Hey all. Well my copy of Avid Xpress Pro arrived a couple days ago and I've really got the basic fundamentals down with keyboard shortcuts and all. However, I was wondering how to "trim" or shorten or lengthen a video or audio clip on the timeline without moving the other clips in the composition around at all? I've been wondering as when I edit a music video etc. and just want to tweak one clip by a few frames on a Vid 3 or 4 track, I don't want all my other times on that track to shift as well. How do you do this?



On a side note, coming from Vegas and previously having used FCP and Premiere in quite a few long projects as well, I've enjoyed the Avid interface. For short form and with projects that are all on me, I prefer Vegas 4 or 5. I was forced to learn Avid as I've had to pass up almost all the recent editing jobs in my area because they require Avid. After a few rough days at first getting used to the very different logic set of Avid, its been fun to have a very solid or locked feel to the timeline (albiet many ways to get there) as opposed to the floaty feel I sometimes have in Vegas (which is a freeing feeling but sometimes, just a little too floaty). I personally rank Avid as my new number one as a "professional" NLE that down the line (barring a major FCP takeover which I don't see in the near future) will have great prospects to grow into career-wise and Vegas as my number 2 for a feel of complete freedom while moving around in a project. FCP is third and a great program but for its type logic set of NLE, it looses points to the freedom in Vegas. Premiere, alas my once favorite a few years ago, I just don't enjoy the laggy FCP copyish feel but that's just me. Well, I have to include what I was originally weened on in school (before immediately going home and getting Premiere soon after), Media 100 - my least favorite and a dying breed.

Bryan,

There are half a dozen ways to trim a clip in a timeline, using the keyboard or the mouse. You say you want to trim a clip "Without moving the other clips at all". From this, I am assuming you want to shorten a clip, and leave Filler in place of what you have removed?

One way is to mark the in and out points on the timeline, and "lift" the section you have marked. (hit the "Z" key) this will remove the marked section of the timeline, and leave blank filler on all of the tracks you have marked. (If you have all tracks active, all tracks are lifted) If you don't want all the tracks lifted, then only select the tracks you want affected, lock the tracks you don't want affected, and filler will appear to keep sync.

You can also trim using the "roller trim" button, which allows you to choose the edit point, and perform a "rolling edit" (Ripple Edit) in either direction, affecting both sides OR one side. Again, this can be performed by keyboard or mouse. You can also perform dynamic JKL editing using the JKL keys... read up on this.

I recommend the Visual QuickPro Guide, "Avid Xpress Pro" written my James Monohan. It's easier to read than the actual instruction manuals, which tend to be dry, and assume you've been editing in Avid all along.

Thanks Richard - I just returned from purchasing "Avid Xpress Pro Power!" which I've heard very good things about from online reviews and over on 2pop. I also saw the Visual QuickPro which was heavily rec. by the same people but I'll prob wait until after this book for that one. I realized what an elementary question I was asking and saw the immediate need for more training as the included CD and tutorials in Xpress Pro gets one about as far as I am now, which is simply a basic understanding of the avid interface and keyboard shortcuts..

Bryan,

Sounds like a good book, I'll check it out. The Avid manuals strike me as having been written by the programmers, rather than editors.

Welcome to avid. Be sure to check in at www.avid.com to read up on the forums and notices there. Much more active than this board for Avid info. I think most people here are Vegas or Premier users, followed by FCP and other programs.

to slip a clip, lasso it from left to right. You can then drag or slip numericly. This changes in the in and out of the clip but leaves the timeline alone.

I think your assement of the nle's is accurate. there are accepted tools in a profession. I have never seen a construction job where the plumber didn't use rigid tools. others may work but professionals expect to see certain equipment. and when things go wrong you don't want the finger being pointed at the maverick with the untested new tools .

and I think for a paying job in the industry. you really have to
have avid skills on your resume. would any body know of any online
tutorials for avid.

various sites often post hints, tips and tricks. www.avid.com and 2-pop. Also third party apps like Boris sometimes post tutorials. But I know of no specific "online" training tutorial for avid. Just the books and cd's that come with the program. You can order specific tutorials from different companies, but again, nothin I know of online... IE FREE.

Avid has a great online tutorial that's free for their Free DV product which is completely transferrable to the higher end products. It won't get you too far but it's a great way to get going with the basics of the Avid interface.

http://www.avid.com/freedv/tutorials/index.asp

They're actually done fairly well and are movies with voice direction ect.

Enjoy!

Bryan,

Whaddya know? I never visit the FreeDV site, as I cut on Pro. But they are nice tutorials... pretty basic, but enough to get a person running on a minimum system.

Richard - yeah, I found those last week when I was checking out free DV to get a basic feel for the Avid process before my copy of Pro arrived. I found those tutorials and was pretty pleased. I think that's a great place to send those who are on the fence to an Avid switch - gives a nice and quick overview of how things feel in the program... :)

here is a tutorial I made for animatte a year or two ago...
http://www.creativecow.net/show.php?forumid=45&page=/articles/hester_grinner/animatte/index.html