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Trimmer usage / editing workflow techniques… what’s yours?
For a long time, I did all of my editting in the timeline only. For me, this almost always meant putting long video clips (3+ hours for 1 “clip”) on the timeline and splitting it into smaller clips. For me, this eventually just seemed very sluggish, slow, and inefficient. Eventually, I just had to find out how other people went about editting long video clips… well I didn’t find a whole lot of info other than a few threads on some forums.
Currently, I’ve finally gotten into the habit of using the Trimmer. This is likely a very standard method of editting in Vegas and I’m sure all of you that are experienced with Vegas already know this method but…. My process goes like this:First I get my preferences set (obviously only need to do this once)….
General Prefs: I turn off “Animate video frames in Trimmer” (this seemed to speed things up for me because it wasn’t constantly trying to animate frames)
Editing tab prefs: Set the “JKL/Shuttle Speed” to FASTOpen the long video in the Trimmer.
Use J, K, and L to speed through the clip looking for footage that I want to use. (If you repeatedly press L the video preview speed is multiplied… starting at 1x, then 1.5x, 2x, up to 20x if you have JKL Speed set to FAST. J obviously reverses playback and works the same way as L when repeatedly pressed. K pauses)
I use I to set my “IN” point and O to set an “OUT” point. In point being setting a selection point at the beginning of a clip I want to extract and Out point being the end.
Then press “A” to add the trimmer selection to the timeline. (I used to just click the “Add Media from cursor” button until I learned the A keyboard shortcut recently)
Repeat the steps to go all the way through the long video extracting footage that I want to use.
Once I’ve got the clips on the timeline, I just split or stretch/shrink them to the exact length that I want/need.I’m curious to know if this is kind of the “standard” method that most people use. I know lots of people have different methods like using timeline only or using 2 instances of Vegas and doing a “copy/paste”, so I wanted to get some input on what other methods are out there.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of info on the net about editting workflow in Vegas.
Thanks so much for any info!!!!
Jason
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17 Replies
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I haven’t found a good reason to use the trimmer, i have tried the method you described, but i prefer to dump everything in the timeline, and then scrub, split, and delete to keep the footage that I want to use. It works for me- i dont see any time savings by using the trimmer method.
Most of the time, I use scenealyzer to capture all of my footage, and it saves all of my clips as a separate .avi file, so each time that I hit pause on the camcorder, a new file is created. This allows me to delete any unnecessary clips before I start editing, which frees up hard drive space. This is especially nice for interviews or multiple takes, because normally I will only need to keep the very last one.
It also “seems” to speed up editing time because it is not having to deal with only one file. Don’t know if this matters, but it seems to. Also, I dont have to worry about one large file getting corrupt or deleted somehow and ruining everything.I’m curious to see how many people actually use the trimmer method as well.
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I do use the trimmer sometimes, but do almost all of my trimming on the timeline.
I can see, with 3-hour clips, why you find that cumbersome. Even with the trimmer, you are better off working with shorter clips if you can.
For gross trimming and deleting of unwanted footage, scrubbing through the timeline or trimmer by dragging is much faster than using JKL (no need to use I and O keys that way either).
Gary Kleiner
Learn Vegas and DVD Architect
http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
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How do you get one clip to be 3 hours long? What tapes are 3 hours long?
Charlie
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When I first started working on Vegas, I didn’t even know the Trimmer existed, so I edited all of my clips in the timeline. This worked okay for me, but only because I didn’t know what I was missing.
I worked on another project using Final Cut Pro, and I found their “Trimmer” was very useful. (You could take each clip and create an in & out point, while having some useful buttons to navigate through the clip before you put the clip on the timeline)
When I went back to Vegas I thought: there must be something like this -and- it would save me so much time. I found the Trimmer, but I didn’t really like it. What I didn’t like about it, was that the in & out points that you could create would often disappear any time I accidentally clicked in the Trimmer window. The in and out points weren’t ‘locked’ very well, and I ended up spending more time re-setting my in & out points, than I should have. Also, there’s no way to play from the in-point, or go to the first frame of the in-point/out-point. The trimmer history also is difficult to work with, and bringing back up a clip that I had already “trimmed” was difficult (and the in&out pnts weren’t always still there). I really found it quite awkward and I don’t use it much anymore.
To answer your question, I went back to editing clips in the timeline directly. I found it easier to use. (Dragging the clips to the cursor, pressing ‘S’, while still being able to go through it at any speed)
If my problems have no solutions (which they probably do; I’m just unaware of them), then I really think Sony needs to re-work the trimmer in Vegas. But please let me know if there’s anything I’m missing in the trimmer.
Thanks,
Michael M. -
I use the trimmer almost exclusively.
I capture with scene detection for smaller clips. I make 3 digit acronyms for all tyhe associated sequences/chapters etc..
then say “add to media pool”
Since I have made folders in the project media tab before hand…any folder that is highlighted…the media will go there.
(Having all the clips in the project media tab is faster than in the explorer and I can see the first frame as well as it autoplays for me)
If I need it to play faster I whip it into the trimmer and slam the “L” key a few times)
I also grab a clip from the “project media” tab..left click,drag it onto the trimmer tab, let go. I can see the waveforms for brakes in audio to quickly find what I need. Drag/Highlight the area, throw it on the timeline.
repeat process.
I set the length of my project with an “End” marker and build my sequences after that then slide them into place.The beauty of the trimmer is that it remembers what you have looked at and what you have highlight/ used before.(dropdown history)Then I clear it every so often
Keeps the curser and focus right where I want it on the main project timeline
while I find, scrub, review the next event in the trimmer.I think of it as a mini veg project right on top of the main one with out interfering with it.
I can use it for searching while the main timeline is still running.
I didnt use the trimmer in the past but found myself clicking, searching a lot more.
I do 1/2 hour tv reality style shows where we kind of make things up as we go and the trimmer has proved itself invaluable for previewing something quickly and finding a hole for it.Zipedit
Phillips Head Media Services -
[michaeljmpsu] “Also, there’s no way to play from the in-point, or go to the first frame of the in-point/out-point.”
Just as in a timeline loop region (time selection)the Home and End keys bring the cursor to the first and last frames of the selection.
Gary Kleiner
Learn Vegas and DVD Architect
http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
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How do you get one clip to be 3 hours long? What tapes are 3 hours long?
Charlie
I cut highlight clips from football games to make highlight videos with. I used to use a video capture card and just capped the entire football game (sometimes 3.5 hours worth) as 1 big mpeg file. I have all the games on DVD now so none of my videos are over 2 hours each now.
I suppose I could use some type of mpeg splitter and split my large file into smaller files that would be faster to work with.
As far as scrubbing through the timeline, how do you go about scrubbing rapidly? Anytime I’ve tried to just drag the cursor across the timeline its always real slow.
Also, I use the JKL/IO method because 1) I want to see the footage so I don’t miss something I want to edit out and 2) I wind up cutting a small clip (a single play from the game) every few minutes of footage…. so its fairly quick just flying through there looking for the play I want then speeding back up to find another play I want just a short while later. -
[tek2000] “As far as scrubbing through the timeline, how do you go about scrubbing rapidly? Anytime I’ve tried to just drag the cursor across the timeline its always real slow”
Don’t drag the cursor, just click and drag across the timeline from above the ruler (where the markers go), from below the bottom track, or from any blank space in the timeline.
If you hold Ctrl/Shift, you can click and drag from ANYWHERE on the timeline without worrying about moving your events.
By dragging a time selection like this, you can scrub as fast as you can move the mouse, albeit without sound.
Gary Kleiner
Learn Vegas and DVD Architect
http://www.VegasTrainingAndTools.com
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Oh wow. Thanks so much for that info! I’ll certainly give that a try.
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For projects which are more or less shot in the same order as they’ll finish, then editing on the timeline is often the simplest way to go. Like Michaelangelo making David out of a block of stone, it’s simply a matter of removing the bits you don’t want!
But I hardly ever have projects like this. I will spend maybe weeks at various locations shooting footage, interviews, whatever, then these have to be organised into a finished program from a script. I use the Trimmer a lot, and usually create and name Regions in the Trimmer, which can then be accessed any time in Vegas Explorer. The names that I give these Regions are very important, as they can help in sorting them into an order which makes the assembly stage very quick and easy.
I use Vegas Explorer for everything, and create folders in Windows for Footage, Voice Over, Interviews, Music, Graphics etc. I hardly ever use the Project Media Tab.
All goes to show that Vegas allows you to work in many ways – choose the one that suits you, and the particular project.
Peter Wright
Perth, Western Oz
http://www.allroundvision.com.au
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