The Paste Options subpanel of the Tools Panel allows you to set options on how pasting will work: "Paste Mode" and "Paste From/To":
The Paste Options Subpanel
Paste Mode
The Paste Mode section of the Paste Options subpanel contains controls that let you choose between four different paste modes: "Paste by Cell", "Paste by Time", "Stretch to Fit", and "Repeat to Fit". "Paste by cell" pastes the effects based upon the relative durations of the copied cells and the cells where they will be pasted; "paste by time" pastes them based only upon the duration of the copied effects; "stretch to fit" stretches the effects to fit into the area that you select; "repeat to fit" repeats as many copies of the effects as necessary to fit them into the area that you select.
Paste by Cell
Paste by Cell pastes effects based upon the relative durations of the copied cells and the cells where they will be pasted. For example, consider timings at 0 seconds, 1 second, and 2 seconds. Between 0 and 1 is a fade up, and between 1 and 2 is a fade down:
Events to be copied
These events will be copied, and pasted to the time starting at 5 seconds. There are timings at 5 seconds, 7 seconds, and 7.5 seconds:
Where they will be pasted to
If "Paste by Cell" is selected, then there will be a fade up from 5 to 7, and a fade down from 7 to 7.5:
After pasting by cell
Paste by Time
Paste by Time pastes effects based upon their durations as they were copied. For example, consider timings at 0 seconds, 1 second, and 2 seconds. Between 0 and 1 is a fade up, and between 1 and 2 is a fade down:
Events to be copied
These events will be copied, and pasted to the time starting at 5 seconds. There are timings at 5 seconds, 7 seconds, and 7.5 seconds:
Where they will be pasted to
If "Paste by Time" is selected, then there will be a fade up from 5 to 6, and a fade down from 6 to 7. The timings at 7 and 7.5 are ignored; only the original lengths of the events are used:
After pasting by time
Stretch to Fit
Stretch to Fit stretches (or compresses) effects to fit into the area that you have selected, without regards to any timings within that area. For example, consider timings at 0 seconds, 1 second, and 2 seconds. Between 0 and 1 is a fade up, and between 1 and 2 is a fade down:
Events to be copied
These events will be copied, and pasted to the time starting at 5 seconds, with the area between 5 seconds and 7.5 seconds selected. There are timings at 5 seconds, 7 seconds, and 7.5 seconds:
Where they will be pasted to
If "Stretch to Fit" is selected, then since the copied effects totalled two seconds in length, and since the area being pasted to is two and a half seconds in length, each effect will be stretched to 125% of its original length (since 2.5 seconds is 125% of 2 seconds). Therefore, there will be a fade up from 5 seconds to 6.25 seconds, and a fade down from 6.25 seconds to 7.5 seconds:
After stretching to fit
Repeat to Fit
Repeat to Fit repeats (or cuts off) effects to fit into the area that you have selected, without regards to any timings within that area. For example, consider timings at 0 seconds, 1 second, and 2 seconds. Between 0 and 1 is a fade up, and between 1 and 2 is a fade down:
Events to be copied
These events will be copied, and pasted to the time starting at 5 seconds, with the area between 5 seconds and 7.5 seconds selected. There are timings at 5 seconds, 7 seconds, and 7.5 seconds:
Where they will be pasted to
If "Repeat to Fit" is selected, then since the copied effects totalled two seconds in length, and since the area being pasted to is two and a half seconds in length, there will be one full copy of the copied effects for the first two seconds, followed by the first half second of a second copy of the effects. That is, there will be a fade up from 5 seconds to 6 seconds, a fade down from 6 seconds to 7 seconds, and the first half of a fade up from 7 seconds to 7.5 seconds:
After repeating to fit
Paste From/To
At the bottom of the Paste Options subpanel is a pair of dropdown boxes labeled "From" and "To". Each of these has three possible settings: "Background", "Foreground", and "Both".
The "From" box controls which portions of the copied effects will be pasted: "Background" means that only copied "off" effects will be pasted; "Foreground" means that all copied effects except off effects will be pasted; "Both", which is the default, means that all copied effects will be pasted. For example, consider the following portion of a sequence, and imagine that the simple chase on the left will be copied and pasted on top of the twinkling on the right:
Before pasting the chase on top of the twinkling
For now, assume that the "To" box (which we will discuss momentarily) is set to "Both". Then if the "From" box is also set to "Both", then the entire copied area - including the off effects - will be pasted:
After pasting, from Both to Both
But if "From" is set to "Foreground", then the off effects are not pasted, leaving some of the cells twinkling:
After pasting, from Foreground to Both
Or if "From" is "Background", then only the off effects are pasted:
After pasting, from Background to Both
The "To" box is similar, but it controls which of the cells in the area being pasted to will actually be overwritten. For example, if "From" is set to "Both":
Before pasting
After pasting, from Both to Background
After pasting, from Both to Foreground
After pasting, from Both to Both
You can even combine "From" and "To". For example:
Before pasting
After pasting, from Foreground to Foreground