# Viewing the Waveform in the Exposure Sheet

When you insert a sound file in your sound element and activate the Thumbnail view, the sound element displays a waveform to represent the sound file. The waveform represents the sound as it rises and falls in volume. If there is no sound in the file, the waveform appears as a straight line.

You can use the waveform as a guide to determine when a certain sound effect occurs. For example, if you have a sound effect of a rooster crowing, you can analyze the sound’s waveform to determine the initial “cock-a-doodle-doo” sound and sync it to the drawings of the rooster crowing.

If you look at the waveform of the sound effect, you’ll notice the volume increases as the size of the waveform increases. You can use the size of the waveform as a guide to sync the sound effect with the action in your scene.

To view or hide the waveform of the sound element:

- Click the Toggle Thumbnails button in the Exposure Sheet window.

There are two viewing modes that apply to sound columns when you activate the element thumbnails, depending on if you apply a Lip Sync function.

- Lip Sync active: the sound cells display the lip sync letter or a graphic.
- Lip Sync inactive: the sound cells display the file name or a waveform.

| When a lip sync is applied to the cells in a sound element, you can no longer view the waveform or the file name. If you want to view its waveform again, control-click the sound cell and deselect the Show Lip Sync option in the pop-up menu.

See Also
Lip Synching
Editing Sounds