[ This article was first published in the September, 2006, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]
The following technique was contributed by Andy Mees.
[In last month’s newsletter, I] noticed Larry’s comments on slipping keyframes. This was with respect to applying a video filter to a specific portion of video by use of the range selection tool … oh clever me, I already knew about filters and range selection, but Larry’s info was describing how one would use the slip tool in the viewer to slip the selected range, and therefore also the associated keyframes. Normally, my practice would be to slip video filter keyframes using the click and drag method within in the clip keyframe area in the timeline … however, I knew that this trick only applies to video filter keyframes not to audio level keyframes.
Anyway, the article prompted me to have a look at slipping audio level keyframes… and sure enough it works, albeit without benefit of GUI feedback.
Lets assume that you have applied a series of audio level keyframes to a clip and now wish to slip them a little, heres how:
- Load the audio clip from the timeline into the viewer
- Select the Slip tool
- Then simply click and drag on any keyframe (or anywhere on the level line itself) within the waveform area of the viewer to slip the clip’s keyframes (the cursor will change to the slip tool as you hover over the right area)
… release the mouse button and you’ll see that the keyframes have indeed slipped appropriately, whereas the clip’s in, out and placement, has remained unchanged.
Unfortunately however, there’s none of the feedback that we’ve come to expect from rest of the FCP interface during this process… no phantom marks showing where the keyframes are moving to, no counter to show how many frames left and right the keyframes are being moved.
It seems to be another one of those not-quite-finished undocumented features.
