Touchscreen Editing

[Benjamin Mullins] "is it reasonable to expect touchscreen NLE's in the near future and do you think this would be an even faster workflow? What would you like to see in a touchscreen NLE and how do you think it might work for the user?"

I think it's reasonable to expect someone to try it. It will be physically tiring to use and you won't have fine control without having to massively zoom in the interface. It's something that looks cool, but otherwise isn't very practical for day-to-day editing.

Touchscreen has some uses, but it just doesn't make sense for extended computer use. Might as well skip it until you can invent a visual/thought based interface.

However, touchpad editing might be doable. Issues with fine control can be addressed, I feel, without making the interface clunky. And having a dual hand multi-touch pad in front of you would be much easier on your hands than a mouse, keyboard, or other pointing device.

Andy

http://www.timesavertutorials.com

[Craig Seeman] " I can't see picking my arm up for hours at a time."

If the touch screen interface really takes off, it will be real easy to spot editors in crowd. They'll be the ones with arms like Popeye. "Oh man, I did a 12 hour session today and my forearms are burning".

Or theyll be the people that dont have a crick in their neck from having to look to the right or left all day since the interface is right in front where they are touching, and the video monitor is straight ahead and not off to the right or left.

Everyone is being a bit short sighted. I edit with bamboo, a mouse, and the Magic Trackpad. The latter is by far the most versatile and least strenuous. You can program you most used hot keys and actions into infinite different gestures and tap combinations. You can even assign different yap combos to different locations. The hard part is remembering them all. I switch between different input devices every so often for fun. Keeps the carpal at bay too.

Don't keyboard users just look fast? On my experience yeah, it looks fast to press the 10 keys neccessary to perform an action that can often be done with a click drag. :)

I can see how that might be fun and useful as an option as long as that was not the only way to work. But for me the monitor would have to be awfully big. Like Minority Report big. Editing and dance could then merge.

Tim

Help Wanted: Beatnik Editor. Must understand multiple time signatures and know the difference between pop, jazz and symphonic editing. We're a largely Mahler shop - with a sprinkling of Django clients and we occasionally get "pro bono" clients who are, like, totally Satie. Can you improvise? Call us.

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Tim