Using Undo and Redo

     

Undo and Redo are powerful editing tools. Undo allows you to try an edit and then view it. You can undo it if you don't like it or if you made a mistake. Feeling freer to try something knowing that you can simply undo it is a good idea. Because you are using a computer, use this tool at will . It's truly one of the advantages of using a nonlinear editing system. You'll find that you feel more confident in your "tryouts." You activate Undo by selecting Edit, Undo or by pressing Cmd+Z.

Redo does the opposite . It lets you toggle between two edits in the Timeline or quickly go back if you have undone one or more edits and you want to keep them the way they were earlier. You activate Redo by selecting Edit, Redo or by pressing Shift+Cmd+Z.

You can keep undoing or redoing edits or changes you have made by continuing to use the Undo and Redo commands. They undo or redo in the order in which they were performed. The number of allowable Undo commands is set in the General tab of the User Preferences window. The maximum is 99. Keep in mind that setting this option to the maximum uses up RAM.

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You must be careful using the Undo feature. Be cognizant of exactly what you might be undoing! For example, you might have made a change that is not reflected in the current sequence that you don't want to undo. It might be best to make a copy of the Timeline if you will do some serious experimentation so that you can keep track of this new edit before you start doing many edits or changes you might want to undo. You can always add the new edits back to your sequence or just keep working on the copied sequence. You can even create sequences just for this purpose.

Workflow Issues and Duplicating Sequences or Clips

If you plan to make a massive "tryout" set of edits, you might want to create an entire sequence for them. That way, you can either delete the sequence or keep it as an alternative to possibly show a client, for example. You can duplicate an entire sequence in which to make these alternative edits by selecting the sequence in the Browser and pressing Opt+D; by selecting Edit, Duplicate; or by Ctrl-clicking a sequence and duplicating it using the resulting pop-up menu. Keep in mind that there is no limit on the number of sequences you can create within the same project.

You might use this technique to keep scenes in separate sequences until you are ready to marry them all into one sequence, especially if you have a lot of them. It's more efficient to navigate in a smaller sequence than in a larger one. You end up saving a lot of time if you break sequences with hundreds of edits into smaller sequences.

You can also use this method to create sequences that differ from each other only slightly. For example, you could create sets of commercials that are identical except for different addresses or phone numbers inserted in the same basic commercial to be aired in different markets. Just rename them with the names of the different phone numbers or addresses to keep them organized.

In a similar vein, you can duplicate, copy, and paste any object in the Browser to place a copy of it in another bin for quick access from a bin containing clips that relate to it. Remember that subclips first appear in the bin in which the clip you created them from resides. For that reason, you might want that longer master clip to be set either in its own bin or in other bins as well. You don't copy the media file; you simply create more pointers to it located where you might want to use it in multiple sorted bins . If you want to, you can delete this copied clip after subclipping from it just to have fewer objects to sort through in any given bin. Using copies of master clips is advisable so that you don't inadvertently delete the original master clip from your project. It's also possible to simply drag this master clip around from bin to bin, but I find it easy to keep duplicating it. Copy (Cmd+C) and Paste (Cmd+V) are quick keyboard commands. They allow quick copies to be made and require less scrolling around, opening and dragging windows to place the master clip where it should be. Another method is to hold down the Ctrl key while you drag a clip. This creates a duplicate while leaving the clip's original location unchanged.