Basic Trimming

While the Blade tool is used to cut clips in half, Trimming is the process of adjusting where a clip starts or ends.

How to Trim a Clip

1. Ensure you have the standard Selection Tool active (press A).
2. Hover your mouse cursor over the left or right edge of a clip on the timeline.
3. The cursor will change into a bracket icon [ or ].
4. Click and drag the edge inward to make the clip shorter, or drag it outward to make the clip longer (provided there is still unused media in the raw source file).

Standard vs. Ripple Trimming

When using the standard Selection Tool, trimming is non-destructive to the rest of the timeline, but it creates Gaps.

For example, imagine you have Clip 1, Clip 2, and Clip 3 back-to-back with no spaces. If you drag the right edge of Clip 1 to the left (making it 2 seconds shorter), Clip 2 and Clip 3 will not move. You will be left with a 2-second black gap of empty space between Clip 1 and Clip 2.

To fix this, you would have to click the empty gap and press Backspace (or Delete) to execute a Ripple Delete, snapping Clip 2 and 3 back flush against Clip 1.

While this standard trimming is safe and predictable, doing it hundreds of times per project is inefficient. For a much faster workflow, you should utilize ORAPHIM's dynamic Trim Tool, which allows you to trim clips and close the gaps simultaneously. See the next section, Ripple Editing, to learn how.