Default transition length stays at 1 frame.

[Peru]

Windows XP MCE SP3

All of a sudden, while working on a project, the default video transistion length changed itself to 1 frame from 1 second. When I look in edit > preferences > general > video transition default duraion it says "30 frames".

I tried saving as a different project name, but that didn't change anything.
I also deleted the media cache, encoded files, and previews folders. No change.

I can work around this by changing the duration of the transition, but it is annoying to have to do it this way.

Any suggestions?

[Steve Grisetti]

Zoom into the timeline at the point of the transition (using the + key) and see if there is anything strange going on there -- a stray frame hiding between your two clips, stuff like that. That's the main cause of these kinds of things.

Try the same transition at another point on your timeline as a test. Is it 1 frame there too?

Also, double-click on your transition to open the Transition Properties. What happens if you manually set it to 1 second? Or if you drag it longer?

Finally, what type of camcorder did these clips come from? It could be related to the video's codec also.

[Bill Hunt]

Steve,

I would wager that this is the issue. There is a little behavior in PrE, where if you have Snap on, and butt one clip up to one already in the Timeline a bit too aggressively, a stray Frame, or two, will be "lopped off," and will go to the end of the second Clip - unseen. Next Clip down butts up to the stray and without zooming in, they are almost impossible to see.

I observed this and tested it out, finding that one should butt the Clips up "gently," so that this does not happen.

These "strays" can also end up being "orphans" out at the end of the Timeline, often some minutes out and again unseen, until one finds that a 00;05;00;00 Project is running 00;06;00;00, and they can't understand why.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Peru]

Zoom into the timeline at the point of the transition (using the + key) and see if there is anything strange going on there -- a stray frame hiding between your two clips, stuff like that. That's the main cause of these kinds of things.

Try the same transition at another point on your timeline as a test. Is it 1 frame there too?
Yes, and all transitions, too.Also, double-click on your transition to open the Transition Properties. What happens if you manually set it to 1 second? Or if you drag it longer?
It works ok that way.Finally, what type of camcorder did these clips come from? It could be related to the video's codec also.The same Canon mini DV camcorder which I have successfully used with may projects.

[Peru]

Steve,

I would wager that this is the issue. There is a little behavior in PrE, where if you have Snap on, and butt one clip up to one already in the Timeline a bit too aggressively, a stray Frame, or two, will be "lopped off," and will go to the end of the second Clip - unseen. Next Clip down butts up to the stray and without zooming in, they are almost impossible to see.
I observed this and tested it out, finding that one should butt the Clips up "gently," so that this does not happen.

These "strays" can also end up being "orphans" out at the end of the Timeline, often some minutes out and again unseen, until one finds that a 00;05;00;00 Project is running 00;06;00;00, and they can't understand why.

Good luck,

Hunt

I have been getting some odd orphans at the end of the project. This is probably the case.

Although there were no stray clips at the spots where I wanted to put the troubled transitions (I zoomed in to check), after removing the orphans at the end of the project all was working ok again. Strange that the orphans at a different spot on the timeline should affect it like that.

Thanks for the help.