Three Point Editing: Why I Like it

When I'm editing a video file I need to be able to keep all my clips in the proper order and timed properly. This can get difficult when I need to put a clip in a specific place and using "drag and drop" editing will change the timing of my sequence. By using three point editing I don't have that problem. To use three point editing you need to first set in and out points on the video clip in the viewer. This tells Final Cut how long the clip needs to be and which section to use. You then place an in point on the sequence time line to give Final Cut a place to input your selected clip. You don't need to set an out point, Final Cut will do that on it's own. From there you drag the clip from the viewer over the edit overlay and choose how you want it inputted. If you chose an in and out point on the time line earlier, you can use this to "fit-to-fill" a clip, stretching it or shrinking it to fit in the exact space provided. This is great when you need to go in and replace a previous clip with better footage.