Constraining timeline during clip movement

RichMacDonald wrote on 3/9/2006, 11:54 AM
I feel as if I'm missing something very obvious and its a noob question. But I've been using vegas for years and don't how to do this properly. Its also very important, so hopefully others can learn as well.

I have several tracks and I'm cutting to make a single master. On the master track, I use the [ and ] keys to position the cursor where I want to cut. So far so good. Now I have to move the cursor to another track and split the clip exactly on that timeline position.

Q1: How do I select the other track at the precise position (via the keyboard, hopefully) without accidentally "nudging" the cursor.

Now that I have split the other clip, I need to move it from that track to the master track.

Q2: How do I move that clip "vertically" without accidentally moving it "horizontally", i.e., screwing up the timeline position and leaving gaps between clips in the master track?

TIA.

Comments

JJKizak wrote on 3/9/2006, 12:03 PM
Well maybe if they had a keyboard hold combo to "Cursor lock clip select" .
I know exactly what you mean.

JJK
jetdv wrote on 3/9/2006, 12:07 PM
Q1: How do I select the other track at the precise position (via the keyboard, hopefully) without accidentally "nudging" the cursor.

Hold down the CTRL key and click on the other track to select it. This will NOT move the cursor.

Q2: How do I move that clip "vertically" without accidentally moving it "horizontally", i.e., screwing up the timeline position and leaving gaps between clips in the master track?

Use the 8 and 2 keys on the numeric keypad to move events between tracks without nudging left or right.

RichMacDonald wrote on 3/9/2006, 1:29 PM
jetdv, that's huge. Much obliged.
JJKizak wrote on 3/9/2006, 2:11 PM
That's what I like about Vegas, you learn something new every day.It's like getting a new hard drive in the mail every day.

JJK
johnmeyer wrote on 3/9/2006, 3:23 PM
I'm always learning too. The Ctrl-click is a good idea, but with at least one caveat: Anythin already selected will remain selected. If you press the Del key, you are going to delete not only the event you just added to your previous selections, but everything else as well. By contrast, when you just click on the event you want to go to, everything else is automatically un-selected.
jetdv wrote on 3/9/2006, 6:21 PM
Ok... how about CTRL-Shift-A, CTRL-Click?
johnmeyer wrote on 3/9/2006, 8:01 PM
Ok... how about CTRL-Shift-A, CTRL-Click?

Hmmm ... I just tried that, and maybe I'm not doing what you intended. If I first select the event on track 2, and then Ctrl-Shift-A on track 1, it selects from the cursor to the beginning of the timeline, AND it moves the cursor to the beginning of the timeline, AND it doesn't de-select the event on track 2. I think I am mis-understanding your directions.
rs170a wrote on 3/9/2006, 8:07 PM
I've always found it pretty easy to drop a marker on the timeline. That way, I can click anywhere else I want and I still know exactly where I have to come back to.

Mike
jetdv wrote on 3/10/2006, 6:40 AM
If I first select the event on track 2, and then Ctrl-Shift-A on track 1, it selects from the cursor to the beginning of the timeline, AND it moves the cursor to the beginning of the timeline, AND it doesn't de-select the event on track 2.

On all of my systems (using the default keyboard configuration), CTRL-SHIFT-A deselects everything (NO events selected, NO tracks selected, cursor does NOT move)
johnmeyer wrote on 3/10/2006, 7:03 AM
Oops, My bad. I forgot that I re-mapped Ctrl-A. Sorry.
craftech wrote on 3/10/2006, 7:18 AM
Maybe I am not understanding this either?

1. Drop media onto tracks 1&2
2. Drop media onto tracks 2&3. The header on track 1 is still highlighted.
3. Position tracks 1&2 and 3&4 where you want to cut. The header on the last track moved is highlighted.
4. Ctrl-click the top track (1&2) to select it. Last track header selected stays highlighted (which doesn't seem to matter anyway)
5. Hit S-Key to split. ALL TRACKS SPLIT because 3&4 are still highlighted.
6. Move cursor to next position. Split. ONLY highlighted tracks 1&2 split unless I Ctrl-click each track.
7. Click (highlight) Track 1&2 sections to be removed.
8. Delete them
9. Click Select Tracks 3&4 section to move. Hit numeric 8 key. Both move to tracks 1&2.

Ctrl-Shift-A does indeed deselect.

John

Second question.
What is the advantage of moving them anyway? I just leave the multiple tracks. Is it for the transitions? They won't overlap when you do it this way. You would have to move the cursor for that.