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Swapping out clips using *just* the layers pane – is it possible?
I’ve sent an FCP sequence to Motion, and I want to create the effect of the camera dollying between monitor screens that are each showing a different clip.
I’ve got a still of a monitor, I’ve created a screen-shaped mask, and I’ve composited the first clip into it. Now I want to duplicate the monitor group, move it in 3D space, and simply swap out the clip that’s playing in the screen area.
The problem I’ve come up against is that I can’t seem to swap out clips if I’m dragging them from another part of the layers pane. I can grab the new clip from lower down in the layers pane and drag it on top of the clip I want to swap, but you don’t get the hooked arrow. Swapping out only seems to work if you’re dragging the clip in from the File Browser. The only solution I’ve come up with is to go back to the sequence in FCP and export all the relevant clips as separate QuickTimes which will then appear in the File Browser, but that’s very long-winded, and I also lose the flexibility of being able to trim and slip the clips beyond their in- and out-points from the sequence (they’re all subclipped in FCP from a single 25-minute capture).
I did try simply dragging the new clip from lower down the layers pane into the copy of the monitor group and then dragging the mask onto it, but when I do that the mask repositions and resizes itself for some reason, and I’ve got to spend time fixing it.
I also tried dragging the clips from the layers pane into the Favourites, and then back out of the Favourites and onto the clip I want to change in the layers pane, but again, you don’t get the hooked arrow.
Is there any quick and easy way to do what I’m trying to do?
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2 Replies
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What you are describing is exchanging media. You can’t exchange media with clip in the Layers pane. You have to drag a clip from the File Browser, the Library, or the Media tab of the Project Pane – you might try that last option. You’ll need to first “break off” the Media pane so you can see both it and the Layers pane at the same time (I’m using Motion 4 terminology here).
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Mark Spencer
Freelance Producer/Editor/Motion Graphics Artist
Apple-certified Master Trainer
Author, Motion 4 from Peachpit Press
https://www.applemotion.net -
Thanks Mark. That won’t work because the clips are all subclips of a single long QuickTime, and so the Media pane only shows that single source file. Looks like exporting and reimporting is the only way round it.
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