FCP X: Slip and Slide Trims

Most of the time, we need to trim where two clips touch – the edit point – to get our edits to flow smoothly.

NOTE: I wrote an entire article on trimming techniques. Read it here.

But there are two other trims that don’t change the edges of a shot, they change the content or location of a clip.

DEFINITIONS

Slip trim. Often called a “slip edit,” this changes the content of a clip in the Timeline without changing its location or duration.

Slide trim. Also called a “slide edit,” this changes the location of a clip in the Timeline without changing its content or duration.

I use slip trims VERY frequently for adjusting B-roll, but only rarely use a slide trim.

NOTE: Slide trims were an essential part of editing when Timelines only supported one or two tracks of video. Now, they are little used because we have an unlimited number of layers upon which to place clips. Still, FCP X includes this feature and its worth learning.

CREATE A SLIP TRIM

Here’s a typical example illustrated by using this NASA footage. Notice that the red solar flare and yellow star change in the middle of the clip.

The clip itself is exactly six seconds long. (Clips can be any duration for this to work, I’m simply illustrating the duration to prove that it doesn’t change as we do this trim.)

To engage the Slip tool, first select the Trim tool (shortcut: T) from the Toolbar. As we learned in the earlier article on trimming, if we click the Trim tool at the end of a clip, it turns into the Roll trim tool.

However, if we click the Trim tool in the middle of a clip, it becomes the Slip trim tool. Click and drag with the tool and notice that we are changing the content of the shot, without changing its location or duration. (Here, I’m shifting the start of the content to the left by a little more than a second.)

NOTE: What this is doing in technical terms is a ripple trim to both the In and Out of the same clip in the same direction and by the same amount.

You can drag a clip as much as you want – until it runs out of handles – to change the contents of the clip to best fit the needs of your project. (Here, I’m shifting the start of the content to the right by about three seconds.)

NOTE: Handles are extra video before the In and after the Out of a clip. Handles are essential for trimming and transitions.

I find Slip trims really useful in precisely determining the portions of a clip I want to use for B-roll or highlights.

NOTE: When the trim is complete, the duration of the clip still remains the same.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

You can use a variety of keyboard shortcuts to slip a shot. First, though, you need to select the Trim tool, then select the clip and type:

Entering a timecode value also works to shift the content of a clip. Using either the keypad or the numbers on your keyboard type:

Plus followed by a number shifts the content of the selected clip that many frames to the right. Minus followed by a number shifts the content of the shot that many frames to the left.

NOTE: You don’t need to use punctuation. Type “10″ moves the selected edit point ten frames. Type “110″ moves it one second and ten frames. Type “10110″ moves it one minute one second and ten frames.

Also, FCP can do the math for you. If your project is 30 frames per second, typing “40″ moves the selected edit point one second and ten frames. If your project is 60 frames per second, typing “40″ moves it 40 frames.

THE SLIDE TRIM

A slide trim (also called a “slide edit”) moves the position of a clip in the Timeline without changing the content or duration of the clip. In the past, this was used because all clips needed to fit in a single track or layer in the video editor, because the software didn’t support more than two tracks of video.

NOTE: Technically, what this does is move a middle clip by ripple trimming the Out of the preceding clip, while at the same time ripple trimming the In of the following clip in the same direction and by the same amount. Because both the Out and In are trimming in the same direction, the middle clip moves with all other clips remaining in the same position.

Here’s how it works:

Here, for example, I slid the clip to the left (top) and right (bottom). Notice that the content and duration of the middle clip did not change, but the durations of the clips on either side of it did.

NOTE: A big limitation of this technique is that you can only slide a clip to the limit of the two clips around it. You can’t slide a clip past the beginning of the clip before it, nor after the end of the clip after it. And, the slide stops if either surrounding clip runs out of handles.

AN ALTERNATIVE

You might ask, “Larry, wouldn’t it be easier to simply put the middle clip above the other two clips and drag it where you want?”

And the answer is ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

If you select a clip with the Arrow tool and use the standard keyboard shortcuts: comma/period or timecode – you will slide the clip along the Timeline.

The benefit to moving a clip using a Slide, as opposed to the Position tool, is that the Slide trim does not leave gaps.

SUMMARY

These two trim techniques are not obvious, but they can be very helpful once you know how they work. Experiment with them for your own projects and see what you think.


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12 Responses to FCP X: Slip and Slide Trims

  1. Slava says:

    Hello! Is it possible use tool trim for clip without clik mouse? I mean if i want select only two edges clip and then drag this clip inside only this space. Without move this clip on the timeline, without change position this clip on the timeline.
    thank you

    • Larry says:

      Slava:

      You can use keyboard shortcuts to select the Trim tool (type: T), but you must use the mouse or a track pad to select a clip in the Timeline. That’s because there could be hundreds of clips in an edited project and FCP X would have no easy way to tell it to select clip number 463, even if we knew what number that clip was in the first place.

      You can select ALL the clips in a project by typing Cmd + A.

      Larry

  2. Slava says:

    Right! But when i moving playhead on timeline and choose some clip and stop on this clip my playhead, i can use “C” or Command B and FCP knows that it must choose this clip where stay my playhead or cut this clip where stay my playhead. Why when i takeTrim FCP can not works with clip where stay my playhead? Why it is not works like principle that FCP used for other situation before?

    Thank you very much for your answer

    • Larry Jordan says:

      Slava:

      Ah… good points.

      There are three keyboard shortcuts that can help in this situation:

      * Option + [ — this trims the In of the clip your Playhead/Skimmer is in to the position of the playhead.

      * Option + ] — this trims the Out of the clip your Playhead/Skimmer is in to the position of the playhead.

      * Option + \ — this trims the In and the Out of the clip your Playhead/Skimmer is in to the selection range of the clip.

      This is often called “trimming the top and the tail.”

      Larry

  3. Slava says:

    Sorry Larry, but this three keyboard shortcuts can not help in this situation. Because they do not make “…changes the content of a clip in the Timeline without changing its location or duration.” They don’t make Slim Trim. May be it will be possible in the future:)
    Thank you very much for your help!
    and Happy New Year!:)

  4. Slava says:

    One question more:)
    Command editor have one command: Select the Left and Right Edit Edges
    For this command shortcut is \ But nothing change when you press this shortcut. What mean this command? How it is work? I see only when you have some selection clip and you want remove selection of this clip.

    • Larry says:

      Slava:

      If you use the up/down arrow keys to navigate to an edit point in the Timeline, pressing \ selects both the In and the Out underneath the playhead.

      This allows you to do a Roll trim just using the keyboard. However, I don’t know any way to do a slip trim just using the keyboard.

      Larry

  5. Slava says:

    Thank you, Larry!

  6. Tim says:

    Comma and Period are causing my clip to Slide and NOT slip. I really want to by able to nudge my slip edit 1 frame at a time with a keyboard shortcut.

    • Larry says:

      Tim:

      For Slip to work, you need to select the Trim tool, then select the clip with that tool selected.

      Larry

      • Tim says:

        Thanks Larry. I don’t know what I was doing wrong, as I did have the trim tool selected, but I finally got it to work. The first time, I think I selected the clip, then switched to trim tool and tried to slip without the clip being active for slipping yet. I deselected then reselected the clip and then it worked.

  7. Al says:

    Thanks very much Larry !!!

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