Newcomer difficulty with multicam timeline

Hi everyone,

I am trying out multicam timeline editing for the first time, but I've run into a difficulty which I've not been able to resolve from the manual or from Doctor Google. I am hoping that someone here might be able to assist.

My setup is very simple. I have two video clips with different angles and an external audio clip.

I imported them all into the media pool and renamed the clips. I then selected them all, right-clicked, and selected "Create Multicam Clip Using Selected Clips."

In the following dialog box, I selected Angle Sync = Sound and Angle Name = clip name. I left everything else as default.

I then dragged the new multiclip into the timeline. Right-clicked the audio track and selected my external audio.

I double clicked the track, then selected 'Multicam' in the source viewer, and chose 1x2. I also chose video only in the Multicam viewer so that I can switch between the two video angles without switching the audio.

So far so good.

However, when I try to play the timeline, nothing happens other than a brief blip in the audio mixer.

If I switch the source viewer to anything else - say source - then I can play the timeline just fine.

But when I switch the source viewer back to Multicam, I cannot play the timeline anymore.

I am using DaVinci Resolve Studio 16.2.1.017 on Windows 10.

I would be grateful for any assistance anyone can give me.

DaVinci-Resolve-logs-20200425-134617.zip

Davinci Diagnostic log

(862.73 KiB) Downloaded 41 times

[Peter Chamberlain]

do each of the clips play fine in the a new timeline?
what are the clip types?
what is the resolution and frame rate of the clips and timeline?

Hi Peter,

Thanks for those questions.

I've created a new timeline based on all of the individual clips, and they all play fine.

The clip info is as follows:

• Video angle 1: MOV/H.264 25 fps 1920x1080 with linear PCM 48 kHz stereo audio
• Video angle 2: MP4/H.264 25 fps 1280x720 with AAC 48 kHz stereo audio
• External audio: Linear PCM 48 kHz stereo

The timeline resolution is 1920 x 1080. I've also tried changing the timeline resolution to 1280 x 720 to no avail.

Just to reiterate, the timeline with the multicam clip plays fine unless I select Multicam in the source viewer. It is only then that playback fails.

If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

When you say the timeline doesn't play, what happens exactly? Does the video play and you don't get any audio? Does the playhead not move at all? Can you post some screenshots of when you are having the problem and when you can get the timeline working?

The playhead doesn't move at all. I'm really hoping that I'm just doing something silly/missing something obvious.

I created a little test with a couple of cameras in my kitchen.

Here is the multicam view.

Multicam viewer

multicam-medium.png (246.78 KiB) Viewed 1161 times

When I press play, all that happens is that the audio meter spikes momentarily.

If I change the left viewer from multicam to any other viewer, then the timeline plays just fine.

If you manually move the playhead to different positions and click one of the multicam angles in the source viewer, does it make a cut to the clip angle?

Yes, it does.

That is my painful workaround. Switch away from multicam view. Play. Decide where to cut to a different angle. Switch back. Make the cut.

It all looks correct. I might suggest trying the menu Workspace>Reset UI Layout. Also, in your signature it looks like you are using 16.2.1, is there a reason you aren't on 16.2.3?

It all looks correct. I might suggest trying the menu Workspace>Reset UI Layout. Also, in your signature it looks like you are using 16.2.1, is there a reason you aren't on 16.2.3?

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm actually on 16.2.3. I've updated my signature.

Good suggestion to reset ui layout. I've just tried it. Unfortunately the problem persists.

A new bit of info... I checked the log, and saw a bunch of these entries.

Code: Select all

[0x0000bc7c] | UI                   | INFO  | 2020-07-04 16:22:41,059 | Stop playback as we seem to have dropped a frame

Does that point towards an answer?

Edit: Generating optimised media hasn't helped either.

I find it best to include only cameras clips in a Multicam. Leave audio clips out of it as it will be easier to work on them in Fairlight later in the post process.

Start over using only the camera clips. Add the audio file underneath and manually sync it.

Add your vote to the following to make the process easier in the future.

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=96353

Report back.