Preferred Workflow for Mixed Multicam Project

Brooke wrote on 11/13/2013, 3:43 PM
What's the preferred workflow for a monster 5+ hour multicam project that I really need to finish by tomorrow?

I've loved using Vegas multicam for years, but I was really hoping 12 would finally allow me to edit clip properties and apply crop/pan pre-multicam, so I didn't have to tweak hundreds of sub-clips. I don't need it here, but I've had the same issue color grading multicam projects too, which would be incredibly simple with what I would hope could be a relatively simple program tweak or macro to follow the preferences from each of the original video tracks.

I offered to master/DVD author what I thought would be simple set of single track conference videos (basic cleanup, with a few backup iso's just in case). Instead, I have the following:

Pgm Track (cut 4 cam video & audio)- ProRes422 720x486x24 .mov files of compressed Anamorphic Widescreen (filling the 4x3 space).

Ppt Track (hundreds of Powerpoint Slides recorded from a good converter with synced audio)- ProRes422 (HQ) 720x486x32 .mov files (most are 4x3 double pillar box that I plan on stretching to 16x9, while one is 16x9 letterbox that I plan on cropping to 16x9)

Cams 3 & 4 (iso cams from Sony EX-3's)- 1920x1080x32 .mxf files the way I thought they'd all be formatted.

I also have Ultimate S 4.1, even though I've never gotten around to using it until now, if that might help. I sure would appreciate any input because I just spent days messing with a GTX 780 that I finally swapped for a GTX 580 on a better three year old system (Quad-Core Extreme, 8gb RAM, GTX 580, 10k sys/render drives).

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 11/13/2013, 6:42 PM
I suspect you won't be finishing a project of that magnitude overnight. Just the render phase could take many times that.

You can apply all your color grading and effects at the project media level, if you wish.
Pan/Crop will still have to be done at the Event level.
ddm wrote on 11/14/2013, 12:18 AM
Not sure if this would work, but if you have each camera on a separate track and did pan crop on the track level on those tracks, and then entered multicam mode, would that keep the pan crops intact?
musicvid10 wrote on 11/14/2013, 8:02 AM
"would that keep the pan crops intact?"
Nope.
Prerendering the tracks, however, would work.
Brooke wrote on 11/14/2013, 11:11 AM
Render to New Track using the Main Concept preset worked, as long as I moved each track to the top. The only catch I can see is that it probably takes three to four times longer than rendering the single, edited track. If I had more time to do it right, I think that would be the best workflow. The regular rerender still stripped both Maintain Aspect Ratio from Properties and the ppt Pan/Crops in Multicam, unless I was doing something wrong.

So at this point I'm torn, my plan is to probably multicam first, unclick Maintain Aspect Ratio on every subclip, then stretch ppt with appropriate preset before the final render (which at least on my test clip took about 50% of run time). I was pleasantly surprised that twisting all those pixels didn't look as bad as I thought it would on the 3 min test DVDs.

After that, I'm supposed to duplicate my first 100 sets and deliver them by tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the input! It's really been a help to have this much experience in one place.
musicvid10 wrote on 11/14/2013, 11:20 AM
You should try your render to your new tracks as MPEG-2 DVDA Widescreen template, which will not only render faster, but will smart-render once you've completed your multicam editing, that is if no other fx, etc. are needed. This will save you a ton of time in the final steps in Vegas and Architect.

This is one example where pre-editing and rendering your takes before creating the multicam track can be a huge advantage down the road.
Brooke wrote on 11/14/2013, 12:07 PM
I agree that rendering to new tracks is the better and safer way to go, but from what I could tell in my tests, rendering all four tracks out first is quite a bit slower than just rendering the final multicam track with only the bits I'm using.

The big catch is whether I can modify all those individual clips fast enough to save a substantial amount of the extra render time, and whether I'm thorough enough to catch all those little clips. If I can scrub all the clips in half an hour, I figure I could save maybe an hour and a half per show, which might bring me closer to hitting my deadline.

Now, if I had payed more attention to that great thread on GTX580 cards on Monday, we wouldn't be having this conversation, because I'd have prerendered the full tracks days ago, rather than spending two full days trying to make a GTX780 card work.
musicvid10 wrote on 11/14/2013, 12:17 PM
For the takes that need to be prerendered, doing so using the final MPEG-2 DVDA Widescreen template will be much, much, much faster because they will not be encoded a second time when you final render your multicam project, but will process straight-through in a matter of seconds! That is if there are no other effects, and the settings are exactly the same as they were the first time. This is called "smart rendering." Search it if you haven't heard of this before.
Best of luck with your project.
Jedman wrote on 11/14/2013, 9:28 PM
If you are still struggling with this-
Drag each of your tracks into a new comp and save as the track name. Insert empty events at start of each tack to maintain sync in master project.

Drag the saved projects back in as nested vegs to replace each track.

Now you can do Pan crop to whole sections at a time by opening up the nest in its own project, regardless of multi cam mode.

I would have rendered all to one format at start ideally but, whatever works for you.
Good luck.
musicvid10 wrote on 11/14/2013, 9:35 PM
Nothing so complicated.
Render the media. Replace the media. Done.
Nothing to do at the track level.
Brooke wrote on 11/15/2013, 12:28 AM
Thanks for reminding me that I only had to replace the two goofy tracks. That worked fairly well. If I'd had the time, I would have rendered them all the first time, but the EX3's didn't need conversion anyway and their clips were limited to cover shots, so they didn't need much rendering on the final. This was a big help.