Paste inoperative if any tracks are locked. - poor documentation

clement5 wrote on 4/5/2022, 12:33 PM

I have been editing 4 tracks with 3 locked to prevent accidental changes. I can copy a frame on the unlocked track, but cannot paste it back. After unlocking all of the other frames, it pastes back nicely to the target track. I am trying to paste the frame to the unlocked track, not any of the others. This is a strange error.

It may be related to the fact that sometimes when I copy a frame or section of a video, it randomly pastes back to a different track.

I had an inspiration, and found that clicking on the LH of the track and it turns blue, fixed the problem. However the help file was useless. It says "Paste: The contents of the clipboard are added into the current project at the position of the start marker." Notice it makes no reference to selection the track on the L side. Being used to OK, now I can do what I want. However using "cyan" for selecting the track and dark cyan for disabling the track display is lamebrained because it is easy to miss. Why not use Yellow for the M when clicked. When hovering over the track control buttons I see a display of the function, but there is no display for hovering over the other parts of the track control, so the option to select the track is well hidden. Another possibility is to Have a color ribbon appear on the length of the track which would make the selection obvious. I had been depending of the fact that when a track is not selected (cyan color) the paste would always be in the same track it came from. The best solution would be to emulate EXCEL where you click on the cell you want to paste to. Make it work like familiar programs! Another possibility is to have it give an error message saying "Click on the L of the track you wish to paste into" rather than just doing nothing. They need a good expert in how to make programs more transparent and easy to use as well as a good document writer.

Comments

Former user wrote on 4/5/2022, 1:56 PM

@clement5 Hi, I have no problem pasting to the unlocked track if it is selected whether other tracks are locked or not, if no track is selected it paste back to it's track of origin from where it was copied from, but if that track is locked then no paste occurs, that makes sense because that is the purpose of 'locking', to prevent changes. pasting to the position of the start marker is quickly realised after minimal experimentation without having to read the instructions, The colours i have no prob with either, it's quite clear on my screen which is selected, Solo or Muted,

I don't write this to be confrontational but sorry there's no need for 'a good document writer' for the controls you mention, they are fairly self explanatory & ergonomic after a short trial of them,

All controls quite clear & easy to notice if selected, hovering over the track control buttons to display the function works fine as you say but there's no need for a 'Select track' display, click on it once & you've learnt

PS, when I first got MEP yes there was a small learning curve, but it didn't take long to get the hang of it & now after using other software I can look back & say nothing is perfect but this program is one of the simplest & easy to use programs on the market.

johnebaker wrote on 4/5/2022, 2:46 PM

@clement5

In addition to @Former user's comment, whic I agree with - an alternative method of duplicating an object and putting it on an unselected track is to hold down the Ctrl key and drag the object in to position on another track, however this requires that the source and target tracks are unlocked.

HTH

John EB
Forum Moderator

browj2 wrote on 4/5/2022, 3:18 PM

@clement5

Hi,

...clicking on the LH of the track and it turns blue, fixed the problem. However the help file was useless. It says "Paste: The contents of the clipboard are added into the current project at the position of the start marker."

Open the manual and search for "track header."

Page 50:

Note: You can define a destination track for importing the objects. Click on the track header to select a track. All objects you import will now be inserted into the selected track. Clicking again on the selected destination track disables this function.

Page 87:

However, there is no mention of the track header turning cyan. Magix should add that.

VPX (page 49) is slightly betterl:

Assign a destination track when importing: You can define a destination track for importing the objects. Simply click to mark the track header of the appropriate track. From then on, all objects will be imported to this track. Clicking again on the selected track disables this function.

VPX Page 54 The following is missing from the MEP2022 manual:

Note on track selection for paste modes: Pasting to a destination track (by clicking on the track header) is possible in single track ripple, multitrack ripple and overwrite modes. If no track has been selected, the destination track will be selected automatically.

The best solution would be to emulate EXCEL where you click on the cell you want to paste to.

That would be impractical as there are no cells, only tracks. You have to place the playback marker.

Note that there is another difference between pasting to a selected track at the playback marker and pasting with no track selected. In the first case, if in single object mouse mode and if there is an object on the selected track at the location of the playback marker, the pasted object will come on top of the existing object like a transition, and the original object will be trimmed to the end of the added object if the end is less than the duration of the existing clip, or overtop of two or more existing objects if the pasted object is longer. In mouse mode for single track or all track, the pasted object will be inserted; the existing object(s) will be cut and the right part moved.

If no track is selected and you are in single object mouse mode, the object will be placed on another track, possibly creating a transition over existing objects.

All kinds of fun!

John CB

clement5 wrote on 4/5/2022, 11:32 PM

I am now aware of the way to paste when there are locked tracks, but it is perverse that it doesn't work the same way as when there are no selected or locked tracks, namely the past is to the same track it is copied from. MEP or now MS is not consistent and the help file really is too sparse!