Final Cut Pro 5 - changing speed without ripple

Kasra_WTF · Post by **Kasra_WTF** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:28 pm

I've been making AMVs in Adobe Premiere 6.5 for the Mac for the past few years, and decided it's time to upgrade. As I started I went through many tutorials and have successfully converted my dvd footage into an appropriate codec, imported it properly into FCP, etc., etc. But now I'm stuck on one dumb little thing that I can't seem to find the answer to in the stack of manuals that came with FCP 5.

Usually when I'm working on an AMV, I work out of order. I'll drop in clips, then polish as I feel the need. It's never been a problem working in Premiere, but when I change the speed of a clip in the timeline in FCP, it ripples the rest of the timeline forward or backward to match the time difference created by the speed change. So for example if I slow down the clip so that it's one second longer, everything after it in the timeline ripples one second forward. As I usually have some editing past that point already done, it knocks it out of sync and I have to go back and re-set all of my editing.

So my question: is there a way to prevent speed changes to a clip from making the remaining timeline footage ripple forward or backward in the timeline? I'm guessing I want some sort of overwrite functionality enabled, but short of doing every edit as a three point edit, I can't figure out how to prevent it. (I don't use three point editing because I'm usually messing around with the speed to see what looks and flows properly, and I tend to make many minute edits in the process.) At worst I can lock the video tracks I'm satisfied with and work in an empty video track, but that's an inconvenient hack.

If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. I'm going to pour over the manuals again to see if I can find the missing piece.

Kasra

Minion · Post by **Minion** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:32 pm

i'm not sure i understand the question.

are you asking howto change the speed on just one clip? control click on it, and theres an option for clip speed. to speed up, make it above 100. to slow it down, set it below 100.
you can also reverse footage this way, by setting negative values. like -100 would be normal speed in reverse.

Kasra_WTF · Post by **Kasra_WTF** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:35 pm

Sorry. I got a little long-winded there.

No, I know how to change the speed. The problem is that when I change the speed, it ripples everything in the timeline as well. So if I change the speed of a clip so that it's two seconds, everything after it on the timeline is two seconds later. I don't want it to do that. Is there a way to prevent it?

Kasra

Minion · Post by **Minion** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:40 pm

i've barely touched FCP at all, so i'm basing this on my premiere knowledge.

move it to another track and change the speed from there

Kasra_WTF · Post by **Kasra_WTF** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:33 pm

I tried that, but unfortunately it still ripples the rest of the tracks, unless I lock every track except the one with the clip I'm working with. I'm hoping someone knows a preference or a keyboard shortcut I can use to avoid having to use this hack.

Thanks for your suggestions so far.

Kasra

Kasra_WTF · Post by **Kasra_WTF** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:24 pm

Okay, I've done a bit of poking around online, and I've discovered my gripe is an inherent problem in Final Cut Pro. There is a work-around for it that I've tested and have verified its workabilty. An explanation can be found here:

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/ma ... balis.html

Take a look at "Using Match Frame to do Slow or Fast Motion Without Rippling the Timeline". Once you've finished step 4, you can drag your clip from the Viewer back down into the timeline where you want it. (Make certain you're dragging it into the lower two-thirds of the video track, so that it overwrites rather than ripples.) For good housekeeping, follow step 8 and restore the original clip to 100% speed so that it's normal speed in case you want to use it later for footage.

Kasra

Shazzy · Post by **Shazzy** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:08 pm

I just open up an empty sequence, drag the clip in, change speed, and drag back.

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:49 am

Shazzy wrote:I just open up an empty sequence, drag the clip in, change speed, and drag back.

This explains why a Final Cut Pro user I watched editing video did this. I thought it seemed inefficient to have to change the speed of a clip in another sequence and drag it over to the main one. She must have been used to doing this because she did it pretty fast (and had to do this multiple times, too).

YouTube · Post by **Kionon** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:43 pm

Since I am now working in FCP for my remasters, this is good information to know. I don't forsee ever giving up premiere 6.x on my PC, but FCP came with my mac, and I'm loathe to let it go to waste.

JudgeHolden · Post by **JudgeHolden** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:31 am

I was looking at this thread in a daze .... people have problems with speed changes? Then I realized that I do my speed changes completely different. I set in and out points in the timeline and then use "Fill to Fit". That gives me an overall speed adjustment (faster or slower), without moving things in my timeline. The I go in (If I need to, i.e. to ramp footage) and adjust the key frames with the timing tool, thus avoiding all these headaches. Plus, I have found that this allows for finer control .....