Aim
The Aim is Sniper's anchor point tool. It lets you choose where you want the anchor of the clip, simply by clicking on any point of the screen, and Sniper compensates the position by itself, so that the image stays exactly where it was.
When it opens, the frame of the clip appears in full screen. Just click on any point of the image and the anchor goes there, without the image leaving its place. If you want a finer adjustment, you can drag the cross to the exact point of your preference.
To open it, select a clip and click on the fixed bar.
1 Reload
If you change the playhead or the clip, just do a Reload and the new frame appears.
2 Motion, Transform, Transform + AL
Where the anchor is applied. See Ways of inserting the anchor.
3 The image
To work inside the image you have:
- Zoom on the mouse wheel
- Pan by holding Space
- A minimap showing which part of the frame you are seeing
4 Zoom
The buttons Zoom in, Zoom out and Fit.
Ways of inserting the anchor
On normal clips you choose where the anchor is applied:
1 Motion
On the Motion of the clip itself.
2 Transform
On a Transform effect that Sniper inserts on the clip. The following clicks keep using the same Transform, instead of inserting a new effect at each click.
3 Transform + AL
Sniper inserts the anchor point on an adjustment layer inserted above the clip, with its duration, the name "Aim" plus the name of the clip, and the label color of the clip. This way the anchor stays separate and you remain free to work on the clip.
You choose it on the tabs above the image, before clicking. The anchor is written at the moment of the click, so there is no Apply button here.
If the Motion already has keyframes, the anchor goes to a Transform, and the animation that already exists is not changed. An adjustment layer created by you is never changed: in that case Sniper inserts a new one on top.
Graphics and still images
1 The shapes
In a graphic, each shape appears with a box on the screen. When you move the mouse over it, the shape is highlighted; when you click it, the anchor goes to that shape, and when you click outside any shape Sniper considers the whole graphic. In this mode there is no choice of destination: the anchor always goes to the Motion of the shape or of the graphic.
2 Anchor points
Nine points of the selected shape: the corners, the edges and the center. Click one and the anchor goes exactly there. With no shape selected, they are the points of the whole graphic.
In an image, a box shows where the content really is, ignoring the transparent area. In a logo PNG with a lot of margin around it, for example, you see the corner of the drawing, and not the corner of the file.
However, it must be said that Sniper's anchor point tool was not made to work with graphics and images: it works perfectly, but it is not the most efficient and productive way. Premiere itself deals very well with that, letting you simply drag the anchor point of any graphic around the screen. For all the other scenarios, though, Sniper's Aim is probably one of the best solutions on the market, and it comes completely free with Sniper.