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Extract in to out, move position indicator proportionally to extraction, don’t snap to nearest edit point, playback from where I left off.
I don’t know if this is possible, as far as I know it isn’t in other NLEs either, but I really wish it were.
I frequently like to cut from a large timeline of full camera reels, subtracting material until I have a finished edit with all unwanted material excised, (as opposed to building up a finished edit from source clips in bins).
When using this methodology, I’ll frequently play back the sequence, and hit the in point key when I hear a section I’m likely to want to remove, and continue playback before hitting the outpoint key when I think I’ve reached the end of the section I’ll want to remove. Finally, I’d hit the extract key remove the section in to out. However, I don’t always know for sure how long the stretch of unwanted material will last, with interview for example, I tentatively place the out point and continue listening afterwards just in case the dialogue that follows is also unwanted. In the case that my initial placement of the out point was correct, I want to extract in to out and continue playing from where I left off, ready to perform the operation again for the next section of unwanted dialogue.
For things to operate the way I’d like them to, after extracting, the position indicator would move backwards from it’s current position by the same duration of time as the duration of the stretch of material being extracted, thus essentially remaining in the same place. In this way, I would not need to re-watch a stretch of timeline in order to pick up where I left off prior to extracting in to out, or attempt to find that point again by seeking with the position indicator.
Currently, when I extract a section of timeline, the position indicator snaps to the newly created edit point at the head of what is now the incoming clip, meaning that if I’d continued playing back for say 5 seconds after placing an out point, then hit the extract key – the position indicator is moved back by the duration of the in to out and an additional 5 seconds leaving the indicator 5 seconds ahead of where I would want it to be. This wastes a lot of time and is just boring and annoying. I can emulate the functionality I want by adding markers or edits at the point of the position indicator just prior to extracting and then snapping either to the marker or edit point but the removal of those markers and or edits ends up wasting time so it doesn’t help much. With FCP 7, the removal of a marker is fast enough with the key commands that it’s an effective workaround for the lack of the functionality I’d like, but that process is too cumbersome in Avid to work.
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2 Replies
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That’s a way of working that I use – and I can see the merit in what you are asking.
Community.avid.com has a feature request forum (but don’t hold your breath)
As for using markers – the avid marker deletion is as quick as Fcp7 in my experience. Set your ffw/rew to stop at locators and hit delete once you have landed on the marker (or leave all the markers in place and delete them all from the markers window when you are done with your selects sequence.
If you ur add edits then just remove all match frames when you are done.
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Huh, so after that super long post, I didn’t realise you could just delete markers by pressing delete. Oh well, I do think it would be good if they could implement the feature as described rather than having to use markers but if it is that easy I guess I’ll do that for the time being. At least now it’s articulated well so I can submit it to the feature request.
I’ve always found it odd that it isn’t a feature in most NLE’s, or actually for any come to think of it. I can totally understand how it might be frustrating if you want it the way it is, but it doesn’t seem an obscure method of working to want to use it as I describe which therefore makes it seem to me like two clear acceptable position indicator behaviours that would likely be wanted by people. It should really be an optional feature through a settings menu.
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