"individual clip select & lock in timeline" feature would be SO GOOD

[augustb74394846]

Hi there.  I know we can lock whole audio and video tracks in a Premiere timeline, which i use a lot.  Suggestion -->  It'd be even better if we had more accurate control over what was locked in a timeline, instead of only being able to lock entire audio or video tracks.  As in, in my timeline, I'd like to be able to click/lasso select single video/audio clips or multiple video/audio clips, anywhere throughout the timeline, and then, JUST LOCK THOSE SPECIFIC SELECTED CLIPS, similar to how I can "enable" or "disable" single clips in Premiere.  That way, for safety, I can lock certain portions of my timeline, and keep working on other parts of it, and know with confidence that no matter what I do, the parts of the timeline I locked are safe.  Often times, when working on small portion of the timeline, I can accidentally hit a key that causes unintentional and undesirable changes elsewhere in my timeline, that only later do I discover, and then have to go back to archives and try to figure out what happened.  Every single editor I've discussed this potential functionality with thinks it would be revolutionary and change the way they edit.

[Martha33433389w21f]

This would be epic.

i am SHOCKED that this isn't a thing!

[Ash30641173s1er]

I was looking for this feature, and found this post! 

Please allow us to lock things on our timeline, Adobe 🙏

[tonyn26504140]

I concur. When you've synced up a bunch of video tracks preparing for a multicam edit, you do not want those tracks to move again, ever. So you effectively need to lock clips to the timeline while still being able to edit any effect on any clip, such as when you are grading the clips. At this point it would also be great to have a Solo button on each video track, as with audio tracks, so that you can see and grade just that track instead of having to go through all of the other tracks, unlock them and toggle the output off. In short, Multicam editing in Premiere is in need of a major upgrade.

[Nascuy]

Hi! Very interesting topic! No news from Adobe about this feature? 

[Shebbe]

That's a great idea. Something that's already being done in some DAWs for similar reasons. Added my vote.

[alexa86063679]

This feature so super needs to be implimented, Adobe...In my mind its a very basic feature!! Right now the only way to 'lock' a specific clip is to place the clip on a new track and lock the entire track. Another way is to tie the audio to a video clip by highlighting them and hitting CMD + L. The issue is that I have very complex sequences and when the client wants very specific edits, it can get crazy cumbersome to do that. Please just give us the option to do it!!! 

[Remote Index]

Hello august etc.,

While I'm intrigued by the idea, I don't think you've outlined enough about the function you want.

Current lock functions allow no changes to be made to the locked tracks.

What would this mean for a single clip that is "locked"? If I execute a ripple delete on another section of the timeline, would the "locked" clip remain in place (relative to master timecode) or shift along with all other clips? If the former then it would likely cause more problems than it solves, and if the latter then it really isn't a "lock" function in the sense that current lock functions work.

What about if I select a group of clips at once (using either the forward select tools, or dragging a number of clips with the selection tool) - I may have hundreds of clips selected, and a few of them may be "locked" using your new function. Do the "locked" clips move with the selection or stay in place? If they move with the selection, then what are the lower limits of this (ie. if I only select 2 clips and one of them is locked, does it move? what about 1 clip?)

I think you may be asking for a lock function that means the clip can not be deleted, can not have its in and out points adjusted, can not have effects adjusted. But it's hard to come up with a simple idea of what you mean about "locking" when it comes to moving clips.

More detail on what you are thinking of would help.

R.

[August37320384xmit]

Basically, I just want to be able to select/lasso a bunch of clips on different video/audio tracks and lock them together, and ensure that they can not be deleted/changed while I work on a different part of the timeline.  I work in long timelines, and sometimes when zoomed in and working at the very beginning or the middle or very end of a long timeline, I may accidentally hit a key I don't intend, and then when I go back to the beginning/end of my timeline, I find that I have unintenionally thrown clips out of sync, or deleted them all together, or any number of things I don't intend.  I work fast like a maniac sometimes, and like we all do, I sometimes hit a key that messes stuff up elsewhere in my timeline.  I want that not to happen, of course.   For example, if I'm working in a 60 minute timeline, it'd be awesome if I could lasso/select and then lock all the clips on all timeline tracks in the the first twenty-five minutes and also lasso/select and lock the clips in the last twenty-five minutes of my timeline, and leave the ten minutes in the middle of the timeline unlocked so I can do lots of work in that middle ten minutes of my timeline, without fear of making a mistake that wrecks the other parts of my timeline somehow.  As far as whether or not the sections  have locked can/should ripple in the timeline if I add/delete something in that middle ten minutes that is unlocked, I guess the ripple would be fine, as long as all the clips I have selected and locked at the beginning and end of the timeline don't get changed in the locked areas.

[Remote Index]

“I may accidentally hit a key I don't intend … I find that I have unintentionally thrown clips out of sync, or deleted them all together, or any number of things I don't intend. “

I have written about the problem of off-screen deletion in another post. Upvoting may help.

“Basically, I just want to be able to select/lasso a bunch of clips on different video/audio tracks and lock them together, and ensure that they can not be deleted/changed”

This is an idea for which I have some enthusiasm. However, your further clarifiction shows that you are not asking for "clip lock" but something not quite as granular.

“As far as whether or not the sections I have locked can/should ripple in the timeline if I add/delete something in that middle ten minutes that is unlocked, I guess the ripple would be fine, as long as all the clips I have selected and locked at the beginning and end of the timeline don't get changed in the locked areas.”

This clarification is fine as far as it goes, but you have outlined a use case where “sections of the timeline” can be locked (ie. all clips on all tracks, but only from an in point to an out point.) This proposal avoids the messy questions I raised about locking individual clips (which you have left unanswered).

However, this would better be described (and proposed) as “Locking sections of the timeline”, not “Locking individual clips” as you have initially proposed.

Further, strictly speaking, it doesn’t quite fully address the ripple delete (or conversely, insert edit) questions - if a block of clips at the end of the timeline ripples (changes where they are located relative to the master timecode), they are not - strictly speaking - locked. An intuitive expectation of how “locked” elements behave suggests they would not change any attributes (ie. if a clip appears a 3mins 5frames, I would expect if I lock it that it stays there).

However, a “relative lock” or “timeline section relative lock” as you have proposed, in which the section behaves as a clip in reaction to ripple delete or insert edit, would be be useful.

R.

[August37320384xmit]

I want a way to do what I talked about, which is lock some parts of the timeline/some parts of tracks and not others.  I have no idea what the exact technical wording should be though, so if you what you just described is what I was talking about, then great.  I want that.  Thanks!

[MyerPj]

I'm left more confused than ever after reading thru these comments. It doesn't sound quite right. Perhaps work on short timelines, and put them in a master at the end strung together.

Anyway, you've had several users suggest they like the idea. They need to upvote the thread, with that numerical top-left of the thread. It has 4 of now, but more than that of people liking the idea. Please upvote the post to get the attention of the devs.

[tonyn26504140]

Lets simplify all of this.

You have a 'Time-lock' button for each video track which locks every clip on the track to its position on the timeline so that nothing can ever shift it, including a ripple edit. You can still edit attributes of clips on the track but you cannot move them.

Then you have a 'Solo' button for each video track which locks and hides all other tracks but lets you edit attributes of clips on the selected track.

In a complex multicam timeline the 'Time-lock' will prevent you from accidentally screwing up your carefully synchronised tracks and 'Solo' would let you easily see and grade the selected track without accidentally affecting other tracks which may not be currently visible.

[Shebbe]

I think both a time and edit lock feature would be practical for different scenarios or workflows.

Here's how Studio One does this. https://youtu.be/xHVf0Neq1OA?t=162

[Remote Index]

It’s great to read additional thoughts on this feature request. I share the interest in possible benefits.

However, I do think the additional posts emphasize rather than solve the conflicts which potentially come with such a feature.

Shebbe has usefully added the language and examples from Studio One:

time lock: to lock a clip to a specific time in the timeline, preventing movement
edit lock: to lock the attributes of a clip, preventing changes

The track “time-lock” that tony etc. has outlined is essentially a variation on track locking and the above.

These are useful as far as they go, but they don’t address the original poster’s scenario (locking sections of the timeline). You can imagine, for example, time-locking the beginning and the end of sequence … but what happens if changes to the middle scenes/shots mean they are suddenly 3 minutes longer (or 3 frames) longer? Remember if the end section is time-locked it will “keep the clips from being moved to a different time position”. What happens if the end clips don’t move and cause collisions with clips that do move? Do the colliding clips get partially deleted? Does it prevent editing the (non-locked) middle section if such edits cause collisions? (This last behaviour would defeat the purpose of the feature for August etc. if I understand correctly.)

If you further consider that many users use many tracks, and single clips on some tracks may be “time locked” you might understand how the issue of collisions with locked clips has to be addressed. (ie. what are you asking for with this feature? how do you want it to work?)

Thus the third type of locking which I outlined and I believe more closely reflects what August etc. was asking for:

timeline section lock: where “sections of the timeline” (ie. groups of clips ... all clips on all tracks, but only from an in point to an out point can be locked as a group; the lock would prevent changes/deletion, and preserve clip to clip relationships, but not prevent the entire group from moving together as necessary for insert/ripple edits; If restricted to locking all clips on all tracks from an in point to an out point, the collision question is avoided with this suggestion.) Note this is not really a "time lock" - the group can still move if necessary - and the question of editing attributes seems separate (the feature could lock attributes, or not, or have a toggle).

In fact, August etc., you could use clip grouping in a way to almost achieve section locking: though groups can be deleted, they will maintain sync relationships. If you’re not familiar with grouping clips, you could investigate to see if they get you at least a bit of what you want with current features.

R.

[Jayaraj100]

I also was looking for it.
I want to lock a clip to a specific time on the timeline but dont want to lock the full track as I want to keep eding the other clips on the same track.

[Kale Met]

I can think of lots of situations where this would be very useful! 

[FaithGrangerFreelancing]

A total MUST HAVE feature Adobe, and so very basic. Remember: It's the little things that kill. Premiere is an amazingly powerful software yet lacks in the most rudimentary features. THIS is one of those features that really need to be added.

Note: I am an INTEL and SONY influencer/ambassador and an award wining editor. Please add basic features such as this one!

[frankc26457046]

It's a feature in Adobe Audition.  Lock clips to time but you can still effects on thsoe clips.  Seems ligical.

[Freddie316137422zum]

Make this happen Adobe.

[Mitchell37451249cy2e]

This would be so helpful, especially if you're editing in chunks

[justinz13884668]

Another multicammer tossing my hat in the ring here!! please please please let me lock video or audio clips in place on the timeline such that I don't accidentally drag them around or edit their automation.

Blender has this...

[MyerPj]

21 replies on this thread and only 21 upvotes. The upvotes are key, that's the big number to the upper left next to the thread title, posting provides a bump which is nice, hopefully people will upvote thread also.

[bcoster315]

This needs to be a feature it would be extremely helpful