Option to only snap to other events, not cursor

Suggestion
1

Snap to is very useful, but quite often you end up snapping to the cursor which is often at a spot just after an event. So when it snaps to the cursor, you have to click the cursor “away”, then drag & snap the event a second time, so it doesn’t leave a small gap between the other event and the new one you are dragging to position. Sometimes the cursor is so close to the event, that it refuses to drag.

Would be nice to have some options to select where you snap to. Could be for example:

  • Snap to start of events
  • Snap to end of events
  • Snap only to events on the same track
  • Snap to cursor

And on the topic of snapping, maybe also an option to:

  • Drag’n’drop snaps to end of existing event

So if you drag an item from the playlist on top of an existing item in the timeline, it would not place it on top if the option is active (maybe a keyboard shortcut would be even more suitable?), but immediately to the position where the existing event ends.

2

It is much easier while still dragging to press Alt to temporarily suspend snap.

Sometimes the cursor is so close to the event, that it refuses to drag.

Suspend snap handles that as well. Also, often it helps to zoom in.

Sorry, I am not going to add that many options. I do not believe in littering the UI with a ton of options.

3

That would also disable snapping to the event and either cut a part out or leave an empty gap. But I’ll try if it works to start with Alt and then release it after it goes “past” the cursor.

Maybe I’m used to things like this, as this is standard behaviour in audio editing programs, where you work with a fixed grid and timebase (= tempo) :slight_smile: Now I’m working in a similar manner for a kind of music video type of project.

That is quite laggy (despite NVMe, Core i7 12000, 64 GB setup on Linux), as this is a 48 minute long project that is already halfway through, so lots of edits, parts (proxied), and texts with fades.

4

I understand not wanting to add too many options, but I do agree with their suggestion for “Snap only to events on the same track”.

I edit quite a lot with Shotcut, and this is one of my biggest issues (you know Shotcut is good when THIS is the biggest issue for a regular user). Yes you can zoom in, but it’s not always ideal in large projects.

Items snapping to items on the track below or above often causes me to overwrite an item on the same track, which in large projects, can take about 10-15 seconds to undo. The option (along with the ability to hotkey) to enable/disable this snapping behaviour would be nice.

Not a big priority, not even a big issue, but it would be nice.