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To edit EDL that is included with your project as Clips, Nested Clips, Referenced File, or Xml you can use the option Open EDL in the Resources window for the highlighted media. Then with a simple button click you can return to your main timeline project. For example, if you have a nested clip that originally had several plugins added to it before it was nested, you can edit those plugin parameter values. Previously to make any changes to these types of EDL you had to remake the whole clip from scratch. The program is actually "opening" the file as it currently exists for that particular media so that it can be edited separately from the project EDL. In other NLEs the term sub-timeline or sub-project is used. It is important to know that all media used with Open EDL must be loaded on the timeline Main Program window and created from there in that project.
Here is how this works. In the Clip or Media folder or on a timeline EDL edit, the option Open EDL for the highlighted clip or nested clip is available so that when you choose this option, that EDL will be brought up on the timeline superseding the current EDL that exists on the timeline . Now, once the clip is open on the timeline, you can edit it however you want. The previous timeline EDL is pushed onto a stack so it can be recalled by popping the stack with a click of the left mouse button in the upper right hand corner of the timeline to the left of the shell cmds icon. Initially this button displays a 0 to indicate your initial timeline/project. Then this button will read 1 if you choose Open EDL and then back to 0 and your original timeline with the left mouse click. You can go several levels deep so instead of 1, it could be 2, 3, ... but this requires some thought to avoid potential confusion.
An example of a typical set of steps to follow is:
You can follow the same steps as above by first using the option Nest to media in the Clip folder which nests the clip and moves it out of the Clip folder to the Media folder. Then use Open EDL on the Nested EDL in the media folder. When you Open EDL and edit the changes, those changes will take affect on any and all occurrences of that nested clip on the current and/or original timeline. The option to unnest that clip and put that back into the Clip folder is the option EDL to clip. The nested clip is still in the Media folder. It will now have a name of the next available Clip number but the comment contains the previous name so you can tell where it came from.
Instead of using the number on the main menu to close the current EDL, both the Media and Clip folders have Close EDL options with the left mouse button. Clicking on the number button is quick and easy but for infrequent usage it is not obvious, whereas if you use Open EDL you see Close EDL right below that and so it is very obvious. In addition in the case of where you have opened a EDL, and you no longer see that clip in the folder, the right mouse button where no media is highlighted will also display the Close EDL option.
In addition to the Open EDL option in the Resources menu, this option is available on the timeline when the cursor is on an EDL-type edit. To get to this option, click on the middle mouse button on that edit. If it is not EDL, the option will not be shown. In summary:
| Media folder of Resources window | Open EDL for Nested or Referenced EDLs |
| Clip folder of Resources window | Open EDL for clips |
| Track timeline | Open EDL for Nested or Referenced EDLs |
An aside – when nesting and unnesting clips to take advantage of this feature, names of the media can lead to some confusion. For example, if you nest a clip, the new name in the Media folder is the word Nested followed by an underscore with the date and timestamp, another underscore, and then the clip name. Then when you unnest this Media folder clip via the EDL to clip option, the name will be changed in the Clip folder to the next available Clip number. However the comment field will reflect the nested clip name from which it was derived. To avoid confusion you can easily change the name for these clips in either the Clip or Media folder because they are not real files at this point. To do so, highlight the clip name in Resources, click on Info and type in a new name.
For additional safety, the Open EDL feature includes additional backup capabilities. Automatically CINELERRA-GG saves a backup when certain changes are made or you can always use the shortcut `b' to do one yourself, although keep in mind it will be overwritten whenever CINELERRA-GG wants to do another backup. Now there is a shortcut for the backup shortcut `b' so you can keep your hand on the mouse instead of the keyboard. Just click on the number button in the upper right hand corner of the main window. If number is at 0, it backs up to backup.xml, if at 1, it backs up to backup1.xml and so on ...up to backup9.xml.
When Open EDL is invoked, the current EDL and current undo stack are both pushed, and the active session EDL is replaced with the target clip/nested edl. A new undo stack is created, and the active backup.xml file name is decorated with the stack level. So, backup.xml is backup1.xml when your edits are at stack level 1, backup2.xml at stack level 2, and so on. This means that if you load backup at stack level 1, the session will reload from history at stack level 1, not the main session.
See a real-world workflow at appendix Workflow with OpenEDL and Nested Clips
