Ripple n' roll, slip n' sliiiiiide

Select the Trim tool ('T'), click a clip, and you get this:

You can now use the trim left/right keys (,/.) to roll the selected clip without changing its duration or the clips either side. Or use [/] to select the in or out edits and ripple those.

This morning, in a key-fumbling daze, I selected the clip using option+click. The result is this:

…which leads to the obvious response, vis:

Try it. Now try the , / . keys.

Yeah, I know, right? Slide on by, man. Nice and smooth.

Oh, and Damien, the slacker whose blog this ostensibly is? He looks exactly like Beaker. With exactly that expression.

Keywording

One of the most common causes of my explosive swearing at FCPX is when it doesn't quite keep up with me when I'm adding keywords, and I end up with bins smart folders keyword collections called things like 'i' and 'nterviews.' Grrr. This week's MacBreak Studio freebie from the Dynamic Duo of Mac video training Steve Martin and Mark Spencer covers another way of working:

 

You know, I've been a keyword nut since FCPX came out, and I never spotted the playhead info skimming trick. Brilliant.