Apple Final Cut Express HD - Manual (Page 912)

912 Part XI Project Management and Settings
Types of Clips
Different types of clips are distinguished by the type of media files they refer to. For
example, an audio clip is simply a clip that represents an audio-only file on disk.
However, some clips, such as subclips, are distinguished not by the type of media files
they refer to, but how they refer to them. For example, the definition of a subclip is any
clip that refers to less than the total length of a media file. It doesn’t matter whether a
subclip is a video clip, audio clip, or merged clip.
Here is a list of clip types available in Final Cut Express HD:
 Clip: Usually refers to a video file that may also include audio.
 Audio clip: Refers to an audio file. This may be a QuickTime media file that only
contains audio tracks, or an audio-only file such as an AIFF or WAVE file.
 Still image clip: Refers to a single frame of a media file, created using the Make Freeze
Frame command in the Modify menu.
 Graphics clip: Refers to a graphics file, such as a JPEG, Photoshop (flattened), or TIFF file.
 Generator clip: Refers to a Final Cut Express HD generator, which creates media such
as shapes, colors, and bars and tone automatically. Generators do not have
associated media files.
 Subclip: Refers to a portion of a media file.
A subclip artificially limits the duration of a clip to allow you to work with smaller
sections of a media file. These subclip limits can be removed at any time so you can
work with the whole clip. For example, if an original media file is 10 minutes long, the
Final Cut Express HD Browser clip is also 10 minutes long. You can make a 1-minute
subclip starting at 00:02:00:00 and ending at 00:03:00:00 and work with the subclip as if
the media is only 1 minute long.
Clips Described By Their Properties
In addition to the clip types described above, clips can be further characterized by
the following:
 Relationships to other clips: master, affiliate, and independent clips
 Connection status to media files: Offline and online clips
 Location in a project: Browser and sequence clips
These clip characteristics can describe any type of clip. For example, clips and subclips
can be offline clips.