View Full Version : Premier Pro CS3 ruler snapping - driving me crazy


Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:23 PM
This I would imagine is a stupid question but it's driving me nuts. When ever I move anything in the time line or try and make a marker, it snaps to the nearest time marker (seconds). I am trying to line up an audio clip with a video (lipsync) but can't figure out how to either change the time units to a smaller measure that 1 second or turn off snapping. I know this has to be something stupid I have overlooked and I don't recall ever having this issue before, perhaps I changed a setting unawares - any help would be appreciated!

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:28 PM
It's OK, just by posting this I found the answer, needed to increase the work area bar to change measures - duh :)

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:33 PM
OK now I know I am going nuts, seems this doesn't really fix the snapping issue -

Denis Danatzko
September 17th, 2007, 07:45 PM
found under the "Sequence" menu item. Click "Sequence", then make sure that "Snap" does not have a checkmark next to it. If it does, just click it to disable. In CS 2, you can then move to what I think is the frame level.

I don't know if it's changed in CS3.

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:51 PM
Thanks for the reply Denis, I took off the snap under sequence but it still snaps to the nearest 1/10th of a second in the timeline, perhaps I can change the timeline measures. I need to move the audio by less that 1/10th of a second if possible - I recently upgraded to CS3 and never had this issue before in Pro v1 - will keep poking around -

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:54 PM
Actually I mean 1 second, it's snapping to 1 second intervals -

Denis Danatzko
September 17th, 2007, 07:55 PM
try expanding the zoom slider all the way to the max.

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 07:57 PM
I tried expanding the zoom to max and also playing with the work area bar, it's funny I don't ever remember having this issue before, perhaps because the snapping function is messed up somehow, I just started a new project to see and it's still snapping to 1 sec intervals.

Denis Danatzko
September 17th, 2007, 07:57 PM
That may help. I believe it may stretche the timeline to the smallest increment possible, then just drag the clip to where you want it, or highlight it and use the arrow keys to move it in single increments. (Unless Adobe's changed it from CS2).

Denis Danatzko
September 17th, 2007, 07:59 PM
If you find a solution, please post it here.

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 08:01 PM
Will do, thanks for the help, perhaps its an issue with my setup or the work area. The fact that it keeps snapping to the nearest 1 sec makes me think something else is going on.

Denis Danatzko
September 17th, 2007, 08:05 PM
you should also be able to snap to a marker. Can you place a marker where you need it and snap to that?

Snapping to 1 sec seems odd; I'd fully expect to be able to snap to the frame level.

Check "Help snap"; maybe CS3 Has changed.

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 08:12 PM
For some reason I can only place a marker at 1 second intervals, not anywhere in between. The odd thing is the actual "current time indicator" has a small blue bar underneath it that protrudes to the right and takes up second in lengh. I looked at images of the timeline in adobe help and it's not there, I am sure it's related to this and am trying to figure out how to disable it. -

Rich Perry
September 17th, 2007, 08:50 PM
OK I am giving up on this for tonight, if anyone has any ideas on how to disable the playback head snapping to the time increments on the ruler would be appreciated :)

Yossi Margolin
September 17th, 2007, 11:03 PM
For some reason I can only place a marker at 1 second intervals, not anywhere in between. The odd thing is the actual "current time indicator" has a small blue bar underneath it that protrudes to the right and takes up second in lengh. I looked at images of the timeline in adobe help and it's not there, I am sure it's related to this and am trying to figure out how to disable it. -

Sounds like you are zoomed all the way in to your sequence. That blue bar on the CTI covers one frame of video, not one second. Also, when you are zoomed in that close, the CTI and any video clips will snap to those frame markers on the "ruler" - you can't place a clip on a half a frame.

Noa Put
September 18th, 2007, 02:38 AM
For some reason I can only place a marker at 1 second intervals, not anywhere in between. The odd thing is the actual "current time indicator" has a small blue bar underneath it that protrudes to the right and takes up second in lengh. I looked at images of the timeline in adobe help and it's not there, I am sure it's related to this and am trying to figure out how to disable it. -

That's strange because I can place unnumbered and encore chapter markers at every frame, also snapping can be disabled by clicking on the icon in the timelinewindow.
Maybe you can post a printscreen of your timeline so it's easier to see what's going on?

If you don't manage to solve it I think the only thing you can do is to reinstall premiere and right after that update to version 3.0.1 (374)

Jiri Fiala
September 18th, 2007, 03:32 AM
I am able to place Clip Marker on ANY exact frame in CS3, even with Snapping on and zoomed to full sequence. It's best to navigate by Cursor keys Left and Right - this jumps between single frames.

Rich Perry
September 18th, 2007, 03:51 AM
Thanks for the help guys. I have uploaded a jpeg of the timeline. As you can see it's zoomed all the way in and as Yossi mentioned, it's snapping to the nearest fame. The project is in 24p (music video) and I am trying to line up the audio track with the exact same audio queue that was on the video shoot. They are off by like 1/2 a frame as you can see. is there any way around this do you know?

Noa Put
September 18th, 2007, 04:36 AM
Thanks for the help guys. I have uploaded a jpeg of the timeline. As you can see it's zoomed all the way in and as Yossi mentioned, it's snapping to the nearest fame. The project is in 24p (music video) and I am trying to line up the audio track with the exact same audio queue that was on the video shoot. They are off by like 1/2 a frame as you can see. is there any way around this do you know?

Ok, this is clearer, this is how it should work; In the timeline window menu (in the right upper corner, very small arrow) select "audio units" and turn off "snapping" on the time line (you can toggle that using "s" on the keyboard)
The timeruler now counts the audio samples instead of videoframes.
Zoom in completely again and you will see that you can drag the audio clip much more accurately.
To change the timeruler back to videoframes again just deselect "audio units" in the time line window menu.

Rich Perry
September 18th, 2007, 05:25 AM
Noa ~ This is precisely what I was looking for. THANK YOU - I have been trying to find an answer to this all night :) - you saved me a lot of trouble, thanks so much ! Also to the others that posted - changing the timeline to show "Audio Time Units" via the arrow on the right worked like a charm and now I can easily move the audio to the correct placement in the track! - Now I can actually start editing this video :)

Noa Put
September 19th, 2007, 03:10 AM
Glad that I could help, I have the "premiere pro for windows book" from Antony Bolante which is basicly for version 1.5 but has been a great help for me when I started using premiere. I got mine from a large booksale in Antwerp for only 9 euro which was a bargain. I still use it, even now with premiere cs3.
I'd really reccomend this book as it's easy to read and shows you all the tricks possible, there is an updated version now. http://www.amazon.com/Premiere-Pro-CS3-Windows-Macintosh/dp/032152635X

Rich Perry
September 20th, 2007, 01:16 AM
Thats really great information, I will look for the book - thanks again for sharing your knowledge it's really appreciated!