# Editing Clips and Sequences

## Adding Your First Clips to the Timeline

The following procedures list a few methods to add clips quickly to a timeline after starting Smoke for the first time. These methods are certainly not the only way to edit, but should give you a start in familiarizing yourself with editing in Smoke.

When first starting Smoke with a new project, you are presented with a workspace including a Source-Sequence player and an empty sequence on the timeline. Once you have loaded some media into the Media Library using the MediaHub, you are ready to add clips to the timeline. You can also create new sequences from the Workspace Media panel, or right-click a clip and select Open as Sequence.

To insert a first clip on the timeline:

1. Select a clip in the Media panel to display it in the source player.
2. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to start, then click In.
3. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to end, then click Out.
4. Click the Insert button.

   The clip is added to the timeline. Extra frames outside of your selected In and Out points remain as handles.

To insert a second clip on the timeline:

1. Select another clip in the Media panel to display it in the source player viewer.
2. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to start, then click In.
3. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to end, then click Out.
4. Click the Insert button.

   The clip is added to the timeline starting at the positioner location. If you hadn't moved the positioner after inserting the first clip, the positioner was located at the last frame.

To overwrite a clip on the timeline:

1. Move the timeline positioner to the first frame of the second clip that you inserted on the timeline.
2. Select another clip in the Media panel to display it in the source player.
3. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to start, then click In.
4. Drag the positioner in the timebar to the frame where you want your clip to end, then click Out.
5. Click the Overwrite button.

   Depending where the positioner was placed and the length of the second and third clips, existing material is overwritten, but the overall length of the timeline sequence does not change.

Continue adding clips to your sequence, as needed. At this point, you are ready to fine-tune your edit sequence by trimming clips, adding tracks for compositing, adding effects to your timeline clips, and using other Smoke timeline and editing tools.

#### Topics in this section

- Navigating the Timeline
- Basic Editing
- Fine-Tuning Your Edits on the Timeline

#### Related Information

- Importing File-Based Media
- Keyboard Shortcuts