3-point edit

I was using the three-point edit a lot over the weekend, and I was constantly annoyed by one aspect of it.

I was setting the in and out points in the sequence, and then just setting the in or out point on the footage I wanted to add to the sequence.

(I was matching audio from one camera to picture from another camera.)

I would use the already-established in and out points for the video, set my new in point, insert the clip... and every time it was one frame too long.

Is there any way to change the defaults for this so that the in and out points you set encompass the entire edit, instead of marking the front of the "in" frame and the front of the "out" frame. In other words, can something be changed to mark the front of the "in" frame and the back of the "out" frame?

Or am I going to have to get used to setting the outpoint by finding the right place, and then tapping the back arrow once?

Thanks,

Mike

> I was setting the in and out points in the sequence, and then just setting the in or out point
> on the footage I wanted to add to the sequence.

That's not right. Count'em -- two In points, two Out points. You're attempting to do "four-point" editing and that doesn't work.

You need In and Out points in either the Sequence or the Viewer. Then one more In point.

> and every time it was one frame too long.

I'm guessing you may be misunderstanding the Out point.
The Out point determines the final frame of the section you want. So if you rest the playhead at 01:01:00:00, then that frame with that timecode 01:01:00:00 is included in your selection.

To put it another way, if you want exactly 10 seconds in your clip, but you put the In point at 00:00:00:00 and the out point at 00:00:10:00, then your selection is actually 10 seconds and one frame long, because the frame that has the timecode 00:00:10:00 is included in your selection. The final frame of a 10-second selection would actually have the timecode 00:00:09:29 in NTSC.

If you use Avid, the "double-playhead" interface helps you understand this. But just try it with a colour matte. Call one into the Viewer and put In at 00:00:00:00 and Out at 00:00:05:00. Put it into the timeline. You'll find that the duration of your selection is actually 05:01. Only if you put the Out point at 00:00:04:29 do you get a section exactly five seconds long.


www.derekmok.com

I think you read that wrong Derek. He said and in and an out on the sequence and an in OR an out in the clip.
Carry on...

Mike,

in FCP the true OUT POINT is the last frame you do want,
not the first frame you don't want.
if that makes sense...

to mark an existing clip in the timeline,
park on the head,
mark in,
down arrow to go to next edit,
left arrow to go back one frame,
mark out.

i do this so often it's almost one keystroke.
but if you want the magic one-keystroke to mark in & out on a timeline clip
it's x


cheers,
nick

> I think you read that wrong Derek. He said and in and an out on the sequence and an in OR
> an out in the clip.

Yes you're right...too much staying up until 3AM. My bad.


www.derekmok.com

Okay, you've all verified what I thought.

I was hoping there was a way around this. But, overall, it's not too bad.

Thanks.