avoiding the razor

[Bruce Watson]

I understand that using the razor for editing lops off the "heads" and "tails" of clips making transition techniques like cross dissolves fail. So if I'm going to be using those kinds of transitions I should use the trim tools instead.

How does one avoid the razor tool in multi-camera edits? I'm using the seemingly normal technique of pulling my two camera feeds into a source sequence, then nesting the source sequence into a multi-cam edit sequence and using the multi-cam monitor to switch back and forth between camera feeds.

Then I nest the resulting multi-cam edit sequence into a target sequence so that I can edit down a long interview, for example, into individual question/response segments for short web videos.

And it's here that I get into trouble. Sometimes I have to remove bits from the video that's just from one camera feed. This results in a continuity interruption which I would like to smooth over with a cross dissolve. But if I use the razor tool, this is problematic. So... what's the correct way to remove a few seconds of footage from a much longer clip in the sequence? So that I preserve the heads and tails on the footage and can still do a cross dissolve?

[Jim Simon]

Your premise is simply not true. The razor tool only adds an edit point to the clip instance in the sequence. It doesn't "lop off" anything. Transitions will work just fine, assuming proper conditions, no matter what tools you use to get there.

[Bruce Watson]

Transitions will work just fine, assuming proper conditions, no matter what tools you use to get there.

OK, so if my transitions aren't working (and they aren't), then I must be in violation of "proper conditions". What are "proper conditions" and how do I avoid violating them in the scenario I described in the OP?

EDIT: hmmm.... Maybe it's one of the MPE bugs reported in this thread. IDK.

[Jim Simon]

You can always test that theory by turning hardware acceleration off. Others have reported differences in performance when they do.

As far as "proper conditions", all you need is enough media in the clip. Using the Razor tool will not alter the media that's there.

Regarding your original post, I admit I had a hard time following your work flow, so it's difficult for me to point out just where you went wrong.