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Final Cut Express – transitions
I’m having trouble adding some transitions (e.g Cross Dissolve) to the Timeline. Sometimes when I drag and drop the Cross Dissolve to the point between 2 clips, or highlight the point, then go to Effects > Video Transitions > Cross Dissolve, I get a message saying “Insufficient content for edit”. The clips in question are about 15 seconds each. Sometimes the Cross Dissolve ‘sticks’, but there is only a tiny sliver, which can’t be expanded. Any advice appreciated.
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11 Replies
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Andrew,
It sounds like your clips don’t have enough “handles”, or extra footage to accomodate the dissolve.
If you want, say, a 30 frame dissolve centered between two clips, then you will need 15 frames of both clips on either side of the cut. If you butt two clips together where the first one ends at the last frame of the clip and the next starts at the first frame, you won’t be able to dissolve between them ’cause there’s no overlap.
Hope that makes sense? Probably as clear as mud…. :o)
e.
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Try this. This is just a way of illustrating enzo’s point.
Create two titles,
Cut the first one into the timeline.
With the second one, mark an in at the front of the clip in the viewer and an out at the ten second mark. Cut it in as the next event in the timeline.
When you try to put a dissolve between them you will find that there is not enough media to do the trnasition.
This is Final CUts very polite way of telling you you have asked it to do something it can not do. You need to trim the shot by half the dissolve amount. IE; 30 frame dissolve you need to trim you shot by 15 frames because half of teh dissolve happens on one shot and half on the other.
David
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Thank you for your reply, Enzo. Yes, what you’re saying makes sense, but I don’t know if it applies to my problem. I would think that 15 seconds of clip on each side of the transition is enough for a cross dissolve to occur, especially the default cross dissolve of 1 second?
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The duration of the clip in the timeline is not relevant. What matters is if there is available media for the clip beyond the In and the Out points you’ve marked for the clips. If there is no available media the only way for the application to overlap the clips would be to pull them over each other, shortening the sequence. The application will not do that. It requires that there be extra material beyond your designated In and Out points to allow the application to overlap the clips during the transition.
All the best,
Tom
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD
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It’s always tricky to get this across without showing it visually.
Give this a go, Andrew:
Take the clip you want to dissolve into, and put it upon to the second vision track, then slide it back so that it overlaps with the previous clip by a second.
Now if you put a dissolve at the head of that clip, starting your in point, you’ll see it will work happily. Hopefully that might illustrate a little more visually what we are trying to say?
Hopefully…?
e.
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Many thanks, Enzo. Your suggestion worked and, just as importantly, explained the situation so I now understand the idea behind it. Much appreciated! Andrew.
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Thank you, Tom. Problem solved. I appreciate the help you, David and Enzo have given me.
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Thank you, David. Problem solved. I appreciate the help you, Tom and Enzo have given me.
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Andrew .. We all apreciate your apreciativenes. 🙂
David
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It’s a pleasure, mate.
e.
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