Splice Now

In Media Composer 4, if you lassoed a clip from right to left, you selected it for slipping. Adding the Option key (Alt in the PC world) selected it for sliding. Many people have bemoaned the loss of this functionality in Version 5, but, in fact, it’s still there. The modifier keys have changed, and there’s also a hidden gotcha that can make you think the functionality has been lost.

Lassoing from right to left still works as before, selecting a clip for slipping. But the Option key is now used to let you lasso clips anywhere in the timeline. So to select a clip for sliding you have to add another modifier: Option+Shift.

The trick is that this works a lot better if no clips are selected in the timeline.

So here’s the drill:

1. First, click above the topmost video track or below the bottommost audio track to deselect all clips.
2. Then, to slip, lasso or Option-lasso a clip or clips from right to left. Rollers will appear at the interior edges, ready for slipping.
   
3. To slide, Shift-Option-lasso from right to left. Rollers appear on the outside edges of the clip(s), ready for sliding.

That’s it. Once you know the technique, it’s easy to use. Just don’t forget to deselect all clips before you start. You may be able to get into slip or slide anyway, but things will work more predictably if nothing is selected.

This is the quickest way to slip or slide a group of clips at once. But you can slip or slide clips in several other ways, as well. Get into trim mode any way you like. Then double-click a roller to select the clip it’s on for slipping. Double-click the roller a second time to slide. Or right-click on a roller to open a contextual menu and select slip or slide from there. Or use either of the Trim Smart Tools and select rollers, as needed.

This entry was posted on December 6, 2010 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Avid, Avid Technical Tips. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.