How Do I Keep My Markers Put in FCP? at DVinfo.net

Jeff Kearney · April 13th, 2007, 10:36 AM

There may be a simple solution to this, but I haven't found it yet, so here it goes...

I am about to re-edit a sequence in FCP. This will require several ripple deletes. I have already inserted several chapter and compression markers into the sequence, and after performing the first ripple delete, I noticed all of my markers after the delete were offset from the original locations by a time equal to the clip that was deleted. I saved the new file separately so I can always go back to the original, but I will eventually need to continue to delete segments and do not want to manually adjust the times of over 60 markers!

Is there a command that locks a marker to a specific frame in my sequence and adjusts the marker's position after an edit? Thanks in advance for any responses!

Boyd Ostroff · April 13th, 2007, 10:45 AM

I don't use markers all that much, but I think if you place them inside the clip (as opposed to placing them above the clip on the timeline) they will maintain their position. You need to select the desired clip on the timeline before inserting a marker and then it will appear inside the clip itself.

Lisa Shofner · April 13th, 2007, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

I don't use markers all that much, but I think if you place them inside the clip (as opposed to placing them above the clip on the timeline) they will maintain their position. You need to select the desired clip on the timeline before inserting a marker and then it will appear inside the clip itself.

That's true, but if you put the markers in the clips, when you export to DVD Studio, it will not recognize those as chapter markers. I think it just drops them if they are "in the clip".

If you are editing the timeline, i don't see how you could keep the markers because they are based on timecode - if you add/remove frames then the time will be off for the marker.

Jeff Kearney · April 13th, 2007, 11:26 AM

Interesting...I will look into that approach...although I still won't save any time at this point since all of my markers are on the timeline and I will have to re-create them on the clip...and also, if chapter (or even possibly compression) markers on the clip are not recognized by DVD Studio Pro, then this approach will only create another problem for me...

Hopefully there is a way to lock a marker's position, be it in the clip or on the timeline...

Bill Davis · April 13th, 2007, 10:24 PM

As is discussed here, CLIP markers move with the clips being edited. Timeline markers do not.

Explore the keyboard shortcuts and it's pretty easy to transfer them.

Hightlight the track you want to move the markers TO then SHIFTDOWNARROW to move to the next timeline marker, then I'd hit the shift backarrow to move a frame back then hit the M key to set a new track marker then shift-downarrow move to and use the keyboard shortcut to delete the old timeline marker. Three combination keystrokes that will take you less than a second to move any marker from the timeline to whatever video track you select.

Then edit to your hearts content, and use the process in reverse to re-set your chapter markers, just moving to each marker and double-tapping the M key to set new timeline chapter markers.

Thats one of the beauties of FCP. There are lots of shortcuts if you take the time to explore them.

FWIW

Jeff Kearney · April 15th, 2007, 07:19 AM

Thanks for the response Bill...I haven't been back for a couple days to catch your response...

So if I read you correctly, your method is to go to each timeline marker quickly using shortcuts, adding an additional marker at that location on the track, deleting the timeline marker, edit like crazy, then go to each track marker quickly using the shortcuts and re-establishing the markers on the time line.

If that is correct, I have another scenario...Let's say that each time I place a marker in my sequence, I create it simultaneously on both the timeline and clip on a particular frame of the sequence. I would do this knowing that only the clip markers move with an edit, and only the timeline markers are recognized in DVD Studio Pro. So, I go ahead and create a combination of, say, 90 chapter and compression markers for the sequence. I find later that I need to edit the sequence, so I delete roughly 4 minutes of it. My timeline and clip markers after the edit are no longer aligned, but are shifted.

What I did was find the time difference of the original sequence and the edited sequence- about 4 minutes- and went to each timeline marker located after the edit and subtracted 4 minutes (actually -4:20:05) from its timeline location in the "edit marker" box. This worked well, as I was able to visually see that each timeline marker was moved back in line with the clip markers I originally placed. This was still, however, a tedious process, since I had about 50 timeline markers to shift to the proper location.

Now...do you know of a way to copy all clip markers to the timeline (or vise versa) with one command, instead of using the one marker at a time approach? This is what would REALLY save me time on particular projects like this. If I could, I would delete all of the old timeline markers, then copy and paste all of the clip markers to the timeline. Moving from marker to marker quickly using shortcuts is fine, but I could do without that if I could just copy and paste all the markers at the same time.

Bill Davis · April 15th, 2007, 01:42 PM

Jeff,

I predicated my response on the fact that you ALREADY had a project with only timeline markers and you needed to change them to clip markers to facilitate keeping those marked points after editing.

If you're starting a project from scratch - set ONLY clip level markers for anything that might change during editing, because as you've learned, global timeline markers will change relative to editing your clips.

Sorry, I don't have time to go into more details, I'm getting ready to leave for NAB tomorrow.

BTW, it looks like the whole chapter markers ballgame is changing in the new FCP2 release. Check the engadget site for details.

April 13th, 2007, 10:36 AM	#1
Jeff Kearney New Boot Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 11	How Do I Keep My Markers Put in FCP? There may be a simple solution to this, but I haven't found it yet, so here it goes... I am about to re-edit a sequence in FCP. This will require several ripple deletes. I have already inserted several chapter and compression markers into the sequence, and after performing the first ripple delete, I noticed all of my markers after the delete were offset from the original locations by a time equal to the clip that was deleted. I saved the new file separately so I can always go back to the original, but I will eventually need to continue to delete segments and do not want to manually adjust the times of over 60 markers! Is there a command that locks a marker to a specific frame in my sequence and adjusts the marker's position after an edit? Thanks in advance for any responses!

April 13th, 2007, 10:45 AM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	I don't use markers all that much, but I think if you place them inside the clip (as opposed to placing them above the clip on the timeline) they will maintain their position. You need to select the desired clip on the timeline before inserting a marker and then it will appear inside the clip itself.

April 13th, 2007, 11:26 AM	#4
Jeff Kearney New Boot Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 11	Interesting...I will look into that approach...although I still won't save any time at this point since all of my markers are on the timeline and I will have to re-create them on the clip...and also, if chapter (or even possibly compression) markers on the clip are not recognized by DVD Studio Pro, then this approach will only create another problem for me... Hopefully there is a way to lock a marker's position, be it in the clip or on the timeline...

April 13th, 2007, 10:24 PM	#5
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	As is discussed here, CLIP markers move with the clips being edited. Timeline markers do not. Explore the keyboard shortcuts and it's pretty easy to transfer them. Hightlight the track you want to move the markers TO then SHIFTDOWNARROW to move to the next timeline marker, then I'd hit the shift backarrow to move a frame back then hit the M key to set a new track marker then shift-downarrow move to and use the keyboard shortcut to delete the old timeline marker. Three combination keystrokes that will take you less than a second to move any marker from the timeline to whatever video track you select. Then edit to your hearts content, and use the process in reverse to re-set your chapter markers, just moving to each marker and double-tapping the M key to set new timeline chapter markers. Thats one of the beauties of FCP. There are lots of shortcuts if you take the time to explore them. FWIW

April 15th, 2007, 07:19 AM	#6
Jeff Kearney New Boot Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 11	Thanks for the response Bill...I haven't been back for a couple days to catch your response... So if I read you correctly, your method is to go to each timeline marker quickly using shortcuts, adding an additional marker at that location on the track, deleting the timeline marker, edit like crazy, then go to each track marker quickly using the shortcuts and re-establishing the markers on the time line. If that is correct, I have another scenario...Let's say that each time I place a marker in my sequence, I create it simultaneously on both the timeline and clip on a particular frame of the sequence. I would do this knowing that only the clip markers move with an edit, and only the timeline markers are recognized in DVD Studio Pro. So, I go ahead and create a combination of, say, 90 chapter and compression markers for the sequence. I find later that I need to edit the sequence, so I delete roughly 4 minutes of it. My timeline and clip markers after the edit are no longer aligned, but are shifted. What I did was find the time difference of the original sequence and the edited sequence- about 4 minutes- and went to each timeline marker located after the edit and subtracted 4 minutes (actually -4:20:05) from its timeline location in the "edit marker" box. This worked well, as I was able to visually see that each timeline marker was moved back in line with the clip markers I originally placed. This was still, however, a tedious process, since I had about 50 timeline markers to shift to the proper location. Now...do you know of a way to copy all clip markers to the timeline (or vise versa) with one command, instead of using the one marker at a time approach? This is what would REALLY save me time on particular projects like this. If I could, I would delete all of the old timeline markers, then copy and paste all of the clip markers to the timeline. Moving from marker to marker quickly using shortcuts is fine, but I could do without that if I could just copy and paste all the markers at the same time.

April 15th, 2007, 01:42 PM	#7
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	Jeff, I predicated my response on the fact that you ALREADY had a project with only timeline markers and you needed to change them to clip markers to facilitate keeping those marked points after editing. If you're starting a project from scratch - set ONLY clip level markers for anything that might change during editing, because as you've learned, global timeline markers will change relative to editing your clips. Sorry, I don't have time to go into more details, I'm getting ready to leave for NAB tomorrow. BTW, it looks like the whole chapter markers ballgame is changing in the new FCP2 release. Check the engadget site for details.