the definitive FCP rule of trimming

[Tom Wolsky]

Sounds like you want to do a roll edit rather than a ripple, though it’s hard to tell from your description of what exactly you’re doing.

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

[Aren Hansen]

No, I’m trying to explain what happens when you use the ripple tool. What’s the rule? It is much more complicated then the manual states.

For example:

Line up tracks like this:

v1: AAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
a1: BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
a2: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

If you want to trim the head of the B video clip and need the B audio to stay in sync, you need to also select the edit point in front of the B audio. We don’t want to trim the B audio, just move it in sync with the video. So, we select the tail of the black before the B audio. However, once you do this, your A audio will also move.

I’m looking for a rule that can be applied in such a way that after edit points are selected, one could apply the rule and predict what will happen when a trim is made. Which clips will move and which won’t. I came up with a rule but I’m not sure it’s complete.

[Martin Baker]

Yes the A audio will move IF it starts on or after the frame that the B audio starts, this is the case in your example and is consistent with what the manual says.

What’s happening here is that if a track does not have a trim point manually placed then FCP puts in an invisible trim point on that track to keep everything in sync. In your case this invisible trim point is being placed on the tail of the gap/clip before the A audio clip.

like this (selected trim points in orange, invisible trim point in blue)

v1: GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBB
a1: GGGGBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
a2: GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

hence why the A audio clip is being moved out of sync when you trim.

The solution is to place an additional trim point at the head of the clip/gap after the A audio clip. Like this:

v1: GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBGGG
a1: GGGGBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBGGG
a2: GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGG

Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
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[Martin Baker]

OK thinking about it, the manual is a bit wrong here because it doesn’t say clips starting on the same frame only “starting later”.

Martin
Digital Heaven, London UK
________________________________________
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[Tom Wolsky]

What Martin said. Except that in the situation you describe, where there is black or a gap front of the B audio. In that instance your audio A track doesn’t move. Only the B vision on V1 and the B audio on A1 are affected by the ripple. What Martin describes only occurs for me if there is a sync clip in front on V1/A1/A2, and you have asymmetrically selected both the incoming B vision and the outgoing audio on A1 and A2. In that instance the A audio on A2 will slip out of sync. In that instance you need to select only the incoming B vision on A1, outgoing A1 audio and the back end of the A2 audio as Martin described.

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

[Tom Wolsky]

Love your auto motion. Fantastic tool if you’re doing a lot of this stuff, for long form especially.

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

[Aren Hansen]

Thanks a lot guys. I suppose it is doing what you’d want it to do. I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this. See you,
Aren