Split Edit assistance??

Split Edits ...
As one travels through life there are times when you just feel .. sigh ... inadequate ...
I am missing something here.
I have read the FCP manual and Larry Jordan's fine book.
I was attempting a split edit on the timeline with the roll tool. It wasn't grabbing the edit point.
I decided to do one in the viewer. Can't get the video/audio track to show up like in the manuals.

Can someone please recommend a simple tutorial for achieving a split edit???
I need to feel adequate and fulfilled again.
I need ...
A SPLIT EDIT

thankyaverymuch,

Rick
in Memphis

[It wasn't grabbing the edit point. ]

What hapens in the timeline when you preselect the edit point, and press U to cycle trim sides to the direction you want? Are you then able to switch to the Ripple tool RR and drag?

[I decided to do one in the viewer. Can't get the video/audio track to show up like in the manuals.

Can someone please recommend a simple tutorial for achieving a split edit??? ]

Timeline method described above.

In the Viewer you can establish what will be a split edit on an existing In or Out with pix showing; use Control - I to split the Video In only to a separate Playhead position. Use Control- O to set the Video Out only to a new Playhead position. Use the same Playhead technique to establish Split Audio In or Out with Command-Option I or O.

Cut into timeline, stir to taste.

Sorry, keep thinking about food.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Apply your default audio transition instantly
with Command-Option - T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

if it makes you feel better, Rick, i do a fair bit of drama, and i have never mastered the FCP split edit, either.
that is, creating the split while doing the edit.

i do all my overlapping in the timeline.


so why couldn't you grab the endit point?
sometimes that happens if you are zoomed too far out.

otherwise you could try trashing your prefs.


nick

> if it makes you feel better, Rick, i do a fair bit of drama, and i have never mastered the FCP split
> edit, either.
> that is, creating the split while doing the edit.
> i do all my overlapping in the timeline.

Nor have I. The temporal-based interface of the Viewer simply isn't as intuitive as the graphical-based timeline in this case.

I have seen display bugs in FCP where edges can't be grabbed or highlit items don't show you the "black preview" of where the clips are. (We've probably all seen it -- you click on a clip to select it and you see multiple edit points selected instead, or the clip breaks up into pieces) But I've never seen a consistent failure -- that display glitch tends to go away if you zoom out and then back into the timeline.

Barring a glitch, OPTION-dragging the edges would be the way to go, or OPTION-selecting and then using Extend Edit, or OPTION-selecting and then using CONTROL-V (Razor All). It's even easier if you're like me and like to unlink all video from its audio, but that's not an approach to every one's taste.


www.derekmok.com

I haven't mastered that either, nor the trim edit window for that matter...

There's also the option-roll tool..



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks for everyone's feedback.
On Loren's suggestion to skip the viewer I went back to the timeline to try.
I don't know what I did differently but it grabbed it this time. (Tasted just fine too.)

Perhaps I was zoomed in too much as Nick suggested because I was trying to get in tight to the cut.

Without this forum, I would be really lost in space ...

So do most of you prefer making this type of edit in the timeline???

Thanks,
Rick

> Perhaps I was zoomed in too much as Nick suggested because I was trying to get in tight to the
> cut.

Theoretically speaking if you're zoomed in, it should be easier to grab the edge. Dragging is what's more difficult if you're zoomed too tight. If you have trouble with minute mouse movements and precise pointing, you could increase the track sizes in the timeline. I'm so used to needing to see lots of tracks that I always have the track size at Reduced, no thumbnails or waveforms.

> So do most of you prefer making this type of edit in the timeline???

I tend to follow this thinking: Broad strokes in the Viewer with Ins and Outs, trims and precision in the timeline. After all, you can always re-open the affiliate clip in the timeline into the Viewer and use In-Out points to trim if you like, and it's a lot easier just opening the video or audio from there. If you spend too much time trying to get the exact cut before the clip's even in the timeline yet, you could lose sight of the big picture. Besides, cuts are relative to one another -- you can't see if the cut's really working until it's alongside every other shot and cut.


www.derekmok.com

"So do most of you prefer making this type of edit in the timeline??? "

seems that way

Kevin Monohan seems to have his head around split edits:
[www.kenstone.net]

i had absolutely no problem making them when i cut on tape, (and film before that)
but haven't gotten around to mastering them in FCP.

used to be i'd learn some new FCP technique with each job.
i remember doing my first FCP feature, and knowing i was going to be getting on top of trim window on that one.
thought i'd get my head around Splits on the next, but it never happened.
i suppose it's so easy to work in the timeline.

especially with E for extend edit.


nick

For me personally, it's not so much that I prefer doing split edits in the timeline, it's that those kinds of things I do when I'm turning my rough cut into a fine cut.

My first pass is almost always a "radio edit," where I almost totally ignore the picture and just pay attention to the sound. Once I've got that about where I want it, I start thinking about places where it makes sense to cut away to another shot, or to prelap somebody under a different shot, or whatever. That's just how I like to edit, personally.