The Timeline lays out the time duration of your movie visually, and lets you specify when all the action takes place. After adding media files to your project, you drag them from the Collections Window into the Timeline. Only in the Timeline can you add effects and transitions to your media clips, edit them using the advanced cut, copy and paste functions, alter their duration and frame rate and much more.

The timeline is further composed of many elements which are briefly explained below:

Scale

The Scale represents time in the Timeline. All tracks and sources in the tracks are displayed against this scale. More...

Video Tracks

Video Tracks represent video sources on the Timeline. When a video clip is added to the Timeline then the video stream is represented as a source on the video track. Video Edit Magic has two video tracks - Video 1 and Video 2.

If there are videos in both the tracks on the same timescale, the one in Video 2 will be played and seen in the Preview window unless a transition is applied between them. You need to have at least one video source in Video 2 track if you want to apply transitions. Transitions can be applied even when the Video 1 track is totally empty but there is a video source in Video 2 track. In such a case, the Video 1 appears as a black screen during a transition.

Audio Tracks

Similar to Video Tracks, Audio Tracks represent audio sources on the Timeline. When a video clip with audio or an audio clip is added to the Timeline then the audio stream of that clip is represented as a source on the audio track. Like Video Tracks, Video Edit Magic has two audio tracks - Audio 1 and Audio 2. A source in Audio 2 mixes with sources in Audio 1. The ratio of audio mixing is determined by the volume tracks.

Video Effect Tracks

Every video track has an associated Effect track. An effect is applied to a single video track and only affects the sources in that video track. The Effect Track can be shown by clicking on the plus button present on every video track. It can be be hidden by clicking on the minus button that appears on the video track when the Effect Track is visible. An effect source is represented on an Effect Track in the Timeline. More...

Video Transition Tracks

Between two video tracks - Video 1 and Video 2, there is a transition track that represents transition sources in the Timeline. A transition, unlike effects, applies to two video tracks. More...

Volume Tracks

Every audio track has an associated volume track. A volume track is used to vary volume of its corresponding audio track over time. The volume track, like the video effect track, can be shown by clicking on the plus button present on every audio track. It can be be hidden by clicking on the minus button that appears on the audio track when the volume track is visible. More...

Sliders

The Timeline consists of two types of sliders, the Seek slider and the Selection sliders. The Seek Slider is used to set a current position in the Timeline. (For instance, Preview starts from the current position of the Seek Slider.) The Selection Sliders are used to select a range in the Timeline. More...

Timeline Controls

The Timeline Controls are Zoom In/Out, Add/Remove Marker and the Show/Hide Selection Sliders button present on the top left corner of the Timeline constitute the Timeline controls.

Lock and Disable

These options are present for every track in the Timeline. They modify the way sources in a track are edited. For instance the Lock option prevents any accidental editing of clips in a locked track. More...