Tip #986: The Slip Tool is My Favorite

… for Adobe Premiere Pro CC

Tip #986: The Slip Tool is My Favorite

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The Slip tool lets you optimize content without changing durations.

The Program monitor display when using the Slip tool. See the text for details.

Topic $TipTopic

The Slip tool is one of those tools in Premiere that you either use constantly, or you puzzle over what it does. For me, it’s my favorite trimming tool.

The Slip tool (Shortcut: Y) allows us to change the content of a shot without changing its duration or location in the timeline.

To use it, select the tool, then drag the middle of a timeline clip. In the Program monitor (see screen shot) up to four images will appear.

NOTE: If the clip has clips on either side of it, you’ll see four images. If the clip has blank space on either side you may see only two.

These images, from left to right, are:

  • The Out of the out-going clip
  • The In of the clip you are slipping
  • The Out of the clip you are slipping
  • The In of the in-coming clip

As you drag, you display different portions of the slipped clip. For example, in a clip of a foot race, you could slip the clip to show the start, or where the 2nd-place runner takes the lead, or where runners cross the finish line.

When slipping, only the content changes, not the duration or location of the clip itself.

If you haven’t used the Slip tool, it is a great way to quickly select the best portion of a B-roll clip. I use this tool a lot!


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4 replies
  1. Loren Miller
    Loren Miller says:

    “The Slip tool (Shortcut: Y) allows us to change the *content* of a shot without changing its *duration* or *location* in the timeline.”

    Well, just to pick a bone– the content definitely changes location, depending which direction you slip the shot. You patch up the dangling modifier very nicely the second time you say it:

    “When slipping, only the content changes, not the duration or location of the clip itself.”

    So it’s only a half-nit. lol

    But what about its cousin the Slide tool?

    Best, as always,
    Loren

    Reply
    • Larry Jordan
      Larry Jordan says:

      Loren:

      What about the Slide tool? Well, I need to create new tips every week. Can’t put everything in one tip – that makes it hard to write the next week’s issues.

      Larry

      Reply
  2. Harvey
    Harvey says:

    Love these tips. Getting them one at a time makes it easy to experiment and learn instead of going through the manual or pushing buttons to “see what this one does.”

    Reply

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