Splice Now

You probably know that the Composer Window can be resized, but did you know you can completely hide the source monitor? This can be very helpful if you’re short on screen real estate and want to work on a visual effect where you need to make things big — an Animatte, for example.

To hide the source monitor, Option-click (or Alt-click) the Source/Record Mode button at the bottom of the timeline. Then enlarge the Record monitor by right-clicking it and selecting Full Size Video. Or you can simply resize the Composer window by dragging its bottom right corner — if you drag it into a roughly square shape the source monitor will disappear.

To restore the source monitor, option-click the Source/Record button again, or drag the monitor into a wide rectangle.

You’ll probably want to memorize your custom window setup in a Workspace or Toolset. See this video tip for details.

Media Composer makes it easy to trim asymmetrically (simultaneously trimming some elements to the right and some to the left), but the technique contains a subtle bug. If you make an asymmetrical trim that eliminates a clip by trimming it away, the roller attached to that clip doesn’t know where to go — and it jumps to a nearby clip. In a complicated trim, this is inevitably jarring, and if you don’t catch it, it can lead to mistakes that you only discover later.

In the illustration below, if you were to trim to the right, and go far enough to eliminate the clip in v1, the v1 roller would jump to another transition.

The problem has been in the system for a long time — since asymmetrical trimming was introduced in the early 90s. Well, believe it or not, it’s finally fixed. In Media Composer 4.0 rollers never move. This may sound like a small thing, but if you spend a lot of time in trim mode, it might just be reason enough to upgrade. As the I Ching says “Perseverance Furthers.”

It’s the end of a long day and you’re working on a complex timeline: eight or ten audio tracks, many video tracks. You’ve been patching your source material all day long and the patch panel is scrambled. Now you want to cut something straight across. Maybe you’re assembling two sequences together, maybe you’re integrating part of an old version. You want all your patching to go away, so you carefully re-patch, one track at a time. But all those track numbers start looking the same and sure enough, you make a mistake.

There’s an easier way. Hidden in the Special Menu is a option that instantly and reliably patches everything straight across: Restore Default Patch.

If you’re like me, you’ll probably want this command assigned somewhere on your keyboard. Then, with one button press, you’ll know you’re inserting material where it belongs.

Open the Command Palette (Command-3) and your Keyboard settings. Select “Menu to Button Reassignment.” Click the button you want to change, pull down the Special Menu and select Restore Default Patch. The letters RD appear on your chosen key. Hit it and standard patching is restored. I use it many times a day.