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Turning off the magnetic timeline?

Where the **** is the off switch?!?!?! I hope there's an option to turn it off occasionally. I don't always want things sliding around on their own, especially when I'm trying to time something to music!!!! I've been a FCP editor since day one and a professional editor for 15 years, I see how the magnetic timeline can be useful, but if I have to have it constantly engaged I have a feeling I'll be jumping off a bridge very soon!

Final Cut Pro X-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.2), mac pro 2 x 2.66 Dual-Core Intel Xeon - Memory: 4 GB 667 MHz

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 8:50 AM

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Posted on Jun 21, 2011 9:17 AM

Final Cut Pro defaults to having the snapping feature turned on. In the upper right corner of the timeline window you will find the snapping icon.

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The magnetic property of the timeline is called snapping. Without it, you would more than likely have small gaps between edits where you attempted to match clips together.

Snapping can be turned on and off by clicking on the snapping icon, or by pressing the N key on the keyboard. You may find it may be easier to press the N key instead of trying to navigate to the small snap icon in the upper right corner of the timeline window.


Hope that helps John

70 replies

Jun 24, 2011 6:56 AM in response to jpjd

Thanks!


The shifting problem goes away when 'Available Media' (rather than 'Full Overlap') is selected in Prefs > Editing > Apply transitions using....


I wonder why they made the default to be 'Full Overlap'. I suppose it means that the transition can always be applied, although the total duration will be reduced. Good for home movies, bad for people trying to stick with a timeline!


None the less, that problem is solved - thanks again,


Chris.

Aug 28, 2011 1:39 PM in response to jpjd

Thanks for the tip. I'm not editing on the layer above the storyboard and all is well except for one thing...I can't put transitions on video on the top layer. I get the white stop sign circle symbol. Any idea on how to put transitions on above layers and do we even still have the 99 layers like in FCP 7?

Oct 28, 2011 2:13 PM in response to jpjd

STOP THE MADDNESS!!! The magnet ***** but...it doesn't always snap together. The answer has already been given in like the third post. It's simple. If you want a gap, hit shift-delete. If you want it to snap, hit delete. JUST HIT SHIFT!!! For the record, I don't like pro x either. I do like getting motion for 50$. But really I just thought of something...the hours of my life that have been sacrificed to the rendering demons. Oh rendering demons. What has happened is that the program has been moved to the prosumer market and all the advanced functions are hidden. Like keyframes. They said a "more intuitive" keyframe process. What?!? How? How is not seeing or editing key markers individually more intuitive? Then I realized you can make them appear in your storyline. Good luck guys and remember: it's SHIFT-DELETE.

Dec 9, 2011 12:14 PM in response to jpjd

Ha ha Avid, that's a good one. Yup, 15 year professional editor here...same deal as all you guys. FCP X is squirly as ****. But, there are workarounds.


Hit P to move your clips without the annoying magnetic monster throwing all your stuff out of sync


Hit Shift+ Delete to delete clips without the magnetic monster throwing all your stuff out of sync.


Someone should slap the developer of this program. They really should have talked to an editor before they designed this. How can you have a default of magnetic timeline where it throws all your music out of sync. It seems insane to me.

Apr 4, 2012 6:28 PM in response to jpjd

Hi, it's been a few months since you posted your question. I'm just curious how you feel about the magnetic timeline now.


For me, I wasn't a fan at first...and still I have some issues with it. But, I have edited on the latest versions of avid mc, and adobe pp and I'm sold on FCPx.


It's one of those things that, your almost better off being a new editor....as in, no experience with tracks. Saying that, it's not the case for many of us. I just had to forget about tracks.


I heard someone say that at first the magnetic timeline is like driving on a ten lane highway in the rain with no lanes....but after understanding why fcpx had taken this route, and realizing the amazing potential of it....it's like surfing or sking....freedom.



I love it!!!



I say learn this new amazing paradigm. It's really something special.



I will always edit on avid or pp or fcp7 if thats the system I'm assigned to edit on....but if I have the choice, it's FCPx all the way. It's truly awesome.



Dale

Apr 5, 2012 1:54 AM in response to PaddedRoom Productions

hi,


just to jump in again.


The magnetic timeline both inspires me and frustrates me. In one job last week I found it made make changes in the middle of the piece so easy, everything slid back, stayed in sync, what a dream. What was at least a 10 click operation in FCP7 became a one click job. But then another tweak caused immense frustration, where everything was moving when it shouldnt. I havent quite got to the bottom of when this does and doesnt happen, but I'm thinking I would like to be able to change where linked clips are linked, without chnaging their position. I may have missed this feature, so I'll keep looking. The other thing that I find helps a lot is to create compound clips of sections I know I'm happy with and throw them about. I have had some issues with playback of some compound clips. When the edit has been locked down more, I unpackage them, simplyfy the edit by moving stuff down onto the main storyline, and go from there.


right now to find out why it keeops crashing when I want to browse the projects.


adam

Turning off the magnetic timeline?

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