Adjusting the number of panes in CS6 multi-cam?

[Jay West]

The multi-cam monitoring window in PPro CS6 seems to have only square grids: 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, etc. This works fine when you've got 4, 9 or 16 cameras, but there is a lot of empty space when working with 5 or 6 cameras. Has anybody found a way to get CS6 to display 3x2 for a 6 camera shoot? Or does this have to be a feature request?

[Pete Bauer]

That would be an excellent feature request. I think the 3x2 grid view would be very well received, especially since almost all of us use wide screen monitors. I'd also like to see the monitor with auto- and user-adjustable quality like the Project Window.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform...?name=wishform

[Jay West]

Feature requests submitted.

And thanks for the quick answer. There is just enough new stuff in CS6, and the CS6 help is just skimpy enough, that I find myself wondering whether it is me or "them" when I can't find something.

[Kevin Monahan]

Multicam editing has some new workflows in Premiere Pro CS6. I believe I've documented all the changes. Please let me know what you found missing in Premiere Pro Help, and I'll try to include it.

[Jay West]

Thanks for the reply. I hope my comments were not taken the wrong way. I say that having read discussions of multicam workflow on the Adobe forums where some participants . . . . . . . well, let's just say that they seemed to lack the civility that prevails here. I do appreciate Adobe's participation and efforts to improve the documentation. Not everything can be anticipated in advance and it is sometimes hard for long-term users to adjust to software improvements.

I've had a couple problems finding things that I thought should be obvious. When I did find them, by golly, they were obvious. They were just a little different from the way things had been under CS 4, 5 and 5.5.

I did read the multi-cam workflow documentation and watched the various on-line videos before I posted. The only addition to your write-up that I would suggest is something to the following effect: "The multi-cam monitoring window displays the selected angles in square grids of panes. The size of the grid is automatically adjusted for the number of angles being employed. For up to four angles, the grid will have four panes; for five to nine angles, there will be nine panes; for ten to sixteen angles, there will be sixteen panes; and so on. Unused panes will appear as inactive tracks and will be black."

[Steve Kalle]

I hope that I can jump in with 2 quick questions about the new multi-cam workflow.

1) Where did the JOG slider go? Without this, CS6's multi-cam is useless to me.

2) I prefer to hit the spacebar to start & stop and then select camera angles, but when doing this yesterday, the cuts were not recorded. The only way to record the cuts was to keep playing while selecting the angles and having the Record function enabled. My method is the only sane way of precise editing.

Side note: I would like a Quality selector in the MC window as well.

[Kevin Currie]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

1) Where did the JOG slider go? Without this, CS6's multi-cam is useless to me.

I hadn't noticed that before, mainly because I use an actual jog/shuttle device, but since you mentioned it I looked around and none of the panels have it anymore (multicam, program, source, etc). The only reason I can think of for reemoving it from the multicam panel, would because I think most people choose their angles while playing in real time and then fine tune the cuts in the timeline.

My own side note. They have also removed the Numbered Markers feature. I found these very useful when syncing my multicam clips and audio. I'm sure as I spend more time with CS6 I will find other changes as well. Most of the changes made to CS6 seem to improve Premiere, but removing some very usedul features seems like a step backwards.

[Steve Kalle]

Originally Posted by Kevin Currie

I hadn't noticed that before, mainly because I use an actual jog/shuttle device, but since you mentioned it I looked around and none of the panels have it anymore (multicam, program, source, etc). The only reason I can think of for reemoving it from the multicam panel, would because I think most people choose their angles while playing in real time and then fine tune the cuts in the timeline.

My own side note. They have also removed the Numbered Markers feature. I found these very useful when syncing my multicam clips and audio. I'm sure as I spend more time with CS6 I will find other changes as well. Most of the changes made to CS6 seem to improve Premiere, but removing some very usedul features seems like a step backwards.

WOW! Has Adobe followed Apple and dumbed down their software by removing small but crucial features? I also use the numbered markers for MC editing and for marking spots where I need to place a name key or b-roll.

I am glad that I was using a clients computer and found these *issues* because I was just about to sign up to the new Cloud service for 6 PCs and a Mac. If these features continue to remain absent, then Media Composer 6 here I come. 80+% of what I edit are MC events so anything that causes a problem with my MC editing will not work for me.

[Jay West]

The number/click in window features are still there but they now require a CNTRL key combo which seem more complicated than it needs to be, at least for the way I edit. Personally, I like having the option for more tracks in the multi-cam window but I've found editing more cumbersome.

(a) Simply hitting the number keypads or mouse-clicking in a multi-cam pane will reset the view from the last edit forward. Say your last edit was camera 3 and now, five seconds further down the timeline, you want to cut to camera 1 at the cursor location. Hit 1 or click in the #1 pane and CS6 goes back to the last cut and re-sets it from camera 3 to camera 1 instead of making the cut at the cursor location.

(b) to make a cut at the cursor location when multi-camming in CS6, the CNTRL key must be depressed for the edit to occur at the cursor location when you click on the pane or the keypad number.

Personally, for the way I edit, I would have preferred to reverse this arrangement. That is, I would like to at least have the option of having straight clicks or number keys make the cuts and have the "change from last edit" as the thing that requires the CNTRL key to be depressed.

There is no jog slider nor any option for installing one, at least none that I could find. In past CS multi-cam versions, I mostly grabbed the timeline cursor and moved it with the mouse, so the absence of the jog slider, so far, has only been a minor inconvenience for me.

[Steve Kalle]

The lack of a Shuttle Slider is a complete deal killer for me - this is not hyperbole at all. If I can't play video at almost 2x speed so I know what was said and recorded without wasting time, then I'm not using the software plain and simple. Media Composer can do this, Premiere CS5.5/5/4/3/2 can all do this. This is not by any means a 'little' used feature.

EDIT: I was calling the Shuttle Slider the Jog Wheel by mistake. I don't use the Job Wheel but the Shuttle Slider is crucial.

[Bart Walczak]

Steve, I understand hitting L or J twice does not cut it for you?

I would recommend buying a Contour Shuttle then. It's relatively inexpensive, and much more responsive than Premiere's jogs and shuttles have ever been. I have one exactly for such cases. It does work surprisingly well.