The Split tool

[Lance Spratt]

Good day!

Just finished up a meeting with a friend and fellow user of Vegas. He posed a question to me that I could not find an answer to. Hope you can help.

He dropped a piece of media on the timeline. Then he added another short piece of media from the trimmer over the original media clip - the end result is the attached image. the original long event is underneath the short one. Obviously the short event will play where it is located and the event underneath will not play during that time.

Question - what is the fastest way to split the bottom event at one of the edges of the top clip? Right now, I place the CTI at the edge of the top clip, and proceed to 'spilt'. However the split function does not do anything because the top media event is selected (at it's edge where there is nothing to split), not the bottom one that I want to split. Is there a shortcut to toggle selection between the top and bottom event?

Further, is there a method of adding media from the trimmer where the top event automatically splits (not just inserted on top of)the bottom event and is inserted in the time line for its duration? My friend came from Avid world, and suggests that Avid's AB roll style of editing works similar to what I have asked for here. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, is this possible? I can not find a solution for this yet.

Thanks in advance!!

[Sami Sanpakkila]

I dont know the best way propably but I come across this situation very often.

1. Split the the long clip underneath both from the left and right of the shorter clip.

2. Now the long clip is in three parts and I delete the middle part that is under the shorter clip.

3. Then I drag (or whats the word, open) the left part and the right part of the long clip and snap them to the short clip from both sides.

I've been using Vegas since version 1. Would love to hear of a simpler way! It's not so frustrating that I would have ever made an effort to seek a solution though.

Sami

[Lance Spratt]

Hi Sami,

Thanks. This is about as fast as I could come up with as well - which requires a number of keystrokes and mouse gestures. I was inquiring to a more efficient way if possible. Kind of like make a looping selection around the top events ends, toggle the 'view' to the bottom event and hit 'S', then delete the middle section of the bottom event. I'm trying to find a way to toggle between showing the top and bottom event when two are overlapped - similar to toggling to any given take of an event - except showing different layers of media on the same track.

Personally, I do not edit this way. I edit on two video tracks - one for a-roll, one for b-roll. Makes life very easy. My friend however, asked if there is a way to do this all on a single track for ease and speed. Now he has me curious.

I may be asking for more than what Vegas can do.

Am I missing something simple?

[Edward Troxel]

You could double-click the short clip which will put a selection area around it, press CTRL-A to select everything, and then press "S" to split both sides. Then you still need to delete the lower event.

[Lance Spratt]

Hi Edward!

Good to hear from you!

I like the idea, and it works well. It allows me to split the event quickly. I still have to slide the top event out of the way to get to the bottom one and delete it, but this is close, and may be as close as it gets! I assume what I am asking to do, Vegas is not really designed to do.

When editing in the trimmer, we would like to press A to add an event to the timeline at the cursor position, even over another piece of media already on the timeline. Can I set up Vegas to automatically split the existing event on the timeline and delete the section that is the same length of my selection in the trimmer, than have the trimmer media inserted in the 'hole'?

I know, I am going way out on a limb...... :-)

[Don Bloom]

you don't need to move the 'short event' to delete the one under it. Simply click on the lower event and hit either delete or control x-Poof gone.
Now you can either leave the short event on the top track or drag it down to the lower track whichever you prefer.
Don

[Edward Troxel]

Don, He's putting it on the SAME track so it does need to be moved in order to be able to click on the one underneath on the same track.

Lance, one solution would be to do this process via a script. I don't have one that performs this exact task but I'm sure one could be written.

[Gilles Pialat]

Lance ,
All you need is an overwrite mode, and this is a pity but Vegas don’t have it.
I made a production suggestion many many time to Sony but the fact is there is not many users who need this mode to edit…
I made a script to simulate this mode:
For VP8
For V7.

[Paul Kellett]

I don't know if i'm missing something but why do you need to delete a section on the underneath clip if the top clip is on playing at that point ? As the scrubber moves along the timeline you're getting,bottom clip playing>top clip playing>bottom clip playing.Isn't this what you want,presumably for cutaways ?

[Lance Spratt]

Gilles,

That is what I am looking for - thanks. And after doing some research, an overwrite mode is indeed what other NLE's have, and is really what I am trying to accomplish. Its too bad Vegas does not do it, but then Vegas can do other things that others don't.......

Paul, you are correct that usually the need to delete the bottom event is not required, until you want to fade the top clip to black or to some other clip than the one below it. By deleting the bottom event, there is no chance of the bottom event being seen for any reason. I guess it is more of putting my mind at ease.

Thanks to all who replied and contributed!