Select an area of the timeline with the mouse from the cursor position

gary-o wrote on 6/27/2020, 2:09 AM

I thought I knew how to do this, but it turns out I was wrong.

I'd like to position the cursor very accurately on a specific frame and then select an area of the timeline precisely from the position onwards, using the mouse. (The keyboard isn't always convenient except for fairly small areas.)

If I click directly on the cursor itself, this just moves the cursor.

But if I click ever so slightly to one side of the cursor, the selection starts from the NEW position of the mouse and not from the cursor itself.

How do I specify that I'd like the selection to start from the cursor position and not the mouse position?

Comments

Richard Jones wrote on 6/27/2020, 2:35 AM

If you press S this should cut the event at the point of the cursor. Will that do for you?

Richard

gary-o wrote on 6/27/2020, 2:52 AM

Thanks. Yeah, that might do for most cases, the selection seems to snap to the edge. But there are times when I don't want to cut the timeline (e.g. if I have auto crossfade switched on... in which case the act of cutting at the cursor means that all the events get faded out and in at that particular point. I'd have to remember to toggle these other effects off before pressing S and then toggle them back on again afterwards.

KenB wrote on 6/27/2020, 9:55 AM

The way I normally do it is press Shift and then click with the mouse in a blank area on the timeline (not on an event) where I want the selection to end.

gary-o wrote on 4/13/2021, 4:15 AM

Is there any update on this? KenB's solution is a good workaround and I've been trying to get into the habit of shift-clicking elsewhere.

But it would make life so much easier (and more intuitive) to be able to drag-select from the precise cursor position to the in- or out- position. Is there a script or add-on that can do this, perhaps?

Shift-drag might do the trick. I've been experimenting with shift-clicking just a little bit off of the cursor position and the continuing to drag. But it's a bit fiddly. You have to remember to shift-click and let go before selecting and dragging the new end point to the correct position. It's a kind of hop-skip-and-jump process. If you shift-click while dragging then the START position moves to the point where you began to drag the selection.

Jack S wrote on 4/13/2021, 4:25 AM

@gary-o Why not start with the cursor at the point where you want the the selection to end, then drag the selection backwards to where you want it to start? The cursor will then be at the start of the selection.

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gary-o wrote on 4/13/2021, 4:45 AM

Thanks, but no. I often have to spend some considerable time finding just the right frame when syncing audio to video. So, once I have the right position, I will need to make a selection from that precise point to some other out/in point.

In general, there don't seem to be intuitive ways to fix start or end points and then examine the small areas around them for frame-based editing. If there are then I'd love to learn about them...! :)

I have tried just using the keyboard (left/right arrows), but that's useful just for getting to the exact frame, and after that, I need to find an in/out point that's several seconds away - so I pick up the mouse for the selection process.

Maybe I should make a feature request.

walter-i. wrote on 4/13/2021, 6:36 AM

Sure, why not?
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-19-feature-requests--123432/

Former user wrote on 4/13/2021, 7:05 AM

Use I and O (that's the letters i and o).

joelsonforte.br wrote on 4/13/2021, 7:36 AM

DougT is right. Use the keys (I) to mark the beginning and (O) to indicate the end of the selection. Double-click the selected area to highlight the selection.

walter-i. wrote on 4/13/2021, 7:40 AM

@Former user and @joelsonforte.br

It's so nice to keep discovering new little things in Vegas Pro, even though you think you already know (almost) everything.

Thanks

Former user wrote on 4/13/2021, 8:33 AM

If you don't want to doubleclick to select, you can use Shift+Q. This will select as well.