Mixed resolution multicam - what's really happening?

Hey!

I'm going crazy trying to figure out what's really happening to the footage when creating a multicam using mixed resolution...

For example, the last thing I shot, a simple two camera set-up; static camera shooting in UHD in the back, and a manned close-up camera shooting HD...

So I made a multicam, set it to HD... But then the 4K footage looks soft... meaning that FCPX effs up the footage somehow, why?

If I make the multicam UHD, it seems to look ok, but I can't help wondering what it does to the HD footage?

Why is FCPX even messing with the footage? Shouldn't it just be a container?

Need to know what's going on!?!

DmitriZigany wrote: …Why is FCPX even messing with the footage? Shouldn't it just be a container? …

btmk, it IS a container, conc. media storage, but a new 'clip' on behavior in a timeline :woohoo:

I used lots of mixed-format MCs, simple rule is: set the MCs specs to highest res and frame rate involved, example: a 4k/25 and a HD/50 should be 'in' a 4k/50p MC = so, I can later reframe lossless in a 1080/25-project (the 4k parts) or auto-speed to some nice, lossless slow-mo (the 50p parts).
(because of its 'container' nature, specs don't matter, if file-size is your concerns … a 4k/50MC has the same non-size as a SD/25MC from same sources)

… probably you have to toggle the Preview settings to Better Quality, if needed …

That can't be the entire story...

If it's just a container why would the 4K clips be detoriated when in an HD multicam and enlarged in an HD timeline? FCPX should then reference the original media anyway, one would think, no?

I'm not so much interested in solutions - I want to know what's going on!

Having the same issue. Some said it might be a bug with multicams using Red footage. It's driving me nuts. I learned that setting the multicam to the project resolution is the only way to get all angles looking right. I typically create multicams with 4K and 5K footage but deliver in 1080, so I set my multicams to 1080. If I deliver in UHD I set the multicams to UHD, and so on. It's annoying but it's the only thing that works.

That’s what I did at first as well, created a 1080 Multicam for my 1080 project.
But then the 4K footage looks soft when zoomed in...

I’m using ProRes for the 4K and XAVC-S for the HD...