Several screens at the same time

Question

Hi,
I wanted to know if it was possible on Final Cut X to make something like this automatically:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sER_zF5zqCg
I loose a lot of time by setting each clip one by one, is there a mode where you just need to drag yours clips, and Final Cut cares about the rest?
Thanks for your answer, I really need to know before buying it...
Firmin

Answer 1

Yeah -- you have 4 separate tracks with the same audio? Select all 4 tracks/clips in your Event and select Synchronize Clips. You end up with a compound clip in the event with all 4 clips synchronized to the audio. Open the compound clip in a Timeline and select all 4 clips. Use  Video > Transform and type in ~48% (if you want the "gutters") to resize all the clips at once. With the transform icon (lower left corner of the canvas) selected, drag each of your clips out to the four corners (or type in exact position values in Video > Transform > Position parameters.) To get the white background, you can use Generators > Elements > Shapes - set the color to whatever you like; select Rectangle from the drop down and Video > Transform > Scale to expand it to full screen. Drag the generator underneath your storyline to use as a background.
If you don't have audio to synch to, you can create multiple storylines. Add the first clip; reset the playhead and select your other clips that will appear in a 4-up and type Q to *connect* them to the storyline. Then select each one separately and right click > Create Storyline (or type command - G). You can then open each storyline in its own timeline (right click and select Open in Timeline) and append more clips to each "track". Back in the main storyline, drag out each connected storyline to reveal any appended material. The trim control will turn red when you reach the end of media in the created storylines. Resize and arrange as described above.