Avid Media Composer - Trimming

[FFAnamoly]

sooooo I have this general newbie question....How do I select a desk.....It keeps telling me I have to select a desk and that causes probably why I can't choose a video data only the audios maybe? yeah...I can't even talk about getting started on editin in avid -facepalm

[hudstone420]

sony vegas 10 is wayyyy better so much easier to use,,, just let me drag and cut and not worry about extra buttons to fuck with , i work wayyy faster in vegas

[SenorCajones]

@hudstone420 You don't REALLY know how to use Avid, in that case. Avid is much better in every way.

[hudstone420]

i have edited alot with vegas, and avid... i prefer vegas for my quick edit needs....

[GamefulGoreful]

u can also record with that??

[EdVision1]

There are many ways to edit in AVID. I would suggest when you are needing to have footage ex a car wreck match with a cymbal crash in the music that you use the Blue Replace edit button. On the player side put you blue bar indicating where you are on your footage right at the point of impact. On the record side put you blue bar on your time line on the cymbal crash Patch V1 to V1 and hit Replace edit (the blue button) Once you use this you will find all kinds of ways to speed up edits

[factualfilms]

....well it's not really all about speed is it...unless you're cutting news items. The nature of trimming is making sure the in and out points are correct but also that the overall pace of the piece is the right "feel".

Fast ain't necessarily good.

[Marsalapheasant]

@factualfilms

disagree. If you are as fast as you are precise you won't sacrifice a natural rhythm or feel. I grew up on Premiere pro and so I have dragged dropped (and snapped) throughout my whole learning - and thus have become very fast. I am ready to embrace a more efficient method on the grounds that If I can master that I can master this.

[SenorCajones]

@factualfilms Fast IS good in editing. You don't just edit to be fast, you edit fast and accurate and Avid gives you that like nothing else. I've used them all for many years. Got to Avid several years later and Avid is the best.

[factualfilms]

@SenorCajones Well I have been using FCP since 1999 and I can tell you Rome was not built in a day. But it depends what field you are working in I guess....if you are cutting news items super fast and media sharing Avid probably works better for you. If (like me) you are concerned with subtlties such as pace and story telling and whether the cut comes before of after the blink go an eye it's not the software that makes the edit good or the speed at which you edit.

it's all about the editor

[KingofComputing]

master editor, ya right. that was a horrible cut he had at the end. i think i'll stick to Final Cut Pro for my editing.

[FilmProductionWrkShp]

come on - its all cool - it was just a demo.. man

[dominodayfreak]

Lol at all people comparing Vegas with Avid.

[conolan]

Drag and drop editing is like typing with one finger. If you are editing all day every day, dragging clips to the timeline is irritatingly slow. If you use the keyboard as much as you can, you will be able to make your trims almost as fast as you can think about doing them. Less time spent working the interface means more time to focus on creativity.

[nyumetsu]

Agreed on this. Professional editors use the keyboard all day long. And if you're using your mouse that much in FCP, you're probably working at half the pace you could be. The things you do dragging and dropping can be done efficiently and with more precision using your keyboard. Literally the touch of a button more often than not

[TemplarReturns]

@conolan I can personally say that I love Avid more than FCp. Its just simpler in a sense, since some qualities of AMC can get dicey on some occasions. Basically, Avid forces you to make edits and cuts through the keyboard mainly by stroking a couple of keys. So it forces you to be fast or ponder every single edit you make. I love it

[Bramm1982]

Oh my.. they call typing in frame numbers intuitive... next he has to press a dedicated button for almost everything hoe does.

In Vegas Video you just click and drag your clip and you click and drag the edges to make them longer or shorter. No extra buttons, no idiot keyboard shortcuts. No special 'edit modes' to switch to. Works always. THATS intuitive!

[NavajoJoeFilms]

Yeah, I really don't like working with AVID but I have to for college. You pretty much summed up all my thoughts! With AVID, you got to press some button to do one thing and unpress another button to do another. I really hate working with AVID. Sony Vegas and Final Cut kind of utilize that whole drag and drop edit that I've become so used to doing since I bought Final Cut in 2007 and even when I bought Sony Vegas in 2005. It's maddening!

[StuartHaight]

@NavajoJoeFilms Dragging and dropping is a slow form of editing. I'm learning FCP now and it's almost like using photoshop because FCP uses 'tools', trim, slip, select or whatever, it's not bad, at least it's on one side of the keyboard.

Are you still dragging and dropping in FCP or are you using more of the keyboard?

[NavajoJoeFilms]

@StuartHaight

Actually, now that you mention it, I've been using some hotkeys for FCP nowadays.

[junkerde]

fuck you bitch vegas sucks and are for beginners...even the pro one is. the interface also sucks ass so go play with your little "you think its proffesional" vegas shit.

[jeffdapitan]

Thank you!