Timeline to Storyboard mode suggestion.

[deleted]

With a big project on the timeline and your editing position now a long way from the start, there are occasions when it is useful to refer to the storyboard at that position.

Unfortunately when toggling to Storyboard mode the display moves back to the start of the project which is very annoying when you require to be at the cursor position. Also the cursor line moves to the far right of the screen when going into this mode and so there is no reference point to scroll the storyboard back to. With dozens of clips on the timeline this is an unnecessary extra task.

On toggling back to the Timeline mode one does return to the editing point but without the cursor line which has remained at one screen from the start.

Can this be altered so that change in viewing mode is always centered on the cursor?

Nat

borate

... the cursor line moves to the far right of the screen when going into this mode and so there is no reference point to scroll the storyboard back to.

The cursor line stays put here when switching to storybook mode, but if positioned on a clip later than #8 it is at the far right, since only a limited number of thumbnails can be displayed at once. In that case the horizontal scrollbar will shift the line left, to show where it was originally placed.

Toggling back to time line mode here, the line hasn't moved. Agree, it would be helpful if the storyboard stayed focused on the timeline target point.

Also, the timeline/storybook toggle is just beneath the sequence tab, which is often clicked in error. Perhaps the toggle could be moved down - above the scrollbar?

[deleted]

Hi Borate (+NCH ? )

Red cursor bar moves here...

Timeline mode with 90 odd clips on the track (first 53 visible) and the red cursor in work area between a pair of bookmarks ("work done to" points,) centered on clip 48. Left end is Start of project.
1. Toggled into Storyboard mode (With nothing moved) Cursor line now positioned on clip 5 at right side of the screen with first 4 clips of the project shown in full. (I see only 4 full clips since my PC screen resolution is obviously set lower than yours)
  
  With the timeline cursor originally on clip 48 I would have expected the cursor in Storyboard mode to be centered on clip 48 and not clip 5. as this was where it was.
2. Toggled back into Timeline mode again (with nothing moved).
  
  Layout and zoom returns OK but red cursor line remains on clip5. Earlier position has now been lost. I would have expected the cursor to be where I left it on clip 48
  
  (In a sense it IS where it was left...on clip 5 but this was not where it was moved to by me.) VP could easily store the cursor position and keep the line at this point when the mode is changed. (Value is shown in each mode under the Sequence preview screen.)
  
  Nat

borate

Humm... Here, most often it indexes as you desire. When it doesn't, and the inconsistency is hard to pin down, horizontal scrolling brings the target into view. ?? Version 6.11. 10 three-second text clips for the test.

[deleted]

Hi Borate

I'll have another look but yourText frames were not too clear to read. It seems you moved the cursor to No 9 and switched into Storyboard when cursor appeared to stay on No 9. Here the cursor definitely jumps back to the start of the timeline as in the image above.

The steps I have followed are..

Open VP and load the project
All 92 clips load to clip bin and all 92 clips load to the timeline. (The order of loading never seems the same) Yesterday the video clips loaded left to right followed by the audio clips right to left. Today both at the same time from opposite ends.!) As cache was already loaded from previous editing the process took about a minute.(About 22 minutes of film)
The red cursor line remained at far left. Screen now looked like this.....
Slid the cursor line to the right to position it between my two bookmarks on clip 50
Toggled from Timeline to Storyboard (e.g.to examine the area/clip selected)........Cursor now has jumped to the start of timeline! It hasn't stayed on clip 50. IMHO it should have stayed where it was put.
Made no changes to this and Toggled back to Timeline mode. Cursor remained at start and did not return to clip 50. In effect the careful (possibly) positioning of the cursor has been lost.
I think this can be quite annoying particularly as the position is known before any toggling is made.

I notice your example behaves differently...Wonder why? I notice you say you have 6.11. Mine is 6.10 and the NCH download page (unless it is an old one) downloads 6.10. Is there a newer version out?

Nat

borate

Try this. The inconsistencies are a puzzlement - for now. ^_

Agree...the cursor should not move and the target range should index into view when switched to storybook mode. Nor should the cursor move when switched back.

[deleted]

Hi B

Thanks for the version. Still does the same thing though and I didn't think it would do anything different. ?

Found however that if I shift the cursor in Timeline to a high number clip (in my case above clip5) and then toggle modes, the cursor line ends up at the RHS. (ie. in my case on clip 5...the maximum for the screen width.) I can then use the scroll wheel to slide the story board line to the right and eventually (Phew--It's S-l-o-w) to clip 50. However there are no clip names to refer to and the cursor line stays at clip5 and one has now to click the storyboard time channel to get it back into position. I shouldn't have to do this. Toggling back to timeline cursor is correct. (as it was just reset in Storyboard)

Having set it in Timeline mode it ought to be centred on the same clip in Storyboard mode.

Also noticed that the cursor line position is not saved with the .vpj file. The file loads the project OK but the line is always at the start. If you saved your work at a particular point on the timeline then I think the cursor ought to jump to the point where it was when the project was saved. (Currently I use a bookmark)

Nat

c_major_2

I think it's a bug that first time switching to storyboard, red cursor is reset to beginning.

Yes, we can center at the red cursor when switched to storyboard mode. Or we can keep the red cursor stay at same position of the screen, so you don't have to move focus at all. Which way you think is better?

I think save timeline position into project file is a good idea. We'll consider (see if it conflict with other features and backward compatibility issues).

Thanks for the suggestion.

[deleted]

I think it might be useful if the cursor stayed on the clip where it was when the modes are toggled. One can easily jump to the start using the I< button if required.

Nat