How to change the duration of multiple clips in seconds and milliseconds

Question

Level 1

8 points

How to change the duration of multiple clips in seconds and milliseconds

Hi everyone,

I need to make lyrics videos, and to synch multiple text really precisely with the music. I have the info of the duration of each text clip in milliseconds. I set my time display preferences to seconds. When I click on the text clips and "Ctrl + D" in order to modify their duration, I can only enter seconds but not milliseconds. For example I tried to put 3.22 for 3.22s, but I can only type 322 (which sets the duration to 322 seconds), and if I type "," or "." I cannot add any number after it. But the time code after clicking on "Ctrl+D" shows 0.00 seconds so I guess I can enter seconds and milliseconds.

The other solution is to set the preferences back to frame but it means I should convert all those milliseconds to frame, which is a pain in the *** with all the text info I got.

Any idea how to enter milliseconds after using "Ctrl+D" command with the time display preferences set to "Seconds" ?

Final Cut Pro X

Posted on Jun 23, 2017 2:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 23, 2017 4:42 AM in response to YoanGJ

322 is not 322 seconds, it is 3 seconds and 22 frames. You have to do the math and figure out how many frames depending on the project frame rate - for example in a 25fps project that would give 0.22 times 25 or 5.5. Video duration can only be an integer number of frames so you could do control-D 305 enter

or control-D 306 enter

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Answer 2

Jun 23, 2017 5:51 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

I switched the preferences to seconds and I also cannot enter a decimal point on either the MBP keyboard on an external usb keyboard. Tried the one in the main keyboard, the comma, and the decimal point in the numeric keypad.

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Answer 3

Jun 23, 2017 6:13 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Tom Wolsky wrote:

Localización problem?

Not for me. My system and FCP X are in English.

Although my native language is Portuguese, I've always used mac systems in English (since 1985...).

I also use the US keyboard layout.

I also never had the FCP X preferences set to seconds, and only did it as a test.

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,805 points

Jun 23, 2017 4:55 AM in response to YoanGJ

3.22 works for me. What version is this? Try the period on the top of the QWERTY keyboard. It might behave differently from an extended keyboard though it shouldn't.