I am pretty darn green to video editing anything. I’ve been messing with Shotcut for a few days and have made a nice slideshow with 36 pics while adding text to several slides. The end result was great, but an issue I’m having with “workflow” is my reason for this post. I could not find the answer, but it may very well be that I just am not using it correctly.
Adding slides with transitions is easy. My problem is I add text to a few slides and now need them longer to allow time to read the text. Why can’t I extend JUST that clip? If I slide it longer the following clip is shortened. I would like to be able to slide a clip longer while every clip after it would just extend the overall length of the video without changing anything else. Also, if I stretch a clip after adding text, that text is only on the clip for the original duration of the clip…why doesn’t it stretch as well??
It also looks to me like it is near impossible to add a clip into the middle of a timeline?
I really hope I am just missing something because it seems really stupid to NOT be able to edit the middle of the timeline without affecting everything else. Also, having to plan out each slide’s text ahead of time, so that I can get its length set properly for the text before adding the next clip, for the entire video is crazy time consuming.
If this question is answered somewhere, please include the link.
If you want to lengthen a clip while maintaining everything else on the timeline intact as you have it then you need to use the Ripple feature. With it you move a clip to how far you want it to go and everything else to the right side of it will move accordingly keeping the same distance. So you turn it on, stretch the clip as long as you want it to be then all the clips in the same track to the right of it will move along with it. If you have other clips on other tracks then you have to also make sure to turn on the “Ripple All Tracks” by right clicking on the timeline and picking it before stretching your clip. When you are done, turn off the Ripple effects.
You can see a demo of the Ripple feature in this vid. Does that help?
Open the clip you want to add to the middle of the timeline in the source viewer.
Press C/CTRL C to copy. Place the play head at the position you want to insert the clip into the timeline. Press V/CTRL V to insert the clip and move everything right or B/CTRL B to overwrite and move everything right.
The blue clip was inserted when the play head was at the red dot.
Shotcut version 18.11.18 Download here!
V1 (Video Track 1): Main video or slides
V2 (Video Track 2): Open Other/Color/Enter (Transparent color) in Source. Will appear as black.
Drag from source to the timeline.
You can extend it, split it, fade it, text filter, etc…
Then you can arrange where you want text to be at.
Ripple for the win!! I figured there was a way…I have not put it into practice yet but I’m sure it is what I am looking for. The text NOT stretching when stretching a clip, though, I hope to get a solution for that at some point. At least that is merely copy, paste, delete filter and the text then extends the entire clip again.
Then, you have probably added the filter to a track instead of a clip, or you have reduced the duration of the filter in the Keyframes panel. Otherwise, if you have steps to reproduce supply them as it works for me.
With ripple OFF and with a transition between clips, when you stretch the clip longer, the text does not follow.
Just gave ripple a try and I was all excited and then very quickly disappointed with it Ripple works great, as described…but NOT when you have a transition between clips >=( Ugh, ripple will still save me time in the long run. The last step of my process will have to be adding the transitions then and in that case I need to make sure the clip is long enough to account for a transition on each end. Another little thing I’d like to see work differently. Why does adding a transition take away from the length of the clips? I get that they are then TECHNICALLY overlapping, but since ripple doesn’t work with a transition then you cannot adjust the length of the clip without shortening the one behind it!
I realize I won’t learn this program overnight or in one 36 pic project, but I really want to get started on a larger project (1500 or so pics and the sole reason I am getting involved with editing software) but also am putting alot of value in getting the most efficient work flow dialed in before starting on that big project.
That was the tutorial I saw. I guess I don’t understand what the differences are in the results between the two effects. I have no real video editing experience so terms like trimming don’t mean much to me.
When you overlap the clips, if you have 3 clips, the overlap creates a gap between clip 2 and 3.
With the trim method there is no gap left between clips.
With ripple on you can’t use the trim handles to create transitions. You can use the trim handles to make adjustments to clip length and duration. Slip and slide the clips depending on which handles you use.
(Snapping needs to be off.) Snapping on: Snapping off:
Hover the mouse cursor at the end of the clip. When in red or green, left click and drag in either direction.
Differences:
One clip split. No transition. Total length: 9 seconds, 5 frames
One clip split. Drag one clip over the other one. Total length: 8 seconds, 34 frames
One clip split. Drag by the trim handle. Total length: 9 seconds, 5 frames
Thank you! That definitely helps. I guess I need to pull together some scratch clips and just play with this to get a better feel for the results I can achieve.
Does that help?
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Ripple works great, as described…but NOT when you have a transition between clips >=( Ugh, ripple will still save me time in the long run. The last step of my process will have to be adding the transitions then and in that case I need to make sure the clip is long enough to account for a transition on each end. Another little thing I’d like to see work differently. Why does adding a transition take away from the length of the clips? I get that they are then TECHNICALLY overlapping, but since ripple doesn’t work with a transition then you cannot adjust the length of the clip without shortening the one behind it!
Snapping off: 
