VSX3: How to remove some frames from a clip

[GeoffO]

Hello again,

Trying to take a chunk of frames out of the middle of a clip. The manual says:

"The Navigation Panel is used to preview and edit the clips used in your project. Use the Navigation Controls to move around a selected clip or your project. Use the Trim Markers and Scrubber to edit your clips."

I have done that. Trim Markers set to start and end of frames to be removed. So what is next? Where is the magic button that removes the unwanted frames? Have tried Delete but nothing apparently changes.

While I am at it, how do the scissors work? Can click on them at the start of a series of frames but they become greyed out after that.

Have done a lot of stuff in Windows Movie Maker, which was much more straightforward, but unfortunately it can't cope with HD. VSX3 manual is good at giving you various different ways of selecting frames for deletion, but seems to miss out on the punch line: "now do this to delete them".

What should I be doing please?

GeoffO

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Geoff

Navigate to the middle of your clip, to the start of the frame you wish to remove.
Hit the scissors will cut the clip into two.
The second portion will be selected.
You can see the portion of clip by viewing the bar below the preview screen,

Now navigate to the end of the frames to be removed.

Either
1 / use the scissors to cut the clip, again you will get two clips, delete the first part.

2 / Notice the bar below the preview screen, simply hit the square brackets adjacent to the trim markers. This will remove all frames up to the position of the curser.

[BrianCee]

To use the scissor tool the clip in the timeline must be selected - if the scissor tool is grayed out clicking on the clip in the timeline should make it available.

I much prefer using the scissor tool for all my editing - I find keep moving those trim handles a real pain. I just keep moving the cursor along the timeline to the point where I want to cut - then snip with the scissors - move to the next cut position and snip again.

You do just need to keep an eye on what is happening in the timeline though - usually by default the right hand portion of the cut is highlighted and if you have just cut the end of a portion you want to delete and hit the delete key the wrong piece will vanish - easily bought back by using the 'undo' function but can be avoided if you make sure which part of the video is highlighted before you hit delete.

Incidentally if you have been used to moviemaker and are new to VideoStudio I can almost sense that your next question will be about joining clips back together again in the timeline - if you do have that problem please read all of this topic :-

http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38661

it should help

[maxfrost01]

I think I'm in the right thread but can't see the answer to my particular problem.
I've just upgraded from X2 to X3.

Here's what I think I used to do in X2 if I wanted to cut a clip on a scene change.

1. Move through clip until the preview screen shows the first frame of the new scene (call it Scene 2).
2. Cut using the scissors (or Control I)
Job done

But when I do this in X3, this first frame of Scene 2 also becomes the last frame of Scene 1!! So then I have to select Scene 1, go to the end of the clip, back-up a couple of frames until the scissors are available and hit 'Control I' again then delete a couple of frames. All this takes extra key strokes and therefore time.

I figured I could solve this. Obviously, if I cut one frame earlier than I used to in X2, I would have a one-cut edit exactly where I want it to be i.e. right on the scene change.

So it now became:
1. Move through the clip until the preview screen shows the first frame of Scene 2.
2. Back-up one frame (Control U) - preview screen now showing last frame of Scene 1.
3. Cut using the scissors (or Control I)

But when I do it this way, the last frame of the previous screen now becomes the first frame of the second scene. So I have to go forward a frame, cut again and then delete the single frame.

So far as I can tell, when I'm cutting a clip in X3 it appears to DUPLICATE the frame showing in preview at the time of the cut. i.e. the last frame of Scene 1 and the first frame of Scene 2 are identical!! Can this be true?

I tend to make a lot of cuts when I'm editing (as, I'm sure, do most others) and this is driving me nuts!

Any others having this problem? Anyone found a solution?

[sergeyso]

Hi.
Did you count total number of frames in original clip and compare with sum of frames from scene1 and scene2 after cut (Total Frames from properties of clip)? If Total Frames in original clip differs from Scene1+Scene2 - this is a bug, contact Corel support and hopefully it will be fixed in next release I think.
If total frames is equal - this will be a feature...

When I started with X3 I was troubled with a similar situation. But, as I remember, that was caused by a different behavior of Storyboard views and Timeline views+some misunderstanding from my side. I've solved my case by fine-cutting in Timeline view only and with Zoom set to 1 frame. Sorry - can't remember full details, it was several months ago.
I've checked/tried to reproduce the case tonight with several clips of different types and can't reproduce the problem as described (BTW - just in case make sure that you are running a latest version of X3, there are no patches waiting for your attention in Messages).

On other hand, If you are about splitting of initial big source clip by scenes - try "Split by scene" feature or HDVSplit for HDV capture. At least it can reduce number of times you are troubled by this issue...

[maxfrost01]

Hi, Sergeyso

Thanks for the response.

1. I'll check the frame count next time I'm editing (catching up on a different computer right now). I am very confident that the frame is being duplicated and therefore the Scene 1 + Scene 2 frame count will be bigger by one frame. But it is a neat way of proving the problem.

2. I only work in Timeline view.

3. I've never used Split by Scene because I've been shooting in HD for the last 5 years and this function was not available for HD. Looks like it now is available as HDV Split? Is that right? Unusually, the footage I'm working on at the moment (with the duplicated frames) is not HD but Standard Definition. I don't know if the same problem occurs with HD - I'll test that too.

[sergeyso]

well, I'm a SD "home-editor" for 5 last years and will stay with SD until my camcorder is working and don't ask me about upgrade
I've just read about HDVSplit here in the forum (pls search the forum) and bookmarked it for a future upgrade, if any. HDVSplit is a separate free utility.

But for SD - the X3 built-in functionality (right click on clip and Split by Scene) shall work. As far as I remember - the functionality is available before you "touch" the clip - cut it, change duration... smth like this (don't have X3 on this computer. After that the menu item become gray-out. check it and experiment.

[Ken Berry]

But as far as I am aware, Video Studio's split-by-scene, including that in X3, only work on capture of SD DV, not for other formats.... So for people using those other formats, split-by-scene can only be applied after the initial capture has been made...

[maxfrost01]

Ken,

Are you saying I should be able to use the Split by Scene function for High Def so long as I do it after the initial capture? Or is it only possible for SD footage?

[Ken Berry]

As far as I am aware, that is correct, though I have to confess that I don't use X3 to split my HDV video by scene after capture. Instead, I use a little freeware program called HDVSplit whose name says exactly what it does. Moreover, it splits by scene during capture. There may be a similar program for AVCHD, though if so, I don't know what it might be...

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

First of all I have problems with X3 and split by scene leaving a frame on the adjacent clip, but saying this, this is not the same as your problem as you are manually cutting the frames.
I use WinDV to capture whose split by scene does work ok.

Max
After identifying the clip to cut, move one frame back using the digital clock, then cut.
Does this cut correctly?

[maxfrost01]

Hi, Trevor

It does not solve my problem but I now suspect I may not have a problem!

I've spent a bit of time playing with a small clip of film that has a scene change in it but is not yet cut at the scene change.
If I line up my scissors on the first frame that shows the new scene (in the preview screen) and cut at that point it works fine i.e. the cut is right on the scene change. This was exactly what happened in X2 and exactly what I want to happen.

I think what was throwing me was this.............
If I take my newly (and accurately) cut Scene 1 and drop in a few frames of black immediately after it, something strange seems to happen. If I now advance through Scene 1 in Timeline view, one frame at a time, and pause on the last frame of Scene 1, it does not show as black in the preview screen. Instead it shows me the first frame of Scene 2. In other words, it shows me what is coming next in the original footage NOT what is coming next in the Timeline.
I reckon that in X2 it would have shown black. Certainly this was what was confusing me in X3.

So, in summary, there is no problem - it just looks like a problem.

And if any of that made any sense let me know