Apple Final Cut Pro X 10.1.2 User Guide

							 Chapter 10    Advanced editing 3 21
View and reassign the role of an audio component
 1 Select a clip in the Timeline, and choose Clip > Expand Audio Components (or press 
Control-Option-S).
Audio components
 2 Select an audio component.
 3 To change the role assignment for the selected component, do one of the following:
 •Choose Modify > Assign Roles, and choose a role from the submenu.
A checkmark appears next to the role you chose.
 •Open the Info inpector, and choose a different role from the Roles pop-up menu.
A checkmark appears next to the role you chose.
For more information about audio components, see About audio channels and audio 
components
 on page 15 8 .
View and reassign roles in compound clips
Compound clips reflect the roles of the original clips that make up the compound clip. You can 
view and reassign the roles of clips inside a compound clip, but you cannot assign roles to the 
compound clip itself. 
 1 Select a compound clip in the Browser or the Timeline.
 2 To view the assigned roles or to assign a role to every clip inside the compound clip, use the 
following methods:
 •Roles column in the Browser in list view: Follow the instructions in “View and reassign roles in the 
Browser,” above.
 •Roles pop-up menu in the Info inspector: Follow the instructions in “View and reassign roles in 
the Info inspector,” above.
 •Roles column in the Clips pane of the Timeline Index: Follow the instructions in “View and 
reassign roles in the Timeline Index,” above.
 •Assign Roles command: Follow the instructions in “View and reassign roles with the Modify 
menu,” above.
When you assign a role to a compound clip (the container), the role is assigned to every clip 
inside the compound clip. If you want to assign different roles to specific clips within the 
compound clip, you can open the compound clip for editing and then assign roles to individual 
clips inside the compound clip.
For more information about compound clips, see Compound clips overview
 on page 269 .
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Create custom roles and subroles
You can create custom roles and subroles in addition to the five default roles ( Video, Titles, 
Dialogue, Music, and Effects).
Important:  Create custom roles and subroles with care. Custom roles (and the names of custom 
roles) cannot be edited or removed from the roles list. However, you can change the role 
assignments of clips at any time.
Create custom roles
 1 To open the Role Editor, do one of the following:
 •Choose Modify > Edit Roles.
 •In the Browser in list view or the Clips pane of the Timeline Index, click a role in the Roles 
column and choose Edit Roles from the shortcut menu.
 •With a clip selected in the Browser or the Timeline, open the Info inspector and choose Edit 
Roles from the Roles pop-up menu.
 2 Choose the role type from the Add Role pop-up menu in the lower-left corner of the Role 
Editor window.
The new role appears at the bottom of the Role column.
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 3 Type a name for the new role.
Once you have created a new role, it appears in the roles list so that you can assign it to any clip.
Create subroles
Subroles allow you to organize roles within a role; for example, you could create a Foley Effect 
subrole within the Effects role, or a Spanish Subtitles subrole within the Titles role.
 1 To open the Role Editor, do one of the following:
 •Choose Modify > Edit Roles.
 •In the Browser in list view or the Clips pane of the Timeline Index, click a role in the Roles 
column and choose Edit Roles from the shortcut menu.
 •With a clip selected in the Browser or the Timeline, open the Info inspector and choose Edit 
Roles from the Roles pop-up menu.
 2 Select a role in the Role column, and click the Add Subrole button (with a plus sign) below the 
Subrole column.
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 3 Type a name for the subrole.
The new subrole remains in the Subrole list and appears below its parent role in roles lists 
elsewhere in Final Cut Pro. When you assign subroles to clips in the Timeline, the subroles also 
appear in the Timeline Index.
Subroles
View clips by role in the Timeline
You can use the Roles pane of the Timeline Index to view and play back clips by role in 
the Timeline.
All video and audio clips are organized by the default roles of Video, Titles, Dialogue, Music, or 
Effects, or by a custom role or subrole you’ve created. You can turn off roles to suspend playback 
for all clips with those roles assigned. For example, you could turn off all roles except Dialogue to 
play back only dialogue clips, and then turn on the Music role to listen to the movie soundtrack 
along with the dialogue.
Roles give you a powerful way to organize and preview clips before exporting them as files for 
broadcast or audio post-production.
Note:  Turning roles on or off in the Timeline Index does not affect export settings or clip settings 
in the Browser, the Timeline, or the inspectors.
Turn roles on or off
 1 In the Timeline Index, click the Roles button.
 2 In the Roles pane, select the checkboxes next to the roles or subroles you want to turn on. 
Deselect the checkboxes next to the roles or subroles you want to turn off.
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Active roles appear in color in the Timeline, and inactive roles appear gray. If you turn off all video 
or all audio roles, the respective portion of audio-video clips also appears gray.
Clips assigned an active role appear in color.
Clips assigned an inactive 
role appear in gray.
Active roles
 3 To preview clips by role, play back your project. 
Only clips with active roles assigned play back.
Highlight roles in the Timeline
 1 In the Timeline Index, click the Roles button.
 2 In the Roles pane, click the name of the role you want to highlight. 
The clips with this role assigned are highlighted in the Timeline. This includes both active (color) 
clips and inactive (gray) clips.
Selected roleClips assigned a selected  
role appear highlighted.
Tip:  To highlight more than one role at a time, Shift-click to select contiguous items and 
Command-click to select noncontiguous items.
Minimize clips by role
To make more space to view and work with clips in the Timeline, you can minimize clips with a 
particular role assigned. Minimized clips appear smaller in the Timeline. 
 1 In the Timeline Index, click the Roles button.
 2 In the Roles pane, click the Minimize button next to the role whose clips you want to minimize.
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Minimize buttonMinimized clip
Roles that have been minimized
You can also customize the display of clips in the Timeline by changing the clip appearance 
and height, and you can choose whether to view clips by name or role. See Adjust Timeline 
settings
 on page 14 0. 
Use roles to export media stems
When you export your work, you can use roles to define the details of your output media files. 
This process is often used when delivering files to match broadcast specifications or when 
handing off media stems for mixing or post-production.
You can export roles in a combined, multitrack QuickTime file, or as separate audio or video 
files. During the export process you can assign mono, stereo, or surround output for your 
audio channels.
For more information, see Share roles as files
 on page 412.
Use XML to transfer projects and events
Final Cut Pro can import and export XML (Extensible Markup Language) files. You can use XML 
documents (plain ASCII text files with tagged elements) to transfer the details of your libraries, 
events, projects, and clips between Final Cut Pro and third-party applications, devices, and media 
asset management tools that do not recognize Final Cut Pro documents and files.
The XML import and export options are described in detail in the Final Cut Pro XML developer 
documentation. For more information, visit the Apple Applications page at the Apple Developer 
website at http://developer.apple.com/appleapplications .
Import XML into Final Cut Pro
You can generate XML files with other applications and then import them into Final Cut Pro. 
When you import an XML file, Final Cut Pro generates clips, events, projects, and a library, 
depending on the contents of the XML file.
 1 In Final Cut Pro, choose File > Import > XML.
 2 Navigate to the XML file you want to import, and click Import.
Final Cut Pro processes the XML and generates the corresponding clips, events, projects, and 
library, depending on the contents of the XML file.
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Tip:  You can also import XML files by double-clicking them in the Finder or dragging them to 
the Final Cut Pro application icon. 
Export XML from Final Cut Pro
You can export events and projects as XML files.
 1 In Final Cut Pro, select a library, or select one or more events, projects, or clips that you want to 
export as XML files. 
To export the project currently open in the Timeline, click in the Timeline to make it active.
 2 Choose File > Export XML.
 3 In the window tha t appears, navigate to a folder on your hard disk where you want to store the 
XML files, and click Save.
Edit with multicam clips
Multicam editing overview
You can use Final Cut Pro to edit footage from multicamera shoots or other synchronized 
footage in real time. For example, if you shot a live concert or a wedding with four different 
cameras, you can synchronize the footage from each camera angle into a single multicam clip 
and cut between the angles in real time.
The angles in a multicam clip are synchronized by a common sync point, a frame that you can 
recognize (visibly or audibly) in each of the angles you are synchronizing. When you add a 
multicam clip to the Timeline, the angle that appears in the Viewer when you play your project 
is called the active angle. While the active angle plays in the Viewer, you can also view all angles 
playing simultaneously in the Angle Viewer and easily cut and switch between them.
Angle 1
Angle 2 Active angle
Angle 3
Angle 4
Sync point
Multicam clip
Working with multicam clips in Final Cut Pro is a flexible and fluid process. At any time, you can 
add angles to or remove angles from a multicam clip, and easily adjust the synchronization 
between angles.
You can also group unrelated footage together for real-time montage editing (such as for music 
videos). For example, if you’re editing a music video, you could add several angles of abstract 
visuals and cut to those angles at specific places in the music. You can even use photos (from 
a still camera) in a multicam clip. If the date and time (Content Created) information matches 
the contents of the other angles, the photos are automatically adjusted in duration to “fill in” 
the angle.
Multicam clips have the following characteristics:
 •You create multicam clips in the Browser only, from existing event clips. 
 •You edit and adjust multicam clips in the Angle Editor, which looks similar to the Timeline.
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 •When you add a multicam clip to the Timeline, you create a direct and active relationship 
between the “parent” multicam clip in the Browser and the “child” multicam clip in 
the Timeline.
Browser clips
Project 3Project 1
Child clipChild clips Child clip
Project 2
Parent multicam clip
 •When you open any multicam clip in the Angle Editor (whether from the Browser or the 
Timeline) you are in fact opening the parent multicam clip from the Browser. Any changes 
you make to a multicam clip in the Angle Editor are inherited by all of its child clips, in all 
projects. These changes include sync or trimming adjustments, clip speed retiming, video 
or audio effects such as color correction, and added or deleted angles. For example, if you 
delete an angle from a parent multicam clip, the angle is deleted from all child clips. For 
more information about the Angle Editor, see Sync and adjust angles and clips in the Angle 
Editor
 on page 343
.
Tip:  You can create a “snapshot” backup of the entire project to protect it from accidental 
changes. Project snapshots are self-contained backup versions that include multicam or 
compound parent clips. Duplicating a project as a snapshot makes copies of the multicam 
or compound parent clips and embeds them in the project so that any changes to other 
instances of the clips do not affect the snapshot. For more information, see Duplicate projects 
and clips
 on page 64 .
Multicam editing workflow
The process for creating a multicam project is outlined below. The procedures are presented in 
rough chronological order, but you can rearrange the order to suit your workflow.
Shoot an event with multiple cameras and record appropriate sync information
A multicamera shoot uses multiple cameras to record the same subject or event from different 
angles and distances.
For multicam projects, it’s a good idea to set the date, the time, and the time zone on your 
camcorder or recording device before you shoot footage for your multicam project. This provides 
useful information to Final Cut Pro during the automatic multicam clip creation process.
In professional multicamera shoots, each camcorder or VTR receives the same timecode from 
a master timecode generator, or you can jam sync the timecode generator of each camera at 
the beginning of the shoot. If you’re using consumer camcorders, which cannot accept external 
timecode, you need to record a visible or audible cue, such as a clapboard closing or a camera 
flash, on all cameras. You can use this cue to synchronize the angles in your multicam clips.
Because you can use the sophisticated automatic audio sync feature in Final Cut Pro to help ensure 
multicam synchronization accuracy, it makes sense to record audio on every camcorder and 
recording device in your multicam production. (Clear audio recordings provide the best results.)
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Import media for a multicam edit
Although importing media for multicam projects is the same as importing for any other project, 
there are steps you can take during importing to help streamline the multicam workflow.
Assign camera names and multicam angles
You can use the Camera Name and Camera Angle metadata tags to automate and organize your 
multicam workflow. It’s recommended (but not required) to apply these tags to your event clips 
before you create an actual multicam clip.
Create multicam clips
You create multicam clips from selected event clips (similar to the way you create auditions and 
compound clips in the Browser). Whether you do it manually or have Final Cut Pro do it for you 
automatically, creating a multicam clip involves three fundamental steps:
 •Create angles (containing one or more clips each). 
 •Arrange the order of clips within each angle.
 •Synchronize the angles using a common sync point.
If you know what kind of metadata your source media has, you can create multicam clips using 
manual methods even faster than with the automatic methods. For more information, see  Assign 
camera names and multicam angles
 on page 330  and Create multicam clips in the Browser on 
page 3 31.
Cut and switch between 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. You can cut and switch video and 
audio at the same time or independently. For example, you can use the audio from angle 1 while 
switching the video between angles 1 to 4.
Sync and adjust angles in the Angle Editor
At any time, you can open multicam clips in the Angle Editor to adjust the synchronization and 
the angle order, or to add or delete angles. You can also use the Angle Editor to make edits to 
the individual clips inside a multicam clip (such as trimming, making color corrections, adding 
transitions, and so on). 
Edit multicam clips in the Timeline
You can switch multicam angles directly in the Timeline or the Inspector, without opening the 
Angle Viewer. Although multicam clips have some unique properties, you can edit them in the 
Timeline in the same way you edit any other clips. 
Import media for a multicam edit
When you import media for a multicam project, you can give the camcorder or file-based 
recording device a name. Final Cut Pro uses this Camera Name tag to sort the source clips within 
a multicam clip during the automatic multicam clip creation process.
If you anticipate having multicam clips with numerous angles, select “Use proxy media” in 
Playback preferences to maintain top performance during your multicam edit. You can generate 
the necessary proxy versions of your clips during the import process. 
If you have only a few angles in your multicam edit, you can make optimized versions of 
your media during import, using the Apple ProRes 422 codec. Or, if you prefer, you can select 
“Create optimized media for multicam clips” in Playback preferences to generate optimized 
media automatically every time you create a multicam clip. For more information, see  Playback 
preferences
 on page 443 .
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Name your camera
The following instructions cover how to add the Camera Name property when you import media 
from a connected file-based device. You can also add the Camera Name property at a later time.
 1 Connect your camera or recording device to your computer.
 2 In Final Cut Pro, choose File > Import > Media (or press Command-I).
 3 In the Media Import window, select your camcorder or recording device from the list of devices 
on the left, if it’s not already selected.
 4 Click it again, and enter a name.
Final Cut Pro uses the name you enter as the Camera Name metadata property for all clips that 
you import from this device.
Note:  Most modern camcorders and recording devices (including all iOS devices) record a 
Camera ID tag. Final Cut Pro imports the Camera ID metadata automatically when you import 
from a file-based device and can use this information to automatically build multicam angles.
Assign camera names and multicam angles
The Camera Angle and Camera Name properties are flexible metadata tags that you can use to 
organize your multicam workflow. 
Although you can assign metadata to clips at any time, it makes the most sense to assign the 
Camera Angle and Camera Name tags before you use the clips to create multicam clips. The 
Camera Angle tag can help you determine and track which clips appear in which angles. The 
Camera Name tag can be applied during import and is useful in a variety of scenarios, such as in 
color correction.
Final Cut Pro allows you to create multicam clips automatically or manually. If you use the 
automatic method for creating angles in the multicam clip, Final Cut Pro looks for metadata in 
the selected clips in the following order: 
 •Camera Angle metadata
 •Camera Name metadata
 •Camera ID metadata
Note:  The Camera ID tag is generated by most modern camcorders and recording devices 
(including all iOS devices). Final Cut Pro imports the Camera ID metadata automatically when 
you import from a file-based device.
Final Cut Pro uses the Camera Angle, Camera Name, and Camera ID metadata to place clips in 
the correct angle. If it doesn’t find any of this information, Final Cut Pro creates a separate angle 
for each selected clip.
Assign camera names and angles to selected clips
Do one of the following: 
 mSelect one or more clips in the Browser or the Timeline, open the Info inspector, and enter text in 
the Camera Angle field or the Camera Name field.
 mIn the Browser in list view, enter text in the Camera Angle column or the Camera Name column 
for any clip.
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