Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
You can move a clip around in the Timeline by dragging and dropping it between other clips. The Magnetic
Timeline automatically opens and closes to let in the new clip and prevents any unintended gaps in the process.
You've already seen this in action earlier when you manually inserted a clip directly from the Event Browser.
Dragging and dropping clips like this is a quick and easy way to swap clips around in a sequence.
As you move clips around in the Timeline, you may want to turn on snapping, because this helps you align clips
to other clips or markers in the sequence. Moving a clip with snapping turned on displays a yellow vertical line
that snaps to the edit points as you move a clip over them and makes it easy to align the clip at the line's posi-
tion in the sequence (see Figure 5.12). You may want to turn off snapping when skimming over a sequence so
that you can move over the clips without them sticking.
To turn snapping on or off, click the Snapping button at the top of the Timeline window (see Figure 5.13),
choose View
⇒
Snapping, or just press N.
Figure 5.12
Moving clips with snapping turned on.
Figure 5.13
The Snapping button is highlighted in blue when switched on.
Navigating in the Timeline
Sometimes when working in the Timeline, you'll need to zoom into a specific edit point in order to make some
fine adjustments and then zoom back out to see a big-picture view of the edit. Final Cut Pro allows you to zoom
down to a single frame; this is represented by a light gray bar in the duration ruler at the top of the window (see
Figure 5.14).
Mastering the ability to quickly zoom in and out of the Timeline can really speed up your workflow. There are
several ways to zoom inside of Final Cut Pro. Your best bet is to use keyboard shortcuts. When skimming is en-
