As an Assistant Editor, this is a great method to do MultiGroups in Avid. Your way is much more efficient and will implement it in my workflow from now on. Thanks Vince!
Thanks Vince, Very generous of you to share your expertise. I love that you have figured out a way of customizing the keys so the work can be done by literally typing 1 thru 8. Very elegant. Well played, sir.
Vince I can not thank you enough. I have been editing for a 3 years now. I never had to group before. You just helped me acquire a second Job. It's for 3 weeks but pays well. THANK YOU! \
I like how you used a series of keyboard shortcuts to simulate like a "Macro". I used "Actions" to perform redundant tasks in Photoshop all the time, was always looking for ways to recreate that in Avid. This is a novel solution. I used this just now for something completely different - replacing an audio track from the source.
We're coming up with some new workflows for next year next week at work, will report back. thanks for the reply. We mainly manually do grouping as our editors don't like everything grouped the way you have it, we have lots of cutaways and some things don't make sense fully multi grouped. I can see where this would work.
Hi Vince. Awesome video. Thank you giving your time to put it together. I was wondering, would you be able to make available the source footage you are working with for download so I can follow along? Thanks Tyrell
Good question. I don't really have a good answer and have wondered that myself. I think it has to do with backward compatibility, meaning that older versions of MC might have needed it, and its redundancy has made its way into todays workflow. I've kept it in because it is no biggie to add in keystroke program and redundancy is good. Try making clips without it and report back your findings, you could save AE macros millions of keystrokes a year. :)
The Gang function locks monitors in sync so that you can move through footage in two or more monitors simultaneously. This function is convenient when you view and mark the sequence and source material simultaneously, based on syncing of the position indicators in each monitor. Give it a try with Gang off and observe how the monitors react.
Great tutorial this- finally helped me to get my head around it, but is there a better way yet? I have to sync and multigroup two 16hr days worth of footage with 14 video streams (5x F5's and the rest GoPro) and 12 tracks of audio... chopping those up and pressing 12345678 is literally going to take days, and then I fear I will press the multi-group button at the end and it will all not work because I did something wrong during one of the earlier processes!! I have tried doing the autosync in Avid and exporting the sequence as an aaf to Premiere but Premiere does not like F5 footage (all the video shows as a blank red frame). If I transcode to DNxHD then it will go into Premiere but then when I output the aaf back again Premiere screws up the video resolution (sets it as DV 25p 420 for some reason) which when you import back to Avid causes a 'No compressed data format found for specified VCID & video Format' error... Premiere will sort of do autosync but puts every clip and bit of audio on its own layer so you end up with literally hundreds. Its really poor that Avid hasn't automated this...:( Any thoughts?
How do you copy and paste timecode into your Record monitor?? A lot of people seems to be having problems with this from what I see in forums but you make it look so easy... And it really should be this basic and easy but somehow it isn't
Thank you!! This video became my bible to work from. Only question. When you multigrouped in the audio tracks, you didn't subclip (marry) the video tracks to the ext audio first. Does that ultimately affect the workflow if the audio is essentially another "camera" in the multigroup rather than glued to each video clip?
Nice but with Avid 5 (possibly earlier) you can just sync on the timeline, place blue line on a common portion of a group you want to sync. 1.Select the first video, 2.hit match frame, 3.turn off the track button of the video/audio you just selected. 4. Repeat with the other video/audio selections common to blue line (creating a matched in-point for each) Go to the bin & cmd+click or cntrl+click on each of the selected video/audio. Then Bin->GroupClips and select Sync using "Inpoints" & click ok
This is a great tutorial! Thanks for uploading it. I have a question though, when I make my multi-groups the cameras' positions in the Source Monitor change when one camera ends or another begins. Problem is, my editor is unable to adjust the heads and tails of clips in the timeline (though when she matches back, we can see that there is head and tail). Is there a way to make it so that the cameras do not switch spots and instead stay in place?
Thank you! This solved me a problem... But it has to be said that that's crazy... Isn't it? I think that all the process could be easily automated by developers with a simple batch script.
VinceRocca I know this is from ages ago but this is a really good and useful tutorial, hitting enter moves on to the next clip, meaning I'll type the 7 onto the clip below, still not as intended. but I'm wondering why on your computer it doesn't automatically offer to change the subclip name? anyone? I really couldn't find anything about it online.
Hope to get an answer from you asap. I'm using your method on grouping on a reality program, it works great. But I can't seem to get the "focus back on timeline" to work, because every subclip I make, Avid wants me to rename. So when I press "7"-key, I rename the clips 7 instead of focusing back to my timeline. I'm using Avid MC 6.03. The newest. What to do?? Thanks in advance!
Thank you for the answer. Thought it would work, but when I hit enter it just jumps to the next clip (below) in my bin, asking me to rename this clip instead. Do you have any more ideas? Really appreciate your help!
very active busy and entertaining..still did you try just to eye ball the burst on each angle, MARK IN then AUTOSYNC all clips using the MARK IN as the sync point...
Most editing software (like Protools and Final Cut Pro) provide multiple ways of doing things. With Avid Media Composer, there is only the most difficult and time-consuming.
Hey Vince! Great tutorial. It's super helpful. I'm working in MC6 and after I create a subclip (6), Avid automatically highlights the subclip clip name in the bin so I can rename it. When I press (7) to go back to the timeline, the # 7 appears on the subclip I just created, untimely disrupting the flow of subclip creation! Is there a way to turn off that auto rename function like you have so I can press (7) and go directly to the timeline instead of remaining the new subclip? Thank you!
I came back to make this exact same comment. The only way I can get it to work is to press ctrl and 0 rather than the 7 command we set up. Any one got round this in 6.5? Thanks for this great guide too Vince, really helped me on a job.
I've been dealing with a hectic shoot where cameras are constantly stopping and starting - consequently, there are different combinations of cameras 'on' at any giving time and my multigroup keeps switching camera order between groups. Is there a way to avoid this?
+Orlando Cuevas With the Record (Viewer) Window, Play (Canvas) Window active, or the Timeline active, hit any number key and the pop up window will activate.
Hey Vince, At about the 12:25 mark in your tutorial you move from one clip to the next. When hitting "1" to mark the "In" and "Out" for the new clip you video seems to automatically clear the "In" and "Out" from the previous clip. When I'm trying this I have to clear the "In" and "Out" by hitting F and G and even then the clip previous is still highlighted to which I have to clear by clicking on the TCI at the bottom of the sequence. Any way to remedy this?
F7 to timeline...for me the subclip has to be renamed before it will go to timeline. So f7 just renames the subclip "7". Is there a setting to fix this?
Isn't this because of the change in v6 in bin behavior and how the numpad enter key works now? Now that the name of the subclip is highlit for editing upon creation any keystroke except escape is considered text entry. And the numpad enter key which used to accept the entry and turn off the highlight/edit merely jumps down to the next clip and highlights it - frustrating.
Typically a “string out” is the days footage strung out. A “sync map” is the days footage stacked by camera, but the two terms could and probably do get interchanged.
After ive subclipped everything and select all of them and go to MultiGroup and ask it to creat it, it says it cant find timecode for one of my clips so the whole think fails but Ive clearly input timecode for every one of those clips. Any idea what could be happening?
If you're sure that you've assigned all clips TC, then I'm guessing you are mixing frame rates or audio sample rates and MC is just returning that error. Try to MultiGroup two of the subclips, or half of them until you find the offending clip or clips.
VinceRocca The problem was because the offending clips were shot with a Sony using the XAVC codec and Avid has a bug where it wont take any timecode unless you give the clips a tape name. After I did that it worked.
Carlos Robles Do you have any further updates on this bug? I am getting the CM_NoSource error when I try to multigroup subclips. I tried assigning tape names but avid will not allow. I am thinking about grouping manually, but am concerned about keeping all of my 23 audio tracks. Any suggestions?
+tnabound2009 It's okay to sync using whatever is at your disposal, waveforms or slates, but often times in Reality TV you get camera auteurs who shoot MOS, so you have to sync with on screen action.
hey vince can you make another video showing how to group, cut, export doing cutdowns, exporting screeners. i applied for a new job I'm currently a media manager and i want to advance to being an AE can you help me
As an Assistant Editor, this is a great method to do MultiGroups in Avid. Your way is much more efficient and will implement it in my workflow from now on. Thanks Vince!
just made a huge multigroup for a concert filmed with 4 DSLR's, clips were all over the place and this method really made my day, thanks man
Thanks Vince,
Very generous of you to share your expertise. I love that you have figured out a way of customizing the keys so the work can be done by literally typing 1 thru 8. Very elegant. Well played, sir.
Vince I can not thank you enough. I have been editing for a 3 years now. I never had to group before. You just helped me acquire a second Job. It's for 3 weeks but pays well. THANK YOU! \
I like how you used a series of keyboard shortcuts to simulate like a "Macro".
I used "Actions" to perform redundant tasks in Photoshop all the time, was always looking for ways to recreate that in Avid. This is a novel solution. I used this just now for something completely different - replacing an audio track from the source.
Hey! This video always save me when i have to use older versions of AVID, thanks!!
Great, very helpful video. I still watch this every time I need to group something to refresh my memory.
Thanks so much Vince! Your tutorial was great and I feel prepared for my multicam job tomorrow! Rock on!
I've been taught to just click in the record monitor after subclipping but before fast forwarding again. Works great for me.
We're coming up with some new workflows for next year next week at work, will report back. thanks for the reply.
We mainly manually do grouping as our editors don't like everything grouped the way you have it, we have lots of cutaways and some things don't make sense fully multi grouped.
I can see where this would work.
Hi Vince.
Awesome video. Thank you giving your time to put it together.
I was wondering, would you be able to make available the source footage you are working with for download so I can follow along?
Thanks
Tyrell
Good question. I don't really have a good answer and have wondered that myself. I think it has to do with backward compatibility, meaning that older versions of MC might have needed it, and its redundancy has made its way into todays workflow. I've kept it in because it is no biggie to add in keystroke program and redundancy is good.
Try making clips without it and report back your findings, you could save AE macros millions of keystrokes a year. :)
The Gang function locks monitors in sync so that you can move through footage in two or more monitors simultaneously. This function is convenient when you view and mark the sequence and source material simultaneously, based on syncing of the position indicators in each monitor.
Give it a try with Gang off and observe how the monitors react.
And great video, well explained! Cheers from portugal from a Avid DS operator
Great tutorial this- finally helped me to get my head around it, but is there a better way yet? I have to sync and multigroup two 16hr days worth of footage with 14 video streams (5x F5's and the rest GoPro) and 12 tracks of audio... chopping those up and pressing 12345678 is literally going to take days, and then I fear I will press the multi-group button at the end and it will all not work because I did something wrong during one of the earlier processes!! I have tried doing the autosync in Avid and exporting the sequence as an aaf to Premiere but Premiere does not like F5 footage (all the video shows as a blank red frame). If I transcode to DNxHD then it will go into Premiere but then when I output the aaf back again Premiere screws up the video resolution (sets it as DV 25p 420 for some reason) which when you import back to Avid causes a 'No compressed data format found for specified VCID & video Format' error... Premiere will sort of do autosync but puts every clip and bit of audio on its own layer so you end up with literally hundreds. Its really poor that Avid hasn't automated this...:( Any thoughts?
How do you copy and paste timecode into your Record monitor?? A lot of people seems to be having problems with this from what I see in forums but you make it look so easy... And it really should be this basic and easy but somehow it isn't
Thank you!! This video became my bible to work from. Only question. When you multigrouped in the audio tracks, you didn't subclip (marry) the video tracks to the ext audio first. Does that ultimately affect the workflow if the audio is essentially another "camera" in the multigroup rather than glued to each video clip?
Thank God for GroupItForMe and the now built-in grouping/multigrouping feature in Avid 😂
Simple and to the point. Thanks for doing this.
This is a very creative way to think about this! I love this!
This was amazing, thanks!! Now to get all my AEs to buy into it... Old dogs.. :-) Thanks for this.
Nice but with Avid 5 (possibly earlier) you can just sync on the timeline, place blue line on a common portion of a group you want to sync. 1.Select the first video, 2.hit match frame, 3.turn off the track button of the video/audio you just selected. 4. Repeat with the other video/audio selections common to blue line (creating a matched in-point for each) Go to the bin & cmd+click or cntrl+click on each of the selected video/audio. Then Bin->GroupClips and select Sync using "Inpoints" & click ok
this is great but I don't understand how you get the sub clips to automatically have auxilary TC when they appear in the bin.
This is a great tutorial! Thanks for uploading it.
I have a question though, when I make my multi-groups the cameras' positions in the Source Monitor change when one camera ends or another begins. Problem is, my editor is unable to adjust the heads and tails of clips in the timeline (though when she matches back, we can see that there is head and tail). Is there a way to make it so that the cameras do not switch spots and instead stay in place?
This has been invaluable, thanks Vince!
Thank you! This solved me a problem... But it has to be said that that's crazy... Isn't it?
I think that all the process could be easily automated by developers with a simple batch script.
You can either hit Return/Enter between keys 6 and 7 or remap the keys so 7 is return/enter, 8 is Timeline and so on.
VinceRocca I know this is from ages ago but this is a really good and useful tutorial, hitting enter moves on to the next clip, meaning I'll type the 7 onto the clip below, still not as intended.
but I'm wondering why on your computer it doesn't automatically offer to change the subclip name?
anyone? I really couldn't find anything about it online.
great video!
Hope to get an answer from you asap. I'm using your method on grouping on a reality program, it works great. But I can't seem to get the "focus back on timeline" to work, because every subclip I make, Avid wants me to rename. So when I press "7"-key, I rename the clips 7 instead of focusing back to my timeline. I'm using Avid MC 6.03. The newest. What to do?? Thanks in advance!
You're the man - thank you for the tips
Thank you for the answer. Thought it would work, but when I hit enter it just jumps to the next clip (below) in my bin, asking me to rename this clip instead. Do you have any more ideas? Really appreciate your help!
Excellent!
very active busy and entertaining..still did you try just to eye ball the burst on each angle, MARK IN then AUTOSYNC all clips using the MARK IN as the sync point...
Tibor Spiegel One camera stops and starts.
Most editing software (like Protools and Final Cut Pro) provide multiple ways of doing things. With Avid Media Composer, there is only the most difficult and time-consuming.
Hey Vince! Great tutorial. It's super helpful. I'm working in MC6 and after I create a subclip (6), Avid automatically highlights the subclip clip name in the bin so I can rename it. When I press (7) to go back to the timeline, the # 7 appears on the subclip I just created, untimely disrupting the flow of subclip creation! Is there a way to turn off that auto rename function like you have so I can press (7) and go directly to the timeline instead of remaining the new subclip? Thank you!
I came back to make this exact same comment. The only way I can get it to work is to press ctrl and 0 rather than the 7 command we set up. Any one got round this in 6.5?
Thanks for this great guide too Vince, really helped me on a job.
Daniel Zagayer Have we found a way around this?
Look at Will Blank's multigrouping guide. It's more up to date. Plus the Super grouper macro can automate a lot of it.
Yeah the Will Blank one was more helpful
I've been dealing with a hectic shoot where cameras are constantly stopping and starting - consequently, there are different combinations of cameras 'on' at any giving time and my multigroup keeps switching camera order between groups. Is there a way to avoid this?
super helpful, thank you.
You mean key #3 match frame the timeline to the source window? Yes that is necessary.
Hey Vince. thanks for this video. i have a quick question how did you make that window pop to paste the starting time of the video?
+Orlando Cuevas With the Record (Viewer) Window, Play (Canvas) Window active, or the Timeline active, hit any number key and the pop up window will activate.
Hey Vince,
At about the 12:25 mark in your tutorial you move from one clip to the next. When hitting "1" to mark the "In" and "Out" for the new clip you video seems to automatically clear the "In" and "Out" from the previous clip. When I'm trying this I have to clear the "In" and "Out" by hitting F and G and even then the clip previous is still highlighted to which I have to clear by clicking on the TCI at the bottom of the sequence. Any way to remedy this?
Nice Dood!
I work with NewsCutter. Newscutters does not have the auto sync function. How would you sync the Camera? Thanks Vince.
Using Wacom keystroke menu can't you use its fast buttons to run the script insted of using quick keys?
Pretty cool
+thesearchformagik - my media production house Thanks. I just recently did a tut on frankenbiting reality tv.
quick question...
why do you have to gang the video?
How do you choose the right audio track?
Why do you turn on the 'gang' button each time before subclipping? thanks!
Enter just goes to the next subclip and causes the same issue. Any other way to get around it? Thanks!
What does the Gang button do?
Why do you add the out point, after you go to out, when there already is an out point there?
F7 to timeline...for me the subclip has to be renamed before it will go to timeline. So f7 just renames the subclip "7". Is there a setting to fix this?
Isn't this because of the change in v6 in bin behavior and how the numpad enter key works now? Now that the name of the subclip is highlit for editing upon creation any keystroke except escape is considered text entry. And the numpad enter key which used to accept the entry and turn off the highlight/edit merely jumps down to the next clip and highlights it - frustrating.
Probably, Try it and report back. I don't use the Wacom so I'm not 100% sure.
Is this a string out?
Typically a “string out” is the days footage strung out. A “sync map” is the days footage stacked by camera, but the two terms could and probably do get interchanged.
After ive subclipped everything and select all of them and go to MultiGroup and ask it to creat it, it says it cant find timecode for one of my clips so the whole think fails but Ive clearly input timecode for every one of those clips. Any idea what could be happening?
If you're sure that you've assigned all clips TC, then I'm guessing you are mixing frame rates or audio sample rates and MC is just returning that error. Try to MultiGroup two of the subclips, or half of them until you find the offending clip or clips.
VinceRocca The problem was because the offending clips were shot with a Sony using the XAVC codec and Avid has a bug where it wont take any timecode unless you give the clips a tape name. After I did that it worked.
Carlos Robles Do you have any further updates on this bug? I am getting the CM_NoSource error when I try to multigroup subclips. I tried assigning tape names but avid will not allow. I am thinking about grouping manually, but am concerned about keeping all of my 23 audio tracks. Any suggestions?
Weird that you didn't synch up the timeline with audio waveform.
+tnabound2009 It's okay to sync using whatever is at your disposal, waveforms or slates, but often times in Reality TV you get camera auteurs who shoot MOS, so you have to sync with on screen action.
hey vince can you make another video showing how to group, cut, export doing cutdowns, exporting screeners. i applied for a new job I'm currently a media manager and i want to advance to being an AE can you help me
+Orlando Cuevas Sorry, I can't help. These days I'm a full time editor.
I just needed to find the command to group the video tracks and I still cant find it
why not just use regular group from sequence ?
i'm dying to know... why did you delete the start column just to bring it back?! lol
So people could see that if you delete something, you can easily bring it back.
Shane Harlbut, ASC has a great solution for this in his B and H video series check it out...
Maybe a little too fast for newbies. BE great if you could explain more detail and slow down a bit for the people who grasp a little slower.