The Timeline

The Timeline is the visual representation of your edited sequence. It reads from left to right, representing time from the beginning of your video to the end.

The Playhead

The most critical element of the timeline is the Playhead—the vertical red line with an arrow at the top.

  • The frame directly beneath the playhead is the frame currently displayed in the Program Monitor.
  • You can scrub through your project by clicking and dragging the playhead arrow left or right.

Zooming and Navigating

Navigating long timelines efficiently is a crucial skill.

  • Zooming: Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and scroll your mouse wheel to zoom in and out horizontally. The zoom will center wherever your mouse cursor is currently pointing.
  • Scrolling: Use the mouse wheel alone to scroll the timeline left and right. Hold Shift and scroll to move the view up and down (if you have many tracks stacked vertically).
  • Fit to Screen: Press Shift + Z to instantly zoom the timeline so your entire edit fits perfectly on the screen. Press it again to return to your previous zoom level.

Timeline Views

ORAPHIM offers different ways to visualize your timeline. Click the Timeline View Options icon (the small rectangle icon near the top left of the timeline panel) to customize the appearance:

  1. Clip View: You can choose to show thumbnails on the video clips.
    • Filmstrip: Shows a thumbnail for every frame (e.g., if you are zoomed in).
    • Head/Tail: Shows a thumbnail for the first and last frame of the clip only.
    • Simple: Shows no thumbnails, only the filename. This is fastest for performance on large projects.
  2. Audio View: You can enable or disable audio waveforms. We highly recommend leaving waveforms enabled, as they are essential for syncing dialogue and editing to the beat of music.
  3. Track Height: You can independently drag the horizontal dividing lines between tracks on the far left header panel to make specific tracks taller or shorter.

Snapping

At the top of the timeline is a magnet icon (Shortcut: N). This toggles Snapping. When Snapping is enabled, dragging a clip or moving the playhead will magnetically "snap" to the edges of other clips, markers, and cuts.

It is highly recommended to keep Snapping turned On during normal editing to prevent accidental 1-frame gaps (flash frames) between clips. If you need to make an ultra-precise micro-adjustment, you can temporarily turn Snapping off.