Creating a Timeline

A Timeline (sometimes called a sequence) is the canvas where you assemble your media clips in chronological order to build your edit. ORAPHIM allows you to have multiple timelines within a single project.

Creating Your First Timeline

If you are in the Edit Workspace and the timeline area at the bottom of the screen is empty, follow these steps:

  1. Ensure you have imported some clips into your Media Pool.
  2. Select one or more clips in the Media Pool.
  3. Right-click the selected clips and choose Create New Timeline Using Selected Clips...
  4. A dialog box will appear. Enter a name for your timeline (e.g., "Main Edit v1").
  5. Click Create.

Your new timeline will appear in the Media Pool alongside your clips, and it will automatically open in the Timeline panel at the bottom of the screen, populated with the clips you selected.

The Manual Method

Alternatively, you can create a blank timeline:

  1. Press Ctrl+N (Windows) or Cmd+N (macOS).
  2. Name the timeline and click Create.
  3. You can now drag clips from the Media Pool directly onto the blank tracks in the Timeline panel.

Understanding Tracks

The Timeline is divided horizontally into Tracks.

  • Video Tracks (V1, V2, V3...): Located in the top half of the timeline. Video tracks operate on a "top-down" visibility principle. A clip on track V2 will completely obscure a clip on track V1 beneath it, unless the V2 clip is resized, cropped, or has transparency (like a text graphic).
  • Audio Tracks (A1, A2, A3...): Located in the bottom half of the timeline. Unlike video tracks, all audio tracks play simultaneously and their volumes are mixed together.

Basic Editing

Once your timeline is created and you have clips on it, you can begin refining the edit.

  • Move: Click and drag the middle of a clip to slide it left or right in time, or move it to a different track.
  • Trim: Hover your cursor over the left or right edge of a clip until the cursor changes to a bracket [. Click and drag inward to trim the clip, removing unwanted frames from the beginning or end.
  • Split (Blade Tool): Press B to select the Blade tool, then click anywhere on a clip to slice it into two separate clips. Press A to return to the normal Selection tool.

For a comprehensive guide to advanced editing techniques (Ripple, Roll, Slip, Slide), refer to the Editing Overview section of the manual.