The Match Frame function in Final Cut Pro can be very useful, especially in large projects when your media is all over the place. You access this by going to View > Match Frame > Master Clip, OR by pressing the f key OR by pressing the match frame button (
) in the Canvas or the Viewer. In this article I’ll discuss some of the main uses that I have for this often overlooked function.
Uses For Match Frame
- See What You’re Working With - When you get deep into a project, it is easy to forget where you started. For example, you may have a clip and you want to extend it in either direction, but you don’t know if you have the available media. An easy way to do this is to use the match frame function. You will instantly see the full length of the clip and where your in and out points are.
- See The Naked Clip - Sounds hot huh? You can manually go into the Filters tab and deselect any effects that you have applied to see the original clip, but this is a waste of time. You can quickly press the match frame shortcut (f) and instantly see what the clip looked like prior to effects being added.
- Find The Clip In Your Browser - By pressing Shift + F, Final Cut Pro will reveal and highlight the source clip in your browser. This becomes increasingly handy as your projects grow larger and larger, especially if you have trouble organizing your bins.
- Use a Different Part Of A Clip - When you are editing, you will often want to use a different section of a clip you already have in your timeline. Using the match frame function is the easiest and most efficient way to do this because you will instantly see what part of the clip you have used and be able to select new in and out points and drag the new clip into your timeline.
- Find A Clip in the Timeline - Match frame works both ways. If you have a clip open in your viewer, you can use the match frame function to see where it lives in the Timeline. This comes in handy when you are keyframing motion or audio. Also if you know that you used a clip, but you can’t find where it lives.
Other Things To Know About Match Frame
- Match Frame With Multiple Video Tracks - Match frame automatically assumes that the video track you want to match to is the bottom-most track. If you want to match frame to a different track, you must turn off auto select for all the video tracks below the one you are targeting. See the image to the right.
- Using Match Frame With Audio - In order to do this, you must first turn off auto select on your video tracks. The match frame function will then be applied to your top-most audio track. To match frame a different audio track, you must turn off auto select on the higher tracks.
- Match Frame From Viewer vs. Canvas - When you have a clip in the Viewer and you press the match frame button, it will show you the clip in the Timeline and the Canvas. However, when you press the button from the Canvas or the Timeline, it will pull up the source clip in the Viewer.
This should be a good start into the world of the Match Frame. If you have any other uses or techniques that you use, let us know in the comments!
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