[Implemented] Constrain vertical movement of clips

[hanspb]

When moving a clip from one track to another, I'd like the ability to constrain the movement to vertical only. It is far too easy to accidentally move a clip left/right after it is carefully timed.


Hans Petter

[Andy]

Yes, I know what you mean. Not sure how easy it is to implement - it might be that we can't physically prevent the x motion (for example, how do you know that the user is going to move the clip up or down if the first movement is left or right), but if you move the clip to another track with, say, the shift key held down we set the x position based on what it was before it was moved.

Or maybe provide a 'Move to track x' menu option on the clip, which would preserve the in/out points?

[asilnevs]

If you put the Play-head on the first frame of that clip, you can move it then vertical to another track and the clip will snap automatically to the play-head if you drop it somewhere down there.

[hanspb]

@Andy: Yes, using Shift key was what I had in mind. Forgot to mention it. 'Move to track x' menu option on the clip would also be a possibility. Maybe both, to give people a choice.

@Asilnevs: I know that is possible, but a Shift-drag is a lot faster. Especially since the playhead doesn't snap to the first frame of a clip (which btw it should in my opininon).


Hans Petter

[Andy]

How about something like this:

clip.png (55.2 KiB) Viewed 683 times

I created some prototype code that makes the vertical line appear at the clips original timeline position when you press the 'Alr Gr' * key, and then as you move the clip, the label shows the x position relative to the original clip position. When the label shows zero, the clip has the same x position as originally. So the vertical line can be used as a rough guide, and the label for precision.

EDIT: * Why the Alt Gr key? Shift + clip removes the clip, Ctrl + clip opens the clip properties. The Alt key sets focus on the project files tree for some reason, so Alt Gr is about the only alternative left.

[hanspb]

Sounds good, if the X offset value is in frames . Also, would it be possible to let the moved clip snap to the vertical line?

[Andy]

Thought you might ask about the snapping

I had a quick go at doing that without much luck, but it probably just needs a bit more time to look at it properly.

I'll have a look at showing the offset in frames, it should just be a simple conversion.

[hanspb]

I took a look at how this is done in Final Cut Pro, which is about the only other editing app I have used. There, when snapping is on, the vertical line appears whenever a clip snaps to something. And it snaps to everything: Both ends of audio and video clips across tracks, markers and the playhead. Also note the yellow tool tip, showing the "X Offset".

FCP_snapping.png (47.29 KiB) Viewed 676 times

[Cenwen]

The great proposition of Andy seems to be similar.

[hanspb]

Yes, it is more or less similiar. I also see now that I got a bit carried away , because what I proposed has more to do with snapping and horisontal movement than constrained vertical movement. But the two are related as long as the vertical movement involves snapping.

In FCP, it is possible to shift+drag to move vertically. Also, one can select a clip (by clicking on it) and use the keys Alt+Uparrow or Alt+Downarrow to move clips vertically.

[Andy]

So I had a bit more time to play around with this. The clip will now snap to the indicator line (i.e., the original x position of the clip). But now I'm wondering, if it is going to snap to the original x position, is it still worth showing the indicator line/frame offset amount?

[hanspb]

No, I don't think so. But I think that both the indicator line and frame offset would be nice to have when moving horizontally

[Andy]

I've committed this to the trunk.

[Andy]

The new behaviour is to use CTRL + drag. This now prevents any movement in the horizontal direction. Due to that, there is no need to show the line, so that is gone. This behaviour works with clips & transitions.

[hanspb]

Great! I can't wait