Using Final Cut Pro X timeline jumps

right, but most of the time, you're centered on your "playhead" that is, where you are watching and editing the video, not where your mouse is scrolling around...

So when I stop and then zoom in, it's all over the place. First the playhead is at the beginning, then it's at the end of the timeline.

I don't know why the developers can't just keep it in the MIDDLE, where it belongs. Like AVID, like FCP 7 (they finally figured this out after 7 versions). Everything should focus your viewing around the center of where you are playing. Always. This is key for editors.

I've been editing for 15 years professionally, and this is a real drag with FCP X. It seems like someting small, but it is not.

Hi Nolan, sounds like your fcpx is having an issue. My play head stays put regardlessm of zooming. There was a bug in the first release that caused the playhead to jump, but that problem vanished a while ago in one of the updates.

The skim-zoom behavior and the bug you are seeing two separate things. I've been editing for nearly 20 years, worked for apple Mac OS engineering (including testing FCP 1.0) and I thought the same thing you do, that zooming stinks in fcpx. But now that I realize how much more efficient it is to be able to zoom to the spot you are skimming at, I wouldn't want to go back to the old way. It would be cool though if fcpx had an "option-zoom" that centered to the play head. But that is such a tiny issue after embracing the skim-zoom behavior. I can instantly zoom- jump to anywhere in the timeline without having to make sure the play head is in the right spot.

Keep in mind that skimming was not an option in fcp7, and now that skimming is a big part of the editing experience, it makes sense to have the zoom jump to the location of the cursor.

Best of luck

Matt

SWEET... I just discovered another cool thing about the zoom behavior in FCPX...

If you do not have the cursor over the timeline at all, when you zoom it jumps to the location of the playhead, even if the video is currently playing.

SO, the main takeaways here are....

1) Zooming always jumps to the location of your cursor in the timeline (not to the playhead).

2) By moving your cursor off of the timeline, zooming defaults to the location of the playhead.

This is a simple, elegant solution for the workflow in FCPX... and is definitely much faster and more versatile than the old version in FCP studio.

Now if Apple would just fix the ability to selectively paste filters... or save custom filters... or duplicate a customized filter in the same clip.... sigh... one step at a time.

No, I jumps to the general area where the playhead is, at the beginning of the timeline, sometimes at the end. It's never in the middle where it should be. See avid or FCP 7 to see how it should work.

Still having the same issue. yes, it zooms to the skimmer. Fine. But it's not orienting the skimmer in the center of the timeline. Everything should be CENTERED around the skimmer when you zoom in and out.

My day job is editing on Avid, and can't imagine my timeline floating all over the place like it does in FCP X.

Just wish they would fix this.

When I hit Stop the timeline jumps to where I stopped play.

I don't want it to.

I want the timeline view to stay where I am viewing it because I am editing a small section, zoomed right in.

How do I stop the timeline from jumping to the cursor when I hit Stop?

Every time I make an edit and hit Play to hear my edit, the timeline jumps to where it stopped play.... I have to zoom out, find my edit point and zoom back in again.

Can I stop the timeline view from jumping like this?

It makes editing extremely horrible and frustrating.

Try using the play around function. Otherwise the behavior will not change.