Can't save clips as separate files

[ChancyRat]

I know that someone told me I could save a clip, for example if I edit an audio file in the upper right area, or on the timeline, to save it so it's always available for any new project I start, but I can't figure it out. I have exhausted right-clicking on every conceivable clip, and all the main menu drop down options have nothing to save an individual clip. Thanks.

[Paul LS]

If you edit it in the Preview window you can drag it to the media panel as a subclip.

[ChancyRat]

If you edit it in the Preview window you can drag it to the media panel as a subclip.

I am spacing on how to drag to the media panel.
Preview is when you double click a clip from the upper right area (organization?) and edit in-out points (but nothing else can be done there). Are you saying ... mouse onto that preview window and drag ... but to where? Whre is the media panel? (I can't open PE at the moment, if that's what I should do and it will be obvious, I'll check later).

[Paul LS]

Yes, just drag and drop from the preview monitor (setting in and out points selects the region to save) to the Media panel, the Media panel is where all the clips that you use in your project are displayed.

Note that it is not a true "clip" as such, ie not a video file... it is just a sub-clip that is referenced to the original clip. If you want a true clip you would need to export the region from the timeline using File>Export>Movie (if you just want audio you can File>Export>Audio, if I recall :0)

[ChancyRat]

Yes, just drag and drop from the preview monitor (setting in and out points selects the region to save) to the Media panel, the Media panel is where all the clips that you use in your project are displayed.

Note that it is not a true "clip" as such, ie not a video file... it is just a sub-clip that is referenced to the original clip. If you want a true clip you would need to export the region from the timeline using File>Export>Movie (if you just want audio you can File>Export>Audio, if I recall :0)

Ah, then I think I was asking about the latter.
However, I didn't know I could drag from preview back to the media panel (what I was calling the organizer?). I've been editing a clip in preview, closing it, duplicating it, opening the 2nd version and continuing from there. ACK!

But that method doesn't save clips to carry forward into every prel file. That's what exporting is for, right?
I believe I tried that and thought it was undergoing some massive export of everything. So the method is to highlight the clip you want in the timeline? And if you want several clips that are side by side, or even spaced randomly? Can you select all of them and do one expert, or you do one at a time. But the key is to highlight it? I will allow the process to complete if that's what I should do. I aborted the effort when I was worried I'd done wrong.

[Dave McElderry]

ChancyRat, using File, Export only exports all or part of what's in the timeline, not specific individual clips directly. From your description it sounds like you're exporting the entire timeline instead of just the section that you need.

If you only want to export a section of the timeline you need to adjust the Work Area Bar so that it's only over the section that you want. The WAB is the gray line just above the timeline. It has handles on each end that you can drag to the in and out points that you need. When you're ready to do the export you have the option of selecting the entire timeline or just the WAB. If you have multiple tracks and you only want to export a clip that's in one of them, you'll need to temporarily disable all but that one. When you do the export you can specify the name and where you want to save the clip so that you can find it for later use.

[ChancyRat]

ChancyRat, using File, Export only exports all or part of what's in the timeline, not specific individual clips directly. From your description it sounds like you're exporting the entire timeline instead of just the section that you need.

If you only want to export a section of the timeline you need to adjust the Work Area Bar so that it's only over the section that you want. The WAB is the gray line just above the timeline. It has handles on each end that you can drag to the in and out points that you need. When you're ready to do the export you have the option of selecting the entire timeline or just the WAB. If you have multiple tracks and you only want to export a clip that's in one of them, you'll need to temporarily disable all but that one. When you do the export you can specify the name and where you want to save the clip so that you can find it for later use.

Ahhh, so I was definitely doing it wrong. I know the WAB, it's the bar to adjust for short renderings. I am right now talking about only short or individual clips, so what do you mean by disabling all but the one? I had at first thought to move the clip to an empty part of the timeline and putting the WAB over that, but that doesn't sound like disabling anything...

As for doing this to an entire set of clips, everything on the timeline, I thought I saw export start to produce mpg files... but that's not what the clips are, they're different format, HD, etc... If I were do do this to a set of clips, for example the first 8 clips on multiple lines of the timeline that constitute the lead-in slides, audio, and a bit of HD, does exporting this group mean that when I open up the next new prel file, and drag that cluster (it's one file I presume) onto the project space, that ... what, there's one thumbnail and when I drag that to the timeline all the constituent clips appear where they're supposed to relative to each other, as separate clips and in proper spacial relationships?

[Dave McElderry]

You can't save multiple tracks this way. You can only export as a video or audio file, which doesn't preserve any of the project properties from PrEl. If I understand what you're trying to do it sounds like you want to save sections of a project, preserving multiple tracks and clip properties, and then be able to use them in another project. There's no way that I know of to do this from within the program, but you may find this thread helpful:

viewtopic.php?f=81&t=7967&p=71044&hilit=copy+paste#p70962

One workaround that might be useful in certain cases would be to save a group of tracks/clips under a separate project name as a sort of template that you could then use to start a new project. But this has limitations in that you're limited to only what you specifically saved. You still can't easily add additional saved clips, especially multiple tracks.

Are we homing in on what it is that you want to accomplish?

[ChancyRat]

You can't save multiple tracks this way. You can only export as a video or audio file, which doesn't preserve any of the project properties from PrEl. If I understand what you're trying to do it sounds like you want to save sections of a project, preserving multiple tracks and clip properties, and then be able to use them in another project. There's no way that I know of to do this from within the program, but you may find this thread helpful:

viewtopic.php?f=81&t=7967&p=71044&hilit=copy+paste#p70962

One workaround that might be useful in certain cases would be to save a group of tracks/clips under a separate project name as a sort of template that you could then use to start a new project. But this has limitations in that you're limited to only what you specifically saved. You still can't easily add additional saved clips, especially multiple tracks.

Are we homing in on what it is that you want to accomplish?

Yep, lots of zeroing in going on, thanks! That thread is also very helpful....
- Yes, the workaround above has limitations.
- Does clipmate work for PE7 (it's described for PE8)? I'm ready to log off and get on as administrator to load it.
- Since I can have only 1 project open at a time, I presume you copy the clips you want to clipmate, close your project, open your new one, and paste there?
- What is the difference between doing the export method vs. the avi method described in the other thread?
- Using the export method, will HD clips export as HD? Since I saw only mpeg, I wondered if everything reverts to that.
- When you say you would loose project properties from PE, you're not talking about the clip properties, I assume...

Uh oh, maybe too many questions at once...

[Dave McElderry]

- Does clipmate work for PE7 (it's described for PE8)? I'm ready to log off and get on as administrator to load it.
- Since I can have only 1 project open at a time, I presume you copy the clips you want to clipmate, close your project, open your new one, and paste there?

I've never used clipmate. I'd suggest posting these questions in that thread. I'm sure they will be answered there.

- What is the difference between doing the export method vs. the avi method described in the other thread?
- Using the export method, will HD clips export as HD? Since I saw only mpeg, I wondered if everything reverts to that.

It's the same method. When you do the File>Export you can choose the file type. AVI is what you're looking for. HD will export as HD.

- When you say you would loose project properties from PE, you're not talking about the clip properties, I assume...

Not sure that we're talking about the same kinds of properties. What I'm saying is that when you use File>Export all you get is a movie clip that doesn't know where it's from. It doesn't contain any PrEl properties such as keyframing, etc.

EDIT: Maybe I should have said movie FILE instead of movie clip. Not to be confused with clips in PrEl.

[ChancyRat]

Okay, questions are narrowing, then...

- What is the difference between doing the export method vs. the avi method described in the other thread?
- Using the export method, will HD clips export as HD? Since I saw only mpeg, I wondered if everything reverts to that.

It's the same method. When you do the File>Export you can choose the file type. AVI is what you're looking for. HD will export as HD.

- When you say you would loose project properties from PE, you're not talking about the clip properties, I assume...

Not sure that we're talking about the same kinds of properties. What I'm saying is that when you use File>Export all you get is a movie clip that doesn't know where it's from. It doesn't contain any PrEl properties such as keyframing, etc.

EDIT: Maybe I should have said movie FILE instead of movie clip. Not to be confused with clips in PrEl.

Could you recommend whether to export as avi or what type? I'm clueless. The default was mpg. Or, does PE know to select the best or it selects what's required?

For clip properties, I mean, fade in/out, volume set, slow-motion, or whatever. I have a sneaky feeling you're saying those would not export because, although I haven't used it, you mention keyframing and I think that's in the same category...

[Dave McElderry]

Okay, questions are narrowing, then...

Could you recommend whether to export as avi or what type? I'm clueless. The default was mpg. Or, does PE know to select the best or it selects what's required?

For clip properties, I mean, fade in/out, volume set, slow-motion, or whatever. I have a sneaky feeling you're saying those would not export because, although I haven't used it, you mention keyframing and I think that's in the same category...

Yep, I think we're talking the same language now Chancy.

Exporting as AVI will give you virtually the same quality as the original. It's significantly better than MPG, which is a more highly compressed format. There's actually a very slight degradation with AVI, but you would have to re-render and re-export the same file through several generations before you'd notice it. I don't work in HD, but I assume that there's an option for exporting as HD-AVI. I don't have PrEl on this computer to check. I don't know if there's actually a default file type, or if PrEl just remembers the last type used. It's up to you to choose what's appropriate for your needs. If you want the best quality, choose AVI. If file size is an issue and you're willing to sacrifice some quality, then MPG might be more appropriate.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean regarding clip properties. Those are properties contained within PrEl project files. When you do a File>Export you create a separate movie file that is not tied to PrEl in any way, but it can then be added back into a PrEl project through Add Media. I would note that when choosing a file type using File>Export, if you plan to use the file in your PrEl project PrEl does a much better job of working with AVIs than anything else. That's its native format.

[ChancyRat]

Okay, questions are narrowing, then...

Could you recommend whether to export as avi or what type? I'm clueless. The default was mpg. Or, does PE know to select the best or it selects what's required?

For clip properties, I mean, fade in/out, volume set, slow-motion, or whatever. I have a sneaky feeling you're saying those would not export because, although I haven't used it, you mention keyframing and I think that's in the same category...

Yep, I think we're talking the same language now Chancy.

Exporting as AVI will give you virtually the same quality as the original. It's significantly better than MPG, which is a more highly compressed format. There's actually a very slight degradation with AVI, but you would have to re-render and re-export the same file through several generations before you'd notice it. I don't work in HD, but I assume that there's an option for exporting as HD-AVI. I don't have PrEl on this computer to check. I don't know if there's actually a default file type, or if PrEl just remembers the last type used. It's up to you to choose what's appropriate for your needs. If you want the best quality, choose AVI. If file size is an issue and you're willing to sacrifice some quality, then MPG might be more appropriate.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean regarding clip properties. Those are properties contained within PrEl project files. When you do a File>Export you create a separate movie file that is not tied to PrEl in any way, but it can then be added back into a PrEl project through Add Media. I would note that when choosing a file type using File>Export, if you plan to use the file in your PrEl project PrEl does a much better job of working with AVIs than anything else. That's its native format.

Thanks on the AVI/file choices.

This may be the final question, but do I have this right, if I want to export a set of clips for use in future prel files, I will loose the clip properties? That's ironic because the point of my question from post #1 was to achieve that.
If that's the case, do I understand there is no way to save a clip with the properties, for use in other prel files/projects?

[Dave McElderry]

This may be the final question, but do I have this right, if I want to export a set of clips for use in future prel files, I will loose the clip properties? That's ironic because the point of my question from post #1 was to achieve that.
If that's the case, do I understand there is no way to save a clip with the properties, for use in other prel files/projects?

That's correct. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Remember, it's "File>Export>Movie." You're not exporting parts of a PrEl project...you're just exporting whatever you've already created in PrEl as a movie file. Make sense?

Again, the only way that I know of to retain properties for use later is to save a PrEl project as a separate template file and use that as a basis to start a new project. But as we discussed, it's not an ideal way of doing something. It could be used for making an opening titles template, or that sort of thing but it really doesn't give you the flexibility that you want.

I don't know if items copied and pasted using Clipmate will retain PrEl properties or not. I see you've posted in that thread, so I'm sure you'll get some good answers there.

[ChancyRat]

This may be the final question, but do I have this right, if I want to export a set of clips for use in future prel files, I will loose the clip properties? That's ironic because the point of my question from post #1 was to achieve that.
If that's the case, do I understand there is no way to save a clip with the properties, for use in other prel files/projects?

That's correct. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Remember, it's "File>Export>Movie." You're not exporting parts of a PrEl project...you're just exporting whatever you've already created in PrEl as a movie file. Make sense?

Again, the only way that I know of to retain properties for use later is to save a PrEl project as a separate template file and use that as a basis to start a new project. But as we discussed, it's not an ideal way of doing something. It could be used for making an opening titles template, or that sort of thing but it really doesn't give you the flexibility that you want.

I don't know if items copied and pasted using Clipmate will retain PrEl properties or not. I see you've posted in that thread, so I'm sure you'll get some good answers there.

I may have to re-think creating a prel template...
The part of the language that is confusing is, "You're not exporting parts of a PrEl project...you're just exporting whatever you've already created in PrEl as a movie file"
because I have read:
"whatever you've already created in PrEl as a movie file"
to inherently include the special effects I set up - since I created them in the clips and they are part of the movie.

I eagerly await the clipmate info.

And thank you for your patience. Language with such a technological thing as PE is extremely difficult!