The composite shot timeline has several tools arranged around its outer edge.
The Editing Tools
The icons on the left side of the timeline are used to edit and manipulate objects on the timeline.
Select
The Select tool is a multi-purpose tool that you can use for much of your basic compositing, including:
- Selecting: You can select single or multiple clips with the Select tool. Selected clips are highlighted in blue.
- Simply Click a clip to select it. Selecting a different clip will deselect the first one.
- Holding CTRL while selecting clips enables you to select multiple clips.
- You can also drag a selection box around multiple clips to select them all. By default the timeline will automatically scroll left and right while dragging a selection box. Holding ALT while dragging will also automatically scroll vertically through the video or audio tracks, depending where your mouse was positioned.
- Moving: You can move any clip to a new location on the timeline by dragging it with the mouse.
- If you move a clip to a location which is already occupied by other clips, an Overlay Edit will be used by default. The existing clips are sliced according to the moved clip’s in and out points and the moved clip replaces that section on the timeline. This means that the positions of other clips on your timeline are not affected.
- By holding the SHIFT key you can instead perform an Insert Edit. The moved clip slices the existing clips at the in point, then moves all the affected clips to the right to make room.
- Holding ALT while you drag a selected clip will duplicate the clip, and drop a new copy where you release the mouse button.
- Trimming: The Select tool is also used for simple Trim Edits, when you want to change a layer’s in or out point.
- When you move your mouse over the start or end of a clip it will change to the trim pointer. You can then drag with the mouse to change the in or out point.
- You can’t trim a clip to be longer than its source media asset.
Drag
The drag tool allows you to move through the contents of the timeline without altering those contents in any way. It performs the same function as moving the scroll bars at the bottom or right-hand side of the timeline, but without needing to move the mouse to those edges.
- Dragging: Press the H key to select the Drag tool, then click-drag anywhere on the timeline to reposition the visible portion of the timeline.
Slice
The Slice tool is for splitting a layer into multiple layers.
- Slicing: Click anywhere on a clip to split it at that frame. All frames to the left of the slice will make up one layer, and all frames to the right of the slice will be moved to a new layer. You can slice a clip as many times as you want. After a clip has been sliced, both pieces exist separately on the timeline and can be adjusted individually.
- Holding ALT when you click will slice all clips at that frame, regardless of what track they are on.
- The keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+D will slice the currently selected layer at the playhead’s location.
Rate Stretch
Retiming can be used to speed up or slow down playback for specific clips. Using the Rate Stretch tool to change a layer’s in or out point will retain the contents of the clip and change its playback speed to fit into the newly defined duration on the timeline.
- Dragging: Drag either end of a layer to change its duration and For example, dragging the out point of a clip so that the clip on the timeline is twice as long will cause the clip to play at half speed.
- Speed/Duration: Right-click on the layer to open the Edit Speed/Duration dialog, and perform more precise speed adjustments. The speed and duration can be linked or unlinked using the chain icon at the right. The behavior is different depending on the link state.
- Linked When the two properties are linked together, changing the speed will also automatically update the duration, moving the out point of the clip to accommodate the same contents at the new speed. For example, a 2 second clip on the timeline when changed to 50% speed will have a new duration of 4 seconds. Alternatively, you can change the duration and the speed will be automatically changed to fit the clip’s contents perfectly into the new duration.
- Unlinked: When unlinked, changing the speed will retain the clip’s in and out positions on the timeline while changing the playback speed of the clip’s content. Changing the duration will change the out point of the clip without affecting its playback speed.
The Time Ruler
Along the top of the timeline is the time ruler, representing the duration of your project. Clicking on the time ruler will move the playhead, which defines the current frame, to the location of the click. The frame located at the playhead’s new location will be displayed in the Viewer.
You can also click and drag on the playhead itself.
To jump to a specific time, simply type it into the time display at the top-left. The time display can be switched between timecode and frame count using its right-click menu.
Scaling and Panning the Timeline
The timeline can be scaled using the zoom bar, so that you can either zoom out to see the composite shot’s entire contents or zoom in to focus on a specific area and perform fine frame-by-frame work.
When zoomed in you can then use the scrollbars or the Hand tool to pan the timeline left and right.
- Pressing Home on your keyboard will scroll the playhead to the first frame of the timeline.
- Pressing Ctrl+Home will auto-scroll the timeline to the current playhead position.
Searching Your Layers
Composite shots can contain large numbers of layers, each of which contains many properties. You can use the Search box at the top of the timeline to find specific layers or specific properties within complex timelines.
Setting the Work Area
The work area is represented by the light gray bar running along the time ruler. It defines a limited portion of the timeline, for two main purposes.
- Looped Playback: Specify a particular portion of your timeline for looped playback.
- Export: Define a portion of the timeline to be exported, rather than exporting the entire timeline.
The work area defaults to the timeline’s entire duration, but can be adjusted using three methods.
- Time Ruler: Drag the ends of the work area on the time ruler to reposition them on any frame of your choice. Holding the Alt key and dragging on the work area will move it without changing its duration.
- Keyboard: Position the playhead on any frame, and press I to set the In Point to that frame, or press O to set the Out Point to that frame. * Pressing the P key will set the work area to encompass the contents of your timeline.
- Viewer Buttons: Click the Set In Point button to set the In Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located, or click the Set Out Point button to set the Out Point to the frame where the playhead is currently located.
Keyframes
At the top left of the timeline are the keyframe buttons.
Keyframes are used to store changes to settings on particular frames. For example, on frame 10 a video could be set to full opacity and then on frame 20 it could be set to 50% opacity. This would be stored as two keyframes, one on frame 10 and one on frame 20. Between frames 10 and 20 the video would become gradually more transparent.
The two arrow buttons are used to jump between keyframes for the currently selected property.
The circle button in the center is used to turn keyframes on and off on the current frame for the currently selected property. If a keyframe is present on the current frame a dot is displayed in the middle the circle.
Additional buttons control whether the timing of individual keyframes is linear, constant, or smoothed.
See Animating with Keyframes to find out more.
Exporting
You can export any timeline, in whole or in part, to create a new video file from its contents. On the top right of each timeline is the Export button. Clicking it reveals two options. Which one you click determines what portion of the timeline is added to the Export Queue.
- IN/OUT Area: Exports only the work area of your timeline. The work area is defined by the In and Out points you set, as detailed above.
- Contents: Exports the entire contents of the timeline. If your timeline extends beyond the video it contains, any empty frames on the end will not be included in the export.
The In/Out area can also be adjusted directly in the Project panel of the Export Screen. See Exporting for full details.
Adjusting Properties ![]()
You can open a composite shot’s properties at any time by clicking the gear icon in the bottom-left of the panel.
Snapping
The Snap button can be used to turn snapping on and off. Snapping ensures that clips connect directly with no blank frames in-between.
Clips snap to other clips and to the playhead.
You can also jump the playhead to the start or end of clips using the Page Up and Page Down keys.