Using PluralEyes with Final Cut Pro

Getting Started

Start using PluralEyes right away.

Sync Options

Going beyond the basics to handle those extra-tricky sync situations.

Solving Problems

Troubleshooting tips and how to get support.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to common questions.

Getting Started

• Video tutorial
• Automatically synchronize a sequence
• Create a single output sequence (1.2 beta only)
• Replace audio (1.2 beta only)
• Prevent clips from moving (1.2 beta only)
• (Advanced) Create a multiclip from a sequence

Video tutorials

Tutorial: Automatically synchronize a sequence

Automatically synchronize a sequence

Follow these steps to automatically synchronize the clips in a sequence.

1. Create a sequence named pluraleyes.
2. Add the clips to the pluraleyes sequence. They can be positioned anywhere in the sequence, as long as all the clips from the same camera (or audio recorder) go onto the same track.
3. Start PluralEyes. PluralEyes is a standalone application which is located in the Applications folder.
4. In the PluralEyes dialog, press the Sync button.

PluralEyes synchronizes the clips and creates a new sequence called pluraleyes ### (synced) and opens it in the timeline. If possible, it also creates a multiclip called pluraleyes. By deafult, if the clips fall into distinct nonoverlapping groups then several multiclips and sequences are created. Any clips that PluralEyes could not sync are placed into a sequence called pluraleyes 000 unsynced. If this happens, and you expected the clips to sync, this would be a good time to epxlore the sync options. If you want a single output sequence, see the next section.

Create a single output sequence (1.2 beta only)

By default, PluralEyes creates a separate output sequence for each group of clips that sync among themselves but not between groups. If instead you want to have all clips placed into a single sequence on output, click the Change button and choose the Single output sequence option.

Each group of synced clips will have a marker in the timeline showing where it starts. If there are unsynced clips they will have a marker with the name pluraleyes unsynced.

Tip If the clips being synced are in order, choose the sync option Chronological order to keep the clips and synced groups in order in the output.

Replace audio (1.2 beta only)

This option is typically used when you have a single video track and a single audio track. For example, the video comes from a DSLR camera using the built-in mic and the audio comes from an external audio recorder with higher-quality sound. The goal is to use the external audio instead of the camera audio. It is convenient to have the audio replaced in the clips in the synced timeline, so that no further effort is required to keep them in sync during the editing process.

The Replace audio option does that for you. When chosen, an additional output sequence is created where the audio in each video clip is replaced by the audio from the synced audio track. Note that the clips are changed in this sequence only. The original media files and the other sequences are not modified in any way.

Prevent clips from moving (1.2 beta only)

By default, PluralEyes will move the clips in the output sequence(s) so that the earliest clip starts at time zero. But sometimes you want one of the clips to stay in place and have the others move relative to that one. If you lock the track that contains that clip, PluralEyes will not move it. Since you can only lock tracks and not individual clips in Final Cut Pro, you may want to move the clip to its own track and then lock that track.

Note that if the locked clip is near the beginning of the timeline it is possible that the sync will cause other clips to try to go before the beginning of the start of the sequence. In that case, they are either truncated or moved to another track entirely.

(Advanced) Create a multiclip from a sequence

PluralEyes will create a multiclip when you automatically synchronize a sequence. But there may be times when you want to manually synchronize one or more clips in a sequence and make a multiclip:

• You automatically synchronized your clips but one of them failed.
• You have good visual sync points and want to use them.
• The audio and video within a clip is out of sync and you want to fix that.

Manual synchronization can be used from scratch or to tweak a sequence that was synchronized by PluralEyes.

1. Name the sequence pluraleyes, if it isn't already. If there is already a sequence of that name, rename it first.
2. Start PluralEyes.
3. In the PluralEyes dialog, press the Multiclip button.

PluralEyes uses the start times of the clips in the pluraleyes sequence to create a multiclip called pluraleyes (from sequence).

Tip It can be very handy to set a marker on each clip at a convenient sync point (e.g., a light flash or distinctive visual motion). In the timeline, with snap turned on, align the clips on their markers. Then convert the sequence to a multiclip.

PluralEyes, DualEyes and Singular Software Presto are trademarks of Singular Software Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.