Using Snapping Effectively in Final Cut Pro

By Sandy on March 2, 2009 2:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The snapping feature in Final Cut Pro produces a sort-of magnetic property, for example when dragging clips from the browser down into the timeline, the clips automatically snap to other clips in the sequence. The N key toggles snapping on & off as well as the snapping button above the timeline. You can tell if the snapping is on by looking at the snapping button in the timeline button well; when the button is green, snapping is on.

Using the snapping feature will help avoid overlapping clips or by making sure you don't have any accidental gaps between clips. This is easy to detect when the timeline is zoomed in because you'll see a gap. Most of the time it is advantageous to have snapping on, however there will be times when you want to have snapping off. For example, when you are laying a clip over top of another, and want it slightly offset snapping may get in the way and not allow you to place the clip where you want it. By having snapping off you'll be able to place the clip exactly where you want it. Another way to make snapping not as sensitive is to zoom in all the way on your timeline. If you are zoomed all the way in, snapping will not be effecting the moving of clips.