Apple Final Cut Pro X 10.1.2 User Guide

							 Chapter 7    Edit your project 141
 •To display clips with audio waveforms and video filmstrips of equal size:  Click the third Clip 
Appearance button from the left (or press Control-Option-3).
 •To display clips with small audio waveforms and large filmstrips: Click the third Clip Appearance 
button from the right (or press Control-Option-4).
 •To display clips with large filmstrips only:  Click the second Clip Appearance button from the right 
(or press Control-Option-5).
 •To display clip labels only: Click the rightmost Clip Appearance button (or press 
Control-Option-6).
Tip:  To increase the size of audio waveforms for Timeline clips, press Option–Control–Up Arrow. 
To decrease the size of audio waveforms for Timeline clips, press Option–Control–Down Arrow.
 3 To adjust the vertical height of clips in the Timeline, drag the Clip Height slider to the left to 
decrease the clip height, or to the right to increase the clip height.
 4 To turn connection lines for connected clips and storylines on or off, select or deselect the Show 
Connections checkbox.
 5 To adjust the clip label display, choose an option from the Show pop-up menu:
 •To view clips by name: Choose Clip Names.
 •To view clips by role: Choose Clip Roles.
 •To view multicam clips by the name of the active video angle and the active audio angle:  Choose 
Clip Names or Angles.
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Enable or disable snapping
While snapping is extremely useful, it can also be a hindrance if you’re trying to move a clip only 
a few frames among a series of markers and clip boundaries, and you don’t want it to snap to 
any of these points. Fortunately, you can turn snapping on or off at any time, even while you’re 
dragging a clip.
Do one of the following:
 mChoose View > Snapping (or press N).
A checkmark indicates that snapping is on. You can press N to turn snapping on or off while 
you’re dragging a clip.
 mClick the Snapping button in the upper-right corner of the Timeline.
When snapping is on, the Snapping button appears blue.
Tip:  To turn snapping on or off temporarily, hold down the N key. When you release the N key, 
snapping reverts to the previous state.
Navigate within your project
The ability to jump to any point in the Timeline instantly is one of the main benefits of a 
nonlinear editing environment. Final Cut Pro provides a variety of quick and easy ways to 
navigate your project.
You can also use a text-based view of the Timeline to navigate and search your project. For more 
information, see Use the Timeline Index to view, navigate, and search your project
 on page 14 5 .
You can use the J, K, and L keys to play through a project with different speeds or directions. For 
more information, see Play back media
 on page 78 .
Navigate by skimming, clicking, or dragging
 m To skim to a frame in your project: Move the skimmer left and right over the clips in the Timeline 
to quickly view them in the Viewer.
 mTo move the playhead to a frame in your project: Move the playhead by clicking or dragging in the 
ruler at the top of the Timeline, or by clicking in the Timeline background.
Tip:  To prevent the playhead from moving while you select a clip in the Timeline, press Option as 
you click.
Navigate frame by frame
To make it easier to find specific frames in a clip, you can step through the filmstrip frame by 
frame, rather than skimming it. 
 1 In the Timeline or the Browser, move your pointer  over a filmstrip and click. 
 2 Do any of the following:
 •To move backward in one-frame increments: Choose Mark > Previous > Frame (or press the Left 
Arrow key).
 •To move forward in one-frame increments: Choose Mark > Next > Frame (or press the Right 
Arrow key).
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Navigate by subframe
You can navigate clips by subframe. A subframe has 1/80 the duration of a video frame and is a 
more precise unit of reference when viewing or editing audio waveforms that are zoomed in to 
the sample level.
Note:  You can’t make edits to video at the subframe level.
 1 In the Timeline or the Browser, move your pointer  over a clip and click.
 2 Do any of the following:
 •To move backward in one-subframe increments: Press Command-Left Arrow.
 •To move forward in one-subframe increments: Press Command-Right Arrow.
Note:  You can change the time display in the Dashboard to show subframes. For more 
information, see Editing preferences
 on page 442.
Navigate by jumping
Use the following techniques to move the playhead quickly from point to point in the Timeline.
 m To go to the next edit point: Choose Mark > Next > Edit (or press the Down Arrow key), or click the 
Next Edit  button below the Viewer.
 mTo go to the previous edit point: Choose Mark > Previous > Edit (or press the Up Arrow key), or click 
the Previous Edit  button below the Viewer.
 mTo go to the start of the project: Choose Mark > Go to > Beginning (or press the Home key).
 mTo go to the end of the project: Choose Mark > Go to > End (or press the End key).
 mTo go to the next marker: Choose Mark > Next > Marker, or press Control–Apostrophe (‘).
 mTo go to the previous marker: Choose Mark > Previous > Marker, or press Control–Semicolon (;).
For more information about markers, see Markers overview on page 14 8 .
Navigate using timecode
Timecode is a signal recorded with your video that uniquely identifies each video frame. When 
you play a clip from the Browser, its timecode signal appears in the Dashboard, in the center of 
the Final Cut Pro toolbar, using this format:
Timecode
Hours
Minutes Seconds
Frames
Timecode supports a variety of functions in Final Cut Pro, including Timeline playback, 
synchronizing video and audio clip items, and adding, trimming, and moving clips. In addition, 
timecode allows you to navigate through projects in the Timeline and see the duration of clips, 
range selections, and projects.
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Navigate by entering timecode
To move the playhead to a new Timeline location, do any of the following:
 mTo move the playhead to a specific Timeline location: Click once in the center of the Dashboard (or 
press Control-P), enter the new timecode value, and press Return. 
For example, to move the playhead to 01:40:31:03, press Control-P, and then enter “1403103” and 
press Return.
 mTo move the playhead by a timecode duration: Make sure no clips are selected, and press the Plus 
Sign (+) or Minus Sign (–) key, enter the number of frames, seconds, or minutes you want to 
move the playhead, and press Return.
For example, if you type “+1612” and press Return, the playhead moves ahead 16 seconds and 12 
frames. 
The new timecode values appear in the Dashboard as you enter them. When you press Return, 
the playhead moves to the new Timeline location. 
Here are some tips for entering timecode values:
 •You don’t have to enter the separator characters (colons). Final Cut Pro adds them 
automatically after each set of two digits. For example, if you enter “01221419,” Final Cut Pro 
interprets it as 01:22:14:19 (1 hour, 22 minutes, 14 seconds, and 19 frames).
 •If the leftmost fields are zeroes, you don’t have to enter them. For example, if you enter “1419,” 
Final Cut Pro interprets it as 00:00:14:19. If you enter “253407,” Final Cut Pro interprets it as 
00:25:34:07.
 •If the rightmost fields are zeroes, you can use periods instead. For example, to move to 
timecode 00:00:03:00, type “3.” (3 and a period). To move to 03:00:00:00, type “3...” (3 and three 
periods). Instead of a period, you can also use a comma, colon, or semicolon. 
Note:  You can change the time display in the Dashboard to show timecode, timecode and 
subframes, just frames, or just seconds. For more information, see Editing preferences
 on 
page 442.
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Use the Timeline Index to view, navigate, and search your project
The Timeline Index provides a text-based view of the clips and tags (various kinds of markers and 
keywords) used in your project in the Timeline. You can easily filter the Timeline Index to show 
only the items you want to see.
Clips are listed in their 
order of appearance 
in the Timeline.
You can also use the Timeline Index to navigate in the Timeline. The Timeline Index playhead 
appears in the list of items. When you play a project, the playhead moves down the list of items 
in the Timeline Index. When you select an item in the Timeline Index, the playhead automatically 
moves to the beginning of the item. 
Show or hide the Timeline Index
 mClick the Timeline Index button in the lower-left corner of the Final Cut Pro main window (or 
press Shift-Command-2).
The Timeline Index appears in the lower-left corner of the Final Cut Pro window.
The Timeline Index playhead 
moves in tandem with the 
Timeline playhead.
Timeline playhead
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View a list of items in the Timeline Index
 1 If the Timeline Index is not already open, click the Timeline Index button in the lower-left corner 
of the Final Cut Pro main window (or press Shift-Command-2).
 2 Do any of the following: 
 •To view a list of the clips used in the Timeline, ordered chronologically:  Click the Clips button at 
the top.
You can do any of the following:
 •Rename clips.
 •See a list of clips by timecode in the Position column.
 •View, reassign, and edit roles in the Roles column.
 •View and add notes in the Notes column.
 •View the active angles of multicam clips in the Active Angle column.
You can specify which columns are displayed by Control-clicking a column heading and 
choosing an option from the shortcut menu.
You can specify which items are displayed by clicking the All, Video, Audio, or Titles button at 
the bottom of the Timeline Index. 
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 •To view a list of all the tags on the clips in the Timeline, ordered chronologically:  Click the Tags 
button at the top.
Incomplete to-do item
Keyword
Completed to-do item
Chapter marker
Standard marker
All of the tags are shown by default. You can specify which items are displayed by clicking 
a button at the bottom of the Timeline Index. You can show markers, keywords, analysis 
keywords, incomplete to-do items, completed to-do items, and chapter markers. 
Note:  To-do items are types of markers.
 •To view a list of clips in the Timeline, organized by role: Click the Roles button at the top.
Select a role name in the list to highlight all clips in the Timeline with that role assigned. Select 
or deselect the checkboxes next to the roles you want to turn on or off in the Timeline. When a 
checkbox is deselected, you can’t see or hear clips with that assigned role when you play back 
your project. For more information, see  View clips by role in the Timeline
 on page 324.
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Change a To Do marker
In the Timeline Index, you can quickly change a To Do marker’s state from incomplete to completed.
 1 If the Timeline Index is not already open, click the Timeline Index button in the lower-left corner 
of the Final Cut Pro main window (or press Shift-Command-2).
 2 Click the checkbox for the To Do marker.
 •If the marker was red (an incomplete to-do item), it turns green (completed).
 •If the marker was green (a completed to-do item), it turns red (incomplete).
Search for items in the Timeline Index
 1 If the Timeline Index is not already open, click the Timeline Index button in the lower-left corner 
of the Final Cut Pro main window (or press Shift-Command-2).
 2 Click Clips to search for clips, or click Tags to search for tags.
 3 Enter a term in the search field  at the top of the Timeline Index. 
You can search for clips, keywords, and markers (including to-do items).
Tip:  With the Timeline active, choose Edit > Find (or press Command-F). The Timeline Index 
opens with the search field active and ready for your search term.
Work with markers
Markers overview
Markers are reference points you can place within clips to locate, identify, annotate, and navigate 
to specific frames. In editing, markers are particularly useful for synchronizing two or more clips at 
a specific point. For example, you can use a marker to label the frame where a door slams and then 
snap a sound effect to that marker. You can use markers to flag a specific location in a clip with 
editing notes or other descriptive information. When you add chapter markers to specific points 
in your project, viewers can use the markers to quickly jump to those points in the movie after it’s 
been exported or burned to DVD or Blu-ray disc. You can also use markers for task management. 
Markers are classified as standard markers (blue), chapter markers (orange), to-do items (red), or 
completed to-do items (green).
Standard markerChapter marker
To-do item Completed 
to-do item
You work with markers in the same way for clips in the Browser and clips in the Timeline.
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Add and remove markers
It’s easy to add and remove markers. If you add markers to clips in the Browser, the markers are 
visible in both filmstrip view and list view. When you add clips with markers to the Timeline, the 
markers are visible in both the Timeline and the Timeline Index.
Add a marker to a clip in the Browser or the Timeline 
 1 To specify where you want to add a marker, do one of the following:
 •Skim to the location.
 •Play the clip, and when the playhead reaches the location where you want to add a marker, 
press the Space bar to stop playback.
For more information about positioning the skimmer and the playhead, see Navigate within your 
project
 on page 14 2 .
 2 Do one of the following:
 •To add a marker: Choose Mark > Markers > Add Marker (or press M).
Tip:  To add markers on the fly, just press M while playing a clip.
 •To add a marker and show the marker’s information: Choose Mark > Markers > Add Marker and 
Modify (or press Option-M).
Adding a marker this way automatically shows the marker’s information. 
The marker appears at the top of the clip in the Browser or the Timeline.
Note:  Event clip markers also appear in the list view filmstrip and text list. 
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Remove a marker
Do one of the following:
 mNavigate to a marker and choose Mark > Markers > Delete Marker (or press Control-M).
 mSelect one or more clips, and choose Mark > Markers > Delete Markers in Selection.
 mDouble-click a marker to open the Marker window, and click the Delete button.
 mControl-click the marker you want to remove, and choose Delete Marker from the shortcut menu.
Edit, move, and navigate to markers
You can view and edit marker information, and you can move markers within a clip or to 
different clips.
Edit marker information and change marker types
By default, new markers are blue standard markers with placeholder text. You can change the 
text at any time, and you can change the marker type to other marker types, including chapter 
markers, to-do items, and completed to-do items.
 1 To view a marker’s information, do one of the following:
 •Select the marker and choose Mark > Markers > Modify Marker (or press Shift-M).
 •Control-click the marker and choose Modify Marker from the shortcut menu.
 •Double-click the marker.
The marker’s information appears above the marker.
Standard Marker buttonChapter Marker button
To-Do Item button
 2 To modify the marker, do any of the following:
 •To change the descriptive text for the marker: Type the new text in the text field. ( The text is 
automatically selected when the marker information appears, so you don’t need to select it.)
 •To make the marker a chapter marker: Click the Chapter Marker button.
The marker turns into an orange chapter marker. For more information, see  Manage chapter 
markers and their thumbnail images
 on page 15 2 .
 •To make the marker a to-do item: Click the To-Do Item button.
The marker turns red.
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