If you’ve ever created a long screencast, you’ll immediately understand the benefits of using Markers. But even if your longest screencasts are less than a few minutes, you too can experience the joy of Markers also – don’t fret! Markers are essentially “bookmarks” that allow you to define a point in your timeline, and can be used for a variety of reasons.
Add a Marker
Adding a Marker to your timeline is easy. From the top menu bar select Edit>Markers>Add, or hit the backquote key (`), and a marker will appear at the position of your scrubber.
Name your Marker
When you add a Marker, a text box will pop up allowing you to name the Marker. You can choose to name it, or not. If you choose to name it, you then have the option of exporting your Markers into your final movie (more on that later).
Why use Markers?
There are a variety of reasons Markers can be helpful:
I often use Markers to note an area to which I want to go back to do further editing. As I play back my not-quite-finished screencast, if I see a point that needs tightening up, or adjustment to a transition, I’ll quickly hit the backquote key (`), to insert a Marker at that point, which will remind me to go back and make adjustments.
One nice thing about Markers is that you can easily jump from Marker to Marker by hitting Shift-Up Arrow, or Shift-Down Arrow. So, especially if you’re working on a long screencast, you can insert Markers at significant points within the timeline to help you easily navigate to those areas.
Perhaps the most widespread use of Markers is for designating chapters or sections within your screencast, giving your viewer information as well as an additional way to navigate through your movie. Below is a screenshot of a finished QuickTime Movie that I exported with Chapter Markers. My Markers are creatively named “Section 1”, “Section 2”, and “Section 3”. You can see that in my QuickTime Player, the name of the Chapter I’m on (in this case, Section 2) is displayed in the lower right corner. If I click on that Chapter name, a pop-up box appears displaying all of the Chapters in that movie. I can then select the Chapter I want to view and I will jump to that section of the movie.
Exporting Chapter Markers
If you have named your Markers in your timeline, then when you export to a QuickTime movie, you have the option of adding a Chapter Track to the exported movie. Just make sure the “Add Chapter Track from Markers” is checked on your main export window. If you’ve chosen not to name your Markers then this option will not be available.
Do you have a way you that you use Markers that’s different from what’s described above? If so, please share!