Snapping & split bar - features or not?

[takis]

Just lost a week's work AGAIN, due to the bracket little pop-up window...🤬

We talked about this before, and some improvement was done by changing the orientation of the window, from horizontal to vertical.

However, this awful little feature is still alive , waiting to destroy your timeline... The bloody window comes up, whenever you reposition the red cursor-line and has 3 buttons, a scissor and 2 brackets.

I reposition the red line every time I want o split or replay a part of a clip. This is a main part of video editing guys! The danger here is to accidentally click one of the two evil brackets, that will silently set that point as the ...beginning of the whole project, killing all previous video/audio! 🤬

Of course you can always undo, but the risk here is that -being absorbed by your project- you just do not notice it!  Then you save, exit and ...YOU HAD IT! Next time you load the project, your work is crippled...

This happened to me yesterday, I noticed it today and I am pulling my hair out of despair!

There are several other issues, like resizing cross-faded clips. There, the program adds/removes length in a weird manner. I personally prefer to remove cross-fade effect, resize the clips and re-apply it.

And of course there are my complains regarding the automatic leftward snap all over the timeline... Come on guys, it's more a problem than a feature! I will keep on complaining until you delete one of us, me or it!

I cannot be the only one suffering from this leftward magnetism in the timeline!  I have to continuously work with ALT pressed and even so, I am not totally protected from this "feature". Just try to move a clip's end to the left, even pressing ALT. Everything goes to the left no matter what... You have to always keep your mind on this leftward gravity! Lord have mercy!

Finally, I have been using VP for many years, I might be critical in my comments but I believe that the programmers should be aware of our view.

Thanks,

Takis

 

[borate]

A specific VP release has several variants;  it's a marketing thing.  Reinstall it numerous times (no need to re-download) and you may get the desired behavior.  For example...

This is what is seen here. The horizontal scissors bar is offset from the timeline cursor and IMO doesn't interfere.  In some recent releases the scissors block is dark grey.

To drag a clip end to the left, first create a slight gap by dragging the following clip to the right.  No <alt> required.  After resizing, rejoin it.

VP never resizes clips at transitions, but it will move them if the OPTIONS | EDITING tab default is "Move Clips to Overlap.'  But only when there's insufficient space to transition.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

The first point is use Save Project As and you lose nothing if you make an unnoticed faux pas. As you know Save Project overwrites the old .vpj file.

".......The bloody window comes up, whenever you reposition the red cursor-line and has 3 buttons, a scissor and 2 brackets. ...."

It does but  it is now horizontal and well above the thumbnail line.

When it was vertical you had a point but now, IMHO it shouldn't be too difficult to click the Split scissors.

If you want to split and feel you may hit one of the brackets why not use the scissors button under the Sequence Preview window and ignore the cursor line option altogether? There are options there to split ANY track.

With Crossfades between different clips neither clip is changed in size (duration) unless you invoke the Overlap option or have it automatically set as the default in Options/Editing.  If you set this to Ask Me you can pick the type of transition you want at any join. Freeze frame will not shorten any clip.

Nat

[takis]

First of all, thanks for your prompt response.

To me, the pop-up window is still vertical but, whatever shape it has, the problem is the same. I do NOT use the scissors to split, I do right-click and use the menu. However, I use the red-line all the time, in order to aim my actions on the timeline... As far as I know, there is no other way to split, resize or select at a point, without bringing the red-line there! Very often, I have to zoom more and click again to reposition it. Working for years with VPad, I am very fast at it. So as I click to move the red-line, I accidentally hit the bracket that popped beside it. Usually I notice and then CTRL+Z is my best mate. But if I don't and save, I had it!

"Save as" is not a solution. I cannot keep different copies of my working project! It does not work this way, I lose track with recent changes. Imagine working on a Word document, do you use "save as" to a new filename every time you add text? I don't think so...

True, at some important projects I keep a backup. However by advancing it gets obsolete by the minute...

The automatic snap is not a feature. It's TROUBLE and indeed a big one.... In my humble opinion you should remove it, even if it was the boss's idea 🙂.

It works more like a leftward gravitational force! Everything I do to the left of the timeline, has an effect on clips at the right, no matter how far away they are. Producing means synchronizing multiple clips that lie on different tracks. I cannot work all the time with ALT pressed, in order to keep my right clips at their spot.

Like a match-3 game, every time I move a brick at the left, all the others fall into a new position. 

I don't know how to make it clearer of how annoying this is...

Regards,

 Takis

[borate]

SNAP is disabled in one of the VP incarnations.  You will need to reinstall repeatedly until you get it.  The method for dragging the end of a clip to the left sans snap is shown above.

Neither of these operations requires <alt>.

A handy way to locate split points, an alternative to the buttons beneath preview, is <shift-right/left arrow keys>.

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

"....To me, the pop-up window is still vertical ......"

Re-run  the vpsetup.exe file. No need to uninstall. If nothing changes do it again. There are several "versions" possible doing this, each with a slightly different configuration, one will probably show the horizontal scissor box. Might have to do the re-run a few times but it should eventually appear.

"....As far as I know, there is no other way to split, resize or select at a point, without bringing the red-line there! ..."

Correct!  The cursor marks the site of the split action

"....Working for years with VPad, I am very fast at it. ....."

Fast perhaps but not that accurate apparently.     I hate to say it ..Just slow down a shade!

Try to get the horizontal box version..It might ease things a little. If you are dragging the cursor line to a split position, grab the block at the top to move it and then right click without releasing the block. The Split option menu, as you rightly say appears. No need to even move the cursor anywhere near the scissor box. This always an All Tracks split.

Nat

 

 

 

[takis]

Thanks,

I will try to reinstall several times in order to get the snap-less version. If I am lucky, with a horizontal box...

Excuse me for asking, but why are these different "in shell" versions randomly accessed?

Wouldn't it be more straightforward if -instead of putting our hopes on a roulette- we could select the version we want via a checkbox during installation?

For example, I could uncheck "snap", instead of installing continuously hoping to win the lottery of a snap-less future 🙂.

Anyway, I think my message was sent, I hope  it passes to the programmers.

Thank you again for your patience,

It's another extra-hot summer in Greece (39 deg at the time of writing)🥵

Regards,

Takis

 

 

[borate]

Quote

Excuse me for asking, but why are these different "in shell" versions randomly accessed?

You will have to put that question to NCH marketing.^_^  The intent appears to be tracking what features are most popular. There may be more than two slightly different 'flavors' with each version.

Makes some sense for seeing how folks embrace extras, like added effects or a menu change.  But operational variance invites confusion.  An opinion FWIW.

 

[Dangerfreak]

On 7/6/2020 at 7:05 AM, takis said:

Just lost a week's work AGAIN, due to the idiotic bracket little pop-up window...🤬

[...]

Takis

Hi Takis,

I also don't like this little pop-up window and so I wrote a program that can patch your videopad.exe . You can download it here:  http://dangerfreak.bplaced.net/temp/BlockScissorsPopupVP.zip

It's NOT a virus or anything harmful, and it does NOT destroy your videopad installation. It just creates a patched copy of videopad to your desktop.

However, there's absolutely no warranty, that this patch is working for you (for me it works perfectly, tested with beta versions 8.58 - 8.62!). And even though I did the best I can, I'm not liable for any defects that occur after using this program.

[takis]

Hello my friend,

Thanks for the patch. I downloaded it and will give it a try!

Regards,

Takis