Best Practices for Timeline synchronization

[RickC]

I'm using VideoStudio 2020 Ultimate on a Win10 laptop. I've searched on the forum but didn't find the answer I needed. If it's here, please point me to it.

I'm new to this and am trying to make a fairly (for me) ambitious project that has dozens of snippets of video, green screen overlays, etc. My problem is that in editing one portion of the video, I keep ruining my carefully set timing of other parts of the video - at least on the video track, inserting, lengthening, or shortening anything moves everything on the track. If I've gotten the timing of one section set properly, and I add 5 seconds of video somewhere, I have to go and move other elements to get the timing back.
My issue may well be that we've started this project with an audio narration, and that's the part that I'm trying to sync everything else up to.

I'm aware of ripple editing, but that doesn't seem to be my answer. Is there some place I can find best practices for what I'm trying to do?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[pvreditor]

Ripple editing is usually the place to start for what you are doing. Be sure that you turn ripple editing on for all the tracks you want to stay synchronized. In the older version of VideoStudio that I used extensively, ripple editing will not work if there is something on an overlay, title or audio track that crosses into the area that you want to edit. In other words, everything has to be out of the way of the deleted material when you do a ripple edit. If I had something I needed to keep that intruded on a spot to be deleted, my technique is to drag one edge of the necessary item until it no longer overlaps (but don't move the whole item -- you lose sync that way), do the ripple edit, then stretch the necessary item back out so that it is as long as you need it.

Hope that makes sense!

[RickC]

That does make sense - I'm not positive I fully understand how ripple editing's supposed to work, but I'll read the manual again and then do some experiments. Including the issue you mention.
I have been having a lot of issues with VS 2020 Ult crashing when I try to do too much too fast. I"ve taken to saving very frequently...

[RickC]

OK, I think I understand the ripple edit process - check the ripple edit (icon is a green link of chain) in the video track and all the tracks that you want to have stay synched with current video. Don't check tracks that you don't want to stay synched (e.g. audio that would have to stretch or compress). Then as mentioned above, if you're cutting video out, you need to have nothing in any of the overlay tracks that are synched. The technique above of shrinking it temporarily out of the way of the delete works fine...
Thanks for your help!
Rick

[lata]

Hi Rick
If you can manage to edit the timelines from left to right then everything to the left of your position will always be in sync, it is only when adding or changing a clip length that clips to the right also re-align.
So going back to the beginning will cause the top timeline to shift, and that is where ripple editing helps.
The description by pvreditor that everything needs to be out of the way is excellent, trying to edit will receive a warning that clips will be removed, now I cancel to readjust the clips to avoid the overlap.
I try to edit the top track, cutting / trimming clips and adding transitions, then continue with the overlay tracks, it is only when re-editing the top track that things go astray
As a side note:-
There was / is an issue using Ripple Editing and having gaps, I am not sure if this has been addressed with the latest service patch 3