Match Frame does not work properly or allow me to make In and Out markers in Source Window

[lehestro]

The standard Match Frame functionality is broken for me. It will match the frame in the Source window, but it does not show the match frame clips' in and outs, and I cannot place in and outs. Or rather, when I match frame, it shows the clips in and out markers briefly, and then they disappear. And if I try to set an in or out marker, it does so for half a second, and then disappears as if I had never done so. I have to find the clips in the Project panel, load that into the Source window and then set my In and Out markers. This is a significant impediment to my workflow, and I cannot say why it is happening. To be clear – I am not double clicking my clip in the timeline to load the clip into the Source window (aka the process that would allow me to make trims in my timeline). I am using Match Frame.

I am working in a Production. This happens with multicam clips only. With straight footage, the normal Match Frame behavior resumes. This also does not occur with sequences that live within the same Project as the multicam clips. But I have my edit sequences in a separate Project File. 

I got a warning at one point – something like "media could not connect to source" or something like that, but all my media is navigable and playable and I can Reveal in Finder without any problem. The warning didn't seem to come with any consequence but this Match Frame issue. I do not know why I would have gotten this warning. No drives have been renamed. No footage has been moved from their original location. There is another editor that is working in this Production along with me on a different computer who does not experience this problem. 

1. Open the Production. 

2. Open the Project File that contains my edits.

3. Open and editing sequence with a mulitcam clip in it. 

4. Hit Match Frame.

What should have happened is the footage should have loaded showing the matched frame, along with the timeline clip's In and Out points. I should then be able to set new In and Out points to my liking. It should be the same behavior as if I had loaded the clip into the Source monitor from the Project window.

What actually happens is It will match the frame in the Source window, but it does not show the match frame clips' in and outs, and I cannot place in and outs. Or rather, when I match frame, it shows the clips in and out markers briefly, and then they disappear. And if I try to set an in or out marker, it does so for half a second, and then disappears as if I had never done so. 

I have several 3rd Party plugins installed. They have been installed for ever, and I've never had an issue with them. Red Giant Universe, Batch Rename, and Magic Bullet Colorista. 

M1 max 16" macbook pro 64GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.2, Premiere version 25.1.0. 

[lehestro]

Here is a video illustrating the problem:

[jamieclarke]

Hi @lehestro - 
Thanks for submitting your bug report. We need a few more details to try to help with the issue.

Can you navigate to Settings under Timeline and let us know if you have "Match Frame Sets in point" checked or not? I believe for the experience you want you would want it unchecked.

Sorry for the frustration.

[jamieclarke]

Can you also try and hold down "SHIFT" while launching Premiere and check the boxes
"Reset App Preferences"

[lehestro]

Thank you Jamie for your help. "Match Frame sets In point" is not selected. Will restart Premiere here in a second.

[lehestro]

I reset the preferences and that didn't fix the behavior. 

However, I noticed something. If I just have my Edit project open, the Match Frame behavior returns to normal and performs as expected. But if I have the project with the multicams in it open, then the behavior breaks and Match Frame performs as described in my original post. If I close the project with the multicam open, Match Frame once again performs as it should. 

[lehestro]

Furthermore, and maybe this is related maybe not, but I suspect it is given the weird warning I got that I mentioned in my original post, I noticed that whether or not I have proxies turned off, the proxy logo is still in the footage, indicating that somehow the original footage is not being represented, but only the proxies. This is weird because media is fully playable and shuttle-able, and I can Reveal in Finder – no indication that anything is offline. Yet, only the proxies. Hitting Toggle Proxies doesn't actual toggle back to the original media. 

Not sure if this is a related issue. 

[jamieclarke]

Hi @lehestro - You do mention

I got a warning at one point – something like "media could not connect to source" or something like that, but all my media is navigable and playable and I can Reveal in Finder without any problem. The warning didn't seem to come with any consequence but this Match Frame issue. I do not know why I would have gotten this warning. No drives have been renamed. No footage has been moved from their original location. There is another editor that is working in this Production along with me on a different computer who does not experience this problem. 

This would explain only seeing the Proxy icon as Premiere can't locate your original media, and this issue all being connected.

Is your media in one project and your edits in a different project?

[lehestro]

Digging further, I think perhaps it is related, inasmuch as the proxies are trying to reference footage that is somehow linked, but acting as if it isn't at times. 

I went inside the multicams to get to the source footage. On the timeline of a multicam sequence I right-clicked the media and hit "reveal in finder" and it went straight to the correct file, no problem. 

I then hit "reveal in project" which opens up a different project that has all the raw media in it (mutlicam/synced footage is in a different project than the base raw footage. See diagram). Inside this project I could NOT Reveal in Finder. That option doesn't exist. The Link Media option is there as wel, even though the footage appears online – I can view it, edit it into a sequence, etc, although it seems it is using the Proxies to do so because I cannot toggle the proxies on and off. It just stays on the Proxies.

Why the multicam project can reference the source media, while the raw footage project, upone which the multicam project I would think would be dependent on, cannot, I do not know, but I imagine it relates to why I cannot Match Frame sometimes - because sometimes, for some weird reason known only to the Premiere engineers, it is referencing media it thinks isn't there, and other times it's not a problem. 

Basically, it seems like my footage is online – I can playback, shuttle, color, and edit footage - but only the proxies it seems. The footage is linked in the Project window, but I can't "reveal in finder" from this raw project. Which is weird, because I can from the multicam project which references this same footage. 

Whatever is happening it seems to be a bug in how Productions reference source footage. Here is how I've organized my Projects within Productions. It's weird that in the multicam sequence

[lehestro]

Hi Jamie, just to answer your question directly – yes my media is in one project, my multicams in another, and my edits in another. I made a diagram to make it easier to grasp in case of confusion.

I kept at it and relinked the media in the Raw Footage project, and sure enough the Match Frame behavior has been restored to normal.

Proxy toggling has also been restored to normal. 

This doesn't explain why this happened in the first place – why the source clips in Premiere became disconnected to the source files on the hard disk. Or why the multicam project referenced the source files, but the Raw Footage project that it was dependent on could not. That seems to be the actual bug.

So what I thought was a bug was a symptom of a larger bug(?) of media somehow going offline, but not for some of said media's dependents. I dunno haha.

[jamieclarke]

HI @lehestro - Since you are working in a production it seems your links have become broken.  I would try and first get your multicam project synced with your raw project and then sync your edit project to your multicam project.  You can do this by opening your multicam project selecting your clips and then navigate to Edit > "Reassociate Source Clips" then choose your raw project.  Repeat the same procedure except for your edit project except choose your Multicam project.  and then in the edit project navigate to edit menu and choose consolidate duplicates. 

[jamieclarke]

Hi @lehestro - I'm glad you got it all working again.  Please disregard the troubleshooting steps.

[lehestro]

Opening this back up because this problem has come up again. This time there is no unlinked media, either in my multiclip timeline and project, nor in the source media project. So I can't relink. I tried "make media offline," and then relinking but that did nothing.

I'm trying your troubleshooting method, but when I select my multicam clips, and go to Edit>Reassociate Srouce Clips, the option is greyed out. Any advice on how to proceed?

I'm losing so much time. Adobe is a $200+ billion dollar company. How is it always losing these connections? It's making editing miserable. 

[lehestro · Accepted solution]

Figured it out. I don't understand how Productions keeps all of its constituent Projects talking to each other, but there seems to be a continuous break. I was confused because

1) I could not match frame any more, nor turn Proxies off. This lead me to believe media had been unlinked again somehow

however

2) everywhere I looked, my media was connected. In the timeline of my multicams – online, in the project panels of my media projects – online. Link Media was greyed out because everything was connected. I could Reveal in Finder and everything was connected. I even forced the media online, and then reconnected it. None of that worked.

3) Reassociate Source Clips was greyed out as an option. (side note – how do you reassociate multicam clips anyway?)

4) I went into one of my edit timelines, selected all, copied and pasted in a new dummy project – things worked fine: I could turn proxies on and off, and I could match frame and set In and Out points.

So the issue was entirely with my Edits project – the one with my actual editing timelines. So I go in the timeline, Select All, right click and want to select Link Media – but everything is connected there. I was at a total loss.

It was only after about a half hour of freaking out that I decided to right click my sequence in the project panel. There and only there was the Link Media option clickable – so I clicked it and everything was offline. 

I don't know why this happened, and I don't know why it happened only to this timeline, or why this seems to be a repeat issue that manifests in slightly different ways, or why having everything seemingly linked doesn't actually mean things are linked, or what arcane method Productions uses to communicate with its constituent parts, but it shouldn't be this complicated. No warnings, no errors, files communicating with metadata properly except for via one off-hand route – it's a mess, and it keeps me from editing. 

So if anyone else comes across this behavior in Premiere  –

1) try relinking the media in your timeline by selecting all, right clicking and selecting Link Media

if that doesn't work

2) Try going inside your multicam clips and right clicking and selecting Link Media

if that doesn't work

3) Go into wherever Project your source files live and in the Project panel select your media, right click and select Link Media

and if that doesn't work

4) Go back and select whatever sequence is giving you an issue in the Project panel of the project in which it lives and right click and Link Media that way

At different times different methods solved the problem, and only that method. 

We'll see what happens next. Next thing I learn I'll have to Link Media by running a tin can on a string from Adobe HQ to my office and saying the magic word. 

[MyerPj]

Wow! Some great write-ups @lehestro , thanks for all that info. I hope things keep working for you. Let us know how it goes. Cheers! 🙂