How to use SwitchCut

What you need

A Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 14 or newer, or a Windows 10 / 11 PC (64-bit).

The footage of the event: one folder per camera and recorder, straight from the cards. Keep the switcher's recording folder too.

Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve to open the timeline SwitchCut makes.

Before the event: the Oops file

The start screen of SwitchCut has an Oops file for each switcher. Load it into your switcher before the event (ATEM: into the media pool; YoloBox: as an overlay).

When a cut goes wrong during the event, bring it up for a moment. SwitchCut finds every Oops and marks the spot on your timeline, so you know exactly where to fix the edit.

Step 1: Folders

Click Sync cameras on the start screen. Drop one folder per camera or recorder into the window - or the whole event folder: SwitchCut makes one track per camera folder and leaves exports and project folders out.

Each folder becomes a track, laid out by recording time. Give it a name, a label colour and tell SwitchCut what it is: Camera, Audio recorder, Switcher program or Drone. For a Zoom recorder, choose which of its tracks is used to sync.

Order the tracks with ▲ ▼: the cameras first (they become V1, V2 …), then the switcher's Program or ISO recording, the audio recorders last. Files of one device spread over several cards? Drop the other folders on the same row. A folder with two cameras mixed together is flagged - use Split to make one track per camera.

Choose the timeline frame rate, then press Sync.

Step 2: Sync

SwitchCut reads every file once - its timecode, its recording time and its sound. The first time this takes a while; it keeps a small cache, so syncing the same footage again is fast.

It places the long recordings, checks them against each other for dropouts and clock drift, then places every short clip. Clips without sound, such as a drone, are placed by their picture. Anything it cannot place goes by its recording time and is flagged for you. Cancel stops it at any moment without changing anything.

Step 3: Review

The top timeline shows every file at its own recording time, the bottom one the synced result. On the right is the list of suggestions: dropouts, clock drift, repeated sound, clock jumps, weak matches and clips placed by clock or by picture - each with the reason.

Click any spot to see every camera at that moment, double-click or press Play to hear it, and choose what to do with each suggestion - or press Use all suggestions. Then press Next.

Step 4: Export

Choose Premiere Pro XML or DaVinci Resolve XML. The timeline has one track per camera in its label colour, and everything flagged in the review has a marker.

In Premiere: File → Import and choose the XML. In DaVinci Resolve: File → Import → Timeline.

Used a live switcher? Press Continue to switcher swap - the synced timeline is filled in for you in Part 2.

Step 1: Switcher recording

YoloBox Extreme: choose its recording folder (the one with the Program and the HDMI / NDI recordings). The YoloBox edit file (.fcpxml) is selected for you.

ATEM Mini Extreme ISO: open the ATEM project (.drp) once in DaVinci Resolve and export its timeline as XML (File → Export → Timeline → FCP 7 XML) into the project folder, then choose that XML in SwitchCut.

Step 2: Synced timeline

Choose the synced timeline from Part 1 (or one made with another sync tool). It must contain the camera originals and the switcher's Program recording, so SwitchCut can place every cut.

Step 3: Cameras

Every row is one camera track. Tell SwitchCut which switcher input it was - each track is pre-selected from its file names. One input can be linked to several tracks when the same camera was recorded in several parts. An input marked “never on Program” was never live: that camera goes on the timeline complete.

Give every camera a name and a colour, and pick the safe camera: it shows wherever the switcher has nothing usable (a wrong input pressed, a camera not recording). Save your setup as a preset to use it again at the next event.

Step 4: Output

Choose the frame rate - every switcher cut lands on its exact frame. Keep the Program feed switched on to compare the cuts, and choose how the Oops spots are shown: the SwitchCut overlay or the switcher's own image (when it recorded one). Choose where the timeline is saved.

Step 5: Create

Check the summary and press Create timeline. The finished timeline has the switched cameras at the bottom, the cameras that were not on the switcher above them (complete, for you to use), and the Program feed on top. Only the picture is switched; the sound stays complete.

Every spot that needs a look is listed with its timecode and marked CHECK on the timeline: click a row to copy the timecode and paste it into Premiere's timecode field to jump there.

Any switcher (SwitchCut Beta)

Only have a Program recording? In SwitchCut Beta, choose Any switcher: SwitchCut finds every cut in the Program recording and recognises which camera was on air, picture by picture - no switcher project needed. Then continue with steps 3 to 5 above.

When something goes wrong

Click Report a problem at the top right of SwitchCut, on any screen. Tell us what happened; SwitchCut adds its log file and a picture of the window, and you can attach your own screenshots. It goes straight to Kurgu Tools support, and we answer by e-mail.

You can also write to support@kurgutools.com.