Where an effect bar sits on the timeline and how to trim it

Effects in DepCut are placed on the timeline, so the length of the bar is the length of the effect. Once you know where the bar sits and how to shape it, you can start an effect at the right frame and end it where the scene ends.

Where the bar sits

Effects share the element rows above your clips with titles, shapes and stickers. Each kind has its own color. Titles are purple, shapes and stickers are magenta, and effects are teal. A teal bar carries a sparkle icon and the effect's name, such as Light leak or Vintage.

A few placement rules are worth knowing:

• Drop an effect over a clip and the bar covers that whole clip. Drop it where no clip plays and it gets a short default length.
• The first effect you add opens a new row at the top of the element rows. Later effects join that row.
• A row higher up the timeline sits on top. An effect changes the footage and every element on the rows below it, and leaves elements on the rows above it alone.
• Placing an effect leaves your clips where they are, so adding one never shifts your timing.

Trim the bar

1. Click the bar to select it. The playhead jumps to where you clicked, so the preview shows the effect.
2. Move the pointer to either end of the bar. A thin white handle appears.
3. Drag the left handle to change when the effect starts, or the right handle to change when it ends.
4. Watch for the guide line. Edges snap to the playhead, to the cuts between clips, to the end of the video and to the edges of other bars.
5. Play across the edge to check the effect begins and ends where you want.

An effect has no source media to run out of, so the right handle can travel as far as you need. Drag it across several clips to cover a whole scene with one bar.

Trim to the playhead with one click

For a precise edge, select the bar and park the playhead at the exact frame. Then use the two arrow buttons beside the scissors in the timeline toolbar. Their tooltips name them.

• Split and drop the left side removes the part of the bar before the playhead.
• Split and drop the right side removes the part after it.

Each button splits the bar at the playhead and deletes one half in a single step. The plain scissors button splits the bar and keeps both halves, and pressing S with the bar selected does the same. Both halves keep the effect and its Amount, so you can then give each half a different strength.

Move and re-stack

Drag the bar sideways to change when it plays. Drag it up or down to move it to another row, which changes what it affects. Drag it past the top edge of the element rows and a new row opens above everything.

Use this to keep a title clean. A title sits under a new effect row by default. Drag the title's bar above the effect row and the effect no longer touches it.

Change it or switch it off

With the bar selected, the right panel shows the effect's name and its controls. Most effects have a single Amount slider. Zoom has a puck for aiming, a Depth choice and a Speed slider.

To swap one effect for another without losing the bar's position, keep the bar selected and click a different tile in the Effects tab.

To compare with and without, click the small eye button on the bar. Its tooltip reads Disable clip. You can also right-click the bar and choose Hide, then Show later. A disabled bar turns gray and faded, and the effect disappears from both the preview and the exported video. To remove it for good, select the bar and press Delete.

Trim your first effect

Open DepCut, place any effect, and trim it with the handles so it covers exactly one moment.