Final Cut Pro 6 - Learning to Read Timeline Speed Indicators

Chapter 17

Changing Clip Speed and Time Remapping

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II

Timeline speed indicators show you the relative playback speed of clips in your
sequence. For example, suppose you have a 10-second clip in your sequence. At
normal, 100 percent speed, the Timeline speed indicators are evenly spaced, indicating
that your clip is playing forward at a constant speed.

If you make a constant or variable speed change to slow down a clip (setting the clip’s
speed to 50 percent, for example), the speed indicators are spaced farther apart as the
clip grows longer, indicating slower playback. If you speed up a clip (changing the
speed to 200 percent, for example), the speed indicators move closer together as the
clip becomes shorter, indicating faster playback.

At normal speed, the
speed indicators are
evenly spaced.

Slow speed

Fast speed

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Part II

Effects

If you make a clip play backward by selecting the Reverse checkbox in the Speed
dialog, the speed indicators turn red to show that playback is going backward in time.

When you make variable speed changes, the duration of the affected clip stays the
same. The Timeline speed indicators display all speed changes—fast-forward, slow
motion, and reverse—happening within the clip. In particular, since variable speed
changes can also transition smoothly from one speed to another, the spacing of the
speed indicators indicates the acceleration of the speed change.

For example, in a clip with a simple variable speed change accelerating from slow
motion to fast-forward over the full duration of the clip, the speed indicators start off
farther apart from one another and then gradually move closer together as the speed
of the clip accelerates faster and faster, until the end of the clip is reached.

Reverse-speed indicators
are red.

Variable speed indicators