Before you cut anything into a sequence, you review your material in the source viewer: watch it, find the part you want, and mark it. This article covers loading clips, playing and navigating, marking sections, and a couple of tools that save time when you're working with a lot of footage.
Loading a clip into the source viewer
To open a clip in the source viewer, do one of the following:
- Double-click the clip's tile or list entry.
- Drag the tile onto the viewer.
The clip opens with its name at the top and a blue icon in the header indicating it is source material (sequences show red). The ends of the scrub bar below the image represent the start and end of the clip. Open another clip the same way to replace it, or use tabbed source viewers to keep several open at once (see Viewers and playback).
Playing and navigating
Play and move through a clip with the transport controls or the keyboard:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Space |
Play / pause |
J / K / L |
Play reverse / pause / play (tap to go faster) |
| Left / Right arrow | Step one frame |
K + J or K + L |
Slow reverse or slow forward |
You can also drag the position marker in the scrub bar to scrub, or click anywhere in it to jump there. Smooth scrub gives finer control on a mouse or trackpad.
Setting in and out marks
Marking selects the part of a clip you want to use. Use the in and out buttons to the right of the viewer, or the keyboard:
- Park the playhead where the section should start and press
I(mark in). - Move to where the section should end. You can press
O(mark out), or simply leave the playhead there.
Leaving the playhead at the end without an out point is the mark and park technique - Lightworks uses the current position as the end, so you rarely need to set both. The marked section is highlighted in the scrub bar.
Clearing marks
To start again, use the Unmark P command to clear all marks - the selection returns to the full clip. You can re-mark as often as you like - marking does not change the media, only which part you intend to use.
Markers and cues
While reviewing, drop cue markers on moments worth remembering - a good take, a sync point, a problem to fix. Press M to add a marker at the playhead, and give it a name and colour if useful. Markers appear on the viewer's scrub bar and are searchable later.
Click a marker on the viewer scrub bar to open its details and read or change its name, description and colour, or delete it. The pointer becomes a hand over a marker to show you where to click. For ranged markers and the full detail, see Clip information and metadata.
Match frame
Match frame jumps from your sequence back to the source. With the playhead over a clip in a sequence, match frame locates and loads that source clip at the same frame in the source viewer - perfect for grabbing more of a shot you've already used, or finding the original of something in your edit.
Revealing source media
When you need the actual file on disk - to check a path, copy it, or hand it to someone - right-click the clip and use Reveal to open its media in your operating system's file browser.
Reveal proxies does the same for the clip's proxy media (see Proxies and performance media). Each item is greyed out when there is nothing on disk for it to show.
Warning: Reveal is for inspection. Do not move, rename, or delete media or proxy files by hand - it can take clips offline. Use Lightworks' own tools to manage media (see Media management).