Trimming Clips Without Shifting the Timeline

astrovideo · Post by **astrovideo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:05 pm

Is there a simple way to change the length one or more of the clips on my timeline without the remaing clips shifing their position on the timeline?

I am using version 10.
Thank you

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:06 pm

Yes, enable Ripple Editing.

astrovideo · Post by **astrovideo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:14 pm

Thank you for the reply. According to the manual, "Ripple Editing allows you to insert clips while automatically moving other clips aside, to make room for it on the Timeline. As soon as the new clip is in place, all clips where Ripple Editing is applied will shift accordingly while maintaining their track positions relative to one another."

I want to do the opposite. I want the remaining clips on the same track to stay put (not shift) when I shorten the length of one of them. Is there a method for doing this?

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:33 pm

Then you must already have Ripple Editing enabled. Turning it off, or turning it off on the individual tracks, will allow the clips on the track(s) to shift.

astrovideo · Post by **astrovideo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:53 pm

I apologize for not being more clear.
I have one video track only. I have 20 clips on the track. I simply want to shorten the length of clip #7 without clips 8 through 20 shifting to the left.
Is there a way to do this?

Thank you.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:05 pm

OK, I understand what you are trying to do, but I don't understand why. If you do what you are trying you will have a black space in the middle of your video. So, to answer your question, you can't do what you want, but you kind of can

.

When you have clips in the main track the first clip is always all the way to the left (0:00:00.00) and all additional clips will abut each other. This prevents you having a blank space in your video.

You could insert a color clip of the same duration as the piece you are trimming, but I don't know how good that would look.

I'm assuming you are using v10, not 10+? v10+ has 6 additional video tracks (called overlay tracks), but I believe v10 has 1 additional track (please correct me if I am wrong). To achieve what you want you could just move all you clips to the overlay track, which doesn't require that all of your clips abut each other. You will still have the blank space, the color of which will be whatever you have your background color set to in Preferences.

astrovideo · Post by **astrovideo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:14 pm

Thanks for the reply Black Lab. I am using v10+. I know my request sounds strange. Here's why I want to do it:

I have a music track. the theme of each clip is related to the lyrics of the song at the time that clip is played. The clips line up pretty well with the corresponding lyrics. However, now I realize I need to shorten one of the clips, but I don't want to ruin the syncronization of the remaining clips with the clips. If I shorten the clip in question, the following clips will all begin too early for the lyrics they represent.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:31 pm

How about altering the speed of the clip? If it's only a second or two that you have to speed up the clip you may not even notice.

Click on the clip you want to shorten. Now click on Playback Speed (or right click on the clip and choose Playback Speed). Either enter percentage you want or enter the actual time (length) you want for the clip. Alternatively, you can hold the Shift key then drag the yellow trim handles of the clip to change the speed.

You could do this for either the video or the audio clip(s).

astrovideo · Post by **astrovideo** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:43 pm

I think you are suggestion to lengthen (slow-down) the neighboring clip to make up for the shortening of the preceding clip. It's a very good idea. I suppose I can even split the difference in time between 2 or 3 succeeding clips so that it will be less noticeable.

Thank you.