Multiple Cuts to a Video Clip

[Aperture_Star]

Hello All,

I tried searching for this but could not find and answer.

I have a video clip in VS and i wanted to cut it up every .5 seconds. How can this be done easily?

the top question is really the most important. However i figured i would also ask.

Is there a way to merger to clips so that they cut back and forth every 5 seconds?

thanks so much I am working on a vid right now and would love any input.

Thanks

[Ron P.]

The time structure/format in NLE's (Non-Linear Editors) is HH:MM:SS:FF (Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames). There is no fractions of seconds, so you must figure out what Frame Rate you're working with. Standard Def NTSC video is 29.97fps (frames per second), for PAL it is 25fps. That's not to say that your clips are some other format that uses a higher or lower frame rate than those. So if you're clip frame rate is 29.97 fps, just round it off to 30fps, and .5 secs would be 15 frames. So for a half-second clip it would need to be 15 frames long, in the digital-clock display it would look like this; 00:00:00:15.

NLEtime.png (3.58 KiB) Viewed 1240 times

Merging the clips is done when your project is rendered to a video file, which is in the Share step. Everything is merged into a single file. Just placing the clips against each other, in the main video track, will result in them being merged chronologically. Not using any transition effects, will result in what's called Hard-cut transitions. Clips in the Main video track automatically slide to the left to prevent any gaps, whereas clips in the overlay tracks allow for gaps.

merge_singletrack.png (16.24 KiB) Viewed 1239 times

s there a way to merger to clips so that they cut back and forth every 5 seconds?

Are you referring to using those clips in one track or using an overlay track with the main track? If just one track, then the above describes this. If you're placing clips in the Main and overlay track(s), you will need to put a spacer (color clip) in the main track to keep the other clips in that track from sliding to the left.

merge_multipletrack_spacers.png (21.09 KiB) Viewed 1239 times

One final thought, if you have numerous photos that you want the duration to be .5 secs, you need to go to the Edit menu, and select Change Photo/Color Duration. Then in the next dialog, using the arrows on the right, press the down arrow to decrease the duration to 15 frames.

chg_duration-1.png (7.39 KiB) Viewed 1239 times

chg_duration-2.png (2.09 KiB) Viewed 1239 times

[Black Lab]

And to further answer your question, there is no "easy" way to do it, just "a" way to do it. Advance the correct number of frames (in Ron's example that would be 15) and cut using the Scissors icon. Advance another 15 frames and cut. Advance another 15 frames.....you get the idea.