In/Out Points in the Timeline

[Craig Alan]

I think I remember now. I was using a sound track as my primary and I had connected clips below the primary and when adding or moving another connected clip another jumped on top. I decided I didn’t like using a sound track as the primary so have not done it since. Still can’t reproduce it but pretty sure it happened. When trying to reproduce it I don’t find any of the behavior strange or unexpected so I guess I’m just getting used to the workflow. Also you can set opacity in the inspector for any clip so there are other reasons to have layers of clips. I also sometimes leave clips on its own “track” when trying out others or repositioning a sequence. I know there is auditioning and so forth but its an old habit from my track based days.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Brianlaz]

I know it’s an old post. But my two cents anyway.
For me the problem is, if I’m doing a three point edit into the timeline, I have to leave my playhead where i want it, rather than the ability to set an in point, and perhaps watch it again, or do something else…anything I want really, and know that my in point is where I left it. I even often unintentionally click somewhere and lose my carefully placed “in point.”
IMHO, this is not helpful, and with almost no upside.
There was actually a very quick way to achieve the so-called benefit of the auto in or outpoint in FCP 7, much faster than up or down arrow to beginning/end of clip, and that was to hit x, which puts in and out and beginning and ends of clip, then hit in or out, and it has the exact same effect, in the time it took to hit two keys, one after the other, which is super fast.

[Craig Alan]

Not a comment on which is faster or more ergonomic; but whenever i want to select a beat on the timeline that I will need to use later for whatever reason, I just hit M (marker). If I want to set multiple In and Out points on the time line with a music track on the primary I just set a bunch of markers. If after, I connect the clips at the marker locations, it is not difficult to modify the I/Os on the timeline because there are always times when for whatever reasons it doesn’t play well at those points when playing it back at the given frame rate. What works when you have stopped time making one decision at a time doesn’t always play well. But maybe I’m just old school. I see a lot of footage where i feel the cuts come too fast. Looked like a cool shot; how about letting me watch it ? Was that the good guy”s friend or the bad guy’s muscle that just fell off the roof? If I’m setting the visual to a sound track, I can just listen to the song with one finger on the M key and click M at every beat or any beat that sounds like a good time to cut. And if listening to a timeline that has dialog, it’s also easy to set markers where some music should fade in or go silent or a cut-in or cutaway might help or hide a jump cut. In any case, a simple solution to the lost where I set the I or O points and then needed to do another command.

Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic HPX250P, FCP X 10.3, teach video production in L.A.