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Sub-Clipping

Some of Avid Express Pro's strongest features are subtle. Certainly breaking clips into sub-clips is one of those tools you'll get so used to that if you edited on another system in the past, you'll wonder how you got along without it. Although you read about sub-clips when performing a DV Scene Extraction, this section covers this feature in more detail.

When you recorded your clips, you marked an IN and OUT point that created a master clip. Many times you'll simply record large portions of clips just to simplify the recording process. These clips can be divided into smaller clips called sub-clips. Although this is a great method for media management, keep in mind that a sub-clip still uses the master clip's original media files (see Figure 6.8).

Figure 6.8. Sub-clips share the media files from the original clip.

To make a sub-clip from a master clip:

  1. Load the clip into the source monitor.

  2. Mark an IN and OUT point inside the clip. If you do not include an OUT point, the last frame will be logged as the OUT point. Select the tracks you want to include in the sub-clip in the source side of the Timeline track selection area.

  3. Hold the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows), and place your cursor over the source monitor. The cursor will switch to a "hand" icon.

  4. Click, hold and drag the picture from the source monitor into a targeted bin.

  5. A new clip will appear in the bin with the extension .Sub and an appended number (see Figure 6.9).

    Figure 6.9. Sub-clips get numbers appended to them. Notice that the icon in text view is different than both a master clip and a sequence.

The Sub-Clip Key

If you have a lot of clips you'd like to sub-clip then you'll probably want to use the Make Subclip button. Mark the clip you'd like to sub-clip and select the Make Subclip button from the Fast Menu located in the Composer window (see Figure 6.10).

Figure 6.10. The Make Subclip button automatically creates a sub-clip.

NOTE

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If you press the Option key (Macintosh OS) or the Alt key (Windows) when you click the Make Subclip button, you'll have the option of choosing which bin to store the sub-clip in.

Creating Sub-Clips Using the DV Scene Extraction Feature

Breaking clips into sub-clips is also an option if you captured your material from a DV source. Simply record your footage and select DV Scene Extraction from the Bin menu. The DV Scene Extraction dialog box will appear (see Figure 6.11).

Figure 6.11. Options for DV Scene Extraction.

Simply choose Create Subclips and your master clip will be divided into sub-clips according to when the camera was turned off or on. This feature only works on DV footage due to metadata, which was covered in Chapter 2. I use this feature almost exclusively when I'm working on a DV project. Many times the deck or camera I'm recording from has errors when searching for an IN or OUT point so if I have enough drive space, I record large amounts of footage and let DV Scene Extraction do all the work.

Using Sub-Clips to Create More Space on Your Hard Drive

Sub-clips can also be used to free up space on a hard drive. Let's say you recorded several long clips and realized that you only need a certain amount of the material.

  1. Make sub-clips of just the shots you need. Place these in a separate bin.

  2. Highlight the master clip from where the sub-clips originated and delete any media files associated with it. Do not choose to delete the master clips.

  3. Highlight the sub-clips and select Batch Capture from the Bin menu.

  4. The new master clips will be created and so will new sub-clips. Any master clips that were already used in a sequence will now need to be replaced with the new clips. However if you used sub-clips, the new sub-clips will replace the old ones.

Here are a few things to consider when using the sub-clip functions:

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