Defragmenting clips at DVinfo.net

Dana Salsbury · March 6th, 2007, 03:08 PM

It seems that I spend a lot of time pulling multiple clips together (in a single timeline). I'd like to find a command or way to select several clips and instantly butt-fit these together. Thoughts? I feel like I'm dragging clips around all day! Thanks!

-Dana

Brian Luce · March 6th, 2007, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

It seems that I spend a lot of time pulling multiple clips together (in a single timeline). I'd like to find a command or way to select several clips and instantly butt-fit these together. Thoughts? I feel like I'm dragging clips around all day! Thanks!

-Dana

Like ripple? Is that what you want to do?

Dana Salsbury · March 6th, 2007, 04:20 PM

I haven't heard of ripple. Here's a visual of what I'm talking about:

Before:
[clip] [--clip--] [clip] [---clip---] [-clip-]

After:
[clip][--clip--][clip][---clip---][-clip-]

To do this manually on a large project takes forever. I just want to select it all, keystroke a command and eliminate the gaps.

-Dana

Mike Kujbida · March 6th, 2007, 04:40 PM

There's a script called Delete Empty Space Between Events that may do what you want.
It's a part of this script collection.
Be forewarned that there are pop-ups on the site. If you're using a good blocker though, this won't be an issue and the site can be trusted.
If you've never used scripts before, you don't know what you're missing as they are a very valuable tool :-)

Dana Salsbury · March 7th, 2007, 12:26 PM

Thank you Mike. I will give this a try.

Ian Stark · August 27th, 2007, 08:52 AM

Hmmm, like Dana I was looking for a script to delete the gaps between events on the timeline. I came across this thread, downloaded the script Mike pointed us to (well, the collection, something like 161 scripts) and ran it.

The outcome was that it did remove the gaps BUT it also seemed to shift the start point of each clip to a different place in the media event it was excised from. (Hope that makes sense). In other words from an original event of, say, 120 seconds I trimmed it (on the timeline) to, say, the middle 15 seconds only. I repeated this with all the events on the timeline, ending up with about 60 short clips, spread over about an hour on the timeline. When running the script, all the gaps were deleted (perfect, just what I wanted) but every clip's 'in' point had reverted to some other point in the original event it was culled from.

Now, I notice that the script is four years old on Thursday (happy birthday).
Does that suggest it might not function correctly under Vegas 7 or am I just being an idiot? I looked at the script content but that really isn't my area of expertise.

If I'm right about this being an outdated script, does anyone know of one that will work with V7? I looked through the VASST site but couldn't find anything obvious there (is it me or is it difficult to navigate that site? I admit I didn't spend hours there but I couldn't for the life of me find a simple index or category page for the scripts).

Help for a poor confused old man very much appreciated.

Cheers.

Ian . . .

Edward Troxel · August 27th, 2007, 09:29 AM

Some changes were made to scripting over the years. In this case, your "offset" is being adjusted when it shouldn't be.

You might try this one.

Ian Stark · August 27th, 2007, 09:43 AM

Ah, Edward, you are a lifesaver. Many thanks for that.

I understand the concept of what was going wrong but there is no way I have the necessary skills to have resolved it. That script did just the trick and I wish I'd had the foresight to have asked the question ages ago as it would have saved me a lot of manual effort!

Despite being what I consider to be a fairly competent Vegas user, using scripts is an area I have pretty much neglected until recently. More fool me - I can see many timesaving scripts out there and I will make time to delve through for some that would be useful in my workflow.

For the benefit of others who may be as script-unsavvy as me, are there any general areas of scripting that have significantly changed in recent Vegas releases, ie that should make us wary of using older scripts? Or is it a case of "if it's before 200x, leave it alone"?

Thanks again.

Ian . . .

Edward Troxel · August 27th, 2007, 09:54 AM

The biggest change was in the command:
AdjustStartLength

It's usage changed multiple times over several versions. I finally decided to just work around that command using other functionality and no longer use it. Vegas 4 behaved one way, Vegas 5 another, and I think it changed again in either Vegas 6 or 7 so I just don't use it or trust any older script that does.

Ian Stark · August 27th, 2007, 10:01 AM

Sounds like wise counsel. I'll keep an eye out.

March 6th, 2007, 03:08 PM	#1
Dana Salsbury Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 859	Defragmenting clips It seems that I spend a lot of time pulling multiple clips together (in a single timeline). I'd like to find a command or way to select several clips and instantly butt-fit these together. Thoughts? I feel like I'm dragging clips around all day! Thanks! -Dana

August 27th, 2007, 08:52 AM	#6
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Hmmm, like Dana I was looking for a script to delete the gaps between events on the timeline. I came across this thread, downloaded the script Mike pointed us to (well, the collection, something like 161 scripts) and ran it. The outcome was that it did remove the gaps BUT it also seemed to shift the start point of each clip to a different place in the media event it was excised from. (Hope that makes sense). In other words from an original event of, say, 120 seconds I trimmed it (on the timeline) to, say, the middle 15 seconds only. I repeated this with all the events on the timeline, ending up with about 60 short clips, spread over about an hour on the timeline. When running the script, all the gaps were deleted (perfect, just what I wanted) but every clip's 'in' point had reverted to some other point in the original event it was culled from. Now, I notice that the script is four years old on Thursday (happy birthday). Does that suggest it might not function correctly under Vegas 7 or am I just being an idiot? I looked at the script content but that really isn't my area of expertise. If I'm right about this being an outdated script, does anyone know of one that will work with V7? I looked through the VASST site but couldn't find anything obvious there (is it me or is it difficult to navigate that site? I admit I didn't spend hours there but I couldn't for the life of me find a simple index or category page for the scripts). Help for a poor confused old man very much appreciated. Cheers. Ian . . . __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

August 27th, 2007, 09:29 AM	#7
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Some changes were made to scripting over the years. In this case, your "offset" is being adjusted when it shouldn't be. You might try this one. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

August 27th, 2007, 09:43 AM	#8
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Ah, Edward, you are a lifesaver. Many thanks for that. I understand the concept of what was going wrong but there is no way I have the necessary skills to have resolved it. That script did just the trick and I wish I'd had the foresight to have asked the question ages ago as it would have saved me a lot of manual effort! Despite being what I consider to be a fairly competent Vegas user, using scripts is an area I have pretty much neglected until recently. More fool me - I can see many timesaving scripts out there and I will make time to delve through for some that would be useful in my workflow. For the benefit of others who may be as script-unsavvy as me, are there any general areas of scripting that have significantly changed in recent Vegas releases, ie that should make us wary of using older scripts? Or is it a case of "if it's before 200x, leave it alone"? Thanks again. Ian . . . __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

August 27th, 2007, 09:54 AM	#9
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	The biggest change was in the command: AdjustStartLength It's usage changed multiple times over several versions. I finally decided to just work around that command using other functionality and no longer use it. Vegas 4 behaved one way, Vegas 5 another, and I think it changed again in either Vegas 6 or 7 so I just don't use it or trust any older script that does. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

March 6th, 2007, 04:20 PM	#3
Dana Salsbury Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 859	I haven't heard of ripple. Here's a visual of what I'm talking about: Before: [clip] [--clip--] [clip] [---clip---] [-clip-] After: [clip][--clip--][clip][---clip---][-clip-] To do this manually on a large project takes forever. I just want to select it all, keystroke a command and eliminate the gaps. -Dana

March 6th, 2007, 04:40 PM	#4
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	There's a script called Delete Empty Space Between Events that may do what you want. It's a part of this script collection. Be forewarned that there are pop-ups on the site. If you're using a good blocker though, this won't be an issue and the site can be trusted. If you've never used scripts before, you don't know what you're missing as they are a very valuable tool :-)

March 7th, 2007, 12:26 PM	#5
Dana Salsbury Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 859	Thank you Mike. I will give this a try.

August 27th, 2007, 10:01 AM	#10
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Sounds like wise counsel. I'll keep an eye out. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk