Alternative Time code display

[Stephen Rinker]

Does anyone have any experience of this. It seems a very sophisticated tool when actually I require something very simple. I may not have been looking in the right place but I cant find no reference to it in the manual after a search. Clearly when its evoked it displays the same as the main timecode display, getting it to display zero seems simple. In this instance the main time code display shows 23:15:21 H:M:S where the cursor is parked I want the alternative display to show 19:31:58, the reference to a producers notes. some hour or so later the mathematical path to this eludes me. Why i cant simply enter a figure and that's what the display then shows I am mystified.

As always I am grateful for any help, even a reference to the manual.

Best

Stephen

[fl]

Look in the manual, page 121, but here's the chatty version:

The first thing is to make sure that you have selected the correct Frame Rate for your project in the Main Settings > Hardware > Formats and Sync window. This may be old news but you'll probably have to do this every time you open the project, as it's a bug of long standing that Pyramix forgets this setting quite often, and reverts to 25 fps as default. You can change the rate, then save your project, but it's not 100% that the next time you open the project it will still be set, so be prepared to check this every time. In the description below, I'll assume that you're using the Frame Rate for Film (24 fps), but it could be any of the available options provided there.

Next, enable the Alternate TimeCode Display, which places a second Timescale just below the Main one. You do this by right clicking on the Header (far left end) of the Main Timescale, and then enabling it in the pop-up which appears. (You can also enable it in the main View Menu > Scales/Toolbars > Alternate TimeCode Scale.)

Next, right-click on the header (far left end) of the Alternate TimeScale (probably named "Alt. Frames"), or by going to the main View Menu > Scales/Toolbars > Alternate TimeCode Scale Settings, and in the pop-up which appears, make sure that it's set to the same Frame Type and Rate as the Main Scale, and then enter an Offset in the Offset area. (You can use differing scales and have the display "stretch" it to accommodate the differences and any Drop Frames, but that's not applicable for your current project.)

It's deceptive to click on the "Store" button, which resets the Offset to zero - rather, you need to enter the offset and then without clicking "Store", click on "Okay" to close the pop-up. Based on the numbers you provided, enter +03:43:23:00.00. Now, when you look at your main window's timescales, you'll now see that you have both scales, and that one is offset.

Now, when you need to locate the cursor to a position indicated by your Producer's notes, go to the Alt. Timescale's Header (again, far left of the scale), and click just to the right of the numbers that show the cursor's location - a red vertical line should appear, indicating that you can now enter a number for the position you wish to view (use the Numerical Keyboard, rather than the numbers above the letters on your keyboard), then hit "Enter". Presto, your cursor will locate to the number you entered.

For example, click on the number for the Alt. Frames scale, and type "19305800", then "Enter". Your cursor should locate to 19:30:58.00 on the Alt. scale, which should also be 23:14:21.00 in the Main scale.

Having an Alt. Timescale set up will NOT alter the Display of the Cursor position in the lower left corner of the main window by the Transport controls - that always shows the Main Timescale position.

If you're doing sound for film or video, it can be handy to enable the "Snap" function, found at the very bottom of the main Edit Menu, which opens a sub-menu where you can enable "Snap to Scale" and "Snap Cursor".

[charlienyc]

You can also try a simple workaround: Drop a CD marker wherever you want the reference to zero. Then go into View -> Timecode resolution-> Display as CD time. The timecode window in the upper left of Pmx will then display timecode in relation to CD markers, making it simple to reference to the producer's notes.

[Stephen Rinker]

Thanks so much for this, Sorry about the delay but I've been recording away.

Frank as ever very comprehensive help that's so useful. The CD markers idea is great if the starting reference is zero. I work with a particular TV producer a lot who always marks up his editing in reference to TOD, which the recoding was slaved to. All very good until the material is pasted into another project and further editing is required. This is why I'm so keen to use this tool.

In the process of posting this my memory has been jogged to using pyramix awhile back and I believe you can get a clip to display the original time of its beginning irrespective of where its currently parked in project. Of limited use here but worth bearing in mind.

Thanks again
Stephen

[fl]

Thanks so much for this, Sorry about the delay but I've been recording away.

As Mom used to say (in stark contrast to how harried I might be feeling), "It's good that you're busy, dear..."

All very good until the material is pasted into another project and further editing is required. This is why I'm so keen to use this tool.

Yes, I figured you'd always be bouncing back and forth between referencing the orignal vs. the current time code location. I believe that having two visible scales is the best way to work like this, provided you don't confuse yourself as to which one you are supposed to refer at any given moment. (Although when is there ever an Editing session where you don't doubt your sanity from time to time?)

The other reason I like the Timescales is that in addition to simply positioning your cursor at a specific location by typing a TimeCode value directly into the Time Scale's Header, you can also use arithmetical operations to, for example, "jump to five minutes and 43 seconds from now" or "go back 12 seconds and 15 frames" by entering the amount you want to move in the Timescale's header display, and then hit the alpha-numeric keyboard's "+" or "-" key instead of the "Enter" key. (I wish it used the Numeric keyboard's + and - keys, mostly because I would rather not have to capitalize the "=" key to get a "+", but these particular commands are not available to have a Keyboard Shortcut applied to them.)

In the process of posting this my memory has been jogged to using pyramix awhile back and I believe you can get a clip to display the original time of its beginning irrespective of where its currently parked in project. Of limited use here but worth bearing in mind.

Yes, you can always see the original Timecode from when the Clip was first recorded in the listing in the Media Manager. If you'd like constant visibility, you can use the All Settings > Application > Timeline Layout and in the section labeled "Compose Clip Text Out of" include "Original TimeCode" or "Media Original TimeCode" (the latter displaying the original start location of the entire Master, or Source, Clip) as one of the five available naming fields determining how the Clip identifies itself in the Timeline.

[Stephen Rinker]

Thanks

I feel like the dunce in Math class. In the "Origin in main scale" dialouge how on earth do you enter a negative value. I give up!

Thanks

Stephen

[fl]

Yeah, not really clear, is it - however...

Open the Alternate Time Scale Settings by either right clicking on the Alt. Timescale's header or via the two options available through the main View Menu. When the little pop-up window appears, you'll see the entry field for the Offset, and on it's far right end there are two little arrow heads, one pointing up, the other down.

Provided that the offset is zero, just click on the downward pointing arrow which will immediately change the "+" at the start of the field to a "-". From there, just enter your offset as you would normally.

You can also use this method in the main Timescale Toolbar and displays (for absolute locations, and for the Marks positions) - the up arrowheads will increment the value, by the smallest unit available for the specific scale, and the downward pointing ones will decrease the value.

[DJS]

It would be good to have a clip time graticule at the top of every clip. Like Wavelab does beautifully. When referencing clips with artists, this is very useful.

[Niki0beas]

I have the same experience.