Keyboard sequence to make an edit point 'non-crossfadeable' when applying transitions

|Many editors don't want FCP X adding an crossfade when applying every transition.

There is a way of modifying an edit point so that when a video transition is applied, there is no crossfade - which is very useful for tight interview edits.

The method is to move the audio part of the edit so it doesn't exactly line up with the video.

You shouldn't worry about this being noticeable because FCP can move audio edits in sub-frame units - which are 1/80th of a frame; in the case of 25p timelines, that is 1/2000th of a second.

1. Make sure the timeline is in 'View > Expand All Audio/Video Clips > For All' mode. You'll be selecting the left and right edges of audio tracks only.

2. Select the edit point you wish to work with (by clicking or using the ; and ' keys)

3. Select only the left and right audio edges of the edit - Shift-\

4. Move the audio edit one subframe to the left - Option-,

5. Select the video edges by selecting the second next edit point - press ' twice (because the first ' press selects the right-hand side of the audio edit point)

6. Apply your transition - no crossfade can apply to the audio edit as they don't line up with the video edit.



You can that the play head is at the video frame boundary 5 min 32 sec 27 frames, with the audio edges 0.0125 frames earlier.

Once your transition is applied, you can still ripple and roll the clips - even though the audio edit doesn't line up with the video edit, from a clip manipulation point of view, they are still a single edit.

Alex


PS: This tip is from my blog at [alex4d.wordpress.com]

___________________________________________________
Alexandre Gollner,
Editor, Zone 2-North West, London

alex4d on twitter, facebook, .wordpress.com + .com

I got Carpal's Tunnel syndrome just from reading that.

The short version is

Shift-\
Option-,
'
'

There are some spare key combinations you could assign to the ' key, so the key sequence could be

Shift-'
Option-'
'
'

That would keep the index finger of your left hand on the ' key while pressing shift with your middle finger and option with your thumb!

This sort of workaround is ridiculous, but might be worth knowing by those who find FCP X's standard way of doing things frustrating, but want to use FCP 10.0



Alex

___________________________________________________
Alexandre Gollner,
Editor, Zone 2-North West, London

alex4d on twitter, facebook, .wordpress.com + .com

I've got another way.
Select the two clips involved in the transition
Expand Clips (control S)
Apply dissolve to video only

And it seems you don't need to follow that order either.
Add dissolve
Expand both clips
The dissolve no longer is applied to the audio

This means you can add dissolves as needed and easily determine whether or not you want the audio included by expanding and collapsing clips to preview it.

Now the next test is if you want the video and audio transitions to be a different duration. Breaking apart or detaching audio doesn't seem to help that either.

Audio Only Dissolve Dissolve seems to need to be on a Secondary Storyline. This is awkward because the individual audio clips are no longer connected to their respective video shots putting sync at risk.

One can Expand clips and overlap audio and do fades on each side to avoid Secondary Storyline approach.