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FCP user’s agony
I started using AVID 2 month ago. As a FCP editor, I started getting used to AVID but still feels like it takes 2 or 3 times longer to do things in AVID than in FCP.
The biggest problem I have with AVID is trimming. And maybe you can give me some advice.
For example, I have to replace a narration with longer one in the heavily edited scene with L-Cut and edited music. (audio clip for music is, let”s say, looped and also edited within the same clip as opposed to one unedited audio clip)In FCP, I can do “Select from here” command and deselect the music track and drag the rest of the clips to right to make more space. Once the new narration is inserted, I can again do “select from here” and drag the clips back to the position where it needs to be.
In Avid, as far as I know, it seems to take long time to do this.
What I would do is either go to trim mode and extend the video clip for the narration, which will often break the clips in the other tracks and make the hole. Once the new narration is placed, I have to go to segment mode and select the clips and moves them to close the gap. or stretch the clips to fill to fill the gap.Is there any other better way to do this?
Also, other question I have is how would you move the clip just 1 frame left or right? I don’t want to use slip trimming (triming both side) since sometimes there is no extra frame to slip. In FCP, yon can select the clip and type the number of the frame you want to move and that’s it.
In Avid, so far, I am positioning the blue bar to the frame and snap to it. this is ok if I am snapping to the first frame of the clip to the position. but I can’t snap the last frame to the position. What would you do?I would appreciate your advice!!
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5 Replies
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First, you do have your keyboard mapped, right? I mean, mapped how it would be in FCP.
I’m not sure I understand your problem, but wouldn’t you be able to create the same thing with an insert edit? If I don’t get it, please explain.
As for moving clips, I’ve got segment mode mapped to ‘C’. I’d click on ‘C’ (segment mode), and use the ‘M’ and ‘/’ key (10 frames left or right), and the ‘,’ and “.” keys (1 frame left or right). Keep in mind, if you are not in segement mode, then you will slip / slide your footage, not move the clip.
While in segment mode, you can lasso the clips (from right to left) and select them as well.
Hang in there! I’m not sure I could be as fast if I had to move to FCP. I think the key (as discussed here several times) is to not edit on the Avid as you would on FCP. Spend some quality time with the manual, look at how the keyboard is mapped (control / command + 3), do some custom mapping. I think you’ll find Avid can be as intuitive, just in a different way.
Jon
“Jamming our heads full of figures and angles
And telling us stuff that we already know”Willie The Wandering Gypsy & Me
Billy Joe Shaver -
Upgrade to MEdia Composer 3.0.5 (just released–if you have 3.0 it’s a free upgrade) and you’ll have Select All Right of Position Indicator and Select All Left of Position Indicator, like FCP. So select all, move them down, insert clip, move them back.
Michael
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I would put sync lock on all tracks other than the Music…Insert the new edit, then simply extract the old material and everything should move back….Maybe I am not understanding what you want to do…but I always find it quicker to move things with fillers etc than dragging…..
Mark
Mark Harvey
Senior Editor
Le Réseau des sports -
Thank you for your responses.
about the new “select all” funtion in MC, my system is newscutter adrenaline. do you think this function will be added?
Other than that, I guess there is no quick way to do this trim like FCP.. I should get used to to it.
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I don’t know if it’s in the newest Newscutter, but I would be surprised if it wasn’t. Newcutter and Media Composer seem to share the same code base–there have been Newscutter features that have shown up in Media Composer, and vice versa. Maybe this is one that that’s in both.
Otherwise, to quickly do what you want without having Select to Right or Select to Left, use the mouse and lasso your clips from Right to Left.
Hit Ctrl+/ or Cmd+/ on a Mac to zoom completely out of your timeline. Hold your left mouse button down and lasso all the clips and tracks you want from Left to Right (going Right to Left puts you into Trim mode). It will select all of the clips and drop you into Segment Mode (Yellow arrow, or Splice In). Now move them down, cut in your shot, relasso and move them back. Not as fast as a one button click, but pretty fast either way.
Michael
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