Adjusting the Sync Results
It’s a good idea to make sure all clips are optimally synced in PluralEyes before you export the results. After the automatic sync finishes, you can perform a few quick checks in PluralEyes. If the clips didn’t sync optimally, you can troubleshoot the sync results.
Alternatively, at any time you can export the timeline to work with your footage in an NLE. Even if some clips did not sync optimally in PluralEyes, you can sync them manually later in your NLE. However, it is generally more efficient to use the PluralEyes features that help you troubleshoot unsynced and incorrectly synced clips. This is particularly useful if you plan to export the timeline as video files or audio files.
Marking clips as unsynced or synced
After the sync finishes, PluralEyes indicates whether all clips synced successfully, or whether some clips did not sync. Clips that have synced with at least one other clip are colored green in the Timeline. Unsynced clips are colored red in the Timeline. Unsynced clips also get identified in the Media Pane with a red icon.
Occasionally, PluralEyes 3.5 marks a clip as being synced or unsynced, when it's really the opposite. You must change the status of this clip before you can fix the incorrect sync.
To change the sync status:
- Select the clip in either the Timeline or the Media Pane.
- Click Sync> Mark Selected Clips as Synchronized, or Sync> Mark Selected Clips as Unsynchronized.
Why is the clip marked red?
An “unsynced clip” is a clip for which a matching clip could exist, but for which no match has been found. PluralEyes thinks these clips should go somewhere but it's not sure exactly where — so it marks them red, as unsynced.
Red clips could be:
- Clips that have no match at all. You know they have no match, but they are placed in the sequence anyway. These clips can cause problems if they are out of order in the sequence, and Allow Sync to Change Clip Order is not turned on. If you know clips don't have an audio match, you should leave them out of the Timeline sequence.
- Clips that have a match. You know they have a match, so they could be marked red for a few reasons.
- If there are camera clips that are supposed to overlap or sync with each another, they will need to be in their own track or their own bin. If you're not sure of the order, OR the clip order is not alphabetical, turn on Allow Sync to Change Clip Order. This gives PluralEyes better flexibility in determining where the clips should go.
- The audio may be lower quality and difficult to interpret. You should turn on the Sync> Level Audio option to see if that helps.
- If there are camera clips that are supposed to overlap or sync with each another, they will need to be in their own track or their own bin. If you're not sure of the order, OR the clip order is not alphabetical, turn on Allow Sync to Change Clip Order. This gives PluralEyes better flexibility in determining where the clips should go.
There are other techniques for moving unsynced clips into place in Touching Up Sync Results.
Working with sync groups
In some projects, clips can be synchronized so the timing of each clip is defined in relation to all other clips in the project. A good example is a live event in which at least one audio recorder is on for the whole event.
In other projects, the timing of each clip can be determined only in relationship to one or multiple clips that were shot at the same time. Each cluster of clips that are synced with each other is known as a “sync group”.
A good example for using a sync group is a narrative film project. Let’s say your movie crew shoots a scene, then turns off all the cameras and audio recorders while they prepare for the next scene, and then shoots another scene. The clips from each scene form a sync group.
Locked together. In a sync group, the clips are automatically locked together. If you move one clip in the group, the other clips also move with it.
Sync groups should not overlap. Occasionally, the automatic syncing process puts clips into two sync groups, when they all should have gone into the same sync group. PluralEyes alerts you to situations in which this might be the case. A red stripe is shown across some of the clips in the sync group, indicating that the sync groups might overlap with each other.
Sync groups should overlap. Sometimes you might feel that two sync groups ought to overlap. For instance, if at least one clip in one sync group should have been synced with at least one clip in the other sync group. In this situation, you can merge the two groups by using touchup sync methods on any pair of clips that should be synced together.