imovie editing question in iMovie 11... aaaarg! :)

[eroxx]

I am watching a clip, and where I paused it (spacebar), I want a playhead inserted. How do I do that via a keyboard shortcut? because if I move the mouse, I lose the spot!

[Dave Braine]

Sorry, but what do you mean by "I want a playhead inserted". When you pause, the playhead is there at the point that you paused.

[eroxx]

When I pause and press the right arrow (to move the playhead forward one frame), I lose the playhead. If I double click and them press the right arrow, it works, but there's no way I can precisely double click in the exact area that I paused it ... Hope that makes sense?!

[Dave Braine]

It does now. Not at a Mac at the moment, so can't have a play with it.

[eroxx]

k .. Looking forward to see what you can find ... It's so frustrating because I would think that there is an easy way to use a keyboard shortcut (spacebar) to create a playhead and then another keyboard shortcut to nudge it this way or that way ... Thanks

[kRobbin]

Better playhead management would be great. Along the same lines, whenever I drag my mouse over video sequences, playhead moves sequentially to the path of my mouse which drives me nuts.

Is there a setting to only move playhead on mouse click?

[eroxx]

I'm so glad that someone else finds this as frustrating as I do! bump, bump, bump!

[Mac Eagle]

Are you trying to do an edit or trim at a specific point? If so, you should be able to bring up the precission editor by right-clicking on the clip and then it will open the clip in editing mode. From there you should be able to drag the yellow markers to the exact spot you want your edit at. There's also a seperate option that allows you to quickly trim the exact start point of your clip.

Not in front of the Mac right now but you may have to turn on the advanced editing features in Preferences. Can't remember right now if this is the case.

[eroxx]

the issue is that by doing it with the mouse is not precise... there are some clips where I figure out where I want to split it by watching it and then pressing spacebar to pause where I want it clipped. then I may want to nudge it just a few frames in a certain direction, but as soon as I move the mouse, I lose the spot.

[Dave Braine]

Yes, but using the precision editor gives you that accuracy.

[eroxx]

I'd love to see a screencast of that in action?? Would be great.

[Dave Braine]

OK. In my iMovie11, playing the Project with the spacebar. If I use the spacebar to stop/pause play, the playhead doesn't move. I can then nudge it left or right by using the arrow keys. If you want to move the mouse, then hold down the ctrl key while you do it. With the ctrl key still pressed, left click and that brings up a menu where you can slit the clip.

If you are trying to cut from one clip to another at a very specific point, click on the cogwheel of the righthand clip and choose the Precision Editor.



Use the mouse to move the blue line to position the cut point where you want it.

[eroxx]

w/ regard to your first answer, I press spacebar and it pauses. I then hit control (thanks for that) and whereas the mouse doesn't change the playhead, if I press left or right arrow, nothing happens ... ?

[Dave Braine]

Don't press ctrl when using the arrow keys.