Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 566)

When you drag the playhead or a selected clip item in the Timeline, it “snaps” to these
elements when it encounters them.
A small pair of arrows
appears above or below
the edit, marker, or
keyframe to indicate
that the playhead has
snapped to this item.
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.
To turn snapping on or off
Do one of the following:
µ
Choose View > Snapping. (A checkmark indicates snapping is on.)
µ
Press N (you can do this even while you’re dragging).
µ
Click the Snapping button in the Timeline.
If the Snapping button is not in the Timeline button bar, you can add it. For more
information about customizing button bars, see
“Customizing the Interface.”
Snapping affects the functions of many of the editing tools in Final Cut Pro, such as the
Ripple and Roll tools, as well as the playhead in both the Viewer and the Canvas.
Moving Items Within the Timeline
Composing a sequence usually involves plenty of arranging and rearranging of content
in the Timeline. There are a couple of ways to move clips around in the Timeline:
• The fast, visual way is to drag the clips.
• For precise, timecode-based movement, you can select the clips and enter timecode
values in the Current Timecode field.
Moving by Dragging
When dragging a clip to a new location, you can do either an overwrite or insert edit,
depending on your use of a keyboard modifier.
To move a clip to a new position by dragging (and do an overwrite edit)
1 In the Timeline, drag the clip to the new location. (The pointer looks like a down arrow.)
566 Chapter 38 Arranging Clips in the Timeline