A really clever trick from Philip Hodgetts to use Automator to make life a little easier when switching video and audio at different times in Final Cut Pro X. Impressive.

The multicam editing features in FCPX are the best of any NLE out there, but they assume that there will be a lot of only one mode of switching, be it video or audio.

If you've watched one of Philip Hodgetts' Lunch with Philip and Greg episodes, you'll know there is a lot of multicam switching of mode and angle together. Something that can't be done with one click in FCPX at the moment. Think switching mic channels as well as camera angles.

So with the help of the very clever Gregory Clarke, Philip built a set of services in Automator to give him the choice of cutting the correct multicam video or audio without having to select the video or audio mode first.

If it sounds complicated, don't worry, Philip has published this tutorial to help.

We have to thank Philip and Greg for sharing their knowledge. We have tried using Automator with FCPX and failed, so this gives us new hope to explore some cool tricks!

Philip is also well worth a follow on Twitter if you are not doing so already.