Condensing Graphical Representations of Media Clips in a Composite Display Area of a Media-Editing Application

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a computer readable medium storing a media editing application for creating multimedia presentations. The application includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI includes a composite display area for displaying graphical representations of a set of media clips that are part of a composite presentation. Each graphical representation of a particular media clip is assigned to a particular row in the composite display area, where each row corresponds to a particular track in the composite presentation. Some embodiments of the GUI include a compression tool for assigning the graphical representations to new rows so as to reduce blank space in the composite display area, where the assignment of the graphical representations to new rows eliminates the correspondence between the rows and the tracks. Some embodiments include a collapsing tool for reducing a size of graphical representations in the composite display area.

1 - 23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a media editing application for creating multimedia presentations, the application comprising a graphical user interface (GUI), the GUI comprising:
 a display area for displaying a preview of a composite presentation that the application creates by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;   a timeline that represents a duration of the composite presentation;   a composite display area comprising a plurality of tracks that span the timeline to display graphical representations of the plurality of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation, wherein a plurality of tracks display a group of graphical representations that each spans a portion of the duration;   a selection tool for selecting a group to de-emphasize in the composite display area; and   a collapsing tool for reducing, in a direction that is orthogonal to the timeline, a size of each graphical representation in the selected group while maintaining the graphical representation's span with respect to the timeline.   
     
     
         25 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the direction is a vertical direction, wherein the collapsing tool is for reducing the vertical size of the graphical representations. 
     
     
         26 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein reducing the size of the graphical representations for a particular selected group comprises reducing the size of the tracks that display the selected group of clip graphical representations. 
     
     
         27 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the direction is a vertical direction and the plurality of tracks span the timeline in a horizontal direction, wherein the collapsing tool reduces the size of the graphical representations by reducing a vertical size of the graphical representations while maintaining a horizontal size of the graphical representations. 
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the horizontal size of each graphical representation corresponds to a particular length of time within the composite presentation. 
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the group is a video group and the plurality of tracks are video tracks, wherein the composite display area comprises a plurality of audio tracks that display graphical representations for an audio group, wherein the collapsing tool is further for selecting one or more groups in order to reduce the size of graphical representations in each of the selected groups. 
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the audio group comprises a main audio sub-group, a dialog sub-group, an audio effects sub-group, and a music sub-group. 
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the video group comprises a main edit sub-group, a supers sub-group, and a video effects sub-group. 
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the GUI further comprises an expansion tool for increasing the size of the graphical representations for at least one of the groups in the composite display area. 
     
     
         33 . A method of storing a media editing application for creating multimedia presentations, the method comprising:
 providing a display area for displaying a preview of a composite presentation that the application creates by compositing a plurality of multimedia clips;   providing a timeline that represents a duration of the composite presentation;   providing a composite display area comprising a plurality of tracks that span the timeline to display graphical representations of the plurality of multimedia clips that are part of the composite presentation, wherein a plurality of tracks display a group of graphical representations that each spans a portion of the duration;   providing a selection tool for selecting a group to de-emphasize in the composite display area; and   providing a collapsing tool for reducing, in a direction that is orthogonal to the timeline, a size of each graphical representation in the selected group while maintaining the graphical representation's span with respect to the timeline.   
     
     
         34 . A method of  claim 33 , wherein the direction is a vertical direction, wherein the collapsing tool is for reducing the vertical size of the graphical representations. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein reducing the size of the graphical representations for a particular selected group comprises reducing the size of the tracks that display the selected group of clip graphical representations. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the direction is a vertical direction and the plurality of tracks span the timeline in a horizontal direction, wherein the collapsing tool reduces the size of the graphical representations by reducing a vertical size of the graphical representations while maintaining a horizontal size of the graphical representations. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the horizontal size of each graphical representation corresponds to a particular length of time within the composite presentation. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the group is a video group and the plurality of tracks are video tracks, wherein the composite display area comprises a plurality of audio tracks that display graphical representations for an audio group, wherein the collapsing tool is further for selecting one or more groups in order to reduce the size of graphical representations in each of the selected groups. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the audio group comprises a main audio sub-group, a dialog sub-group, an audio effects sub-group, and a music sub-group. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the video group comprises a main edit sub-group, a supers sub-group, and a video effects sub-group. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 38  further comprising providing an expansion tool for increasing the size of the graphical representations for at least one of the groups in the composite display area.