Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
In a film cutting room, the film is placed inside a splicer and a razor blade is used to physically cut the celluloid.
The digital equivalent of this in Final Cut Pro is the Blade tool, which can be used to cut the clips in the
Timeline in a similar way. This is useful if you need to split a clip in order to delete an unwanted section or to
drag another clip in between the cut. To delete a section, you first cut the clip with the Blade tool at the point
where you want to delete, select the unwanted portion, and press the Delete key on the keyboard.
To initiate the Blade tool, choose it from the Tool menu or press B.
To cut a clip at the skimmer or playhead position in the Timeline, choose Edit
⇒
Blade or press +B.
Performing a three-point edit
Three-point editing is a long established editing technique where the editor sets three edit points to specify what
section of a clip is used and where it's placed in an edited sequence. This is done by setting In and Out points
for the source clip and a third point in the Timeline to determine the clip's placement. A fourth edit point is in-
ferred by the source clip's duration. This is similar to the overwrite edit performed in Chapter 5, where the
skimmer position in the Timeline specified the start or end point for the clip selected in the Event Browser.
Three-point editing also works the other way around by setting In and Out points in the Timeline and specifying
a single edit point for the source clip. You already know that to set In and Out points for a clip in the Event
Browser you simply drag a selection with the mouse, but how do you do this to clips in the Timeline? The same
menu bar items (Mark
⇒
Set Selection Start/End) and keyboard shortcuts (I and O) apply to marking a range in
the Timeline, but you need to use the Range Selection tool, available in the Tool menu or by pressing R, to
manually drag a selection (see Figure 6.9).
Figure 6.9
Dragging out a selection with the Range Selection tool.
The Range Selection tool is identified by the yellow selection icon beneath its cursor. It allows you to drag a se-
lected range over one or more clips in a Storyline. Another way to make a selection without invoking the Range
Selection tool is to place the skimmer over a clip and press the X key. This selects the entire clip and the yellow
selection handles can be used to modify the selection's in and out-points.
After a selection has been made, the In and Out points specify the area in the Storyline where the clip is to be
placed and all that remains is to set one more edit point (either In or Out) for the source clip. Performing an
