User Manual

Upper Timeline
The Upper Timeline always shows the entire program within the full width of your computer’s
display. The Upper Timeline’s playhead is always free, which makes it easy to use your pointer
to scroll around the entire program by dragging within the Timeline Ruler at top. This also
serves as a visual reference for keeping track of where you are in your program while you’re
editing within the zoomed-in Lower Timeline below.
Despite the Upper Timeline’s relatively small size, you can still edit in it, with most editing and
trimming functions that are available in the Lower Timeline also available in the Upper Timeline.
Most interestingly, it’s also possible to drag clips from one part of your program in the Lower
Timeline, to another area of your program in the Upper Timeline, and vice versa.
A set of small numbers to the left of the Upper Timeline lets you click a number to choose the
currently selected track; this selection is mirrored on the zoomed in timeline below. The
currently selected track affects where incoming clips will be placed when editing, among
other things.
Lower Timeline
The zoomed in Lower Timeline (often referred to simply as “the Timeline”) shows you a close-up
view of the portion of the currently open timeline that immediately surrounds the playhead. The
zoom level is fixed; you cannot change it. The zoomed-in lower timeline is intended for detailed
editing, but clips can be dragged between the Timeline and Upper Timeline for fast reordering
of clips across the entire duration of your program.
Locked or Free Playhead
A pair of buttons at the upper left-hand corner of the Timeline lets you choose whether you use
a locked or free playhead.
Two buttons let you choose to use a
locked or free playhead
 When set to locked, the playhead is fixed in the center of the Timeline, and your edited
clips scroll past it as you play (press the Spacebar), jog, or shuttle (use the JKL keys) in
either direction. Locked mode works great when you use the DaVinci Resolve Editor
Keyboard. You can also scroll the Timeline using your pointer by dragging the Timeline
Ruler at the top to the left or right, which also drags all of your clips to the left or right.
 When set to free, the playhead moves across the clips as you play (press the Spacebar),
jog, or shuttle (use the JKL keys) in either direction; the clips stay still. Once the
playhead gets to the right or left edge of the Timeline, the Timeline pages over to
reveal the next part of your edit. You can also move the playhead by clicking in the
Timeline Ruler to jump the playhead to that frame, or by positioning the pointer over the
playhead’s top handle, or over the playhead itself, and dragging the playhead wherever
you want it to go.
Chapter – 18 Introducing the Cut Page 406