How to add all clips from a timeline to playlist

Help/How To
1

Is there a way to quickly add all the clips in a timeline to the Playlist?

My use case is when dividing raw footage into clips that are worth further processing. I am importing long videos and scrubbing through the timeline and making clips that are worth keeping and deleting the material in between. At the end I have have about 100 small clips worth keeping and which I want to export. Is it really correct that the only way to the get all those clips into the playlist is to add the clipsone at a time? i.e. I Select the clip on the timeline. Press C to copy. Press Esc to shift focus to the Source Viewer and then press Shift+A to add the clip to the playlist.

Is there a set of commands that can select all the clips (Ctrl+A already does this) and add all the selected clips to the playlist? (I guess they should be added in chronological order as they are present on the timeline, but I am not so fussy on that point in my case).

2

Hi @HotBlack , There’s not an automatic way of doing this as far as I am aware, but just to add you could perform a SLIGHTLY easier set of actions for each clip:

  1. C
  2. Click “source” tab
  3. Drag screen to Playlist.

(C - Source - drag)

Another suggestion - if you are on Windows, you might be able to write an Auto Hotkey script to make the process more automatic.

3

Well… After all these years, I finally installed AutoHotkey :smile:
I then took hints from your tutorial here, and was able to semi-automate sending Timeline clips to the Playlist.

I first select the first clip, then I press the “H” key on my keyboard, and the script does this:

  1. Copy the clip to the Source (C)
  2. Send the copy to the Playlist (Shift + A)
  3. Move the selection to the following Timeline element (empty space in that case) (Ctrl + RightArrow).
  4. Move the selection again, to the next Timeline element (the next clip) (Ctrl + RightArrow).

Then I press “H” again for each subsequent clip.

Here’s the script:

H::
Loop, 1
{
Send, ^{c}
Sleep 500
Send, +{a}
Sleep 500
Send, ^{Right}
Sleep 500
Send, ^{Right}
}
return

The ½ sec. (Sleep 500) pauses between each steps are not required. I only used them for the sake of the demo video.

I’m sure the script can be improved to make it go through the entire timeline without having to press H on each clip. But I’m not there yet :wink:

Also, I originally installed version 2.0, but when I tried to run the script, I got an alert telling me that it would only work on version 1.XX.

4

Brilliant, @musicalbox! If this was your first AHK script, then BRAVO! :grin: :+1: :+1:

Try removing the “return” at the end of the script. Also you could add this to the beginning of your script:

 #Requires Autohotkey v2.0  
 SendMode("Event")
5

Hi @musicalbox, oops, sorry, I gave you the wrong advice. Your script is for version 1 and removing the “return” won’t help or adding the extra text I gave.

Please ignore me. You can either keep using it with V1 or I can convert it to V2 easily. Too late now though, I’ll try to work on it tomorrow.

6

Thanks for the Autohotkey tip, it works for me too.

However, if there are other users who also have this problem. Would it be possible to make a feature request?

7

Hi @HotBlack - Glad the AHK script works - however, yes it would be a nice feature. To make a feature request, try changing the category of your thread to “suggestion” - if you can’t, post again and mark it “suggestion”. Unless @shotcut reads this and changes the category himself.

Going back to @musicalbox’s AHK script - I converted it to AHKv2. Note the V1 version works fine still although V1 is being phased out. I’ve actually made two versions -

  1. Script 1: Use for clips which are separate - ie they all have a gap in between them on the timeline.
  2. Script 2: Use for clips which are consecutive - ie they have no gaps in between them on the timeline.

I changed the hotkeys to CTRL + K and CTRL + L btw, just in case users forget to turn the script off after using, which creates big problems when typing “H” …
Shotcut copy clips to playlist MB MusicalBox AHK-v2.ahk.txt (1.1 KB)

(Remove the fake TXT extension)

Just change the “Loop” value to a higher number. Note - I have set the attached scripts to a loop value of “2” so you can test it with just 2 iterations first.

I would leave that in so that the script doesn’t run too fast and overwhelm Shotcut.

8

Screenshot of my revised script:

Shotcut Copy clips to playlist AHK script
Shotcut Copy clips to playlist AHK script1309×879 123 KB

9

I tried your script @jonray.

But with Script 1, I get a problem I also experienced when adding more than one Loop to my script:
Each clip is selected in turns, but the scrip always sends copies of the first clip to the Playlist.

In the demo below I increased the Loops to 5, but I get the same result when it is set to 2.

Script 2 works fine though

10

Ah, OK, I didn’t nave time to check it properly. Thanks! Weird! I’ll investigate when I get a chance. Bit busy though but I’ll do my best!

11

Well @jonray, you were right when you said that pauses prevents Shotcut from being overwhelmed.

I added a ½ sec Sleep on the first line of the loop and Script 1 works well now
lqlVglEC3K

12

If you need to do this your workflow is wrong. I will not be adding this feature to Shotcut.

13

Hi @shotcut, so here’s my workflow - a friend of mine sends me long .flac audio files with multiple (say 20) pieces performed vintage flute-players from the 1920’s - 1950’s.
I need to separate each piece and export as a Mp3 or WAV.

So I place the .flac onto V1, and split it at the beginning and end of each piece, guided by the waveforms, giving 20 clips.
To export each clip, I click on each in turn and use the “C- source-drag” technique, which places each clip in the playlist.
Then I select “Export all Playlist Bin Items” and Hey Presto .. result! I just need to re-name each Mp3 using the Windows re-naming file feature.
This entails “C-source-drag” 20 times.

(An alternative method is to add a marker (Alt +M) stretching the range of each clip creating 20 markers, then export Marker 1, then Marker 2… etc.
This entails “Alt + M” 20 times, plus “Export Marker n” 20 times - 40 operations).

Are these workflows wrong? Or am I missing something?
With this suggested feature I could perform this in just a few clicks.

However, thankfully the Auto HotKey script works like a dream so I will use that instead, and I thank you for considering it.

Yep.. works now! Thanks.

14

Add as you go, contrasted with do it all and add them later. Or use the Source player to mark a region, add it to the playlist, and repeat. Both are add-as-you-go but from different work spaces.

15

“Add as you go” would be the workflow I’d choose in the case described by @HotBlack. It is part of a video editing process called Logging.

Logging: Selecting what footage you would like to extract from the source media and deposit on your local hard drive to be manipulated further in the editing process.

There is even a Shotcut layout preset called Logging (that can be edited to your preference).

Instead of using the Timeline to extract the sub-clips, drag your main clip in the Source panel then:

  1. Move the Playhead to the START position of your first sub-clip
  2. Press the I key on your keyboard.
  3. Move the Playhead to the END position.
  4. Press the O key on your keyboard.
  5. Click on the + button in the Playlist panel (or use Shift+A) to add the sub-clip to the Playlist.

Repeat until all your sub-clips are added to the Playlist.

16

Good advice folks… thanks @shotcut and @musicalbox. There’s a problem with selecting my mp3 subclips using the source player instead of the timeline, though, because I need to be guided by the waveform to know where to make the splits.
So on this occasion it’s probably back to AHK… but there’s food for thought here, and I have several options. THANK YOU!