Importing GoPro 4K in FCPX NEED HELP

Hi,
I am new here and hope I can find some help. For a project we got 5 Gopro, Hero4 and Hero5 and used them on a 1 hour shoot. It is a multiangle Protune shoot. We thought it would be no problem to synchronize the footage. What we did not expect was that the GoPro does split longer files in segments, after we found out we did a Google research and learned that the best way would be to let Gopro studio transcode the files into the Cineform codec and import from there to FCPX. That done we ended with 49 clips not knowing what camera they belong to and no way to synchronize them. This way the footage is unusable. Fortunately the files are still on the 5 chips which are marked for the camera that was used.
We need the best video quality possible and need them in sync., preferable stitched together.

Any advice for a workflow would be highly appreciated.

Hi

I am new here too and not YET familiar with Multicam (Hope Karsten ones teaches me that too) ) but what I would do. Import the clips from SD card 1 (GoPro1 Camera) into GoPro Studio and make one file out of those clips and name it camera1, make the same for the other ones and then import the 5 clips into FCPX... Normal endings are GOGP00xxx and the ones created after 20min when GOPO00xx is full GP0100x at least with my GoPros .. Ahhh and make sure you use the right SD Cards with the newer models SD cards that I used in Hero4 don't work in Hero5 aRRRRRRRR

In FCPX you can then name the cameras, additional information etc pp

havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/be...ry-cards-gopro-hero5

Hope that helps a LITTLE bit and be aware of the problem with the Studio and plist
Tobias

ahh and don't get irritated with the time stamps on some cams they are not the start time of the cam at least on one of my go pros but thats a different topic


................
Issue in case you can't import files in Studio:


- Öffnen Sie den Finder / Open Finder
- Klicken Sie auf "Gehe zu"
- Halten Sie die "Options"-Taste gedrückt und die Bibliothek taucht auf. Klicken Sie auf Bibliothek // Open Library
- Doppel-klicken Sie auf Einstellungen bzw. Preferences
- suchen Sie nach der "com.gopro.GoPro-Studio.plist" Datei und löschen Sie diese (Delete that file in Library and you can Import files again in Studio!!!!
I doubt that GoPro will fix the bug because I assume they don't develop Studio any further...

- Öffnen Sie GoPro Studio erneut / Open Studio again

Sorry can't add a picture because even with max compression in Mac preview app its to big 180KB

saba01 wrote: ...we got 5 Gopro, Hero4 and Hero5 and used them on a 1 hour shoot. It is a multiangle Protune shoot.....GoPro does split longer files in segments....we...let Gopro studio transcode the files into the Cineform codec and import from there to FCPX. That done we ended with 49 clips not knowing what camera they belong to and no way to synchronize them. This way the footage is unusable. ...

My doc group has about 10 GoPro Hero3 and 4 cameras. We usually don't use Protune but using it has some advantages. In the field I copy all the files to redundant backup media -- usually portable HDDs. Each camera files go into a named folder. If a multi-day shoot, there is a folder per shooting day.

When editing I import those directly to FCPX. Multicam sync "the easy way" only works if you have good audio for each camera which is often not so with GoPros if they are inside a waterproof housing. If they are in a "skeleton" housing the audio is more often usable, but less likely if they are widely separated.

After importing each camera you must name those clips in FCPX, also the audio-only clips from any field recorder. Approximate procedure:

1. Import all clips
2. In Event Browser at top left select List View (it's the button above the red X at left)
3. In Event Browser, click on clip name to sort by name. All the clips from each camera should be grouped together.
4. Select a group of clips from one camera/recorder (Click on 1st, go to last and Shift-click).
5. In Inspector at upper right, click on Info button. If Inspector pane is not on, turn it on with Window>Show Inspector
6. At bottom of Inspector Pane, click the drop-down box and select "General". This shows more details.
7. In the Inspector Pane, enter a camera name. When you press Enter it will add that camera name to all the clips you have selected in a single step.
8. Repeat step 4 and 7 for each camera/recorder.
9. In Event Browser, select all clips from all the cameras you added camera name info to.
10. Right-click on the selected group and select "New Multicam Clip", then set checkbox "use audio for synchronization"

You will need to open the multicam clip in the Angle Editor to check the sync. If FCPX fails to properly sync some clips you don't get an error.

Re split clips, I normally don't have a problem with this; it may just put them in chronological order from a given camera.

If the sync doesn't work you can normally adjust the sync within the Angle Editor. Select the entire group from a given camera and nudge them left or right until they line up with a video event, or sometimes you can use the audio waveform by eye. This is all old hat to experienced editors.

The audio sync ability of Plural Eyes is much better than FCPX or Premiere CC, so I often use that externally before importing multicam shoots. I have successfully synced hundreds of clips and done sync searches over thousands of clips with this tool: www.redgiant.com/products/pluraleyes/?gc..._-dKmdTHsaAmzQ8P8HAQ

H264 4k often requires transcoding to proxy for good performance -- even on a fast machine. This can be done during import or afterward. This is especially so with GoPro which uses a highly compressed codec.

Re transcoding externally to Cineform, I am not experienced with that so maybe others can advise. However you would be transcoding twice -- once to Cineform externally and a 2nd time to proxy within FCPX. My initial thoughts are why do double transcoding.

However some camera-specific import/transcode tools handle things like stitching files together, bulk renaming files, importing clip ranges, etc. Also ProTune may impose a "flat" color profile which the GoPro Studio de-flattens, but you could probably do this within FCPX, especially using a plugin like Color Finale. So there may be good reasons for transcoding to Cineform externally but you'll need to evaluate the cost/benefit and maybe even run some tests.

Thanks for your input!!! Just to make it clear I am new to this forum, not to Final Cut Pro, I am working with FCP since FCP2 (2002), before with Premiere (what I never really liked).

Anyway,
Joena:
Thanks for that explicit write up (almost like an operation instruction ) I wasn't aware of the batch renaming feature That was very important information..I will try that, in the meantime I have created keyword collections for every camera and specific shoot...
When I do your "7. In the Inspector Pane, enter a camera name. When you press Enter it will add that camera name to all the clips you have selected in a single step." does that show the camera name in the angle editor?
That would make the cut a little easier since I have Hero4 silver and Black and Hero5 so 2 of the cameras shoot in 2.7K while the others are 4K...

Schurr:
Your workflow was the first I was thinking of, BUT it is a bit more complicated. If I would have only one take (storyline) per camera it would work. In my case there are 4 to 6 different storylines per camera.....