Multicam Flattener

Workflow Extension

The best use of Multicam Flattener is to run it as a workflow extension directly inside Final Cut Pro.

1. Drag your project or compound clip directly from Final Cut Pro into the Multicam Flatter workflow extension window.

2. Multicam Flattener immediately processes the timeline then presents the results below the drop zone.

3. Drag the result back to the FCP event with your original timeline, and a new project or compound clip will be created

The new flatted project or compound clip has the same base name as the original, but with “Flattened” and a date and time added to the end.

Open the new project or compound clip to view the results.

Effects and Transforms

Video and audio effects, transforms, and volume changes applied to the multicam clip are applied to the clips from the active angles.

Experimental support: Retiming

Multicam Flattener will attempt to copy the speed changes applied to the multicam clip onto the flattened clips, but the results can sometimes have errors. Constant speed changes work better than speed-bladed multi-speed retiming. When the same clip contains multiple speeds on the same clip, flattening errors can occur.

Reverse retiming is not supported in Multicam Flattener. If a multicam clip with a reverse speed applied would flatten to more than one clip, this is especially bad because Multicam Flattener can’t reverse the order of the clips from within the angle, so there isn’t anything Multicam Flattener can do besides not flatten that clip. In such a case Multicam Flattener will alert you at the end of processing and the unflattened clip will be given a red marker with “Duck:” at the start of the description to help you find it easily.

Mixed edit rates

Multicam Flattener works best when the clips in the active angles of the multicam clip have the same edit rate and the multicam clip itself. When the edit rates mismatch it can cause small timing errors in the flattened sequence.

Edit Frame Boundary warning

Sometimes Final Cut Pro warns about edits not aligning with frame boundaries in the flattened timeline. These warning can be ignored, as Final Cut Pro adjusts any edits that need to be adjusted during the import.

Audio Components

Audio levels and mute ranges applied to audio components should translate, though at the time of this writing audio component level split edits do not translate.

Effects applied to clips inside angles vs effects applied to the Multicam clip

Multicam Flattener works to apply effects and transforms from the multicam clip onto the clips that were in the active angle. Multicam Flattener also works to preserve effects and transforms that were on the clips inside the active angle. Sometimes the clips inside the angle could have a transform and the multicam clip also has a transform, so there’s a conflict and one has to win. In this case, the effect from the Multicam clip takes priority.

Roles disabled in Timeline Index do not appear disabled in FCPXML

You might have some disabled clips in your timeline, disabled by turning off the Role checkbox in the Roles tab of the timeline index.

This information about the role status is not exported into FCPXML, so there is no way to know that that role had been disabled. Therefore all the clips of that role will appear in FCP enabled.

This is something Apple would have to change. https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro/ 

Magnetic Mask data is not exported to FCPXML by Final Cut Pro

Any clips with the Magnetic Mask applied will lose that effect— not because of anything Multicam Flattener is doing, but because the Magnetic Mask effect data is not exported to FCPXML from Final Cut Pro. Plan time to re-make your Magnetic Masks after flattening.

This is something Apple would have to change. https://www.apple.com/feedback/finalcutpro/ 

Application writes FCPXML files, not FCPXMLD bundles

Currently, Multicam Flattener as an app can read FCPXMLD bundles, but only writes FCPXML files. The difference is that FCPXMLD bundles can contain extra information that is not in the actual XML data but is rather in a separate folder inside the bundle. Because Multicam Flattener only writes FCPXML files, it cannot preserve the extra information inside the FCPXMLD bundle. This means roundtripping via the app can cause some effects to get lost on re-import. Using the Workflow Extension, instead, should get you past this, as the extra data is included in what is sent to Multicam Flattener and what Multicam Flattener sends back.

Support

Help articles are found here: https://automaticduck.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/28485039403543-Multicam-Flattener

To contact support click Submit a request at the top of https://automaticduck.zendesk.com/hc/en-us and be sure to attach a zipped XML file from your project.