track to use, and I do not want just 1 camera as the audio source. When I'm recording in the designer and switch from camera 1 to camera 2 I want the audio from the corressponding camera to be used. The only way I can tell to accomplish this is to stop the recording, click the drop down menu to change the source audio every time I change cameras (which in a hockey game there is a lot of back and forth). This now makes the editing task go from mildly tedious to I can't buy this product because of this 1 thing.

So my question is is there a way to automatically have the source audio come from whichever camera is the live camera. Meaning while I'm recording and I click the live video to change from camera 1 to camera 2 I want the source audio to change to camera 2 the moment I click camera 2. Hopefully I've explained this well enough someone can understand what I'm talking about. I am running the free trial of PD15 and would like to purchase the program but this detail is a crucial one for me as I'm editing alot of hockey games. Thanks for the help!

Kemp:

This is one of my biggest complaints about PD 15. Not only is it a non starter when you have two or three cams with their own audio that you may want to use, you should see me throwing things when I create cartoons in MOHO and import the separate MOHO files into PD for editing. PD Multi-Cam only let's me select either cam1, 2, 3, or 4 as the audio source and not 1 and 2 together, all 4 cams or even better the holy grail "audio follows video."

While I appreciate Cyberlink and their efforts, I keep having to go back into Premiere Pro CS6 (which I still have on my computer and refuse to get rid of just for cases like this) to do all of my multicam editing.

From what I have seen, I don't think any of the consumer or prosumer editing software comes with the "audio follows video" option.

My suggestion is that if you know anyone with a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro or CC, or Avid Media Composer, you might ask them to let you do your Multi-cam editing on their system and then bring it back into PD as an AVI file.

TeeMan1 TeeMan

KempLC

Newbie Joined: Dec 08, 2016 11:25 Messages: 3 Offline

Dec 10, 2016 11:44

@Jets

I actually tried doing it that way before seeing your post and it does work but I just can't bring myself to do that as a long-term solution. I have a backlog of over 50 games plus future games, I'm not adding effects, transitions or anything, this is not a fun editing job and to repeat the same exact edit over and over ugh! I would think a general sports wizard could be developed where the editor does everything for you and activates whichever camera has the most action going on in the frame, and of course still leave you with the ability to go back and adjust each cut. This would work for hockey, basketball, soccer and other applications I can't think of. Would anyone else use this though?

@Teeman

I downloaded a free trial of the newest Magix movie edit pro premuim and the multicam editor has the audio follow video feature. In fact as far as I can tell there are no other options for audio source but you can still swap the audio out in the timeline after cutting the vids. There was also lag when clicking the live camera, about 2 solid seconds which for a fast moving sport can really make a difference. I still need to investigate however this could be a setting of some sort where I just need to tick a box somewhere. However so far there is nothing I like better about this editor over PD and it costs a good chunk more so that sucks lol.

Happy editing!