Ripple editing

[pyvo]

Hi,

Following on from VRoman's note of 9th Dec 2004, I am still not clear on ripple editing; Can anyone please help ?
I
1/ created a story board and trimmed clips to required lengths
2/ then Selected A/B roll with crossfade 25 frames and audio crossfade
3/ placed clips in Va/Vb

4/ then I wanted to fine-tune the trimming on certain clips on the timeline and so selected them into the "source" window and did further trimming - in this example to shorten the clip by about 2 secs.

5/ When approving the change on the "source" window, the selected clip duration changed in the timeline but surrounding clips do not move accordingly so there is now a 2 sec gap between the shortened clip and the crossfade and next clip (which stayed where they were iso moving left to touch the shortened clip).

I tried this trimmimg with several modes such as
- Multiple track ripple
- single track ripple
- No ripple and
- A/B roll editing mode (which greys out the previous 3)
but none of the above cause ripple to avoid the new gap from appearing.

Thanks for clarification.

I use UMSP 7.01 (I cannot see any related bug fix in 7.02 so have not downloaded this one) on a PIV 3.0GHz with 200Gb HDD and 1024Mb DDR on WinXP.

Pyvo

[pizor1]

I really wish someone would answer this question as I am having the same problem. I'm sure it's very obvious and I'm just missing something, but it does seem that even with multiple track ripple editing selected, small gaps are left when I trim or move some video clips. Even more annoying, my transitions stand still while the video clips move!

I have a kids birthday party to edit and am worried I'll get half way through it and get caught with a blank space then have to move, by hand, every clip that comes after it! I'm getting so frustrated, I'm about to go back and edit on my old program, Canopus' Let's Edit. Can someone shine some light on this? I tried calling customer suppot, but as it's already been said here, Ulead no longer offers any! I was thinking of upgrading to MSP8, but if I don't like what I see now, why should I risk spending all that extra money?

I'm also using the latest version of MSP7 on a Dell Inspiron laptop with XP.

[Gorf]

So in a nutshell, you have a nicely edited timeline and you want to shorten something in the middle of it- by (say) two seconds?

Shorten the clip to the required length, then use the scissors tool (or hold down {S} and click the clip) to snip it just after the clip's first transition. Move the right-hand section of the clip to the right until it snaps neatly back into place with the clip's second transition.

What you've got is a nicely editied timeline with a two-second gap in the middle of it. Just go to "Search" "Find empty time slots" then highlight the timecode for the gap, and press "delete". You don't even have to have ripple editing turned on - all the subsequent clips will ripple back when you delete the gap in this way.

For neatness, it's a good idea to un-scissor the shortened clip when you've done.

You need to make sure that the "Audio and video" option is selected in the "find empty time slots" dialog. This way, if you have other clips or audio (such as a music track) that might prevent the ripple, you know about it because you won't see the gap.

HTH

[pizor1]

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

Doesn't that sound like a lot of work, though, for what should be very simple? So everytime I decide to trim or tweak my timeline, I have to go through this whole procedure? In Lets Edit by Canopus, you can tweak as much as you want and no blank spaces are ever left behind. Why would Ulead come up with such a convoluted process?

[GeorgeW]

hmmm, if I recall the ripple editing works fine. Do you have any of your tracks "locked"?

Which Ripple option do you have selected?

George

[pizor1]

I've locked an audio track (a music file to go against the images), but even with it unlocked, I've had the same problem. I've tried all 3 different types of ripple editing, all with the same blank spaces left behind

[Gorf]

I've locked an audio track (a music file to go against the images), but even with it unlocked, I've had the same problem. I've tried all 3 different types of ripple editing, all with the same blank spaces left behind

Well it won't work then, because there aren't any blank spaces on the timeline. The audio counts too, you know - especially when ripple editing.

If you're not bothered about maintaining synch (for example, if you haven't timed the transitions to the music beat) then you'll be OK with my method.

An alternative is to "zoom full" then hold down {Shift} while you drag the cursor over everything you want to move. Then you can zoom in close and move the whole lot as you see fit.

It's not really a lot of work, but if you think it is, then maybe you need to be thinking more about the duration of the clips when they've just been added to the timeline, rather than at the end of the whole process.

[pizor1]

It's not really a lot of work, but if you think it is, then maybe you need to be thinking more about the duration of the clips when they've just been added to the timeline, rather than at the end of the whole process.

I gave your suggestion a try, and it did work, so that's at least a start. Thank you for the tip. But what I'd still like to get clear is whether or not for some reason, my MSP isn't rippling properly as in a software error, or am I just not getting it?

My general style for editing a story such as a birthday party, is to add all of the clips I want to use in order on the timeline. Then I add music and shorten the clips accordingly. Sometimes I'll choose to move the video clips around a bit so I don't have jump cuts, etc. this is where MSP has given me the blank spots, even with multiple track rippling selected and even without anything locked. So am I doing something fundamentally wrong, or is MSP not behaving properly? And if I am doing something wrong, is your tip listed above the only answer?

[Gorf]

There's never only one answer - this applies to most computer scenarios, not just MSP.

The problem you're having is because MSP simply doesn't do what you want - so you need to adjust your workflow to accommodate, or put in a feature request.

What you have are: no ripple; single-track ripple; multi-track ripple.

What you need is video-only ripple, where deleting or inserting a clip will bump just the video (and audio, but only if associated with the video).

(Obviously, if this feature is offered, they'd need to allow audio-only ripple too.)

I'm busy right now - but when my current project is over I may put together a tutorial for working with photos.

[Devil]

May I suggest Charlie Hill's Getting Results with MSP8: he devotes quite a bit about how to fit your video to the music, using cues and it won't break the bank. See http://getting-results.com/msp/