Switching active window

How do I switch between viewer and timeline without mouse?? There's got to be a shortcut to do this without point-and-click?

Viewer: Apple 1
Timeline: Apple 3

These and many other keyboard shortcuts can be found by looking at the "Window" menu.

Canvas: Apple 2
Browser: Apple 4
Effects: Apple 5

Also, Q to toggle between viewer and canvas, and apple shift ~ to toggle between windows (this is an OSX command).



www.strypesinpost.com

Somewhere along the line you'll want to switch from tab to tab within a window, such as tabbed bins in your Browser or tabbed sequences in the Timeline or Canvas-- that's

Command-Shift [ or ]

FCP's got it almost covered from the keys. The missing ones are feature requests.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Apply your default audio transition instantly
with Command-Option - T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Pro tip: If I remember correctly, that's the same shortcut for switching tabs in Safari. It's sort of the standard tab-switching keystroke. I think.

but if what you want to do is switch between CANVAS &VIEWER,

then q is for you.


q will also switch from timeline to viewer, but then switch back from viewer to canvas.

oh... strypes got in first!

Yeah!! Q.. Q...Q

Tried EVERYTHING else except.

Thanx

[Pro tip: If I remember correctly, that's the same shortcut for switching tabs in Safari. It's sort of the standard tab-switching keystroke. I think.]

Yes, Soundtrack Pro as well. Took FOREVER getting this implemented in FCP. But all things in good time.

Now, two other window commands are really intriguing.

With the Canvas or Viewer active, press the H key, and the Canvas or Viewer pops to 100%-- the magic scale to view both fields in interlaced footage.

With Canvas or Viewer active, hold the Z key, and the window fits to the image.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Apply your default audio transition instantly
with Command-Option - T !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

>With the Canvas or Viewer active, press the H key, and the Canvas or Viewer pops to
>100%-- the magic scale to view both fields in interlaced footage.

wow. That's cool. Not so keen on the z shortcut, though... I can imagine doing a 500% zoom on the image and hitting z and the entire window disappears...

Say, while we are still on shortcuts... Can anyone double check this? after selecting a clip in the timeline, hitting the option and up/down/left/right arrow can allow you to nudge the clip, but as soon as the clip hits another, you get a clip collision warning. Just recalled that it didn't give the clip collision warning on the up and down keys on a recent machine I was working on.



www.strypesinpost.com

> after selecting a clip in the timeline, hitting the option and up/down/left/right arrow can allow
> you to nudge the clip, but as soon as the clip hits another, you get a clip collision warning. Just
> recalled that it didn't give the clip collision warning on the up and down keys on a recent
> machine I was working on.

Yep, that sounds right. OPTION-Up/Down (moving the clip up/down a track) overwrites whatever's in its path, but OPTION-Left/Right (nudging the clip forwards/backwards) defers to whatever's there already. I don't think you can compare the two commands, though -- I wouldn't consider them the same family.


www.derekmok.com

Yea... they aren't... one goes up and down a track, the other nudges the clips... Thanks, derek.



www.strypesinpost.com

there ARE instances when using option up/down where the clip will overwrite the clip on the other track.

i havent figured out the exact requirements.
it always happens when i dont want it to, and doesn't happen when i hope it will!

i think the clip being overwritten cant be longer then the moving clip,
and probably cant have any linked audio.



nick

> i havent figured out the exact requirements.
> it always happens when i dont want it to, and doesn't happen when i hope it will!
> i think the clip being overwritten cant be longer then the moving clip,
> and probably cant have any linked audio.

I did some tests and I was about to offer a counter to the above points when I encountered the exceptions Nick mentioned. Here's the bizarre part:

1. The overwrite happens just fine if I put one long clip in the path, linked audio or not.

2. However, if I razored the longer clip in the path, no matter where the razor point is (even if it's clear of the incoming clip), no overwrite -- Clip Collision warning.

As Nick says, the behaviour is indeed inconsistent; there was no earthly reason a razored clip should behave different from a continuous one. Here are screen captures of the test:









Seems to me that it'd be faster to just assume the overwrite won't work, rather than wrestle with weird FCP behaviour!


www.derekmok.com

"Seems to me that it'd be faster to just assume the overwrite won't work, rather than wrestle with weird FCP behaviour!"

yes, it sure isn't a very useful function the way it is

but be aware that you MIGHT overwrite a clip using option up or down arrow.


nick

Or use the mouse with SHIFT held down. I still do that more often than the OPTION-Up/Down, because I often do multiple items at a time and it actually takes more time to shift my hands from my usual positions (left hand ASDF, right hand mouse) to the arrow keys.


www.derekmok.com

Ah... Interesting... N I thought there was something funky going on with that particular machine. I wonder if it'll overwrite a clip with transitions. This should go into the bug report... I can't imagine how this works out logically. Yup, i usually use the [ and ] keys to nudge and shift drag to overwrite a clip. I only use Option up/down to move the clip up and down a track or when I want to shift a part of the clip after applying range selection.



www.strypesinpost.com

Derek:
"Or use the mouse with SHIFT held down"

ah! the abstinence approach
it does makes sense, but me, i alternate between Shift drag and option up/down.



Strypes
"This should go into the bug report"

hmm.. don't know if it's a bug,

just very inconsistent behaviour,
or behaviour based on such particular events that it SEEMS inconsistent.
but yeah, kick up a fuss! be the squeaky wheel!

i wish there was a modifier for this.
like you hold CONTROL, and it forces the nudged clip to overwrite.
a "leap-frog" behaviour would be nice too.
so you can bump the clip up without overwriting anything.
but that'd be way too complex to implement, i'd imagine, for such little gain.


nick

> i wish there was a modifier for this.
> like you hold CONTROL, and it forces the nudged clip to overwrite.

And to beat not just a dead horse, but a George A. Romero zombified one:

A modifier for speed changes so they stop automatically implementing a friggin' ripple that tears your whole timeline out of sync.


www.derekmok.com

well my ULTIMATE clip-moving request is INTELLIGENT COLLAPSE

the timeline will automatically collapse to the minimum number of Video tracks possible.

it analyses all the clips,
sees what's not visible, & hidden under other clips,
and boom! collapses it all.

i'm up late doing this manually right now,
preparing for an up-coming on-line.

i'm nearly finished, so will see it thru,
but i'm sure its taken more time to do this that it would have taken to just capture all the hidden clips again.
still i have to make an EDL for the grade, so not wasted time, i guess


nm