Lesson 3.2: The Timeline

Well, the Timeline: This is where the magic happens. You may set effects and in-points and out-points in the Viewer, or select those effects in the Browser, but your project ends up here... The almighty Timeline. 

Actually, at first glance (and based upon personal and shared opinions) the Timeline looks like the easiest window to understand, specially if you´ve worked on iMovie. And it is, if you use the basic knowledge: you pull the clip, and drop it on the Timeline, like we did on Lesson 3.1. But then, you´d have a sequence featuring tons of bumps, and jumps, and audio problems, etcetera.

The Timeline and the Canvas have a smbiotic relationship: Both display two different views of the same sequence, were the Timeline shows the chronological arrangement of clips ad layered video and audio clip items, while the Canvas provides  single view of your sequence as it will appear on whichever media you´ll be playing it.

On the upper right corner of theTimeline you´ll find the tabs for each different sequence you´ve created. Using the timeline, you can quickly navigate through an entire edited sequence, adding, rearranging and removing clip items.

One thing you´ll notice is that the playhead in the Canvas mirrors the playhead in the Timeline, which means you can use the Canvas to add in-points, out-points, markers and keyframes in the Timeline, and viceversa.

You can open sequences from the Browser in the Timeline, by double clicking the desired sequence in the Browser. Also, if that sequence had previously been opened in the Timeline, you can select it from the tabs I mentioned earlier, located on the upper right corner of the Timeline. To close a sequence, simply select the sequence´s tab in the Timeline, and choose File>Close Tab

On the Lower right corner of the Timeline you´ll find the keyframe and track controls: Toggle Clip Overlays and Toggle Clip Keyframes. The Toggle Clip Overlays button allows you to actually see the levels of opacity and sound in the sequence´s clips, while the Toggle Clip Keyframes button allows you to edit keyframes in the clip. Those of you familiar with Macromedia Flash (now known as Adobe Flash, since the release of CS3=, or Corel R.A.V.E (known asCorelCAPTURE, from the release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 on(man, has it been that long since I learned to use animation software????)) , or any other animation software will know what a keyframe is, and what's it's usage.

On the right side of the Timeline, we found ourselves with the Editing Controls: Source and Destination, Track Visibility, Lock Track, and Auto Select Control.

Today´s shortcuts: 

Snapping: N

Linked Selection: Shift+L

Clip Overlays: Option+W

Render All: Option+R

That´s all for today. Keep an eye out for Lesson 3.3

Final Cut Pro