In MC 5.3.0.5, I find that lengthening a video clip in the timeline is very awkward for me to retrieve my master clip to the source monitor, and lengthen the distance between the I/O points   Is there a better, easier way to lengthen.

I have a similar problem with stills on the timeline.  Is there an easier, better way.

If the answer to these is through the trim rollers, is the method the same for both video clips and stills?

David Hackley:

I find that lengthening a video clip in the timeline is very awkward for me to retrieve my master clip to the source monitor, and lengthen the distance between the I/O points 

Mapping Match frame to your keyboard may help, Go to the inpoint of your existing clip and mark in hit match frame to put your master clip into the source monitor  (with its in point added) select and mark a new out point and edit back into the timeline

Avid trimming once mastered is probable the easiest way to lengthen your shot

David Hackley:

is the method the same for both video clips and stills?

Trim works the same for both assuming there is enough media there.

 

 

David Hackley:

I have a similar problem with stills on the timeline.  Is there an easier, better way.

Set a default length of 1 hour for all stills ( = 3600 secs )  into the import settings, will not use more place into your media library and you will always have enough length

Thank you, Tomas.  That will allk be a big help.  Clears up most of my confusion.  Now I need to practice with Match Frame and trimming.  Somehow trimming is still quite confusing and I am prone to unintended results.  Practice may help me understand all the "moves"

Also the hour-long stills is a very clever idea.

Thanks, again.             Dave

Hi Dave,

David Hackley:

Somehow trimming is still quite confusing and I am prone to unintended results.

Something that helps me is turning sync locks on.  This usually keeps me from messing up the rest of my timeline when trimming.

ciao,
Carl 

I use Extend a lot too, it's like a "quick trim mode".

Happy to have been able to assist Dave, looking forward to see some of your still edits in the future and, as we are into this subject now, using the imported stills as placeholders only and put the BCC Pan & Zoom filter on them, then link to the origin stills is my own workflow, if you are doing a lot of still editing this is something for you to learn and practise, you will never ever miss Liquid after this.

Those filters are however not realtime, pink slices in Liquid, if you want realtime effects, yellow slices in Liquid, Avids own Pan & Zoom filter will do this for you, same workflow, image as placeholder - add filter - link to the origin image

Whoa, Thomas, you are too quick for me.  You say "as placeholders only" and "then link to the origin stills", I understand the words, but I don't understand what you are doing in each case.  Also the paragraph about Realtime, pink slices, and yellow slices, evades me, as does the relationship inferred in where you mention BCC Pan and Zoom and Avid's own Pan and Zoom.  I know what BCC P&Z and Avid's P&Z are, but what conclusion was I to reach?

Can you please help me follow what you are teaching me?  Thanks very much for all your help.  Much appreciated.

mjolnarn:

Avids own Pan & Zoom filter will do this for you, same workflow, image as placeholder - add filter - link to the origin image

For doing a lot of this I set up a Pan an Zoom effect with it in Target mode with no ease in and no ease out set along with checking my desired render quality set. I do not link to any still at this stage, Then save this blank P&Z effect to a bin (usually Quick Transitions)   Then add all the stills clips to my timeline as place holders. Lasso the entire timeline and double click on the saved P&Z effect to add it to every clip.

With this method it took a fraction over an hour to make a 55 shot P+Z program for a conference backdrop this morning. Admittedly it had only basic push ins with slight vertical and horizontal movements. Now if only the 4 .5 hour render was a lot quicker. But atleast it is unsupervised and billable

David, about the yellow and pink slices I was talking Liquid language, yellow slices are able to watch and play in realtime whilst pink slices have to be rendered to be able to play in realtime.

In Media Composer, the yellow slice is a green dot on the filter whilst the pink slice is similar with a blue dot.

 

About editing with stills I begin with importing all the stills as already described and add them to the timeline in the way I want to, I might even do all / some the trimming into this mode.

Then comes the funny part, onto all those clips I place a Pan & Zoom filter, you can use the multi add function to place a filter on all of the clips at the same time if you aren´t having any other filter placed on them.

After that, you´ll have to manually go into each filter and manually add a link to the origin image, your imported clips are now just placeholders on the timeline, you are actually pointing to another place, remember to never change that place, move those folders etc etc, we old Liquid users knows what will happen in those cases, if you aren´t sure about the workflow and are using differnt external drives with your stills on them, don´t use this workflow.

But, if you use this workflow, those filters have thousand and one functions, at least for the BCC filters there are nearly no limitations, only your own skill and imagination puts the limits.

Was I still talking a foreign language with you or are you understanding my description a little bit better now ?

Hi Dave,

David Hackley:

Whoa, Thomas, you are too quick for me.  You say "as placeholders only" and "then link to the origin stills", I understand the words, but I don't understand what you are doing in each case. 

This link might help with Pan & Zoom and how it works:

http://community.avid.com/forums/p/68707/384290.aspx#384290

ciao,
Carl 

Thomas, it was never a foriegn language problem at all, just my inability to put together the concepts you describe into my slightly addled brain at this time.  (I am not discouraged by this addled brain bit as I always try to remember the great statement "Before every great learning experience there is a feeling of complete confusion.")

I now think I understand enough of your suggestion that I will be able to intelligently try it out.  Then may come another round of complete confusion and more questions.  And so it goes.

Thank you very much again, not just for your kindness but also timeliness.

Carl Amiscato, Thank you for the link about Pan and Zoom.  I will download and study it.  It all is part of the above "Great learning experience".

Andrew, thanks to you also for giving me your method of handling pan & zoom.  I will try it out when this project is further along.

camoscato:

Hi Dave,

David Hackley:

Whoa, Thomas, you are too quick for me.  You say "as placeholders only" and "then link to the origin stills", I understand the words, but I don't understand what you are doing in each case. 

This link might help with Pan & Zoom and how it works:

http://community.avid.com/forums/p/68707/384290.aspx#384290

ciao,
Carl 

With Avid, there are many ways to skin a cat, although Douglas tutorial, as usual, is great, it isn´t using the workflow that I and Andrew are using, we are starting with using all the imported images on the timeline to make it easier for us to have a good previewing when doing a first rough cut whilst Douglas only are using fillers on the timeline and not the imported images.

When using that workflow you will not have any first previewing of your project until you have linked all the fillers to the origin images.

So, again, many ways to skin a cat .

mjolnarn:

With Avid, there are many ways to skin a cat

Dave,

Here is a short look at the use of placeholders.

Regards

Douglas (the Cat)

mjolnarn:

So, again, many ways to skin a cat

As well as previewing for the rough cut an often unrecognised benefit of using the actual image as a placeholder is often only found / really needed after a disaster. 

If a P&Z is offline for some reason when you return to a timeline and you had been using fillers you have no record of what the image you used was. 

However if you use the actual image as the place folder you can recover by

looking at the clip name in the timeline.

Match frame from the timeline and use the find bin option to locate the original file.

Further if you cannot recall where the file was originally on your CPU you can select that clip in the bin and go batch import all files and its original path will pop up in the batch import dialog.

Removing the P&Z effect from the offline clip in the timeline will also reveal the image used.

Baden Powell summed up this benefit best with one of the first mottos many boys learn  "Be Prepared"  (for the worst and it will rarely happen)