Timeline
Tracks, trimming, splitting, clip transitions, and how to keep a busy timeline readable.
The timeline is one row per layer. The top row is your footage; everything below is something applied on top of it.
Tracks
| Track | Holds |
|---|---|
| Video | Your recordings, imported videos and images |
| Trim | Cuts removed from the video |
| Zoom | Zoom moves |
| Camera Layout | Webcam bubble position and size over time |
| 3D Transform | Tilt and perspective moves on the whole frame |
| Mask Track | Blur, pixelate, solid cover or spotlight over a region |
| Callout | Zoom plus dim plus a border, on one region |
| Text | Animated titles and labels, fixed to the screen |
| Annotations | Text, arrows and images placed on the frame |
| Keystroke | On-screen display of keys you pressed |
| Caption Track | Subtitles |
| Music Track | Background music |
| Voiceover | Narration — imported, recorded or generated |
| Device Motion | Camera moves around a 3D device frame |
| Stage Motion | Camera moves across a multi-device scene |
| Photo Motion | Camera moves over a photo mockup |
| Collage | An animated cluster of stills |
A track only appears when it's relevant. You won't see Stage Motion unless you're in a multi-device scene.
Keeping it readable
The display-mode control offers All, Simplified and Smart.
Smart is the default and does two things: tracks that actually contain something float to the top, and once five or more rows are visible the inactive ones shrink to a thin bar. Hover a shrunk row to peek at it; click it to focus it. The pin button in a row's label keeps that row expanded regardless.
The eye icon on a row switches that whole layer off — useful for comparing with and without, and it is respected on export.
Trimming and splitting
Drag either end of a clip to trim it. Everything downstream shifts to close the gap.
To cut a piece out of the middle, position the playhead and split, then delete the piece you don't want.
Trimming the video also moves everything anchored to it — zoom segments, captions, annotations — so cuts don't leave your effects pointing at the wrong moment.
Clip transitions
Each clip has an in and an out transition, set in the clip's properties panel:
None · Fade · Fade White · Slide up · Slide down · Slide left · Slide right · Grow · Shrink · Blur
Set a duration for each. Transitions play against your background, so a Fade dissolves the recording out and leaves the wallpaper, rather than cutting to black.
In a 3D device mockup, a Slide, Grow or Shrink moves the whole device; in a laptop mockup it moves the content inside the screen. Fade, Fade White and Blur aren't available in 3D mockups and are dimmed in the picker.
Selecting several segments
| Gesture | Does |
|---|---|
| Cmd-click | Add or remove one segment from the selection |
| Shift-click | Select a range within one track |
| Shift-Cmd-drag | Marquee — select everything the rectangle touches |
Delete removes the whole selection in one step, and one undo brings it all back.
Right-click a segment
Right-clicking a zoom segment gives you Preview from here, Duplicate, Copy zoom, Paste style and Delete. Right-clicking empty space on a track offers Add and Paste.
Paste style copies the look — depth, easing, duration, camera behaviour, 3D — onto another segment while leaving its own timing and focus point alone.
Overlapping segments
Annotation, Callout and Mask allow several segments at the same moment. When they overlap, the row splits into lanes so you can see and grab each one. Rows without overlap stay single-height.
Playhead
The timeline follows the playhead during playback, paging along rather than jumping. Turn it off with Follow playhead in the zoom controls if you'd rather scroll yourself.