Undocumented keyboard shortcuts

douglas_clark wrote on 5/23/2005, 5:56 AM

Hey keyboard shortcut fans...I discovered a couple event-edge keypad editing key combinations in Vegas6b that are not mentioned anywhere in the Vegas6 manual, nor online help. These are great keyboard shortcuts for some often-used mouse edits. I don't know if these exist in previous versions. Has anybody noticed these before?

These apply to edge-trim-mode. That is, after you press num7 or num9 on numeric keypad to red-highlight the left or right edge of the currently selected event.

Time compressing/stretching events:
ctrl-num4 & ctrl-num6 compress/stretch event by small increment
ctrl-num1 & ctrl-num3 compress/stretch event by 1 frame
These do the same as ctrl-drag on the edge of an event: shorten or lengthen the event by speeding up/slowing down video or increase/decrease tempo of audio without changing pitch. Useful to match tempo, or to make a piece of video or music fit a specific time interval.

Slip-trimming an event:
alt-num4 & alt-num6 slip-trim edge by small increment (media moves with edge)
alt-num1 & alt-num3 slip-trim edge 1 frame (media moves with edge)
These do the same as alt-drag on the edge of an event: The event edge and media move together, while the other edge stays put. Preview shows the first and last frames of the event being trimmed, split-screen in the preview.

Trim adjacent edges/slide crossfade:
ctrl-alt-num4 & ctrl-alt-num6 trim adjacent/slide crossfade by small increment
ctrl-alt-num1 & ctrl-alt-num3 trim adjacent/slide crossfade by 1 frame
These do the same as ctrl-alt-drag on an event edge or crossfade. Both the current and adjacent edges move (even if not touching!) If the edges overlap in a crossfade, the crossfade slides. The media in both events doesn't move. Preview shows last frame of event to left and first from of event to right, split-screen.

In case you are unfamiliar with edge trimming of events using the keyboard, see pg 101 in the Vegas6 manual, or look for "edge trimming events" in online Help.

These extra shortcuts definitely make keyboard event editing more useful. They will definitely save my carpal tunnels on my next comping session.

There is one little oddity in the ctrl-alt-numx slide crossfade behavior: if you have the red-highlight on the second (right side) event when you press the ctrl-alt-numx trim, the red-highlight will change to the edge of the event on the left, and the left event becomes selected. It would be a bit more logical if the red-highlight and selection remained on the original event. But this doesn't really matter.

Sony, these are very useful keyboard shortcuts. I hope you can document them in an update to the Manual and online help. These keystrokes and functions don't appear in the Keyboard customization dialog either.

Can someone verify if these exist in Vegas5 or before?

Does anyone know of other undocumented keystrokes?

Douglas

edit: changed "by 1 pixel" to "by small increment".

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/23/2005, 6:02 AM

These shortcuts existed in earlier versions of Vegas. They're documented in earlier owners manuals, I've not read the Vegas 6 manual, so can't comment on what it does or doesn't show.

Jøran Toresen wrote on 5/23/2005, 6:26 AM

Thanks Douglas

I’ve been wondering for a while: what does trimming 1 pixel mean?

Regards,
Joran

Grazie wrote on 5/23/2005, 6:38 AM

Having quantize to frame OFF, I guess 1 pixel means 1 pixel width of trimming - for PAL that would be 720th of width of a whole frame? Very tiny. I know I can "creep" an edit which is less than a frame. You can see this when you get that soft sliding and no snatch of the frame from one to another.

Grazie

jetdv wrote on 5/23/2005, 6:46 AM

When viewing the timeline and pressing the left or right arrows, how many frames change? For example, pressing the left arrow may move 4 frames in the project. THAT is one "pixel". Now zoom out on the timeline. The left arrow may move 15 frames. Now that is the value of "one pixel". Now zoom in on the timeline and the left arrow may move 1 frame. Now one "pixel" equals one "frame".

So the answer is a "pixel" varies depending on your zoom level and can be one OR MORE frames.

Grazie wrote on 5/23/2005, 6:57 AM

Oh! - Thanks Edward . . G

Jøran Toresen wrote on 5/23/2005, 7:12 AM

Thanks Edward

I’ve noticed this. Maybe another term than ‘pixel’ would be better…

Joran

douglas_clark wrote on 5/24/2005, 4:42 AM

Dear Joran

sorry for the use of the phrase "by 1 pixel". A better phrase would be "by small increment".

jetdv is right. The small increment is the smallest horizontal movement that the user can see, which corresponds to moving 1 pixel on the display. The timeline increment for that 1 pixel movement depends on zoom level and display resolution.

Douglas

douglas_clark wrote on 5/24/2005, 4:46 AM

Dear Spot,

I have looked in the manuals back to Vegas Video 3. The ctrl-, alt- and ctrl-alt- numeric keypad combinations in EDGE-TRIMMING MODE are not described anywhere. Perhaps they have been functional, but they are not documented in the help or manual. Using ctrl-, alt- and ctrl-alt- with the MOUSE is well documented, but using these with the numeric keypad in edge-trimming mode is not documented.

The Vegas4e Release Notes list "Keyboard trimming" as a new feature in 4.0. The "new" keyboard trimming feature is first described in the Vegas4 Manual on pages 31 (Keyboard Command Reference) and page 67 (Edge trimming events using the keyboard). The identical text appears in the Vegas5 Manual (pages 28 and 69) and Vegas6 manual (pages 31 and 101). There is no mention of using the ctrl-, alt- and ctrl-alt- numeric keypad combinations in edge trimming mode in these manuals.

So if these have been functional before, one would have had to read between the lines to know it. Or stumble on them out of curiosity like I did.

What is still missing is keyboard slipping and sliding of events. One can move or nudge events from the keyboard, but not slip or slide. You have to use the mouse to slip and slide events. (unless somebody knows some secret keystrokes for these, too)

Douglas Clark

Jackie_Chan_Fan wrote on 5/24/2005, 5:20 AM

is there a good keyboard editing workflow with vegas? I tend to not use many keyboard shortcuts because i'm not sure i see a good flow that warrants using many of them.

Wolfgang S. wrote on 5/24/2005, 6:06 AM

The best keyboard-oriented workflow seems to be the combination of shortcuts with the Contour jogshuttle - put the important shortcuts on the progammable keys of the jogshuttle, and work mainly with the jogshuttle and the mouse in future.

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/24/2005, 6:32 AM

The Vegas Keyboard shortcut guide installed with Vegas has shown this for the past two revs. It's also documented in Vegas Editing Workshop.
To slide edit: Hold ALT and drag cursor right or left.
To do a rolling edit, place cursor between the two clips and hold ALT+CTRL, and drag right or left.

This is all documented in the Vegas help guide.

rmack350 wrote on 5/24/2005, 7:23 AM

I think the point was that you could do this entirely with the keyboard using the numpad and a modifier. Not taking a position here, i'm just sayin...

Rob Mack

rmack350 wrote on 5/24/2005, 7:27 AM

Joran,

the thing is, the cursor really is moving just one screen pixel. It's a relative unit.

I don't know if any alternate term could be less confusing, really. perhaps you could call it a "minimal relative unit".

"Pixel" is easy. You only have to understand one little detail.

Rob Mack

rmack350 wrote on 5/24/2005, 7:29 AM

It's the phrase used in the Vegas documentation. It's not hard to understand, but it requires a moments thought the first time you see the term. After that it's not a problem.

Rob Mack

MH_Stevens wrote on 5/24/2005, 8:34 AM

Here in Southern California Governor Schwarzenegger has just authorized vigilantes to deal with this.

Coursedesign wrote on 5/24/2005, 9:08 AM

The "pixel" terminology is just one of many many cases in the manual where key terminology is not explained.

I think a new manual would be the best way for Sony to get good word-of-mouth from new users to other new users.

As it stands, I always found the Vegas manuals (for 3,4,5) to be fairly useless. Impossible to find anything in because they were focused on presenting each feature from a developer's standpoint.

It should be organized based on what users might look for, with an index that would let you look up terms that are not in the manual, for example "J-cut, L-cut, Razor Blade tool," etc. etc.

Not just other people's terminology, but also simply more orientation towards what a user might want to do, as opposed to what it happens to be called in Vegas.

The online help is at least searchable, but the user still has to know what it's called in Vegas...

It shouldn't have to take a VASST to do this right, with their "Instant Vegas" etc.

douglas_clark wrote on 5/24/2005, 9:46 AM

Spot, it seems you are missing my point.

Please try to do the edge-slip, crossfade-slide and event-stretch edits without touching your mouse.

Respectfully,
Douglas

barleycorn wrote on 5/24/2005, 9:47 AM

> The ctrl-, alt- and ctrl-alt- numeric keypad combinations in EDGE-TRIMMING MODE are not described anywhere

The shortcuts are described and listed in both the Vegas 5 and Vegas 6 manuals (I haven't checked further back): see for example, pages 31 and 101 of the Vegas 6 manual.

rmack350 wrote on 5/24/2005, 11:37 AM

I didn't have any trouble with their explanation. took a second for it to sink in, that's all.

rmack350 wrote on 5/24/2005, 11:40 AM

???

I'm not getting the joke. What does our dork of a dumb-ass governor have to do with it?

Rob Mack

Jøran Toresen wrote on 5/24/2005, 6:46 PM

Thank you very much, Douglas Clark

I’ve been searching for these exact editing tool, and suddenly you enlightened me! Thanks again.

By the way: barleycorn, you are wrong. Read the post by Douglas and page 31 and page 101 in the Vegas 6 Manual.

Regards,
Joran