Drag a file from the Windows Explorer, Explorer, or Project Media window to the Trimmer window. This method is sometimes more convenient than placing the entire media file on a track and then editing the event.

Tips:

• You can automatically load a file into the Trimmer window by selecting the Double-click on media file loads into Trimmer instead of tracks check box on the General tab in the Preferences dialog. When this check box is selected, no events are created when you double-click a media file in the Explorer, Media Manager, or Project Media window. Instead, the Trimmer is displayed to allow you to choose the portion of the file you want to use.

• If you want to open the original media file that was used to create a subclip in the Trimmer, right-click a subclip in the Project Media window and choose Open Parent Media in Trimmer from the shortcut menu.

Right-click the event and choose Open in Trimmer from the shortcut menu.

If you want to open the original media file that was used to create a subclip in the Trimmer, right-click an event and choose Open Parent Media in Trimmer from the shortcut menu.

The entire media file—not just the contents of the current event—will be opened in the Trimmer.

When you’re editing in the Trimmer, you can choose to display video in the Video Preview window or in a video monitor within the Trimmer.

• If you want to display the Trimmer cursor position in the Video Preview window, verify the Show Video Monitor button is not selected and then right-click the media file in the Trimmer window and select Show Video in Preview Window.

  When you click to position the cursor in the Trimmer window, the frame at the cursor position will be displayed in the Video Preview window, and the transport controls in the Trimmer window will play the current file in the Video Preview window.

• If you want to display a dedicated video monitor in the Trimmer window, select the Show Video Monitor button . When the video monitor is on, you can click the Show Video Frames button to show or hide video frames in the Trimmer timeline.

If you want to preview Trimmer and timeline frames at the same time and in the same size, perform the following steps:

1. Drag the Trimmer and Video Preview window to separate panes in the Window Docking Area.

2. Select the Show Video Monitor button in the Trimmer window.

3. Right-click the Video Preview window and choose Scale to Fit Video Preview Window. As you adjust the size of the Window Docking Area, the preview frame sizes remain locked.

   

4. If you want to display the Trimmer cursor position on an external monitor, select the Trimmer on External Monitor button .

   If external monitor is enabled for the Trimmer and the Video Preview window, focus will determine which source is sent to the external monitor: click in the Trimmer window to send its video to your external monitor; click the timeline or track list to send its video to your external monitor.

If Show Video Frames is selected, press Ctrl+Shift+Up to give more space to the video and Ctrl+Shift+Down to give more space to the audio. You can also right-click the audio or video timeline and choose Video Height Larger, Audio Height Larger, or Video and Audio Equal Height from the shortcut menu.

When you’re working with multichannel or multistream audio in the Trimmer, you can choose whether you want to add multichannel/multistream audio to the timeline when creating events.

Right-click the audio waveform in the Trimmer and select Use All Streams and Channels to allow to determine which audio streams and channels to use:

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• When using surround AC3 or Windows Media, the stereo downmix stream will be used when adding media to a stereo project. When adding media to a 5.1 surround project, the surround stream will be used.

• In other cases, all streams and all channels will be added to the timeline.

When Use All Streams and Channels is not selected, only the stream and channels displayed in the Trimmer will be added to the timeline.

When the Import stereo as dual mono check box is selected on the General tab of the Preferences dialog, two-channel audio fi
les will be added to the timeline as separate mono audio events on separate tracks.

The audio events are grouped, and tracks that are created by adding media will be panned hard left and hard right. You can right-click the waveform in the Trimmer, choose Channels, and then choose a command from the submenu to choose which channel is used for that event.  

Perform any of the following actions to select data in the Trimmer window:

• Use the transport controls to play your media file. Press I or [ to mark the beginning of the selection, and press O or ] to mark the end of your selection.

• Drag in the Trimmer window to select a range of data.

• If you know the timecode of the beginning and end of your selection, double-click the boxes in the lower-right corner of the Trimmer and enter timecode.

To select only the audio or video portion of the media, right-click and choose Select Audio Only or Select Video Only from the shortcut menu, or you can press Tab or Shift+Tab to cycle the selection among audio only, video only, or audio and video.

If Show Video Frames is selected, press Ctrl+Shift+Up to give more space to the video and Ctrl+Shift+Down to give more space to the audio. You can also right-click the audio or video timeline and choose Video Height Larger, Audio Height Larger, or Video and Audio Equal Height from the shortcut menu.

When the Import stereo as dual mono check box is selected on the General tab of the Preferences dialog, two-channel audio files will be added to the timeline as separate mono audio events on separate tracks.

The audio events are grouped, and tracks that are created by adding media will be panned hard left and hard right. You can right-click the waveform in the Trimmer, choose Channels, and then choose a command from the submenu to choose which channel is used for that event.  

Dragging a selection to the timeline

1. Open a media file in the Trimmer.

2. Select the portion of the file that you want to use.

3. Drag the selection to the desired track. The selection becomes a new event on the track. If the media file includes both audio and video, each is placed on a separate track.

Three-point editing

1. Open a media file in the Trimmer.

2. Mark the in and out points in your media file to create a selection:

1. Click the Play button in the Trimmer to start playback, or click to position the cursor in the Trimmer timeline.

2. Press [ or I to mark the beginning of the selection.

3. Press ] or O to mark the end of the selection.

You can also select two points in the timeline and a single point in the Trimmer to perform three-point editing. In this mode, ripple editing is not applied.

3. Position the cursor in the timeline where you want to add the event.

4. Click the Add Media from Cursor button to insert the selection after the cursor position in the currently selected track, or click the Add Media up to Cursor button to insert the selection before the cursor.

Four-point editing (using a Trimmer selection to fill a timeline selection)

1. Open a media file in the Trimmer.

2. Select the portion of the file that you want to use.

3. Select the portion of the timeline where you want to use the Trimmer selection.

4. Click the Fit to Fill button . The Trimmer selection is time-compressed or stretched to fill the timeline selection.

Overwrite timeline events with the Trimmer selection

The standard behavior of the Trimmer is to perform punch-in edits on the timeline: when you add media to the timeline, the events created by the Trimmer are laid over existing events on the timeline. You can delete or move the events you create with the Trimmer without changing the underlying events.

If you want to replace the contents of the timeline when creating events from the Trimmer, select the Enable Timeline Overwrite button . When Enable Timeline Overwrite is selected, ripple editing is not available.

The drop-down box at the top of the Trimmer lists files and events that have been opened in the Trimmer.

To open a recently used file, choose its file name from the Trimmer History drop-down list.

To sort the list, click the Sort Trimmer History button . The files in the drop-down list are sorted in alphabetical order. To sort in reverse alphabetical order, hold the Ctrl key while clicking on the Sort Trimmer History button.

To clear the list, click the Clear Trimmer History button . All files in the history drop-down list are removed.

To remove a single file from the list, click the Remove Current Media from Trimmer History button . The media file is removed from the History List and the Trimmer window is blank.

Adding markers or regions

1. Position the cursor or make a selection in the Trimmer window.

2. Press M to place a marker or R to place a region.

   Trimmer markers and regions function identically to timeline markers and regions.

Saving Trimmer markers and regions

Click the Save button . All markers and regions in the Trimmer are saved back into the file.

If you want to automatically save markers and regions to the file, select the Automatically save Trimmer markers and regions with media file check box on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.

Notes:

• You cannot save markers and regions to a read-only file or to file types that cannot render. If markers and regions cannot be saved, the Save button is unavailable.

• If the selected file type cannot save markers internally, will save the metadata to an external file with an .sfl extension (using the same base name as your media file).

Click the Open In Audio Editor button to start your selected audio editor and open the audio event or audio portion of the file.

To change the default sound editor, click the Browse button next to the Preferred audio editor box on the Audio tab of the Preferences dialog.

Creating a subclip

1. Create a selection in the Trimmer window.

2. Click the Create Subclip button . The Create Subclip dialog is displayed.

When an event has been trimmed or split so it plays only a portion of an event, you can also right-click the event in the timeline and choose Create Subclip from the shortcut menu to create a subclip using that portion of the media file.

3. In the Name box, type the name you want to use to identify the subclip in the Project Media window. By default, the file name is used with a subclip number appended.

4. Select the Reverse check box if you want the subclip to be played backward when you add it to your project.

5. Click OK to create the subclip. You can then create events from subclip via the Project Media window.

Selecting a subclip in its parent media

1. Right-click a subclip in the Project Media window and choose Open in Trimmer from the shortcut menu.

2. Click the Select Parent Media button in the Trimmer window. The subclip’s original media file is opened in the Trimmer, and the portion of the media that represents the subclip is selected.

If you want to open the original media file that was used to create the subclip in the Trimmer, right-click an event on the timeline (or a subclip in the Project Media window) and choose Open Parent Media in Trimmer from the shortcut menu.

Click the Copy Snapshot to Clipboard button to copy the current frame to the clipboard.

Click the Save Snapshot to File button to save the current frame as an image file.

The Save Snapshot to File dialog is displayed to allow you to choose the format and location where you want to save the file. The file is automatically added to the Project Media window.

You can automatically load files into the Trimmer window by selecting the Double-click on media file loads into Trimmer instead of tracks check box on the General tab in the Preferences dialog.

When this check box is selected, no events are created when you double-click a media file in the Explorer or Project Media window. Instead, the Trimmer is displayed to allow you to choose the portion of the file you want to use.