i know the new premiere ships with the capability to do multi cam.

can vegas 5 or 6 do this with out the use of plugs like vasst or ultimate s?

Nope. Vegas can't do multicam without Ultimate S, infinitiCAM, Excalibur, or DoubleTake.
And once you've played with that particular feature of Premiere Pro, you'll likely realize why you'd much rather prefer Ultimate S, infinitiCAM, Excalibur, or DoubleTake.
No creation of proxies, no wait, all real-time, all the time, and always changeable later on with Ultimate S, infinitiCAM, Excalibur, or DoubleTake.

Vol 1 #9 of my newsletters shows four methods of doing multi-cam. However, the manual methods are time consuming. Can it be done manually? Yes. However, the tools mentioned by Spot make it MUCH easier and faster. Vegas doesn't have any built-in tools to speed up the process.

Vol 1 #9 of my newsletters shows four methods of doing multi-cam. However, the manual methods are time consuming. Can it be done manually? Yes. However, the tools mentioned by Spot make it MUCH easier and faster. Vegas doesn't have any built-in tools to speed up the process.

Based on the reference to multi-cam in Premiere...I don't think it's accurate to say that you can do "multicam" in Vegas without the plugs. There are editing techniques that we've all employed for years and years that allow us to preview in various ways and shift from one image to another, but that's not "multicam" in a discussion that involves Premiere Pro 2.0's multicam, or Liquid, Express Pro, Final Cut Studio, etc. Editing techniques are just workarounds or hacks by comparison to the aforementioned apps' multicam tools.....but; even though it's a plug in option for Vegas, I can't see any of the above apps improving to the point that we can do it in Vegas with the tools we currently have. Particularly FCS and PP2.0. Both are slugs by comparison to the script-based tools we currently have.

ive messed around with the trials of Ultimate S, and Excalibur. looks like i'll have to bite the bullet and pick one up.

i shoot a lot of multi cam interviews. that is all i need is the ability to quickly edit the 2 diff shots. which tool is most cost effective for this?

thanks for all the help!

Based on the reference to multi-cam in Premiere...I don't think it's accurate to say that you can do "multicam" in Vegas without the plugs.

I agree. Was just pointing out the manual methods. With the available plugin options, I don't think any NLE can touch Vegas' ability at multi-cam.

Based on this convoluted procedure I've seen for PPro2, you could almost make an argument that the MANUAL methods in Vegas are easier! :-)


1- Create a new Sequence – call it “Multicamera Source”
2- Place your clips in this Sequence – each camera on a different track
3- Sync your clips
4- Create a new Sequence – call it “Multicamera Final”
5- Nest the first Sequence in here – this means that from the Project Window drag the “Multicamera Source” Sequence and place it in here – it will look like 1 clip, not 4.
6- Right-click this clip and select Multicamera > Enable
7- Go to the Panel Menu of the Monitor Window and Select “New Multicamera Monitor”
8- A new monitor opens and it will show the source cameras to the left and the “master” to the right
9- Click the “play” icon and wait a little (sometimes a lot!) while Premiere creates some proxy files
10- Play the Sequence and as it plays, either click on the camera that you want or press the number on your keyboard, and you’ll be doing live switching
11- If you make a mistake stop and go back and fix it (yes Howard, you can stop it once you get started)
12- You can even use the Timeline editing tools to adjust after you are done selecting the cameras

Based on this convoluted procedure I've seen for PPro2, you could almost make an argument that the MANUAL methods in Vegas are easier! :-)

Edward, this sequence of information is for Vegas correct.

No way. I have never tried Ultimate S, infinitiCAM, Excalibur or DoubleTake, but doing it manually in Vegas is a piece of cake compared to the above. It just takes some thinking if you want to go wild with several timelines.

Not really. You don't have all kinds of sequences to make, separate windows to open, proxies to create, etc...

But yes, the basic workflow is:

1) Add the camera footage to the timeline
2) Sync (manually or assisted - which, with the plugins, also PIP's properly)
3) Add camera switches
4) Build the Master track

i shoot a lot of multi cam interviews. that is all i need is the ability to quickly edit the 2 diff shots. which tool is most cost effective for this?!

They're all four "cost effective," it just depends on what you'd like to spend and the depth of features you need or would like to take advantage of.
Cost-wise:
Ultimate S 2.0 $149.00 (includes audio plugins/55 lower thirds/4 cameras only)

Excalibur-$99.00 (includes more than 100 audio and video tools, 25 cameras)

infinitiCAM-$69.00 (Multicam, only ships with 100 cameras ready plus timecode, audio switching or master audio track, and unlimited cam possiblity)

DoubleTake-Freeware (multicam only, 2 cameras only, with timecode)

So, you have quite a menu of multicam tools ranging from free to $149, and features ranging from just a couple in DoubleTake to more than 250 in US2.
All four offerings provide realtime switching in Vegas 6b or newer. All four have trial versions you can play with.

Not really. You don't have all kinds of sequences to make, separate windows to open, proxies to create, etc...

But yes, the basic workflow is:

1) Add the camera footage to the timeline
2) Sync (manually or assisted - which, with the plugins, also PIP's properly)
3) Add camera switches
4) Build the Master track


How is using a camera switch that much easier than just laying both captures on two video tracks and using fade-in/outs to show or hide the top layer?

It's MUCH faster to simply press a key or click on a button while the timeline plays back in real time than it is to stop playback and add multiple keyframes and adjust an envelope or cut out a section of video and add fades. Plus you can fine-tune the edit much more easily. When all edits are in place, a simple push of a button and a Master track is automatically created.

Another advantage is the tally system. Using the plug-ins (except Double-Take), you can always tell which camera is "current" by watching the tallys. If you need to review a section, when playing it back the tallys will illustrate all camera changes.

You can do it manually of course... and the fewer the cameras the easier. I typically will sync up my tapes with their audio, and make one half of the preview window one track and another the other. I guess you could do as many of these as you want. To switch back and forth I just mute out the top camera through the sections I wanna use the 2nd angle. With 3 cameras or more I would say get one of these plug-ins or apple has a nice multicam solution in FinalCut. Good luck.

ok im not sure if i know exactily what you guys are talking about so... I did a movie with my freinds a couple weeks ago and i turned a blank screen of a tv to a look of 5 security camera sections. very time consuming and not perfect. it was a wide screen tv so it was really weird. if you guys want to see the end product of this ill re render it just that part and tell me here. or you can goto our myspace. www.myspace.com/jabryett (its in the second movie there

Jacob, this thread is about shooting footage with multiple cameras simutaneously, and switching from one to another.

ahh ok srry then

I am messing with PPro 2.0's Multi Cam function, and I also now have Vegas 7. Is there anything new on the multi camera editing front in 7 ?

Multi-cam in Vegas 7 is the same as in Vegas 6.

I agree. Was just pointing out the manual methods. With the available plugin options, I don't think any NLE can touch Vegas' ability at multi-cam.


FCP 5.1.2 beats it all day

FCP 5.1.2 beats it all day

My brief experience with multicam in FCP was an exercise in frustration. A real pain to set up, with lots of very counter-intuitive steps. Once set up, it worked OK. But then it was back to pain-ville to prep the next sequence.

I suppose a power-user of FCP would get past those setup frustrations and on to the editing quickly. Glad it works for you.

That's been typical of my experience with FCP - amazing functionality that's hard to get to, difficult work flow. Again, power users probably do really better, but there's still all those clicks to do simple tasks.

For what it's worth. I find the multi-cam editing in PP2 really simple and nowhere near as difficult as described here - most of my work is using this feature and based around music events. quickest workflow after trying it all ways I could think of is to do a number at a time - then once each one's done - combine these into the finished product. Working with very big files does slow things down quite a bit. I'm quite happy with the performance.

FCP 5.1.2 beats it all day

that's why two different magazines have chosen Vegas with plugs and Premiere Pro over FCP's multicam. ;-P

It really boils down to what you're used to. If you can roll fast in one app vs another, it's probably the one to stick with. There are certain things I can do very fast in Avid Xpress HD and other things I can do really fast in Vegas. Vegas with one of the multicam plugs is the fastest overall for me, but that's me. YMMV.
the ability to switch on the fly/live between cams regardless of how many cams you have is super sweet. Building the master track takes around 5 seconds once I've selected my camera I/O points.
I've got a 234 monitor, so it allows me to comfortably see unreasonable numbers of cameras. Most I've ever done for "real world" use is 19, but most of the time it's 4-6 cams. All real time, all the time, usually HDV or HD these days. The fact that I can do multicam with all three US resolutions at the same time is a monster benefit. AFAIK, only Vegas can correctly do this. SD, 720p, and 1080i on the same master track, with all those cams set up to feed the master is very fast and intuitive.
Paul, glad to hear you can work with big files in PP2. I can't do it with large files or HDV; my system crashes whenever I attempt to do multicam with long files.