Nudging/Moving tracks/clips in sequence by single frames

thoraxe

I'm working with a bunch of tracks from different cameras (same scene filmed from different angles) and trying to line them up perfectly. The easiest way to do this seems to be to be to line up the audio from both sources as close as possible, and then the video would be aligned.

In other words, if you had two video clips from two cameras that recorded the same event (Joe says "mary had a little lamb"), if you stack the clips in tracks so that the audio matches perfectly, the video therefore matches perfectly.

I cannot for the life of me seem to figure out a way to move the clip in a track by a single frame / change its start time by a specific amount.

If I click on the "current" time in the sequence preview I can specify a specific time to move my cursor to. If I then select the clip in the "Video Files" list I can set a start/end point for that specific clip and use the "green down arrow" to place the clip in the sequence, using the "Overlay on Sequence at Cursor" option. But having to do that procedure (click time, choose time for cursor, select clip, click green arrow, click ok) and then hit play to judge the audio is a hugely frustrating pain in the butt.

If I click on a clip in a track, I expect to be able to press the left/right arrow key and nudge the track left or right. I can find no way to move a track using the keyboard. I can drag with the mouse, but attempting to do that with any kind of precision is almost impossible.

Is there really no way to nudge a clip in a track in a sequence one frame at a time???

borate

This may or may not help, but it's worth a look...

Select a timeline clip, which will then display in the preview window.

Click in the PV window at a split point. Then use <ctrl-[ > and <ctrl-]> to inch right or left, frame-by-frame.

After the move, click the IN button (or OUT, if that's appropriate) to reflect that change in the timeline.

(The currently selected clip on the timeline is altered when its PV window RED or BLUE arrows are dragged.)

To verify that the scrubber is at a split point, look at the split icon...

It will light (become enabled) when the scrubber is within the selection (the part of the clip that's on the timeline)

thoraxe

I don't really understand your instructions. What mode is this performed in? Clip? Sequence? Home?

What is the "PV" window? Split points are only visible in the timeline. Clicking on a split in a clip will combine the two sides of the clip into one (removes the split).

Scrubber? Split icon?

Clicking the "IN" or "OUT" button changes the in/out position of the clip in reference to itself. In other words, clicking on a 10min clip's timeline at 2min and hitting "IN" will make the clip start at the 2 minute mark. It doesn't appear to affect the clip in the timeline.

Or are you suggesting that I need to work with a "copy" of every clip I want to use if I'm not using the whole portion of it? I have been placing entire clips on the timeline and then splitting/deleting the portions I don't want to use.

borate

thoraxe wrote:

I don't really understand your instructions. What mode is this performed in? Clip? Sequence? Home?

Normal editing mode, using "timeline" mode, not "storybook."

thoraxe wrote:

What is the "PV" window?

Refers to CLIP Preview (the window at the left)

thoraxe wrote:

Split points are only visible in the timeline. Clicking on a split in a clip will combine the two sides of the clip into one (removes the split).

I've never seen that to be the case. Clicking on the split vertical line does nothing. When mousing over a split (vertical line in the timeline) the pointer becomes two-headed.

thoraxe wrote:

Scrubber? Split icon?

The scrubber is the red line that moves from left to right during play, tracking the action. Of course it can be manually dragged as well.

The split icon resembles two green screens with a red line between them. There's one beneath both the clip and sequence PV windows, near the bottom-right of the those windows.

thoraxe wrote:

Clicking the "IN" or "OUT" button changes the in/out position of the clip in reference to itself. In other words, clicking on a 10min clip's timeline at 2min and hitting "IN" will make the clip start at the 2 minute mark. It doesn't appear to affect the clip in the timeline.

Select the clip in the timeline. The clip appears in the preview window. Changes made to it in the preview window will be echoed on the timeline...

Either drag the red (IN point) or blue (OUT point) lines ... or position the scubber and click IN or OUT, as appropriate, to alter the clip. The PV scrubber can be bumped, frame-by-frame, with <ctrl-[> or <ctrl-]>.

In the clip preview window, if the scrubber is placed a minute into the clip, and the IN icon is clicked, that clip on the timeline will be shortened by one minute - leaving a gap.

In essence, the clip that is seen in the timeline is exactly the same as that in the SELECTED area of the clip preview window.

As noted earlier, this may not solve your problem, but it is a way of making frame-by-frame changes in the preview window, which can then affect the same clip in the timeline.

thoraxe

borate wrote:

Normal editing mode, using "timeline" mode, not "storybook."

OK, but that doesn't answer about the tab at the top.

borate wrote:

Refers to CLIP Preview (the window at the left)

This seems to imply either being on the "Home" tab or the "Sequence" tab.

borate wrote:

I've never seen that to be the case. Clicking on the split vertical line does nothing. When mousing over a split (vertical line in the timeline) the pointer becomes two-headed.

Clicking on a split where two clips are butted up against one another will join them if they are a single clip that had a split introduced. For example, if you took a 10min clip and split it into two pieces, clicking the split (when double-headed) will join them back together.

This is not the case for two unique clips that are adjacent on a split.

I can take a video of this behavior if you like.

borate wrote:

The scrubber is the red line that moves from left to right during play, tracking the action. Of course it can be manually dragged as well.

The split icon resembles two green screens with a red line between them. There's one beneath both the clip and sequence PV windows, near the bottom-right of the those windows.

I'm with you there.

borate wrote:

Select the clip in the timeline. The clip appears in the preview window. Changes made to it in the preview window will be echoed on the timeline...

Either drag the red (IN point) or blue (OUT point) lines ... or position the scubber and click IN or OUT, as appropriate, to alter the clip. The PV scrubber can be bumped, frame-by-frame, with <ctrl-[> or <ctrl-]>.

Still with you.

borate wrote:

In the clip preview window, if the scrubber is placed a minute into the clip, and the IN icon is clicked, that clip on the timeline will be shortened by one minute - leaving a gap.

In essence, the clip that is seen in the timeline is exactly the same as that in the SELECTED area of the clip preview window.

As noted earlier, this may not solve your problem, but it is a way of making frame-by-frame changes in the preview window, which can then affect the same clip in the timeline.

It actually doesn't solve or assist the problem at all.

What I need to do is adjust the clip's position in the timeline frame by frame, not the length of the clip. I already have split the clip down to a segment that is the proper length, but I am trying to line that video up with a different audio track, which requires moving the clip's position in the timeline.

I could possibly achieve the same effect by manipulating the in/out of the clip, but that seems waaaaaay harder.

In any other program you would click something and then simply hit left/right to move it left/right (Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp, Impress, etc)... seems odd you can't do this.

[deleted]

"if you stack the clips in tracks so that the audio matches perfectly, the video therefore matches perfectly"

That's quite correct but once acheived you must mute (or should mute) the overlay track(s) The main track 1 should normally be the master sound track.

"I cannot for the life of me seem to figure out a way to move the clip in a track by a single frame / change its start time by a specific amount."

If you want to nudge a video that is on an overlay track a small timed amount and you know where that point is click the current time box (as you suggested) and enter the new time value. The red line cursor will move to this point on the timeline.(You can directly move the cursor as well or repeatedly click the Next Frame button < > in the right hand pane although this is much slower)

Now left click and drag the clip in question so it starts at the new cursor position. The yellow box will "jump" into place to fix the start of the clip precisely on the cursor line. (Don't right click to select the clip as the cursor will jump to the place where you clicked.)

The IN/OUT settings and markers allow one to trim the clip in the left preview pane (although you can also do this with the clip after it has been placed on the timeline) The times shown in this pane only refer to the clip, not the main video. I prefer the method outlined above to set outtake clips to a sound synch position with the main track and you can check accuracy by playing the combined clips and listening to the sound tracks..

NOTE: The timer window will not record a SINGLE FRAME increment. It records a minimum of 1/10 second. As video frames are generally 1/25 or 1/30 second it will increment at two frames movement and then 3 frames movement. etc. However the red cursor line will move a frame at a time so even if the counter is not incremented you can still left grab the clip and use the yellow box to "jump" the clip to the cursor.

This should give very precise matching of image and sound. ( to about 30th second....!!)

Note a reply to an earlier post regarding something similar...

http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/21476-editing-one-clip-affects-another/

Nat

thoraxe

Thanks, Nat! This works pretty darned well!