Trimming Clips

 
 
 

You can trim video or audio clips (with or without effects), cuts, and transitions on the timeline. You can trim multiple tracks or segments at the same time. Smoke keeps track of the source material that goes into trimmed shots, so you can go back and reintroduce material you had previously trimmed out.

You can trim using keyboard shortcuts or gesturally. Trim options are found in the Editorial Mode box above the timeline.

The state of the Ripple button also has an effect on some trimming operations. You can set the ripple state explicitly before trimming, or on-the-fly with a by pressing Alt while you are trimming.

Performing a Trim or Roll

Trim (or roll) a clip to add frames to, or remove frames from, a clip's head or tail.

To trim (or roll) a clip or transition on the timeline:

  1. Make sure that you are in Select mode in the Editorial Mode box.
  2. Position the cursor near the head or tail of a clip or transition on the timeline.

    The cursor turns to a trim cursor (a yellow arrow and line if ripple is enabled, or a red arrow and line if ripple is disabled). If you want to trim a cut, position the cursor over the cut, and notice that the trim cursor becomes a double arrow with a line.

  3. Drag left or right to remove the number of frames that you need.

    You can see the head or tail number on the clip change as you trim.

    TipEnable Focus On Trim in the Timeline Options menu to snap the timeline positioner to the transition while trimming, allowing you to view the frames you are trimming in the player.

Performing a Slip

Slip a clip to offset the frames in a clip without trimming the clips before or after it. The state of the Ripple button has no effect on slip operations.

To slip a clip on the timeline:

  1. From the Editorial Mode box, select Slip.
  2. Position the cursor in the middle of a clip on the timeline.

    The cursor turns to a slip cursor.

  3. Drag left or right.

    You can see the head and tail numbers on the clip change as you slip.

Performing a Slide

Sliding changes a clip's position in the edit sequence. It simultaneously slides the clip under the cursor and trims the head and tail of the surrounding clips.

To slide a clip on the timeline:

  1. From the Editorial Mode box, select Slide.
  2. Position the cursor in the middle of a clip on the timeline.

    The cursor turns to a slide cursor (a white square with yellow arrows if ripple is enabled, or a white square with red arrows if ripple is disabled).

  3. Drag left or right.

    The position of the clip changes, and surrounding clips' head and tails are trimmed.

    NoteInstead of using Slide mode, you can select Slide Cuts from the Editorial Mode box, a modified Slide mode that trims the clips before and after it, while also changing the frames used in a clip.

Trimming Keyframes

If you set animation keyframes on timeline effects, you have different options as to their behaviour while trimming. Use the Keyframe Mode Modes box to select how the animation channel is affected when you trim elements with animated effects.

Select: To:
Resize Proportionally Resize the channel as you trim. The animation channel is scaled to fit into the timeline element. This option has no effect when you slip or slide.
Shift With Media Link the keyframes to their original frame numbers. The animation channel moves to follow the original frames as you trim.
Pin To Timeline Unlink the keyframes from their original frame number. The animation channel remains with the timeline element as you trim.

In the Editorial Mode box, you can also select Slide Keyframes mode, which allows you to slide all of the keyframes of a specific timeline effect on a clip. For example, you can slide all of the Axis keyframes on a clip.

Trimming Audio Tracks

Audio tracks are divided into sub-frames. There are 100 sub-frames of audio for every frame of video. When trimming audio tracks, you can trim on a sub-frame level by holding down the Shift key while you trim.

NoteYou cannot trim on a sub-frame level when simultaneously trimming audio and video tracks.