How do I move items on the timeline with keys (MEP 17)

Branner wrote on 4/8/2011, 5:51 AM

Sorry if these are a trivial questions, but I must be missing something simple here.

 

Just downloaded the Trial of MEP 17 Plus and I can't find how to slide items along the timeline for accurate overlapping placement.

 

Shift, Alt, Ctrl and cursors doesn't work, cursors on their own do nothing, but in Keyboard settings I can't find a named task to bind these keys to.

 

Using the mouse isn't practical, so I must be missing something fundamental here, as everything else seems to be key-bindable, but I can't find any mention of this in the help.

 

I'd just like to know how to slide selected single, or multiple, items left or  right along the timeline, one frame at a time.

 

 

Comments

cpc000cpc wrote on 4/8/2011, 9:10 PM

Branner,

 

Sorry I don't know of any KB: equivalent for a mouse click+drag in MEP. I tried some windows 'Accessibility Options' with no success. Only suggestion is to zoom in to single frame accuracy -- from the drop down menu at bottom right of the timelines or [Ctrl + 1] shortcut. The zoom centers on the playback cursor so move that first.

 

Multiple items will move together if you using one of MEP17's intelligent mouse modes. You can move all the following items (same or later start time) on one track [8] shortcut, or on all tracks [7] shortcut.

 

Note for others: Multi track mode is new in MEP17; earlier versions only did single track and the objects had to touching. You had to pre-select what you wanted to move a spread out group.

 

Regards,

Carl

Branner wrote on 4/13/2011, 7:37 AM

Thanks for the reply, but that's a dumb omission in video editing software.

 

Why on earth would I want to waste time zooming in to single frame view (select start, select end, zoom) then move things (click, drag, swear, drag back) then unzoom (click fit, swear, select start, select end, zoom) rather than just select, left, left, done?

 

Not directed at you, BTW, just the authors, who seem to think that time is free and 10 steps is better than 1.

 

I knew I should have given up when the very first help item I checked was still in German.

cpc000cpc wrote on 4/13/2011, 10:44 AM

Branner,

 

Returning to your problem I just discovered something which might help. If you right click in the preview window you can choose 'Show time'. This in itself is not new but I've only ever made use of it to accurately position the play cursor or note the running time as I'm previewing. What's news to me is the fact that if I'm moving an object (click drag) along the timeline the time display shows the min:sec:frame accurate position of its start.

 

Perhaps you're wanting to do something different, but that only situation I can think of where I'd want to position an object with such accuracy would be to create a jump cut between it and another clip. eg I have a clip one track and move through it till I find the last frame I want from it using, after roughly position the play cursor, the arrow keys to note the exact min:sec:frame. Then I drag the second clip across watching the time display until it matches. If the second object is on a track below I'd get my jump cut; if it's on the same track I'd get an overlap and therefor the start of a transition.

 

A more direct approach is to first position the play cursor exactly where you want your object to go and then gently drag your object toward it and it will 'snap' to the cursor.

 

Regards,

Carl