Horizontal Time Controls
 Ruler: The ruler along the top of the Timeline represents the total duration of your
edited sequence, from the first frame to the last. The ruler can be used for reference,
to see the timecode corresponding to the location of clips in the Timeline. You can
choose to view the ruler with several different units: timecode, frames, or feet and
frames (for editing footage that originated on film).
You can also click or drag the playhead in the ruler, which works exactly like the
scrubber bar in the Canvas.
Sequences can be a maximum of twelve hours (with a sample rate of 48 kHz or
lower), or six hours (with a sample rate of 96 kHz).
 Playhead: The playhead displays the current frame location in a sequence. You can
also use the playhead to navigate through your sequence in the Timeline. For more
information, see “
Navigating in the Timeline
” on page 132.
Ruler
Playhead
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Learning About the Final Cut Pro Interface
 Current Timecode field: Indicates the timecode position of the playhead. Typing a new
timecode number moves the playhead (as in the Viewer and Canvas).
 Zoom control: Lets you zoom in and out of the contents of your sequence in the
Timeline. Zooming in shows more detail in the ruler, and the duration between the
numbers in the ruler shrinks. Zooming out shows less detail in the ruler, but allows
you to see more of the total duration of your sequence in the Timeline. If the
playhead is visible, it stays centered when you use the Zoom control to zoom in on
the Timeline. If the playhead is not visible, the Zoom control centers the current
contents of the Timeline window instead.
Using the zoom keyboard shortcuts produces slightly different results. Pressing
Option-= (equal sign) or Option-– (minus) zooms in or out of the contents of the
Timeline no matter which window in Final Cut Pro is currently active. If one or more
clips are selected, they will be the center of the zoom. Otherwise, zooming centers
on the current position of the playhead.
Note: If you want to zoom in and out around the current playhead, make sure no
clips are selected in the Timeline.
Current Timecode field
Zoom control
Chapter 9
Timeline Basics
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II
 Zoom slider: Like the Zoom control, the Zoom slider allows you to zoom in and out
of a sequence in the Timeline. Dragging the thumb tabs on either side of the slider
adjusts both thumb tabs and leaves the visible area of the Timeline centered.
Pressing the Shift key and dragging one of the thumb tabs locks the opposite
thumb tab and moves the visible area of the Timeline in the direction you’re
dragging. The light gray indicators inside the scroll bar indicate one-minute
increments in your sequence, and widen or narrow depending on how far into
your sequence you’ve zoomed.
Once you’ve zoomed in to your sequence, you can scroll along the entire duration of
the sequence by dragging the center of the zoom slider.